What is most striking to me about the pre-Rising Irish middle-class is its freewheeling bohemian character: romantic advanced nationalism provided many fora (meetings, dance-floors, remote country language camps, amateur and professional theatrical stages, communist communes) for debating and living secularism, feminism, suffragism, even vegetarianism and lesbianism. Continue reading
Founded in 1864, Synge Street CBS has for most of its history been one of Dublin’s best known boys schools. It boasts many famous ex-pupils. Continue reading
The iconic image of of Bishop Edward Daly in Derry ‘negotiating’ a safe passage for Jackie Duddy, a victim of the Bloody Sunday massacre in Derry on the 30th January 1972, resurfaced in the media on the occasion of the death of the Bishop recently. The image was a stark reminder of just how much … Continue reading
A Traveller’s Tale by Historian, Dianne Hall April 2016 was a great time to be visiting Dublin, not only was the weather good, but the energy and enthusiasm in commemorating the events of the 1916 Rising was infectious. While I was not in town for the official events at Easter, I was standing outside the … Continue reading
BOOK REVIEW by Brian Gillespie Angus Mitchell (ed.): One Bold Deed of Open Treason: The Berlin Diary of Roger Casement 1914-1916. Dublin, Merrion Press, 2016. ISBN: 978-1-78537-056-4 (p.b.); 978178537-057-1 (h.b.) RRP: €17.50–€45.00 This book is a terrific insight into Roger Casement’s eighteen month stay in Germany from 1914-16. Taken directly from his diaries and superbly put together by … Continue reading
Ireland’s 1916 Easter Rising helped to shape political forces in Australia at a crucial time in our own national history. Continue reading
It is inspirational! Continue reading
Brian Gillespie talks about his new play, Convicted on a Comma: the Trial of Roger Casement And what if excess of love Bewildered them till they died? So said William Butler Yeats of the leaders of the 1916 Easter rebellion. It is particularly true of Roger Casement. In 1911 Roger Casement knelt before King George V, knighted … Continue reading
A BOOK REVIEW by Frances Devlin-Glass Vivien Igoe: The Real People of Joyce’s Ulysses, a Biographical Guide, University College Dublin Press, Dublin, 2016 ISBN: 978-1-910820-06-03 RRP: €40 This is a book that few lovers of Joyce will be able to resist, and they should be urged not to resist. We’ve known since the Linati schema was … Continue reading
Memories of a 1950s Irish leftie in St Kilda, Melbourne by Dr Dennis Walker The extraordinary cultural mix of St Kilda inevitably brought together people of radically opposing ideologies. Dr Dennis Walker sheds some light on one aspect of this diversity remembered from his childhood: the Irish immigrant nationalists. My father, Patrick Joseph Walker, was born … Continue reading
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