A little back history, Macquarie replaced Gov. Bligh...as in the same Bligh of Mutiny on the Bounty "fame". After being such an incompetent cnt that a whole boat of professional officers & sailors overthrew him and took his ship., the British thought it would be a good idea to put him in charge of an entire colony, Australia. He was such an incompetent cnt that the colony (including commissioned officers) overthrew him & took control of the colony (while he hid under his bed). Due to a lack of coinage, the colony had been using rum as a form of currency. Bligh's replacement, Macquarie's 1st move was to stop this practise and in just a few years there was no coinage and no rum trade and the situation was dire...all thanks to Macquarie. (To praise him for solving the problem he caused is like praising an arsonist firefighter.) The innovation for punching the centre out of a spanish dollar wasn't even his idea... the Canadians had come up with the idea first. (After being charged with his 3rd Mutiny, Bligh was acquitted and promoted to Rear Admiral... he was subsequently promoted again some years later to Vice Admiral of the Blue)
