An unknown number of political exiles who were active in the Philippine revolutionary movement also came to Australia, including pearl divers Candido Iban and Francisco del Castillo, who arrived in the late 1880s or early 1890s. Upon their return to the Philippines, del Castillo was appointed Chief of Katipunan Chapter in Capiz, with Iban as his assistant. Both died in a military encounter in Aklan, Philippines.

The political sentiments of Heriberto Zarcal, one of the earliest Manilamen who landed on Thursday Island in May 1892, can be gleaned from his naming of his two-storey building, Noli Me Tangere (Touch Me Not), the title of the novel by Philippine national hero, Dr. Jose Rizal. One of his luggers, Kavite, probably commemorates the 1872 uprising in Cavite, Philippines after the Spanish authorities executed three local priests—Fathers Mariano Gomez, Jose Burgos, and Jacinto Zamora.

Two other Manilamen, Valeriano Dalida and Albino Rabaria, donated their savings to purchase a printing press in Hong Kong, eventually resulting in the publication of the propaganda newsletter and primer, Cartilla and Kalayaan with the Diario de Manila.

“My father talked about Luzon [in the Philippines] a lot...
He wanted to get away from there. I don’t know what was
happening there about the people’s revolution against Spain
that motivated some Filipino men to leave the country.”

– Mary Manolis

Manilamen descendant

Noli Me Tangere, Heriberto Zarcal's building on Thursday Island
Photo courtesy of Illeto & Sullivan, 1993. Discovering Australasia: Essays on
Philippine-Australian Interactions.

Kavite, one of Heriberto Zarcal’s luggers, small vessels about 9-10 metres long used in the pearl-shell industry
Photo by Tom McDonough, Broome, circa 1930s. Courtesy of Lynn McDonough.