Bold Jack Donohue
In Dublin town I was brought up that city of great fame
My parents reared me tenderly there's many did the same
Being a wild colonial boy I was forced to cross the main
And for seven long years in New South Wales to wear a convict's chain
Oh I'd been no longer than six months upon Australian shores
When I turned out as a Tory boy as I'd often done before
There was Macnamara from yonder woods and Captain Mackie too
They were the chief associates of bold Jack Donahoe
As O'Donahoe was taken for a notorious crime
And sentenced to be hanged all on the gallows high
But when he came to Sydney gaol he left them in a stew
For when they came to call the roll they missed Jack Donahoe
As O'Donahoe made his escape to the woods he did repair
Where the tyrants dared not show their face by night and day
And every week in the newspapers there was published something new
Concerning that bold hero boy called brave Jack Donahoe
As O'Donahoe was walking one summer's afternoon
Little was his notion that his death should be so soon
When a sergeant of the horse police discharged his carabine
And loudly called to O'Donahoe to fight or else resign
Resign to you, you cowardly dogs its a thing I ne'er will do
For I'll range these woods and valleys like a wolf or kangaroo
Before I'll work for Government said bold Jack Donahoe
Nine rounds the horse policeman fired till at length a fatal ball
He lodged it in O'Donahoe's breast and it caused him to fall
As he closed his mournful eyes to this world he bid adieu
Good people all both great and small pray for Jack Donahoe
Notes
This version collected by Alan Scott from Mr H. Beatty of Hawthorne Qld. In his booklet The Donahoe Ballads gives some 16 tunes that have been collected. The earliest Donahoe ballad appeared in The Sydney Gazette 7th September 1830. On 2nd January 1825 John Donahoe arrived at Sydney Cove on board the convict ship 'Ann and Amelia'. He had been sentenced to transportation for life on a charge "Intent to commit felony". On 1st September 1830 Donahoe, with his companions William Webber and John Warmsley, was ambushed by a party of police near Bringelly. Donahoe was shot dead, while Webber and Walmsley escaped.
Searchable archives of Irish transports are now available on at The National Archives of Ireland