THE society's heritage from the MACIjEATS. 591 



George Macleay subsequently became the owner of the Brownlow Hill pro- 

 perty, and it was his home until his return to England in 1859. In a letter to his 

 mother, written from Brownlow Hill on June 5th, 1857, the Governor, Sir William 

 Denison, who had visited George Macleay there on two previous occasions, says — 

 "The j)lace where we are stopping is very prettily situated on a curious flat-topped 

 knoll, rising out of a plain by the side of a brook; the soil is beautiful; I never 

 saw such a growth either of flowers or fruit-trees as is shown in a garden whicli 

 has just been made in the alluvial soil of the flat." [Varieties of Vice-Regal Life, 

 Vol. i., p. 385, 1870.] 



Additional testimony is afforded by a reprint of a lecture delivered at the 

 Sydney School of Arts, in 1834, bv Mr. Thomas Shepherd. This pioneer nursery- 

 man and horticulturist arrived in Sydney on February 12th, 1826. He received 

 a grant of land, at what is now Chijipendale, from Governor Darling, to enable 

 him to establish a public nursery and fruit-garden, long afterwards known as the 

 Darling Nursery. In giving an account of his early experiences, Mr. Shepherd 

 said : "About this time [January, 1827] I began to collect stock for budding and 

 gi-afting fruit-trees upon; and also other plants of various kinds, to commence 

 the nureery. Mr. "William Macarthur, of Camden, furnished me with a choice 

 collection of gTafts and trees. Mr. Alexander Macleay, of Elizabeth Bay, wa-s 

 also a benefactor in supplying me with numerous species and varieties of fruit, 

 ornamental trees, shrubs, and flower-roots; and it is to these two gentlemen that 

 the early settlers were principally indebted for the numerous varieties of fruit and 

 other trees raised in those days." ["In tlie 'Tliirties' : A Pioneer Gardener," by 

 A. P.O. In "On the Land" column, Siidneii Morning Herald, .luly 2nd, 1913.] 



Elizabeth Bay House apparently was not occupied until after Mr. Macleay's 

 retirement from the position of Colonial Secretary. In the Mitchell Library there 

 is a copy of a "catalogue of an extensive and valuable library of nearly 4000 

 volumes, comprising the major part of the well-selected Library of Alexander 

 McLeay, Esqr.. M.C., who is removing to the country," to be sold by auction in 1-4 

 April [the year not given, probably 1837]. This may be taken to indicate that 

 the removal from Bridge Street to Elizabeth Bay was carried out soon after. At 

 this time Alexander Macleay was in his 70th year. The expenditure on the Eliza- 

 beth Bay property amounted to not less than £10,000 ; and- the successful way in 

 which the garden had been developed is said to have given a marked stimulus to 

 ornamental gardening in Sydney. 



William Sharp Macleay, M.A., F.L.S. 



Eldest son of Alexander Macleay, born in London, July 21st, 1792 — Edu- 

 cated at AVestminster, and Trinity College, Cambridge — On leaving the Uni- 

 versity, appointed Attache to the British Embassy in France: subsequently 

 Secretary to the Board for liquidating British claims on the French Govern- 

 ment, established at the peace of 1815 — 1825, Commissioner of Arbitration to 

 the Mixed British and Spanish Court of Commission for the Abolition of the 

 Slave Trade established at Havana, Cuba : 1830, Commissary Judge of the 

 same Court : 1836, Judge of the Mixed British and Spanish Court of Justice 

 established under the Treaty of 1835—1836, returned to England; 1837, re- 

 tired from the Public Service, upon a pension — 1838. left England for Aus- 

 tralia with his cousins William and John, arriving in Sydney in March, 1839 — 

 1865, died in Sydney, on .lanuary 26th : buried in the family tomb in Camper- 

 down Cemetery: cenotaph in St. James' Church. 



