31 Facts About George Gipps

Sir George Gipps was the Governor of the British Colony of New South Wales for eight years, between 1838 and 1846.

George Gipps's 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.

George Gipps was educated at The King's School, Canterbury, and at the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich.

George Gipps took part in the Siege of Badajoz in 1812 where he was wounded in the arm leading an assault on the fort of La Picurina.

George Gipps was deployed to other cities in Spain as well as elsewhere in Europe.

George Gipps was in charge of the construction of public works and had control over a few hundred slaves who were utilised as labourers.

George Gipps proposed a scheme of removing these labourers from slavery after their work for the government had ceased.

George Gipps fathered a child to his slave mistress named Louisa, after which he attempted to purchase her freedom.

George Gipps married Elizabeth Ramsay, the daughter of Major-General George Ramsay, RA, in 1830.

George Gipps accepted and was officially appointed to the position on 5 October 1837.

George Gipps arrived in Sydney aboard the Upton Castle in February 1838.

George Gipps entered into the colony at one of its most turbulent periods during which drought, economic depression, cessation of convict transportation, frontier conflict with Aboriginal people, the rise of semi-elective government, and bitter contests with powerful squatters over land seizure would all create immense difficulties for him.

When George Gipps arrived in 1838, he was immediately faced with the issue of two major massacres of Aboriginal people: the Waterloo Creek massacre perpetrated by Major James Nunn and his detachment of New South Wales Mounted Police, and the Myall Creek massacre perpetrated by squatter John Henry Fleming and his ten stockmen.

George Gipps ordered inquiries into both incidents with the Myall Creek massacre inquiry resulting in a judicial trial that saw seven stockmen being sentenced to death and hanged for the massacre.

George Gipps attempted twice to introduce legislation that allowed for Aboriginal evidence to be given in the courts.

In 1844, George Gipps tried again but the proposed Aboriginal Evidence Bill was defeated by the squatters in the NSW Legislative Council.

Additionally, the British government requested George Gipps to oversee the introduction of an Aboriginal Protectorate in the Port Phillip District of the colony.

In 1839, George Gipps amended an Act brought in by Governor Richard Bourke three years earlier that attempted to restrain the unauthorised occupation of Crown Lands.

George Gipps' amendment allowed for the formation of the Border Police of New South Wales, which were paramilitary units controlled by various Commissioners of Crown Lands that enabled the enforcement of the land laws in the frontier regions.

In 1840, George Gipps proclaimed all previous and future land purchases in New Zealand invalid unless they were approved by the Crown.

George Gipps openly accused Wentworth of a massive fraud in his attempts to acquire huge tracts of New Zealand land from the Maori.

When George Gipps was removed from the governorship in 1846, he and his appointees on the Council were the last obstacles to the squatters, who were then able to pass favourable pastoral leasing laws that increased the security of their claims and entrenched their power and wealth for at least the next fifty years.

George Gipps was indifferent to these ideas and instead promoted the program of paying British and German people to emigrate to the colony.

George Gipps presided over the implementation of this scheme and, influenced by the pro-immigration colonist John Dunmore Lang, funded it through revenue acquired by the sale of Crown Lands.

From George Gipps' arrival in the colony there was a devastating three-year drought, which resulted in the economic depression of the early 1840s.

Revenues to fund policies such as the assisted migration scheme dried up and George Gipps was forced to borrow large amounts of money to finance government spending.

George Gipps was a vociferous advocate for a secular government school system and wished to improve the situation in the colony where in 1844 fewer than half of the children received any form of education, whether public or private.

George Gipps's appointment had been extended for another two years after the original six, due to the high regard the Colonial Office held him in.

George Gipps did not wait for his successor, Charles Augustus FitzRoy, to arrive, departing Sydney in July 1846 in poor health.

George Gipps arrived in England that November, and died at Canterbury of a massive heart attack on 28 February 1847.

George Gipps is commemorated by Gipps Street, Waverley, NSW; Gipps Street, Wellington, New Zealand; Gipps Street, Barton, ACT; and Gipps Street, East Melbourne, Victoria.