In Australian history, an uprising in Sydney which deposed the governor of New South Wales, Captain William Bligh (1808). Led by John Macarthur, a former army officer, and Major George Johnston, the Rebellion occurred because of personal antagonisms, and Bligh's attempt to end the use of rum as a currency. Bligh returned to England but was not reinstated as governor; Johnston was court-martialled and dismissed from the army; and Macarthur, on going to Britain, was forbidden to return to Australia until 1817.
The Governor of New South Wales, William Bligh, was deposed by the New South Wales Corps under the command of Major George Johnston, working closely with John Macarthur, on 26 January 1808.Events
Bligh arrives
Bligh was the fourth Governor of New South Wales.
Enmity between Bligh and Macarthur
John Macarthur had arrived with the New South Wales Corps in 1790 as a lieutenant, and by 1805 he had substantial farming and commercial interests in the colony although he was still nominally an officer with the Corps. He had quarrelled with Bligh's predecessors as Governor and had fought three duels: Duffy, in his biography of Macarthur, sees the key to his character and actions in his acute sense of the code of honour.
Bligh and MacArthur's interests clashed in a number of ways. Bligh stopped Macarthur from cheaply distributing large quantities of wine to the Corps. Macarthur's interest in an area of land granted him by Governor King conflicted with Bligh's town planning interests. Macarthur and Bligh were also engaged in other disagreements, including a conflict over landing regulations.
Bligh had the Judge-Advocate, Richard Atkins, issue an order for John Macarthur to appear on the matter of the bond on the 15th of December 1807.
Bligh accused the six officers of what amounted to mutiny and summoned Major George Johnston to come and deal with the matter.
The overthrow of Governor Bligh
On the morning of 26 January 1808, Bligh again ordered that Macarthur be arrested and also ordered the return of court papers, which were now in the hands of officers of the Corps. Bligh summoned the officers to Government House to answer charges made by the judge and he informed Major Johnston that he considered the action of the officers of the Corps to be treasonable.
Johnston, instead, had gone to the gaol and issued an order releasing Macarthur, who then drafted a petition calling for Johnston to arrest Bligh and take charge of the colony. This petition was signed by the officers of the Corps and other prominent citizens but most signatures were probably added only after Bligh was safely under house arrest.
At 6pm the Corps, with full band and colours, marched to Government House to arrest Bligh. They were hindered by Bligh's daughter and her parasol but finally found Bligh, in full dress uniform, behind his bed where he claimed he was hiding papers . Bligh was painted as a coward for this but Duffy argues that if Bligh was hiding it would have been to escape and thwart the coup .
Johnston appointed Charles Grimes, the Surveyor-General, as Judge-Advocate and ordered Macarthur and the six officers tried; Since a decision was expected from England, and feeling that Bligh's behaviour had been insufferable, he left Bligh under house arrest and turned his attention to improving the roads, bridges and building of the colony which he felt had been badly neglected.
Paterson sent Johnston and Macarthur to England for trial, and confined Bligh to the barracks until he signed a contract agreeing to return to England.
In January 1809, Bligh was given the control of HMS Porpoise on condition that he return to England. However, Bligh sailed to Hobart, Tasmania, seeking the support of the Tasmanian Lieutenant-Governor David Collins to retake control of the colony. And on Paterson's orders Bligh remained cut off on board the Porpoise moored in Hobart until January 1810 . Bligh was to be instated for 24 hours, then recalled to England, Johnston sent to England for court martial and Macarthur was to be tried in Sydney.
Aftermath
Governor Macquarie reinstated all the officials who had been sacked by Johnston and Macarthur and cancelled all land and stock grants that had been made since Bligh's deposing, though to calm things down he made grants that he thought appropriate and prevented any revenge. When Bligh received the news of Macquarie's arrival, he sailed from Hobart to Sydney, arriving on 17 January 1810 to collect evidence for the upcoming court-martial of Major George Johnston.
Having informally heard the arguments from both sides the authorities in England were not impressed with either Macarthur and Johnston's accusations against Bligh, or Bligh's bad tempered letters accusing everyone.
Bligh's promotion to rear admiral was held up till the end of Johnston's trial. Afterward it was backdated to 31 July 1810 and Bligh took up a position had been kept for him and continued his naval career in the admiralty .
Macquarie was impressed with Foveaux's administration and put him forward as Collin's successor as Lieutenant Governor of Tasmania as he could think of no one more fitting and considered that he could not have acted otherwise with regard to Bligh. However, when Foveaux returned to England in 1810 he found himself court-martialled for assenting to Bligh being deposed and imprisoned and Macquarie's recommendation was put aside.
Reasons for the rebellion
Lead up
Bligh sailed for Sydney with his daughter, Mary Putland, and her husband (who died soon after arrival), while his wife remained in England .
Complaints about Bligh's style of governance were numerous and started before he even arrived. The Admiralty gave command of the Porpoise and the convoy to the lower ranked Captain Joseph Short and Bligh took command of a transport ship. This led to quarrels which eventually resulted in Captain Short firing across Bligh's bow in order to force Bligh to obey his signals. When this failed Short tried to give an order to stand by to fire on Bligh's ship . When they arrived in Sydney Bligh, backed up by statements from two of Short's officers, had Short stripped of the captaincy the Porpoise (which he gave to his son-in-law), cancelled the 600 acre land grant Short had been promised as payment for the voyage and shipped him back to England for court martial, at which Short was acquitted. The president of the court, Sir Isaac Coffin, wrote to the Admiralty making several serious accusations against Bligh, including that he had influenced the officers to testify against Short. Bligh's wife obtained a statement from one of the officers denying this and Banks and other supporters of Bligh lobbied successfully against his recall as Governor.
Soon after his arrival at Sydney, in August 1806, Bligh was given an address of welcome, signed by Major Johnston for the military, Richard Atkins for the civilian officers and Macarthur for the free settlers.
One of Bligh's actions was to use the colony's stores and herds to provide relief to farmers who had been severely affected by flooding on the Hawkesbury River, a situation which had disrupted the barter economy in the colony.
Bligh, under instructions from the Colonial Office, attempted to normalise trading conditions in the colony by prohibiting the use of spirits as payment for commodities. Robert Stewart, Viscount Castlereagh, Secretary of State for War and the Colonies wrote back to Bligh, his instructions being received on 31 December 1807.
Bligh ceased the practice of handing out large land grants to the powerful in the colony;
Bligh also upset some by allowing a group of Irish convicts to be tried for revolt, by a court that included their accusers, and then when six out of the eight were acquitted, he kept them under arrest anyway . In October 1807 Major George Johnson wrote a formal letter of complaint to the Commander-in-Chief of the British Army stating that Bligh was abusive and interfering with the troops of the NSW Corps .
It is clear that Bligh made enemies of within some of the most influential people in the colony and also antagonised some of the less wealthy, when he ordered those who had leases on government land within Sydney to remove their houses.
Causes
Michael Duffy, a journalist writing in 2006, says
"The Rum Rebellion has slipped into historical oblivion because it is widely misunderstood. Most people believe the autocratic Bligh was removed because he threatened the huge profits that were being made from trading in spirits by the officers of the NSW Corps and by businessmen such as John Macarthur. "
Duffy goes on to say that the Rebellion was not thought of at the time as being about Rum:
"...
The Biography of Early Australia dismisses Macarthur's complaints as ridiculous and quotes Evatt as saying that legally Macarthur was guilty of two out of the three charges brought against him including sedition. Both of those believe that Bligh was wholely justified in his actions just because he was the legitmate authority, but in the absence of any functioning democractic or social institutions that can be hard to justify and imprisoning people and threatening to do the same to the court when they fail to yield to the will of said authority would seem to be legally problematic.
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