In the early years of colonial Australia, rather than having a local mint to make regular currency t

In the early years of colonial Australia, rather than having a local mint to make regular currency the local economy operated on the barter system, with the various transported convicts being paid with alcohol rather than cash. The side effect of this is that many local businessmen, many of whom either were in the military or were former military and thus had control over who got land and resources, could naturally rig things in such a way that they would make exponential profits by, say, illegally importing stills to inflate their profits, for one example.Naturally when a Governor, William Bligh, attempted to fix what he perceived as being wide-spread corruption and incompetence among the military and businessmen were were taking advantage of this system, it lead to what is to date the ONLY military uprising in the Australia in what’s becoming known as the Rum Rebellion in 1808.This being when a former military man and businessman called John MacArthur (who previously had many disputes with Bligh over how he allocated land and resources) arrested Bligh, overthrew the government and remained in charge until a replacement governor could be sent in Bligh’s place.Bligh was eventually vindicated years later, with the New South Wales Corps getting recalled back to Britain, with MacArthur in particular being unable to return to Australia due to him having to face charges regarding his, you know, overthrowing the government to maintain his corrupt business practices.Oddly, it has recently been reported that in Western Australia the practice of Beer Bartering has actually made something of a comeback, with some groups around Perth deciding to use beer to purchase things like cars rather than using actual currency. -- source link

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