The Rum Rebellion

**The Rum Rebellion** was a military coup - the only in the history Australia - when the British appointed Governor William Bligh was arrested by the New South Wales military (known as the Rum Corps, hence the name of the event) leading to the military rule of the British colony until the arrival from England of a replacement governor, Lachlan Macquarie.

## Background

The British Government were aware of the New South Wales military being rebellious, taking advantage of the distance between the colony and the motherland. In 1805, the Prime Minister William Pitt and his government appointed William Bligh as the fourth Governor of New South Wales with a mandate to bring the Rum Corp under control and stop the trading of rum that the corps were making a lot of money out of. Bligh's reputation as a hard man had preceded him, having already been a victim of a mutiny on board the HMS Bounty in 1789. Bligh got on the wrong side of the mavericks straight away by helping farmers with stored supplies that had been held back. The farmers had been adversely affected by flooding around the Hawkesbury River. This made Bligh popular amongst those who were not wealthy amongst the free settlers, but an enemy of the military and of the wealthy, headed by John Macarthur.

## The coup

Macarthur had arrived in Australia as a military member, but by Bligh's arrival had left. However he still had a lot of influence. The straw that broke the camel's back was when Macarthur's schooner was subject to an escape by a convict, a matter that caused a bond to be forfeited. Bligh instructed the Judge Advocate, Richard Atkins, to issue an order for Macarthur to appear in court on the matter. When Macarthur failed to show he was promptly arrested and bailed - but failed to appear again on January 25, 1808. Atkins wanted him arrested again but his fellow judges - all officers of the Rum Corps - rejected that and the court promptly lost its power as Atkins could not continue in the position as a debtor to Macarthur.

Bligh knew another mutiny when he saw one by the other six judges and called on their present leader, Major George Johnston, to deal with it. But Johnston reported ill from an accident the previous day. Bligh was then forced to act on his own ordering Macarthur's arrest himself as well as the transfer of the court papers. The officers ordered instead asked for the appointment of a new Judge Advocate and the release of Macarthur. This caused Bligh to summon the officers to answer charges by Atkins, while informing Johnston that he considered the actions of the officers to amount to treason.

Instead, Johnston (apparently recovered) went to the jail and ordered the release of Macarthur. Macarthur then drafted a petition to Johnston to arrest Bligh and take charge of the colony. Even before a large number of signatures had been received, Bligh was cornered and place under house arrest at Government House. Johnston took charge giving himself the rank of Lieutenant Colonel and appointed Charles Grimes as the new Judge Advocate. The charges against Macarthur and the officers still went ahead but they were found not guilty.

## Aftermath

Johnston followed procedure meanwhile - informing his only superior in Australia of the events. Colonel William Paterson was in Port Dalrymple on Van Dieman's Land (today Launceston in Tasmania) and was reluctant to get involved without orders from London. He was then informed in March 1808 that Westminster had sent Lieutenant Colonel Joseph Foveaux and left it to him. Foveaux arrived in July 1808 and kept Bligh under house arrest due to his general conduct and concentrated on improvements to roads, bridges and public buildings. When he had heard nothing from London by January 1809, he asked for Paterson's help.

Paterson arrived and promptly ordered Johnston and Macarthur back to England for trial (an order they refused to obey), but he also confined Bligh to barracks until Bligh signed a contract to return to England as well. He then left matters again to Foveaux, who authorised Bligh to take charge of the HMS Porpoise on condition that he return to England. But instead, Bligh sailed to Hobart seeking the support of the Lieutenant Governor of Van Dieman's Land, David Collins, to take back the position he had been removed from. Collins however refused to do so and under Paterson's orders remained on board the Porpoise in continued confinement.

Finally, the Colonial Office in London acted decisively. They recalled the entire regiment that made up the Rum Corps with no exceptions, and sent a non naval regiment to replace them. Its leader, Major General Lachlan Macquarie, arrived as the new Governor and promptly reversed most of the decisions made by the military leadership in the interim. This was after Bligh was reinstated for twenty four hours and recalled to England in that period. Johnston was sent to England to be court martial-led, while Macarthur would be tried in the reinstated court with a new Judge Advocate in Sydney. Bligh - upon hearing of Macquarie's arrival - willingly returned to Sydney to collect evidence for Johnston's court martial and returned to England as ordered.

Johnston was found guilty but the government authorities in England were not impressed with Bligh's conduct. This led to Johnston simply being decommissioned, and he returned to Sydney as a free citizen. Macarthur had in fact returned to England as well and his role was also criticised. But he refused to admit to any wrong doing, and as he had already left the military all the authorities could do was prevent his return to New South Wales until 1817. After Johnston's court martial was concluded, Bligh was promoted to rear admiral, but never received another command

## *Comments*

* This was a very messy situation directly resulting from the tyranny of distance. Westminster can be criticised very easily for not acting sooner against the Rum Corps, and they sent the wrong man to be Governor in Bligh. Hindsight is of course 20-20. Bligh - when not challenged - was I believe quite a good choice for Governor as he demonstrated with his handling of the flooding in particular a progressive and helpful attitude. He would have been a good Labor Party man in my view. He just needed a better temperament. The coup was money driven without a doubt and the penalty given to Johnston in particular was weak as anything. Even Macarthur got off lightly, simply because of the conduct of Bligh and that should not have been a factor. Macquarie did an excellent job in cleaning up the mess while taking advantage of Foveaux's infrastructure work. Foveaux was never rewarded though because the British authorities blamed him for extending the crisis by not releasing Bligh in the first place when he arrived. At this time - New South Wales and Van Dieman's Land/Tasmania were the only colonies in Australia. **TLPG** 11:38, 27 December 2023 (UTC)