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 “…the crowds dispersed and the town relapsed into its normal condition of quietude, having suffered three days of the most intense excitement ever experienced in its history ”. So said the Fremantle Herald in April 1876.

For Mary Tondut, there was no quietude. The intense excitement had been engineered by her lover, Irishman John Breslin, and he had fled the Western Australian colony aboard the American ship Catalpa – along with Irish escapees from Fremantle Gaol.

Breslin had sailed away leaving Mary ‘with child’.

The escape reverberated around the world, causing tensions between England and the USA, and joy in Ireland. Thomas Keneally declared it “one of the great mythic escapes of all time”.

Mary Tondut left Fremantle three weeks later, intending to join John Breslin. What became of this young woman and her baby? Sydney-based author, Richard Cowan, tells Mary’s story for the first time, presenting also hitherto-unpublished information on the Catalpa rescue and on Breslin’s life.

Richard Cowan is a retired mathematician, still active in mathematical research and affiliated with the University of Sydney as a Visiting Professor. He has published about 80 mathematical research papers in the international literature.

Although Richard is related to Mary Tondut, he sees this publication as a contribution to Australian, American and Irish history, not just ‘family history’. Richard’s story explores also the French heritage of Mary Tondut, using his research in the archives of Mâcon and Bourg-en-Bresse.