James Ruse (9 August17595 September 1837) was a Cornish farmer who, at age 23, was convicted of burglary and was sentenced to seven years' transportation. He arrived at Sydney Cove, New South Wales, on the First Fleet with 18 months of his sentence remaining. Ruse applied to Colony Governor Arthur Phillip for a land grant, stating that he had been bred for farming. Governor Phillip, desperate to make the colony self-sufficient, allocated Ruse an allotment at Rose Hill (now Rosehill, near Parramatta), where he proved himself industrious and showed that it was possible for a family to survive in New South Wales through farming. Ruse received a land grant, from which he grew and sold 600 bushels of corn . Ruse was the recipient of the first land grant in New South Wales. Ruse would later exchange the Rose Hill grant for more fertile land on the Hawkesbury River. later in his life, after almost losing his farm and thus going bankrupt because of flooding, Ruse found work as a seaman, and later, a farm overseer. Early life James Ruse was born at Lawhitton, Cornwall, England on 9 August 1759. In 1782, he was tried at the Bodmin Assizes and sentenced to death for "seriously breaking and entering the dwelling house of Thomas Olive and stealing thereout 2 silver watches and other goods". He was reprieved and sentenced to transportation for seven years. He was sent on the Scarborough, one of the First Fleet, and arrived in Australia on 22 January 1788. Pioneering farmer In 1789, Ruse produced the first successful corn harvest in New South Wales. That harvest failed to yield sufficient corn to make flour for the colony, but Ruse produced enough seeds for the next year's crop, which was successful. Such was the colony's need for a food supply that Governor Phillip rewarded Ruse for his success with the first land grant made in New South Wales, along with a gift of pigs and chickens. In February 1791, Ruse declared to the authorities that he was self-sufficient, and two months later, in March, he was granted a further 30 acres. Ruse expected to reap about eight bushels (290 litres) to the acre. After Ruse's sentence expired in 1792, the title of his land was deeded to him, the first land grant in the colony. In 1793, he sold his land to Dr. John Harris of the New