She brought ashore a language / and a pocketful of scraps: / a seagull nested in her mind / and she found shelter in a doorless house / that would let her neither in nor out / though she escaped in a dream / and saw before her a tribe / who reminded her of the dead Continue reading
Anne Duffy-Lindsay was attracted by Australia’s ‘forward thinking’ and the ‘space’ she would find. Continue reading
Irish in Australia: Irish-themed Movies, Tours, and Festivals Continue reading
Maria left Ireland aged fourteen. According to the Irish Famine Memorial’s orphan database, she left Portumna as a Roman Catholic orphan of James and Margaret Maher (both deceased), sailing on the Thomas Arbuthnot to Sydney in 1850. Continue reading
Mary and many of her fellow passengers – convicts – on board the Earl Grey, having left Dublin five months earlier in December 1849, and disembarking on a grey May day on the other side of the world in 1850.
Melbourne Hosts successful two-day symposium on Irish Language. Next is a review of Australian novelist and diarist Helen Garner’s How to End a Story, much appreciated by those of us who are Garner fans. ‘Priests in the Family’ provides Enright’s intriguing family connection to James Joyce, followed by an ‘Introduction to Ulysses’ where she talks about her personal experience of starting to read that famous book at the age of fourteen, ‘mainlining language, getting high on words’ Continue reading
Irish in Australia: Irish-themed Movies, Tours, and Festivals Continue reading
The Irish Famine Orphan Girls Commemoration will take place on November 23, 2025, in Melbourne to honor the arrival of orphan girls in 1850. Events include a film screening of Na Trí Céilithe with a discussion panel. Other cultural activities include a series of music sessions and the Canberra Irish Language Summer School in January 2026. Continue reading
Maria left Ireland aged fourteen. According to the Irish Famine Memorial’s orphan database, she left Portumna as a Roman Catholic orphan of James and Margaret Maher (both deceased), sailing on the Thomas Arbuthnot to Sydney in 1850. Continue reading
Mary Walsh’s life in Australia as a wife, mother and nurse. Continue reading
Tinteán 