Philip Gidley King

Philip Gidley King

Philip Gidley King (born April 23, 1758 in Launceston in Cornwall , † September 3, 1808 in London ) was a captain in the Royal Navy and colonial administrator in Australia . He is best known as the official founder of the first European settlement on Norfolk Island and as the third governor of New South Wales .

Norfolk Island

King joined the Royal Navy as Captain's Servant at age 12 and was made a lieutenant in 1778. He served under Arthur Phillip , who made him second officer on HMS Sirius for an expedition to establish a penal colony in New South Wales . Upon arrival in January 1788, King was tasked with leading a small group of convicts and guards and using them to establish a settlement on Norfolk Island .

On March 6, 1788, King and his group landed on the island with difficulty because there was no suitable port. They built huts, cleared the land, planted plants and fought against maggots, salty air and hurricanes. More convicts were sent to the colony, which at times proved problematic. Early in 1789, King prevented a revolt in which some convicts planned to capture him and other officers and escape on the next boat that was about to arrive.

On his return to Norfolk he found the population, which had grown to around 1,000, in the greatest dissatisfaction, which had arisen from the strict regime of Major Robert Ross . He set about improving the conditions and encouraged the settlement with ex-convicts or marines and took into account their opinion on wages and prices. In 1794 the island was able to supply itself with grain, a surplus of pigs was sent to Sydney. Many settlers preferred to feed on government supply stores and few wanted to leave Norfolk.

In February 1794, King was confronted with unsubstantiated allegations by members of the New South Wales Corps on the island that he punished them too severely and the convicts too little if there were disputes. When their behavior approached mutiny, he sent 20 of them to court martial in Sydney. There, Lieutenant Governor Francis Grose criticized King's behavior and issued orders that gave the military an unlawful authority over the civilian population. Although Grose later apologized for this, the conflict with the military continued to weigh on King.

Suffering from gout , King returned to England in October 1796. After his health was restored, he resumed his naval career, replacing John Hunter in the post of Governor of New South Wales.

Gubernatorial time

King became governor on September 28, 1800 and began reforming the administration. He appointed the Major Joseph Foveaux for lieutenant governor of Norfolk Iceland.

He was the first to take action against the misconduct of the officers of the New South Wales Corps, especially the illegal trade in spirits, especially rum . He tried to make the import of alcohol more difficult and began to build a brewery. However, he had increasing problems to do something about the continued flourishing of illegal distillation in the country and the convicts' refusal to work for other forms of payment in their free time.

He continued to face the military arrogance and disobedience of the New South Wales Corps. Nor did he get any support in England when he sent officer John Macarthur back to court martial.

However, King also had some success. The regulation of prices, wages and working hours he initiated, financial agreements and the use of convicts brought some relief to the less wealthy settlers and reduced the number of people living on government costs. He encouraged the construction of barracks, shipyards, bridges, houses, etc. The state-owned livestock grew considerably. He also encouraged attempts at growing wine, tobacco , cotton , hemp, and indigo . Whaling and sealing became important sources of oil and skins, and coal mining began. King also promoted education and set up schools to retrain convicts to become craftsmen. He campaigned for the smallpox vaccination , was open to missionaries and strove to live in peace with the Aborigines . He also supported the founding of the first newspaper in Sydnes, The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser .

Although he was well aware that Sydney was a penal colony, he also gave the " emancipists ", partially or fully pardoned convicts, a chance, believing that ex-convicts should not live in disgrace forever. He appointed some of them to positions of responsibility and laid the foundation for the " ticket of leave " system for the reintegration of convicts.

Life

While serving as commandant on Norfolk Island, King had a relationship with convict Ann Inett, with whom he had two sons. The first was born on January 8, 1789, the second, named Sydney in 1790.

After the Sirius shipwreck off Norfolk Island in March 1790, King returned to England to report on the problems of the settlements in New South Wales. Ann Inett stayed in Sydney with the children , married another man in 1792 and lived a comfortable and respectable life in the colony. King, who may have arranged this marriage himself, also made it possible for his sons to be brought up in England, after which they became officers in the Navy.

While in England, King married Anna Josepha Coombe on March 11, 1791 and shortly thereafter returned with HMS Gorgon to take up his post as Lieutenant Governor of Norfolk Island for an annual salary of £ 250. King's first legitimate son, Philip Parker King , was born there on December 13, 1791, with four daughters. Voyages of discovery led to the exploration of Bass Strait and the Western Port , the discovery of Port Phillip Bay and the establishment of settlements in Hobart and Port Dalrymple (now Launceston) in Van Diemens Land, later Tasmania .

Although he benefited directly from a number of bargaining deals, cattle sales, and land grants, he was modest in claims relative to most of his subordinates.

The increasing hostility between King and the New South Wales Corps led to his resignation and his replacement by William Bligh in 1806. King returned to England, where his health deteriorated and he died on September 3, 1808.

Although he worked hard for the good of New South Wales and left it in much better shape than he found it, its reputation suffered from verbal attacks from the officers. Illness and the harsh working conditions had finally worn him out. Of all the members of the First Fleet , Philip Gidley King contributed perhaps most to the colony's thriving in its early years.

The botanist Robert Brown named the Australian genus Kingia from the Dasypogonaceae family after him and Philip Parker King in 1826 . The Tasmanian island of King Island and Kingston on Norfolk Island are named after him.

literature

• Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 2, pp. 55-61.
• Mollie Gillen : The Founders of Australia: a biographical dictionary of the First Fleet , Sydney, Library of Australian History, 1989.