Page 8 - eMuse Vol.9 No.11

Biography

Sing this song and

you’ll get arrested The body of Jack Donohue in Sydney morgue. Believed to have

been sketched by expolorer Major Sir Thomas Mitchell.

As he was being taken back searching for Donohue found
to jail in Sydney he escaped . him near a creek at Bringelly .
The government offered a re- Donohue shouted at them
“Surrender to such cowardly dogs is a thing I’ll ne’er do. ward of £20 for his capture. to try to capture him. Private
This day I’ll fight with all my might,” cried Bold Jack Donahue.” Notices were distributed John Muckleston fired his rifle
Lyrics from “Bold Jack Donahue.” Traditional Folk Song. describing him as “22 years of and pistol, hitting Donohue in
age, 5 feet 4 inches (163 cm) in the neck and forehead. He died
Lyrics like that stir the blood Jack Donohue (1804 — 1 height, brown freckled complex- soon afterward.
pumping through the heart of September, 1830), sometimes ion, flaxen hair, blue eyes, and His body was taken to Syd-
every rebellious soul that ever called John Donohue, was a has a scar under the left nostril.” ney . The surveyor and explorer,
drew a breath, especially those famous Australian bushranger. In August 1828, Donohue Sir Thomas Mitchell, drew a
with even the smallest drop of With the exception of Ned Kel- and a gang of eight robbed picture of Donohue. This is the
drop of Irish within. ly, there have been more songs, houses south of Bathurst. A only known picture of him.
Convicts and former convicts poems and stories about him police group nearly captured Like all folk heroes, varia-
who felt the painful sting of than any other bushranger . Donohue near Goulburn. tions of Jack’s story was told
the lash from a heavy handed, He quickly became a folk They shot at the gang, and and retold long after his death.
authoritarian hierarchy, would hero. Governor Ralph Darling killed several gang members . In 1833, Donohue’s life was
revel in such songs. No doubt told hotel owners they would Donohue escaped and was not recounted in Charles Harpur’s
singing them in raucous tones have their hotels closed if they seen for several months. play “The Tragedy of Donohoe”.
was a popular pastime at the Inn allowed people to sing songs He next appeared in the Ne- It was later published in 1853 as
or any place where people could about Donohue. pean River valley around the “The Bushrangers.”
gather with a rum or two... Jack Donohue was born in towns of Liverpool, Penrith, Wind- Harpur’s inspiration for his
Although it was a song of Dublin, Ireland in 1804. He was sor, Parramatta and Liberty Plains. play was the April 1829 shoot-
the people, folk lore tells us this in trouble with the police for his They robbed the Reverend ing of a settler on the Hunter
delightful ditty about Bold Jack political activities to gain inde- Samuel Marsden near Windsor . River by two bushrangers. Har-
Donohue was not popular with pendence for Ireland. Donohue was working with a pur was sixteen at the time and
the “powers that be” in early In 1824, he was found guilty man known as “Darky” Under- believed that Donohue was one
colonial New South Wales. of “intent to commit a felony”. wood, and an escaped convict of those bushrangers.
Fearing it incite a revolt, they This means he was going to do Jack Walmsley. Over the years there have
banned it . Singing it could get something wrong, but he had The government increased been many songs written about
one arrested for sedition or not done it yet . the reward to £50. “Bold Jack Donohue” with a
worse. Some folk lore lovers He was sent to Sydney on the In April 1830, Governor variety of spellings for his sur-
say the song was sung anyway. convict ship Ann and Amelia, Ralph Darling made a special name. Some different songs
Sorry to say there is every which arrived on 2 January, 1825. law to try to stop boomerang- have the same title.
possibility the truth of the story He was sent to work for a Mr. ing . The police could arrest any- In the furphy associated
is questionable. There is no re- Pagan at Parramatta. He was one, enter and search houses with the banning of the song a
liable supporting evidence. But soon in trouble and put to work without having to have a war- ballad of defiance, continuing
as I have Irish blood many gen- on a road gang . Major West, at rant. Perhaps this is the origin to be sung by generations of
erations back I feel compelled Quaker’s Hill, employed Dono- of the sedition story. Australians and becoming part
to add this version of the story hue to look after his pigs. There were many stories, of Australia’s folklore. Many
because one should never let With two other men, George some people said Donohue and believe, with time, the lyrics
the facts spoil a good yarn. Kilroy and Bill Smith, he held up Underwood had gone to New changed Donohue’s name to
In this wondrous land of ours some carts on the Richmond Zealand, others said they had Jack Doolan, Jack Dowling, Jack
bushrangers rank highly with bu- Road. The outlaw gang they been killed by the aborigines . Doogan and even Jim Doolan.
nyips, hoop-snakes and treacle formed was known as “The On 22 May, 1830, Dono- The line that struck a chord
nd
mines. It’s fascinating to learn Strippers,” since they stripped hues’ gang held up the famous with Australians everywhere in
that so many of our legends are wealthy landowners of their explorer, Charles Sturt. Dono- every age since was:
true and what is fantasy chal- clothing, money and food. hue recognized Sturt and told “‘I’ll fight but not surrender

lenges disbelievers . Love it! The police soon caught them the others to let him go .
That’s the way It ought to be and the court sentenced them On 1 September, 1830, a till I die’, cried the Wild Colonial
st
Boy.”
Let’s take a look at one . to death . group of police and soldiers
8 eMuse November 2020