Laws
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This explainer outlines what laws are, why societies need them, and how they protect rights, ensure safety and guide behaviour. It explains how parliaments make statute law, how courts develop common law through precedent, and how different types of law—criminal, civil, administrative and constitutional—operate within Australia’s rule‑of‑law framework.
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This explainer outlines the difference between rules and laws, showing how laws are created, enforced and applied to protect rights, maintain order and keep communities safe. It helps students understand why societies need laws, how they guide behaviour and how the rule of law ensures fairness and accountability.
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This explainer outlines the key features that make laws effective, including clarity, consistency, enforceability and fairness. It shows how well‑designed laws protect rights, guide behaviour and support the rule of law by being known, stable and applied equally to everyone.
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This explainer outlines how Australian hate‑speech laws work, including the limits on free expression, the protections against vilification, and the role of courts and human rights bodies in resolving complaints. It highlights how the law balances freedom of speech with safeguarding individuals and communities from harm.
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This explainer outlines how the first five Governors of New South Wales—Arthur Phillip, John Hunter, Philip Gidley‑King, William Bligh, and Lachlan Macquarie—worked to build a functioning colony from a population of transported convicts. It highlights their efforts to apply fairness, justice, and emerging ideas about individual rights while managing a settlement that began as a prison. It also provides context on Britain’s overcrowded prisons, the shift to transporting convicts to Australia, and the role of the Charter of Justice in shaping early governance.
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This explainer outlines Arthur Phillip’s leadership of the First Fleet, his establishment of British law in the new colony, and his efforts to ensure survival, fairness, and stability while navigating conflict with military officers and tensions with Indigenous peoples.
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This explainer highlights William Bligh’s brief, turbulent governorship, focusing on his attempts to break the New South Wales Corps’ control over trade, end the rum economy, and support struggling farmers. His reforms provoked the Corps, leading to the Rum Rebellion and his arrest, though he was later cleared. Despite lasting controversy, his actions helped re‑establish lawful authority in the colony.
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This explainer shows how Lachlan Macquarie stabilised New South Wales by restoring law and order, redirecting convict labour to public works, and supporting emancipists. It highlights his major building program with Francis Greenway, the introduction of official currency, and reforms that helped shift the colony toward a free, organised society. It also notes how opposition from wealthy settlers and the Bigge Inquiry forced his resignation, even though his leadership laid foundations for future self‑government.
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This explainer outlines how John Hunter struggled to regain control of New South Wales after years of unchecked power by the New South Wales Corps. It highlights the Corps’ corruption, its dominance over trade and law, and the obstacles Hunter faced as they blocked information and undermined his authority. Despite being recalled to England over false accusations, his reputation was later restored, and his writings became valuable records of early colonial life.
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This explainer outlines how Philip Gidley‑King worked to strengthen and expand the colony between 1800 and 1806. It highlights his efforts to build the economy through coal, whaling, and farming, his support for emancipists, and his push for fair opportunity. It also shows how constant resistance from the New South Wales Corps—especially John Macarthur—undermined his authority, eventually damaging his reputation and forcing his resignation.
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This explainer shows how Lord Sydney, Thomas Townshend, shaped the principles that guided the founding of New South Wales. It outlines why he adopted the name Sydney in honour of Algernon Sidney, whose ideas about liberty, equality, and the rule of law deeply influenced him. It also highlights his key decisions as Home Secretary: choosing Arthur Phillip as governor, creating the First Charter of Justice, and ensuring the new colony offered convicts the chance for rights, reform, and eventual freedom.
Governor Philip Gidley-King
1800 - 1806
Philip Gidley-King was a British Naval Officer serving with Captain Arthur Phillip as second Lieutenant on the HMS Sirius during the First Fleet voyage in 1788.
On Governor Phillip’s orders, Lieutenant King established another penal settlement on Norfolk Island. Members of the New South Wales Corps accompanied the expedition to provide support and a defence outpost for the New South Wales colony. King’s time on the island was productive, successfully becoming self-sufficient by 1794. However, convicts and members of the Corps were difficult to control with their mutinous behaviour challenging King’s every decision and order.
On 28 September 1800, King was appointed the third Governor of New South Wales. He was a good administrator and improved the economy. King exported coal and established a whaling industry. Cotton, hemp, and wool, also thrived as trading commodities during his governorship. His greatest success was developing a livestock farming program and exporting high quality animal stock back to England. King increased the size of the colony and surrounding towns by building churches, barracks, wharves, bridges, and schools. He supported the launch of the colony’s first public newspaper, the Sydney Gazette. This was an important development as it gave citizens the right to free speech.
King strived to make the colony prosperous by providing fair opportunity for everyone, including the convicts. Many who arrived on the First Fleet had completed their sentences during King’s governorship, these people were called emancipists. King supported the emancipists by giving them the same positions of responsibility as free settlers. He believed emancipists should not be condemned in disgrace forever, but instead be accepted into the community along with everyone else.
King faced unrelenting opposition from the Corps when he tried to control the illegal trade in rum. Disobedience and insolence from its members plagued him, such as John Macarthur, who opposed every decision King made. To break the cycle, King sent Macarthur back to England to face a court-martial for his disobedience. However, the British Government supported Macarthur’s version of events. In fact, Macarthur was rewarded with a large land grant, further increasing his wealth and influence in the colony.
King’s reputation back in England had been trashed by the Corps and he resigned his post in 1806 and returned to England 1807. He had become sick and exhausted, caused by a combination of illness, the hard conditions of his service, and ultimately the treatment from officers of the New South Wales Corps.
Philip Gidley-King died in London, 3 September 1808.
Fun Facts
Philip Gidley-King was born in Launceston, Cornwall England 1758
King joined the Royal Navy as a captain’s servant when he was only 12 years old
King travelled from England on the First Fleet in 1788, and the Third Fleet in 1791
King was able to breed the hair from sheep into a ‘wool’
During his time on Norfolk Island, King had two sons. He called them Norfolk and Sydney
King Island in Bass Strait is named after Philip Gidley-King
A court martial is a court that deals with members of the armed forces who break military law. An emancipist is a convict who has become a free settler after completing their sentence
Related Resources
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This explainer outlines how the first five Governors of New South Wales—Arthur Phillip, John Hunter, Philip Gidley‑King, William Bligh, and Lachlan Macquarie—worked to build a functioning colony from a population of transported convicts. It highlights their efforts to apply fairness, justice, and emerging ideas about individual rights while managing a settlement that began as a prison. It also provides context on Britain’s overcrowded prisons, the shift to transporting convicts to Australia, and the role of the Charter of Justice in shaping early governance.
-
This explainer highlights William Bligh’s brief, turbulent governorship, focusing on his attempts to break the New South Wales Corps’ control over trade, end the rum economy, and support struggling farmers. His reforms provoked the Corps, leading to the Rum Rebellion and his arrest, though he was later cleared. Despite lasting controversy, his actions helped re‑establish lawful authority in the colony.
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