- Long, long before the freedom movement was born, Sullivan in 1831 spoke in the UK parliament to allow Indians to govern themselves. It took another hundred years for the idea to become the Home Rule movement.
- Sullivan’s writings were used by freedom fighters like Raja Ram Mohan Roy and Dr.Ambedkar to condemn British rule.
- When the British started annexing Indian Princely States it was Sullivan who opposed it vehemently.
- When the Kohinoor diamond was taken away from India it was Sullivan who condemned it and argued why it does not belong to the Queen.
- When most of India opted for the oppressive Zamindari system of land tenure, it was Sullivan, along with Thomas Munro, who implemented the Ryotwari system (patta system) in south India.
- When the British avoided Indian hills as they were not suitable for the ‘English constitution’, Sullivan founded the first Hill Station of Ooty.
- The British governor Lushington divided Nilgiris between Coimbatore and Malabar. Sullivan reunited the Nilgiris.
- When tea was given up dead in Nilgiris, Sullivan gave it a new life.
- Sullivan was the first to spot the hydel power of the Nilgiri waters.
- Sullivan advised the government that, ‘ if you can spend your thousands carefully, you can save your lakhs’
Nilgiri Documentation Centre
Image : A picture of John Sullivan’s original portrait, contributed by Georgina Mosley, a descendant of Sullivan family, by special arrangement from London