Colonial Forces of Australia - British Garrison

British Garrison

Accompanying the First Fleet to Port Jackson were three companies of marines totalling 212 men under the command of Major Robert Ross, to guard the fledgling colony of Sydney and that of Norfolk Island, which had been established on 6 March 1788 to provide a food base and investigate supply of masts and flax for canvas for the Royal Navy. In 1790 the Second Fleet arrived, and the marines were relieved by a new force which was created specifically for service in the colony of New South Wales. With an average strength of 550 men, it was known as the New South Wales Corps. The first contingent of 183 men, under Major Francis Grose, arrived in New South Wales in June 1790. They were subsequently expanded with further contingents from Britain as well as free settlers, former convicts and marines who had discharged in the colony. Throughout the mid-1790s the New South Wales Corps was involved in "open war" along the Hawkesbury River against the Daruk people.

On 4 March 1804, the New South Wales Corps was called into action to put down the Castle Hill convict rebellion. Also known as the "Irish Rebellion" and sometimes the "Battle of Vinegar Hill" in reference to a battle which took place in Ireland during the Irish Rebellion of 1798, it was an uprising against British colonial authority that occurred when around 300 mostly Irish convicts, led by Phillip Cunningham and William Johnson, took up arms at Parramatta and marched towards the settlement at Hawkesbury. In response, martial law was declared and a detachment of 56 men from the New South Wales Corps under the command of Major George Johnston, marched all night to the centre of the rebellion, near the modern Sydney suburb of Rouse Hill, where they engaged with the main rebel force consisting of about 260 men. A brief firefight followed, after which the crowd was dispersed. By the time that the fugitives had been chased down the following day, about 15 rebels had been killed and six were wounded, while another 26 had been captured. Nine rebels were subsequently hanged.

Following the events of the Rum Rebellion, the New South Wales Corps was disbanded, reformed as the 102nd Regiment, and returned to England. At the same time, the various loyal associations were also disbanded. To replace the New South Wales Corps, in 1810 the 73rd Regiment of Foot (MacLeod's Highlanders) arrived in the colony, becoming the first line regiment to serve in New South Wales under the Governorship of Lachlan Macquarie. The Highlanders were replaced by the 1st/46th (South Devonshire) Regiment of Foot, known as the "Red Feathers", who would serve in Australia until 1818.

In March 1810, the New South Wales Invalid Company was formed for veteran British soldiers and marines who were too old "to serve to the best of their capacity", and served mainly as post guards, for the supervision of convicts and other government duties. It was composed of veterans of the 102nd, and other units from veteran soldiers. By 1817 Lachlan Macquarie felt they were unable to perform even these duties, and recommended their disbandment. This was eventually done on 24 September 1822. However, three further veterans companies were raised in 1825 to "relieve the garrison of police work" for service in New South Wales, and stayed on duties until 1833.

From 1810 until the withdrawal of British forces from Australia in 1870, about 20,000 British soldiers, serving in 24 British infantry regiments undertook garrison duties in Australia on a rotational basis, along with elements of the marines, Royal Engineers and Royal Artillery. Many of these units were veterans of famous battles of the Napoleonic Wars, and ultimately 13 "Peninsula regiments" served in the colonies. While deployed, British Army regiments undertook a variety of duties. This included guarding convict settlements, hunting down bushrangers, suppressing armed resistance by Indigenous Australians, providing security on the goldfields, assisting local police to maintain public order, undertaking ceremonial duties and developing the infrastructure of the nation's military defences.

Initially these forces were based solely in New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land (later known as Tasmania), however, later they were sent to Western Australia, South Australia, the Port Phillip Distrct (later known as Victoria), Queensland and the modern day Northern Territory. Upon departure, most British regiments proceeded on to India where they saw further service. Many British soldiers, however, chose to stay in Australia, taking their discharge or transferring to the units that arrived to replace them.

The size of these forces varied over time. Initially the garrison was formed by only one regiment (battalion equivalent), however, in 1824 it rose to three. At its peak, in the 1840s, there were between four and six, although this fell to two in the early 1850s after the end of transportation and then to one by the end of the decade as troops were dispatched to India during the Indian Mutiny and to New Zealand to fight during the Maori Wars or were needed elsewhere in the British Empire. In the 1860s, Melbourne was used as the headquarters of the Australia and New Zealand Military Command, although by this time British forces in Australia consisted mainly of garrison artillery. The British regiments that garrisoned Australia were primarily raised in Britain; however, any Australian born subjects who wished to pursue a military career were obliged to join the British Army, until the formation of locally raised volunteer militia units after responsible self-government was granted in each of the Australian colonies after 1855. Although the British Army did not actively recruit in Australia, "hundreds" of Australians are believed to have joined British regiments. One Australian, Andrew Douglass White, served as an engineer officer at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815, while another, Spicer Cookworthy, served as a subaltern in the 1st Regiment of Foot during the Crimean War.

In the mid-1860s the cost of maintaining forces in Australia became the focus of considerable debate in the House of Commons in Britain and as result in March 1862, it was "resolved that those colonies which had achieved responsible government would have to bear the cost of their own internal defences". Although the British continued to provide military forces in the way of 15 companies of infantry, these were paid for by the colonial governments in the form of a capitation payment. Additionally, between 1856 and 1870, several different companies/batteries of the Royal Artillery served in New South Wales, as well as engineer units, marines and various support units.

There was no guarantee that these troops would remain in Australia if war broke out elsewhere and as a result, in 1869, in response to requests for assurances in this regard the British government announced that the capitation fee would be increased and that troop numbers would be further increased. Finally, in 1870 the decision was made to withdraw the remaining regiment and as a result, by September with the departure of the 18th (Royal Irish), the withdrawal of British forces from Australia was completed, except for a small number of Royal Marines who would remain in the country until 1913, and the local forces assumed total responsibility for the defence of the colonies. The influence of the British Army would continue to be felt, however, through fortifications and defences that were built and in the customs, traditions, uniforms, heraldry and organisational structure that developed in the colonial forces and which, through these links, have been maintained in the modern incarnation of the Australian Army.

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