1 Dollar - Elizabeth II Governor William Bligh

William Bligh arrived in New South Wales as Governor in 1806 with a specific mandate to break the rum trade monopoly that the New South Wales Corps had been running as a de facto currency and economic stranglehold on the colony. His attempts succeeded only in provoking the Rum Rebellion of January 1808, when Corps officers arrested and deposed him — the only successful armed overthrow of a government in Australian history. Bligh was held under arrest for over a year before being allowed to sail to Britain.

The Perth Mint issued this piece as part of its Australian Governors series commemorating figures central to early colonial administration. Bligh had previously commanded HMS Bounty before the 1789 mutiny, making him the only man in history to survive two major mutinies against his command.