Explore "A Short History of Australia" by Ernest Scott on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
System of government--An autocracy--Hunter's governorship--His difficulties--Recalled--King's governorship--The rum traffic--Bligh's governorship--John Macarthur--His arrest and trial--Deposition of Bligh.
Until the year 1823 the government of New South Wales was vested entirely in the Governor, who worked under the control of the Secretary of State for the Home Department, or, later, the Secretary for War and the Colonies; for there was no separate Colonial Minister till 1854. The Governor during this period had no local council to advise him or check him. He might consult the Judge Advocate on judicial questions, or the Surveyor-General as to what roads and buildings should be constructed, or the Commissary about supplies; but whether he did or not was for himself to determine. They were his subordinates; he was an autocrat, wielding the widest powers, amenable to no criticism but that of the Minister in England.