John O'Connell Bligh

John O'Connell Bligh (3 March 1834 – 12 October 1880) was a Native Police officer in the British colonies of New South Wales and Queensland.

He was a grandson of Vice-Admiral William Bligh, the former Governor of New South Wales and central figure of the mutiny on the Bounty and the Rum Rebellion.

[1] He emigrated to Australia probably around 1850 and lived with his brother Richard John Bligh who had been Commissioner for Crown Lands and head of the Border Police at Warialda since 1847.

He captured a runaway convict named John Gilburri Fahy who had been living with the local Wide Bay aboriginals for over twelve years.

The funding of the Native Police at this stage was uncertain and Bligh had trouble with equipment supplies and the mutinous conduct of some of his Aboriginal troopers.

[13] However, his actions divided the town, with the Maryborough Chronicle describing it as "one of the most disgraceful acts ever perpetrated by any community, a blot so foul and deep-stained as will leave on this otherwise fair portion of God’s earth the brand of eternal infamy".

[14] On 8 July 1861 Lieut John O'Connell Bligh was examined regarding the above incident by the Select Committee on the Native Police Force and the Condition of the Aborigines generally.

[17] His first major duty as Commandant involved organising the severe reprisals for the Cullin-la-ringo massacre where, in October 1861, Aboriginals around the Nogoa River killed nineteen settlers.

Colonists in the Nogoa region such as Charles Boydell Dutton described how these operations consisted of orders to Native Police officers to "disperse blacks wherever they found them."

Bligh himself dispersed members of peaceful tribes working for the colonists and galloped his horse over an Aboriginal woman causing her extensive injuries.

[18] Bligh was the commanding officer of the force as the British expanded into the Northern parts of Eastern Australia into areas such as Bowen, Peak Downs and Mackay.

A local vagrant by the name of Tim Shea who presented ill to the police station was arrested and sentenced by Bligh to six months jail.