Mary Putland

[2][3] In 1805, she married John Putland, a lieutenant in the Royal Navy who had served in the victory of the Battle of the Nile under the command of Horatio Nelson.

[1][3] When her father William Bligh was offered the post of Governor of New South Wales, her mother Elizabeth did not wish to accompany him, fearing the long ocean voyage.

Instead, Mary agreed to accompany her father to act as the Lady of the Government House with her husband John Putland to serve as William Bligh's aide-de-camp.

He retained Porpoise to act as its principal naval unit, ordering Short to return to Britain on HMS Buffalo in disgrace.

This was the first Government House in Sydney, built originally for Governor Arthur Phillip although extended on numerous occasions and subsequently demolished in 1845–1846.

To ensure her high status in Sydney society, her mother, Elizabeth Bligh, kept Mary constantly supplied with the latest fashions from London.

In making this appointment, the British government reversed its practice of appointing naval officers as governor and chose an army commander in the hope that he could secure the co-operation of the unruly New South Wales Corps,[7] and aided by the fact Macquarie arrived in New South Wales at the head of his own military unit, the 73rd Regiment of Foot, led by Maurice Charles O'Connell (also the new Lieutenant-Governor).

At the head of regular troops, Macquarie was unchallenged by the New South Wales Corps, whose members had become settled in farming, commerce and trade.

The couple were married quickly on 8 May 1810 at Government House and Mary remained in Sydney with her new husband, while William Bligh returned to England alone.

In August 1813, Macquarie wrote in a dispatch to Lord Bathurst that, "though lieutenant-colonel O'Connell is naturally a very well disposed man ... it would greatly improve the harmony of the country ... if the whole of the officers and men of the 73 regiment were removed from it".