Elizabeth & John, new ed. The Macarthurs of Elizabeth Farm

by Atkinson, Alan

• ISBN13: 9781761170317
• ISBN10: 1761170317
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2024-10-01
• Publisher: NewSouth

Summary

A landmark and revealing joint biography of Elizabeth and John Macarthur, from one of Australia’ s most respected historians. Arriving in 1790, Elizabeth and John Macarthur, both aged 23, were the first married couple to travel voluntarily from Europe to Australia, within three years of the initial invasion. John Macarthur soon became famous in New South Wales and beyond as a wool pioneer, a politician, and a builder of farms at Parramatta and Camden. For a long time, Elizabeth’ s life was regarded as contingent on John’ s and, more recently, John’ s on Elizabeth’ s. In the multi-award-winning Elizabeth and John, acclaimed historian Alan Atkinson draws on his work on the Macarthur family over the last 50 years to explore the dynamics of a strong and sinewy marriage, and family life over two generations. With the truth of John and Elizabeth Macarthur’ s relationship much more complicated and more deeply human than other writers have suggested, Atkinson provides a finely drawn portrait of a powerful partnership.

Author Biography

Alan Atkinson is an Australian historian who first graduated in 1970. He has written a number of books, including The Europeans in Australia, in three volumes, the third of which won the Victorian Prize for Literature. He is an honorary professor and Doctor of Letters with The University of Sydney, and an honorary senior research fellow with The University of Western Australia.

Table of Contents

Note about names Introduction Part 1 1 The first border 2 The stepfather 3 Elizabeth 4 A locomotive disposition 5 John 6 The joint design Part 2 7 The far side of the earth 8 Everyone thinks 9 Ginger group 10 Inspector of public works 11 ‘ a maneuvering business’ 12 Cloth, a family concern 13 The meaning of happiness Part 3 14 Trust and lack of trust 15 1801, a gateway year 16 Answers from the edge of empire 17 A new story 18 The golden fleece Part 4 19 ‘ our first universe’ 20 The importance of Miss Lucas 21 Tjedboro 22 Curiosity 23 Exactitude Part 5 24 Suddenly larger limits 25 Insurrection 26 The parlour scene 27 Variegated truths 28 John’ s self-reflection 29 Elizabeth’ s judgement 30 Commanding the long term Part 6 31 The supposed point of invasion 32 Intrigued by the young 33 A daughter grows up 34 The excellence of Madeira 35 Mind over mind 36 Vicissitudes of convict reform Part 7 37 La ré volution morale 38 Hobbes Scott 39 Justice at every step 40 Rebuilding home 41 Nemesis was Greek Part 8 42 John’ s misted horizon 43 A type of divorce 44 The breach made by widowhood 45 Old age 46 The end Epilogue Acknowledgements Select bibliography Notes Index