The Fenians
Ireland - Australia - America
by Jim Kelly
Many years ago while browsing the archives of the National Library of Ireland
in Kildare Street, Dublin, I was aroused from a dozing state by a strong
declaration of excitement by an individual at the back of the reading Hall.
My curiosity suggested I engage the individual in conversation and inquire
what he had discovered. To my surprise he was from Australia, and he was
researching his “roots.” He indicated, there was a planned celebration scheduled
in Australia and anyone who could document his ancestors, in the Australian
community, as “felons” and who had been subject to deportation from Great
Britain in the 19th century, would be held in very high esteem. And the reason
for the gentleman’s outburst was, he had discovered his Great Grandfather’s
name on the shipping list in the Fremantle Journal, an Irish deportee.
Perhaps the word “felon” as it pertained to the Irish in the 19th century,
needs some clarification. Needless to say, some individuals did warrant the
title. However, many a poor Irish soul was shipped off to the other side
of the world, for trying to stay alive, scrounging for food from the table
of the landlord, branded as a felon, and never more to set foot on Irish
soil.
And then there was the patriots. The Fenians, Irish rebels who had made several
unsuccessful attempts at insurrection against English rule in the 1860's.
Many were captured and sentenced to a life of penal servitude at the “Establishment”,
Fremantle Prison, near Perth, Australia.. There were two elements amongst
the men charged and convicted: those who were civilians, and those who were
serving in the British military services. The civilian group were treated
as political prisoners, while the military segment were treated as ordinary
criminals. In 1869, the civilian group were granted clemency and “freed,”
whilst such consideration was denied the military men.
In October 1867,two hundred and eighty convicts - sixty two of them
Fenians, began a three month ordeal, from Portland, England to The Establishment
Fremantle, Western Australia aboard The Hougoumont, the last ship to transport
convicts to Australia. Seven of the Fenians who entered into the convict
community in Fremantle, would in two separate incidents, escape the hell
hole called “The Establishment” and escape to America where they received
a hero’s welcome..
John Boyle O’Reilly was the first of the Fenians to succeed in escaping from
his incarceration. O’Reilly, a County Meath man, born, June 28, 1844,served
in the 10th Hussars, a regiment in the British military service. Enough said
about that. In the eyes of the English authorities, his alleged crime was
“sowing the seeds of discontent and rebellion in the ranks.” On March 6th,
1866, he was arrested and taken into custody and held at Arbor Hill Military
Prison in Dublin. His day in court commenced on June 27th and a succession
of witnesses gave John Boyle O’Reilly evidence regarding his Fenian activity
within the ranks of the British Army. When the verdict was announced, guilty
of course, he was an Irishman, John Boyle O’Reilly was sentenced to death.
The sentence was subsequently commuted to twenty years penal servitude and
he was stripped of his uniform and garbed in rough woolen prison clothing
and returned to Mountjoy Prison.
Charged at the same time were:
Michael Harrington Co Cork
Thomas Darragh Co. Wicklow
Robert Cranston Co. Tyrone
Martin Hogan Co. Limerick
James Wilson Co. Down
Thomas Hassett Co. Cork
These men were to feature in a later chapter of O’Reilly’s life, and are
the subjects of the second daring escape from Australia.
As previously alluded to, the convicted Fenians, included O’Reilly, were
transported to Fremantle and assigned to a variety of work assignments, which
included long hours, hard labor and a need to adjust to a climate far different
from that of their homeland.
John O’Reilly was assigned to a work party in Bunbury. During the course
of his first year in Australia he befriended Father Patrick McCabe. Father
McCabe was the local parish priest and rumored to be a Fenian sympathizer.
He confided in the priest his plans to escape, but Fr. McCabe dissuaded him
from putting them into effect.
In February 1869, through McCabe, O’Reilly met Jim Maguire, an Irish
settler in the district working on land clearance for the Bunbury racecourse.
It was Maguire who arranged passage on an American whaler for O’Reilly’s
escape. However, it was not an easy accomplishment. O’Reilly went through
hell, hiding from the police, the soldiers, the aborigine trackers and needless
to say the informers, all hoping to profit from a reward.
However, capture was not to be, and in March 1869, John Boyle O’Reilly boarded
the American whaler Gazelle, and was welcomed aboard by Captain Gifford,,
who turned the Gazelle west, setting a course of freedom for O’Reilly. He
prayed for his comrades: Hogan, Cranston, Darragh, Harrington Hassett and
Wilson, and vowed to work diligently in America to insure their freedom.
Eventually, John Boyle O’Reilly reached Boston, where he became a respected
citizen and editor of The Pilot newspaper.
Seven years would pass before his six comrades would join him in freedom
and that was accomplished by the intricate network of dedicated Irishmen,
a New England Quaker and a Whaling Ship named The Catalpa.