John FloodPrint Page

The monument erected over the grave commemorates the noted Irish Fenian, John Flood who was exiled from the United Kingdom.

John Flood died at Gympie on August 22, 1909, after 30 years residence on the goldfield during which period he had earned the highest esteem of his fellow citizens, and occupied many public positions.

John Flood when quite a young man, gave up a career that would have undoubtedly led him to a pre-eminent position in the legal profession, and took his stand with the rank and file in that great movement known as the Fenian Movement of 1867. Along with Colonel McCafferty and such men as James Stevens, he set himself to get the Irish people to band themselves together and to tolerate the system of tyranny and oppression no longer.

John Flood on 21st May, 1867, was sentenced to fifteen years penal servitude, and was sent to Western Australia in the last vessel that brought convicts and political prisoners to Australian shores. After nearly five years of his sentence had been fulfilled, Mr. Flood was released on ticket of leave, the only conditions being that he did not leave Australia or attempt to return to England or Ireland.

The ceremony of unveiling the monument erected in the Gympie cemetery to perpetuate the memory of the late John J. Flood took place yesterday afternoon in the presence of between 2000 and 3000 people. A temporary platform had been erected close to the monument and on this sat Hon. F.J. Power M.L.C.(chairman of the Memorial Committee) Mr. W A. Redmond M.P,  Mr. J. T. Donovan, M.P, Very Rev. Father Horan, P. P., Father Murphy and Messrs Mulcahy and Ryland M.M.L.A., the Mayor of Gympie (Ald R.H.Cox), J Healy (secretary of the memorial committee), J.O'Connor (district president of the H.A.C.B. Society), and the officers of the local branch, the banner of which was suspended behind the platform. The chairman who was a most intimate friend of the late Mr Flood, spoke of him in highly complimentary terms, and referred to the steps which had resulted in the erection of the monument.  This, he was satisfied, would perpetuate the memory of one of Ireland's truest patriots. 
The Brisbane Courier (Qld), 25 September 1911.

Location

Details

Dedication