Johnston returned to New South Wales in May 1813 as a private individual and in November the following year at St John's Church in Parramatta he married Esther Abrahams, [9] a Jewish convict whom he had met on the transport Lady Penrhyn in 1787. The couple had already had seven children together by that time, and they lived on his land at Annandale Farm, Sydney. [8] [10] He died much respected on 5 January 1823, leaving a large family. He was first interred in a private mausoleum on his Annandale property, until its subdivision to become an inner-city suburb. His remains were moved to a new mausoleum at Waverley Cemetery in 1904. [7] One of Bligh's first actions was to use the colony's stores and herds to provide relief to farmers who had been severely affected by flooding on the Hawkesbury River, a situation that had disrupted the barter economy in the colony. Supplies were divided up according to those most in need and provisions were made for loans to be drawn from the store based on capacity to repay. This earned Bligh the gratitude of the farmers, but the enmity of traders in the Corps who had been profiting greatly from the situation. [6]

Bligh remained under arrest in Government House with his widowed daughter for more than a year – refusing to return to England, despite being under pressure to do so – until relieved by a legally appointed successor. Serle, Percival (1949). "Johnston, George". Dictionary of Australian Biography. Sydney: Angus & Robertson . Retrieved 18 August 2009. a b Auchmuty, J. J. (1966). "Hunter, John (1737–1821) Australian Dictionary of Biography". Melbourne University Press. pp.566–572 . Retrieved 12 August 2009. Silver, Lynette Ramsay (1989). The Battle of Vinegar Hill: Australia's Irish Rebellion, 1804. Sydney: Doubleday. ISBN 0-86824-326-4.A fourth company was raised from those Marines wishing to remain in New South Wales under Captain George Johnston, who had been Governor Arthur Phillip's aide-de-camp. [3]

H. V. Evatt concludes in his history of the Rebellion that Bligh "was authorised to prevent free importation, to preserve the trade under his entire control, to enforce all penalties against illegal import, and to establish regulations at his discretion for the sale of spirits". [8] 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 also 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. [9] Tom Frame (23 January 2008). "Who'll Watch Guardians When Ex-officers Rule Us?". The Australian. Archived from the original on 12 June 2008. Essentially it was the culmination of a long-running tussle for power between the government and private entrepreneurs, a fight over the future and the nature of the colony. The early governors wanted to keep NSW as a large-scale open prison, with a primitive economy based on yeomen ex-convicts and run by government fiat. [9]

Nigel Erskine

In trying to limit the rum trade Bligh forbade bartering and introduced regulations securing government control of ships in port. In the evening of the 26 th the colours were displayed on shore, and the Governor, with several of his principal officers and others, assembled round the flagstaff, drank the King’s health, and success to the settlement, with all that display of form which on such occasions is esteemed propitious, because it enlivens the spirits, and fills the imagination with pleasing presages. [i]

a b c d e f g h i j "102nd Regiment of Foot". Regiments.org (archived version). Archived from the original on 13 January 2008 . Retrieved 4 January 2013. General support for the name Australia Day really only developed in the lead up to the 1988 Bicentenary, and national events on 26 January 1988 were of such magnitude, that the name is now firmly established. In his Australia Day speech Prime Minister Bob Hawke noted the importance, when celebrating the nation’s present and future, of remembering:a b c d Neville, Richard (May 1991). "The Arrest of Governor Bligh: Pictures and Politics". Australiana. 13 (2): 38–42. In March 1809 Bligh, under duress, finally agreed to return to England, but once aboard his ship HMS Porpoise he reneged and sailed for Van Diemen’s Land where he sought help from its lieutenant-governor, David Collins. This being the anniversary of Her Majesty’s birthday, Lieutenant-Colonel Paterson will direct the quartermaster to draw a proportion of fresh beef from Government House, to furnish a pound to each non-commissioned officer and private of the guard on duty at headquarters. [ii] A Place in History". The Sunday Herald. Sydney. 9 November 1952. p.10 . Retrieved 2 May 2012– via National Library of Australia. In fact, he had been selected for the post of Governor of New South Wales, largely because of his reputation for firm discipline, to curb the power and corrupt practices of the News South Wales Corps and some private individuals in the colony.

North, Jessica (2019). Esther: The extraordinary true story of the First Fleet girl who became First Lady of the colony. Allen & Unwin. ISBN 9781760527372. A few of the officers and long-serving privates in the 102nd Regiment were transferred to Macquarie's 73rd regiment, bringing it up to near full strength. About 100 veterans and invalids were retained for garrison duty in New South Wales. [17] War of 1812 [ edit ] The young officer subsequently acted as a recruiting officer in the United Kingdom before serving aboard HMS Sultan in the East Indies in 1781, and suffering a severe wound in action against the French. [4] [5] Returned to garrison duty in Portsmouth, he volunteered to join the New South Wales Marine Corps, which would accompany the First Fleet to New South Wales. He sailed for Australia aboard the convict transport Lady Penrhyn in 1788. [4] [5] [6] New South Wales [ edit ] a b Shaw, A. G. L. (1967). "King, Philip Gidley (1758–1808) Australian Dictionary of Biography". adb.anu.edu.au. Melbourne University Press . Retrieved 31 August 2017. Lieutenant-Colonel George Johnston (19 March 1764 – 5 January 1823) was a British military officer who served as Lieutenant-Governor of New South Wales, Australia after leading the rebellion later known as the Rum Rebellion. After serving as a young marine officer in the American Revolutionary War, Johnston served in the East Indies, fighting against the French, before volunteering to accompany the First Fleet to New South Wales. After serving as adjutant to Governor Arthur Phillip, Johnston served in the New South Wales Corps and he was a key figure in putting down the Castle Hill convict rebellion in 1804. He led his troops in deposing Governor Bligh in the Rum Rebellion in 1808; which led to his court martial and subsequent cashiering from military service. In his later life, he returned to New South Wales as a private citizen, raising a family in the colony and establishing a successful farm around Annandale in Sydney.

what we owe to the people who have been before us – the Aboriginals who have lived on this continent for some 40,000 years, those who settled Australia in 1788, and those who have made Australia the home of their choice since then.’