Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Captain William Bligh


Looking out towards the open ocean is this trim statue of the infamous Captain Bligh.
Bligh had an illustrious career, immortalised in film as captain of the HMS Bounty. He was also the fourth governor of NSW. He had some trouble here too. "Bligh had gained the reputation of being a firm disciplinarian. He was offered the position of Governor of New South Wales by Sir Joseph Banks and appointed in March 1805. He arrived in Sydney on 6 August 1806. The conflict between Bligh and the entrenched colonists culminated in another mutiny, the Rum Rebellion, when, on 26 January 1808, the New South Wales Corps under Major George Johnston marched on Government House in Sydney and arrested him. A rebel government was subsequently installed and Bligh, now deposed, made for Hobart in Tasmania aboard HMS Porpoise. Bligh failed to gain support from the authorities in Hobart to retake control of New South Wales, and remained effectively imprisoned on the Porpoise from 1808 until January 1810." Wiki

3 comments:

  1. This statue is at The Rocks, isn't it?

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  2. I was just trying to picture where he was too...

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  3. Correct in The Rock's outside Cadman's Cottage

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