Irishman and former merchant Thomas MacQuoid arrived in Sydney in 1829 to begin his appointment as the Sheriff of the Supreme Court of New South Wales. In 1835 MacQuoid purchased ‘Waniassa’, now the Tuggeranong Homestead, from Peter Murdoch, a former superintendent of Convicts of Emu Plains. In 1830 William Wright, MacQuoid’s overseer, and a number of convicts were already living at ‘Waniassa’ pasturing sheep for the Church of England’s Churches’ and Schools’ Corporation.
MacQuoid named his property ‘Waniassa’ after the estate in Java where he lived and had produced coffee crops for the East India Company.
MacQuoid built a stone cottage and barn using convict labour extending his ‘Waniassa’ holdings northwards into the Tuggeranong valley. The barn still exists although it is adapted for a range of modern uses. Part of MacQuoid’s cottage was incorporated into the drawing room of the homestead when it was remodelled 1908.
Sheriff MacQuoid suffered from depressed economic circumstances, caused by severe drought, and ended his own life at his Darlinghurst villa in 1841. MacQuoid’s elder son, Hya, gained the respect of his father’s creditors who allowed him and his aunt and housekeeper, Alecia, to remain on the farm. Through determination and assisted by improved pastoral conditions Hya retrieved the good name of the family by managing the estate until the debts were paid.
Hya returned to visit his family in England and on his return in 1857 drowned aboard the wreck of the clipper ‘Dunbar’ at South Head, Sydney. Hya’s body was never recovered.
Andrew Cunningham from nearby ‘Lanyon’ purchased ‘Waniassa’ in 1858 and it gradually became known as ‘Tuggeranong’.
In 2006 local author, Rebecca Lamb, wrote Sheriff MacQuoid’s biography. The book, entitled ‘MacQuoid of Waniassa: Portrait of a Colonial Sheriff’, examines MacQuoid’s meticulous, intelligent personality and hard working career; one that promised prosperity and prestige in a new colony for him and his family. MacQuoid, instead, stepped straight into controversy, struggled to make a quick fortune and attain a comfortable lifestyle but, like many of his contemporaries, the pressures of office, risky financial ventures and the vagaries of drought and the effects on the colonial economy thwarted their jealous ambitions. MacQuoid’s Supreme Court administration was plagued by controversy and vilification until, 1841, his life ended in tragedy.
Copies of ‘MacQuoid of Waniassa: Portrait of a Colonial Sheriff’ are available from the Tuggeranong Homestead’s Sunday Café during opening hours for a RRP of $30.
Image courtesy of Mitchell Library, State Library of NSW