Was one-man rule the best system for a penal colony?
(50-60 min) The purpose of this activity is to show that at the beginning of European settlement in Australia the governor made the laws and that the courts were really under his control because New South Wales was a penal colony. In our system today the courts are separate from those who make the laws. In other words, parliament creates the laws and sets out the consequences for breaking the law but the courts decide on individual cases. In Governor Phillip’s time the governor did both, which gave him the power to control individual lives. 2a Explain that the governors had the power to create laws they felt were necessary for the running of the colony. Consider this case: One of the early governors made a law that no-one could be away from their tent area after 6 pm. This was called a ‘curfew law’, and if you were caught breaking the curfew you were punished, regardless of your status or your reason for breaking the law. 2b Appoint one student to be governor and one student to be a pe
