Macquarie’s liberal attitude towards convicts was a major source of controversy, both in the colony and in Britain. He took the view that once they had served their sentences, former convicts should be free to undertake any role or profession for which they had the skills. He granted pardons and tickets of leave more liberally than previous governors and sought to minimise the use of corporal punishment.

In his farewell speech, in December 1821, he said, ‘My constant maxim and principle being, to reward merit and punish vice, wherever I found them, without regard to rank, class or description of persons’.