John George Nathaniel Gibbes

rdf:langString John George Nathaniel Gibbes

rdf:langString Colonel John George Nathaniel Gibbes (30 March 1787 – 5 December 1873) was a British army officer who emigrated to Australia in 1834 on his appointment as Collector of Customs for the Colony of New South Wales, an appointment which gave him a seat on the New South Wales Legislative Council and which he held for 25 years. In his capacity as head of the New South Wales Department of Customs, Colonel Gibbes was the colonial government's principal accumulator of domestic-sourced revenue − prior to the huge economic stimulus provided by the Australian gold rushes of the 1850s − through the collection of import duties and other taxes liable on ship-borne cargoes. Thus, he played a significant role in the transformation of the City of Sydney (now Australia's biggest State capital) from a convict-based settlement into a prosperous, free enterprise-based port replete with essential government infrastructure. Gibbes was forced to retire from the Council in 1855 and from his post as Collector of Customs for New South Wales in 1859. In 1844 he persuaded the Governor of NSW, Sir George Gipps, to begin construction of the Customs House, Sydney on Circular Quay in response to the port's growing volume of maritime trade. This major building project also doubled as an unemployment relief measure for stonemasons and laborers during an economic depression which was afflicting the colony at the time. The new Customs House replaced inadequate departmental accommodation for Gibbes and his team of officers in The Rocks area of Sydney. Gibbes resided in a series of historically and architecturally important houses during his time in New South Wales, including the since demolished Palladian-style Point Piper House, Wotonga House (now part of Admiralty House on Kirribilli Point), Greycliffe House (overlooking Shark Beach in the Sydney suburb of Vaucluse), and after his disgrace Yarralumla Homestead (now the site of Australia's Government House, Canberra).