In September 1869, a prisoner boldly escaped the Geelong Gaol by changing clothes in a water closet and walking straight out past the Governor’s office.
John McHenry or James Clark as he was originally known grew up in the streets of Shoreditch in London. Before coming to Australia he would see the inside of some of the most notorios prisons in England.
McHenry was transported to WA before eventually making his way to Victoria with his family. It would be here he was introduced to the Geelong Gaol as a prisoner.
