The tale of Lachlan Macquarie — the Father of Australia
Highlander Lachlan Macquarie almost single-handedly shaped modern Australia, and new docu-drama to be broadcast by the BBC on Wednesday — Australia Day — aims to shed light on his remarkable life.
Clive Russell as Lachlan Macquarie. © BBC Pictures.
- By Jack McKeown
- Published in the Courier : 24.01.11
- Published online : 24.01.11 @ 06.52pm
Go to Australia and you can swim in Lake Macquarie, paddle along the Macquarie River, look over Sydney Harbour Bridge and Opera House from Mrs Macquarie's Point, and stroll along countless Macquarie Streets and Avenues. It's fair to say Lachlan Macquarie was a pretty big deal over there.
"Not only is he a folk hero in Australia," says Clive Russell, who plays Macquarie in the BBC2 programme, Father of Australia. "He was also — as far as anyone can work out — the first person to actually call the country Australia."
Clive, who lives in Cellardyke, is a veteran of the small screen, having played roles in Monarch of the Glen, Waking the Dead, Still Game, Silent Witness, Cracker and Coronation Street.
He'll be hitting the big screens this summer playing Captain Tanner in the second of the Robert Downey Jr Sherlock Holmes films.
"We filmed part of Father of Australia at Old Government House in New South Wales, which has been perfectly preserved. It's a stunning building. In fact, Macquarie had a lot of beautiful buildings commissioned during his time.
"Partly this was because he had a huge ego, but it was also partly because he genuinely believed Australia was a great country and that it deserved great architecture."
The Father of Australia stars Clive as Macquarie, with Julie Wilson Nimmo playing his wife and former Doctor Who David Tennant narrating.
Lachlan Macquarie was born into a Gaelic-speaking community in 1761, at a time when Gaels were despised.
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