Previous
Captain Watkin Tench
Another captain overseeing the penal colony in Australia. Collins has been chosen to fulfill the position of the colony’s judge. As such, he helps Phillip create a moral and just society, eventually stressing the importance of a healthy judicial system. At first, he appears to endorse the practice of public execution, suggesting that the convicts won’t behave unless they’re stricken by the “mortar of fear.” However, he later helps Phillip and Ralph convince Liz Morden to advocate for herself in order to avoid the death sentence, saying that it would be very unfortunate if convicts like her came to see the justice system in Australia as incapable of recognizing the truth. In this way, then, he helps her avoid the death sentence while also contributing to Governor Phillips’s efforts to create a well-functioning society.
Captain David Collins (Judge Collins) Quotes in Our Country’s Good
The Our Country’s Good quotes below are all either spoken by Captain David Collins (Judge Collins) or refer to Captain David Collins (Judge Collins) . For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Act One, Scene Three
Quotes
COLLINS. […] You have been made Governor-in-Chief of a paradise of birds, Arthur.
PHILLIP. And I hope not of a human hell, Davey. Don’t shoot yet, Watkin, let’s observe them. Could we not be more humane?
TENCH. Justice and humaneness have never gone hand in hand. The law is not a sentimental comedy.
PHILLIP. I am not suggesting they go without punishment. It is the spectacle of hanging I object to. The convicts will feel nothing has changed and will go back to their old ways.
TENCH. The convicts never left their old ways, Governor, nor do they intend to.
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
I commend your endeavour to oppose the baneful influence of vice with the harmonising acts of civilisation, Governor, but I suspect your edifice will collapse without the mortar of fear.
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Act Two, Scene One
Quotes
WISEHAMMER. I am innocent. I didn’t do it and I’ll keep saying I didn’t.
LIZ. It doesn’t matter what you say. If they say you’re a thief, you’re a thief.
WISEHAMMER. I am not a thief. I’ll go back to England to the snuff shop of Rickett and Loads and say, see, I’m back, I’m innocent.
LIZ. They won’t listen.
WISEHAMMER. You can’t live if you think that way.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Act Two, Scene Ten
Quotes
COLLINS. My only fear, Your Excellency, is that she may have refused to speak because she no longer believes in the process of justice. If that is so, the courts here will become travesties. I do not want that.
PHILLIP. But if she won’t speak, there is nothing more we can do. You cannot get at the truth through silence.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire Our Country’s Good LitChart as a printable PDF.
Captain David Collins (Judge Collins) Quotes in Our Country’s Good
The Our Country’s Good quotes below are all either spoken by Captain David Collins (Judge Collins) or refer to Captain David Collins (Judge Collins) . For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Act One, Scene Three
Quotes
COLLINS. […] You have been made Governor-in-Chief of a paradise of birds, Arthur.
PHILLIP. And I hope not of a human hell, Davey. Don’t shoot yet, Watkin, let’s observe them. Could we not be more humane?
TENCH. Justice and humaneness have never gone hand in hand. The law is not a sentimental comedy.
PHILLIP. I am not suggesting they go without punishment. It is the spectacle of hanging I object to. The convicts will feel nothing has changed and will go back to their old ways.
TENCH. The convicts never left their old ways, Governor, nor do they intend to.
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
I commend your endeavour to oppose the baneful influence of vice with the harmonising acts of civilisation, Governor, but I suspect your edifice will collapse without the mortar of fear.
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Act Two, Scene One
Quotes
WISEHAMMER. I am innocent. I didn’t do it and I’ll keep saying I didn’t.
LIZ. It doesn’t matter what you say. If they say you’re a thief, you’re a thief.
WISEHAMMER. I am not a thief. I’ll go back to England to the snuff shop of Rickett and Loads and say, see, I’m back, I’m innocent.
LIZ. They won’t listen.
WISEHAMMER. You can’t live if you think that way.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Act Two, Scene Ten
Quotes
COLLINS. My only fear, Your Excellency, is that she may have refused to speak because she no longer believes in the process of justice. If that is so, the courts here will become travesties. I do not want that.
PHILLIP. But if she won’t speak, there is nothing more we can do. You cannot get at the truth through silence.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
