Melbourne Irish Studies Seminars
These free seminars, often both online via Zoom and in person at Newman College.
15 April Dr Sarah Corrigan, Allan Myers Lecturer in Latin Language and Literature, University of Melbourne, title to come.
27 May Dr Laura Jocic, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Deakin University, ‘Bound for Australia: Anne Trotter’s Needlework Specimen book, 1840’
http://isaanz.org/events/miss-seminars/
As always this is a free public seminar open to every one. It starts at 4.30pm Jabiru Room at Newman College, Swanston St, Carlton. See above link if you wish to attend via Zoom.
Our website is https://isaanz.org/events/miss-seminars/
National Walk for Truth
Parliament of VictoriaEast Melbourne, VIC
Sunday, April 19
Overview
Walk for Truth 2026 is a national journey led by Travis Lovett, calling for truth-telling, healing and meaningful change.
Travis Lovett invites you to take part in the National Walk for Truth, travelling from Victorian Parliament in Naarm to Parliament House in Canberra on Ngunnawal and Ngambri Country.
Everyone is invited to join Lovett, a Kerrupmara Gunditjmara man, former Deputy Chair and Commissioner, Yoorrook Justice Commission and Executive Director of the Centre for Truth Telling and Dialogue, University of Melbourne, for this significant journey. The walk begins at Victorian Parliament House, where the first Walk for Truth (2025) concluded, and continues to Parliament House in Canberra, where participants will call for national truth-telling, healing and meaningful change.
The National Walk for Truth calls on the Federal Government to commit to a national truth-telling process developed in genuine partnership with First Nations peoples.
The walk begins on Sunday 19 April and concludes in Canberra on Wednesday 27 May, during National Reconciliation Week. Expected dates for each leg of the walk are listed below.
This powerful journey invites people from across the country to walk together toward truth, recognise the strength and resistance of Aboriginal people, and celebrate the world’s oldest continuing living culture.
More information is available at: https://www.walkfortruth.com/
Cinema
The 2026 Fantastic Film Festival Australia (Melbourne and Sydney) opens their festival with the hit new horror film HOKUM, a supernatural slow-burner starring Adam Scott, richly-steeped in Irish folklore and filmed in the wilds of West Cork.
When reclusive novelist Ohm Bauman (Scott) retreats to a remote Irish inn to honour his parents’ final wishes, the staff’s murmured tales of a witch haunting the honeymoon suite begin to feel less like folklore and more like warning. Visions bleed into waking life, a shocking disappearance upends everything, and Bauman is dragged into a confrontation with buried family secrets, and a malevolent force that has been awaiting him.
Where McCarthy’s earlier films unsettled using atmosphere and isolation, HOKUM pushes further, threading grief, psychosis and folk legend into a knot that never quite loosens.
‘… a good old-fashioned ghost story, the kind you’d tell over a campfire to scare children. And it’s a hair-raising one at that.‘ – INDIEWIRE
🌟🌟🌟🌟1/2 BLOODY DISGUSTING
HOKUM screens at the Fantastic Film Festival Australia on Thursday, 23rd of April at Lido Cinemas, Hawthorn and Ritz Cinema, Randwick.
To book tickets or watch the trailer, visit Fantastic Film Festival Australia’s website.
Touring
An Inaugural Irish-Australian Short Film Competition
| Irish Film Festival ’26 Short Film Program open for submissions |
| In 2026, the Irish Film Festival will stage our first Short Film Competition as part of the festival season! The competition is open to fiction and documentary with all genres welcome – drama, comedy, animation, experimental and anything in between. Filmmakers get cracking! We have extended the submission deadline of our IFF26 Short Film Competition to May 31st. The winning films will be screened at this year’s festival and prizes will be awarded to the Best Australian-Made Film and Best Internationally-Made Film. A reminder that to qualify, the submitted film must:Have themes, storylines, characters or locations relating to Ireland or the Irish diaspora, OR Have a principal participant (director, producer or actor) who has Irish heritage Be an original work and meet all eligibility requirements regarding music and copyright Be less than 15 minutes long Have been completed after January 1st 2024 (incl.) Be presented in their original versions with English language subtitles or commentary where necessary A $20 AUD entry fee is required to enter. To read further terms and conditions and view last year’s program, visit our website. If your short film is eligible, please submit your film via our FilmFreeway page. |
Thank you to Enda Murray and team
Irish Music & Dance Weekend – Queenscliff 1-3 May 2026
Koroit Irish Festival – May 1-3 May 2026
The Koroit Irish Festival began in 1997 as a way of celebrating the Irish heritage of the town and district. Highlights include the Gaelic games carnival – including a full-scale Gaelic football match, the Australian Danny Boy Championships, market stalls and food vendors.there is always great music, song, comedy and dance at the festival, there are also a wide range of other activities that make the Koroit Irish Festival unique and a weekend of fun unmatched anywhere out of Ireland itself. For bookings and more information: https://www.koroitirishfestival.com.au
Victoria National Celtic Folk Festival – Portarlington 5-8 June 2026
Scoil Gheimhridh Sydney 5-8 June Irish Language Live-In School 5-8 June Venue: Sinofield Retreat, 77 Scott Avenue, Leura NSW 2780
The Scoil Gheimhridh Sydney 2026 is a long weekend of Irish language and craic. Come and improve your Irish language skills.
The key activity of the weekend is Irish language classes. Other Irish activities provide a break in a convivial environment. These may include the official opening, table quiz, guest speaker, concert and classes in singing, tin whistle, boardgames or dance. Informal sessions continue every night. Come and join the fun.
The school is open to adults from across Australia: complete newcomers to the Irish language; those who want to improve their Irish, for example those who learnt it at school; fluent people who want to meet to converse in Irish and to help others learn.
There are classes at four or five levels to suit the Irish language skills of the participants.
Dates: 5 – 8 June 2026
Venue: Sinofield Retreat, 77 Scott Avenue, Leura NSW 2780
The Scoil Gheimhridh begins on the evening of Friday 5 June. Registration: from 4 pm
Dinner: 6 pm Opening ceremony: 7:15 for 7:30 pm
Our heartfelt thanks to all of our supporters, particularly to the Government of Ireland through the assistance of the Government of Ireland – Emigrant Support
Programme. We would also like to acknowledge Muiris Ó Súilleabháin
for his long-standing financial support of the Scoil.
Booking: by 22 May 2026
greg@IrishLanguageSchoolSydney.com for application form
Further details:
Live-in: There are multiple room options to choose from at Sinofield. Single rooms, twin/queen rooms and family rooms are available, all with en-suite facilities. Please
All meals are included from dinner Friday through to breakfast on Monday. Contact Greg if you need any further information.
Day participants: Lunch and dinner are provided.
Costs: (per person)
Weekend – live-in, single $600
Weekend – live-in, twin share $450
Weekend – live-in, family share $350
Weekend – no accommodation: $200
One day only – no accommodation: $100
Closing date: 22 May 2026
Applications received after the closing date may be accepted at the discretion of the director.
The High Kings
The Rocky Road Tour 2026
6
A Celebration of Irish Folk on a Global Stage
Ireland’s leading folk group, The High Kings, are set to excite fans once again with the announcement of their Rocky Road Tour 2026.
Tickets for The Rocky Road Tour 2026 in Australia will go live on Thursday 2nd of April 2026.
DATES
Friday 9 October 2026 – Hamer Hall, Melbourne
Saturday 10 October 2026 – Costa Hall, Geelong
Sunday 11 October 2026 Civic Hall, Ballarat
Monday 12 October 2026 – Frankston Arts Centre, Frankston
Wednesday 14 October 2026 – Princess Theatre, Brisbane
Thursday 15 October 2026 – Twin Towns, Tweed Heads
Friday 16 October 2026 – The Gov, Adelaide
Saturday 17 October 2026 – PCEC Riverside Theatre, Perth
Wednesday 21 October 2026 – Anita’s Theatre, Wollongong
Thursday 22 October 2026 – Canberra Theatre, Canberra
Friday 23 October 2026 – Enmore Theatre, Sydney
Saturday 24 October 2026 – City Hall, Newcastle
Sunday 25 October 2026 – The Art House, Wyong
ONGOING
Irish Language Events Around the Country
Pop Ups Nationwide
Bíonn Pop-Up Gaeltachtaí nó ciorcal comhrá ar siúil go minic in
● Mparntwe/Alice Springs: cur teacs chuig nó cur glaoch ar Séamus ar 0414 883 478;
● Meanjin/Brisbane: tuilleadh eolas ar suíomh Gaeilge Brisbane
● Gimuy/Cairns: tuilleadh eolas ar suíomh Cairns Le Gaeilge
● Warrane/Sydney: tuilleadh eolas ar suíomh Comhaltas Sydney
Australia’s very own Celticist and Gaeilgoir, Dr Pamela O’Neill, of the Australian School of Celtic Learning in NSW also regularly hosts online events about early Irish history and language – more info here.
New Conversation Group on the Gold Coast
Ciorcal Comhrá Nua ar an gCósta Óir
Tá Ciorcal Comhrá nua tosnaithe ar an gCósta Óir agus bíonn sé ar siúl gach dara Domhnach i SoPo i Southport, ón 4 go dtí a 6pm. Féach ar Gaeilge Gold Coast ar Facebook chun breis eolais a fháil agua na sonraí a aimsiú.
A new Ciorcal Comhrá has started on the Gold Coast and runs every second Sunday in SoPo, Southport from 4 to 6pm. See the Gaeilge Gold Coast Facebook page for more details https://www.facebook.com/groups/846998784830932/
What’s On at the Celtic Club Melbourne
The Celtic Club is an organization that celebrates and supports pride in Irish heritage and culture, as well as the broader Celtic community. We provide opportunities for our members and guests to benefit from, learn about, and enjoy Gaelic language, Irish music, art, culture, and more.
For further information please visit us here:https://www.celticclub.com.au/whats-on
Ceoltóirí Naarm Melbourne
This group of very young and very talented musicians are worth supporting.
Gaeilge Brisbane agus Preab Ghaeltacht Brisbane
Gach coicís, tagann grúpa díograiseach le chéile chun gaeilge a labhairt agus ceangal a dhéanamh leis an gcultúr i gciorcal comhrá in Woolloongabba, Brisbane. Is ciorcal é seo ina bhfuil neart léibhéil agus tá fáilte roimh éinne ina bhfuil suim acu sa teanga agus a bhfuil fonn orthu an méid gaeilge atá acu a úsáid. Ciorcal sóisialta, cairdiúil, neamhfhoirmiúil atá ann agus tá beim ar an labhairt ach go háirid.
Chomh maith leis sin, tá Preab Ghaeltacht ar siúl i Gilhooley’s Bar ar gach Domhnach deireannach den mhí. Buail isteach agus usáid an méid geailge atá agat!
Breis eolais le fáil anseo.
Each fortnight, a committed and enthusiastic group convene at Woolloongabba, Brisbane, to connect with the Irish language and culture. The group consists of many levels of fluency and all who are interested in the language and wish to speak are very welcome. It is an informal, friendly, social group with an emphasis on connection and on using the language.
Furthermore, a Pop-Up Gaeltacht convene on the last Sunday of the month at Gilhooley’s Bar, Brisbane for the same purpose. Come and join and put your Irish language to work!
See here for more information.
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Sunday sessions (Canberra Irish Club) Canberra
Musicians and singers are invited to express their talents and to entertain patrons of the Canberra Irish Club on Sundays from 2- 4pm
Find out more here
Tinteán 