The settlement was so small, the life was such an uneventful one, that it
would be wonderful indeed if men did not quarrel, and these two men were
naturally antagonistic to each other.
Hunter was an old-fashioned naval officer, sixty years of age, and fifty
of those years had been spent in disinterested service to his country, "a
pleasant, sensible old man," says a young ship's officer, writing home to
his father; and in another letter, published in a newspaper of 1798, we
are told that "much may be expected from Captain Hunter, whose virtue and
integrity is as conspicuous as his merit."
MacArthur was a comparatively young man, who had come to the colony less
with the intention of soldiering than of making himself a home. He was an
excellent colonist and a perfectly honourable man, but he was the very
worst kind of a subordinate that a man with Hunter's lack of strong
personality could have under him. MacArthur wanted to develop the
resources of the colony and improve his farm at the same time, and that he
had it in him to do these things is proved by after-events. The name of
MacArthur, the father of the merino wool industry, is the best-remembered
name in Australia to-day; but poor old Hunter could not recognise the
soldier man's merits, and so he added to his legitimate quarrel with the
meaner hucksters of his officials the quarrel with the enterprising
MacArthur; and, although there is no written evidence to prove it, there
is little doubt that MacArthur's letters to England had due effect upon
the minds of the home authorities.
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