John Flood

John Flood (21 May 183525 August 1909) was an Irish revolutionary and convict exile, and later Australian newspaperman, mining secretary and politician.

Early years John Flood was born on 21 May 1835, in Sutton, County Dublin, one of nine children of Patrick Flood, shipowner, and his wife Elizabeth (née Kemp). He was later described as a pupil of Clongowes Wood College, but the school records do not confirm this. There is also doubt about his journalistic activities in Ireland, where he may have been involved with the Irish People newspaper. He was known to have been a clerk or apprentice to a Dublin attorney, Daniel Wilson Nolan, and was described at his trial in 1867 as "Mr Flood, the clever and dashing young attorney". However there is no evidence for another claim, that he was articled to prominent barrister and politician Isaac Butt. Flood's first prominent role was as part of the 14-man team that engineered the escape of Fenian founder James Stephens from the Richmond Bridewell in Dublin in November 1865. Along with a childhood friend, Captain Nicholas Weldon, Flood smuggled Stephens out of Dublin harbour past the revenue cutters by boat to Scotland, then overland to London and across the English Channel to France. This escapade earned Flood the nickname Smuggler, and on his return to Ireland he was arrested but discharged for lack of evidence.

Flood was appointed Head Centre of the IRB in England and Scotland, and concentrated on shipping rifles and ammunition from the USA to Ireland. He attended the meeting of the Fenian Directory in London on 10 February 1867, and the following day was part of a crowd of around 1000 Fenians who attempted to storm Chester Castle to seize arms and ammunition. It was intended to ship the weapons to Ireland for use in a rebellion, but the plan was betrayed by an informer. Flood was charged with high treason, although the charge was withdrawn and he was instead tried before a special commission and convicted of treason felony.

Transportation to Western Australia Sentenced to 15 years' transportation, Flood was brought to colonial Western Australia (along with 60 other Fenians) on , the last convict ship sent to Australia. Flood and his shipmates passed the voyage to Fremantle publishing a handwritten newspaper named The Wild Goose after the Irishmen exiled to continental armies in the sixteenth century. Seven issues were produced, and in some cases multiple copies were made as souvenirs. The paper contained poetry, humorous weather reports and replies to 'correspondents'. The ship arrived at Fremantle on 9 January 1868 and the next day Flood was assigned the job of clerk to the superintendent in the settlement. He was freed in an amnesty in 1871, and set off for Sydney where he started a newspaper named the Irish Citizen which commenced publication in December 1871. The paper had hardly become established when Flood was tempted by a tin rush in the New England district of northern New South Wales. The paper ceased publication in August 1872, and Flood set off fortune hunting in the Palmer River goldfield in far north Queensland.