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Scottish administrator in Australia. He succeeded Admiral Bligh as governor of New South Wales in 1809, raised the demoralized settlement to prosperity, and did much to rehabilitate ex-convicts. In 1821 he returned to Britain in poor health, exhausted by struggles with his opponents. Lachlan River and Macquarie River and Island are named after him.

Born on the Hebrides Islands, Macquarie joined the British army in 1776 and served in Canada, India, and Egypt and fought in the American War of Independence. Following the Rum Rebellion against Governor Bligh, he was appointed governor of New South Wales, arriving in the colony December 1809 and being sworn in 1 January 1810. He managed to stamp out the rum trade and bring increased stability and prosperity to the colony. His term of office is remembered for an extensive public works programme, the establishment of the Bank of New South Wales, and the extension of the colony by further inland exploration and the creation of new towns. He opened the first school for Aborigines. His liberal policy towards emancipists (freed convicts), as in appointing them to public positions, aroused the opposition of many free settlers, and mainly as a result of this, Commissioner John Bigge was sent to report on the colony. Macquarie greatly resented criticisms of him made in the Bigge Report published after his resignation 1821. He left the colony in poor health 1922 to return to London. Many Australian places, streets, and institutions are named after him, including Macquarie University in Sydney.

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