Project Background

The Catalpa Memorial, Rockingham, Western Australia.

Location:
Catalpa Park,
Samuel Street Roundabout
Esplanade Road
Rockingham,
WA  6168
Medium: Bronze & Black Granite, brick & WA Limestone
Size: 6 M high bronze sculpture in 15meter circle.

Stage 1.

Project proponents:
Francis Conlon
Ormonde Waters
Rockingham Heritage & Advisory Committee  (Wendy Durant )
Commissioned by: City of Rockingham  WA
Memorial Designers & Sculptors : Charles Smith & Joan Walsh-Smith ( Smith Sculptors)
Dedicated by: The Hon. Mark McGowan MLA, Minister
Date: Friday 9th September 2005

Stage 2

The Wild Goose bronze plaques

Project proponents:
Ormonde Waters
Commissioned by: City of Rockingham  WA
Memorial Designers & Sculptors :Charles Smith & Joan Walsh-Smith ( Smith Sculptors)
Dedicated by: His Excellency Ambassador Noel White, Ambassador of Ireland
Date: 29th March 2014

The Catalpa rescue was the escape, in 1876, of six Irish Fenian prisoners from what was then the British penal colony of Western Australia.On 9 September 2005 The Catalpa Memorial was unveiled in Rockingham to commemorate the escape.

......' On 9 September 2005, a memorial was unveiled at Rockingham beach to commemorate the Catalpa rescue, the famous escape of six Irish Fenian convicts from Fremantle Prison on 17–18 April 1876. After journeying south from Fremantle by horse-drawn cart, the escapees were rowed from Rockingham beach to the Catalpa, an American whaler. The perilous flight succeeded in the face of an overnight storm and naval interception at dawn. '

source wiki

Quote by President John F Kennedy - John Boyle O'Reilly

John Boyle O'Reilly Poem from The Catalpa Rescue by Sean O' Luing