MOONDYNE JOE -

Although many people already know the story of Moondyne Joe it is such an important story in our folklore that we can hardly leave it out.

Moondyne Joe's major claim to fame is that he was Western Australia's most famous bushranger. His real name was Joseph Bolitho Johns. He was the son of a Welsh blacksmith and was imprisoned in 1849 for the theft of foodstuffs from the home of Richard Price in Pentwyn Clydach. Johns was 'in company' with John Williams (a.k.a. William Cross) who was already 'known to the police'.

Johns apparently conducted his own defence at his trial and was probably not such a good lawyer, as in 1853 he was transported to W.A. for 10 years. Johns was luckier than his companion as he came to the relatively enlightened colony of Swan River while William Cross was sent to Tasmania!

Joe arrived in Perth aboard the Pyrenees and became a ticket of leave man working at the tiny settlement of Moondyne. Two years later he was granted a conditional pardon (March 10th 1855).

One story says that he branded an unmarked horse without trying to find the owner and was gaoled in Toodyay for the 'felony'. He then escaped taking the 'evidence' with him - the dead horse minus its skin and incriminating brand being found later in the bush.

Another story is that he trapped strayed horses and returned them for the reward but that he was suspected of setting some of the horses loose himself and was therefore charged with horse theft.

While in gaol in Toodyay awaiting trial Joe managed to escape but had he waited for the trial he would have been much better off as he was acquitted of horse theft but charged with escaping custody and was sentenced to three years hard labour.

In the process of the first escape it is said that he stole the Resident Magistrate's horse and bridle but this may just be romantic myth and it is much more likely that he took the horse he was accused of stealing to get rid of the evidence.

This was the beginning of a cat and mouse game which 'Joe' and the law played for the next forty years. When recaptured, he seems to have served the next three years without incident and was released in 1864.

Just nine months later he was convicted of shooting a steer (he protested his innocence) and was sentenced to ten years. It was this conviction that he regarded as unfair and which prompted his escape soon after. He was recaptured after 12 months on the run and placed in irons but managed to escape again.

There are tales that at this stage Joe, leading a number of other escaped convicts, began robbing stores in the Avon Valley with a view to building up supplies to make an attempt to cross from Western Australia to the eastern colonies. On 17 September 1866 he is said to have robbed Everett's Store in Toodyay while Governor Hampton was staying in town. The robbery was notable for the fact that Joe and his compatriots managed to escape with guns, supplies, clothing, ammunition, and, of all things, thirty-six fancy ladies handkerchiefs. How they intended to use the handkerchiefs on their journey across Australia was never explained. This daring and successful robbery helped create a legend that Joe had cut off the Governor's beard.

All of this part of the story may just be romantic myth as other sources state that Joe never had a firearm and never actually held anyone up. In fact the local population appeared to be amused by Joe's antics, with the possible exception of Governor Hampton who was made to look quite the fool by Joe's continued escapes.

A popular ditty at the time went:

'The Governor's son has got the pip
The Governor's got the measles
For Moondyne Joe has give 'em the slip
Pop goes the weasel'

Hearing this sung by urchins in the streets of Fremantle must have irked the Governor no end.

Whatever the truth, he was captured once more on 29th of September and sent back to Fremantle where he was chained by the neck to a post. A special cell was built for Joe in Fremantle Gaol and when it was completed the Governor proudly declared that if Joe escaped from such a strong cell he would be given him his freedom. Joe remained in the cell for only four months.

Due to ill health he was allowed into the exercise yard where he was given stones to break. In one of the most extraordinary escapes ever to occur at Fremantle Gaol he built the stones up against the wall so that a space behind was hidden from the guard, dug through the wall, left his clothes hanging near the wall giving the impression that he was still inside the prison, and made his getaway in his underwear and boots.

This time his escape was successful and he remained free for nearly two years. He was recaptured at Houghton's wine cellar where he had gone for a drink to celebrate his two years of freedom.

Joe broke in to the cellar while the owner was away but was unlucky as when C.W. Ferguson (the owner at the time) returned he was accompanied by two policemen who were in the area on an unrelated matter.

At the time he had long flowing hair, was wearing a wheat sack and had a large stick as his only form of protection. He returned to Fremantle where he remained for the next four years until he was once again given a ticket of leave in 1871.

Joe is credited with being the first man to cross the newly completed bridge across the Swan River in Fremantle (beating Governor Hampton to it) but this is most likely just folklore inspired by a fictional book titled 'Moondyne' by John Boyle O'Reilly

Joe finally became a free man in 1873 (another source says 1879 but this was the year he got married). He subsequently married a widow, Louisa Hearn, and became something of a celebrated dandy living in the south west of the state.

In 1880 he worked at Witchcliffe and Karridale and although some sources say he discovered Moondyne Cave, it was actually discovered in 1879 by Fred Grange. The story goes that Moondyne Joe was lowered into the cave after a bet that he couldn't escape. Whether he got out again without assistance isn't recorded. He left the area in 1883.

In 1887 he returned to Toodyay and from there he travelled to the goldfields where, although he was now 60 years old (on our calculations he was 56 years old), he prospected for some years.

His wife contracted one of the many diseases rife on the goldfields at the time and died in 1893. Joe was heartbroken and apparently never recovered from her loss. He returned to the coast and lived in Kelmscott where he gained a reputation for insanity being known as Old Mad Moondyne Joe. He died in the Fremantle Lunatic Asylum on 13 August 1900. (Another source says he may have died in the Old Men's Home in Claremont in 1920, which if true, would have made him about 89 years old but it is more likely that he died in 1900.) One source quotes Johns' final resting place as being pauper's grave No. 580a in Fremantle cemetery. The grave is said to bear just his name, a pair of handcuffs and the Welsh word "rhyddid" meaning freedom.

This is the story, as far as the facts can be ascertained, of the state's most famous bushranger. Time and legend have conspired to make him a far more adventurous and daredevil character than this portrayal suggests. There is an account of the legend and the history of the man by Ian Elliot titled Moondyne Joe: The Man and the Myth.

GET YOUR OWN COPY -

If you would like to get a PDF copy of the stories on this website that you can read offline or even print out and turn into your own hard copy book, you can order through PayPal at the link below. All sales of this book help us to gather more information and stories for this site and our main website. It is only $3.99 AUD!