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In November 1848 he and his travelling companion, John Williams (a.k.a. William Cross) were stopped on a road at 2:30am by a police sergeant and were found to be carrying a number of food items that included, several cheeses, loaves of bread, pieces of bacon, part of a shoulder of mutton and a piece of suet.
They were arrested on suspicion of theft and soon afterwards the same items were reported stolen from the home of Richard Price in Pentwyn.
Joe apparently conducted his own defence at his trial and was probably not such a good lawyer, he was sentenced to ten years in prison. Word is that he became a bit abusive during the trial and refused to admit his guilt so the judge (Sir William Erle) gave him a much harsher sentence than was usual for such an offence.
Joe served the first 4 years of his sentence in various English prisons including Milbank, Pentonville and Dartmoor and then was transferred to the Woolwich prison hulk before being transported to Western Australia in 1853. His accomplice had been sent to the much harsher penal settlement in Tasmania a year earlier.
Joe arrived in Fremantle aboard the Pyrenees on April 30th and thanks to his good behaviour while in prison, became a ticket of leave man.
Having a ticket of leave meant that Joe had the freedom to work and live in a specified area until his sentence expired or he were pardoned. Joe could hire himself out and even buy property.
After working at the tiny settlement of Moondyne, Joe was given a conditional pardon on March 10th 1855.
Joe then stayed out of trouble until 1861.
One story says that he branded an unmarked horse without trying to find the owner and was jailed in Newcastle (known today as Toodyay) for the 'felony'.
Another story is that he trapped strayed horses and returned them for the reward but that he was suspected of setting some of the horses loose himself and was therefore charged with horse theft.
The jail was old and in poor condition so Joe easily escaped. He took the 'evidence' with him and the dead horse minus its skin and incriminating brand were found later in the bush.
With no evidence, Joe was acquitted of horse theft but charged with escaping custody and was sentenced to three years hard labour. He would likely have got ten years for horse theft so he was slightly better off.
In the process of the first escape it is said that he stole the Resident Magistrate's horse, saddle and bridle but this may just be just romantic myth.
Thus began a game of cat and mouse that Joe and the law played for the next forty years.
When recaptured, he seems to have served the next three years without incident during which time we was assigned to the North Fremantle convict work party and eventually earned a remission of his sentence that saw him discharged to the Mount Eliza Convict Depot.
He was released on a ticket of leave, eventually finding work as a charcoal burner until June when he returned to Newcastle (Toodyay) where his certificate of freedom was delivered in August 1864.
He found work on Henry Martin's farm in Kelmscott. Nine months after his release, Joe was convicted of shooting a steer belonging to William Wallace, named Bright. joe protested his innocence but was sentenced to ten years. It was this conviction that he regarded as unfair and which prompted his escape soon after.
Transferred in early November from Fremantle Prison to the Canning Flats convict work party, he escaped after just one week, but was recaptured towards the end of the month, receiving an additional 12 months to his sentence.
Once more he was sent to Fremantle Prison and placed in irons.
He petitioned the comptroller-general of prisons and his case was reviewed. In April he was granted a 4 year remission on his 1865 sentence of 10 years.
Obviously not satisfied with the remission, in July he attempted to escape again, but was foiled; for this he received a further 6 months in irons.
In August he succeeded in breaking free once more and joined up with three other escapees.
There are tales that at this stage Joe, lead this group and began robbing stores in the Avon Valley with a view to building up supplies to make an attempt to cross from Western Australia to the eastern colonies.
On the 5th of September 1866 he is said to have robbed Everett's Store in Toodyay while Governor Hampton was staying in town.
The robbery was notable for the fact that Joe and his compatriots managed to escape with guns, supplies, clothing, ammunition, and according to the story, thirty-six fancy ladies handkerchiefs.
How they intended to use the handkerchiefs on their journey across Australia was never explained. This daring and successful robbery helped create a legend that Joe had cut off the Governor's beard. This of course did not happen.
Some sources state that Joe never had a firearm and never actually held anyone up. In fact the local population appeared to be amused by Joe's antics, with the possible exception of Governor Hampton who was made to look quite the fool by Joe's continued escapes.
There seems to be credibility to the story about the group wanting to head to South Australia as when Joe was captured, he and his companions were at Boodalin soak about 300 kilometres north east of Perth and certainly on a possible route east.
A popular ditty at the time went:
'The Governor's son has got the pip
The Governor's got the measles
For Moondyne Joe has give 'em the slip
Pop goes the weasel'
Hearing this sung by urchins in the streets of Fremantle must have irked the Governor no end.
Whatever the truth, he was captured once more on 29th of September and sent back to Fremantle where he was chained by the neck to a post. A special cell was built for Joe in Fremantle jail and when it was completed the Governor proudly declared that if Joe escaped from such a strong cell he would be given him his freedom. Joe remained in the cell for only four months.
Due to ill health he was allowed into the exercise yard where he was given stones to break. In one of the most extraordinary escapes ever to occur at Fremantle jail he built the stones up against the wall so that a space behind was hidden from the guard, dug through the wall, left his clothes hanging near the wall giving the impression that he was still inside the prison. On 7 March 1867 made his getaway presumably in his underwear and boots.
This time his escape was successful and he remained free for nearly two years. He was recaptured at Houghton's wine cellar where he had gone for a drink to celebrate his two years of freedom.
On February 25 1869, Joe broke in to the cellar while the owner was away but was unlucky as when C.W. Ferguson (the owner at the time) returned, he was accompanied by two policemen who were in the area on an unrelated matter.
At the time Joe had long flowing hair, was wearing a wheat sack and had a large stick as his only form of protection. He was promptly returned to Fremantle once more and sentenced to an additional 12 months for escaping and four more years for breaking and entering.
In January 1870 Joe was given a remission of 5 years and in September was was released from iron for the first time in 18 months.
In February 1871, Joe attempted to make a copy of his cell’s key in the carpentry workshop but managed to dispose of the key before he could be charged with anything.
In April 1871 Joe was interviewed by the Comptroller General of Convicts, Henry Wakeford,. During the interview he recalled how Governor Hampton had promised him freedom if he could escape from the special cell for absconders.
This was confirmed by Henry Lefroy so after further investigations it was decided to grant Joe a ticket of leave and send him to the convict Depot in the Vasse district.
He was told if he stayed out of trouble for 4 years, he could expect a conditional pardon.
He sailed for Busselton in May and later he received permission to move to Bunbury.
In 1872 he was in trouble with the law again but this time only for minor offences for which he only served on month in prison.
He received his certificate of freedom on the 27th of June 1873.
In 1879 married a young widow, Louisa Frances Elizabeth [nee Braddick] Hearn, and became something of a celebrated dandy living in the south west of the state. Joe was in his fifties and Louisa was just 26 years old.
In 1880 he worked at Witchcliffe and Karridale and although some sources say he discovered Moondyne Cave, it was actually discovered in 1879 by Fred Grange. The story goes that Moondyne Joe was lowered into the cave after a bet that he couldn't escape. Whether he got out again without assistance isn't recorded. He left the area in 1883.
In 1887 he returned to Toodyay and from there he travelled to the goldfields where, although he was now 61 years old he prospected for some years.
His wife contracted one of the many diseases rife on the goldfields at the time and died in 1893. Joe was heartbroken and apparently never recovered from her loss.
He returned to the coast and lived in Kelmscott where he gained a reputation for insanity being known as Old Mad Moondyne Joe.
He died in the Fremantle Lunatic Asylum on 13 August 1900.
His final resting place is pauper's grave No. 580a in Fremantle cemetery. The grave stone has a pair of broken handcuffs and the Welsh word "rhyddid" meaning freedom. Joe shares his resting place with three other men, McGrath, Steel and Peck.
This is the story of the state's most famous bushranger as far as the facts can be ascertained. Time and legend have conspired to make him a far more adventurous and daredevil character than this portrayal suggests.
We have written this page in an attempt to set the record straight as much as possible because even respected websites such as Wikipedia and the Australian Dictionary of Biographies have some errors in their telling of Joe’s story. We probably do to but as more information comes to light we will do our best to correct them on this web-page about Moondyne Joe.
There is good account of the legend and the history of the man by Ian Elliot titled Moondyne Joe: The Man and the Myth.
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