John Macarthur (1767 – 11 April 1834) was a British Army officer, landowner, and politician, best remembered as a key organiser of the 1808 Rum Rebellion and a pioneer of the Australian Merino wool industry. Born in England, Macarthur joined the nascent New South Wales Corps in 1789; he quickly established himself as a particularly unscrupulous, volatile, and entrepreneurial member of the so-called 'Rum Corps'.

Macarthur imported the first Merino Sheep to New South Wales in 1797. His time in the colony was marked by frequent quarrels with other settlers, one of which resulted in his brief expulsion from the colony, but his wool cultivation became the cornerstone of a commercial empire. After disputes with Governor William Bligh, Macarthur orchestrated a coup against Bligh's rule. Despite serving in the military junta which arose from the Rum Rebellion, Macarthur avoided prosecution for mutiny in England, and returned to his profitable colonial landholdings in 1817. In commemoration of his contributions to the Australian wool industry, Macarthur was featured on the Australian two-dollar note from 1966 to 1988.

Early life

John Macarthur was born at Stoke Damerel near Plymouth, England in 1767. His exact date of birth is unknown, but his baptism was registered on 3 September 1767. He was the second son of Alexander Macarthur, who had fled Scotland to the West Indies after the Jacobite rising of 1745 before returning to Plymouth to work as a linen draper and mercer.

In 1782, John Macarthur was commissioned as an ensign in Fish's Corps, a regiment of the British Army formed to serve in the American War of Independence. The war ended before the regiment was ready to sail and was disbanded in 1783. On half-pay, Macarthur went to live on a farm near Holsworthy in Devon, where he became interested in 'rural occupations' and contemplated a career in law. Instead, in April 1788, Macarthur returned to full-pay army duties, securing a commission as an ensign in the 68th Regiment of Foot, stationed at Gibraltar. In that same year, he married Elizabeth Veale of Bridgerule near Holsworthy.

New South Wales Corps

In June 1789, Macarthur secured a lieutenancy with the New South Wales (NSW) Corps, a regiment formed to serve at the recently established convict outpost of Sydney. According to his wife, he had the "expectation of reaping the most material advantages" of being attached to an army regiment in the new colony. It has also been argued that he was driven by a desire to escape the financial and social embarrassment of being the son of a tailor.

The Second Fleet, duel with Captain Gilbert

John and Elizabeth Macarthur, with their infant son Edward, were subsequently enlisted to sail to Sydney with the NSW Corps and 1,006 convicts as part of the Second Fleet on board the Neptune. The Second Fleet became known as the 'Death Fleet' due to its organisation being managed by ex-slavers, resulting in 26% of the convicts dying during the voyage.

thumb|The Neptune of the [[Second Fleet (Australia)|Second Fleet]]

Before the Neptune had even departed the British Isles, Macarthur's 'passionate temper' that came to define much of his future career, saw him become involved in a heated disputation with the vessel's commander Captain Thomas Gilbert. An issue with the size of his cabin caused Macarthur to publicly denounce Gilbert as a great scoundrel and the two fought a duel with pistols on the Plymouth docks in which neither were injured. Macarthur's fellow NSW Corps officer on the ship was the brother of Evan Nepean, the Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department, and in a move that also became typical of Macarthur, he was aided by this political association to have Captain Gilbert replaced as master of the Neptune before the fleet's departure.

Despite the removal of Captain Gilbert, the cramped and squalid accommodation provided for his wife and infant son on board the Neptune provoked further disputes, with Macarthur successfully requesting half-way through the voyage that he and his family be transferred to another vessel of the fleet. In order to advance the breeding of these sheep Macarthur later purchased a large parcel of land at Toongabbie from fellow 'Rum Corps' officer Joseph Foveaux. Macarthur, encouraged by these findings, quit his position in the army and petitioned the government for permission to occupy 10,000 acres of 'unoccupied land' in New South Wales to raise Merino sheep for the large scale production of colonial British wool.

Macarthur also established Australia's first commercial vineyard. He imported vine plants when he returned to New South Wales in 1817, which he successfully cultivated at Camden Park. His Camden Park Estate comprised 60,000 acres by the end of the 1820s.

Australian Agricultural Company

In 1824, a scheme Macarthur had promoted for many years came into existence: a chartered company to mass-produce and export Australian wool. This was the Australian Agricultural Company (AACo). A royal charter allowed the company of 365 initial shareholders investing a combined capital of £1,000,000 to acquire a 1,000,000-acre land grant north of Port Stephens. Macarthur was one of the original directors of the London company and the committee established in New South Wales to manage its operations consisted of his son, son-in-law and nephew. Within the first year these committee members had skimmed around £12,000 of the company's money, while most of the sheep used to stock the massive operation were bought from Macarthur at great profit to him.

Although the AACo came close to becoming insolvent in its early years under the Macarthurs, it went on to become a successful company which still exists today. Macarthur was also a founding investor in the Bank of Australia (1826).

Politician

In 1822, Macarthur was blocked from becoming a magistrate because of his involvement in the Rum Rebellion. However, in 1825 he was appointed to the New South Wales Legislative Council where he served until 1832 when he was removed due to his failing mental health.

During his period in office Macarthur took an ultra-conservative position, protecting the 'exclusive' colonial aristocratic establishment that he was a leader of. Macarthur also supported Governor Ralph Darling in his suppression of the free press, and utilised his advantage to attack high-ranking individuals who opposed him. For example, he attempted to have Chief Justice Francis Forbes impeached for ordering him to pay costs in a legal case where Macarthur was alleged to have instigated a riot.

Insanity and death

In 1832, Macarthur was officially declared a lunatic by Governor Richard Bourke and placed under restraint at his home in Camden.

John Macarthur died at his Camden Park Estate on 11 April 1834 and was buried on the property.

Macarthur is a character in Eleanor Dark's semi-fictional Australian classic trilogy The Timeless Land. In the 1980 television adaptation, he was played by Robin Stewart. He also features in Naomi Novik's fantasy novel Tongues of Serpents. He is also a main character in the Vivian Stuart (writing as William Stuart Long) series "The Australians", written in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

Macarthur FC, an A-League football team is also named after him.

Family

John and Elizabeth Macarthur parented four sons: John, Edward, James and William, the later two being born at Elizabeth Farm; and three daughters: Elizabeth, Mary (who married pastoralist James Bowman) and Emmeline (who married future NSW Premier Henry Parker).

Architectural legacy

right|thumb|Elizabeth Farm

Elizabeth Farm House is one of the oldest remaining farmhouses in Australia, though all that remains of the initial house is said to be one room. Hambledon Cottage was built in 1824 by John Macarthur and Henry Kitchen, in the early Colonial Georgian style. Both the House and Cottage have managed to survive to the present day.

The Camden Park Estate consisted of of prime pasture land with two notable dwellings; Camden Park House and Belgenny Cottage. The original Belgenny Cottage was designed and built by Henry Kitchen in the 1820s. The cottage stood as the John Macarthur's residence while he awaited completion of Camden Park House. It was completed in 1835, just after the death of John Macarthur. The descendants of John Macarthur continue to live in Camden Park House.