Earlier this week, Roy was sitting in the garden, enjoying the warm, Spring sunshine when he noticed that our Iris is flowering. Roy loves Iris flowers, and looking at the beautiful bloom reminded him of a story he had heard about Elizabeth Macquarie, the wife of Governor Lachlan Macquarie, and of a statue of her that he had seen and photographed sometime in the past. He went through his archives of photographs and discovered pictures which he took when he visited the statue and decided to share the story with you.
If you would like to visit the Elizabeth Macquarie Statue it is located in Mawson Park, Campbelltown (NSW). Mawson Park is next to the beautiful St Peters Anglican Church and is on the corner of Queen Street and Cordeaux Street. In fact, the park is right in the centre of the Campbelltown CBD! Roy parked on Queen Street, right in front of the park when he visited. The park has plenty of space to run around or kick a ball, but also has toilets, play equipment and beautiful floral gardens. The Elizabeth Macquarie Statue is located in the end of the park near the Anglican Church.
Elizabeth Macquarie is a very important woman in the history of Australia, but she began her life in Scotland, where she was born. It wasn't until she was 26 years old that she met her distant cousin Colonel Lachlan Macquarie. He immediately liked the young woman who was good in a troublesome situation, level headed, had good taste in gardens and was intelligent. In fact, he even noted in his journal that she would make a good wife for a soldier. He proposed to her in 1805, but said they could not marry until after his next posting to India (which was to last 4 years). She accepted and they were married in 1807 when he returned early. When Lachlan Macquarie was given the position of Governor of New South Wales in 1809, his wife accompanied him. When she reached Australia, Elizabeth Macquarie was a very important woman, both as the Governors wife and in her own right, and contributed greatly to the colony. Roy will talk more about some of her exploits in other posts.
What Roy is really interested in today though is why her statue in Mawsons Park shows her with a watering can and is positioned in a bed of Iris's. He knows that Elizabeth Macquarie was interested in gardening, and there are some who suggest she even pioneered Hay making in Australia with the wife of Macarthur (also an Elizabeth), but what is the significance of the Iris's? He discovered that local legend suggests that when Elizabeth Macquarie was accompanying her husband on tours of the colony, particularly in the area around Campbelltown (which is a town named after Elizabeth whose maiden name was Campbell), she took the corns or bulbs of Iris's with her. These were given by her to the local settlers, and sometimes planted on the side of the road. She apparently gave away and planted so many Iris's that blue and white Iris's were once commonly seen growing beside the road to Campbelltown! Her statue in Mawson Park commemorates her love of gardening, and particularly of Iris's, showing her watering her beloved bulbs. To celebrate the bicentennary of Governor Macquarie, a special Iris was developed to commemorate Elizabeth and her love of these plants.