James Ruse

Who was James Ruse?

James Ruse was a Cornish farmer who, at the age of 23, was convicted of breaking and entering and was sentenced to seven years' transportation to Australia. He arrived at Sydney Cove on the First Fleet with 18 months of his sentence remaining. Ruse applied to Governor Arthur Phillip for a land grant, stating that he had been bred to farming. Governor Phillip, desperate to make the colony self-sufficient, allocated Ruse an allotment at Rose Hill, where he proved himself industrious and showed that it was possible for a family to survive through farming. Having done this, Ruse received a grant of 30 acres, enabling him eventually to sell 600 bushels of maize. This was the very first grant of land in New South Wales. Ruse later exchanged the grant for more fertile land on the Hawkesbury River. In later life, having been almost bankrupted from his farm by flooding, Ruse found work as a seaman and later as a landowner's overseer.