Mention the term ’colonial architect’ in New South Wales and most people would respond with the name Francis Greenway. That is quite understandable, but let’s bring another deserving character out of the shadows. Who better to speak of John Cliffe Watts’ ability and character than Elizabeth Macquarie?
Read more →At the end of PART ONE of this story, we left Miss Elizabeth Campbell fretting over her fiance Lachlan Macquarie’s lack of eagerness to return from army duties in India. Clearly something had to be done. Fortuitously, Henrietta Meredith had a friend and family connection by the
Read more →APOLOGIES IN ADVANCE, THIS STORY IS A BIT COMPLICATED! When St John’s church at Parramatta (New South Wales) was being remodelled circa 1817, Elizabeth Macquarie offered some advice to the project’s architect, Lieutenant John Watts (1786-1873). In 1895 Watts’ daughter, Mrs Margaret Elizabeth Bagot wrote; ‘Mrs Macquarie
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