Many years ago while browsing the archives of the National Library of Ireland in KildareStreet, 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:

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.