EMPIRE AND COLONIAL ADMINISTRATION
The Papers of Lachlan Macquarie (1762-1824)and family from the State Library of New South Wales

This collection of Journals, Papers and Correspondence documents
Lachlan Macquarie's military career and his period as Governor of New South Wales, 1809-1821. There is material on India, Egypt, Britain, New South Wales and
Van Diemen's Land, 1787-1824.

• There is good material on social life and military operations in India. Macquarie was involved in the siege of Cochin (1795), the battle of Seringapatam (1799) and campaigns in northern India (1805-1807). He also served as military sectreatary to Jonathon Duncan, the Governor of Bombay.
• Correspondence for 1809-1822 includes letters from George Canning, Viscount Castlereagh, James Drummond, John Oxley, William Wilberforce, Earl Bathurst and Samuel Marsden.
• There are copies of his outgoing letters for 1793-1810 and 1822-1823 to individuals such as Earl Bathurst, George Canning, Viscount Castlereagh, Jonathon Duncan in Bombay, Sir David Baird in Egypt, Murdoch Maclaine and Charles Macquarie.
• The long sequence of journals includes his grand tour of Europe, his tours of New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land, and his experiences in Egypt, Britain and India.
• He is an important figure in the early history of Australia and these papers shed important light on the nature of his administration, his liberal views on ex-convicts, aborigines and emancipation, the public works programme and John Thomas Bigge's commission of enquiry into the true state of the colony and its government.

This is an important collection for all those interested in Empire and Colonial Administration, the problems faced by administrator's, the way they shaped policies and reacted to criticism. This project dovetails well with the Journeys in Time digital initiative launched by Macquarie University.