Unlike most who come to Australia, Susie Harris avoided all other Irish people. Continue reading
Filed under emigration …
Food and Drink Invented by the Irish
There is controversy about who invented the spirit drink called whiskey, uisce beatha in Irish, but we do know that the world’s oldest licensed whiskey distillery is Bushmills. 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
The Migrant Crisis
There have never been more people on the move than in our time. A few years ago the United Nations estimated the number of refugees at an astonishing 70 million. Yet close to 85% of these migrants end up not in Europe or North America but in developing Third-World countries. 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
Eamonn Wall: transatlantic poet part two
Much commemorated in literature and music, the 1798 legend lives on in the town because the geography and townscape have changed little. Wall walks the same trails meandering alongside the Slaney. That is his Enniscorthy, a place of enduring pain, and ancient prayer represented here by his poem, ‘Night Heron’ Continue reading
‘Fairytale of New York’ Shane McGowan
rish poetry is known for its lyricism and romanticism, and it might be seem strange to find beauty in the controversial ‘Fairy Tale of New York’, but comparisons can indeed be made between this popular song and traditional love poetry. Continue reading
Mary Murphy’s Christmas Pudding
As I was growing up in Edenderry, near Tullamore, in Ireland, my mother always made a Christmas pudding. The smells of the pudding, wrapped in cloth, pervaded the house with the scent of Christmas approaching. Continue reading
From Tipperary to Outback Australia part two
They broke the ground for the generations to follow. The Old Ghan railway was a major achievement, not only providing an essential service but in showing what is required to live and work in this challenging environment. Continue reading
From Tipperary to Outback Australia
Today, a hundred and eighty years later I stand near his grave in the hot, dry semi-desert land of the Australian ‘outback.’ Emigrating to Australia in the 1860s and becoming one of the burgeoning numbers of the Irish diaspora, John, better known as Jack, was part of a heroic effort to develop this new and challenging land, so different in every way from the green fields of Tipperary. Continue reading
Tinteán 