ADMINISTRATIVE REFORM IN NEW SOUTH WALES UNDER GOVERNOR DARLING

As a governor, Ralph Darling is remembered more for his authoritarian behaviour and harsh rule than for his administrative achievements. Only recently have historians shown much awareness of the important reforms which he made in the machinery of government. Yet, although attention has been drawn to this aspect of his work it has not been adequately examined. The tendency is still to concentrate on the colourful and controversial features of his regime, pushing to one side its more mundane developments. Admittedly, there are exceptions. J. W. Cell included an interesting section on Darling in British Colonial Administration in the Mid-Nineteenth Century , as did J. J. Eddy in Britain and the Australian Colonies. The first of these treatments is too brief, however, and the second concentrates on those aspects affected by the attempts of the British Treasury to exert more influence over colonial administration. Despite these books, the valuable thesis on the Colonial Secretary's Office by G. D. Richardson and the helpful prefaces that appear in the various guides to the records of government departments, prepared by the State Archives of New South Wales, much remains to be done. Most of the departments that existed under Darling still await detailed treatment both in themselves and in relation to the overall changes that were made between 1825 and 1831. As matters stand, there is a gap not only in what was a vital era in the administrative history of New South Wales, but also in Darling's own record. The present paper attempts to repair this omission.