Denis B. Cashman (1842-1897 Dungarvan) was a Fenian who was transported to Western Australia as a political prisoner and wrote of his experiences in a diary .
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Cashman was enlisted as a Fenian in 1858 aged just 16. By the age of 25 he was working as a Law Clerk in Waterford when he was arrested and convicted of Fenian membership and transported to Fremantle aboard the Hougoumont.
During the journey Cashman kept a diary detailing the day to day activities aboard ship and proving a detailed account of the feelings of the convicts and prisoners on the ship. Cashman was also involved in the production of The Wild Goose, the on board newspaper.
Like most of the civilian Fenians, Cashman was pardoned on the 15 May 1869 after only two years and migrated from New South Wales to San Francisco eventually arriving in Boston to be reunited with his family.
His diary was donated to East Carolina University where Professor of English Charles Sullivan III edited it and in this form it was published in 2003. The diary contains poems by Cashman, John Boyle O'Reilly and John Flood. The diary is currently housed in the East Carolina Manuscript Collection in Joyner Library at East Carolina University. A finding aid can be found at this link. http://digital.lib.ecu.edu/special/ead/findingaids/0458/