Heaney’s poetry is full of surprises. It would appear that he knew everything about the flail, but he seemed to refuse to give it a poetic voice. Continue reading
Filed under biography …
190-year anniversary of an acclaimed and esteemed Irish pioneer settler in Adelaide
Kingston was young, keen, and, above all, fit enough in the summer heat to negotiate the dense forest in what was later named Hindley Street. On 6 November 1836, his thirsty dog came across what turned out to be the river Torrens; it was subsequently named after the Derry-born Chairman of the South Australian Colonisation Commission, Colonel Robert Torrens. Continue reading
Filíocht/Poetry/Gearrscéal/ Short Story: Hugh Curran, Colette Ní Ghallchóir, Colin Ryan, Tommy Fogarty.
At the cemetery, Canada geese nibbled grass as my nephew played ‘Danny Boy’ on his saxophone Continue reading
Involuntarily Irish-identified by the Nazis
Something strange happened : all prisoners with Irish names were packed off to a Prisoner of War camp called Friesack. Continue reading
The Wild Atlantic
It started calm enough, but God it turned, and suddenly we were being tossed here and there and everywhere. Ger said he never saw anything like it, but we bent the oars and headed in. Continue reading
Aonach an Daingin The Dingle Fair
Then the jobber proceeded to examine the heifers and shaking his head he offered £16 and Dad emphatically said no. Continue reading
Kitty Parker: Transnational-Composer and Concert Pianist and her Irish Rebel Ancestry
Here is a brief snapshot of Kitty Parker’s rebel ancestry: Michael Dwyer’s sister Sarah married Hugh Vesty Byrne, Dwyer’s Lieutenant. They had fourteen children. In 1825 a daughter Catherine Byrne married John Keirghan also a currency lad, or child of the convict Patrick Keirghan transported on Marquis Cornwallis, 1796, who married convict Catherine Kitts in Sydney. John Leary, convict on transport Prince Regent 1824, married convict Catherine Jones in Sydney 1825 Continue reading
Bishopites versus Therryites: an unholy 14-year war in Tasmania
This was the start of a 14 year war, which divided the Irish community. Enormous efforts to resolve the matter by many parties occurred at a high legal cost. Continue reading
My Kerry Blue (English and Irish versions)
I liked him because he wouldn’t back from anyone or thing. No. He’d rush headlong into whatever he perceived an adversary and flail away like a mad thresher. Continue reading
Irish-Australian Women Writers: 1. Eliza Hamilton Dunlop (1796–1880)
Eliza was obviously interested in people who came from different cultures, and she tried to understand them by studying their languages. We see this in some of her first poems written in Ireland. For instance, she made a point of using Irish placename spellings, rather than anglicised ones, when describing the impressive natural features of south County Down, including the Mourne Mountains. Continue reading
