Political History of Australia

In the first year of the 19th century Captain Philip Gidley King was sworn in as the third Governor of New South Wales. The second governor (John Hunter) had come to the job expecting to be a ‘gentlemen governor’ and New South Wales a comfy reward for his decades of distinguished service to the British Empire. But Hunter was driven half-mad by the colony and ended up sacked by London.

Governor King was younger and more energetic – he arrived in Sydney as a man on a mission. He was determined to restore the power and prestige of the state - he was looking for a fight (which he would get). Governor King’s ‘reforms’ were tyrannical and counter-productive … so much so, the colony began to fear famine again. It wouldn’t be too long until the great crusader was writing to London and hoping he could get away sooner than planned.

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The Hon. John Ruddick MLC is a member of the NSW Legislative Council.

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Produced by Sean Masters
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Governor John Hunter served as the second governor of New South Wales during the second half of the 1790s. As Hunter’s governorship progressed, his misery and paranoia grew as he was increasingly ignored by London and his colonial peers. Hunter was given a warning in 1798, when London advised him a replacement governor had been selected for whenever Hunter may leave the role … but Hunter continued to frustrate London and 18 months later was officially recalled to England. Governor Hunter suffered the first Dismissal in Australian political history.

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The Hon. John Ruddick MLC is a member of the NSW Legislative Council.

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Produced by Sean Masters
(All voices in this series as AI generated bar the narrator.)

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

After the John Baughan Affair political tension returned to the small but now flourishing colony of New South Wales. It was 1796. In this increasingly tense atmosphere some regular troops at 3am stole a couple of turnips from the Governor’s garden. It was hardly a hanging offence but escalation begat escalation and soon it was a proxy war between Governor John Hunter and Captain John Macarthur as to who was the real boss.

In an extraordinary twist, the dispute ended up on the desk of the Home Secretary in London … and to Governor Hunter’s dismay, London politely sided with Macarthur.

Historians have been baffled ever since as to why a top cabinet member in London would side with a lowly captain over the King’s Governor. There was nothing sinister or manipulative about it – John Macarthur and the government of Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger were ideological allies. London simply agreed with Macarthur’s brilliantly presented case as to what the colony’s problems were and how they could be corrected. The downfall of Governor Hunter had begun.

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The Hon. John Ruddick MLC is a member of the NSW Legislative Council.

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Produced by Sean Masters
(All voices in this series as AI generated bar the narrator.)

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Governor John Hunter arrived in Sydney in 1795 with instructions directly from King George III to clean up the perceived mess in New South Wales. Hunter had first come to Sydney with the First Fleet in 1788 but he hadn’t been in Sydney for four years and so was surprised and delighted to find that, rather than being a mess, New South Wales was thriving. Hunter wrote back to London in praise of the colony and the leadership of Francis Grose.

At first John Macarthur and Governor Hunter were friendly. It appeared Hunter would go along with the easy-going policies of Francis Grose … but then some soldiers smashed up the home of John Baughan in The Rocks. Governor Hunter was utterly appalled by the behaviour of British troops and so he put his foot down and demanded the NSW Corps get into line. Macarthur appeared to be withdrawing from public life … but it was merely a strategic retreat.

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The Hon. John Ruddick MLC is a member of the NSW Legislative Council.

johnruddick.com.au
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Produced by Sean Masters
(All voices in this series as AI generated bar the narrator.)

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

John Macarthur is the biggest personality of early New South Wales. He arrived with the army aboard the Second Fleet in 1790 … at what was known as the Starving Time.

But Macarthur seems to have relished getting in on the ground floor of a struggling colony that was audaciously claiming two thirds of an undeveloped continent.

Many officers built prosperous farms and enterprises under the three years of laissez-faire under Acting Governors Francis Grose and William Paterson … but none gained more power and wealth than Macarthur. By mid-1795, after less than half a decade in the colony, Macarthur had lifted himself into the lifestyle of a colonial gentlemen … but he was still young and just getting going.

September 1795 was a turning point. A new governor arrived in town, another naval officer, Captain John Hunter. This episode introduces Macarthur and Hunter and outlines why conflict was inevitable between the official boss and the actual boss of early colonial New South Wales.

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The Hon. John Ruddick MLC is a member of the NSW Legislative Council.

johnruddick.com.au
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https://x.com/JohnRuddick2
https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnruddickmlc/
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Produced by Sean Masters
(All voices in this series as AI generated bar the narrator.)

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.