The author, Simon Smith, is a filmmaker who has recorded stories from around the world, and that background is seen in the writing as he fills in little details and concentrates on the lives, likes and troubles of the main characters. Continue reading
With the passage of time Irish Catholics eventually did become part of the fabric of Australian society. With the coming of each generation, they moved along and some of them, up the social scale. But their ascent was neither rapid nor easy. Continue reading
they were usually ‘a reused glass spirit, wine or mineral bottle often containing a carved wooden cross, with a ladder leaning against it inside, sometimes (but not always) filled with water’. The water was usually holy water, or at least marketed as such. Continue reading
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The highest peak of the Snowy Mountains. He named it after the Polish-Lithuanian statesman Tadeusz Kosciuszko, giving us Mount Kosciuszko. Continue reading
Mary Ann McMaster came to Australia under the Earl Grey Scheme. Continue reading
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
That Trench was one of those responsible for the Famine exodus cannot be entirely excused by the fact that his motives were good, and that he felt this was a better solution than the humiliation of the workhouse and the cruelty of road-making. Continue reading
International Famine Commemoration to be held in Williamstown. Continue reading
a useful resource for anyone interested in this aspect of Irish-Australian history. Continue reading
To find a convict ancestor is no longer a matter of shame but can be cause for reflection and indeed celebration. Continue reading
Tinteán 