![PatrickODonoghue](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/52/PatrickODonoghue.gif)
Patrick O'Donoghue (1810–1854), also known as Patrick O'Donohoe or O'Donoghoe, from
Clonegal
Clonegal, officially Clonegall ( ; ), is a village in the southeast of County Carlow, Ireland. It is in a rural setting, close to the border between counties Wexford and Carlow, 5 km from Bunclody, County Wexford and 22 km from Carl ...
,
County Carlow
County Carlow ( ; ga, Contae Cheatharlach) is a county located in the South-East Region of Ireland, within the province of Leinster. Carlow is the second smallest and the third least populous of Ireland's 32 traditional counties. Carlow Cou ...
, was an
Irish Nationalist
Irish nationalism is a nationalist political movement which, in its broadest sense, asserts that the people of Ireland should govern Ireland as a sovereign state. Since the mid-19th century, Irish nationalism has largely taken the form of cu ...
revolutionary and journalist, a member of the
Young Ireland
Young Ireland ( ga, Éire Óg, ) was a political movement, political and cultural movement, cultural movement in the 1840s committed to an all-Ireland struggle for independence and democratic reform. Grouped around the Dublin weekly ''The Nati ...
movement.
Early life
![Patrick O'Donohoe birthplace](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1a/Patrick_O%27Donohoe_birthplace.jpg)
Born to a peasant family in County Carlow, O'Donoghue was self educated. He managed to gain a place at
Trinity College Dublin
, name_Latin = Collegium Sanctae et Individuae Trinitatis Reginae Elizabethae juxta Dublin
, motto = ''Perpetuis futuris temporibus duraturam'' (Latin)
, motto_lang = la
, motto_English = It will last i ...
.
Nine Fine Irishmen
Ballingarry History He worked as a Law Clerk in Dublin.
Young Irelander Rebellion
In the aftermath of the failed Young Irelander Rebellion at Ballingarry, County Tipperary
County Tipperary ( ga, Contae Thiobraid Árann) is a county in Ireland. It is in the province of Munster and the Southern Region. The county is named after the town of Tipperary, and was established in the early 13th century, shortly after th ...
, in July 1848, he was placed in October 1848 before a British 'Special Commission' at Clonmel
Clonmel () is the county town and largest settlement of County Tipperary, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The town is noted in Irish history for its resistance to the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland, Cromwellian army which sacked the towns of Dro ...
in County Tipperary
County Tipperary ( ga, Contae Thiobraid Árann) is a county in Ireland. It is in the province of Munster and the Southern Region. The county is named after the town of Tipperary, and was established in the early 13th century, shortly after th ...
and sentenced to death for treason. As with other prominent Young Irelanders, this was later commuted to transportation for life to the penal colony at Van Diemen's Land
Van Diemen's Land was the colonial name of the island of Tasmania used by the British during the European exploration of Australia in the 19th century. A British settlement was established in Van Diemen's Land in 1803 before it became a sepa ...
(Tasmania
)
, nickname =
, image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates:
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdi ...
).
Transportation to Van Diemen's Land
In 1849 O'Donoghue, together with William Smith O'Brien
William Smith O'Brien ( ga, Liam Mac Gabhann Ó Briain; 17 October 1803 – 18 June 1864) was an Irish nationalist Member of Parliament (MP) and a leader of the Young Ireland movement. He also encouraged the use of the Irish language. He ...
, Terence MacManus
Terence Bellew MacManus (born 1811 or 1823 – 15 January 1861) was an Irish rebel who participated in the Young Irelander Rebellion of 1848. Sentenced to death for treason, he and several other participants were given commuted sentences in 1 ...
, Thomas Francis Meagher
Thomas Francis Meagher (; 3 August 18231 July 1867) was an Irish nationalist and leader of the Young Irelanders in the Rebellion of 1848. After being convicted of sedition, he was first sentenced to death, but received transportation for life ...
and many others were on board the prisoner transport ship the ''Swift
Swift or SWIFT most commonly refers to:
* SWIFT, an international organization facilitating transactions between banks
** SWIFT code
* Swift (programming language)
* Swift (bird), a family of birds
It may also refer to:
Organizations
* SWIFT, ...
'' for a six-month, 14,000-mile journey under difficult conditions which some fellow prisoners did not survive.
On 26 January 1850, "Using materials he had begged and borrowed" as one account gives it, Patrick O'Donoghue started publishing in Hobart Town
Hobart ( ; Nuennonne/Palawa kani: ''nipaluna'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian island state of Tasmania. Home to almost half of all Tasmanians, it is the least-populated Australian state capital city, and second-smalle ...
a weekly newspaper named ''The Irish Exile'', aimed mainly at fellow Irish prisoners and deportees and considered to be the first Irish Nationalist
Irish nationalism is a nationalist political movement which, in its broadest sense, asserts that the people of Ireland should govern Ireland as a sovereign state. Since the mid-19th century, Irish nationalism has largely taken the form of cu ...
paper to be published in Australia.
The paper featured Irish ballads and poetry, articles about Irish history, and a regular column by John Martin reporting on the situation of the Repeal Movement (campaigning to repeal the Act of Union under which the Irish Parliament had been abolished). There were also local news of the Irish deportee community, then numbering in the thousands, and of Hobart Town daily life in general.
O'Donoghue used ''The Irish Exile'' to publish excerpts of his journal aboard ''The Swift'', which were reprinted in Australian, British and Irish newspapers. Brisbane's ''The Moreton Bay Courier
''The Courier-Mail'' is an Australian newspaper published in Brisbane. Owned by News Corp Australia, it is published daily from Monday to Saturday in tabloid format. Its editorial offices are located at Bowen Hills, in Brisbane's inner norther ...
'' (reprinted from Dublin's ''The Nation'') found that the journal "will show how severely the tyrannical government of England visited the offences of the Ballingarry cabbage-tree heroes. The studies of Messrs. O'Brien, Meagher (afterwards O'), and O'Donoghoe, will amuse the reader". While in Van Diemen's Land, the ''Launceston Examiner
''The Examiner'' is the daily newspaper of the city of Launceston and north-eastern Tasmania, Australia.
Overview
''The Examiner'' was first published on 12 March 1842, founded by James Aikenhead. The Reverend John West was instrumental in e ...
'' reprinted London's ''The Examiner''s view that "a singularly large amount of mercy has been shown to those grown-up children who made the escapade from Dublin to raise the standard of Irish rebellion at Ballingarry. One of the worthies, Mr. Patrick O'Donoghue, has published an account of his deportation; and certainly a more pleasureable voyage could not have been under taken at the expanse of government. A roomy cabin, a capital library, a fair dinner, with a couple of glasses of wine, and cigars upon deck, from the dietary and the entertainment of the political exiles".
Publication of the paper was not in itself illegal, but was highly displeasing to the Governor, Sir William Denison
Sir William Thomas Denison (3 May 1804 – 19 January 1871) was Lieutenant Governor of Van Diemen's Land from 1847 to 1855, Governor of New South Wales from 1855 to 1861, and Governor of Madras from 1861 to 1866.
According to Percival Se ...
, who found that the paper could be suppressed by arresting O'Donoghue and charging him with having "left his allocated district". He was sentenced to one year's work in a chain-gang
A chain gang or road gang is a group of prisoners chained together to perform menial or physically challenging work as a form of punishment. Such punishment might include repairing buildings, building roads, or clearing land. The system was no ...
– a time spent at hard labour, living in a convict station and wearing a convict uniform, mainly in the company of non-political prisoners such as "rapists, muggers and thieves".
In March 1851 he was released and taken back to Hobart Town. Undeterred, he immediately restarted his paper, prominently featuring an extensive personal account of his year with the chain gang. The governor reacted by sending him again to a chain gang, at a more distant location this time – the Cascades Penal Station. Three months later the governor ordered him released from there and sent to Launceston.
On the way there, he succeeded in escaping from his guards with the help of fellow-prisoners, who managed to smuggle him on board the ship ''Yarra Yara'', on its way to Melbourne
Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...
.
Escape to America
There, he successfully hid from the British authorities (who may have been tacitly happy to see the last of him) and with further help from Irish sympathisers managed to get to San Francisco, where some of his fellows such as MacManus and Meagher also ended up.
He died in New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
on 22 January 1854, shortly before the arrival of his wife on a ship from Ireland. The time spent in the chain gang may have contributed to undermining his health. The other escaped state prisoners did not attend his funeral, although Michael Doheny and Michael Cavanagh, fellow Young Irelanders who lived in New York, did. Christine Kinealy, 'Repeal and Revolution. 1848 in Ireland', Manchester University Press, 2009.
The local Sinn Féin Cumman (branch of a political party) in Carlow is named after O'Donoghue.
See also
*List of convicts transported to Australia
Penal transportation to Australia began with the arrival of the First Fleet in 1788 and ended in 1868. Overall, approximately 165,000 convicts were transported to Australia.
Convicts
A
* Esther Abrahams (c. 1767–1846), English wife of ...
References
Further reading
''The Politics of Irish Literature: from Thomas Davis to W.B. Yeats''
Malcolm Brown, Allen & Unwin, 1973.
*John Mitchel, ''A Cause Too Many'', Aidan Hegarty, Camlane Press.
*Thomas Davis, ''The Thinker and Teacher'', Arthur Griffith, M. H. Gill & Son 1922.
*''Brigadier-General Thomas Francis Meagher His Political and Military Career'', Capt. W. F. Lyons, Burns Oates & Washbourne Limited 1869
*''Young Ireland and 1848'', Dennis Gwynn, Cork University Press 1949.
*''Daniel O'Connell The Irish Liberator'', Dennis Gwynn, Hutchinson & Co, Ltd.
*''O'Connell Davis and the Colleges Bill'', Dennis Gwynn, Cork University Press 1948.
*''Smith O’Brien And The "Secession"'', Dennis Gwynn, Cork University Press
*''Meagher of The Sword'', edited By Arthur Griffith, M. H. Gill & Son, Ltd. 1916.
*''Repeal and Revolution. 1848 in Ireland'', Christine Kinealy, Manchester University Press, 2009).
*''Young Irelander Abroad The Diary of Charles Hart'', edited by Brendan O'Cathaoir, University Press.
*''John Mitchel First Felon for Ireland'', Edited By Brian O'Higgins, Brian O'Higgins 1947.
*''Rossa's Recollections 1838 to 1898'', Intro by Sean O'Luing, The Lyons Press 2004.
*''Labour in Ireland'', James Connolly, Fleet Street 1910.
*''The Re-Conquest of Ireland, James Connolly, Fleet Street 1915.
*''John Mitchel Noted Irish Lives'', Louis J. Walsh, The Talbot Press Ltd 1934.
*''Thomas Davis: Essays and Poems, Centenary Memoir'', M. H. Gill, M.H. Gill & Son, Ltd MCMXLV.
*''Life of John Martin'', P. A. Sillard, James Duffy & Co., Ltd 1901.
*''Life of John Mitchel'', P. A. Sillard, James Duffy and Co., Ltd 1908.
*''John Mitchel'', P. S. O'Hegarty, Maunsel & Company, Ltd 1917.
*''The Fenians in Context Irish Politics & Society 1848-82'', R. V. Comerford, Wolfhound Press 1998
*''William Smith O'Brien and the Young Ireland Rebellion of 1848'', Robert Sloan, Four Courts Press 2000
*''Irish Mitchel'', Seamus MacCall, Thomas Nelson and Sons Ltd 1938.
*''Ireland Her Own'', T. A. Jackson, Lawrence & Wishart Ltd 1976.
*''Life and Times of Daniel O'Connell'', T. C. Luby, Cameron & Ferguson.
*''Young Ireland'', T. F. O'Sullivan, The Kerryman Ltd. 1945.
*''Irish Rebel John Devoy and America's Fight for Irish Freedom'', Terry Golway, St. Martin's Griffin 1998.
*Paddy's Lament Ireland 1846–1847 Prelude to Hatred, Thomas Gallagher, Poolbeg 1994.
*''The Great Shame'', Thomas Keneally, Anchor Books 1999.
*''James Fintan Lalor'', Thomas, P. O'Neill, Golden Publications 2003.
*''Charles Gavan Duffy: Conversations With Carlyle'' (1892), with Introduction, "Stray Thoughts on Young Ireland", by Brendan Clifford, Athol Books, Belfast, . (Pg. 32 Titled, Foster's account of Young Ireland.)
*''Envoi, Taking Leave of Roy Foster'', by Brendan Clifford and Julianne Herlihy, Aubane Historical Society, Cork.
*''The Falcon Family, or, Young Ireland'', by M. W. Savage, London, 1845.
An Gorta Mor
''Quinnipiac University''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Odonoghue, Patrick
1810 births
1854 deaths
Australian journalists
Convicts transported to Australia
Irish journalists
Burials at Green-Wood Cemetery
People from County Carlow
Young Irelanders