Sir John Macarthur, 1st Earl Macarthur, KH (1767--10 April 1834) was a British soldier, colonial adminstrator, pastoralist, architect and pioneer. Macarthur is universally recognised as the father of modern Van Diemen's Land . He served as the first (and only) Lieutenant-Governor of Northern Van Diemen's Land between 1805 and 1810, and as the Dominion's second governor from 1821 to 1827. Macarthur drove the early economy of the island by introducing merino sheep to his estate and by encouraging whaling in the Bass Strait. However, recently, historians have begun reconsidering his untarnished reputation, citing his instrumental role in the so-called "Black War" against the indigenous Vandiemonians.