Lachlan Macquarie

View of Government domain & part of Sydney, taken from Bunkers Hill, N.S.Wales

Life at Government House in the Macquarie era

Historian Jane Kelso describes a busy schedule of social gatherings and official events at Sydney's Government House during the governorship of Lachlan Macquarie

Portrait of a man in military uniform
On This Day

1 Jan 1810 - Macquarie became Governor of NSW

On this day Lachlan Macquarie was sworn in as the fifth Governor of New South Wales

Hand coloured front elevation of the south wing.

Francis Greenway: the ‘future safety’ of the Rum Hospital buildings

When Sydney’s Rum Hospital was completed in 1816, the buildings were already showing signs of potential collapse, but newly-appointed Civil Architect Francis Greenway came to the rescue

Large 2 storey building with deep verandahs, steps leading to lower verandah and bushes and driveway in the foreground.
Museum stories

A rum deal

When Lachlan Macquarie began his term as governor of NSW in 1810, Sydney was in desperate need of a new hospital

Series of brass cogs and wheels.

Conserving Australia’s oldest public clock

On its 200th anniversary, Australia’s oldest surviving public clock received some much-needed conservation and care

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Convict Sydney

The Convicts’ Colony

Part one starts in 1788 with Sydney established as a British convict colony on the clan lands of the Gadigal people

Sydney visionaries

Cities are collective enterprises that reflect the decisions, dreams and lives of innumerable citizens, past and present

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Convict Sydney

For the civic good

With the Napoleonic Wars over in 1815 and Britain crowded with returned soldiers, poverty and crime, part two finds the colony swamped with incoming convicts

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Convict Sydney

Sandstock bricks

Sandstock bricks such as these were the building blocks of Governor Macquarie’s ambitious public works scheme for Sydney