Rum Rebellion
The Rum Rebellion was a significant uprising that occurred in New South Wales in 1808, marked as Australia’s only military coup. The conflict primarily involved officers of the New South Wales Corps, who sought to depose Governor William Bligh amid tensions over power and trade. Although the rebellion is colloquially linked to rum, it was fundamentally rooted in a struggle between military authority and colonial governance, with key figures including John Macarthur and Major George Johnston playing pivotal roles.
The NSW Corps had established a stronghold over the colony’s trade and land, leading to corruption and conflict with the colonial leadership. Bligh’s attempts to enforce reforms and curb the Corps' dominance exacerbated existing tensions. The rebellion culminated in a dramatic coup on January 26, 1808, when Johnston led troops to arrest Bligh and declare martial law. Following the rebellion, the NSW Corps exerted control over the colony for nearly two years until the arrival of Governor Lachlan Macquarie, who reinstated Bligh briefly and later nullified the land grants made during the interim period. The aftermath of the rebellion had lasting implications for governance and land ownership in New South Wales, reflecting the complexities of colonial power dynamics in early Australian history.
Rum Rebellion
The Rum Rebellion was an uprising by officers of the New South Wales (NWS) Corps in 1808 that deposed the governor of New South Wales. This was the only military coup in Australia's history. Originally known as the Rebellion of 1808, it later became known as the Rum Rebellion even though rum had little to do with the uprising, which was a power struggle between the government and the military and civil elite. The key persons involved in the rebellion were William Bligh, the governor of New South Wales; John Macarthur, a former member of the NSW Corps and prominent landowner; and Major George Johnston, the commanding officer of the NSW Corps.
Background
Two years after the First Fleet arrived in New South Wales in 1788, the NSW Corps arrived to keep order in the penal colony. Made up of British soldiers and officers, members of the NSW Corps were often rewarded for their services with grants of land or convicts to work their land. Officers were allowed to purchase goods from visiting ships and sell them within the colony. The first two commanding officers of the NSW Corps, Francis Grose and William Paterson, served as temporary administrators of the colony from December 1792 to September 1795 after Arthur Phillip, the colony's first governor, returned to England. During this period, land grants increased and NSW Corps officers came to dominate the trade within the colony. With a limited supply of coins, rum was used to barter for goods and services and became the colony's unofficial currency. With the NWS Corps setting the price for rum and controlling its trade, it earned the nickname the Rums Corps. Many officers became wealthy trading to the settlers. One such officer was John Macarthur. Grose gave Macarthur large land grants and appointed him paymaster and inspector general of government works, two positions that increased Macarthur's power over the colony's goods and resulted in him becoming one of the most powerful men in the colony.
In 1795, John Hunter arrived to replace the interim governor. Both he and his successor, Philip Gidley King, who governed from 1800 to 1806, unsuccessfully attempted to break the NSW Corps' monopoly on trade and curb corruption and drunkenness. King attempted to reduce Macarthur's power and frequently clashed with him. After Macarthur was involved in a duel, King sent him to England for trial. Macarthur managed to avoid a trial and persuaded British cloth traders to support his new endeavour, starting a wool business in New South Wales. He resigned from the Corps and returned to the colony with a land grant for five thousand acres, the largest-ever land grant in the colony. King questioned the location Macarthur claimed, which was the colony's choicest land, and gave Macarthur provisional use of the land while he waited for confirmation from London on the grant's location. Before he received a response, he was recalled to London.
Bligh became the fourth governor of New South Wales in August 1806. A naval officer, he had commanded the HMS Bounty in 1789 when his crew mutinied against him. After he was cleared of wrongdoing, he was given other commands and eventually the governorship of the colony. At the time he arrived in the colony in 1806, the colony was experiencing several problems. Floods had wiped out a large region of settlers' crops, supply ships had failed to arrive and tensions had increased between the NSW Corps and colonial government. Bligh made several reforms to improve the colony's self-sufficiency. He set up a model government farm at Hawkesbury, tightened control over trade, outlawed illegal stills and forbade the use of rum to barter for goods or labour. Conflict quickly arose between Bligh and several landowners, including Macarthur, when Bligh questioned the validity of their property leases and land grants.
The Rebellion
In June 1807, an escaped convict was found on Parramatta, a ship co-owned by Macarthur. Macarthur refused to pay the £800 bond, which was intended to prevent the harbouring of convicts, denied responsibility for the ship and left the crew to fend for itself. When the ship and its cargo arrived in Sydney in December 1807, it was arrested and the crew were forbidden from coming ashore. On 14 December 1807, the crew came ashore in defiance of the prohibition and informed authorities they had been left on the ship with no provisions. Bligh had Macarthur arrested for violating regulations that governed ships.
Additional charges, including importing an illegal still and publicly and seditiously libelling the governor, were added, and Macarthur was brought to trial on 25 January 1808. Macarthur refused to have his trial heard by Judge Richard Atkins and successfully appealed to the jury members, who were NSW Corps officers, to refuse to recognise the court. Mayhem broke out in the courtroom, and the trial was unable to proceed. Bligh had Macarthur imprisoned and threatened to charge the jury members with treason.
Early in the evening of 26 January 1808, the NSW Corps commanding officer, George Johnston, ordered Macarthur released from jail and placed in the custody of two prominent civilians. Macarthur then wrote a petition for Johnston to arrest Bligh, citing him as a threat to the colony's safety. Johnston then led a group of four hundred NSW Corps soldiers and officers from the Corps' barracks to the Government House, Bligh's residence. The group marched on Bridge Street with a band playing "The British Grenadiers", flags flying and bayonets pointed. At the Government House, they stormed the building and arrested Bligh. Johnston declared martial law and took control of the government.
Impact
Members of the NSW Corps governed the colony for almost two years. On 1 January 1810, Lachlan Macquarie issued a proclamation reinstating Bligh as governor for twenty-four hours, after which he would take office; Bligh did not return to Sydney until 17 January, however, and was not actually reinstated. On 4 January 1810, Macquarie issued a proclamation voiding all land grants and leases that had been issued during the two years from the rebellion until his arrival. On 11 January 1810, he issued a proclamation granting immunity from prosecution to all individuals who had been appointed to office after Bligh had been deposed. Bligh returned to England in 1810.
The last proclamation did not spare Johnston, and he was court-martialled. He stood trial in 1811 in England and was convicted of mutiny and cashiered from the army. After serving a lenient sentence, he returned to New South Wales. Macarthur had travelled to England for Johnston's court-martial. Because Macquarie had orders to arrest him on his return to New South Wales, Macarthur stayed in England until 1817, when he was finally allowed to re-enter the colony.
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