[1] Macfarlan's paternal grandfather, Alfred Ingram Macfarlan (1861-1929), was nephew of the timber merchant and philanthropist John Goodlet, and held a senior position in the family business, Goodlet & Smith, as company secretary.
He subsequently graduated in Arts and Law (with first class honours) from the University of Sydney.
[3] From 1972 to 1976, Macfarlan worked as a solicitor at Sydney law firm Blake Dawson Waldron.
[3] In 1972, Macfarlan married Janine Carmel O'Brien; they had two sons and a daughter before the dissolution of their marriage in 1997.
He married secondly, in 1998, literary consultant and former barrister[4] Nicole Estelle, daughter of judge Alan Richard Abadee, AM, RFD; they have a son.