Personalities > Edward Macarthur

Edward Macarthur

Edward Macarthur was born in 1789 and was taken to Sydney the next year by his parents John and Elizabeth. After schooling in England he helped his father to depose Governor William Bligh in 1808. He returned to London carrying his father’s version of the rebellion – and the first bale of merino wool to be exported. His career in the British army brought him briefly to Sydney in 1824 and in 1851.

When John died, Edward inherited the family’s property, and he began selling off the estate in 1840, granting land on which the Anglicans built St Bartholomew’s church. He died in 1872.

Related Items

• Elizabeth Macarthur

• John Macarthur

Further Reading

• A.J. Hill, ‘Macarthur, Sir Edward (1789–1872)’ in Australian Dictionary of Biography