Political History of Australia

John Ruddick

Welcome to the story of Australia. This podcast series by John Ruddick tells the political and geopolitical history of Australia, starting with the fabled "terra Australis" and then tracking the journey from British penal colony to a young federation, a country at war, and today one of the world’s great nations. Episodes released weekly. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  1. 1d ago

    E45: The Truth About Aboriginal Tribal Violence Pre-1788

    This episode examines the nuance of Aboriginal life in Australian bush pre-1788. Life in the bush was often fun along with the usual ups and downs of life … but it was a warrior society driven largely by competition over scarce resources in the absence of individual property rights. Through the detailed first-hand testimony of William Buckley and others who lived for years among traditional groups, the episode describes the good times but also the cycles of revenge, disputes over women, and night-time massacres, while contrasting this with the rapid decline of such violence once colonial authority and property rights took hold. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Please leave a comment, share and rate the show ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Also listen and subscribe at Youtube and Rumble here 👉@politicalhistoryofaustralia The Hon. John Ruddick MLC is a member of the NSW Legislative Council. johnruddick.com.au https://www.tiktok.com/@johnruddickmlc https://x.com/JohnRuddick2 https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnruddickmlc/ https://www.facebook.com/johnruddickmlc https://www.instagram.com/john.ruddick/ Produced by Sean Masters (All voices in this series are AI generated bar the narrator.) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  2. Oct 14

    E44: A Free Press Arrives in Australia

    William Wentworth returned to Australia in 1824. He was a man on a mission – to overthrow the ruling clique in the colony who were hostile to even modest democratic reforms. Wentworth’s weapon of choice in this battle was a free press. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Please leave a comment, share and rate the show ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Also listen and subscribe at Youtube and Rumble here 👉@politicalhistoryofaustralia The Hon. John Ruddick MLC is a member of the NSW Legislative Council. johnruddick.com.au https://www.tiktok.com/@johnruddickmlc https://x.com/JohnRuddick2 https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnruddickmlc/ https://www.facebook.com/johnruddickmlc https://www.instagram.com/john.ruddick/ Produced by Sean Masters (All voices in this series are AI generated bar the narrator.) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  3. Oct 7

    E43: Wentworth - Australia's Greatest Native Son

    William Wentworth was described by Manning Clark as ‘Australia’s greatest native son.’ When Governor Macquarie departed Australia, his campaign to lift the social status of the emancipists was in tatters. All the institutions were lined up to defend the status quo. William Wentworth was a member of one of Britain’s most distinguished families. He was not a convict … but his mother was and his father, while not an emancipists, too often behaved like one. When it dawned on Wentworth that the current order relegates him permanently to a lower caste he set out to overturn the current order. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Please leave a comment, share and rate the show ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Also listen and subscribe at Youtube and Rumble here 👉@politicalhistoryofaustralia The Hon. John Ruddick MLC is a member of the NSW Legislative Council. johnruddick.com.au https://www.tiktok.com/@johnruddickmlc https://x.com/JohnRuddick2 https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnruddickmlc/ https://www.facebook.com/johnruddickmlc https://www.instagram.com/john.ruddick/ Produced by Sean Masters (All voices in this series are AI generated bar the narrator.) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  4. Sep 30

    E42: Australia's First Parliament

    Last time the emancipists were on the back foot but then two hammer blows hit with Governor Macquarie’s departure. The new governor of NSW, Sir Thomas Brisbane, was a tough Major-General who had seen a lot of war. Governor Brisbane immediately sent an unmistakable message that he was a friend of the Exclusives. A few months later the findings of the Bigge Report hit Australia. Governor Brisbane was tasked with fundamentally reshaping Australia away from Macquarie’s egalitarian direction. But Bigge opened the door to an Australian legislature and now the genie was out of the bottle. Australia’s first parliament was anti-democratic but the Emancipists now had something to focus their campaign on - democratic reform. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Please leave a comment, share and rate the show ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Also listen and subscribe at Youtube and Rumble here 👉@politicalhistoryofaustralia The Hon. John Ruddick MLC is a member of the NSW Legislative Council. johnruddick.com.au https://www.tiktok.com/@johnruddickmlc https://x.com/JohnRuddick2 https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnruddickmlc/ https://www.facebook.com/johnruddickmlc https://www.instagram.com/john.ruddick/ Produced by Sean Masters (All voices in this series are AI generated bar the narrator.) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  5. Sep 16

    E41: Macquarie's Farewell: 'I Anticipate the Applause of Posterity.'

    In this episode we say farewell to Governor Lachlan Macquarie after twelve years in Sydney. He championed the name Australia, made 26 January an official public anniversary, and was the first leading figure to address the colony as a people — “Fellow Citizens of Australia.”   From first arrival to last days he backed emancipist rights, and that stance cost him the exclusives, the church, the courts and London. His last years were hard. In his farewell in Hyde Park he still said, “I anticipate the applause of posterity.” Classic Macquarie — arrogant, but accurate. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Please leave a comment, share and rate the show ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Also listen and subscribe at Youtube and Rumble here 👉@politicalhistoryofaustralia The Hon. John Ruddick MLC is a member of the NSW Legislative Council.  johnruddick.com.au https://www.tiktok.com/@johnruddickmlc https://x.com/JohnRuddick2 https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnruddickmlc/ https://www.facebook.com/johnruddickmlc  https://www.instagram.com/john.ruddick/ Produced by Sean Masters (All voices in this series are AI generated bar the narrator.) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  6. Sep 9

    E40: The British Empire Strikes Back

    Governor Lachlan Macquarie was on a sincere mission to lift up the former convicts known as emancipists. For years that project had gone his way — until the colonial establishment struck back and set out to put these “uppity” emancipists in their place.   In this episode the church, the courts and then London itself flip from supporting the Governor to becoming his trenchant critics. Macquarie never wavers from his pro-emancipist stance, but under pressure he begins to act foolishly act in anger. London’s answer is decisive: Commissioner John Bigge is sent with wide-ranging powers to audit the entire Australian experiment. Macquarie knows his time is up. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Please leave a comment, share and rate the show ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Also listen and subscribe at Youtube and Rumble here 👉@politicalhistoryofaustralia The Hon. John Ruddick MLC is a member of the NSW Legislative Council.  johnruddick.com.au https://www.tiktok.com/@johnruddickmlc https://x.com/JohnRuddick2 https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnruddickmlc/ https://www.facebook.com/johnruddickmlc  https://www.instagram.com/john.ruddick/ Produced by Sean Masters (All voices in this series are AI generated bar the narrator.) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  7. Sep 2

    E39: What Politicised the Emancipists?

    In early New South Wales, more than four-fifths of the non-Aboriginal population were convicts, former convicts, or their children. Once free, these people — the emancipists — discovered that money and talent could not wash away the ex-convict stain. Wealthy exclusives still treated them as second-class subjects. This episode asks ‘what mobilised a scattered group of successful ex-prisoners into a political force?’   Governor Macquarie brought the best of them into the open. Architect Francis Greenway, merchant Mary Reibey, the “Botany Bay Rothschild” Samuel Terry, and Dr William Redfern all flourished under his protection. Then, in 1815, the new Supreme Court exploded over a simple question: could three emancipist solicitors appear before it? Judge Jeffrey Bent said no. Macquarie’s magistrates said yes. The court froze for two years, letters flew to London, and the colony split into two camps. Status, not class, was the issue. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Please leave a comment, share and rate the show ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Also listen and subscribe at Youtube and Rumble here 👉@politicalhistoryofaustralia The Hon. John Ruddick MLC is a member of the NSW Legislative Council.  johnruddick.com.au https://www.tiktok.com/@johnruddickmlc https://x.com/JohnRuddick2 https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnruddickmlc/ https://www.facebook.com/johnruddickmlc  https://www.instagram.com/john.ruddick/ Produced by Sean Masters (All voices in this series are AI generated bar the narrator.) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  8. Aug 19

    E38: John Macarthur, Down and (Almost) Out in London

    Episode 38 follows John Macarthur after he slipped out of New South Wales just before Lachlan Macquarie arrived to restore order. Having masterminded the Rum Rebellion, Macarthur exploited a legal loophole in Lord Castlereagh’s arrest orders and spent more than eight years in England. After the Rum Rebellion trial, Macarthur was stuck in England because if he returned to NSW he faced immediate arrest.   So Macarthur waged a stubborn, years-long campaign against the Colonial Office to return home without having to admit to any “impropriety.”  When he finally sails back in 1817, the colony he left has changed: wealthy emancipists like Samuel Terry now rival the exclusives and a bitter struggle is underway over land, labour, and what kind of society New South Wales will become. Macarthur has won every political fight so far. This time the numbers and the spirit of the age are against him. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Please leave a comment, share and rate the show ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Also listen and subscribe at Youtube and Rumble here 👉@politicalhistoryofaustralia The Hon. John Ruddick MLC is a member of the NSW Legislative Council.  johnruddick.com.au https://www.tiktok.com/@johnruddickmlc https://x.com/JohnRuddick2 https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnruddickmlc/ https://www.facebook.com/johnruddickmlc  https://www.instagram.com/john.ruddick/ Produced by Sean Masters (All voices in this series are AI generated bar the narrator.) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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Welcome to the story of Australia. This podcast series by John Ruddick tells the political and geopolitical history of Australia, starting with the fabled "terra Australis" and then tracking the journey from British penal colony to a young federation, a country at war, and today one of the world’s great nations. Episodes released weekly. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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