Tinteán

Nature of Event: Brigidfest is a key event for Melbourne Irish-identified women:  an annual luncheon celebrating Irish and Irish-Australian women. In 2019, it features a talk by leading historians of Irish-Australia  (and the Irish), Professor Elizabeth Malcolm and Associate Professor Dianne Hall.  Entitled ‘Brigid need not apply: Irish women during the gold rushes in Victoria’, the authors of the recently-published A New History of the Irish in Australia, will talk about the thousands of Irish women who arrived in Victoria during the Gold Rush era of the 1850s, many survivors of the Great Famine. Often reviled in local newspapers as ignorant, ugly and a threat to the Protestant British character of the colony, nevertheless, most of these women created successful homes and families. Their descendants are all around us today. But some struggled and a few led deeply unhappy lives. Their stories have much to tell us about the dangers and hardships that faced Irish women immigrants.  Some attendees like to organise a table of friends.

When: Sunday, 10 February 2019 at 12.30pm

Where: The Celtic at Metropolitan, 36-42 Courtney Street, North Melbourne.

Cost: $50 per person. Ticket includes a two-coursemeal; drinksavailableatbarprices. Bookingfeeincluded. Proceeds go towards the work of the Brigidine Asylum Seeker Project (BASP). See https://basp.org.au/for more information

Bookings Essential: https://www.trybooking.com/ZIML

More information: phone Anne on 03 9852 0074 or email brigidfest@gmail.com.