Elizabeth Carbury (sometimes spelled Carbery or Carberry) is a woman whose story reflects how the ‘Bride Ship Girls’ came to be woven into the history of Western Australia. This is evidenced not only from her family’s contribution to the southwestern town of Dardanup, but also from her role in the escape of political prisoner John Boyle O’Reilly – a tale which weaves Irish political history into the development of the Swan River Colony.
Like many girls born into Famine-era Ireland, Elizabeth’s early life was challenging. Born in 1832 in Galway to Michael and Sara Carbury, by the age of 20, she and her sister Mary were residing in the Mountbellew Workhouse, which had been established in 1850 to meet the needs of a desperate population. It is believed that their parents had died in 1852, the same year that the sisters were chosen to emigrate to Australia, as part of a contingent of 31 from Mountbellew.
Travelling across land to Dublin, this group sailed to Plymouth, and then onto Fremantle aboard the Palestine, leaving England on the 29th November 1852, and arriving in Western Australia on the 28th of April 1853.
Not much is known about Elizabeth during her first two years in the colony, but on the 31st May 1855, she married James Maguire – the son of Irish free settlers from Limerick – at St. John’s Pro Cathedral, with Fr Martin Griver (later to become Perth’s second Catholic Bishop) presiding over the ceremony.
The couple settled in Dardanup – where James’ family was already established – and where he would go on to become one of its most prominent citizens. In particular, as chairman of Wellington Roads Board – a position he held for 30 years – James Maguire was responsible for the many systems of roads, culverts and bridges in the district; around the town, he was known as ‘Big Jim’, while his brother was addressed as ‘Lord John’.
Elizabeth, meanwhile, was tasked with bringing up a large family. Altogether, she and Jim had 9 children, born between 1856 and 1873. These included: John Maguire (1856-1897), Thomas Carberry Maguire (1857-1897), Mary Jane Maguire (later O’Neill, 1859-1945), Sara Ann Maguire (later Hedley, 1861-?), James Maguire (1863-1929), Michael Maguire (1866-died the same year), Annie Maguire (later Stokes, 1868-1962), Elizabeth Maguire (later Rodgers, 1870-1901), Michael Maguire (1873-1911).
What role did Elizabeth and James play in the escape of John Boyle O’Reilly?
The family’s contribution to this aspect of Irish political history was recounted by Annie Stokes in 1952, when – at the age of 83 – she spoke to Martin C. Carroll from the West Australian, in her home in West Leederville.
Boyle O’Reilly had arrived in Western Australia in January 1868 on the Hougoumont, a poet and political prisoner who had been convicted of treason for his membership in the Irish Republican Brotherhood, also known as the Fenians. A year later, he absconded from a work camp near Bunbury, and hid in the sand dunes of Geographe Bay, waiting for the arrival of American whaling ship, the Vigilant, on which he planned to escape to the US.
Among his co-conspirators were Catholic priest Fr Patrick McCabe and James Maguire, who – according to Annie Stokes – provided food cooked by Elizabeth to Boyle O’Reilly while he was hiding along the coast in February 1869.
Unfortunately, when Boyle O’Reilly and his supporters rowed out to meet the Vigilant, its captain rescinded the offer of support, and they had to return to the sand dunes, waiting for another ship, the Gazelle, which the escapee successfully boarded on 2nd March 1869.
After a near-capture in Mauritius, and changing ships in St Helena and Liverpool, John Boyle O’Reilly finally arrived in Philadelphia on 23rd November 1869, aboard the Bombay. He later became editor of the Boston Pilot, and it was said that every American ship docking at Fremantle and Bunbury in the following years carried copies of this newspaper, sent for James Maguire, in thanks for his help.
Annie Stokes recounted to Martin C. Carroll that the Maguire children had known something was afoot during the period of Boyle O’Reilly’s escape. The resulting article stated that: ‘Every day now, their father would go off in the direction of the sandhills, carrying a package of food with which he never returned. The police came and inquired and searched the house while the children in silent wonder looked on.’
Elizabeth Carbury died on 24th November 1886, aged 56, and is buried in a family plot at Dardanup’s Pioneer Cemetery. Her husband James died on 13th January 1915, also in Dardanup.
Their great-great-grandson Bradley Maguire is a founding sponsor of this archive.
(Sources: Gwen Wells; Paula Kennedy)