In 1838 was sent to New South Wales, where he lived with his grandfather Alexander Macleay at Elizabeth Bay House in Sydney.

[1] From 1850 until 1854 he served in various vessels on the West Coast of Africa and in 1851 he was present at the British attacks on Lagos, in the Bight of Biafra, then a stronghold of the slave trade carried on by the Portuguese.

[2] He was one of the crew sent to Australia in 1857 to recommission the surveying ship HMS Herald under Captain Henry Mangles Denham From 1857 to 1861, when the Herald returned to England, he worked on surveying voyages to King George Sound, Shark Bay, Great Barrier Reef and the Torres Strait.

[3] After returning to England he studied steam navigation at the Royal Naval College, Portsmouth, before he joined the frigate HMS Phaeton, and was at Vera Cruz during the French operations at Mexico.

Having obtained two years' sick leave he came to New South Wales, where he resided up to the time of his death.