| Brisbane,
Sir Thomas Makdougall , 1773–1860,
British soldier, astronomer, and colonial administrator in Australia,
b. Scotland. From 1793 to 1814 he served in the army in Flanders, in the
West Indies, in Spain, and in Canada, rising to the rank of brigadier
general. In 1821 he was appointed governor of New South Wales, where he
encouraged agriculture, land reclamation, exploration, and, most important,
immigration, thus stimulating the transformation of New South Wales from
a dependent convict outpost into a free, self-supporting colony. He had
poor financial sense, however, and was recalled in 1825. Brisbane had
an observatory built (1822) at Paramatta, near Sydney, where work was
done (1822–26) resulting in the “Brisbane Catalogue” of 7,385 stars. After
his return to Scotland, he founded an observatory at Makerstoun, where
valuable observations on magnetism were started (1841); these were incorporated
into three volumes in the transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.
He was made president of the society in 1833. The city of Brisbane and
the Brisbane River in Australia were named for him. |