Allan Macpherson

{{Short description|Australian politician}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2021}}

{{Use Australian English|date=August 2021}}

File:Emma Macpherson and Family in 1884 at Blairgowrie Scotland.jpg

Allan Macpherson (24 October 1818 – 6 November 1891) was a squatter, pastoralist and politician in the colony of New South Wales, a member of the Legislative Assembly.

Early life

Macpherson was born at Blairgowrie, Scotland.{{Cite NSW Parliament |name=Mr Allan Macpherson (1818-1891) |id=478 |former=Yes |access-date=13 May 2019}}

He went to Sydney, Australia with his parents Willam and Jessie Macpherson (née Chalmers) in 1829 where he attended Cape's School and later squatted on the rural properties of Keera near Bingara, New South Wales and Mount Abundance near Roma in Queensland.{{cite book |first=Allan |last=Macpherson |title=Mount Abundance: or The Experiences of a Pioneer Squatter in Australia |url=https://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks09/0900601h.html |location=London |year=1879 |via=Project Gutenberg Australia}} Macpherson's account of his experiences as a squatter, recounts his constant conflicts with the Aboriginal peoples of the Mandandanji nation.{{Cite web|url=https://mandandanji.com.au/mandandanji/|title=Mandandanji People|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181008091526/https://mandandanji.com.au/mandandanji/|archive-date=8 October 2018|url-status=live}} He returned to Scotland in 1850, and in 1853 he married Emma Blake, daughter of Charles Henry Blake and his wife, Frances. He visited Australia in 1856-57 and sold his squatting properties,{{cite QHR|15146|Mount Abundance Homestead|600371|accessdate=2021-02-23}}{{cite book |author=A lady |author-link=Emma Macpherson |title=My Experiences in Australia: Being Recollections of a Visit to the Australian Colonies in 1856-7 |url=https://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks09/0900601h.html |year=1860 |via=Project Gutenberg Australia}} before his family moved to Sydney in 1862.{{cite book |title=A Private Empire |publisher=Murdoch Books Australia |location=Sydney |year=2010 |first=Stephen |last=Foster |isbn=9781742668925}} A history of the Macphersons of Blairgowrie, Scotland.

Politics

Macpherson was a candidate for the New South Wales Legislative Assembly as the member for Central Cumberland at the 1860 election, but was unsuccessful.{{cite NSW election |year=1860 |district=Central Cumberland |access-date=24 August 2020}} He won the seat at the 1863 by-election,{{cite NSW election |title=Central Cumberland by-election 1863 |year=1860 |district=CentralCumberland_1 |access-date=24 August 2020}} and held it at the 1864-5 election.{{cite NSW election |year=1864-5 |district=Central Cumberland |access-date=24 August 2020}} He was involved in the first physical fight in the Legislative Assembly in February 1868, with Macpherson taunting Benjamin Lee, to which Lee responded by punching Macpherson in the face, whilst still in the house and Macpherson horsewhipping Lee after he had been ejected by the serjeant-at-arms.{{Australian Dictionary of Biography |id2=lee-benjamin-4005 |title=Lee, Benjamin (1825–1917) |first=Martha |last=Rutledge |volume=5 |year=1974 |access-date=2021-02-23}}{{cite news |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article13162006 |title=Legislative Assembly |newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |date=27 February 1868 |access-date=23 February 2021 |page=2 |via=Trove}} Macpherson did not hold any ministerial office and resigned in December 1868.

Later life

Macpherson and his family once more returned to Blairgowrie in 1868,{{cite book |title=A Private Empire |publisher=Murdoch Books Australia |location=Sydney |year=2010 |first=Stephen |last=Foster |isbn=9781742668925}} A history of the Macphersons of Blairgowrie, Scotland. and he died there on {{death date and age|1891|11|6|1818|10|24|df=y}}.{{cite web |url=https://oa.anu.edu.au/obituary/macpherson-allan-13370 |title=Macpherson, Allan (1818–1891) |newspaper=Blairgowrie Advertiser |location=Scotland |date=7 November 1891 |page=3 |via=Obituaries Australia |access-date=2021-02-23}}

See also

References

{{Reflist}}

 

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{{s-bef|before=James Atkinson}}

{{s-ttl | title=Member for Central Cumberland | |years=1864 – 1867 |alongside=Laycock / Hay / Lackey}}

{{s-aft|after=Samuel Lyons}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Macpherson, Allan}}

Category:1818 births

Category:1891 deaths

Category:People from Blairgowrie and Rattray

Category:Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly

Category:19th-century Australian politicians

Category:Scottish emigrants to colonial Australia

Category:19th-century squatters