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M
MacARTHUR (also McARTHUR), JOHN (1791–1862), officer of the marines; Little is known of MacArthur’s
early life except that he was the son of James MacArthur and that he had a brother Hannibal three years his senior
who later became a prominent pastoralist and businessman in New South Wales. However, the records of the
Royal Marines provide information on his distinguished naval career.
On 14 April 1809, MacArthur became a Second Lieutenant and had served on seven ships when he was
promoted to First Lieutenant on 25 September 1827. On 10 July 1837, John MacArthur was promoted to the rank
of Captain.
It was during this period of his rank as Captain that he held the position of acting commandant, later commandant,
at Port Essington on the north coast of Australia, and his sons James and John spent time there with him, both
holding the position of storekeeper. James left for Sydney on HMS Britomart in September 1841. John arrived in
Port Essington on HMS Meander in 1849.
Early in 1838, HMS Alligator and HMS Britomart sailed from England with MacArthur and the 21 Royal
Marines who were to make up the new garrison at Port Essington. One of these men was George Windsor Earl,
a linguist and a draughtsman, who later wrote about his experiences. Captain Bremer had instructed MacArthur
to ascertain a suitable site for a settlement. It was MacArthur who named the site Victoria after the present British
monarch. In 1839 Bremer left Port Essington to take command of the Indian Station and MacArthur was left in
charge.
MacArthur’s letters and dispatches give away little of his personal feelings. Even after his 11-year stay at
Port Essington, he left no record of how he felt about the abandonment of the settlement. He does however display
a descriptive pen and shows a flair for natural science, as did many of his educated contemporaries. ‘It is quite
a mistaken notion which has obtained with some that our flowers are without fragrance and our birds without
song. Some of the shrubs produce the most odoriferous flowers as do several bulbous rooted plants, and there are
two remarkably fine birds that might vie with our thrush for song and several smaller birds that would be much
esteemed in England.’
In a letter to Bremer, MacArthur refers to some of the recreational activities enjoyed by the men at the settlement
‘when the garrison partook of amusement with a bat and ball’. Also wrestling matches and running competitions
were popular with members of the crew of visiting ships—no doubt a welcome relief from the monotony of life
in a small community.
High hopes had been held for the success of Port Essington as a trading post but by 1840, it was already
showing signs of stagnation. The site proved to be out of the way for the Macassan trepangers and Dutch control
of the Macassan economy depleted any hopes of British trade. The official papers indicated an attack on Earl’s
estimates on the viability of the trepang industry and it was felt that the potential had been overstated.
Land sales had been mooted to be an economic option. In a dispatch to Lord Stanley on 11 August 1843,
Sir George Gipps advocated it was desirable that Captain MacArthur be authorised to sell land in small quantities’.
Land could be held under a ‘permissive lease’ but Bremer had maintained that such tenure did not and would not
attract investors from southern colonies. MacArthur had earlier suggested the possibility of selling land to the
Malays and Chinese but this was not done. Nor was the plan to sell land to residents at the settlement. It would
seem that they were more concerned with leaving.
By November 1843 MacArthur appealed to the governor to relieve the little garrison ‘without loss of time’ and
this relief came for officers and men in 1845 although their commandant was to remain at Port Essington another
five years. T H Huxley provides some insight into the relations between officers: ‘Each man seemed to hate the
other with a most delightful cordiality and the only thing in which they were united was in the most unqualified
abuse of the whole settlement.’
It has been argued that because of the failure of the two earlier military outposts, Port Essington was created
with a handicap. Certainly there does not appear to be the same naive optimism that was expressed in earlier times
by Captain Bremer and Major Campbell. However, MacArthur consistently displayed an incredible amount of
staying power and a manner befitting a commandant at all times. This image is supported by notable visitors such
as Dumont D’Urville and Ludwig Leichhardt.
Port Essington did not experience major health problems until in 1843 a visitor introduced the malarial virus.
It claimed many victims for a number of years including Aborigines, a sad irony in the light of the fact that race
relations had been reasonably amicable. One of the victims of malaria was Father Angelo Confalonieri who had
survived a shipwreck only to be spared for such a miserable fate in 1848.
The men who brought their wives with them seem to have had no notion of what they were coming to. Among
them was one officer, Lieutenant George Lambrick, who arrived with his young wife Emma and their baby.
A fever subsequently claimed her life and the lives of two of their children. Lambrick remained at the settlement
with MacArthur until it was abandoned.
On 30 November 1849, the British burned their labours of 11 years and turned their backs on Port Essington.
A 21-gun salute was fired from HMS warship Meander as a final farewell. After a brief stay in Sydney MacArthur,
with the majority of the Royal Marines who had survived Port Essington, boarded HMS Rattlesnake for England
and arrived on 9 November 1850.