The Wild Goose: A Collection of Ocean Waifs was a hand-written newspaper

Newspaper

A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...

 created in late 1867 by Fenian

Fenian

The Fenians , both the Fenian Brotherhood and Irish Republican Brotherhood , were fraternal organisations dedicated to the establishment of an independent Irish Republic in the 19th and early 20th century. The name "Fenians" was first applied by John O'Mahony to the members of the Irish republican...

 prisoners aboard the Hougoumont

Hougoumont (ship)

Hougoumont was the last convict ship to transport convicts to Australia.A three-masted full rigged ship of the type commonly known as a Blackwall Frigate of 875 tons gross on dimensions of 165.5 feet long, 34 ft beam and 23 ft depth of hold, Hougoumont was constructed at Moulmein, Burma...

, the last ship to transport convicts

Convictism in Australia

During the late 18th and 19th centuries, large numbers of convicts were transported to the various Australian penal colonies by the British government. One of the primary reasons for the British settlement of Australia was the establishment of a penal colony to alleviate pressure on their...

 to Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

.

Seven issues of the newspaper were produced, each issue carefully laid out and decorated by hand. Only one copy of each issue was made, which was then read to the convicts aloud. The aim was to provide entertainment and encouragement aboard the ship during its long and arduous voyage to Fremantle

Fremantle Prison

Fremantle Prison is a former Australian prison located in The Terrace, Fremantle, in Western Australia. The site includes the prison, gatehouse, perimeter walls, cottages, tunnels, and prisoner art...

. The title refers to the Wild Geese

Flight of the Wild Geese

The Flight of the Wild Geese refers to the departure of an Irish Jacobite army under the command of Patrick Sarsfield from Ireland to France, as agreed in the Treaty of Limerick on October 3, 1691, following the end of the Williamite War in Ireland...

: the Irish soldiers who had left to serve in continental European armies since the 16th century.

The major contributors were John Flood, John Boyle O'Reilly

John Boyle O'Reilly

John Boyle O'Reilly was an Irish-born poet, journalist and fiction writer. As a youth in Ireland, he was a member of the Irish Republican Brotherhood, or Fenians, for which he was transported to Western Australia...

 and John Casey. The documents provide a fascinating insight into life aboard ship. The documents contain songs, stories, articles, advice, poems, and even comedy. In addition to the diaries of Denis Cashman

Denis Cashman

Denis B. Cashman was a Fenian who was transported to Western Australia as a political prisoner and wrote of his experiences in a diary .- Early life :Cashman was enlisted as a Fenian in 1858 aged just 16...

 and the journals of John Casey and Thomas McCarthy Fennell

Thomas McCarthy Fennell

Thomas McCarthy Fennell was a Fenian political prisoner transported as a convict to Western Australia.Born in County Clare, Ireland in 1841, Fennell was just four years old when the Irish Potato Famine struck...

, the journey of the Hougoumont was well recorded.

One passage describes Australia and its history with more than a little sarcasm;
John Boyle O'Reilly penned several poems for the paper, including The Flying Dutchman and The Old School Clock.

All seven issues survive, and were passed by John Flood's granddaughter to the Mitchell Library

Mitchell Library

The Mitchell Library is a large public library and centre of the public library system of Glasgow, Scotland.-History:The library was established with a bequest from Stephen Mitchell, a wealthy tobacco manufacturer, whose company, Stephen Mitchell & Son, would become one of the constituent members...

 in 1967. The papers are bound into one book and are now part of the State Library of New South Wales

State Library of New South Wales

The State Library of New South Wales is a large public library owned by the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located in Macquarie Street, Sydney near Shakespeare Place...

 collection.

On 9 September 2005, a memorial was unveiled at Rockingham

Rockingham, Western Australia

Rockingham is a suburb and primary centre in Western Australia south-west of the Perth city centre and south of Fremantle. It has a beachside location at Mangles Bay, the southern extremity of Cockburn Sound. To its north stretches the maritime and resource-industry installations of Kwinana and...

 beach to commemorate the Catalpa rescue

Catalpa rescue

The Catalpa rescue was the escape, in 1876, of six Irish Fenian prisoners from what was then the British penal colony of Western Australia.-Fenians and plans to escape:...

. The memorial is a large statue of six Wild Geese.