innocence of this crime for the rest of his life. He was determined not to serve what he felt was an unjust sentence and, in early November, he and another prisoner absconded from a work party. They were on the run for nearly a month, during which time they committed a number of small robberies. It was during this time that Johns first adopted the nickname Moondyne Joe. They were finally caught east of York by a party of policemen that included Tommy Windich, an Aboriginal tracker. For absconding and for being in possession of a firearm, Johns was sentenced to twelve months in irons, and transferred to Fremantle Prison. Escape In April 1866, Johns sent a petition to the Chief Justice, and received four years off his sentence.This was apparently unsatisfactory to him for, in July, he received a further six months in irons for trying to cut the lock out of his door. Early in August, he succeeded in escaping again. After cutting off his irons, he met up with three other escapees, and together they roamed the bush around Perth, committing a number of robberies and narrowly escaping capture on a number of occasions. Near the end of the month, one of the gang was captured by police. Realising that the gang could not elude the police forever, Johns formulated a plan to escape the colony by travelling overland to the colony of South Australia. This would be a long and arduous journey through extremely arid land, and the gang would have to be very well equipped if it were to stand any chance of success. On 5 September, Johns equipped his company by committing the biggest robbery of his career, stealing supplies and equipment from the Toodyay store of an old enemy, James Everett. The gang then started travelling east along the explorer Charles Hunt's established route. Their tracks were discovered by police on 26 September, about east of York. A team of police then set out after them, and they were captured on 29 September 1866 at Boodalin Soak, about north-west of the present-day site of the town of Westonia, approximately north-east of Perth. Hard labour As punishment for escaping and for the robberies committed while on the run, Johns received five years' hard labour on top of his remaining sentence. Extraordinary measures were taken to ensure that Johns did not escape again. He was