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
Filed under History …
Whitethorn: A Tale of Irish Folklore, Bees & Colour-Changing Flowers
The fascinating world of whitethorn: its diverse names, folklore and myths, its significance in beekeeping.common names include hawthorn, May bush, fairy tree, and quick thorn. Continue reading
Irish Folklore inspires an Irish-Australian artist
Hawthorns are also associated with fertility, their musk-scented flowers blooming as harbingers of Spring. Their fruit ripens in time for Halloween, symbolizing death and rebirth. They stand as protectors, symbols of birth, death, and renewal, embodying a liminal space where exchanges occur between the human and spirit worlds. Continue reading
Stardust
My aunty and uncle said we were too young to go to the Stardust yet, but promised that when I came up next time we could go, we would be both sixteen then. Continue reading
It’s Time: Leo Varadkar Resigns as Taoiseach
At 38 years of age, Varadkar was Ireland’s youngest taoiseach. He was also its first mixed-race premier, its first government leader not to be a practising Catholic, and its first openly gay head of government. 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
Ireland in the 1980s and Today
According to the United Nations Human Development Index, Irish people enjoy the second-highest quality of life worldwide, and the country is ranked 12th in the 2024 Social Progress Index. Continue reading
New activities to see in Dublin: a traveller’s tale
It had been many, many, years since my sister and I had been upstairs on a double decker bus. Just holding on to the two side bars on the steps going up was enough to bring back memories of running up those steps as teenagers and of boys using them to swing down without touching the steps, to the annoyance of the bus conductor. 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
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