7 o AUSTRALASIA ILLUSTRATED. 



the ocean they steered for the Indian Archipelago ; although they might have made for 

 the new settlement at Port Jackson, which had been founded just a year before, had 

 they known of its existence. After a voyage of more than three thousand miles, during 

 which they endured the most terrible sufferings, they landed at the Dutch settlement 

 of Timor, and ultimately the survivors made their way back to England. 



Hut although Bligh could steer an open boat through almost unknown seas without 

 a chart, he could not steer the little ship of state which was placed under his command 

 when he received his commission as Governor of ' New South Wales ; but the fault was 

 not so much in himself as in the circumstances which formed his environment. 



The recent publication of the " Brabourne Papers" reveals the fact that the offer of the 

 Governorship of New South Wales was made to Captain Bligh by his warm personal 

 friend, Sir Joseph Banks. The latter was consulted by His Majesty's Ministers, as 

 indeed he was in every case in which Australian interests were concerned, and asked to 

 suggest the name of a good man for the post. In his letter to Bligh he says: "I 

 was this day asked if I knew a man proper to be sent out in his ( King's) stead ' one 

 who has integrity unimpeached a mind capable of providing its own resources in diffi- 

 culties without leening on others for advice firm in discipline civil in deportment and 

 not subject to whimper and whine when severity of discipline is wanted to meet 

 (emergencies). I immediately answered as this man must be chosen from among the 

 post-captains I know of no one but Captain Bligh who will suit. ... I can there- 

 fore if you chuse it place you in the government of the new colony with an income of 

 ^2000 a year and with the whole of the Government power and stores at your disposal." 



Bligh was a rough and ready sailor of the old school, without any idea of tact or 

 conciliation, accustomed to absolute command and utterly impatient of contradiction ; but 

 he is said to have been of a courteous nature, and of a kindly disposition to his 

 inferiors. Perhaps, however, the memorable voyage of three thousand miles in the ship's 

 launch had not sweetened his disposition. 



Bligh brought out with him stringent instructions for the suppression of the liquor 

 traffic, and found himself immediately upon his arrival in New South Wales face to face 

 with the bitter enmity of those to whom its existence was of vital importance. Regarding 

 Captain Macarthur as the leading spirit in the public affairs of the colony, he appears 

 to have openly manifested his dislike for that officer, and to have spoken very plainly 

 to him on the subject of the large grant of land he had obtained at Camden ; and in 

 a very short time the quarrel between them became serious. 



Here is a picture of the Governor drawn by his enemy, in the course of his 

 evidence before the court-martial on Major Johnston : " I went to the Government 

 House ; this was about a month after he had taken the command. I found him 

 walking in the garden, perfectly disengaged and alone ; and thinking it a proper 

 opportunity to speak to him on the subject of my affairs, I inquired if he had been 

 informed of the wishes of the Government respecting them. I particularly alluded to 

 the sheep, and the probable advantage that might result to the colony and the mother- 

 country from the production of fine wool. He burst out instantly into a most violent 

 passion, exclaiming, ' What have I to do with your sheep, sir ? What have I to do 

 with your cattle? Are you to have such flocks of sheep and such herds of cattle as 



