 | This article contains too many or overly lengthy quotations for an encyclopedic entry.(June 2013) |
Bunyip aristocracy is an Australian term satirising attempts by William Wentworth to establish a system of titles in the colony of New South Wales. It was coined in 1853 by Daniel Deniehy in what came to be known as the Bunyip Aristocracy speech which he delivered in the Victoria Theatre [1] and on the soapbox at Circular Quay.
A committee, consisting of Charles Cowper, T. A. Murray, George Macleay, E. Deas Thomson, John Plunkett, Henry Douglass, William Thurlow, James Macarthur, James Martin and William Wentworth, appointed on the motion of Wentworth, held its first meeting in Sydney on 27 May 1853. Fifteen meetings were called. Half the members did not attend the meetings. The bill was reported on 28 July 1853. [2]
It was almost universally condemned by the people and a large public meeting was called to oppose it. In the advertisement convening the meeting were the following paragraphs [3] :
Colonists ! Will you submit to be robbed of your rights? A committee of the Legislative Council has framed a new Constitution for the colony, by which it is proposed:
- To create a colonial nobility with hereditary privileges.
- To construct an Upper House of Legislature in which the people will have no voice.
- To add eighteen new seats to the Lower House, only one of which is to be allotted to Sydney while the other seventeen are to be allotted among the country and squatting districts.
- To squander the public revenue by pensioning off the officers of the Government on their full salaries, thus implanting in our institutions a principle of jobbery and corruption.
- To fix irrevocably on the people this oligarchy in the name of free institutions so that no future Legislature can reform it even by absolute majority.
The Legislative Council has the hardihood to propose passing this unconstitutional and anti-British measure with only a few days notice, and before it can possibly be considered by the colonists at large.
The meeting was addressed by Henry Parkes and other liberals, and the result of the agitation was that the most objectionable clause, to create an hereditary colonial peerage, was struck out. [4]
In response to Wentworth's proposal to create a hereditary peerage in New South Wales, Deniehy's satirical comments included: "Here, we all know the common water mole was transferred into the duck-billed platypus, and in some distant emulation of this degeneration, I suppose we are to be favoured with a bunyip aristocracy." [lower-alpha 1] [1] Deniehy's ridicule caused the idea to be dropped. [5]
Among those singled out in his speech by Deniehy was James MacArthur (1798–1867), the son of John MacArthur, who had been nominated to the New South Wales Legislative Council in 1839 and was later (1859) elected to the New South Wales Legislative Assembly (the lower house was only created in 1856):
Next came the native aristocrat James MacArthur, he would he supposed, aspire to the coronet of an earl, he would call him the Earl of Camden, and he suggests for his coat of arms a field vert, the heraldic term for green, and emblazoned on this field should be a rum keg [lower-alpha 2] of a New South Wales order of chivalry. [1]
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The strong popular support for Deniehy's views caused the abandonment of the proposal to which he was responding. It probably also delayed the introduction of an Australian honours system. The Order of Australia was not introduced until 1975. Until that time Australians were awarded British honours.
"Bunyip aristocracy" is now a pejorative term for those Australians who consider themselves to be aristocrats. [6]
William Charles Wentworth was an Australian statesman, pastoralist, explorer, newspaper editor, lawyer, politician and author, who became one of the wealthiest and most powerful figures of early colonial New South Wales.
William Lawson, MLC was a British soldier, explorer, land owner, grazier and politician who migrated to Sydney, New South Wales in 1800. Along with Gregory Blaxland and William Wentworth, he pioneered the first successful crossing of the Blue Mountains by British colonists.
The New South Wales Corps was formed in England in 1789 as a permanent regiment of the British Army to relieve the New South Wales Marine Corps, who had accompanied the First Fleet to Australia, in fortifying the Colony of New South Wales. It gained notoriety for its trade in rum and disobedient behaviour during its service and was disbanded in 1818.
Daniel Henry Deniehy was an Australian journalist, orator and politician; and early advocate of democracy in colonial New South Wales.
MacArthur or Macarthur may refer to:
The Parliament of New South Wales is a bicameral legislature in the Australian state of New South Wales (NSW), consisting of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly and the New South Wales Legislative Council. Each house is directly elected by the people of New South Wales at elections held approximately every four years. The Parliament derives its authority from the King of Australia, King Charles III, represented by the Governor of New South Wales, who chairs the Executive Council. The parliament shares law making powers with the Australian Federal Parliament. The New South Wales Parliament follows Westminster parliamentary traditions of dress, Green–Red chamber colours and protocols.
John Macarthur was a British Army officer, entrepreneur, landowner and politician who was a highly influential figure in the establishment of the colony of New South Wales. He was also a pioneer of the Australian Merino wool industry, and was instrumental in agitating for, and organising, a rebellion against Governor William Bligh in what is now termed as the Rum Rebellion in January 1808.
Sir George Gipps was the Governor of the British Colony of New South Wales for eight years, between 1838 and 1846. His governorship oversaw a tumultuous period where the rights to land were bitterly contested in a three way struggle between the colonial government, Aboriginal people and wealthy graziers known as squatters. The management of other major issues such as the end of convict transportation, large immigration programs and the introduction of majority elected representation also featured strongly during his tenure. Gipps is regarded as having brought a high moral and intellectual standard to the position of governor, but was ultimately defeated in his aims by the increasing power and avarice of the squatters.
The history of Australia from 1788 to 1850 covers the early British colonial period of Australia's history. This started with the arrival in 1788 of the First Fleet of British ships at Port Jackson on the lands of the Eora, and the establishment of the penal colony of New South Wales as part of the British Empire. It further covers the European scientific exploration of the continent and the establishment of the other Australian colonies that make up the modern states of Australia.
Sir Daniel Cooper, 1st Baronet was a nineteenth-century politician, merchant and philanthropist in the Colony of New South Wales. He served as the first speaker of the Legislative Assembly of the colony and was a noted philatelist.
The Honourable Sir William Macarthur was an Australian botanist and vigneron. He was one of the most active and influential horticulturists in Australia in the mid-to-late 19th century. Among the first viticulturists in Australia, Macarthur was a medal-winning wine-maker, as well as a respected amateur botanist and noted plant breeder.
Sir Edward Deas Thomson was a Scotsman who became an administrator and politician in Australia, and was chancellor of the University of Sydney.
The following lists events that happened during 1853 in Australia.
Western Division of Camden was an electoral district for the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of New South Wales from 1856 to 1857. Its name was changed to West Camden between 1858 and 1859, when it was replaced by the electoral district of Camden. It elected two members simultaneously, with voters casting two votes and the first two candidates being elected. The electorate was based on western Camden County, which adjoins the Cumberland County to the south, including the Southern Highlands and, to the east, the Illawarra.
William Richman Piddington was an Australian bookseller and politician. He was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly between 1856 and 1877 and a member of the New South Wales Legislative Council from 1879 until his death. He served two brief terms as the Colonial Treasurer of New South Wales in 1872 and 1877.
The Electoral district of City of Sydney was an electorate of the New South Wales Legislative Council.
This is a list of members of the New South Wales Legislative Council from 1851 to 1856. The 1851 Electoral Act increased the number of members in the Council to 54, 18 to be appointed and 36 elected. The initial appointments were made in October 1851. The Speaker was Charles Nicholson.
Francis John White was a pastoralist and politician in New South Wales, Australia.
Members of the New South Wales Legislative Council who served from 1861 to 1864 were appointed for life by the Governor on the advice of the Premier. The 1855 Constitution of New South Wales provided that the first council was appointed for a period of 5 years, but that subsequent members would be appointed for life. The previous council had ended in controversy with an attempt was made to swamp the chamber by appointing 21 new members in May 1861, because the council had rejected the Robertson land bills. When the council met and the new members were waiting to be sworn in, the President Sir William Burton stated that he felt he had been treated with discourtesy in the matter, resigned his office of president and his membership, and left the chamber. 19 other members also resigned in protest. In the absence of the President and Chairman of Committees, under the standing orders the council was adjourned. There were no further sitting days before the terms of the members of council had expired.
A by-election was held for the New South Wales Legislative Assembly electorate of Wentworth on 28 September 1887 because of the resignation of William MacGregor (Protectionist).
