page_title: Bathurst War
section_title: Governor Lachlan Macquarie
hierarchical_section_title: Bathurst War / Background / Governor Lachlan Macquarie
caption_attribution_description: English: Lachlan Macquarie attributed to John Opie (1761-1807) Perhaps of Lachlan's brother Charles.Paintings&#160;: 1 oil Paintings in gilt frame&#160;; 74.3 x 61.6 cm. inside frame; 92 x 80 cm. framed
context_page_description: The Bathurst War, was a war between the Wiradjuri nation and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Following the successful Blaxland, Lawson, and Wentworth expedition to find a route through the "impenetrable" Blue Mountains in 1813, this allowed the colony to expand onto the vast fertile plains of the west.
  Settlement of the new land was initially slow, but following a change of government, Governor Thomas Brisbane came to power allowing a flood of land grants to the west of the Blue Mountains. The enormous influx of British colonists put massive strain on the traditional food sources and sacred landmarks of the Wiradjuri. By early 1824, war had broken out in which the Wiradjuri adopted a guerrilla-style approach. After Governor Thomas Brisbane declared martial law the resistance soon collapsed in late 1824.
context_section_description: After passage through the Blue Mountains had been secured, assistant surveyor George Evans and his party had been instructed to further explore the country. Evans' reports confirmed of excellent pastures beyond the mountains to which Governor Macquarie ordered a road be built from the Nepean River. In less than six months the 100-mile (160 km) road had been completed. Soon after Governor Lachlan Macquarie and a large accompanying party set out to view the country. The journey took nine days by coach from Parramatta and on arrival Macquarie's welcoming ceremony was observed by seven Wiradjuri.
  
  Macquarie wrote: 
  "We found here also three male natives and four boys of this newly discovered tract of country, who showed great surprise, mixed with no small degree of fear, at seeing so many strangers, horses and carriages but to whom they soon appeared to be reconciled on being kindly spoken to. They were all clothed with Mantles made of the skins of o'possums which were neatly sewn together and the outside of the skins were carved in a remarkably neat manner. They appear to be very inoffensive and cleanly in their persons."
  Three days later Macquarie inaugurated the town of Bathurst, then continued to tour the surrounding country. In his journal, Macquarie writes of being visited by three male natives and that "to the best looking and stoutest of them I gave a piece of yellow cloth in exchange for his mantle, which he presented me with". It has been theorised that this unknown Wiradjuri man may have been Windradyne, but this cannot be proven. Nevertheless, it would be another eight years before he would become famous to the colony. In 1820, the population of Bathurst was only 114 due to Macquarie's slow and cautious approach to new settlement. His experience of the Hawkesbury and Nepean Wars of 1795–1816 may also have made him hesitant to start a new conflict. It seems that the Wiradjuri were willing to tolerate this slow level of growth and peaceful relations were maintained during this period.
caption: Governor Lachlan Macquarie
exif: {"Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "75", "Image YResolution": "75", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop CS Windows", "Image DateTime": "2015:02:11 03:32:58", "Image ExifOffset": "164", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "302", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "3201", "EXIF ColorSpace": "Uncalibrated", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "820", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "993"}