Arrest of Governor Bligh – The Rum Rebellion – 26 January 1808

On the evening of 26 January 1808 — twenty years to the day after the founding of the colony — officers and men of the New South Wales Corps marched from their barracks to Government House in Sydney and deposed Governor William Bligh. The coup, later nicknamed the Rum Rebellion (a name not used at the time), is the only successful military overthrow of a government in Australian history. Major George Johnston assumed control as lieutenant-governor; John Macarthur, whose failed trial and conflict with Bligh had sharpened the crisis, was a leading civilian supporter of the Corps.

The Corps marched up Bridge Street to the first Government House — on the site now marked by the Museum of Sydney — with band and colours. Bligh was arrested and held; military-backed administrations ran the colony until Governor Lachlan Macquarie assumed office in January 1810. Johnston was later court-martialled in England for mutiny and cashiered. Historians stress that the rebellion was less about rum itself than about power — land, trade, courts, and who would dominate the colony — even though the Corps’ involvement in the spirits trade earned it the later “Rum Corps” nickname.

Contemporary propaganda claimed Bligh was found hiding under a bed; modern accounts treat that story as Corps legend dressed as fact. Stick to State Library of NSW, National Museum of Australia, and Dictionary of Sydney narratives, and treat the story as propaganda rather than documentary proof.

Arrest Of Governor Bligh - The Rum Rebellion - 26th Jan 1808

Richmond Villa – 116–122 Kent Street – Sydney

 

Richmond Villa -  Once at Macquarie Street 
Now At Kent Street - Old Sydney 

Tucked Behind Parliament House, Facing The Domain, Is The Prettiest Old House In The City - Richmond Villa. 

Governor Macquarie gave an acre of Macquarie Street land to his Irish Lieutenant Governor, Marice O’Connor;  who had married Governor Bligh‘s daughter. 

At Verious times the site carried the Lighthorse Barricks which became an institution with the title of the Sydney female school of industry, the Presbyterian prefabricated iron church of Saint Stephen, and a cluster of houses – Richmond Terrace

O’Connell did not build on the land, and passed into other Hands &  was subdivided.

 In 1849 three of the lots sold to the colonial architect Mortimer Lewis, who boldly made a breach in the domain wall that sealed the property off from the park and started work on his Gable sandstone Gothic villa.

Note that the site could’ve been chosen for a man with a sociable nature, for the domain had by then changed its character of official wilderness.

 This land, that Governor Philip dedicated to his government property, not to be alienated, it had for more than 50 years largely been a waste of scrub land, apart from the portion developed to be the botanical Gardens.

In the 1840s it was put in order.A road that became a carriage drive for Gentry was favourite for afternoon social & fashion parades. 

But Mortimer Lewis hardly stayed long enough to enjoy it all. He sold the house within a year of moving in. Various owners held it until it was acquired, with other eastern side Macquarie Street sites, by the state in 1879.

 It is since served as part of Parliament house now housing country party members.  It Is Such A Shame that A “Publicly” Owned classic Georgian Gothic Revival Masterpiece Is Only Accessible To The Political Elite.

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