Australia’s first bank, the Bank of New South Wales, opened in Sydney on 17 April 1817, by proclamation of Governor Macquarie.

Its establishment was prompted by economic instability in the colony caused by a series of financial setbacks, including an oversupply of goods from India in 1811, an economic depression from 1812 to 1814, drought in 1815, and the impacts of financial turmoil following the end of the Napoleonic Wars. These issues, combined with the small size of the colony’s market, the great distance from alternative supplies, the risk inherent in shipping and the instability of the currency, informed Macquarie’s support for the bank.

The bank’s first chairman was Macquarie’s secretary, John Campbell, with D’Arcy Wentworth, William Redfern, John Harris, Robert Jenkins, Thomas Wylde, and Alexander Riley as its directors. The first branch opened in the store of Mary Reibey, a successful emancipist businesswoman.

News of the bank’s proclamation did not please the Secretary of State for the Colonies, Lord Bathurst, who saw no need for such an institution in a penal colony and so instructed Macquarie to revoke it. Macquarie, however, ignored the directive.