The Very Reverend Hussey Burgh Macartney (1799-1894), first Dean of Melbourne, was associated with the Church of England in Victoria from 1848 until his death in 1894. He worked with the first three bishops of Melbourne and his involvement with the church spans a long period of its early development in Victoria. Dean Macartney was born in Dublin in 1799. He was the son of Sir John Macartney, baronet, a member of the Irish Parliament, and of Catherine Burgh, daughter of the Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer. Macartney was educated at Trinity College, Dublin, where he was awarded the degrees of B.A. in 1821 and D.D. in 1847. He was made deacon on 21 September 1822 and ordained priest on 14 September 1823. He held the livings of Creagh, County Cork (1831-1843), and Kilcock, County Kildare (1843-1847) before migrating to Port Phillip. He sailed in the Stag with his family and Bishop Perry and his party, arriving in Melbourne on 24 January 1848. Macartney was appointed Archdeacon of Geelong in 1848 and Dean of Melbourne in 1852. He held this position until his death at the age of ninety-five. From the departure of Bishop Perry in 1874 until the arrival of Bishop Moorhouse in 1877 Macartney held office as Vicar General.

Macartney married Jane, daughter of Edward Hardman and Rebecca, nee McLintock, on 7 March 1833. After migrating to Port Phillip, Jane Macartney was active in work for various charities in Melbourne. Dean Macartney and Jane had eight children. Their eldest son, John Arthur Macartney, was a well-known Queensland pastoralist. Their second son, Edward Hardman Macartney, was also a pastoralist with land in the Mansfield area of Victoria. Their other son, Hussey Burgh Macartney became a clergyman and was incumbent at St. Mary's Church of England, Caulfield for many years. Two of their daughters died when young, Henrietta Rebecca lived in East Melbourne, Janet married Sir William Watson of Dublin and Charlotte looked after the Dean in his last years.

John Arthur Macartney (1834-1917), eldest son of Dean H. B. Macartney, arrived in Melbourne with his parents in 1848 at the age of fourteen. His first occupation with with a lawyer in Geelong. This was followed by a period spent on the goldfields after which, in 1852, he was appointed judge-associate to Sir Redmond Barry. He later resiged to take up a station in northern Victoria and then, in partnership with Edward Graves Mayne, went to Queensland where he took up Waverley Station, a run 125 miles from Rockhampton, which became his main property and homestead.

Over the next forty years, J. A. Macartney owned some thirty stations in Queensland and the Northern Territory although some were held only for short periods. In addition to developing a pastoral empire, Macartney speculated in mining stocks. He made investments in many Queensland operations but these proved to be financially unsuccessful. Like other large landowners of his time, J. A. Macartney played a role in local government and was on the Bench of Magistrates. He supported the North Queensland Separation League, but his involvement in politics was generally confined to matters which affected his pastoral interests. In early 1880 he also became a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society.

J. A. Macartney prospered until the mid 1880s when, after securing a large bank loan to buy out his partner, E. G. Mayne, bad seasons and stock diseases prevented him fulfilling his commitments. From that time on he was in serious financial trouble until in 1896 he was bought out by his creditor, the Australian Joint Stock Bank and lost most of his holdings. After this crash, Macartney was on the board of the Queensland Land Investment Company and was responsible for supervision of their properties.

In 1861 Macartney married Annie Flora Dunlop, the daughter of A. C. Wallace-Dunlop, a member of the Victorian Legislative Council. They had eight children, four daughters and two sons. Macartney died in July 1917 at Ormiston House, his home in Brisbane. His autobiography, Rockhampton fifty years ago, reminiscences of a pioneer, which was published in 1909, is included in the collection.