• Title
  [The arrest of Governor Bligh, 1808]
• Call number
  Safe 4/5
  
• Level of description
  item
• Date
  
  1808
• Type of material
  Graphic Materials, Drawings
• Reference code
  431560
• Issue Copy
  DigitisedMicrofilm : CY 2125, frames 141-156 (Safe 4/5).
  Copy print : Facsimile copies by the Govt Printing Office, Sydney (ca.1890's), are available at A 1982 (CY 2062, frames 19-32) and PX*D 332 (transferred from FA 923.59/B648.1/1A1).
  
• Physical Description
  1 drawing - watercolour - 23.3 x 37 cm
  
• Access Conditions
  
  Access via appointment
• Copying Conditions
  Out of copyright:
  Please acknowledge:: Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales
• General note
  
  This watercolour came into the possession of the New South Wales Government, and then to the Mitchell Library, from the descendants of Lieutenant Colonel George Johnston. As senior officer of the N.S.W. Corps, Johnston ordered the arrest of Governor Bligh.
  It is likely that this watercolour was the one commissioned to an unknown artist by Sergeant Thomas Whittle, a soldier in the N.S.W. Corps who participated in the arrest. Whittle displayed this image in his house, enshrined between two candlesticks, a couple of days after Bligh's arrest. For further information on the arrest and the circumstances surrounding the creation and public display of this image see: Neville, R. "The Arrest of Governor Bligh - Pictures and Politics", Australiana, June 1991, and PXn 762.
  Digital order no: a128113
  Artist unknown.
• Signatures / Inscriptions
  
  Attached to the left hand wall in the image is a sheet with text, "O what can the matter be".
  One of the backing sheets bears three non-contemporaneous ink inscriptions. These inscriptions are: "Sketch of Bligh's / arrest by / Lieut. Michin" ; "Govn Bligh" ; and "Govn. Bligh under the Bed".
• Attributions / conjectures
  
  Formerly attributed to William Minchin based on inscription on backing sheet. William Minchin was prominent in the rebellion that led to Bligh's arrest. -- Reference: Australian Dictionary of Biography. Vol.2, 1788-1850. Carlton, Vic.: Melbourne University Press, 1967
• Conservation note
  
  In 1972, SLNSW Preservation staff removed the drawing from at least two backing sheets
• Name
  Bligh, William, 1754-1817
  Great Britain. Army. New South Wales Corps
  
• Subject
  Governors--New South Wales.
  
• Topic
  colonial art
  political processes
  soldiers
  
• Exhibited in
  
  Politics & Power: Bligh's Sydney Rebellion 1808 - State Library of New South Wales (21 January - 27 April, 2008)
• Open Rosetta viewer
  IE3203670

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