• Second Governor of New South Wales.

• Born in Scotland.

• Had been one of the captains in the First Fleet.

• As Governor of New South Wales, Hunter was responsible to the King through the Duke of Portland, one of the three secretaries of state of the English Government. He was given the same powers and responsibilities as Phillip.

• On arriving at the colony in 1795, Hunter found it much different from what it was when he had left four years previously. Trading in rum was widespread. The British Government had realized what was happening and told Hunter to restore law and order. Hunter found himself in conflict with a stronger NSW Corps.

• When Hunter took charge, 59% of the population of 3211 were convicts. Almost all of the remainder was military and administrative personnel and prisoners whose sentences were finished. There were a few free settlers. The colony was self-sufficient in grain but depended on overseas supplies for most essentials.

• 2 3/4 years between Phillip’s departure and Hunter’s arrival. The result of this lack of governmental leadership was that private enterprise supplanted government as the main form of economic activity.

• First action as governor was to deliberately disobey his own instructions and to allow ten convicts for agricultural and two-three for domestic purposes for each officer occupying ground.

• As Hunter had to wait for official dispatches from England, the public service in the colony and the military arm of the administration was erratic and often disloyal to his position. It was considered entrenched and mutinous and the whole colony was becoming increasingly dependent on rum as a currency that was monopolised by the military hierarchy and other officials. The New South Wales bureaucracy was poorly trained and inefficient.

• Hunter wanted ‘the full power of the Governor" (autocratic rule) but the soldiers of the New South Wales Corps did not really respect civil power. Hunter was clearly aware that trading by the officers had to be controlled if the settlers were not all to be bankrupt. Markups of up to 700% were charged on imports sold to the public. Government control of pricing, wages and hours of work was ineffective so Hunter blamed the deterioration in the public morals and economic progress of the colony on the nature of the military government during his and Phillip’s rule.

• Hunter limited the power of the military by removing military men from the bench of magistrates and returning the chaplains and medical men.

• Ordered settlers to disallow Aboriginal peoples onto their farms but were not to kill them if they did come.

• Recalled to England in 1800 and replaced by King.

• Died in England in 1821.

J. J. Auchmuty, 'HUNTER,J.', Australian Dictionary of Biography, Vol 1, ed. Douglas Pike, pp 564-570 Melbourne University Press