Malcolm Bligh Turnbull

Since Malcolm Turnbull was elected leader of Australia's opposition party, the ShadowLands offers some Turnbull trivia. In accordance with his family tradition, Malcolm Turnbull's middle name is Bligh. The practice goes back to the Rum Rebellion, when Governor Bligh (yes, that Bligh) was overthrown in a military coup. The Turnbulls were staunchly loyal to the Governor, and have expressed this ever since by giving over the middle names of their sons.

This is mentioned briefly in an excellent book, Captain Bligh's Other Mutiny by Stephen Dando Collins. The book reveals that - unlike most renditions given by Australia's legion of shithouse historians - the rum rebellion was an extremely serious matter in Australia's formative years, and that the ringleader John Macarthur was an A-Grade dickhead who was fortunate not to be hanged for treason.