Lachlan Macquarie was born in the town of Ulva in Scotland in 1761, and grew up on the island of Mull. After a limited education in Edinburgh, he enlisted in the Royal Highland Immigrants in 1776, seeing service in Nova Scotia, New York, Charleston and Jamaica.

In 1788 he was promoted to lieutenant and sailed to India where he rose to become a lieutenant colonel and a military secretary to the governor of Bombay. In 1793 he met his future wife, Jane Jarvis, but barely three years later she died of consumption. He returned to England for a period of leave in 1803, and met Elizabeth Henrietta Campbell of Airds. The couple became engaged, and after further service in India he returned home in 1807 and the couple were wed.

Macquarie had up to this point supervised various projects such as road building, supplies, transport and payroll duties. However he had managed to secure various posts for friends and relatives, and under pressure he was prone to drink heavily. In 1808 Macquarie was posted to Australia in command of the 73rd Regiment.

His term of office lasted from 1810 until 1821, and was characterised by a lot of hard work, which included introducing an efficient system of government and a banking system. He was instrumental in the setting up of the Bank of New South Wales, and introducing a single currency.

Where once a disorganised colony had greeted him in Sydney, he left an organised expanding settlement. He had opponents who disagreed with his policy of emancipation, whereby he said that the convict who was well behaved should have his sentence reduced or abolished completely, providing they did not re-offend.

Macquarie left the colony in 1822, when he was forced to fight for his reputation and a pension following unfavourable reports from Commissioner J.T. Bigge. He then travelled through Europe from 1823 to 1824, and returned to Mull with his wife and son. Lachlan Macquarie died in London in July 1824. His body was returned to his Scottish estate and buried there.

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