A Trip to Australia and New Zealand
Sydney - Darling Harbor
Darling Harbor was named for General Sir Ralph Darling, the seventh Governor of New South Wales. He had served as a British regimental army officer in the Peninsular War and as troop commander and acting governor in Mauritius before being appointed Governor of New South Wales in 1825. The colony needed access to good agricultural land if it was to be self-sufficient in food. The Hunter Valley to the north of Sydney was fertile and well watered by the Hunter River. One of Governor Darling's more important accomplishments was to order the construction of the Great Northern Road which linked the Hunter Valley with Sydney. Darling used convict labor to build this road as well as other civil projects throughout the colony. He was severely criticized for being an overly harsh taskmaster in the way in which he treated the convicts in his charge. He was also greatly disliked because he forbade theater in the colony without his approval and he never granted that approval. (He did permit musical concerts.) The colony celebrated his departure from office in 1831, but the British government recognized their approval by knighting him and promoting him to general before his death in 1858. It is ironic that Darling Harbor, an area of entertainment, was named after him.
