A Change in Cirumstance : Individual Responses to Colonial Life

Abstract

In order to understand how integral the European conception of property was to the first settlers of Australia, this thesis explores the everyday experience of five unique individuals from the colonial setting and their interaction with the land in the redevelopment of traditional social hierarchies in a place formally without. The individuals selected for consideration within this thesis are a representational cross-section of the colonial society which was established at NSW. They are: the twice convicted felon Margaret Catchpole; the Governor’s wife, Elizabeth Macquarie; self-made blue blood, John Macarthur, settler’s daughter, Mary Rouse and Commissioner John Bigge.