The origin of the name "Australia" is closely associated with Governor Lachlan Macquarie.

"Australia", as a name for the country which we now know by that name, was suggested by Matthew Flinders, but first used in an official dispatch by Macquarie in 1817, in petitioning the British Admiralty to use the name instead of "New Holland".

Macquarie is regarded as having been ambivalent towards the Australian Aborigines.

He ordered punitive expeditions against the aborigines.

However, when dealing with friendly tribes, he developed a strategy of nominating a 'chief' to be responsible for each of the clans, identified by the wearing of a brass breast-plate engraved with his name and title.

This way of negotiation, although typically European, often does reflect the actual status of elders within tribes.

Despite opposition from the British government, Macquarie encourages the creation of the colony's first bank, the Bank of New South Wales, in 1817.