BIRTH OF THE AUSTRALIAN SPIRIT: History of the Rum Corps

· 1788 - First Fleet settles in Sydney Cove, January 26th. No coins meant the barter system became firmly established.

· 1792 - Captain Phillip returned to England giving wide control to the NSW Corps.

· 1793 - American trading ship the 'Hope', arrived with 7,500 gallons of rum in her cargo.

· The NSW Corps officers bought the cargo and started to use rum as the main means of exchange (distributing it at a huge profit for the next 17 years :-)

· 1806 - William Bligh arrives as Governor of NSW with orders to curb the power of the Rum Corps. His methods upset officers and leading free-settlers.

· 26th January 1808 - 20 years after Australia's settlement, the Corps marched on Government House reputedly dragging the "tyrant" Bligh from beneath a bed before arresting, imprisoning and eventually exiling him.

· This was and still is the only military coup in Australian history

· 1810 - The new Governor, Lachlan Macquarie requested a special shipment of 40 000 Spanish coins from The Bay of Bengal. Each coin was punched into two – the holey dollar and the dump.

· The holey dollar replaced rum based barter system and remained the colony's legal tender until 1822 when England solved coin production problems and were able to send supplies to the distant colony.

· 2008 – Holey Dollar Rum was founded by Stuart Gilbert.

· 2009 - Holey Dollar Rum wins International Wine & Spirit Competition Trophy for "World's Best Rum" and named "International Distiller of the Year".

· 2010 – Holey Dollar Rum announced The Golden Rum Barrel Awards Winner "Best Australian Rum" and was runner up in the Spirits producer of the Year.

 

and the list of international accolades goes on and on

.2012/ 2013 - Holey Dollar will celebrate it's 200th year in circulation of offical Australian currency