The Macquaries and Glenorchy

 

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If Lauchlan Macquiarie did name Glenorchy Tasmania (Van Dieman's Land then) after his wife's, Elizabeth's, 'home', one has to wonder what he might have seen in this place, or  its PLACEscape,  in 1811, almost as far from home as it is possible to get without again getting closer, that reminded him. or Elizabeth, of home –  [ 1 ] • [ 2 ] .Whatever, there is power in naming – and never more so than in the naming of places.

Were Lauchlan and Elizabeth musing upon home while being elsewhere? Indeed were they mindful of the HOMEness of here or were they imaging that here could be translated into home as far away from it as one can get? Perhaps they had other thoughts?

In any event it is an interesting muse in 2011 given that Tasmanian Glenochians believe that Macquarie named their home for his wife's. In the context of 21st C NOWness & HEREness it is an interesting muse that may help us better understand the 'placedness' before us now.