Epic

AN OPEN ISLAND

Ireland is a beautiful, complex and oftenmythologised country.

For thousands of years, Ireland has been shaped by migration. Wave after wave of people have come and gone. But Irish migration isn’t one long tale of hardship and pain. Rather, it’s the unique story of how an island people made their impact on the world, and how migration shaped what it means to be Irish. Ruined stone cottages and overgrown lazy-bed furrows pay testament to Ireland’s long history of departure. The diverse, rich and varied character of its people truly reflects Ireland’s story of migration.

‘Where dips the rocky highland of Sleuth Wood in the lake, There lies a leafy island Where flapping herons wake The drowsy water rats; There we’ve hid our faery vats, Full of berries, And of reddest stolen cherries.’

An excerpt from ‘The Stolen Child’ by W.B. Yeats

Over 10 million emigrants have left the island of Ireland over the last 1,500 years. Between the sixth and seventh centuries, Irish monks such as St Brendan the Navigator made sea voyages in open boats called currachs. In the 17th century, the first passenger ship, The Friends Goodwill, took five months to reach Boston.

In the 18th century, convict ships bound for Australia spent five months at sea, while transatlantic steam ships in the 19th century could reach Argentina in a month. Many Irish emigrants fleeing the famine experienced cramped conditions on ‘coffin ships’. By the 20th century, great ocean liners arrived in New York in a mere eight days, whereas today it is a seven-hour flight away.

THE CITY OF DRESDEN

ST BRENDAN THE NAVIGATOR

St Brendan the Navigator was born in the fifth century AD near Tralee Bay, Co. Kerry. Today he is best remembered for his legendary journey to the Isle of the Blessed, as recounted in the Navigatio Sancti Brendani Abbatis (Voyage of Saint Brendan the Abbot). Whether merely religious allegory or a partly accurate account of a

remarkable voyage, it was one of the earliest accounts of an Irish person attempting to cross the North Atlantic. In 1977, explorer Tim Severin proved it was possible to complete such a passage in a leather-clad Irish currach, raising the possibility that St Brendan was the first European to reach North America.

When The City of Dresden sailed into Buenos Aires harbour from Queenstown (Cobh) in 1889, it was carrying the largest number of passengers from any one destination aboard a single vessel to ever arrive in the country. All 1,774 immigrants who landed in the city found little but hardship awaiting them, and the handsome promises of homes, land, seed and machinery failed to materialise. The new arrivals were either neglected or exploited, and their treatment was widely condemned back in Ireland. The ‘Dresden Affair’, as it came to be known, brought an end to mass Irish emigration to the Argentine Republic.

LEAVING THE ISLAND

INFLUENCE

In the museum a powerful collage depicts famous members of the Irish diaspora –sportspeople, politicians, diplomats, stars of stage and screen, musicians, dancers and writers.

Irish people have excelled in sport worldwide, and a love of sport is perceived to be a quintessentially Irish attribute. Little is more powerful than sport in building community and helping newcomers feel at home.

Participating enthusiastically in a local sport, supporting a team, playing for a team – these are all tried and tested paths to integrating in a new community. Sport has acted as a means of assimilation and integration for Irish emigrants, as well as a way of achieving fame and success.

Irish talent is evident in a wide range of sports. Did you know that baseball in America had an ‘Emerald Era’? Or that the history of pugilism is interlinked with the Irish diaspora? One key sporting ‘game changer’ was Sarah ‘Fanny’ Durack.

SARAH ‘FANNY’ DURACK (1889–1956)

Sarah ‘Fanny’ Durack, daughter of Irish emigrants, was Australia’s first female Olympic gold medallist. Fanny came to prominence when the sport of swimming in Australia was segregated by gender, and her successes led to the repeal of some of the more restrictive rules previously in place. In

1906, she won her first state title, and was noted to be particularly excellent at the breast stroke, trudgen stroke and, later, the Australian crawl. She set a new world record for the 100-metre freestyle at the 1912 Stockholm Olympics, the first of 12 she would break over the next six years.

CHANGING THE GAME

STORYTELLING

Storytelling is an ancient and deeply respected tradition in Ireland. This tradition, and the Irish love of stories in general, have influenced writers, actors, comedians, broadcasters and filmmakers – both those born in Ireland and those of Irish ancestry. Irish writers have contributed seminal works to world literature and have had a profound influence on the development of literary movements. Through their work, they have greatly affected how Ireland is perceived by the rest of the world. Meanwhile, Irish performers have become household names the world over.

EDNA O’BRIEN (1930–)

An award winning shortstory writer, screenwriter and novelist, Edna O’Brien’s writings depict the struggle of the modern woman within a strict, traditional society –particularly in her first novel, The Country Girls. As with other 20th-century Irish writers, such as James Joyce, her novels were initially banned for their seemingly brash sexuality, in particular that of women. Her novels are a comment on the often isolated existence women face at the hands of unfair or sexist societies, in which their opportunities are limited.

TERRY WOGAN (1938–2016)

Originally from Limerick, Michael Terence Wogan became a household name in Great Britain. His Wake Up to Wogan boasted over 8 million regular listeners, and he is believed to have been the most listened-to radio broadcaster in Europe. He also worked as a TV presenter for the BBC, where he hosted the chat show Wogan, and was the presenter of the BBC Children in Need annual telethon from 1980 to 2014. He was also the UK’s chief commentator for the Eurovision Song Contest from the early 1970s until 2008. Witty and affable, he was knighted in 1997 for his services to broadcasting.

CELEBRATION

The Irish capacity for fun and celebration is legendary. Events such as the Milwaukee Irish Fest or the Copenhagen Irish Festival bring together thousands of people eager to explore and engage with Irish music, food and culture every year, while St Patrick’s Day has truly become a global phenomenon, with events taking place everywhere from the streets of Dublin to the halls of the White House.

More than 70 million people around the world claim links to the island of Ireland and St Patrick’s Day is a truly unique opportunity to reconnect them with their heritage. For generations, it has been an important moment of celebration for London and its Irish community. Home to the largest Irish diaspora group in the world, London hosts hundreds of Irish events, right across the city. Centrepieces of the festivities are the St Patrick’s events at the iconic London Irish Centre in Camden, and the Mayor of London’s St Patrick’s Parade and Festival in

St Patrick’s Day celebrations in Trafalgar Square, London.

Further afield, Tourism Ireland’s Global Greening sees a host of famous buildings and sites around the world light up in green each year, to mark St Patrick’s Day. The initiative, which began in 2010 with just the Sydney Opera House and the Sky Tower in Auckland going green, has gone from strength to strength – bringing tourism to the heart of St Patrick’s Day celebrations everywhere.

Christ the Redeemer, Rio de Janeiro illuminated in green as part of Tourism Ireland’s Global Greening project.

We may connect in different ways, but the psychological associations – love, longing, guilt, community – remain constant. Emigrants often remark on the great emotional toll associated with emigration, and how, despite the passage of time and evolution of technology, the desire for connection with ‘home’ endures. These connections may be timeless, but they are also ever-evolving, as is our understanding of what it means to be Irish.

Why people have left, what they have achieved in their new homes, the sense of Irish identity that has followed them wherever they have gone and how that identity changes – these are all important considerations we must reflect on when speaking of the Irish diaspora today, and how the connections between the 70 million-strong global Irish community will continue to grow into the future.

The Irish people are renowned for their fond farewell, and no more so than when they’re bidding goodbye to loved ones departing home, leaving behind a life they once knew.

For a small island, Ireland has had a big impact. Millions of departures over hundreds of years have left a lasting legacy, and even as we say goodbye to friends and loved ones, we embrace our new global networks. Every person is connected, and migration has truly made that a reality.

As visitors depart from the museum they will hopefully have arrived at what it truly means to be Irish with a deeper understanding of our culture and people.

FAREWELL

This edition © Scala Arts & Heritage Publishers Ltd, 2022

First published in 2022 by Scala Arts & Heritage Publishers Ltd

305 Access House

141–157 Acre Lane

London SW2 5UA

www.scalapublishers.com

ISBN 978-1-78551-326-8

Edited by Neil Burkey

Designed James Alexander/ Jade Design

Printed in Turkey

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All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the written permission of EPIC The Irish Emigration Museum and Scala Arts & Heritage Publishers Ltd.

Every effort has been made to acknowledge correct copyright of images where applicable. Any errors or omissions are unintentional and should be notified to the Publisher, who will arrange for corrections to appear in any reprints.

All images copyright EPIC The Irish Emigration Museum apart from those listed below.

p.9: The Library of Congress; p.17: Marianne Barcellona;

p.23: Mari Steed; p.30: Calgary Chieftains (bottom left), Brooklyn Shamrocks (bottom right); p.43 (top): HighKing, CC BY-SA-3.0; p.47: O’Brien: Andrew Lih, CC BY-SA-3.0 (left), Julie Anne Johnson CC BY-2.0 (right); p.48: London Irish Centre; p.49: Tourism Ireland; p.53: Peter Whittaker; p.63: Eneclann.

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank all of those who have given freely of their time over the many months it took to bring this book from concept to completion. In particular, my colleagues John Patrick Greene, Aileesh Carew, Darragh Doyle and Lindsay Leach for their keen eyes and sage advice.

Secondly, I’d be remiss not to thank our editor Neil Burkey for his endless patience and guidance; this publication would simply not exist without him. I must also extend my sincere thanks to our designer James Alexander and the rest of the Scala team for their role in bringing our book to life. Finally, thank you dear reader for taking the time to learn a little more about our museum and the tens of millions of people worldwide who make up the Irish diaspora.

Nathan Mannion