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The American whaler, the Gazelle, which picked up O'Reilly off the West Australian coast. Help
The American whaler, the Gazelle, which picked up O'Reilly off the West Australian coast.
John Boyle O'Reilly Gains
His Freedom
By Hf. DRAKE-BROCKMAN
In 1869 the W.A. Police Gazette named John Boyle O'Reilly (25), as an
absconder from a convict road party at Bunbury on February 18.
Serving a 20-year sentence, he reached the colony in 1868 in the
convict ship Hougoumont.
AT 19, John Boyle O'Reilly
joined the Fenian party in
Ireland. Next, along with many
other young Irishmen, he de
liberately enlisted in the English
Army (then in force in Ireland)
for the purpose of revolt.
Disclosed by an informer
O'Reilly was court-martialled.
Had he lived 100 years later and
been a follower of De Valera,
his action would have had a very
different ending; but he was born
in 1844.
He was condemned to death
(a formal sentence commuted to
life imprisonment the same
day); spent two years in English
prisons, ending at Dartmoor;
was transported to Fremantle,
and thence ordered to the Vasse
River chain gang, from which
he managed an escape which re
mains one of the most dramatic
in Australian convict history.
"
Lonely Eagle Bay.
Today, the curious can drive
a car almost on to the lonely
beach where he hid at Eagle
Bay, south of Meelup Beach.
Still nearer Cape Naturaliste is
a small rocky cove locally called
Harrison's Bay; named, I was
told, after Trooper Harrison,
who arrived too late in search
of the absconder. Except for
a settler or two and the light
house squatting on the cape, the
immediate country is as wild as
in the days of O'Reilly.
A man of poetic imagination,
highly educated, a journalist by
profession, O'Reilly has left a
record of personal feelings and
adventures in Western Australia
that enables us to see our early
days through the eyes of a con-
vict.
His own "Life," by James Jef-
frey Roche, with introduction by
Cardinal Gibbons, Archbishop
of Baltimore, together with a
complete collection of poems
and speeches, is a rare volume in
Australia. It appeared in the
United States in 1891, a year
after O'Reilly's death at the age
of 46 and at the height of suc-
cess, when he was editor and
part-owner of the Boston "Pilot."
In the interests of those involv-
ed, the authentic escape story
was not published until 1881.
It appearged first in the Phila-
delphia "Times"-a long factual
and exciting account, which can
only be summarised here.
O'Reilly was not on parole (as
has been stated); he had been
relieved of road work and was
in charge of stores. He confided
his plans to the Rev. Patrick
McCabe, "whose only parish
ioners were convicts and ticket
of-leave men." The priest re-
marked, "It is an excellent way
to commit suicide," and ad-
vised him to desist. But eventu-
ally a sympathising settler
named Maguire was sent to
O'Reilly with a note from the
priest inquiring after his health.
Three anxious months passed.
It was necessary to make ar-
rangements with a willing skip
per of one of the American
whale-ships then operating off
the south coast. O'Reilly was
always afraid Maguire might
shrink. But on the evening of
February 18, 1869, the young
convict dragged on a pair of
free man's boots and started on
JOHN BOYLE O'REILLY. Help
JOHN BOYLE O'REILLY.
his desperate venture through
the bush.
An inopportune visitor, unex-
pected passers, Maguire , with
two friends and horses at an ap-
pointed meeting place, a long
bush ride, a wait for a row-boat
from Bunbury, flash-lights, coo-
ees, a long row of 40 miles
across Geographe Bay: "to lie in
wait for the Vigilant."
A Dried-Out Dory.
After many hours the Vigilant
was sighted. They rowed far
out but she sailed on.
This bitter experience was re-
peated later. From a dried-out
dory which he had found on the
beach and reconditioned
O'Reilly, alone this time, saw
the Vigilant, still waiting as
arranged. Despair on despair.
Again she neither saw him nor
heard his cries. At sundown she
sailed away.
Through a dreadful night,
O'Reilly tugged with blistered
hands at his oars. "When morn-
ing came he was within sight of
the sandhills on the headland of
Geographe Bay." That night,
he arrived exhausted at John-
son's, caring for nothing but
sleep.
A Ship At Last.
Five days later Maguire and
his friends returned. Capt. Gif-
ford, of the barque Gazelle, was
to carry O'Reilly (for £10 paid
by Father McCabe) to Java.
"Soon after daybreak . . . the
three men went down to the
beach (Eagle Bay?). Old John-
son and his boy were there to
see them off. .. "
No mistake this time: the
strong arms of Henry Hathaway.
third mate (the man who later
helped to plan the Catalpa ex-
pedition to Fremantle in 1876)
helped O'Reilly aboard.
That was the end of the W.A.
episode; what happened on the
whaler is another exciting story.
Today an ancient well exists at
Eagle Bay, a few yards from the
home of Mr. Harry Keenen. It
has fallen in; a post marks the
spot until it shall again be
cleared. I understand this is the
only known fresh-water well in
the vicinity; it is almost certainly
Johnson's.
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