The author, Simon Smith, is a filmmaker who has recorded stories from around the world, and that background is seen in the writing as he fills in little details and concentrates on the lives, likes and troubles of the main characters. Continue reading
With the passage of time Irish Catholics eventually did become part of the fabric of Australian society. With the coming of each generation, they moved along and some of them, up the social scale. But their ascent was neither rapid nor easy. Continue reading
History tells us that when the stakes were substantial, Pitch and Toss games could become extremely serious. In Dundalk in 1914 a man died following an altercation during a game of Pitch and Toss when an argument arose as to who was entitled to the winnings. Continue reading
View post to subscribe to site newsletter.
Caroline Chisholm had worked hard in Australia for the families of convicts to be reunited. No one knew we had been rejected from the list of travellers. Continue reading
View post to subscribe to site newsletter.
Nobody wanted to know convicts in early British settlement of Australia and now family historians are eager to find a connection to a convict in their family tree. How times have changed. Continue reading
View post to subscribe to site newsletter.
According to Diarmaid Ó Muirithe, the name Sheila derives from Cecily, ‘the English form of the Latin name of the…virgin martyr St Cecilia…The Anglo-Normans brought the name to Ireland and in time it became in the Irish language Síle.. Continue reading
View post to subscribe to site newsletter.
From Limerick and Wicklow, now with a street named after a member of the family. Continue reading
View post to subscribe to site newsletter.
A summary of Irish role in history and literature of Australia, written prior to more recent research and publications in the area. Continue reading
View post to subscribe to site newsletter.
Willie Carlin was an ex-British soldier who worked for Sinn Fein Continue reading
Life was not easy for Jane and Bridget, two of at least fifty famine orphan girls who were gaoled in NSW from the 1850s to 1900. Continue reading
Tinteán 