The fascinating world of whitethorn: its diverse names, folklore and myths, its significance in beekeeping.common names include hawthorn, May bush, fairy tree, and quick thorn. Continue reading
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Irish Folklore inspires an Irish-Australian artist
Hawthorns are also associated with fertility, their musk-scented flowers blooming as harbingers of Spring. Their fruit ripens in time for Halloween, symbolizing death and rebirth. They stand as protectors, symbols of birth, death, and renewal, embodying a liminal space where exchanges occur between the human and spirit worlds. Continue reading
Stardust
My aunty and uncle said we were too young to go to the Stardust yet, but promised that when I came up next time we could go, we would be both sixteen then. Continue reading
Cluas Mhara Sea Ears
by Méabh O’Leary Irish-born Méabh O’Leary was prompted to write this poem about an abalone shell she found along the seashore on the Mornington Peninsula. ‘It reminds me of my childhood in Ireland, collecting shells from the strands and placing them to my ear to hear the sea within. Now as an adult in Australia, … Continue reading
Linguistic Homestays for Irish Emigrants
The Scoil Gheimhridh Sydney 2024 is a long weekend of Irish language and craic. Come and
improve your Irish language skills. Continue reading
What’s On in May and June
Music, dancing, classes, seminar paper, festivals…. Continue reading
Poetry from Margaret Galvin
In the plush dark of the cinema,
this shy, reclusive man rode out with the drunken Sherriff to El Dorado
understood why the lawman took to the drink
when the saloon girl left town.
Wept for his loss. Continue reading
Would You Like to Write for Us?
We have subscribers in 117 countries and on every continent. Our authors have been Irish-born and Irish resident; Irish-born and Australian resident or resident in other countries; Australian-born of Irish descent; or simply interested and involved in the Australian-Irish connection. Continue reading
Napoleon’s Irish Doctor
O’Meara later wrote a series of letters and a book titled Napoleon in Exile, published in two volumes in 1822 about his time with Napoleon. Continue reading
New activities to see in Dublin: a traveller’s tale
It had been many, many, years since my sister and I had been upstairs on a double decker bus. Just holding on to the two side bars on the steps going up was enough to bring back memories of running up those steps as teenagers and of boys using them to swing down without touching the steps, to the annoyance of the bus conductor. Continue reading