What was the Rum Rebellion of 1808?

The Rum Rebellion of 26 January 1808 was the only successful armed takeover of government in Australian history. Officers of the New South Wales Corps, led by Major George Johnston, marched on Government House in Sydney, arrested Governor William Bligh, and held him under house arrest for about a year before he was deported to Hobart. The rebellion was triggered by conflict between Bligh and the officer-merchant class over control of the colony's economy and rum trade.

Bligh had arrived as Governor in August 1806, the fourth Governor of New South Wales after Phillip, Hunter, and King. His instructions from London included clamping down on the officer-merchant class's control of trade and particularly their use of rum as a currency in the colony where regular money was in short supply. Bligh's confrontational personality (already famous from the 1789 HMS Bounty mutiny) produced bitter conflict with John Macarthur and other leading officer-merchants, who saw the rum and import trade as their legitimate source of wealth.

The immediate trigger was Bligh's prosecution of John Macarthur for legal irregularities around a ship Macarthur owned. Macarthur refused to acknowledge the court's authority and was supported by the officers of the New South Wales Corps. On 26 January 1808 (the 20th anniversary of the founding of the colony), Major George Johnston led about 400 soldiers of the Corps with bayonets fixed to Government House, arrested Bligh, and assumed control of the colony. The iconic image of Bligh supposedly being found hiding under a bed (almost certainly invented by his enemies) was circulated to discredit him.

The rebellion was eventually reversed by the British government. Lachlan Macquarie arrived as the new Governor in January 1810 with his own regiment, the 73rd, and ordered the New South Wales Corps back to England for discipline. Major Johnston was court-martialled and cashiered from the army. Macarthur, who had returned to England, was barred from the colony for eight years. Bligh was acknowledged as Governor (in absentia) from 1810 onwards before returning to Britain. He rose to admiral rank and died in London in 1817. The rebellion ended the New South Wales Corps as a force in the colony, established firmer civilian authority, and is remembered as a striking moment of frontier politics. The federal electorate of Macarthur and many Australian places preserve the memory of the major participants.