Moondyne (1913)

The 1913 movie, 'Moondyne', one of the very first made using a sound stage in Melbourne, Australia, was adapted from the novel of the same name authored by John Boyle O'Reilly and published in 1880 by George Robertson in Sydney.. The novel was in turn was a reprint of the serialized, semi-autobiographical, story published in 'The Pilot' in Boston Mass. in 1878 entitled 'Moondyne Joe'. The plot centers around one Moondyne Joe, a character based on the real life Joseph Bolitho Jones who was a master escape artist from the jail at Fremantle, Western Australia when O'Reilly was himself held prisoner there. Moondyne was assisted in his final escape by local indigenous people with whom he then lived with for several years and who gave him the name Moondyne. During that time he was shown a gold deposit so huge that it made him extremely wealthy and he was able to return to England under a newly assumed identity as a Mr Wyville. Back in the land of his birth he builds a new life for himself and becomes well known for his humanitarian acts. The novel tackles many of the social justice issues of the time as they were discussed in Britain, Australia and America. The character Moondyne makes a brief appearance in the 2010 award winning screenplay, 'Cry of the Dreamer' which revolves around O'Reillys own arrest, imprisonment, transportation to Australia and his eventual escape on an American Whaler to the USA.