On 26th January 1808, officers and men of the New South Wales Corps marched to Government House in Sydney in an act of rebellion against Governor William Bligh.



Bligh was arrested and the colony was placed under military rule. This was the only time in Australian history that a government was overthrown by a military coup.

The military stayed in power for two years until Lachlan Macquarie, the fifth Governor of NSW, assumed office at the beginning of 1810. The overthrow of Bligh much later became known as the ‘Rum Rebellion’ because the NSW Corps was heavily involved in the trade in rum in the colony and was nicknamed the ‘Rum Corps’. The term 'Rum Rebellion' was not used at the time. The factors leading up to Bligh’s arrest had much less to do with the rum trade and much more to do with a battle for power between the military and civil elites of the colony and the Governor.

A Governor representing the British government ruled the penal colony of New South Wales. He took instruction from the government in London and was responsible for implementing government policy and maintaining order in the Colony. The officers and men of the New South Wales Corps were stationed in the Colony to support the Governor. Many of the men in the New South Wales Corps were recruited from the unemployed in Britain though many were skilled, victims of the Industrial Revolution. New South Wales was a long way from home, and quick promotion, good wages and the opportunity to engage in trade alongside their military duties induced ambitious men to sign up.

Officers were also rewarded by early governors with large land grants and were assigned convict labour, which allowed them to build comfortable homes and cultivate farm produce, which they could sell at a profit. Before the end of the 18th century, trading ships were already calling in at Sydney Cove, knowing that the remoteness of the colony meant good business. The early governors bought some of the goods to replenish the government stores and allowed the military to purchase and market the rest, effectively allowing them to monopolise trade within the town.