The Rum Rebellion

https://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/stories/terra-australis-australia/1808-rum-rebellion





On 26th January 1808, officers and men of the New South Wales Corps marched to Government House in Sydney in an act of rebellion against Governor William Bligh.

Bligh was arrested and the colony was placed under military rule. This was the only time in Australian history that a government was overthrown by a military coup.

The military stayed in power for two years until Lachlan Macquarie, the fifth Governor of NSW, assumed office at the beginning of 1810. The overthrow of Bligh much later became known as the ‘Rum Rebellion’ because the NSW Corps was heavily involved in the trade in rum in the colony and was nicknamed the ‘Rum Corps’. The term 'Rum Rebellion' was not used at the time. The factors leading up to Bligh’s arrest had much less to do with the rum trade and much more to do with a battle for power between the military and civil elites of the colony and the Governor.

A Governor representing the British government ruled the penal colony of New South Wales. He took instruction from the government in London and was responsible for implementing government policy and maintaining order in the Colony. The officers and men of the New South Wales Corps were stationed in the Colony to support the Governor. Many of the men in the New South Wales Corps were recruited from the unemployed in Britain though many were skilled, victims of the Industrial Revolution. New South Wales was a long way from home, and quick promotion, good wages and the opportunity to engage in trade alongside their military duties induced ambitious men to sign up.

Officers were also rewarded by early governors with large land grants and were assigned convict labour, which allowed them to build comfortable homes and cultivate farm produce, which they could sell at a profit. Before the end of the 18th century, trading ships were already calling in at Sydney Cove, knowing that the remoteness of the colony meant good business. The early governors bought some of the goods to replenish the government stores and allowed the military to purchase and market the rest, effectively allowing them to monopolise trade within the town.

Note and coin money was in short supply, so a complex barter system developed which was controlled by those who had access to goods – particularly food, clothing and alcohol. Convicts and lower ranking military were regularly paid in goods, rather than money, and the most popular form of payment was rum. The NSW Corps involvement in this system led to itsnickname in the 1790s – the Rum Corps.

Some of the officers in the Corps, like John Macarthur, became powerful and wealthy citizens in the small Colony. Macarthur was favoured with large land grants and other privileges under Lieutenant-Governor Francis Grose. As Officer-In-Charge of the NSW Corps, Grose had temporary charge of the Colony after Governor Phillip left and appointed Macarthur to several official positions of influence.

The power wielded by Macarthur and others lead to clashes with the second and third governors, John Hunter and Philip Gidley King, who tried to eradicate the military’s monopoly on trade and crack down on drunkenness, but too much money and power was at stake and they failed. The next Governor was William Bligh, who arrived in the Colony in 1806. ‘Bounty’ Bligh had a reputation for tough leadership and the British Government hoped that he could exert some control over the rum trade in Sydney.

Bligh came into conflict almost immediately with John Macarthur (who by this time was no longer a Corps officer) over Macarthur's provisional land grant in the Cowpastures and Bligh threatened to remove Macarthur from his prime land. The animosity continued until Bligh had Macarthur taken to trial over an incident involving one of Macarthur’s trading ships. The jury of Corps Officers refused to recognise the court and Bligh indicated that he intended to charged them with treason. Commanding Officer of the NSW Corps, George Johnston defended his men and claimed that removing them from duties would compromise the safety of the Colony. He claimed that Bligh needed to be removed from office for everyone’s good.

In the period leading up to the 1808 rebellion, Sydney was a garrison town. Much of the town's buildings and infrastructure were centred around the military. This 1808 map clearly shows the parade ground, around which the military barracks were located (now Wynyard Park). On the evening of January 26, 1808, the men of the New South Wales Corps marched from the parade ground on High Street (now George) up Bridge Street to Government House. They marched to the tune of 'British Grenadiers' and were followed by hundreds of spectators. When they arrived at Government House, the soldiers searched the property, before finally locating Governor Bligh, who, according to legend, was hiding under the bed. He was arrested and deposed and the Corps' commanding officer George Johnston took control of the Colony.





Major Johnston went to the military barracks on the evening of the 26th January 1808 to announce to the troops that he was assuming the title of Lieutenant-Governor, displacing Governor Bligh. He and his men marched through Sydney, bayonets fixed, while the band played ‘British Grenadiers’. When they arrived at Government House, Johnston arrested Bligh, allegedly finding him hiding under a bed.


Macarthur had advised Johnston that he should have a petition from the people before arresting Bligh. Macarthur prepared this though practically all the names were inscribed after the event.

Bligh remained under house arrest for a year. He refused to return to England until a lawfully appointed successor arrived in the colony. During this year, Johnston appointed Macarthur Colonial Secretary, effectively making him the most powerful man in the colony, until William Paterson returned in July to assume the Lieutenant-Governorship. In March 1809, after a spell in the military barracks, Bligh finally agreed to sail back to England in the Porpoise (the ship he commanded for his voyage to the colony, three years earlier). Once on the ship, he instead headed for Hobart, where he hoped that Lieutenant-Governor David Collins would support him. This was not the case, though, and in January 1810, Bligh returned to Sydney, where Lachlan Macquarie had just arrived. Macquarie had already officially proclaimed the 1808 uprising to be illegal and had cancelled all land grants and court sentences made under the rebel regime.

In May 1810, Bligh finally set sail for England to stand witness in the court martial of George Johnston. Johnston was convicted of mutiny and cashiered from the army. His sentence was lenient, though, and he later returned to live a comfortable farming life in NSW. The court found that some of his conduct could be explained by ‘extraordinary circumstances’, further cementing Bligh’s reputation for inflexible and temperamental leadership. Macarthur attended Johnston’s court-martial, but as a civilian, he could not be tried for treason in England. Governor Macquarie was sent instructions that Macarthur was to be arrested and tried in NSW as soon as he returned. Macarthur took the easiest course and stayed away, leaving the running of his profitable farm and wool business to his wife Elizabeth. Six years later, in 1817, he was finally given permission to return, as long as he did not involve himself in public affairs. He spent the rest of his life working at his wool export business and raising thoroughbred horses. In 1825, after Macquarie had left the colony, Macarthur was appointed to the NSW Legislative Council where he served for seven years.

The petition against Governor Bligh

This petition was written the day of the arrest but most of the 151 signatures were gathered in the days after Bligh's overthrow. It was written by John Macarthur and addressed to George Johnston. The text states:


"The present alarming state of this Colony, in which every mans property Liberty and Life is endangered induces us most earnestly to implore you instantly to place Governor Bligh under arrest and to assume the command of the Colony. -- We pledge Ourselves at a moment of less agitation to come forward to support the measure with our fortunes and our lives."