Episode Details

Governor Philip Gidley King had had two big wins – he had secured Bass Strait and Van Diemen’s Land for Britain and he had ruthlessly and quickly crushed the Castle Hill Rebellion. But Governor King was a micro-manager and he heavily regulated not only economic activity but also the social lives of the colonists. All his central-planning resulted in the return of food rationing and general disquiet.

An exasperated Governor King wrote to London with his troubles and London oddly interpreted it as an offer of resignation and they promptly accepted that supposed resignation. Governor King had two more years as governor before his replacement arrived. He had arrived in 1800 as action man but now he slumped into despair and grew fat and sick. And then his worst nightmare – John Macarthur was back from England and not only had he gotten off scot-free over the court martial matter he had arrived with a ginormous land grant.

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

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