Hussey Burgh Macartney (10 April 1799 – 8 October 1894[1][2]) was the inaugural Dean of Melbourne[3] from 1852 until his death.[4][5]

Memorial in St Paul's Cathedral

The son of Sir John Macartney, 1st Baronet, and his second wife Catherine Burgh (daughter of the judge Walter Hussey Burgh), he was born in Dublin, Ireland, and educated at Trinity College.[6] He was ordained in 1823 and was a curate in Banagher, Killoe and Killashee. After this he held incumbencies at Creagh and Kilcock.[7] In 1847 he sailed to Australia with Charles Perry, the first Bishop of Melbourne.[6] Perry made him Archdeacon of Geelong in 1848 and Dean of Melbourne’s new cathedral, St James, four years later. St James was the Anglican cathedral church until St Paul's Cathedral was consecrated in 1891.

In regard to the colonisation of Australia, Macartney was quoted as saying that Aboriginal people "were not the rightful owners of the soil" and had "not been unjustly dispossessed by the white man".[8]

Macartney was married to Jane Macartney (née Hardman) who helped establish and manage various charitable institutions in Melbourne, often with Bishop Charles Perry's wife, Frances Perry. Macartney died in East Melbourne on 9 October 1894.[7]

References

edit
  1. "Obituary", The Times (London, England), 9 October 1894, p. 4.
  2. thePeerage.com
  3. Mahalo
  4. The Clergy List, Clerical Guide and Ecclesiastical Directory, London, Hamilton & Co 1889
  5. "The Very Rev. Hussey Burgh Macartney Ninetieth birthday", The Blackburn Standard and Weekly Express (Blackburn, England), 13 April 1889, p. 2.
  6. 1 2 Mennell, Philip (1892). "Macartney, Very Rev. Hussey Burgh" . The Dictionary of Australasian Biography. London: Hutchinson & Co via Wikisource.
  7. 1 2 Robin, A. De Q. "Macartney, Hussey Burgh (1799–1894)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. ISBN 978-0-522-84459-7. ISSN 1833-7538. OCLC 70677943. Retrieved 6 January 2014.
  8. "NATIVE POLICE REPORT". The Courier (Brisbane). Vol. XVI, no. 1090. Queensland, Australia. 5 August 1861. p. 2. Retrieved 18 October 2020 via National Library of Australia.