Cornelius O'Mahony

By the time O'Mahony was 20 years old he had become a close follower of James Stephens and his fight to create a free and independent Ireland by removing the perceived tyranny of the British.

He remained on the paper's staff as assistant bookkeeper and part-time journalist until it was raided and closed down in 1865 when the British felt that an armed uprising was imminent.

The charges laid at Kilmainham Gaol included, "Conspiring To Depose The Queen, To Compel Her Majesty To Change Her Measures And Counsels, To Move And Stir Foreigners To Invade Ireland"[3] An abortive uprising known as the Fenian Rising took place in 1867 but was quickly put down.

[9] Mary, born in Kilkenny, Ireland arrived in Western Australia in 1864 at age 15 and later worked in a number of important businesses including a draper's.

[10] A contemporary newspaper report indicated that the death rate from typhoid in the suburb was extremely high for that period and that that figure exceeded the worst statistic for equivalent towns in Great Britain during times of epidemic.

As a sign of respect and in recognition of his life and work his friends within the Irish community, assisted by Morgan Jageurs, collected funds to construct and erect a fitting memorial for him.

[12] Shortly after his burial a carved Celtic cross made of local Bluestone was raised over the grave, its plaque bearing the inscription, "In Memory of Cornelius O'Mahony, Macroom, County Cork, Ireland, Released Political Prisoner, Died 5th March, 1879.