MR BLIGH’S THIRD MUTINY

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In 1809 David Collins, Governor of neglected Van Diemen’s Land, is astonished to hear that Governor Bligh is sailing up the Derwent, seeking a haven from the recent Rum Rebellion against him in Sydney. Collins, staunch in his support for Bligh, immediately moves out of Government House so it can be occupied by Bligh and Mary, his recently widowed, self-absorbed daughter.

Initial relations between the two men are excellent. But the volatile Bligh cannot help interfering with the administration of the colony and disapproves of Collins’ sixteen year-old mistress. And when Collins finds himself in the impossible situation of being instructed by Sydney not to provision Bligh, relations between the two deteriorate so rapidly that the little colony actually finds itself on the brink of civil war.

This story is the kernel for an exploration of a crucial dilemma we increasingly face today as our inner voice struggles to make itself heard above the voices of our education, and of the organisations for which we work. The terrible cost to Collins of finally living by his own values is to find himself cast in the role of a mutineer, a realisation which destroys him.

APT