when appointed to New South Wales, and was then given the rank of
brevet-major. From the day of his arrival in the colony until his return
to England he was a constant thorn in the side of the governor. A man more
unsuitable for the particular service could not have been chosen. He was a
most excellent pipe-clay and stock type of soldier, and his men appear to
have been kept well in hand, in spite of [Sidenote: 1788-1792]
a service peculiarly calculated to subvert discipline, but there his
qualifications ended.

He conceived that the sole duty of himself and his command was to defend
the settlement from foreign invasion and to mount guard over the
prisoners. The governor wanted to form a criminal court, as empowered by
his commission, and to do this it was necessary to call upon the marine
officers to sit upon it. Ross would have nothing to do with it until
Phillip, by superior diplomacy, conquered his objections. Ross, in fact,
would have it that no civilian duty should be expected of him; and when
Phillip forced him to admit that the British Government had sent him out
to do more than mount guard, he quoted regulations and many other red-tape
reasons why he should not be anything but a soldier. To crown this, he
quarrelled with all his subordinate officers in turn, and at one time had
them nearly all under arrest together. During his service in the colony he
wrote many letters to the home authorities urging the abandonment of the
settlement asserting that it was utterly impossible that it could be
colonized. He returned to England early in 1792, and the Government showed
its appreciation of his value by making a recruiting officer of him, and
he died in that service at Ipswich in June, 1794.

There are three other officers whose names are familiar to most
Australians: Tench, Collins, and Dawes. The last-named acted as artillery
and engineer officer to the colony, and did incalculable service in