Governor Macquarie submits his resignation
1st December 1817
Around this day, 1st December 1817, just prior to Allan Cunningham departed Port Jackson on the “Mermaid”, Governor Lachlan Macquarie submitted the first of his resignations as Governor of New South Wales.
Viscount Castlereagh had told him before he left London that he would be given a pension if he stayed eight years as governor. The 1st of December was eight years and one month since he became Governor. At this time he was feeling a great deal of disappointment because he believed he had lost the support of Henry Bathurst, Secretary of State for the Colonies. With the loss of his support, Macquarie did not want to continue as Governor.
His resignation was not acted upon. 1