The Catalpa Rescue

Author: Peter FitzSimons
Publisher: Hachette Australia
ISBN: 0733641253
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 441

Book Description
The incredible true story of one of the most extraordinary and inspirational prison breaks in Australian history. New York, 1874. Members of the Clan-na-Gael - agitators for Irish freedom from the English yoke - hatch a daring plan to free six Irish political prisoners from the most remote prison in the British Empire, Fremantle Prison in Western Australia. Under the guise of a whale hunt, Captain Anthony sets sail on the Catalpa to rescue the men from the stone walls of this hell on Earth known to the inmates as a 'living tomb'. What follows is one of history's most stirring sagas that splices Irish, American, British and Australian history together in its climactic moment. For Ireland, who had suffered English occupation for 700 years, a successful escape was an inspirational call to arms. For America, it was a chance to slap back at Britain for their support of the South in the Civil War; for England, a humiliation. And for a young Australia, still not sure if it was Great Britain in the South Seas or worthy of being an independent country in its own right, it was proof that Great Britain was not unbeatable. Told with FitzSimons' trademark combination of arresting history and storytelling verve, The Catalpa Rescue is a tale of courage and cunning, the fight for independence and the triumph of good men, against all odds.

The Catalpa Expedition

Author: Zephaniah Walter Pease
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Escapes
Languages : en
Pages : 264

Book Description
An account of the expedition in the bark Catalpa to Australia, which set free the Irish political prisoners who were sentenced to a lifetime of servitude in the English penal colony.

John Devoy's Catalpa Expedition

Author: Philip Fennell
Publisher: NYU Press
ISBN: 0814727832
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 238

Book Description
The story of John Devoy’s 1876 Catalpa rescue is a tale of heroism, creativity, and the triumph of independent spirit in pursuit of freedom. The daily log on board the whaling ship Catalpa begins with the typical recount of a crew intact and a spirit unfettered, but such quiet words deceive the truth of the audacious enterprise that came to be known as one of the most important rescues in Irish American history. John Devoy’s men rescued six Irish political prisoners from the Australian coast, allowing millions of fellow Irishmen and American-Fenians, many of whom secretly financed the dangerous plot, to draw courage from the newly exiled prisoners. Philip Fennell and Marie King tell the story from John Devoy’s own records and the ship's logbooks. John Devoy's Catalpa Expedition includes an introduction by Terry Golway and the personal diaries, letters, and reports from John Devoy and his men.

The Catalpa Escape

Author: Joy Lefroy
Publisher: Fremantle Arts Center Press
ISBN: 9781921064609
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 36

Book Description
In Fremantle Prison they are alone, half a world away from home. But their powerful friends in America have not forgotten them. Danger, excitement and daring - this is an extraordinary true story.

Batavia

Author: Peter FitzSimons
Publisher: Random House Australia
ISBN: 1864711345
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 514

Book Description
No further information has been provided for this title.

The Fenian Wild Geese

Author: Ormonde D. P. Waters
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780975000915
Category : Escapes
Languages : en
Pages : 380

Book Description

The Legend of Moondyne Joe

Author: Mark Greenwood
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781921720123
Category : Bushrangers
Languages : en
Pages : 40

Book Description
This is the story of the greatest escape artist of Australia's convict era - the legend of Moondyne Joe. "They'll not take my freedom away!" These are the words of Moondyne Joe, the beloved scoundrel and expert bushman of early Australian convict history. There wasn't a cell built that could contain him, and Joe often led the troopers on wild chases through the Moondyne Hills. This is the story of a colourful Australian legend from the award-winning team of Mark Greenwood and Frané Lessac.

Breaker Morant

Author: Peter FitzSimons
Publisher: Hachette UK
ISBN: 1472131444
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 576

Book Description
The epic story of the Boer War and Harry 'Breaker' Morant: drover, horseman, bush poet - murderer or hero? Most people have heard of the Boer War and of Harry 'Breaker' Morant, a figure who rivals Ned Kelly as an archetypal Australian folk hero. But Morant was a complicated man. Born in England and immigrating to Queensland in 1883, he established a reputation as a rider, polo player and poet who submitted ballads to The Bulletin and counted Banjo Paterson as a friend. Travelling on his wits and the goodwill of others, Morant was quick to act when appeals were made for horsemen to serve in the war in South Africa. He joined up, first with the South Australian Mounted Rifles and then with a South African irregular unit, the Bushveldt Carbineers. The adventure would not go as Breaker planned. In October 1901 Lieutenant Harry Morant and two other Australians, Lieutenants Peter Handcock and George Witton, were arrested for the murder of Boer prisoners. Morant and Handcock were court-martialled and executed in February 1902 as the Boer War was in its closing stages, but the debate over their convictions continues to this day. With his masterful command of story, Peter FitzSimons takes us to the harsh landscape of southern Africa and into the bloody action of war against an unpredictable force using modern commando tactics. The truths FitzSimons uncovers about 'the Breaker' and the part he played in the Boer War are astonishing - and finally we will know if the Breaker was a hero, a cad, a scapegoat or a criminal.

Catalpa

Author: Donal O'Kelly
Publisher: Theatre Communications Group
ISBN: 9781854593573
Category : English drama
Languages : en
Pages : 63

Book Description
"A frustrated insomniac screenwriter acts out his unfilmed masterpiece entirely inside his own head. Becoming dozens of different characters (from the captain and crew of the New England whaling ship, Catalpa, to the seagulls, whales and the sea itself), he brilliantly recreates the 19th-century voyage to rescue a group of Fenian prisoners from an Australian penal colony."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

"Lags"

Author: Bill Edgar
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780959396447
Category : Convict labor
Languages : en
Pages : 256

Book Description
The early settlers at the Swan River determined they would remain a free settlement, but after twenty years of unremitting struggle, as their economic circumstances became perilous, they were forced to petition the British Government for convicts and the much needed labour their presence would bring.Between 1850 and 1868, close to 10,000 male convict arrived in Western Australia from Britain. Far from being the detrimental influence many predicted, the 'lags', the detritus from the iniquities of the English legal and penal systems, injected new life into an stagnant economy. Despite a high percentage of original serious criminality among them, the vastly different environment in this most isolated of British settlements had a positive influence on these refugees from the cruel prisons and hulks of the Home country.The convict system in W.A. proved to be forward and benign by comparison with the systems of earlier decades in New South Wales and Tasmania. In consequence, many of the convicts who were landed at Fremantle subsequently became valuable citizens, helping to lay the foundations of early, modern Western Australia.