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The arrest of Governor Bligh 1808

The arrest of Governor Bligh 1808

From the collections of the

State Library of New South Wales

[a128113 / Safe 4/5]

(Mitchell Library)

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Appears in

Law and order The first Government House: building on Phillip’s ‘good foundation’

Subjects

Armed forces Demonstrations and protests Politics and Government

Events

Rum Rebellion 1808-09

People

Bligh, William

Buildings

First Government House

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State Library of New South Wales

Law and order

The politics of law and order were present at the foundation of Sydney as a convict settlement. They have remained part of the fabric ever since, and a vital aspect of the city's imagined life. Like many other parts of the city (its churches, its schools, its hospitals), the institutions of law and justice are a material aspect of the values and experiences of those who inhabit the city.

The first Government House: building on Phillip’s ‘good foundation’

The first Government House was not a simple singular structure but a complex with a yard, outbuildings, guardhouse, garden and greater domain. It was a home, an office and a venue for public and private entertaining, but also a symbol of British authority, with all that that meant to different people, both then and now.

Demonstrations and protests

Politics and Government

Armed forces

Rum Rebellion 1808-09

full record »

Armed takeover of government in New South Wales, in which Governor William Bligh was deposed by officers of the New South Wales Corps, led by George Johnson, and supported by John Macarthur. Military rule in the colony continued until the arrival of Lachlan Macquarie as the new governor in January 1810.

Bligh, William

full record »

Governor of New South Wales who was overthrown in the Rum Rebellion of 1808.

First Government House

full record »

Residence for the first nine Governors of NSW, which was the first major building in the colony. The first permanent building in the colony, it had two storeys built of bricks and stone comprising six rooms, two cellars and a rear staircase. In front of the house was a garden where many imported plant species were grown and the first orchard planted. The Museum of Sydney, on the corner of Bridge and Phillip Streets, was built on its site.