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History Pages
Various
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From the "Makers of Australia"
Series - No 5
The Governors
Scripture
:
Psalm 22:1-6
by
Rev Dr Gordon Moyes
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The Governors of Australia have been remarkable.
Even the recently resigned Governor General
has had an in-credible career of public service
for forty years. I have known him over all
that time since we were at University together.
He does not deserve most of what has been
said of him. If he had followed our protocols
in matters of abuse he would still be Governor
General. |
Our
State Governor, Marie Bashir, A.C., is a remarkable
woman. On May 7th this year I was talking
with her. It was a lovely autumn night and
we were standing on the veranda at Government
House with two other members of the Legislative
Council. The Governor told us reluctantly
and humbly, of what had happened when she
was being driven home through the Mosman area
late one night. Her driver was driving the
Governor's car complete with its gold crown
number plates and flying flag when she saw
on the side of the road the body of a man.
She told the driver to stop so she could investigate.
The driver was reluctant to do so. His job
was to make sure the Governor was driven home
in safety not investigate a body on the side
of the road. The Governor insisted he stop:
"After all there are two of us and only one
of him. And don't forget that I am a doctor,"
she said. She then gave the driver a further
instruction: "Cover the flag on the bonnet
of the car". They rolled the body of the man
over. She saw that he was pink and felt a
pulse. He was alive although much the worse
for wear from alcohol or drugs. She sought
to revive him. He stammered his name. He had
been celebrating the end of examinations.
The Governor encouraged him into her car and
drove him home. She managed to get his phone
number to ring him next day.
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The
following morning the Governor phoned him
early to find out how he was going. Her driver
also rang. The Governor said when she prayed
she often asks God "Why do you bless this
wonderful land of Australia so much?". She
has felt the reply: "Because there are still
enough people in Australia who care for each
other". Our Governor demonstrates that care
for others in her own private life as well
as her public life.
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Today
many are quick to pass judgment on our convict
past. They were hard times, with hard people
living in harsh circumstances. Our early governors
were men completing a difficult task, dealing
with entrenched graft among the colony's military
garrison and rampant debauchery among the
convicts. Yet some Governors were godly men
whose love of the Lord sustained them through
extremely difficult and lonely times.
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1.
CAPTAIN ARTHUR PHILLIP.
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Arthur
Phillip was made a captain in the British
navy and appointed first Governor of New South
Wales in 1778. Phillip had a vision of a new
world growing in the southern seas. He encouraged
the emigration of free settlers. He had the
planning and administrative skill to transplant
civilisation to the other side of the world.
The distance and indifference of the British
Parliament gave Phillip absolute power over
the inhabitants. Phillip was a moderate and
able governor. His discipline was firm; yet
he refused to tolerate any ill treatment of
the Aborigines. He was quick to punish evil
with the lash (a standard punishment in the
army and navy), and to re-ward industry and
good conduct of the convicts by shortening
their prison sentences or by giving them grants
of land.
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Some
convicts were selected for positions of authority
such as supervisors and policemen, while others
were assigned to posts which carried certain
privileges. Phil-lip used great care in distributing
the food rations, insisting on complete equality
for all, regardless of their position. Phillip
sustained the morale of the colony. Governor
Phillip was a nominal member of the Church
of England and a humanitarian. He believed
that Christianity was good for the rehabilitation
of the convicts. He founded Parramatta because
of its good soil and water supply, and its
accessibility to Sydney. It quickly became
the centre of the colony's economy. Convict
labour was used for the construction of buildings
and public farming. The growth of private
farming was slow due to a lack of resources,
tools and experience.
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The
military wanted grants of land, but Phillip
refused them because he felt farming could
interfere with their duties. But he was instructed
to give grants of land to approved persons,
including the military and ex-convicts (emancipists)
to encourage the growth of the settlement.
In December 1792, Phillip returned to Eng-land
because of health problems. His work in New
South Wales was highly commended. By 1796,
Phillip had sufficiently recovered his health
to resume his naval duties. He successfully
commanded several ships, and continued to
receive promotions until he became an admiral.
He died in 1814.
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| 2.
GOVERNOR JOHN HUNTER. |
| Christian
historian, Dr Graham McLennan, writes of Hunter:
"The hopes of those who believed that a new
Governor would make the good of the community
at large his particular care ran high in September
1795. |
For
in that month a man of incorruptible integrity,
un-ceasing zeal and sound and impartial judgment
assumed the office of Captain-General and
Governor-in-Chief of the colony of NSW." Governor
John Hunter, a fifty eight year old Naval
Captain, had sailed into Port Jackson with
the First Fleet in 1788. He sailed the Sirius
to the Cape of Good Hope to get supplies for
the colony. He was in command of the same
ship when it was wrecked on a reef at Norfolk
Island. Professor Manning Clark says "Throughout
his naval career he had showed himself to
be a man who combined physical toughness with
some of the gifts of an artist, a man who
looked to Providence as a prop and support
and who spoke of Christ as his Saviour."
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| 3.
GOVERNOR LACHLAN MACQUARIE. |
Macquarie's
twelve-year term as governor transferred the
struggling penal colony into a thriving, prosperous
community. He arrived in 1810 after the Rum
Rebellion. The officers of the NSW Corp. were
making huge profits through their monopoly
of the rum trade. They had re-belled against
Governor Bligh who had tried to regulate it.
In 1810 the colony was under threat of famine,
but by the time of his departure the population
had grown from 11,000 to over 40,000 people
and agriculture and commerce were thriving.
One of Macquarie's first goals was to bring
stability to families of the colony. He believed
the main purpose of education was, as Professor
Manning Clark puts it, "to educate the young
in the principles of the Bible.. To instruct
the rising generation in those principles
which, he believed, could alone ren-der them
dutiful and obedient to their parents and
superiors: honest, faithful and useful members
of society; and good Christians."
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Manning
Clark comments," His beliefs proved correct
as the morals of the colony began to dramatically
improve." Macquarie ordered all convicts to
attend divine worship every Sunday. The Governor
attended himself. He built many churches in
association with the convict architect Howard
Francis Greenway including St James just near
Wesley Centre. He ruled that farmers could
get seed or supplies from government stores
only if they had a marriage certificate. He
reduced the number of licensed taverns from
75 to 20 and clamped down on illegal stills.
He built schools for the whites and also the
Aborigines. He established schools for the
numerous illegitimate children. He realised
the importance of the education in biblical
principles of the colony's youth.
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Macquarie
launched two Christian organizations. Manning
Clark states: "The first was the British and
Foreign Bible Society, which had been founded
in London in 1804. The founders believed that
every man should be capable of reading the
Bible, because its sacred truths produced
a unity of sentiment and a correction of the
most ferocious manners. The second movement
was the Sunday School movement. Its supporters
believed in the benefits to be derived by
mankind from religious education, and proposed
to promote this great object among the children."
The Governor's ideas had a huge impact on
the colony. "Macquarie remained a champion
of the rights of the reformed convict and
the humbler settler. It was a commitment which
was to make powerful opponents and destined
to prove his undoing. From that day until
his departure he toured the settlements and
was received with praise and affection by
officials and settlers wherever he went."
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God
used this godly governor to create a dynamic,
young Christian nation. Macquarie built roads,
bridges, churches, schools, courthouses and
a hospital. He planned and established five
new towns: Windsor, Richmond, Castlereagh,
Pitt Town and Wilberforce. He encouraged the
building of quality brick or wood-frame housing.
Later came Liverpool, the South head Light-house,
the Hyde Park Barracks, Port Macquarie, Bathurst,
Government House at Parramatta, and the road
over the Blue Mountains. His surviving buildings
include St James' Church, the Hyde Park Barracks,
the Government House stables now known as
the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, the Sydney
Hospital, and Parliament House. Macquarie
also established the Bank of New South Wales,
and silver sterling as the currency of the
colony instead of rum. Macquarie built 200
public buildings and 480 kilometres of good
roads including the crossing of the Blue Mountains
- a remarkable achievement for the governor
of a remote, new colony.
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The
British Government was concerned with the
cost. Free settlers like John Macarthur and
Rev Samuel Marsden opposed granting of pardons
and land grants to convicts who had served
their time. Their own farm-ing and wool business
was threatened. A Royal Com-mission was established
to investigate this and Commissionaire Bigge
found Macquarie had been extravagant and too
lenient towards the convicts. But today we
see Macquarie left the lasting benefit, and
turned a penal settlement into a young nation.
Today, a grateful nation remembers his name
everywhere. The British Government never knighted
him although citizens refer to the Botanic
Garden's point overlooking the Harbour as
Lady Macquarie's Chair, not Mrs Macquarie's
Chair.
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Macquarie
retired to the island of Mull in Scotland's
north. A member of the Rotary Club of Sydney,
the club of which I was President, visited
his family vault in 1994 and found it overgrown
and in poor repair. President Mike Hodgetts
set about raising $32,000 to restore it. Rotarians
from Sydney visited Scotland and the Macquarie
Bank ensured the funds were raised. The Rotary
Club restored the family vault completely
as a tribute to a Christian man who was truly
the father of Australia.
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Governor
Marie Bashir often asks God "Why do you bless
this wonderful land of Australia so much?".
The reply has come "Because there are still
enough people in Australia who care for each
other". That Christian care, shown by these
great governors, has become an example for
the rest of us. There are thirty two references
to governors in the Bible. The Lord Jesus
and the Apostle Paul were brought before their
Governors. The Apostle Peter wrote: "Submit
yourselves for the Lord's sake to every authority
instituted among men: whether to the king,
as the supreme authority, or to governors,
who are sent by God to punish those who do
wrong and to commend those who do right. For
it is God's will that by doing good you should
silence the ignorant talk of foolish men."
1 Peter 2:13-15 We are called to be good citizens
who obey the laws and show care for others.
That behaviour follows our belief. Christian
belief is foundational to all we do. Macquarie
summed it up when he wrote his purpose in
establishing Christian schools for youth was
to be teach them to be "dutiful and obedient
to their parents and superiors, honest and
faithful;, and useful members of society and
good Christians." We honour our Governors
who were the makers of Australia and seek
to shown the same Christian belief and care.
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- "Southland
of the Holy Spirit" Elizabeth R Kotlowski
J. Bell 1994
- "Discovering
Australia's Christian Heritage." Col Stringer.
Col Stringer Ministries 2001.
- "The
History of Australia." Manning Clark Volume
1
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by
Rev Dr Gordon Moyes
Go to the Wesley Mission Sermons home page
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This
article was sent by the Wesley Mission Sydney
and is from their Sunday Night Live mailing.
We
have added this to the Sentinels website
with the Permission of Rev. Gordon Moyes
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The
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The Women
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The
Convicts
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Acts 16:16-30
|
The Missionaries
-
Acts 28:1-10
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The
Governors
-
Acts 25:1-12
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The
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Hebrews 10:19-25
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The
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Psalm 22:1-6
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The
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