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 achieved the rank of Commandant of this colonial paramilitary force from 1861 to 1864. Bligh is probably best known for an incident in Maryborough, where he shot a number of Aboriginal Australians along the main street and into the adjoining Mary River. After retiring from the Native Police, Bligh became a police magistrate in the towns of Gayndah and Gympie. Early life John O'Connell Bligh was born in 1834 in Buckinghamshire, England. 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. Bligh was also a nephew of former Lieutenant Governor, Sir Maurice Charles O'Connell. 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. John was appointed Registrar of the Small Debts Court at Warialda in 1852. Lieutenant in Native Police Bligh was appointed by the New South Wales Government to the position of sub-Lieutenant in the Native Police on 7 April 1853. He was nineteen years old. Bligh seems to have been posted to the Wide Bay region on a regular basis early on in his career. Capture of John 'Gilburri' Fahy He captured a runaway convict named John Gilburri Fahy who had been living with the local Wide Bay aboriginals for over twelve years. In order to arrest Gilburri, Bligh and his troopers handcuffed all the station Aboriginal workers at Barambah pastoral station around a large gum tree overnight to prevent him from receiving any information that the Native Police were nearby. Fahy was sent to Cockatoo Island prison but was soon assigned to be an interpreter on the exploratory journey of A.C. Gregory.