In regard to the colonisation of Australia, Macartney was quoted as saying that Aboriginal people "were not the rightful owners of the soil" and had "not been unjustly dispossessed by the white man".[8]
Macartney was married to Jane Macartney (née Hardman), who helped establish and manage various charitable institutions in Melbourne, often with Bishop Charles Perry's wife, Frances Perry.
One son, Hussey Burgh Macartney, junior, was vicar of St. Mary's Anglican Church Caulfield, Victoria, for 30 years. Another was John Arthur Macartney, a Queensland pastoralist.
A grandson, Hussey Burgh George Macartney, was a captain in the Royal Fusiliers who was injured in the Boer War and died in the Great War.
A great-grandson, Jim Macartney, was a noted newspaper editor and media figure in Western Australia.