The great escape from WA, on the Catalpa ship

It is 150 years since one of the greatest convict escapes in Australian history. In 1876, a whaling ship called the Catalpa picked up six Irish political prisoners from a rowboat off Fremantle, WA, and sailed back to America with them. The Catalpa had come from New York solely for that purpose. Guest: Tony Moore, historian, and Professor of Media and Communications, Monash University Lead Chief Investigator, ARC Linkage Project 'Conviction Politics: the convict routes of Australian democracy ' Author of a 2010 book called ‘Death or liberty: rebels and radicals transported to Australia 1788 – 1868' (Allen&Unwin) Producer: Ann Arnold

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The great escape from WA, on the Catalpa ship is an episode from Late Night Live - Separate stories podcast by Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

This episode is 0:20:20 long.

This episode was published on Apr 21, 2026.

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