James Ruse

 

James Ruse was born on 9th August 1759 in Launceston, Cornwall in England. He arrived as convict with the first fleet.

At the Bodmin Assizes in 1782 he was convicted of burglarious breaking and entering; his capital sentence was changed to transportation to Africa for seven years. Because of the loss of the American colonies, James Ruse spent five years on the hulks at Plymouth.

When it was decided to establish a penal colony in New South Wales he was sent out with the first fleet in 1787 on the Scarborough. . When it was decided to establish a penal settlement in New South Wales he was sent out in the First Fleet in 1787 in the Scarborough. In July 1789 he claimed that his sentence had expired and soon afterwards he asked for a land grant, inspired by the desire to take up farming, an occupation to which he had been bred. He was one of the settlers who had knowledge of agriculture and farming.

James Ruse married Elizabeth Perry at Parramatta on 5 September 1790 and they successfully farmed their land. In February 1791, Ruse received 30 acres in Land Grant Number 1 and by the end of the year Ruse, his wife and child no longer needed food from the government store.

In October 1793 he sold his farm to Surgeon Harris for £40. In January 1794 he obtained the first land grant in the Hawkesbury area, which he sold in 1798 for £300. Another grant at Pitt Town Bottoms which he obtained in 1797 he sold in 1809.

In 1800 he purchased twenty acres facing the river near North Richmond but because of heavy losses due to floods in 1800 and 1801, he sold it to Richard Cheers. In 1809 he successfully obtained a land grant in Bankstown. He retained contact with the Hawkesbury throughout the Macquarie period and in 1819 received a 100-acre grant at Riverstone.

In addition he owned 3 horses, 2 cows and 7 hogs. In 1825 he was recorded as owning ten acres of land, all in the Windsor district, and twelve hogs. By 1828 he was working as an overseer for Captain Brooks at Lower Minto. In 1834 he was living at Macquarie Fields. Two years later he was received into the Roman Catholic Church, though there is no evidence that his wife or seven children followed his example.

His death on 5 September 1837 brought to a close the career of one whose importance in New South Wales history has been unduly exaggerated and romanticized. Although his early achievements were noteworthy, he soon faded into the background.

He is buried in the cemetery of St. John’s Church, Campbelltown.