A handwritten note by Lachlan Macquarie, written en route to his appointment as Governor of New South Wales. One of the greatest figures of the early colony, examples of Macquarie's handwriting are now very scarce, and almost all surviving examples have been held long-term by the major Australian institutions.

A handwritten note by Lachlan Macquarie, written en route to his appointment as Governor of New South Wales. One of the greatest figures of the early colony, examples of Macquarie's handwriting are now very scarce, and almost all surviving examples have been held long-term by the major Australian institutions.

Macquarie's early career saw him based in India, where he garnered a reputation as an astute officer. He returned to Scotland in 1807, and the following year he was ordered to sail for New South Wales as a serving lieutenant-colonel in the 73rd Regiment. Major-General Miles Nightingall had been awarded the governorship, but Macquarie boldly wrote to his Commander-in-Chief asking to be sent both as a full colonel and as Lieutenant-Governor, on the grounds that New South Wales provided no real possibility for promotion otherwise. Not only did he succeed in his ambition, when Nightingall changed his mind, Macquarie took the next step of asking to be sent as the Governor himself. Macquarie and his wife Elizabeth sailed on Dromedary on 22 May 1809, accompanied by HMS Hindostan.

The note is written after their landfall at Rio, but before they arrived in Cape Town, and is addressed to Joseph Arnold, a naval surgeon detailed to convey the 73rd to Sydney. It relates to the medical stores on board the two vessels, and shows Macquarie continuing his careful management of all aspects of his command. After apologising for not being in a position to reply earlier, Macquarie writes that he 'has now the pleasure of sending herewith the greater part of the Medicines required by Doctor Arnold.'

Although Arnold duly returned on the Hindostan, he would have more than a passing acquaintance with Sydney, returning in 1815 with the female convict transport Northampton, the first surgeon-superintendent of a convict ship appointed on the British government's adoption of that system. It is not possible to say too much about the relationship between Macquarie and Arnold, although a note in the ADB is apropos: Arnold 'contemplated settling in Sydney to practise but, partly because Macquarie ignored him and partly because he was unable to reduce his living expenses below 13s. a day, he relinquished the idea and took passage for England in the Indefatigable.'