Improving Sydney
During their time in Sydney (1810-1821), Elizabeth and Lachlan Macquarie set out to improve the town materially and socially. They wanted to impose more order, taste and civility on the penal colony. Governor Macquarie renamed the streets of Sydney and tried to straighten them, proclaimed regulations to protect the Tank Stream from pollution, and formalised the earlier open common as Hyde Park, where horseracing and cricket matches could take place.
Though Macquarie later claimed he had found the colony in a state of 'infant imbecility', he and Elizabeth were initially impressed with Sydney. Together they hatched increasingly elaborate plans to beautify and reshape the urban landscape. Elizabeth contributed her talent and skills to everything from building design to the layout of gardens and public spaces, such as the elegant Macquarie Place.
The Macquaries established the Botanic Gardens and formalised the Government Domain, walling it in and creating a scenic promenade and carriageway for genteel citizens to enjoy. At the end of this road they had a viewing seat cut into a stone cliff, which is still known today as Mrs Macquarie's Chair. However, the enclosure of the Domain denied its use to convicts and working-class people — when they continued to use it, Macquarie had them flogged.
Though Macquarie later claimed he had found the colony in a state of 'infant imbecility', he and Elizabeth were initially impressed with Sydney. Together they hatched increasingly elaborate plans to beautify and reshape the urban landscape. Elizabeth contributed her talent and skills to everything from building design to the layout of gardens and public spaces, such as the elegant Macquarie Place.
The Macquaries established the Botanic Gardens and formalised the Government Domain, walling it in and creating a scenic promenade and carriageway for genteel citizens to enjoy. At the end of this road they had a viewing seat cut into a stone cliff, which is still known today as Mrs Macquarie's Chair. However, the enclosure of the Domain denied its use to convicts and working-class people — when they continued to use it, Macquarie had them flogged.