Archibald Mosman: The Field of the Faithful Man

Dimity Mortensen

Archibald Mosman’s name was given to Sydney’s Mosman Bay and the suburb of Mosman on Sydney’s Lower North Shore.

He was father of the Hon. Hugh Mosman of Charters Towers Goldfield fame, of Lady Cecilia Jesse Palmer, wife of Sir Arthur Hunter Palmer, and of Lady Harriett Ann McIlwraith, wife of Sir Thomas McIlwraith; all prominent figures in Queensland politics and society.

Yet little has been known about him, until now.

Born the eldest twin son of a Scottish laird in 1799 in the Midlothian Lowlands of Lanarkshire in the Parish of Lesmahagow on the vast farmland estate of Auchtyfardle, Archibald Mosman went on to be both an enigmatic and often controversial figure in nineteenth century Australian colonial society.

Archibald Mosman: The Field of the Faithful Man chronicles his life as wealthy merchantman, whaler, grazier, vast landholder in both New South Wales and New Zealand, and early merchantman days in Edinburgh and Liverpool. This candid and sometimes confronting portrayal, explores his association with slavery as a young sojourner on plantations in the British West Indies and involvement as an “exclusive” and alleged member of the Black Association, then conversely his role as husband, lover and father. It examines the forces that drove him during his contentious time as magistrate in Armidale through to his final days in virtual obscurity in Randwick at Byron Lodge.

This is his first biography.