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Catalpa rescue: The rescue of six Fenian prisoners from Fremantle Prison in Western Australia.

Catalpa rescue: The rescue of six Fenian prisoners from Fremantle Prison in Western Australia.

1876 escape of Irish Fenians from a penal colony in Western Australia
🗓️ 17 April 1876

The Catalpa rescue was the escape, on 17–19 April 1876, of six Irish Fenian prisoners from the Convict Establishment, a British penal colony in Western Australia. They were taken on the convict ship Hougoumont to Fremantle, Western Australia, arriving 9 January 1868. In 1869, pardons had been issued to many of the imprisoned Fenians. Another round of pardons was issued in 1871, after which only a small group of "military" Fenians remained in Western Australia's penal system.

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