Some of our Irish speakers and learners have appreciated the opportunity to stock up on new Irish language books in Dublin, attend daonscoileanna in Donegal and Waterford, and even to write as Gaeilge. Andrew Hogg provides this account of his recent travels in Bali looking for gamelan music, and an unexpected invitation to a wedding feast Continue reading
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
The longer the book went on, the more convinced I was that I had not read it before, but then I found on the bottom of page 189 a note in my pencilled handwriting. Continue reading
The name Middleton seemed appropriate for this midpoint between Goolwa and Port Elliot, but I was unable to pinpoint where in Ireland the original Middleton was, presumably a place between two towns or village Continue reading
What it really meant to be poor and how to survive it. And a book about a priest who fathered a child with nun. Continue reading
I read Modern History and Political Science in Dublin University from 1936 to 1940, talking my degree in absentia in January 1940. The most memorable lectures which I attended were those given by Curtis; he was always interesting and amusing, never the dry historian. Continue reading
I decided to read classics I had not read, and to reread some that I had. I was interested to see if books I had loved on a first reading when I was young, remained beloved. Continue reading
Is this increased interest resonant of the current Australian focus on Indigenous recognition? Or is it a reflection of more attention to the topic of Irish Travellers in the Irish education curriculum? Continue reading
But as books must and will be produced to meet the demand, it is now both timely and fair to ask what kind of ‘Irish history’ are we going to have? As a race, we have an extraordinary habit of make-believe. Continue reading
My students were full of energy, fun-loving and were certainly not vindictive or in any way mean, but they loved playing pranks… Continue reading
