New South Wales Corps

New South Wales Corps, (1789–1818), British military force formed for service in the convict colony of New South Wales. It figured prominently in the early history of Australia.

With the arrival of the corps in 1790–92, the colony gained a new dynamic force: officers and soldiers received land grants, becoming soldier-settlers; many officers became involved in business ventures, most notably the rum trade; and the ranks of the corps also provided the colony with explorers, surveyors, and scholars. From the time of the departure of the colony’s first governor, Arthur Phillip, in December 1792, until the arrival of Governor John Hunter in September 1795, the colony was administered by the commanding officer of the corps, first Francis Grose and then William Paterson. It was then that the officers’ economic activity advanced fastest. The corps asserted itself in a different way by putting down the 1804 rebellion of Irish convicts (the Castle Hill Rising). The officer in charge of this operation, Major George Johnston, was later among the leaders of the corps’ 1808 Rum Rebellion against the administration of Governor William Bligh, the celebrated victim of the earlier Bounty mutiny. Relations had long been strained with Bligh, who had accused the corps of corruption and ineptitude. After deposing him on January 26, 1808, the corps controlled the colony until Lachlan Macquarie became governor in January 1810.

In the course of 1809, the name of the corps was changed to the 102nd Regiment of the Line as a preliminary to its recall to England. In May 1810 half of the regiment accepted reassignment, while the rest chose to remain in Australia and joined either the 73rd Regiment or the Veteran Corps. The 102nd Regiment subsequently saw service in the War of 1812 against the United States, was renumbered the 100th Regiment, and was disbanded in 1818.