James Ruse

James Ruse (9 August^[1]1759^[2] – 5 September 1837) was a Cornish farmer who, at age 23, was convicted of burglary and was sentenced to seven years' transportation. He arrived at Sydney Cove, New South Wales, on the First Fleet with 18 months of his sentence remaining. Ruse applied to Colony Governor Arthur Phillip for a land grant, stating that he had been bred for farming. Governor Phillip, desperate to make the colony self-sufficient, allocated Ruse an allotment at Rose Hill (now Rosehill, near Parramatta), where he proved himself industrious and showed that it was possible for a family to survive in New South Wales through farming. Ruse received a land grant, from which he grew and sold 600 bushels of corn 30 acres (120,000 m²).^[1] Ruse was the recipient of the first land grant in New South Wales. Ruse would later exchange the Rose Hill grant for more fertile land on the Hawkesbury River^[3] later in his life, after almost losing his farm and thus going bankrupt because of flooding, Ruse found work as a seaman, and later, a farm overseer.