The First Private Land Grant in Australia
On 22 February 1790, James Ruse was granted 30 acres of land at Rose Hill (now Parramatta) by Governor Arthur Phillip.
This was the first recorded private land grant in Australia - officially listed as “No.1” in the Land Grants Register, held by the NSW State Archives.
James had been transported to Australia in 1788 for stealing two silver watches. Little did he know then, that the punishment for his crime would grant opportunity for him to become an incredibly wealthy man.
He arrived aboard the Scarborough - part of the First Fleet. Food shortages were dire, and Governor Arthur Phillip wanted to shift the colony toward self-sufficiency.
Ruse approached Phillip with a request: grant me land, and I’ll prove I can support myself.
Phillip agreed. On 22 February 1790, he gifted Ruse his first 30 acres.
Ruse had no tools, no workforce, and the soil was unfamiliar. But within a year, he’d cleared the ground and was growing wheat and maize.
He was the first settler in New South Wales to live entirely off his own farm, no longer dependent on government rations.
That success, was rewarded with more land — 140 acres, then 16 acres more.. and then more still!
And from there, James Ruse began to do something that would become the bedrock of Australian wealth creation. He’d discovered the honeypot to Australian prosperity: own land in the path of progress, and watch the value grow!
Throughout his lifetime, Ruse pocketed more than 20 years’ wages through his land holdings – selling and renting into a rising market.
The same playbook was used again and again by the powerful players that followed him.