Jack Donahue

Jack Donahue (1804 – 1 September 1830) was a bushranger in Australia between 1825 and 1830. Known as "Bold Jack Donahue", he became part of the notorious "Wild Colonial Boys".

Jack Donahue, sometimes spelled Donohoe, was born in Dublin, Ireland about 1804. An orphan, he began pick-pocketing, and after later involvement in a burglary, was convicted of intent to commit a felony in 1823. He was transported to Australia in 1825. Upon being shown his cell at Carter's barracks, in Sydney, Donahue remarked 'A home for life'. During his early imprisonment, he was twice sentenced to fifty lashes as punishment.

Donahue escaped to the bush from the Quakers Hill farm with two men named Kilroy and Smith. They formed an outlaw gang known as "The Strippers," since they stripped wealthy landowners of their clothing, money and food. Servants on the farms sometimes provided them with information about their masters, and at times even provided them with food and shelter.

Government surveyor Robert Hoddle wrote in his diary about a close encounter with Donahue in New South Wales in the 1820s:

"Another time, near the same place ('the junction of the Bringelly and Cowpasture roads'), the notorious Donahue nearly got me. I had dismounted from my horse to remove some shifting rails, being a short cut through the bush to Prospect Hill, the residence of a friend, Mr. Lawson. I remounted my horse double quick, and most unceremoniously left the rails on the ground, and lost no time to be out of sight. He was accompanied by another bushranger."

Toby Ryan later recalled how he had 'boiled the billy' with Donahue, when as a fifteen-year-old, he was out looking for cattle near Llandilo:

"Donahue was the most insignificant looking creature imaginable, and it seemed strange that such as he was able to keep a country in terror for eight years. He was attired in a velveteen coat and vest, cabbage tree hat, moleskin trousers, and a blue nankeen shirt, with a heart worked on the breast in white cotton"."

On 14 December 1827 Donohue and his gang were arrested for robbing bullock-drays on the Sydney to Windsor Road. On 1 March 1828 Judge John Stephen of the Supreme Court of Sydney sentenced them all to death. Kilroy and Smith were hanged, but Donohoe escaped from custody. In 1829, notices were distributed with a reward of £20 for Donohoe's capture, describing him as '22 years of age, 5 feet 4 inches (163 cm) in height, brown freckled complexion, flaxen hair, blue eyes, and has a scar under the left nostril'. One year later the reward increased to £200.

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