Saturday, 07th October, 2017

Time: 15:40

Location: Perth, Australia

The President visited Fremantle Prison, a former prison and a World Heritage site with significant relevance for both Australian and Irish history.

Following the arrival of the first convict transport ship in Fremantle Harbour in 1850 nearly 10,000 convicts passed through the ‘establishment’ between 1850 and 1868, including a number of Fenian political prisoners, who arrived on the Hougoumont, the last convict ship to sail for Australia, docking in Fremantle on 9 January 1868. During the voyage a number of the Fenians produced seven editions of a shipboard newspaper entitled The Wild Goose, which survive in the State Library of New South Wales.