Was William Bligh a bad governor?
Not at all. Bligh was a known disciplinarian, but the colony was a convict one, so discipline was needed by any governor, and Bligh was specifically appointed to crack down on the so called Rum Corps, the officers of the military garrison that essentially controlled the colony through their control of the import and distribution of alcoholic spirits (widely used as currency due to a shortage of cash in ready coin).Bligh had explicit instructions from the Colonial Office in London to stop these practices. It was Bligh’s crackdown on the officers of the Rum Corps, and thus his interference with the large profits that they were making in league with prominent citizens, that led to the rebellion against Bligh, his arrest and deposing as governor, rather than Bligh being a bad governor. It should be noted that the Rum Corps officers that led the rebellion were tried, convicted,and punished by the British government,and the entire military garrison of NSW recalled and replaced with another a
