At 23, John Macarthur’s military career was in trouble. He arrived in Sydney with a wife and sick child and through speculation and cunning, his wealth and influence grew over a few decades and he became one of the most prosperous colonists in New South Wales.

His ambition and abrasive personality brought him into conflict with successive Governors. On two occasions he travelled to London to defend his name: in 1801 for his part in a duel with Lieutenant-Governor Paterson and in 1808 for his role in deposing Governor Bligh. Exiled in England until 1817 Macarthur pursued commercial opportunities, in particular the promotion of the colony’s fine wool.

Ever an enemy of ‘emancipists’, or freed convicts, who challenged the dominance of landowning ‘exclusives’, Macarthur’s story is coloured with turmoil and conflict. When poor health forced him away from public life in 1832, few were sad to see him go. "He is now a wayward child and remains at home brooding,” said Governor Darling, “but I expect is not altogether idle.”