Here is a brief snapshot of Kitty Parker’s rebel ancestry: Michael Dwyer’s sister Sarah married Hugh Vesty Byrne, Dwyer’s Lieutenant. They had fourteen children. In 1825 a daughter Catherine Byrne married John Keirghan also a currency lad, or child of the convict Patrick Keirghan transported on Marquis Cornwallis, 1796, who married convict Catherine Kitts in Sydney. John Leary, convict on transport Prince Regent 1824, married convict Catherine Jones in Sydney 1825 Continue reading
The wicked history of ‘Monto’ spreads itself accommodatingly from the 1860s up to the 1950s. ‘Monto’ was, at one time, so it is claimed, to be the largest redlight district in Europe. It is estimated that there were at times up to 1,600 prostitutes working there. Continue reading
Because people had been crying out for a resolution of the land question for so long, and had no desire to wait any longer, this, along with war weariness, may have been a big factor in the massive support for acceptance of the treaty with Britain. Continue reading
Unveiled for the first time on this day, August 15, 1882, the monument was designed and sculpted by John Henry Foley and finished up by his assistant, Thomas Brock. It is often believed to be Foley’s greatest work. Continue reading
What struck me particularly about these stories was the spirit and fight of women in the face of discrimination and adversity. Continue reading
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
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
Sine fadas all over the place. Continue reading
I have never smuggled anything over borders before or since and I was extremely nervous, but our car was not searched on the way over. The return trip was a different matter. Continue reading
Nobody wanted to know convicts in early British settlement of Australia and now family historians are eager to find a connection to a convict in their family tree. How times have changed. Continue reading
Tinteán 