''Moondyne'' is an 1879 novel by

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 ...

. It is loosely based on the life of the

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to t ...

convict 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 conv ...

escapee and

bushranger Bushrangers were originally escaped convicts in the early years of the British settlement of Australia who used the bush as a refuge to hide from the authorities. By the 1820s, the term had evolved to refer to those who took up " robbery unde ...

Moondyne Joe Joseph Johns ( February 1826 – 13 August 1900), better known as Moondyne Joe, was an English convict and Western Australia's best-known bushranger. Born into poor and relatively difficult circumstances, he became something of a petty criminal ...

. It is believed to be the first ever fictional novel set in Western Australia. In 1913, Melbourne film director

W. J. Lincoln William Joseph Lincoln (1870 – 18 August 1917) was an Australian playwright, theatre manager, film director and screenwriter in the silent era. He produced, directed and/or wrote 23 films between 1911 and 1916. One obituary called him "undoub ...

made a

silent film A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, w ...

of the same name.

Background

O'Reilly was a

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 dedicate ...

revolutionary who was transported as a convict to Western Australia. During his time in Western Australia's penal system. After thirteen months in Western Australia, O'Reilly escaped the colony on board the American whaling ship ''Gazelle''. He arrived in America in 1869 and settled in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

, where he established himself as a respected journalist, newspaper editor, novelist and poet, and later helped orchestrate the 1876 Catalpa rescue of six Fenian convicts from Western Australia. Around the time O'Reilly was stationed in Bunbury in 1868, he had begun to hear about the exploits of convict Joseph Bolitho Johns aka

, who at that time was still on the run from authorities after escaping from Fremantle Prison in 1867. It has been rumoured that O'Reilly's subsequent escape in 1869 was partly due to inspiration from Johns' escape stories. A week after O'Reilly absconded from his convict camp in February, 1869, Johns was captured at the cellars for Houghton Winery in Perth, he was sent back to prison but was given a ticket of leave in 1871. At the time when O'Reilly published ''Moondyne,'' Johns had just married Louisa Hearn in Fremantle and was prospecting for gold near

Southern Cross Crux () is a constellation of the southern sky that is centred on four bright stars in a cross-shaped asterism commonly known as the Southern Cross. It lies on the southern end of the Milky Way's visible band. The name ''Crux'' is Latin for ...

. He most likely never knew for the rest of his life that he was the main inspiration for the novel.

Publication details

The novel ''Moondyne'' originally appeared as a serial in O'Reilly's newspaper ''

The Pilot A pilot is a person who flies or navigates an aircraft. Pilot or The Pilot may also refer to: * Maritime pilot, a person who guides ships through hazardous waters * Television pilot, a television episode used to sell a series to a television netw ...

'' in 1878, under the title ''Moondyne Joe''. Applauded by critics, it was published and republished under a variety of titles including: * ''Moondyne Joe: A Story from the Underworld'' * ''Moondyne: A Tale of Convict Life in Western Australia'' * ''Moondyne: A Story of Life in West Australia'' * ''Moondyne: An Australian Tale'' * ''Moondyne, or, The Mystery of Mr Wyville'' * ''The Golden Secret, or Bond and Free'' * ''The Moondyne'' * ''A Tale of Bush and Convict Life'' * ''An Múindín'' (Irish-language translation, 1931).

Plot summary

Moondyne Joe is a convict who escapes after being victimised and mistreated by a cruel penal system. While on the run he is befriended by a tribe of

Aboriginal people Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...

who share with him their secret of a huge gold mine. Joe uses his new-found wealth to return to England and become a respected humanitarian under the assumed name Wyville. Recognised as possessing expertise in penal reform, he is ultimately sent back to Western Australia to help reform the colony's penal system. In the course of this he becomes involved in several subplots including the case of a young woman named Alice Walmsley who has been wrongly convicted of murdering her own child. Wyville/Moondyne succeeds in saving Alice from false imprisonment, helps to reform Western Australia's penal system, and achieves a number of other admirable ends before dying trying to save Alice and Sheridan from bushfires.

1913 film

In 1913, the

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 metro ...

-based Lincoln-Cass Film Company produced ''Moondyne'', a

black and white Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white in a continuous spectrum, producing a range of shades of grey. Media The history of various visual media began with black and white, and as technology improved, altered to color. ...

based on O'Reilly's novel. It is considered a

lost film A lost film is a feature or short film that no longer exists in any studio archive, private collection, public archive or the U.S. Library of Congress. Conditions During most of the 20th century, U.S. copyright law required at least one copy ...

Plot

In 1848, convict Joe is assigned as a labourer to settled Isaac Bowman in Western Australia. Joe escapes and takes refuge with a tribe of aborigines led by Te Mana Roa, who tell him about a mountain of gold. Bowman recaptures Joe, who tells him about the mine. Bowman goes to the mine, kills the chief and loads his horse with gold, but ends up perishing in the desert, leaving Joe with his aboriginal friends.

Cast

* George Bryant as Joe Moondyne; *

Roy Redgrave George Ellsworthy "Roy" Redgrave (26 April 1873 – 25 May 1922) was an English stage and silent film actor. Redgrave is considered to be the first member of the Redgrave acting dynasty. Early life Born George Edward Redgrave in 122 Kenningt ...

as Isaac Bowman *

Godfrey Cass Godfrey Cass (1867 – 14 May 1951) was an Australian actor in the silent era. Between 1906 and 1935 he acted in nineteen film roles. He played Ned Kelly three times, and also had roles in a number of other bushranger movies including ''A Tale ...

as Te Mana Roa.

Production

The film was shot in and around Melbourne.

Reception

According to one review:

The true story of Joe Gilchrist, though poetised in the drama to some extent, affords scope for much dramatic feeling and scenic display, and the many views of Australian scenery are delightful. The acting is vigorous and full of character, and the photographic work sharp and clear. Generally, it may be said that 'Moondyne' is quite up to American and European standard, and should command much attention in other parts of the world.

Legacy

In 2019, a festival was held in Fremantle to commemorate the 150th anniversary of O'Reilly's escape titled the ''Moondyne Walk'', where a series of different readers would read out a chapter of the novel''.'' The list of readers included former Western Australian premier

Peter Dowding Peter McCallum Dowding SC (born 6 October 1943) is an Australian lawyer and former politician who served as the 24th Premier of Western Australia, from 25 February 1988 until his forced resignation on 12 February 1990. He was a member of parli ...

, epidemiologist

Fiona Stanley Fiona Juliet Stanley (born 1 August 1946) is an Australian epidemiologist noted for her public health work, her research into child and maternal health as well as birth disorders such as cerebral palsy. Stanley is the patron of the Telethon Ki ...

, author and journalist

Peter FitzSimons Peter John Allen FitzSimons (born 29 June 1961) is an Australian author, journalist, and radio and television presenter. He is a former national representative rugby union player and has been the chair of the Australian Republic Movement s ...

and actor Peter Rowsthorn.

References

External links

''Moondyne''
at

AustLit AustLit: The Australian Literature Resource (also known as AustLit: Australian Literature Gateway; and AustLit: The Resource for Australian Literature), usually referred to simply as AustLit, is an internet-based, non-profit collaboration betwee ...

{{Convicts in Australia 1879 novels 1913 films 1913 Western (genre) films 1913 lost films 19th-century Australian novels Australian black-and-white films Bushranger films Irish novels adapted into films Lost Australian films Lost Western (genre) films Novels set in Western Australia Silent Australian Western (genre) films