[1][2] Ryrie came to New South Wales, in 1825, as the new Deputy Commissary General—a rank equivalent to a Lieutenant Colonel or Major—to work in the Commissariat Department of the colony.
Until 1827, Stewart was Lieutenant-Governor of New South Wales, under Darling, who regarded him favourably and granted him land at Mt Pleasant, near Bathurst.
[5][6][2] Ryrie and his family were, therefore, well-connected to Darling's administration and well-placed to benefit from its tendency to nepotism and to favour those of a military background.
[12] It appears that the family fortunes were badly affected, by the drought and economic depression of the early 1840s and probably also by the failure of The Wool Road and the port of South Huskisson.
They made up a song about him, and its words, in the pidgin language that they used when speaking to settlers, were, "Mittee Ryrie, Koaderaduckbidgee chingle house carry, gammon galah, harp blanket gibbit.
The extended Ryrie family grew as a result of intermarriage with other colonial settlers, particularly with female descendants of John Mackenzie (1791–1857) and Alured Tasker Faunce (1808—1856).
(1812—1883) is notable as an explorer of the Snowy Mountains and as a pioneer settler colonist of Jindabyne; he married, Janet, daughter of John Mackenzie.
[25] Elizabeth married Affleck Moodie, Assistant Commissary General of Van Diemen's Land, and lived in Hobart, before dying without children.
[31][32] Their son was Stewart Ryrie Wallace (1847—1870),[33][34][35] and their only other surviving child was a daughter, Mary Elizabeth (1849—1887), who married[36] and was living in England when she died.
[39][40] These two brothers both married daughters of another colonial settler, Alured Tasker Faunce, who were also granddaughters of John Mackenzie and nieces of Janet, the wife of Stewart Ryrie, Jun.. John Cassels Ryrie (1826—1900) withdrew from partnership with his two brothers, in 1865, and took up the 'Maffra' sheep run south of Cooma.