Dr. Bland in New South Wales

Abstract

William Bland, ex-Royal Navy surgeon, convicted and transported for killing a fellow—officer in a duel, left the Frederick and stepped ashore in Sydney, in July, 1814, into a new world* Born and nurtured in a comfortable middle-class family, trained as a surgeon, he suddenly found himself cut off from the protected and regulated life of a service officer and thrust, on the wrong side of the social ledger, into a convict society on the other side of the world. Macquarie's world was not a pleasant place. Society was stratified by rigid class divisions. Crime and drunkenness were very common* Both men and women habitually gave themselves over to low sensual gratification. The government was autocratic and government officials omnipotent. Personal, political and economic freedoms were restricted in the interests of a benevolent but patronising encouragement of criminal reform. Into this environment came a proud, irascible and sensitive man, smarting from a sense of injustice, incurred from his involvement in a crime, which, in his view, was no more than an unfortunate end to the settlement of a matter of honour. The gaol—like colony, still clinging precariously to the coastal fringe surrounding Port Jackson, formed an uninspiring background to a half-century of distinguished public service. Yet Bland remained in the colony after his pardon was granted, and achieved a unique position in the society and land of his adoption.