Bligh Had a Daughter is a 1948 Australia radio play by Rex Rienits about Mary Bligh, daughter of William Bligh, who was living with her father at the time of the Rum Rebellion.

It was one of the most highly regarded Australian radio plays of the 1940s^[3]

The play was repeated later in 1948^[4] and in 1949.^[5] and produced again by the ABC in 1954.

Rienits used elements of the play in his 1960 mini series Stormy Petrel, based on his radio play of the same name. In that the role of Mary Bligh was played by Delia Williams.^[6]

Premise

According to the ABC Weekly "Bligh, when appointed Governor of New South Wales 17 years after the “Bounty” affair, had a wife and six daughters, but only Mary, his second daughter, accompanied him to his new place of appointment. There she acted as his Governor's lady until almost simultaneously she lost her husband and played a part in resisting the deposition of Bligh by the Rum Corps. Later she became a permanent resident of New South Wales, where her descendants are still living. "^[7]

References