According to biographer, Granville Allen Mawer (
The Life and Legend of Jack Doolan : The Wild Colonial Boy), Doolan's identity has long been confused with that of bushranger,
John Donahoe. Mawer argues that his research indicates the existence of a Jack Doolan, born in Castlemaine (as traditionally told in the folksong 'The Wild Colonial Boy'). Doolan was sentenced on 19 February 1872 to fourteen years in gaol for bushranging.
