1808 жылғы Жаңа Оңтүстік Уэльс колониясындағы төңкеріс

1808 coup in Britain's New South Wales Colony

The Rum Rebellion of 1808 was a coup d'état in the then British penal colony of New South Wales, staged by the New South Wales Corps in order to depose Governor William Bligh. Australia's first and only military coup, its name derives from the illicit rum trade of early Sydney, over which the 'Rum Corps', as it became known, maintained a monopoly. During the first half of the 19th century, it was widely referred to in Australia as the Great Rebellion. Bligh, a former Royal Navy captain known for his overthrow in the mutiny on the Bounty, had been appointed governor in 1805 to rein in the power of the Corps. Over the next two years, Bligh made enemies not only of Sydney's military elite, but several prominent civilians, notably John Macarthur, who joined Major George Johnston in organising an armed takeover. On 26 January 1808, 400 soldiers marched on Government House and arrested Bligh. He was kept in confinement in Sydney, then aboard a ship off Hobart, Van Diemen's Land, for the next two years while Johnston acted as Lieutenant Governor of New South Wales. The military remained in control until the 1810 arrival from Britain of Major General Lachlan Macquarie, who took over as governor.

William Bligh succeeded Philip Gidley King as the fourth Governor of New South Wales in 1805, having been offered the position by Sir Joseph Banks. A naval officer, Bligh was well known for his overthrow in the mutiny on the Bounty. It is likely that he was deliberately selected by the British government because of his reputation as a "hard man" and was expected to have a good chance of reining in the maverick New South Wales Corps; something that his predecessors had not been able to do. Bligh left for Sydney with his daughter, Mary Putland, and her husband, Lieutenant John Putland, while Bligh's wife remained in England. Even before his arrival, Bligh's style of governance led to problems with his subordinates. The Admiralty gave command of the storeship and the convoy to the lower ranked Captain Joseph Short, while Bligh took command of a transport ship. This led to quarrels which eventually resulted in Captain Short firing across Bligh's bow in an attempt to force Bligh to obey his signals. Bligh boarded Porpoise and seized control of the convoy. When they arrived in Sydney, Bligh, backed up by statements from two of Short's officers, had Short stripped of the captaincy of Porpoise – which he gave to his son in law, cancelled the land grant Short had been promised as payment for the voyage, and shipped him back to England for court martial. Short was acquitted. He argues that the enmity of the monopolists within the colony stemmed from this prohibition and other policies which counteracted the power of the rich and promoted the welfare of the poor settlers. Bligh ceased the practice of handing out large land grants to the powerful in the colony; during his term, he granted just over 1,600 hectares of land, half of it to his daughter and himself. Bligh also dismissed Thomas Jamison from the magistracy, describing him in 1807 as being "inimical" to good government. Jamison was the highly capable (if crafty) Surgeon General of New South Wales, and had accumulated significant personal wealth as a maritime trader; he was also a friend and business partner of the powerful Macarthur. In October 1807 Major Johnston wrote a formal letter of complaint to the Commander in Chief of the British Army, stating that Bligh was abusive and interfering with the troops of the New South Wales Corps. Bligh had clearly made enemies of some of the most influential people in the colony. He also antagonised some of the less wealthy when he ordered those who had leases on government land within Sydney to remove their houses. Bligh had the Judge Advocate, Richard Atkins, issue an order for Macarthur to appear on the matter of the bond on 15 December 1807. Macarthur disobeyed the order, was arrested and bailed, and failed to appear for trial at the next sitting of the Sydney Criminal Court on 25 January 1808. Atkins rejected this, but Macarthur's protest had the support of the other six members of the court, all officers of the New South Wales Corps. Macarthur objected to Atkins being fit to sit in judgement of him because he was his debtor and inveterate enemy. Without the Judge Advocate, the trial could not take place and the court dissolved.

On the morning of 26 January 1808, Bligh again ordered that Macarthur be arrested and also ordered the return of court papers, which were held by officers of the New South Wales Corps. The Corps responded with a request for a new Judge Advocate and the release of Macarthur on bail. Bligh summoned the officers to Government House to answer charges made by Atkins, and he informed Johnston that he considered the action of the officers of the Corps to be treasonable. At 6:00 pm, the Corps, with full band and colours, marched to Government House to arrest Bligh. During 1808 Bligh and his daughter were confined to Government House under house arrest. Bligh refused to leave for England until lawfully relieved of his duty. Shortly after the coup, a watercolour by an unknown artist, illustrating Bligh's arrest, was exhibited in Sydney at perhaps Australia's first public art exhibition. The watercolour depicts a Corps soldier dragging Bligh from underneath one of the servants' beds in Government House, with two other soldiers standing by. The two soldiers in the watercolour are most likely John Sutherland and Michael Marlborough, and the other figure on the far right is believed to represent Lieutenant William Minchin. The Corps regarded themselves as gentlemen and in depicting Bligh as a coward, the cartoon declares that Bligh was not a gentleman and therefore not fit to govern. Foveaux arrived in July and took over the colony as lieutenant colonel on 28 July 1808, which annoyed Macarthur. Since a decision was expected from England, and feeling that Bligh's behaviour had been insufferable, Foveaux left Bligh under house arrest. He turned his attention to improving the colony's roads, bridges and public buildings, which he felt had been badly neglected. When there was still no word from England, he summoned Paterson to Sydney in January 1809 to sort out matters. Paterson sent Johnston and Macarthur to England for trial, and confined Bligh to the barracks until he signed a contract agreeing to return to England. Paterson, whose health was failing, retired to Government House and left Foveaux to run the colony.

Macquarie reinstated all the officials who had been sacked by Johnston and Macarthur, replaced the alcoholic Atkins with Ellis Bent (the first professional lawyer to occupy a public post in Australia) as Judge Advocate, and cancelled all land and stock grants that had been made since Bligh's deposition. To calm things down, he made grants that he thought appropriate and prevented any reprisals. When Bligh received the news of Macquarie's arrival, he sailed to Sydney, arriving on 17 January 1810 to collect evidence for the forthcoming court martial of Johnston. He departed for the trial in England on 12 May, arriving on 25 October 1810 aboard It was the subject of a 1960 Australian TV series Stormy Petrel. The TV miniseries Against the Wind includes events of the Rum Rebellion in episode 12.