The only successful #coup in Australian history was on #ThisDayInHistory in 1808. The #RumRebellion happened because the governor alienated powerful people behind an illicit booze trade. Amusingly, the deposed governor was the same #WilliamBligh toppled in the #MutinyOnTheBounty.

I'm taking Monday off not for Invasion Day, but to celebrate that time there was a military coup d'état because the new head of state was threatening their monopoly on selling drugs.
Happy Yoiking Governor Bligh Out From Under the Bed Day to those that celebrate it.
#RumRebellion #AusHistory #InvasionDay

#OTD #WilliamBligh was born in 1754.

He travelled with Capt. James Cook on Cook's second voyage, got his own ship in 1787, had a famous mutiny against him on the Bounty in 1789, and became Governor of the colony of New South Wales in 1805.

In 1808, the soldiers in Sydney rebelled in the #RumRebellion and they sent him to Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania) for two years until someone was sent out from Britain to replace him. He was eventually promoted to Vice-Admiral and died in 1817.

Day 26 Stamp Challenge
Today’s stamp a 27c is of the 175th Anniversary of the Rum Rebellion 1983
On the 26thJanuary 1808, on the instigation of John Macarthur. Major George Johnston declared himself Lieutenant-Governor of New South Wales and ordered the arrest of William Bligh. This was Bligh’s second experience of mutiny, having previously been Captain ofthe ill fated Bounty. The insurrection, known as the Rum Rebellion, was the climax to a series of events stemming from Bligh’s attempt to curb trafficking in rum. In the young colony, rum had become a form of currency, and civil and military officers held a monopoly on the trade.
The stamp, of Bligh, is taken from an etching held by the National Gallery of Australia. The envelope isa detail of Johnston taken from a painting held by the Geelong Art Gallery.
#stamps, #socialhistory, #rumrebellion, #anniversary
Today rum is replaced by gambling - the unofficial way to finance government needs