The Rum Rebellion of 1808 is the only successful armed takeover of government in Australian history.

During the nineteenth century, it is widely referred to as the Great Rebellion.

The Governor of New South Wales, William Bligh, is deposed by the New South Wales Corps under the command of Major George Johnston, working closely with John Macarthur, on January 26, 1808, twenty years to the day after Arthur Phillip founded European settlement in Australia.

Afterwards, the colony is ruled by the military, with the senior military officer stationed in Sydney acting as the Lieutenant-Governor of the colony until the arrival from Britain of Major-General Lachlan Macquarie as the new Governor at the beginning of 1810.