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 withmonths 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 selfsufficient, 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 ofacres , enabling him eventually to sell 600 bushels of corn. 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 landowners overseer.

In 1760, James Ruse was born at Launceston, Cornwall, England onAugust 1760. In 1782, he was tried at Bodmin Assizes and sentenced to death for burglariously breaking and entering the dwelling house of Thomas Olive and stealing thereoutsilver watches and other goods. He was reprieved and sentenced to transportation for seven years. He was sent on the Scarborough, one of the First Fleet, and arrived in New South Wales onJanuary 1788.

Source: Wikipedia