New South Wales in the lead-up to Lachie's governorship
In 1810 Macquarie arrived in what the men who ran the British government believed to be nothing but a very attractively far away prison. It's been extremely well argued by some highly capable historians that there were several reasons why the British decided to establish a settlement in Australia. However, there's not a heck of a lot of doubt that one of the very major reasons was the perceived need to put what they regarded, as they peered down their noble Norman noses, as their criminal underclass somewhere where they couldn't cause their "betters" any trouble.
But to understand what was happening to lead-up to Lachie's appointment we really need to go back a bit further first.