Image: 'Major Johnston announcing the arrest of Governor Bligh' (detail), Raymond Lindsay, 1928, oil on canvas. Geelong Gallery. Gift of Dame Nellie Melba, 1928 © Estate of the artist

The recent APEC Summit ‘lockdown’ of our city, where a heavy police presence and barricades virtually encircled the Museum of Sydney, recalls another type of military spectacle on the site of first Government House. Here, 200 years ago, on 26 January 1808, the first and only coup d’état in Australia was enacted.

The ‘Rum Rebellion’ – a title later conferred on the event by Governor Thomas Brisbane; referred to as the ‘Insurrection’ by contemporaries – was an overthrow of the government, a mutiny against Governor William Bligh’s imperially sanctioned authority. It was not a rebellion over rum nor a popular rebellion by the people, but a forceful removal of a governor from office by sections of the colonial elite and the military. While there are a variety of perspectives that contest the motivations and details of the event, ultimately the rebellion was the endgame of a fascinating power struggle between two men of dynamic personality – William Bligh and John Macarthur.

Governor Arthur Phillip left the colony in December 1792 and his successor, John Hunter, did not arrive until 1795. In the lengthy interim the colony was governed by Francis Grose, Commander of the New South Wales Corps, who allowed his officers to acquire land, import, trade and sell goods – especially rum. Large fortunes were amassed by military and civil officers during this period and rum was one of the keys to their prosperity. Both Governor Hunter and his successor, Governor Philip Gidley King, failed to curb the trafficking
of rum.

Governor Bligh assumed office on 13 August 1806. He was well known for his extraordinary seamanship as well as his tyrannical behaviour and fiery language. He was also renowned for instigating court martials and the notorious mutiny on the HMS Bounty. Governor Bligh issued a government order to prohibit rum being used for currency or barter in an attempt to curb the activities of the Corps. He also recommended to the officials in London that the Corps be recalled, which would have ended their profiteering.

John Macarthur was an equally dominant personality. Ruthlessly ambitious, he had clashed with every governor before Bligh, incurring the wrath of Sir Joseph Banks who was Bligh’s patron. He arrived in the colony in 1790 with the Second Fleet as Lieutenant of the New South Wales Corps. In 1792 Grose appointed him Paymaster and the following year Inspector of Public Works, giving Macarthur substantial power and virtual administration of the colony.

There were many incidents which became the seeds of the rebellion: the granting of significant parcels of land to Bligh by Governor King before his resignation as Governor; Bligh’s letter to England requesting relocation of Macarthur’s 5000 acre land grant; the impounding of Macarthur’s imported stills; and Bligh’s revocation of town leases, ordering the demolition of residences directly behind Government House.

In December 1807 the vessel Parramatta, which Macarthur co-owned, returned to Sydney after a convict, hidden on board, had escaped in the Pacific Islands. Macarthur refused to pay the substantial bond of £900, payable for failure to prevent the escape of a convict by sea. Richard Atkins, the dissolute Judge-Advocate, sent a letter to Macarthur asking him to explain his actions. Macarthur replied with a note declaring his contempt for Atkins and the government. In response, Atkins issued a summons for Macarthur’s arrest. He was arrested, not far from Government House, on 16 December and bailed to appear for trial at the next sitting of the Sydney Criminal Court on 25 January 1808.

The criminal court comprised Atkins and six officers of the New South Wales Corps. On the day, Macarthur loudly proclaimed Atkins unfit to sit in judgment of him because the Judge-Advocate was his debtor and enemy. Atkins rejected this, but Macarthur’s protest was supported by the six officers of the Corps who refused to swear in Atkins to the court. Without the Judge-Advocate the trial could not take place and the court was adjourned.

Bligh accused the six officers of mutiny and summoned Major George Johnston, the senior officer of the Corps, to attend to the matter. Johnston replied he was too ill to attend. On the morning of 26 January 1808 Bligh again ordered the arrest of Macarthur and the return of Atkins’s court papers held by the officers of the Corps. The Corps responded with a request for a new Judge-Advocate and the release of Macarthur on bail. Bligh summoned the officers to Government House to answer charges made by Atkins and informed Major Johnston that he considered the action of the officers of the Corps to be treasonable.

At 5pm Johnston went to the Corps’s Barracks and issued an order releasing Macarthur who then drafted a petition calling for Johnston to arrest Bligh and take charge of the colony. At 6.30pm on 26 January the New South Wales Corps, with full band and colours, accompanied by 200 civilians, marched from the High Street Barracks (now George Street), up Bridge Street to Government House to arrest Governor Bligh. They were hindered by his daughter Mary Putland, who endeavoured to obstruct their path, but after a lengthy search Bligh was found in full dress uniform in an attic bedroom.  Johnston arrested Bligh and assumed control of the colony. Bligh remained under house arrest in Sydney for 12 months during 1808, refusing to leave for England until lawfully relieved of his appointment.

Johnston appointed Charles Grimes, the Surveyor-General, as Judge-Advocate and ordered Macarthur and the six officers tried; they were found not guilty. Macarthur was then appointed Colonial Secretary and effectively administered the colony. After travelling to Van Diemen’s Land Bligh finally set sail for England in May 1810.

At his court martial in June 1811 in England, Johnston was found guilty of mutiny but was cashiered and, surprisingly, not given a capital sentence. He returned to Sydney to live out his days as a gentleman farmer. Macarthur, after attending Johnston’s court martial, remained as a virtual exile in England until 1817, when he returned to Sydney under an agreement to refrain from participating in public affairs.

Susan Hunt
General Manager, Properties

First published in Insites Summer 2007