''The Wild Goose: A Collection of Ocean Waifs'' was a hand-written newspaper created in late 1867 by

Fenian The word ''Fenian'' () served as an umbrella term for the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB) and their affiliate in the United States, the Fenian Brotherhood, secret political organisations in the late 19th and early 20th centuries dedicated ...

prisoners aboard ''

Hougoumont Château d'Hougoumont (originally Goumont) is a walled manorial compound, situated at the bottom of an escarpment near the Nivelles road in the Braine-l'Alleud municipality, near Waterloo, Belgium. The site served as one of the advanced defensi ...

'', the last ship to transport

convicts A convict is "a person found guilty of a crime and sentenced by a court" or "a person serving a sentence in prison". Convicts are often also known as "prisoners" or "inmates" or by the slang term "con", while a common label for former convict ...

to Australia. Seven issues of the newspaper were produced, and each issue was carefully laid out and decorated by hand. Only one copy of each issue was made, which was then read to the convicts aloud. The aim was to provide entertainment and encouragement aboard the ship during its long and arduous voyage to

Fremantle Fremantle () () is a port city in Western Australia, located at the mouth of the Swan River in the metropolitan area of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth. The Western Australian vernacular diminutive for ...

. The title refers to the Wild Geese: the Irish soldiers who had left to serve in continental European armies since the 16th century. The major contributors were John Flood,

John Boyle O'Reilly John Boyle O'Reilly (28 June 1844 – 10 August 1890) was an Irish poet, journalist, author and activist. As a youth in Ireland, he was a member of the Irish Republican Brotherhood, or Fenians, for which he was transported to Western Australi ...

and John Sarsfield Casey. The documents provide insight into life aboard ship. The documents contain songs, stories, articles, advice, poems, and even comedy. In addition to the diaries of Denis Cashman and the journals of Casey and

Thomas McCarthy Fennell Thomas McCarthy Fennell (22 December 1841 – 23 February 1914) was a Fenian political prisoner transported as a convict to Western Australia. Born in County Clare, Ireland in 1841, Fennell was just four years old when the Great Famine struck. ...

, the journey of ''Hougoumont'' was well recorded. One passage describes Australia and its history with more than a little sarcasm: O'Reilly penned several poems for the paper, including ''The Flying Dutchman'' and ''

The Old School Clock ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...

''. All seven issues survive, and were passed by Flood's granddaughter to the

Mitchell Library The Mitchell Library is a large public library and centre of the City Council public library system of Glasgow, Scotland. History The library, based in the Charing Cross district, was initially established in Ingram Street in 1877 following a ...

in 1967. The papers are bound into one book and are now part of the

State Library of New South Wales The State Library of New South Wales, part of which is known as the Mitchell Library, is a large heritage-listed special collections, reference and research library open to the public and is one of the oldest libraries in Australia. Establish ...

collection. On 9 September 2005, a memorial was unveiled at Rockingham beach to commemorate the ''Catalpa'' rescue. The memorial is a large statue of six wild geese.

See also

Notes

Further reading