E25: How the 'Mutiny on the Bounty' Remade Australia

More than anyone, Sir Joseph Banks (the botanist who sailed with Captain Cook) deserves credit for creating modern Australia. For years, before and after the First Fleet, Banks served as the unofficial Minister for New South Wales.

As Banks aged however his judgement slipped and by 1804, his sway over the colony was slipping. So Banks decided to bet big by sending in as governor a famously tough guy (and loyal ally) to reassert authority – Captain William Bligh.

Bligh of course was Captain of the HMS Bounty when it suffered the most famous mutiny in Royal Navy history … but that was not a one-off and Bligh had a reputation as a brilliant officer but a bully.

Bligh was Banks’ heavyweight champion sent in to constrain John Macarthur … just when Macarthur had arrived back in the colony with a huge land grant.

Two decades of simmering political tension is getting close to boil.

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The Hon. John Ruddick MLC is a member of the NSW Legislative Council. 

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Produced by Sean Masters

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