Macquarie and his wife, Elizabeth, believed there was a link between the state of the built environment and the state of the community. He felt that good-quality public buildings and streets, laid out in a rational manner, would help to encourage the population to live more orderly and civilised live.

The British government did not share his views. They saw New South Wales as a penal colony, and its inhabitants as undeserving of public expenditure on community development. Those buildings that the Colonial Office in London did sanction, such as the Parramatta Female Factory, were required to cost as little as possible.