
Allan Macpherson (24 October 1818 – 6 November 1891) was a
squatter
Squatting is the action of occupying an abandoned or unoccupied area of land or a building, usually residential, that the squatter does not own, rent or otherwise have lawful permission to use. The United Nations estimated in 2003 that there ...
, pastoralist and politician in the colony of New South Wales, a member of the
Legislative Assembly.
Early life
Macpherson was born at
Blairgowrie,
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to th ...
.
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
Roma or ROMA may refer to:
Places Australia
* Roma, Queensland, a town
** Roma Airport
** Roma Courthouse
** Electoral district of Roma, defunct
** Town of Roma, defunct town, now part of the Maranoa Regional Council
* Roma Street, Brisbane, a ...
in Queensland.
Macpherson's account of his experiences as a squatter,
recounts his constant conflicts with the Aboriginal peoples of the
Mandandanji nation. He returned to Scotland in 1850,
and in 1853 he married
Emma Blake
Emma may refer to:
* Emma (given name)
Film
* ''Emma'' (1932 film), a comedy-drama film by Clarence Brown
* ''Emma'' (1996 theatrical film), a film starring Gwyneth Paltrow
* ''Emma'' (1996 TV film), a British television film starring Kate B ...
, daughter of
Charles Henry Blake
Charles Henry Blake (1794–1872) was a British indigo planter and industrialist in India, who became a property developer and railway company director in London.
Early life
He was the son of Benjamin Blake, a sea captain turned indigo planter in ...
and his wife, Frances. He visited Australia in 1856-57 and sold his squatting properties,
before his family moved to Sydney in 1862.
[ A history of the Macphersons of Blairgowrie, Scotland.]
Politics
Macpherson was a candidate for the
New South Wales Legislative Assembly
The New South Wales Legislative Assembly is the lower of the two houses of the Parliament of New South Wales, an Australian state. The upper house is the New South Wales Legislative Council. Both the Assembly and Council sit at Parliament House ...
as the member for
Central Cumberland at the
1860 election
The following elections occurred in the year 1860. Most notably, the 1860 United States presidential election was one of the events that precipitated the American Civil War.
North America United States
* California's at-large congressional distr ...
, but was unsuccessful. He won the seat at the
1863 by-election, and held it at the
1864-5 election. 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.
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,
[ A history of the Macphersons of Blairgowrie, Scotland.] and he died there on .
See also
*
Clan Macpherson
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Macpherson, Allan
1818 births
1891 deaths
People from Blairgowrie and Rattray
Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly
19th-century Australian politicians
Scottish emigrants to colonial Australia