Francis Greenway on the first Australian 10-dollar note.
Greenway was an architect of some eminence in Bristol, until his firm went bankrupt.
Under great financial stress, Greenway took a desperate step that he shouldnt havehe forged some documents.
In 1812, Greenway was found guilty and sentenced to death, as was typical at that time.
This sentence was later commuted to transportation to the colony of New South Wales for 14 years.
Greenway was offended at the request and replied that his deigns were superior to those in the book.
Greenway was critical of the building techniques and design, and suggested extensive and expensive alterations.
Impressed by Greenways mettle, Macquarie appointed Greenway the civil architect and assistant engineer in 1816.
Macquarie was so pleased with it that he presented Greenway with conditional pardon.
After the success of this project Greenway went on to build many significant buildings in the new colony.
Although Greenway was a talented architect, he was not an amiable person.
His arrogance made him fell out of Macquaries favor and he made many enemies.
He cancelled many of Greenway’s projects as being too extravagant, and interfered with others.
Macquaries successor as Governor, Sir Thomas Brisbane, eventually had him dismissed from his position in 1822.
This was quite the irony because Greenway was a convicted forger.
