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General Sir Ralph Darling (1772 – 2 April 1858) was a British Army officer and colonial administrator who served as Governor of New South Wales from 1825 to 1831. His period of governorship was unpopular, with Darling being broadly regarded as a tyrant. He introduced austere policies that resulted in croneyism, prisoner abuse, curtailment of , discrimination against , obstruction of representative government, theatrical entertainment bans and injustices toward Indigenous Australians. During his time as Governor, a significant area of eastern Australia was explored by the British with local geographical features being named after him including the Darling River and the Darling Downs, along with Darling Harbour in Sydney.
In 1785, the 45th Regiment was transferred to the Caribbean island of Grenada where Christopher Darling became the regiment's quartermaster. He took his family, including Ralph aged 13, with him.
With the outbreak of war against France in 1793, Ralph was granted an officer's commission as an ensign in the British Army on 15 May 1793, without having to make the usual payment. He remained at Grenada and was concurrently promoted to Acting Comptroller of Customs at Saint George's, Grenada.
By the time he returned to Britain in 1802, still aged only twenty-nine, Darling had become a respected officer. He seems to have been unique in the British Army of this period, as he progressed from an enlisted man to become a general officer, later obtaining a knighthood. Darling was posted to India with the 69th in 1804, but this affected his health poorly and in 1806 he was shipped back to England where he was appointed as an administrator in the Adjutant-General's office.
Darling also failed to restrict the slave trade into Mauritius, overturning many of the anti-slavery policies brought in by the previous acting governor Gage John Hall. There were around 55,000 slaves labouring on plantations in Mauritius while Darling was in charge, with some being designated as government slaves working directly for the Darling administration. of female slaves were used by Darling as street sweepers and he also imported hundreds of convicts from Ceylon to work as forced labourers building roads and other government infrastructure. Notwithstanding the criticism from some quarters, it was largely on account of his service in Mauritius that Darling was appointed the seventh Governor of New South Wales in 1824.
Darling, a loyal conservative Tory, enacted these directions thoroughly, as did his friend George Arthur who became the Lieutenant-Governor of the newly separate colony of Van Diemen's Land (later known as Tasmania) before Darling's arrival.
Convicts were subjected to regimes of brutal treatment especially at the secondary penal colonies of Moreton Bay, under the notorious superintendent Patrick Logan, and at Norfolk Island. In Sydney, as he did in Mauritius, Darling established convict chain gangs which under harsh conditions, constructed several roads including the Great North Road, linking the Hawkesbury settlements around Sydney with those in the Hunter Valley.
However, Darling sought to ensure the education of child prisoners, improve the treatment of female convicts, and promote the use of Christian teaching as a means of rehabilitation.
Darling was a professional soldier, military governor of what was still effectively a penal colony, and having lived entirely within the authoritarian structure of the army since childhood, he lacked experience in dealing with civilian society. He tended to rely upon like-minded military men for his administration, and it was soon subject to criticism for nepotism, favouritism and tyrannical rule in the colonial newspapers.
Darling's predecessor, Thomas Brisbane, had ended press censorship, creating in effect press freedom before Darling arrived in the colony. Darling's subsequent attempts to control the press through new legislation were not entirely successful, because the Chief Justice, Francis Forbes, advised that some of the measures were not compatible with the laws of England. However, Darling was able to pass some restrictive acts against newspaper editors which resulted in the jailing of one of his most vociferous critics, Edward Smith Hall, who was the editor of The Monitor.
It is certainly the case that Darling made land grants to relatives, including his brothers-in-law Henry and William Dumaresq, and others that he favoured, such as George Bowen and Stewart Ryrie, a brother-in law of Darling's first Lieutenant-Governor, William Stewart. Those same favoured people received appointments within his administration. He employed his nephew, Charles Henry Darling, as an assistant private secretary.
The government advisory bodies of the Legislative Council of New South Wales and the Executive Council were also stacked with close ideological associates of Darling such as Archdeacon Thomas Hobbes Scott and Alexander Macleay. Darling consulted with these councils only irregularly and mostly for issues he regarded as unimportant. This opposition to representative government also extended to the courts where he obstructed or delayed civilian trial by jury reforms, preferring to keep appointed military juries especially for criminal cases.
In regards to public entertainment, Governor Darling "ruthlessly and implacably countered all attempts to establish a theatre in Sydney". He even introduced a law effectively banning the performance of drama. The law stated that no form of public entertainment could take place without approval from the colonial secretary, and Darling ensured that all such applications were rejected. He did permit concerts of music to take place.Eric Irvin. Dictionary of the Australian Theatre 1788–1914. (Sydney: Hale & Iremonger). 1985.
Darling's nepotism also extended to those he chose to explore the uncolonised regions of New South Wales. In particular, Captain Charles Sturt, who was related through marriage to Darling's wife, was selected to conduct important expeditions into the interior of the continent over more qualified candidates such as the surveyor Sir Thomas Mitchell. In order to expedite the many land grants Darling made, he actively encouraged the charting and surveying of the colony. In 1826 he defined the Nineteen Counties which were the limits of location in the colony of New South Wales. From 1831 the granting of free land ceased and the only land that was to be made available for sale was within the Nineteen Counties.
In 1826, Darling deployed the New South Wales Mounted Police to the Hunter River area to subdue Aboriginal resistance. Lieutenant Nathaniel Lowe of the police led a number of operations characterised by the summary executions of supposed Aboriginal ringleaders. At least two large massacres of Aboriginal Australians were also perpetrated by the mounted police and armed colonists at this time. An investigation exonerated Lowe of any wrongdoing, while Darling himself encouraged and supported the settlers (who were often of a military background) in their "vigorous measures" against the Aboriginal people. Darling also dropped the charges against an officer for the shooting deaths of several Aboriginal people at the Fort Wellington outpost and commuted the sentences of several convicts found guilty of killing an Indigenous boy at Port Stephens.
The annual distribution of blankets to Aboriginal people was initiated by Darling in 1826, originally as rewards to those who assisted in the capture of . Darling issued a proclamation in 1831 banning trade in Toi moko saying that there was reason to believe that the trade tended to increase the sacrifice of human life. (1986). 9780474001239, Reed Methuen. ISBN 9780474001239
Sudds' death was officially downplayed and it was stated as having been due to a pre-existing illness which the Governor had not been properly informed about. However, the incident proved intensely and persistently controversial at the time and formed a major element in the rising career of Mr William Charles Wentworth as a political thorn in the side of the establishment and a leading advocate for the self-government of the Australian colonies.
Wentworth, who was also famous for crossing the Blue Mountains with Blaxland and Lawson, became the Colony's leading political figure of the 1820s–30s. He called for representative government, the abolition of transportation, freedom of the press and trial by jury. Wentworth became the most bitter enemy of Governor Ralph Darling and his 'exclusives' led by the wealthy grazier John Macarthur.
In one account disfavourable to the Governor written by Marcus Clarke the following claims regarding Governor Darling's "act of tryanny" of 22 November 1826 are made: "it was given forth that Sudds had died from combined dropsy and bronchitis. Mr. Wentworth – a native-born Australian barrister, of some eloquence and intense capacity for hating – would not rest satisfied with this explanation, and little by little the facts of the case leaked out"; "the ingenious Darling had placed round their necks spiked iron collars attached by another set of chains to the ankle fetters. The projecting spikes prevented the unhappy men from lying down at ease, and the connecting chains were short enough to prevent them from standing upright. Under the effects of this treatment Sudds had died. Public fury now knew no bounds. Tradesmen put up their shutters as though in mourning for some national calamity. The fiercest denunciations met the Governor on all sides, and he was accused of wilful murder".
After Sudds' death, Thompson was taken in a bullock-cart to Penrith gaol, and thence conveyed to "No. 1, Iron-chain-gang party" on Lapstone-hill, being at the face of the Blue Mountains. At three o’clock on the first day he was taken out and set to work with the gang, having the spiked collar that had killed Sudds on his neck the whole time. After eight hot days of this work Thompson refused to continue working and was taken to gaol and was finally sent on board the hulks. Thompson was eventually ordered to rejoin his regiment (Sydney Gazette, 28 March 1829), and was sent back to England in October 1829 (Australian, 23 October 1829). When Captain Robert Robison of the NSW Veteran's Corps made a complaint about the cruel treatment of Thompson, Darling had Robison court martialled and removed to England where he was eventually jailed.
Darling, fearful of being impeached and of possible legal proceedings being taken against him, decided to flee New South Wales before the arrival of Bourke, sailing in October 1831. Darling's departure for England, upon the ship Hooghly, was greeted by public feasting and rejoicing, but his modern biographer has described this display as being "orchestrated by his opponents".
The controversy around Darling persisted and lasted years after his resignation – with the Whig party clamouring for vengeance, and with "Miles", persistently chronicling all of Darling’s misdeeds in order to seek that Darling be tried for his life. There was, however, no "trial for murder" and the Government expressed itself fully satisfied with the conduct of Sir Ralph Darling. Wentworth, having got Major-General Sir Richard Bourke (who was generally liked) appointed as the new governor, turned his attention to other pursuits. Wentworth published in England a series of pamphlets containing an account of this whole business.
He was given the colonelcy of the 90th Regiment of Foot in 1823, transferring as Colonel to the 41st (Welch) Regiment of Foot in 1837 and to the 69th (South Lincolnshire) Regiment of Foot in 1848, a post he held until his death.
Darling died in Brighton on 2 April 1858 at the age of eighty-six, survived by his widow, three sons and four daughters.
Eliza's widowed mother Ann Dumaresq was a devout philanthropist, and lived in Cheltenham. Eliza was influenced by Hannah More and Sarah Trimmer. In Australia, she consulted the penal reformer Elizabeth Fry, with reference in particular to female convicts. She was also involved in the establishment of the Female School of Industry at Parramatta.
After Darling's position in New South Wales ended, the family returned to England. They lived at Cheltenham, then Brighton where Darling died in 1858.
The Logan River in South-East Queensland was named the Darling River in 1826 by Patrick Logan, in honour of the then-Governor Darling. However, Darling decided to, "return the compliment by renaming the river the Logan, to recognise Logan's enthusiasm and efficiency."
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Later life
Ralph Darling left Australia in 1831, returning to England in 1832. Continuing pressure from political opponents led to the formation of a select committee to examine his actions in Australia, but the inquiry exonerated him, and the day after it concluded, he was knighted by the king in a dramatic display of official favour. The controversy in Australia may have contributed to the fact that he was not given any significant new military or political assignments, but further promotion and various honorific appointments did follow, and he was happy to devote much of his time to raising his young children.
Family
On 13 October 1817, Darling married the 19-year-old Elizabeth Dumaresq, known as Eliza (1798–1868). She was the daughter of Colonel John Dumaresq, a landowner in Shropshire. The marriage was a happy one. Of ten children, four daughters and three sons survived to adulthood.
Named after Ralph Darling
The following features are named after Ralph Darling or members of his immediate family:
Popular culture
Darling appears as a character in the radio play Spoiled Darlings and the mini series The Patriots.
Sources
Additional resources listed by the Australian Dictionary of Biography
External links
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