You are right, but I think what's in your head is way more formal than what went down.

According to Rum: a distilled history of colonial Australia

https://www.amazon.com.au/Rum-Distilled-History-Colonial-Australia/dp/1460759427?ref=d6k_applink_bb_dls&dplnkId=705a0906-9c38-43a7-9c5a-00dcc982e27e

It sounds like it was a pretty rag-tag group of "soliders" that were so drunk they had trouble stumbling up the hill to arrest him

It was definitely organised by a cartel though who had strong financial motivation to keep rum flowing in the colony