E40: The British Empire Strikes Back

Governor Lachlan Macquarie was on a sincere mission to lift up the former convicts known as emancipists. For years that project had gone his way — until the colonial establishment struck back and set out to put these “uppity” emancipists in their place.

In this episode the church, the courts and then London itself flip from supporting the Governor to becoming his trenchant critics. Macquarie never wavers from his pro-emancipist stance, but under pressure he begins to act foolishly act in anger. London’s answer is decisive: Commissioner John Bigge is sent with wide-ranging powers to audit the entire Australian experiment. Macquarie knows his time is up.

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The Hon. John Ruddick MLC is a member of the NSW Legislative Council. 

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