Yes, the song is about the Fenian rising in the Iveragh Peninsula, Kerry, in February 1867. The earliest trace of it that I could find was in a Herbert Hughes songbook in 1936 but I'd uess that it's a lot older than that. If memory serves, Hughes was living in Cahersiven (not Caherciveen) at the time. He died the following year.

The rebels, estimated at around 500, captured the coastguard station at Kells. After that the rebellion fell apart for as a later Kerry republican said "the Iveragh men rose but they rose alone". John O'Neil Goulding (1841-79) was one of those transported to Australia as a result. There will be a photo of his grave included in MY BOOK ON IRISH SONGS which is being published in Belfast very soon. The photo was taken by OZ Mudcatter Bob Bolton and generously given to me by him!

Another transported was teenager John Keegan Casey, the original "Galtee Mountain Boy".