Before the budget: Parliamentary appropriations and the limits of government spending in colonial New South Wales, 1787–1832

How did a British colony, not supplied with coin and with no tax base, establish itself a world away from London? Drawing on the Historical Records of Australia and British parliamentary Appropriation Acts from 1787 to 1832, this paper shows that Phillip, the first Governor of New South Wales, spent by issuing promises to pay against the British Treasury, and that parliamentary appropriations followed his expenditure. Appropriation Acts were not the source of Phillip's spending power; they served accountability and transparency purposes. These findings invite a reconsideration of how British colonial public finance in New South Wales is understood.