Ireland's first national memorial dedicated to the 1876 Catalpa rescue was formally unveiled at Glasnevin Cemetery in Dublin, marking the 150th anniversary period since six Fenian prisoners escaped from a British penal colony in Western Australia aboard an American whaling vessel.

The monument was erected through a joint effort between the Fenian Memorial Committee of America and the National Graves Association of Ireland. Organisers said the ceremony aimed to establish permanent national recognition in Ireland for an escape plot that spanned Ireland, Australia, and the United States.

The six military Fenians—Thomas Darragh, Martin Hogan, Michael Harrington, Thomas Hassett, Robert Cranston, and James Wilson—had been court-martialled and transported to Fremantle Prison in Western Australia in the late 1860s. In April 1876, following secret correspondence from prisoner James Wilson, Irish revolutionaries in New York and Boston coordinated a rescue mission using the American merchant ship Catalpa, commanded by Captain George Anthony.

The new memorial in Glasnevin also pays tribute to the broader network of planners and facilitators, including Irish-American leaders John Devoy and John Boyle O'Reilly, undercover agent John Breslin, and Cavan curate Father Patrick McCabe, who smuggled messages to the prisoners.

The unveiling ceremony was attended by members of the Irish diaspora, relatives of those involved, and representatives from several Irish and American historical organisations. While monuments to the rescue have long stood in Rockingham, Western Australia, and New Bedford, Massachusetts, organisers highlighted that Dublin now holds a permanent cenotaph dedicated to the escapees and rescuers.