 In 1818, former convict Michael Massey Robinson was paid by colony governor Lachlan Macquarie for services as poet laureate.Over the years, other poets have been nominated as worthy of such a title, including James Brunton Stephens (1835–1902), Andrew Barton 'Banjo' Paterson (1864–1941), and Les Murray (1938–2019).The first Poet Laureate of Belgium was chosen in 2014.