The Global History: History of Australia

Orr Street, Queenstown Tasmania, 1907

Post Office, Hobart, Tasmania c.1900

The second Governor of New South Wales, Captain John Hunter, who had commanded the Sirius with the First Fleet, was not appointed till more than a year after the departure of Phillip, and did not arrive in Sydney till September 1795. During the interval of nearly three years the government was administered first by Major Francis Grose, and in the last nine months by Captain William Paterson, both officers of the New South Wales Corps. It was a great misfortune that this period of military rule occurred; because in the course of it the colony was brought to degradation by drink, corruption, and general iniquity, which required years to mitigate. Phillip had imposed restrictions on the distribution of spirituous liquors, reorganizing the evils which would inevitably follow from the common use of them among a morally weak population. But Grose permitted large quantities of spirits to be imported and to come into the possession of officers and settlers, who freely used them for rewarding the convicts who worked for them. Rum, as spirits of all kinds were called, was a curse and a calamity in Sydney for years to come. Officers profited from the distillation, importation, and sale of it, soldiers and convicts alike consumed large quantities of it; and it bore an evil fruit of disease, crime, outrage, and rebellion.

St Andrews Cathedral, Sydney, New South Wales

Family hut, Australia, 1909

Exhibition building, Melbourne, 1906

Court House, Cootamundra, NSW, Australia

Grose was particularly tender towards his brother officers, in permitting them to acquire landed estates and to have the services of convict labourers. When Hunter took charge he found that no land had been cleared for public purposes and no public works carried out since Phillip left, nearly the whole of the convict labour having been utilized for the profit of the officers. The Government fed and clothed the convicts, the officers had their labour for nothing, and the Government purchased the commodities produced by it at prices fixed by the same officers.

Early postcard of Bendigo Street, Melbourne, Australia,1914

Early postcard of Bourke Street, Melbourne, Australia

Gold mining, Australia c.1910

The officers were also permitted to enjoy a monopoly in the purchase of spirits and other commodities imported for general sale, and pocketed large gains from them. Their military duties and the honour of their uniform were subordinated to sordid avarice, and the entire community was debauched in order that they might grow rich. Maurice Margarot, a political prisoner, was examined before the House of Commons Committee on Transportation on the return to England in 1812. He was asked, 'Do the majority of the officers to whom the Government of the colony is entrusted embark in trade?' 'All, to a man,' he replied. 'What is that trade?' 'It consists first of all of monopoly, then of exportation; it includes all the necessaries of life which are brought to the colony.' In 1787, said Margarot, a 'combination bond' was entered into by the officers, 'by which they were neither to under-buy nor undersell the one from the other.' It was the first example of a 'trust' in Australia. The same witness spoke of spirits which had cost 7s. 6d. being sold in this way for 8 pounds per gallon. A letter written by Mrs. John Macarthur explains how the monopoly was managed. 'The officers in the colony, with a few others possessed of money or credits in England, unite together and purchase the cargoes of such vessels as repair to this country from various quarters. Two or more are chosen from the number to bargain for the cargo offered for sale, which is then divided amongst them in proportion to the amount of their subscriptions.