E28: The Day of the Rum Rebellion

E28: The Day of the Rum Rebellion

From Political History of Australia by John Ruddick

May 20, 2026 · 59 min · Season 1 · Episode 28

About this episode

This episode discusses the events surrounding the Rum Rebellion and the political struggle in New South Wales in 1808.

The label Rum Rebellion was a smear dreamed up decades after the seismic events of 26 January 1808. Those dramatic events were not about rum. It was fight over what the future of NSW should be.   For some including Governor Bligh, NSW was to remain a large-scale open prison with a simply economy of small scale ex-convict farmers and an iron grip control by the state. But 20 years into the colony and too many residents could see that this land had too much potential to be limited by the other vision. The day of the Rum Rebellion was fast-moving and dramatic. At the end of it either Governor Bligh or John Macarthur was going to be under arrest. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Please leave a comment, share and rate the show ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Also listen and subscribe at Youtube and Rumble here 👉@politicalhistoryofaustralia The Hon. John Ruddick MLC is a member of the NSW Legislative Council.  johnruddick.com.au https://www.tiktok.com/@johnruddickmlc https://x.com/JohnRuddick2 https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnruddickmlc/ https://www.facebook.com/johnruddickmlc&nbsp…

People in this episode

Host: John Ruddick

Topics covered

  • Rum Rebellion
  • Australian history
  • colonial politics
  • Governor Bligh
  • John Macarthur
  • New South Wales

Keywords

  • Rum Rebellion
  • Governor Bligh
  • John Macarthur
  • NSW
  • Australian history
  • colonial governance

Mentioned in this episode

Places: NSW

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