In the eyes of Imperial social engineers, the Famine orphans were young marriageable women who would bring a stabilizing influence to a rough masculine colonial society. Continue reading
Filed under Irish Australian History …
Never Losing the Accent
Excerpts from an autobiographical piece by Michéal Ó Súileabháin Continue reading
Thirty Years of News and Comment
Since its first edition in February 1989, the ‘Irish Echo’ has not missed an issue Continue reading
A Story to Thrill and Delight
The Catalpa escape involved the rescue of six men serving life sentences. All were former British soldiers who had taken the Fenian oath. Continue reading
Time Long Past
When angry local men turned up with brickbats at an Irish concert. Continue reading
The ‘Best Choir in the Anglosphere’
Catherine Fitzpatrick, a convict’s wife, conductor of the first choir of an infant colony. Continue reading
Personal Reflections Inspired by A New History of the Irish in Australia
At the outset I must remark that all who are interested in the story of the Irish in ‘The Great South Land Under The Southern Cross’ will forever be indebted to the exceptional scholarship of two enormously talented historians, Elizabeth Malcolm and Dianne Hall. Continue reading
‘Built by the Irish People’: reflections on the 1798 memorial at Waverley and the Irish Famine Memorial at Hyde Park Barracks
There are two significant memorials erected in Sydney in response to major events in Irish history: the 1798 Memorial at Waverley Cemetery built at the time of the centenary of the ’98 uprising, and the Australia Memorial to the Great Irish Famine unveiled in 1999. Continue reading
St Bridget’s Day book launch 1 February 2019
A new book on the Irish in South Australia launched. Continue reading
Sydney ISAANZ Conference Review
For the first time in its history the Irish Studies in Australia and New Zealand (ISAANZ) conference began with an Irish language day Continue reading
