Castlemaine

Caisleán na Mainge

   NAME & HISTORY    "THE WILD COLONIAL BOY"   
ACCOMMODATION & DINING

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Castlemaine is a small town at the eastern end of the peninsula, on either side of the River Maine. Situated at the junction of roads to Killarney, Tralee and Castleisland it is close to all of the county's attractions, and within a few miles of Kerry Airport. It has all the facilities one would expect: shops, post office and pubs.

Name and History

Castlemaine is named after a castle that once stood on the bridge across the River Maine. Until the seventeenth century the river formed the boundary between the Norman territories of the Fitzgeralds and the Gaelic lordships.

castle
An illustration of "Castle Maing" from Pacata Hibernia (1633)

The castle was originally built on a rock in the centre of the river in 1215 by the Fitzgeralds, marking the southern limit of their newly conquered territory. It remained in the possession of the Fitzgerald Earls of Desmond until the 1570s, when it became a royal fortress, and was besiged for 13 months in 1598-1599.

During the Irish Confederate Wars of 1641 to 1653 the castle changed hands on a number of occasions, before being finally destroyed in 1652. Despite the destruction of the fortress, a Constable of Castlemaine Castle continued to be appointed until 1832, receiving income from the fisheries and fairs of the town and river.

"The Wild Colonial Boy"

Castlemaine is perhaps best known internationally as the birthplace of the protagonist in tne Irish/Australian ballad The Wild Colonial Boy. There are several versions of the song, but the first verse as usually heard in Ireland is: 

There was a wild colonial boy,
    Jack Duggan was his name
    He was born and raised in Ireland,
    in a place called Castlemaine
    He was his father's only son,
    his mother's pride and joy
    And dearly did his parents love
    the wild colonial boy
The song was originally about Jack Donahue (1804-1830), who was born in Dublin and not Castlemaine. Donahue was transported to New South Wales due to his Fenian activities, where he became a "bushranger" or outlaw, and died in a shootout with government forces.

The Australian version of the song gives the name as "Jack Doolan", who was born in Castlemaine, Victoria. The Australian city was named after William Handcock, 1st Viscount Castlemaine in the 1850s.

Accommodation & Dining

The Phoenix
Farmhouse Accommodation, Vegetarian Restaurant and Organic Gardens
Lorna Tyther
Shanahill East
Castlemaine
Tel: 066-915 976 6284
e-mail:
phoenixtyther@hotmail.com
website :
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