Irish Scene July August 2014

Registered with Australia Post PP635639/00006

www.irishscene.com.au

Western Australia’s

Volume 16 / Number 5 July/Aug 2014

Slán Abhaile

Joe

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A man you don’t meet every day…

Joe Crozier...

- A man you don’t meet every day (a line from one of his favourite songs) Joe Crozier - A safe pair of hands, a thoughtful man a strong hand on the tiller, a peace maker, a wise man. Certainly all of these things but perhaps “the other half of the Lottie and Joe partnership” would, to him, be the most important of all.

Joe’s interests were many, varied and surprising.

Everyone here would probably have known Joe from a different angle and activity. He was a dream to work with, a superb committee member (which is not always an advantage to a man). If Joe involved you in one of his many theatrical ventures you never, never had to check the facts. He impeccably researched everything and knew exactly what he wanted and there was no cutting corners with Joe. He made you feel quite secure and enhanced every project he took on.

All of this makes him sound almost saintlike.

No... he had his faults. Once the mind was made up, admittedly after slow deliberation and much thought, Joe pulled up the drawbridge on his idea and you knew by the glint in his eye that to go there with argument would be fruitless. I often thought looking at him tall, straight and indomitable that he would have made a wonderful bishop. He never knew I thought that - it might have changed the friendship.

He was loved by his many friends, respected b y by his colleagues and enjoyed a reputation to be envied. He was also a lucky man… he lived for nearly forty nine years with the love of his life Lottie “She was his north,

his south, his east, his west, his working week and his Sunday rest, his noon, his midnight, his talk, his song” W.H. Auden (Stop all the clocks) That love lasts on - never dies. Joe went as he lived - quietly and with dignity. Many friends and family have gone before him so let us farewell him with the words of Oliver St John Gogarty Down the long path where beauty wends Where all we love foregather, so Why should we fear to join our friends A Seosamh ar cara buan, teir slán abhaile anois Ó saol go saol I lámh Dé Ar grá go dieghen tú This Eulogy was prepared and spoken by Sally Desmond at Joe’s funeral.

Joe and Lottie

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had to do was put it together. He was very strict about grammar and many an issue was delayed because Joe wanted it to be “just right” and he was right!

He did retire from the magazine when he first became ill and it was a struggle to keep it going without his wordsmith skill, advice and participation. Over the last 7 years, as soon as it was published, I delivered copies to him at home and he always appreciated this and would give copies round to his many friends. Joe was very proud that he was part of the creation of our magazine and I would say it would not have lasted long without his initial involvement.

Lottie can be assured that the magazine will still be personally The passing of Joe Crozier delivered and discussed over a cuppa takes from me a great friend of many years standing. Back in 1998 and her wonderful homemade cookies it was with Joe our Irish Scene was for many years to come. We wont forget you Lottie. born, with help from Jack Cullen.

On behalf of The Irish Scene That was 15 years ago and Joe’s family, Fred, Lilly, Lloyd, Jack, Colin contribution to establishing our and John I would like to offer our magazine in the Irish/Australian community was as the writer, proof sincere condolences to Lottie and Joe’s family in Ireland. reader, salesman, researcher: all I Slán mo chara, Fred Rea

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by Lloyd Gorman For some time now a great idea has been in need of a good home.

Charlie and Joan-Walsh Smith, originally from county Waterford but who are now WA artists of some renown, have had the concept of designing and erecting a memorial here in Perth for the victims and survivors of the Great Irish Famine in the mid 19th century. Charlie and Joan have applied their enormous artistic and interpretative talents to a vast range of commemorative, public, corporate and other artworks and installations in Ireland, Australia and elsewhere. Every year on special occasions such as Anzac Day thousands of Australians gather around memorials they have created to the HMAS Sydney, the Australian army and other war memorials, to mark the occasion.

Every day of the year countless more meet, talk, enjoy pass-by or pass time at any number of their public artworks here and abroad, such as the cartwheeling sculpture of ‘Percy Buttons’ in Perth CBD or the Kangaroos on the Terrace, or their Dolphin trio in Hillarys.

Right across WA and in parts of Japan and Ireland to name a few, striking images and icons of our world have been created and carved out by their creativity.

Their quest for a famine sculpture formed some time ago but is perhaps a vision in search of a place to take shape.

There is a strong argument and direct connection for the erection of a memorial to the famine times in Western Australia, chiefly through the fifth Governor of Western Australia (then known as the Swan River Colony) - Sir

Arthur Kennedy. He was born in about 1810 in Cultra, Co. Down (now home to the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum) and went on to study at Trinity College, Dublin. He became an officer in the British army and was posted to Corfu and Canada for the next four years.

But he chose to end his military career after he returned to Ireland in 1846 and was appointed as the Poor Law Commissioner for the Kilrush district, in Co. Clare. When he took up the position he found that large sections of the population were already badly nourished and predicted that within a year there would be total starvation.

On November 25th, 1847, Kennedy said that the “whole district seemed swept of food and he believed a third of the population would be without food at Christmas, two thirds starving before February and by May 1848, there would be a total starvation” an article in the Clare People reported.

One of the first issues he tackled was the overcrowding and cruel conditions faced by people who went into the local ‘Workhouses’. At a time when the authorities allowed these basic centres to fill up beyond capacity Kennedy opened six new units which are credited with saving many lives. Kennedy also collected up clothes from his own family, and wealthy families in the district, to distribute to the destitute. Such was the impact of this simple action that it featured on the front page of the Illustrated London News -

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making it a sensational story in an era of absentee and indifferent landlords and a policy of cruelty by the government towards the famine victims. He carried out his duties as a Colonial public servant but never gave in to the policy of cruelty that seemed to run through the administration of the workhouses and relief schemes. Kennedy reserved a particular disdain and hatred for landlords who treated their tenants appallingly. When he took up the job there were about 6,000 eviction notices issued against struggling and dying workers on the land.

All up he was the Poor Law Commissioner for the Kilrush District for about five years during which time he made some powerful enemies. But he was also highly respected and popular with the people he had helped.

The Clare People article sets the scene: “He left Kilrush with his wife and family on September 3rd, 1850. A great crowd gathered to wish them well and it was reported that the area was in deep mourning after the noble-minded man. Before he left he made donations of clothes and other items to the local clergy for distribution to the poor. Indeed one of the most striking images of the famine is that of his younger daughter giving out clothes, a feature captured by the Illustrated London News. He and his family did much for the suffering of Kilrush and West Clare.”

THE LANDING OF GOVERNOR KENNEDY AT FREMANTLE

A reproduction from the Illustrated London News of May 24. 1856, depicting the landing of Governor Sir Arthur Kennedy at Fremantle. The building on the left was the warehouse of the Harbour Master (Captain Dan Scott).

He would first be Governor of Gambia in 1851, appointed head in Sierra Leone a year later and in 1854 was Consulate General for the Sherbro District. In a report of the Limerick Chronicle 15/11/1854 “Capt. Kennedy (formerly of Kilrush) returning from his Governorship at Sierra Leone, was fortunately saved from the wreck of the West India mail steamer “Forerunner”, and has landed at Southampton, whence he would proceed to Australia where he is appointed Governor”.

Kennedy was appointed to the WA post in 1855 and would serve in that role until early 1862. According to the Constitutional Centre of WA: “Sir Arthur reputedly had a commanding presence and an autocratic manner that made him very unpopular with the settlers. He also found the bureaucracy difficult which meant “many of his acts bore the impress of autocracy”. He was a skilled orator and apparently had “charming manners” but these qualities did not endow him to the majority. In fact, it is said that he was overwhelmed by what he considered his position and that “his excess of dignity” militated against his success. Had he been allowed to follow his views a land tax would have been implemented in WA to help overcome, what he

viewed with alarm as, the alienation of large blocks of land so early in the history of the colony. He also was a great admirer of the educational system known as the Irish National and this brought him into serious conflict with the Roman Catholic priesthood. At the time, the colony was flourishing with big sums of Imperial money being spent under the convict system. But Captain Kennedy had the view that the government was his own and as his despotism grew, so did public anger against him. In fact, in August 1856, the colony’s citizens held a public meeting in Perth to protest against his Excellency’s arbitrary methods.

Governor Kennedy relinquished the reins of office in 1862 and claimed much of the colony’s success on his legislative efforts. (He would go on to serve as governor for Vancouver Island (Canada), Sierra Leone (where he was also the Commissioner for the abolition of the slave trade), Hong Kong and then Queensland for five years before retiring.)

Without doubt Kennedy - who is also credited with draining large areas of swampland around Perth - left his mark on Western Australia and seven years ago the Irish community of WA recognised and repaid that connection back in Kilrush, Co. Clare.

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Back in 2007, the late Monsignor Sean O’Shea (affectionately known to many simply as Mons) who had already given a lifetime of religious service to Australia, WA and Rottnest Island was back in his native county, on the subject of Kennedy.

“He was a very humanitarian gentleman, of a quite formidable stature” said Mons.

“The Governor of WA before him was a Captain Fitzgerald [another Clare man as it happens), he made the mistake of petitioning the colonial office in London for convicts because things weren’t too good in the colony.

“When Kennedy came along he said get up off your back sides you should be ashamed asking for convicts at this late stage the convict system had been abandoned in Sydney at that stage.”

He was speaking at a special

Mons Sean O’Shea

event in the walled gardens of the Vandeleur estate – which ironically belonged to one of Kennedy’s greatest enemies) – at which a plaque was presented in his honour.

Irish Club member and committee member Maura Ducey represented the Club and Irish community which gave the plaque to the estate as a gift.

“Captain Kennedy poor law inspector for Kilrush during famine period and later Governor of the then Swan River colony is cordially remembered in this far flung outpost for his good offices in those earlier times,” Maura read from a letter from the then president of the club, Tom Quinn.

“His memory deserves to be remembered and memorialised as it will be with this bronze memorial in Kilrush.”

Maura Ducey

There is no tribute in Perth to Kennedy, but it is something that could be incorporated into Charlie and Joan’s designs for a famine

Sir Arthur Kennedy Memorial in Co Clare

memorial.

Subiaco would be the ideal location for such a monument. It is, and has been since the mid 1970’s the home of the Irish Club of WA, which initiated the plaque to Kennedy in Kilrush. Fortunately the Club also seems to be on the mend financially

and will continue to serve a cultural and community centre for at least another generation.

Irish people have always been drawn to Subiaco and helped in some way to mould it. John Winthrop Hackett, from Co. Wicklow, set up UWA more than 100 years ago and picked Crawley as the location for the university. Young Irish women from the Order of St. John of God travelled to the heat and dust of WA from Wexford, Ireland and would go on to first establish a major hospital in Subiaco, and then many more across the state. Streets in the Subi Centro area now bear the names of the counties from which these young Religious came, a sort of lasting memory for the homes they traded.

St. Joseph’s catholic church in Salvado Road was built by a John Winthrop Hackett priest from Cork and has for the majority of its 80 years has been vested in the hands of Irish born clerics, including Fr Joe today from Co. Mayo.

Former Subiaco mayor Tony Costa was a child migrant stolen from his family as a young boy and taken to Western Australia by the Christian Brothers. As soon as he was old enough the young Costa

made his way from Bindoon boys school and found himself in Subiaco where he would find a job, friends and a home and would later go on to become a councillor and mayor Tony Costa for the place over 22 years. A proud WA man, he also cherishes his Irish roots. Another councillor – whom I am sworn not to reveal the identity of – also claims direct lineage back to Daniel O’Connell, the Great Liberator who helped change Ireland forever 200 years ago.

And there may even be a perfect little plot of land in Subiaco where a famine memorial could proudly stand. It is a little patch of green grass beside a lane – thanks to the then mayor of Subiaco Mr Costa – named after an Irish priest who played a vital role in one of WA’s most important historical events (the escape of John Boyle O’Reilly).

This site sits directly across the road from the head offices of one of Australia’s biggest Telco’s which was founded and until recently led by an enterprising man originally from Co. Clare. If ever there was what you might call, holy ground in all of WA for such a memorial, this would be it!

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Movie Preview: Calvary

by John Flood

Brendan Gleeson’s film roles just get better and better. From In Bruges to The Guard he has worked with writer director John Michael McDonagh and has built up a huge fan base throughout the world. In his new film Calvary, which is just being released in Australia, Brendan takes on the main role of a good priest Father James Lavelle who is tormented by his local community.

This is a dark modern western set in County Sligo in the west of Ireland where the stunning Benbulkin act as an iconic backdrop.

Calvary is a poignant story about family, age, dysfunction, love, drugs and alcohol but it also covers some disturbing issues of abuse in contemporary Ireland.

In the opening scene Father James is told anonymously in confession that he will be killed for being a good priest to atone for the sins of the Church. He is given until Sunday week to get his affairs in order.

As the film progresses we are taken into Father James’s everyday life and share the experiences he has with his parishioners and visitors. We come to see his grief as he witnesses the spitefulness

and confrontational inhabitants within his community. But Calvary is a whodunit with a difference, we try to work out who is going to do it while the philanderers, abusers, fraudsters, the arrogant, self-proclaimed lord, the malevolent publican and drunks that make up Father James’s parishioners line up to take aim.

John Michael McDonagh’s script is clever, thought provoking and liberally sprinkled with humour.

According to Brendan his strong role in Calvary was emotionally difficult for him. Many of the film’s other characters were also larger than life. Chris O’Dowd and Dylan Moran, although cast in non-typical roles, were believable and effective. Brendan Gleeson’s son Domhnall is extending his range of acting parts as he plays the role of Freddie Joyce a young prisoner with severe mental issues.

Writer and Director John Michael McDonagh likes to work with film crews who have worked with him previously. Director of Photography Larry Smith, who was also DOP on The Guard, uses two cameras to good effect in Calvary. The Atlantic Ocean beaches of County Sligo look magnificent.

Patrick Cassidy’s musical score adds

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to the drama that is unfolding on screen while costume designer Eimer Ni Mhaoldomhnaigh joins Calvary’s production team following her great work on The Guard.

Calvary is the second part of the Glorified Suicide Trilogy. The script was written in 19 days and shooting took 29 days to complete. Calvary is a film that is not afraid to examine the issues but does so with humanity. At the film’s Perth preview one critic commented that if this film did not win some film awards there was something wrong with the industry. Calvary is a film with substance that holds our attention. It has many funny moments and is a credit to John Michael McDonagh and his team.

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CROM-A-BOO! (Part Two)

by Peter Conole

Late in 1848 agitation for the introduction of convicts into the colony of Western Australia began.

The economic recession and an associated labour shortage were the key issues. In February 1849 a wellattended public meeting resulted in a formal request to convert “this colony into a regular penal settlement”.

Governor Charles Fitzgerald felt obliged to send the petition to Earl Grey (Secretary of State for the Colonies) in London, although he disliked the idea himself and wrote frankly that few people “would from choice select a convict settlement as a residence for themselves and their families”.

The Governor – who from now on shall be referred to as Fitzgerald out of respect for the name, not out of familiarity – and many colonists were in for a surprise. A good many locals opposed the convict idea.

Others were under the impression that the London authorities would send out first offenders as part of an apprentice-style scheme.

Instead an Order in Council of May 1849 converted WA into a full penal settlement obliged to receive felons of any sort. The Governor helped to obtain an assurance that convicts would be matched by the recruitment of equal numbers of free settlers. In practice, that partly meant importing a proportion of females to keep a balance between the genders. Many Irish orphan girls arrived to work as servants and then, hopefully, marry reformed convicts or male settlers who started to arrive in larger numbers. Some established colonists still complained as many of those free settler men or youths were city paupers or poorly educated common farm labourers from England or Ireland.

A couple of scholars have suggested that WA was being treated as a kind of social laboratory and

there is something to be said for that. The colony was fortunate in its Governor, who had the ability to ‘make things happen’ and was often successful in obtaining extra funding from Britain. In the course of Fitzgerald’s term in office an average of three convict ships arrived during any given year, bringing a total of 3700 ‘exiles’(ie, convicts) to WA. The first ship was the ‘Scindian’ in June 1850. Under Fitzgerald’s stewardship about half of the convicts already had or soon received ‘tickets of leave’ and were allowed to seek private employment for wages.

It seems that a fair proportion of ‘Her Majesty’s guests’ had craft skills of real value, while one assessment of the system hints that new arrivals from about the mid-1850s were usually nastier cases than the first waves. It should be stated at this point that convicts who stayed out of trouble could eventually receive a conditional pardon and there was nothing to prevent time-expired felons from returning to Britain if they wished.

Governor Fitzgerald’s behaviour in office has been likened to that of an ‘Irish landed gentleman of the old school’, which in terms of Victorian Age stereotypes meant a man with a strong will, a paternal sense of duty and a lot of pride in his social status and lineage. Some criticised him for behaving like a bluff, blunt naval officer with ‘quarterdeck manners’ .

For reasons which will be explained later, he could at times be dictatorial.

However, the general consensus among folk of his time was that Fitzgerald had a kind-hearted and humane nature. As befitted a hero of the anti-slavery struggle he revealed those qualities in his actions. The harsher disciplinary procedures often associated with the WA convict system were largely put in

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Governor Charles Fitzgerald

place under Fitzgerald’s successors.

To make things easier for those trying to work in outlying areas the Governor and his subordinates established Convict Hiring Depots in outlying districts to which ticketof-leave men could go if they were unable to obtain employment.

Nine were put in place during the period 1851-1854, a humane policy that enabled the unfortunate to be rationed and employed on government public works.

Of the latter, the most important was one of our State’s iconic buildings – old Fremantle Prison, the neo-Gothic entrance of which is pictured here. Fitzgerald put convicts to work on the structure as soon as they started to arrive.

Vital building operations on that formidable stronghold ended on June 1, 1855 – exactly one month before the Governor and his wife left the colony. The place was modelled on Pentonville Prison in England and was intended to be a state of the art piece of work in every sense, being based on ideas about reforming the behaviour and morals of felons which, however sincere, seem strange and alien in this day and age.

The Governor deserves a lot of personal credit for mobilising all available resources to begin and finalise assorted major infrastructure Fremantle Prison Entrance projects, such as a network of roads linking Perth to Albany, Fremantle and Guildford. The draining of a number of swamps in Perth was completed, making possible more intensive settlement of the inner town site. A public hospital and government schools also appeared, plus a temporary asylum for sick, deranged or injured convicts in May 1854 within the confines of the incomplete Fremantle Prison.

The changed social structure and gradually increasing population of WA made necessary the building of a range of district or rural police lock-ups and short-term sentence gaols outside Perth, a total of eight until the completion of the first major Perth Prison in 1856. In earlier times the colony got by with what amounted to an overnight lock-up in today’s Irwin Street, Perth and the Roundhouse Gaol in Fremantle (pictured here). That place held short-term white prisoners under sentence, folk awaiting trial and aboriginal prisoners due for transfer to Rottnest Island.

Colonists who committed major crimes were usually sent to Tasmania. A new Perth gaol to house prisoners facing immediate court proceedings or transfer to the Round House was built at the riverside end of Pier Street in 1852.

Fitzgerald’s reforming zeal and decency led him to take strong action about Rottnest Island, although he had to muddle through in one sense. Aboriginal prisoners convicted of some crimes were sent to Rottnest because it was deemed a more open and healthier place

to keep them. However, in 1849 the Governor received a report about some incidents of harsh treatment of the prisoners. He closed the place down without further ado. The Rottnest penal institution was not re-opened until 1856, a year after Fitzgerald left. Unfortunately an overcrowding problem for aborigines in existing gaols and lock-ups then became an issue. Fitzgerald solved the problem by allowing them to carry out supervised work outdoors on public projects, including road building.

Fremantle Police Station and Roundhouse in 1850s

At this point, before further discussion of varied developments in Fitzgerald’s WA ‘reign’, it is important to explain the obvious. How on earth was he able to achieve so much and exactly how did he administer the colony? As Governor he took ultimate responsibility for all key developments in WA and was guided by London, but he had many functions to carry out besides the detailed grind of public administration. For example, a Governor of that era was rightly expected to play a central role in the social, cultural, ceremonial and spiritual life of the community. As will be revealed later Fitzgerald more than came up to standard in such matters. But the

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truth is that he had to overcome numerous specialised problems, although the imperial authorities in London usually provided quite solid financial support.

One key difficulty was that of the position of Colonial Secretary. Holders of the office were the right hand men of all WA Governors and took care of the mountains of correspondence and lesser administrative matters while their masters acted at a higher level.

Under Fitzgerald the position of Colonial secretary was always unstable and changed hands frequently because of promotions, mishaps or sudden deaths, leaving him with the extra burden of tackling many petty matters in order to get things done.

The nature of colonial government was another factor. Representative government did not arrive on the WA scene until 1890. Fitzgerald relied on an unelected Legislative Council to formulate local laws and ordinances, plus an appointed Executive Council to assist and advise him on just about everything under the sun. An additional twist was that everybody wore two hats – the Councils consisted of the same individuals but had to keep separate and distinct accounts of their functions.

The Governor and certain key public officials (eg, the senior military officer and the Colonial Secretary) were Council members, plus a number of unofficial members chosen from the WA community to make sure ‘colonial leaders’ had their say. Fitzgerald decided to appoint an extra three unofficial members in late 1850 and claimed they were sure to “represent the feelings and

opinions of the people”, but the very free and outspoken colonial press lambasted those chosen and caused one of them to resign.

It is surprising that critics did not comment on another obvious but amusing and perhaps even delicious aspect of early WA. It would be fair to describe our State as being an Irish as much as a British colony because the contributions of Irish people at all levels of society were outstanding right throughout the 19th Century. For example, at the highest level five out of the twelve Governors who held office from 1829 until the beginning of responsible government in 1890 were Irishmen.

Consider the situation in the time of our subject, Governor Fitzgerald of County Clare. He was not an anomaly, as just a handful of other examples during his time in office reveals. Lieutenant Colonel Frederick Irwin, Commandant of the colonial garrison – Fermanagh. Irwin’s successor as Commandant, Lieutenant Colonel John Bruce – Westmeath. John Augustus Conroy, Commissioner of Police – ultimately from Roscommon. Anthony O’Grady Lefroy, Private Secretary of the Governor – Limerick. George Fletcher Moore, Advocate General of the colony – Tyrone.

William Burges, Resident Magistrate at Champion Bay (Geraldton) – Clare. Richard Meares, Resident Magistrate in the Avon Valley – Westmeath. John Molloy, Resident Magistrate in the Vasse District – Offaly.

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“We were on site working as carpenters and saw the level of inexperienced workers that was being sent in through labour hire companies. They just weren’t experienced enough in the building and construction industry. We worked alongside these guys and I asked one of them how he managed to get work and the guy said through a labour hire company and was told to find someone who looked like they knew what they were doing and to stay close to them and he’d be fine. We both saw an opening to supply the building companies with better quality workers” added Martin Because of their insight and understanding of how the sector and sites work, Michael and Martin are well placed to find the right person for the job. “We screen candidates personally and make sure they are appropriate for the client’s needs. We try to find the right people for the job long term. We don’t want to put someone in a position if they don’t know what they doing and there are a lot of reasons why that has to be the case, such as productivity, health, safety and reputation” All Force need and can place a wide range of skilled occupations from formwork carpenters, machine operators, steel fixers, drainers, trades assistant etc. Although we focus on construction and mining sectors we also branch into warehouse and logistics, hospitality, administration, engineering, retail and other sectors through our diverse recruiters.

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Please, please help me... Last year I upgraded from Boyfriend to Husband and noticed a distinct slowdown in overall system performance, particularly in the flower and jewellery applications, which operated flawlessly under Boyfriend. In addition, Husband uninstalled many other valuable programmes, such as Romance and Personal Attention and then installed undesirable programs such as Cricket, Football, Golfing and Continuous TV. Conversation no longer runs and Housecleaning simply crashes the system. I’ve tried running Nagging to fix these problems, but to no avail. What can I do?

Dear Desperate, First keep in mind, Boyfriend is an Entertainment Package, while Husband is an Operating System.

Please enter the command: ‘http: I Thought You Loved Me.html’ and try to download Tears. Don’t forget to install the Guilt update. If that application works as designed, Husband should then automatically run the applications Jewellery and Flowers, but remember. Overuse of the above application can cause Husband to default to Grumpy Silence, Garden Shed or Beer. Beer is a very bad program that will download the Snoring Loudly Beta. Whatever you do, DO NOT install Mother-in-law (it runs a virus in the background that will eventually seize control of all your system resources). Also, do not attempt to reinstall the Boyfriend program. These are unsupported applications and will crash Husband. In summary, Husband is a great system, but it does have limited memory and cannot learn new applications quickly. It also tends to work better running one task at a time. You might consider buying additional software to improve memory and performance.

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AN AUSTRALIAN (IRISH) AUSTRIAN EXPERIENCE

BY OONAGH QUIGLEY

Oonagh Quigley with friends in Copenhagen

The delightful Danish songbird Emmelie de Forest won our hearts in 2013 with ‘Only Teardrops’. I was watching the broadcast from a holiday cottage in Margaret River. I had only been to Denmark a few weeks prior and fell in love with the Danish city. I had just the right amount of wine to decide that I would attend the Oonagh Quigley at a famous Copenhagen 2014 Eurovision landmard in Denmark. My sister who lives in Germany came along for the ride too. My cousin from Drogheda visited Perth in 2013 and caught my infectious enthusiasm for the plan and invited his friend. They met a Tipp man living in Switzerland at the airport and we all went to the show together. And so the Eurovision began its work of uniting Europe and the Irish Diaspora.

There were many opportunities to attend the Eurovision, there were semi finals, children shows, jury selection final and the big event itself – the final countdown. It took months of online queuing (I was either up late in Perth or my cousin was heading to work in Drogheda), but we finally got some tickets for the jury selection final. We got to see all the finalist countries perform for the judges that would decide who would be the best act. (West Australian talent Jessica Mauboy was sent over to represent Australia but unfortunately I did not see her perform, but she looked lovely on the replay).

The Eurovision was held in an old shipyard on the aptly named Eurovision Island. The Danes had spared no expense at refitting the large shed for the thousands of fans. I heard from a local they threw in a few extra million kroner to ensure there would be no pillars obscuring the view. The same local source commented on a bit of controversy on a current affairs television show about the Danes thinking it was a waste of resources as they were concerned about how much money would come back to the country. But the final word was that when you throw a party, you do not think about how much you spent preparing or what presents

you received, you only focus on the fun that was had.

And we had a glitter filled ball of fun that night on Eurovision Island!

We took the boat to the island and sampled some of the local beverages, found some Austrians and an Irish flag for a photo opportunity. At this stage Ireland was not in the final, so we decided to barrack for Conchita.

There were rumours if Conchita won, my sister’s Austrian boyfriend would ask her to get married.

Our seats were a bit far away from the stage but the atmosphere was electric and we were soon in the spirit of clapping and singing along. When Austria came to the stage we started to chant ‘Wurst, Wurst, Wurst!’ As we were at the jury selection final, there was no voting and we had no idea who would win. We headed back to our hotel in a rickshaw taxi, tired but happy.

The next day was the final and we went to Eurovision Village, a square in the centre of town that had a screen and a stage. And who was on that stage to warm up the crowd prior to the show? Johnny Logan!

Johnny is well known as an Irish export, even the Carlsberg Brewery barman knew about our star. Johnny was the consummate professional; he greeted the crowd in at least seven languages. You could see he loved representing Ireland and the way Eurovision brings nations together. He sang the three songs he wrote or performed that had won for Ireland. Then he was off to the island for the show. We stayed in the village until the weather got too Baltic. The rain did not dampen our spirits as we headed indoors to see the final votes in an Irish pub. When Conchita won we promised to attend Austria 2015. And who knows, there might even be a wedding!

Travelling back to Perth I had time to reflect on the whole experience. Some people considered the Eurovision as a political platform and booed Russia while loudly cheering for Ukraine. The song contest could also be viewed as the final comment on facial hair fashion – France’s entry ‘Moustache’ lost to Austria’s bearded lady. It appears the beard reigns over the moustache.

And what of next year; will Ireland merge elements of 2014 entrants to come up with a mighty Eurovision 2015 entry? Perhaps a bearded lady-farmer milking cows in a large hamster wheel surrounded by fire? We will find out soon enough.

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WA’s first choice when it comes to sound migration advice

Migration News Update It’s been a really busy 6 months in the world of Australian migration. The new Federal government is heavily focused on supporting Australian businesses needing to source skilled workers from overseas.

The HIA has persuaded the government to put Bricklayers and Wall & Floor Tilers back on the Skilled Occupations List (SOL), thank goodness! This will happen on 1st July 2014. The HIA is predicting 26,881 new home build starts this year, which is awesome news for the WA house building industry.

Chefs will also come back on the menu (SOL) on 1st July 2014. Western Australians just love to eat out, and why shouldn’t we! Life is far too short to spend every night cooking over a hot stove! Chefs trained in Ireland and the UK are in big demand in WA. It takes special training to cook real mushy peas!

convictions may well result in a permanent residence application being refused.

The Department of Immigration is processing some permanent residence applications in as little as 2 weeks. People wanting to stay permanently in Australia are encouraged to investigate their visa options at the earliest opportunity. Why spend 88 days picking spuds in Albany when you could be celebrating your PR with a holiday in Bali!

On a final note, if you have FETAC or City and Guilds qualifications (or similar) and someone tries to persuade you to pay a few thousand to get an Australian Cert III, please call us to find out whether you really need it for visa application purposes! No point wasting your money on something you don’t need!

Carol-Ann Lynch MARN 0320658

Carol-Ann P. Lynch LLB MMIA

Integrity is the new “buzz word” in migration. Department of Immigration case officers are closely scrutinizing all permanent residence applications to check whether applicants declared their convictions on previous visa applications, immigration entry cards etc. A few minor convictions won’t usually prevent someone from getting a working holiday visa or a 457 visa BUT undeclared

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PERTH CENTRE

Doing my family and Perth proud in Tralee

By Sinead Lehane, Perth Rose of Tralee 2014 So the adventure has begun and the countdown is on. In less than two months I will be on a plane en route to Dublin for the most incredible experience of my life. It seems like a lifetime ago I submitted my application to the Perth Rose Committee, not thinking of the outcome but of the wonderful opportunity to reconnect with my Irish roots.

I was apprehensive as to what to expect but also excited for the three months that lay ahead.

There are plenty of cliché descriptions I could use when reflecting on the Perth Festival this year but none would really do it justice – it was an incredible experience, and I met some of the most wonderful people I now consider friends.

My earliest memory of the Rose of Tralee is when Perth Rose Lisa Manning won the International Festival in 2001. I was twelve years old and remember the buzz in the Irish Club on her return to Perth. Working in the Irish Club six years later I often stopped in the Rose Room and admired the photos of Perth’s past Roses and their stories. While I dreamed of what it must be like to be one of these incredible women, I never imagined I would one day be joining them.

Any nervousness I had on applying soon disappeared when I met the other Rose entrants and the committee members in the Irish Club in early March. A casual evening, we shared our stories and Irish connections.

The excitement was contagious and I was instantly captivated by the intelligent, beautiful women I shared so much in common with.

From participating in the St Patrick’s Day Parade, attending a cocktail evening at Parliament House, the family day at Houghton’s Winery and the Rosebud Disco & Sundowner at the WA Rowing Club, the festival was a whirlwind of events and socialising. I’ve spoken with Ministers on local politics, danced the Macarena with my beautiful Rosebud Bella and celebrated what it means to be an Irish-Australian with my family and friends.

Our first event at Parliament House was also the first time we met the judges. The red files they carried gave

Sinead is congratulated by 2013 Rose Jean O’Riordan

them away and I had no idea what to expect at the group interview that night. Needless to say it was a relief to realise that like everyone else involved in the festival they were warm, welcoming and put us all at ease.

Thankfully this made it easy to forget we were being judged and allowed us all to relax and be ourselves.

A highlight for me was meeting my Rosebud Isabella and her wonderful family at the Houghton’s Family Day. It was such a pleasure getting to know them and I had a fantastic time with Bella and her friends at the Disco with all the other Roses and Rosebuds. It was also very special sharing the start of the Rose Ball with Bella

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A very happy grandmother congratulates Sinead

and her parents.

The week leading up to the ball was surreal. The final event was just around the corner; the anticipation was palpable but the sadness that accompanies an experience drawing to a close grew as the day edged closer. The Saturday prior to the ball we joined Frank and Gerry for an early morning chat on their radio show ‘Songs for Ireland’. We had a blast spending the morning in the studio and it set the tone for the rest of the week.

The same day was our individual interviews with the judges at the Irish Club. I was thankful to be one of the first up, not leaving me much time to over think the interview.

As it turns out there was nothing to worry about and I spent an enjoyable half hour talking about many of the things I love most in life. If only all interviews could be as interactive and fun!

The Monday before the ball my boyfriend had to take a last minute trip home, leaving me escort-less. Luckily I have two younger brothers; my brother Kieran stepped in without a second thought and was a great sport in the lead up. It helped that I omitted from early conversations with him the fact he’d have to dance with me if I was selected as Perth Rose. That little surprise was sprung on him Thursday at the rehearsal night but he graciously accepted his role and while, like every Rose entrant a part of me hoped I would be selected, I reassured him we probably wouldn’t have to dance.

The Rose Ball was at the idyllic Frasers in Kings Park.

The atmosphere was electric, the excitement tangible. Nerves and spirits were high and the committee had thought of every detail. The night blurred past, being last up for

the on-stage interviews my nerves built as one after the other the girls went up. Finally it was my turn, I walked up and within what felt like a heartbeat I was back at my seat. Thankfully my family had the media (cameras and video) covered otherwise I’d never remember what it was I actually said on stage!

I can’t describe how I felt when my name was called out. It took me a few seconds to realise I’d actually been selected and that I was going to the international festival. After such an incredible three months being selected as the Perth Rose was the icing on the cake! It is such an honour to represent the Perth Irish community and my family.

The success of the entire festival is thanks to all the hard work of the committee, the judges and the ongoing support from sponsors, the Irish community and all of the Rose entrants’ friends and family. I don’t think I could thank any of them enough for their time, energy and dedication to this year’s festival.

Having grown up living and breathing GAA here in Perth, this opportunity to reconnect with my Irish heritage through such an uplifting, celebratory festival has been a dream come true. I am so thankful the GAA was my sponsor for the Perth festival; it was this community who embraced me as Irish and taught me what that meant.

Since my selection I’ve been preparing for Tralee and enjoying my life amongst the clouds. No amount of arm pinching has helped with reality, but the memories will not soon be forgotten. In between making sure I have enough dresses, shoes and jackets for August (and wondering how they’ll all fit in my suitcase), I’ve been invited to attend a number of events and am organising a team for the Perth City to Surf on August 31st to raise money for those in need of support within the Irish Community.

The next twelve months are shaping up to be the busiest, most spontaneous and exciting twelve months of my life. I read an article recently from a Dublin-born journalist based in London who on meeting a 2013 Rose said “whatever it [the Rose of Tralee] projects, it 21

is a reflection of the values and aspirations of those who make the choice to become involved”. This to me sums up what being a Rose is all about.

Being selected as the Perth Rose is an incredible opportunity to demonstrate what it means to be a young Irish-Australian woman living in Perth. Each Rose brings something unique to the role and I hope to do my family and Perth proud in Tralee and for the next twelve months!

Sinead Lehane

Sinead being interviewed

by Marty Kavanagh

Perth Rose of Tralee Copyright Fred Rea

Perth Rose of Tralee You’re as fair as can be Your charm and beauty it beams When the pale moon does rise O’er the soft Irish sky Sweet Perth Rose Our hearts will be with thee As the cool shades come down On that old Kerry town The sun will be beaming in Perth For our Rose will win hearts Though oceans apart Sweet Perth Rose we’ll think of thee Though lovely and fair In the soft Kerry air Not your beauty alone that we’ll see It’s the truth in your eye That will light up the sky Our lovely Perth Rose of Tralee.

Photo Courtesy: www.nagitography.com

PERTH CENTRE

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24

DAVE MILLS...

Love is a Beautiful Song...

A short while ago I received a phone call from my good friend Dave Mills telling me that he wanted to say goodbye. He told me he had received bad news from his doctor. I went to visit Dave and spent a short time with him. He was having difficulty remembering things and this was all part of his health issues. We chatted about performing, the races and golf, his three great loves after his family. We shook hands and I was on my way. I did make a few attempts to contact Dave after that visit but little did I know that his illness moved very quickly and he had moved to stay with his daughter Helen.

Dave performing at the

Last November Dave Mighty Quinn accepted my invitation to perform for the Irish senior’s day at the Mighty Quinn and gave a wonderful performance. It was as if he knew this was to be the last time he would strut the stage. He sang his hit song Love Is a Beautiful Song and stole the show, he was brilliant. He finished his spot with My Way, and one could see the power of his performance especially towards the end of the song. Dave had left his glasses behind at The Quinn and Tony Synnott took them to him. Dave told Tony that the reaction of the audience brought back wonderful memories. Dave was a star!

At the following Irish senior’s gathering in the Mighty Quinn I was asked repeatedly if Dave would be performing but little did I know that my good friend had passed away a few days earlier.

Dave Mills was born on the 20th of August in 1935 and passed away on the 14th May, 2014. He was the son of James and Ellen from Co Mayo, Brother of Paddy, Michael, Peggy, Jimmy, Mary, John and Eileen and Father to Helen and Gavin.

His daughter Helen’s farewell to a loving father...

“Rest in peace at last Dad. You were larger than life, passionate about everything you did and generous to a fault. You have always been there for me and I will miss you dearly”.

Dave was very, very proud of his Irish heritage.!

Slan Abhaile a Chara! Fred Rea

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WAGS

Western Australian Genealogical Society Inc.

Tracing your Irish Family History?

Are you struggling to find out more about your Irish ancestors? You are certainly not alone! Come and join with others on the same journey.

The Irish Special Interest Group of the Western Australian Genealogical Society (WAGS) meets four times a year on a Sunday afternoon at 4/48 May St Bayswater.

The next meeting will be on Sunday 20 July from 2.00-4.30pm and the guest speaker is none other than Irish Scene’s, Fred Rea. Fred has had an abiding interest in local, social and family history and will speak on, From Ireland to Australia – shadows of the past.

When Fred migrated from Cork to Australia he thought he was the only one in his family to do so. Later he began researching his family history and found he was not the first at all. Even if you are not yet a WAGS member you are welcome to come and join us for the day.

The following Irish Special Interest Group meeting, on 19 October, will be Research Day. After a brief meeting we’ll all hit the WAGS computers and library with our research notes and guides in hand, and see if we can help each other break down another brick or two in that Irish brick wall.

WAGS membership is open to anyone interested in any aspect of genealogy and family history, whether in Western Australia or worldwide. Membership

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offers many benefits. As well as access to the society’s journal Western Ancestor, the members website area, activities and courses, the book-shop, the well-stocked international library and resource centre and computers with subscriptions to ten genealogical websites including Ancestry and FindMyPast, members can get help in their research and meet others with a similar addiction to family history.

Irish Special Interest Group convenor, Jenni E irish@wags.org.au W http://membership.wags.org.au/

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Australian Irish Dancing Association Inc. WESTERN AUSTRALIA Just as some of our dancers returned from 2014 World Irish Dancing Championships in London, a large contingent were practicing for a number of interstate competitions. The biggest of these was the inaugural Australian International Oireachtas, held on the Gold Coast, with competitors travelling from all over Australia, as well as from New Zealand, England, Ireland and even the United States. It proved a tough competition but Western Australia’s Irish dancers certainly held their own in a world class field. All our dancers represented their schools and state well, with special congratulations to Luke Hanson & Lachlan Moroney (2nd), Tim Robinson (3rd), Griffyn Ryan & Taylor Pymm (4th) and Dakota Courtney (5th) on their fabulous top 5 placing’s.

This competition was followed by the Gold Coast Feis and Darcy Guazzelli managed to place 7th in her age group.

Other dancers braved a change in climate from sunny Queensland and tried to impress in Melbourne at the McAleer Championships. Ciara-Mae Crone (2nd) and Sinead Daly (3rd) were able to impress the judges with their skills but a very special congratulations to Taylor

Want to Learn Irish Dancing?

If you ever wanted to know anything about Irish dancing, Perth is definitely in the right place. Irish Dance schools here have put together a huge resource on everything to do with Irish dancing. So whether you are beginner or you want to know more about improving your dancing Perth schools have everything you need to know right here.

See all the contacts on the left of this page!

Pymm who was placed 1st in her age group in what was a very tight competition!

What a busy time it has been for our local Irish dancers and their families! And with everyone now in full preparation mode for the 2014 Western Australian Irish Dancing Championships, our dancers are working hard to ensure they are ready and raring to go, come the end of July. The Championships will be held at Curtin Theatre, Ellen Street, Fremantle from 25 – 27 July. If you are interested in attending the Championships to see WA’s top dancers in action, contact AIDA WA Secretary, Siobhan Cummins at aidawa@aida.com or 0422 075 300 for further information.

Additional AIO Results Trinity Ryan (6th), Elleanor Purser (7th), Nancy Holohan (=8th), Stella Ashley & Brittany Tyson (9th), Brittany Pymm (=10th), Aimee Chanter & Jenna Jordan (13th), Tiah Courtney & Isobel Ashley (17th), Tara Collis (24th)

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27

The baking & breaking of bread

IRISH BAKERY

Bread is a fundamental of life and fresh bread is one of life’s Sharon Harron simple joys. Combine these two things and you whet an appetite and love that will last a lifetime.

Sharon Harron came to Perth five years ago with her husband Robert and three children Catherine, Ross and Kirsty from their home in Aghalee, Co. Armagh.

As anyone who has made a similar move will know it is a major decision to go, but in leaving we don’t leave everything behind.

Sharon has started a new business here, but the origins of her enterprise stretch back to her early childhood and reveal something of a family tradition.

“My grandmother Hetty used to bake during WWII and sell from the front room of her house in a little street in Belfast,” said Sharon. “We grew up on her cakes and breads and I’ve brought those recipes with me over here.

I always baked for my family but just last year I decided I wanted to share my breads, so I started off doing brown loaves, soda farls, cakes and pastries.”

Hetty’s Scullery, Sharon’s business, is named in honour of her grandmother. “She never called her kitchen, a kitchen, it was always her Scullery. I love the name and I have all her recipes, so it seemed to be a perfect name.”

It wasn’t until much later in life that Sharon - who is a qualified chef who trained at Lisburn College in Co. Antrim - discovered Hetty had written down her recipes, something she treasures now.

Now having built a new house last year she is baking from her own scullery and applying her own techniques and tricks to her own creations. “The flour in Ireland is coarser, here its more refined. People think my breads are out of a bag of Odlums flour, but its not. I have a secret ingredient, a handmade concoction that seems to work. I make my own buttermilk too, the buttermilk here isn’t the same as at home.”

Her products are available from Essence of Ireland and can be ordered from the UK Central shop in Joondalup - which is owned as it happens by a Belfast man.

Sharon’s return to the taste of her childhood, looks set to continue thanks to at least one of her children.

“The younger ones are great and want to help where they can but Catherine has just turned 17 and is in training to be pastry chef. She’s very involved and a great help and I’m learning things off her too, which is wonderful.”

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Call Sharon on 0416 365 099 Email: hettysscullery@gmail.com Facebook: Hettys Scullery Irish Bread Parties and Functions Catering

28

North & South of the Liffey

By Marie Moloney

The River Liffey is a significant geographical feature of Dublin, the capital city of Ireland. It divides the city into what is commonly thought of as the north and the south side. The cultural and social divide between north and south side had a strong presence during my childhood. Comments such as, “That’s on the north side” or “I live on the south side” were frequent when discussing location.

The Liffey begins its journey in the Wicklow Mountains and flows through the city of Dublin into the Irish Sea. From the bridge which in my childhood was known as Kingsbridge all the way down to Butt Bridge the Liffey is flanked on both sides by a dreary looking grey wall.

My home was a just few feet away from Capel Street Bridge. Inner city life in Dublin in the 1940’s meant cramped living accommodation for most of us. Like many other children of that time a lot of my waking hours were spent on the streets in all kinds of weather. This created a strong connection to the surrounding culture and heritage which as a child I took for granted.

I spent many hours walking up one side of the river and down the other gazing into the dank grimy water. The barges from Guinness Brewery were a common sight on their way to the docks to deliver the beer for export. Also common was the array of local children hanging over the Liffey walls yelling at the long suffering crew. This walk offered many items of interest, on

the Northside. The Four Courts attracted me but my efforts to gain entry were always thwarted by the watchful eyes a doorman. Down beyond Butt Bridge is The Custom House a magnificent neoclassical building which I admired often while out walking with my father.

On the Southside of the bridge City Hall stands at the far end of Parliament Street and on the corner of Parliament St and Wood Quay is the beautiful Sunlight Building.

“The Liffey Swim” is an annual event which started in 1920. In 1923 Jack Butler Yeats painted a now famous picture of the event. This painting hangs in The National Art Gallery of Ireland in Dublin.

I was always one of the hundreds of observers hanging over the wall each year watching the participants struggling through the murky polluted water.

One day when I was about eleven years old Mrs Scott a neighbour, came running up the stairs and banged on the door shouting to my mother ‘Mrs Kelly! There is a body in the Liffey. The police are there.’

I darted toward the back of the door and grabbed my coat off the hook.

“Where are you going Marie”? My mother asked, ‘Oh just out to play in Smock Ally,’ I replied, knowing full well that this was not a convincing lie.

‘If you are going out take Rosaleen with you,’ she said while putting a coat on my four year old sister. I sighed with impatience, wishing that just for once I could

29

go exploring on my own. ‘Don’t take Rosaleen near the Liffey, do you hear me?’ she said as we went out the door.

“Ok,” I replied and went down the stairs as quickly as I could dragging my little sister behind me. We ran out to the street and turned left, quickly walking to the corner, where a crowd was gathering to watch as several men frantically searched the cold dirty water of the river. With Rosaleen in tow I fought my way across the narrow road and managed to squeeze into a space at the wall.

Next to us were a group of corner boys, that was the term used to describe the long-time unemployed who spent their days loitering around street corners. Today they stood at the Liffey wall quietly watching the procedures with cigarettes hanging from their lips the ash dropping down into the murky waters. As the search continued the agitation along the wall increased. Women could be seen wiping their eyes with their sleeves and holding their children close to them with unusual fondness for harried mothers of eight or nine children. Suddenly there were shouts and increased activity from the men in the water, and a bundle was taken from the river amid cries of anguish from the crowd. It was a small boy, just eight years old. I never found out who he was but I do know my sister was very distressed and I still wish I had not taken her to the Liffey that day. These days The Liffey although not pristine is a lot cleaner than my childhood memory of it.

IN EXILE

by: Mary Elizabeth Blake (1840-1907) The green is on the grass and the blue is in the sky, And the soft, wet winds of April hurry by; The earth laughs loud to the waves upon the shore, But I’m sad for the land I shall never see more.

And often in the night time and often in the day I know by the tears that my heart is far away; I know by the tears that my heart is longing sore For the fair lost land I shall never see more.

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Peace is here and plenty, -- O the glad relief! – With laughing of the children between my soul and grief; Sorrow is behind us and happy days before, -But God be with the land I shall never see more!

And deep shame upon me that any one should hear!

The black cloud is gone of the hunger and the fear, The black care that sat like a wolf beside the door In the far, far land I shall never see more.

Ever Blessed Savior! be not wroth with me!

For all Thy gifts and mercies, praise and glory be; But the shadow’s in my eyes for the little one I bore, Who’s asleep in the land I shall never see more.

“In Exile” is reprinted from The Little Book of American Poets: 1787-1900. Ed. Jessie B. Rittenhouse. Cambridge: Riverside Press, 1915.

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“Even if there were only two men left in the world and both of them saints they wouldn’t be happy.

One them would be bound to try and improve the other. That is the nature of things.”

Frank O’Connor

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D/L No. 6061

For Ireland & Irish Companies – The Future is Bright Down Under!

The Irish Government agencies supporting the globalisation of Irish companies and attracting of inward investment, Enterprise Ireland & IDA Ireland are confident that Ireland is well on its way to economic recovery.

Export levels are now significantly higher than the pre-crisis peak in 2007 and net job creation was higher in 2013 than it has been for ten years.

The Australian market is playing an important role in Ireland’s

recovery; “The value of the economic relationship between Ireland & Australia is stronger now than at any time in our respective nation’s history”, says Enterprise Ireland Director Australia/New Zealand, Mr Paul Burfield. “In the last 5 years, the number of Irish companies active across this region has grown from less than 50 to more than 150 with an increase in exports to this market of almost 90% to a value exceeding $530m. This growth is particularly strong in WA where we are delighted to have recently opened a new office.”

Aisling O’Carroll, IDA Ireland Director for Australia also commented “2013 was a record year for IDA Ireland with employment in

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multinational companies in Ireland at its highest ever levels.”

Both agencies rely heavily on the strength of their business networks to support the achievement of their respective objectives. Mr Burfield commented, “its all about contacts, we rely heavily on our networks to support the core objective of our organisations, being driving export growth that is aligned to job growth in Ireland.”

And you can be a part of Ireland’s economic resurgence! If you feel that you are in a position to support the growth of Irish companies across this market or to assist Australian companies grow their international business through a base in Ireland please email your contact details to Christopher.littlewood@enterpriseireland.com and we will keep you connected.

There’s no business like Showbusiness for Sarah Sarah Guilmartin took business studies at the Dublin Institute of Technology but without knowing it at the time the young Killiney woman was laying down the foundations for a professional career in an entirely different type of business. While she was a student at DIT (2003-2007) she also undertook singing studies at the Royal Irish Academy of Music.

Sarah got her honours degree in business studies but continued with full time music performance studies at the Academy. During this time Sarah – who was recently a guest on Songs for Ireland on Radio Fremantle with Frank Murphy – followed in the footsteps of her great-uncle (Eddie Guilmartin) and began performing with the famous amateur Rathmines and Rathgar Musical Society which last year celebrated 100 years of staging productions and performances for the denizens of the capital city. Before long she was playing principal roles including Valencienne in The Merry Widow, Casilda in The Gondoliers and Gigi and My Fair Lady at the National Concert Hall and the Gaiety Theatre in Dublin.

“This was a wonderful training ground and is where I discovered my love of singing and performance,” she said.

Being on stage came naturally and easily to Sarah who found this to her advantage for another entirely different form of entertainment. In 2006 she was crowned the Dublin Rose and took part in the Rose of Tralee festival. “It was a once in a life time experience I will never forget,” she

added. In the lead up to festival Sarah was invited to sing Ireland’s Amhrán na bhFiann to 80,000 spectators and live on television at the All Ireland football quarter final between Dublin and West Meath in Croke Park. She also performed at the Dome in Tralee singing “I Could Have Danced all Night’ to a worldwide television audience.

After the heady experience of being a Rose, and graduating, Sarah came to Australia in 2008 where she met her partner Jake.

Five years ago she made the decision to live in Perth and once settled in her adopted home it didn’t take her long to find her voice. She continued her singing lessons which led her to the West Australian Academy of Music Performance (WAAPA). Here she commenced her post graduate diploma in music performance under the tutelage of Patricia Price, graduating with a high distinction in March 2011. In 2012 Sarah became a Young Artist with the West Australian Opera and will make her role debut with the company as First Lady in Mozart’s The Magic Flute in July.

As a young artist with the West Australian Opera she has already performed in their productions of Die Fledermaus, The Tales of Hoffman and The Pearl Fishers.

Sarah sang the soprano role in Rossini’s Petite Messe Solennelle at St. Georges Cathedral in Perth 2011. Other engagements include Art Song Perth Recital and with West Australian Opera; Morning Melodies concert series, Exploring Opera, Lucia di Lammermoor,

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Opera Under the Stars and Madame Butterfly all in 2012.

“West Australian Opera engages in the essential task of nurturing and developing new generations of operatic artists who will continue to expand the vision of all that opera can be,” she said.

Sarah has been a Wesfarmers Young Artist since 2012, a programme that seeks the most promising young artists to equip them with the skills and artistry to understand and build on the great operatic traditions. It has allowed her to focus on becoming a professional opera singer. She is supported through lessons, coachings and masterclasses with international artists. She has had many performance opportunities with West Australian Opera in Madama Butterfly, La Traviata, Lucia di Lammermoor, Die Fledermaus, The Tales of Hoffman, The Pearl Fishers, Morning Melodies, 4Art Festival and Opera in Albany. Sarah performed the role of Cio-Cio-San with the West Australian Symphony Orchestra at His Majesty’s theatre as part of West Australian Opera’s Exploring Opera.

Sarah can also claim appearances as guest soprano for a number of concerts in both Ireland and Australia. She performed for example on ‘The Priests’ world tour at the Sydney Entertainment Centre in 2009, with the 3 Irish Tenors, The Cantabile Singers Dublin, The Mandurah Proms,

Exploring Operate (West Australian Opera) and Art Song Perth.

Now she is facing into another exciting stage of her career, but she needs a little help to get there. In September 2013 as part of the West Australian Opera Young Artists programme she travelled to New York for a two week residency. During this time Sarah performed as a soloist for the Metropolitan Opera Club of New York. Joseph Colaneri, the Artistic Director of West Australian Opera is based in New York where he heads the opera program at the Mannes New School for Music. During her time there Sarah worked with respected teachers from the Mannes School and the Metropolitan Opera and subsequently was offered a position to study on the professional studies course at Mannes, beginning in September this year. She is thrilled by this incredible opportunity and is very excited to re-locate to New York. Sarah is actively fundraising for this venture and would appreciate your support. You can contact her directly through email – sarahguilmartin@hotmail.com or check out her professional facebook page – www.facebook. com/sarahguilmartinsoprano.

“But my dear young lady,” he said offering a cigarette, “who ever said I have a poor opinion of women? On the contrary, I have a very high opinion of women, and the more I see of them the more I like them.”

Frank O’Connor, Collected Stories

As I’ve aged...

“As I’ve aged, I’ve become kinder to myself, and less critical of myself.

I’ve become my own friend.

I have seen too many dear friends leave this world, too soon; before they understood the great freedom that comes with aging.

Whose business is it, if I choose to read, or play, on the computer, until 4 AM, or sleep until noon? I will dance with myself to those wonderful tunes of the 50, 60 & 70’s and if I, at the same time, wish to weep over a lost love, I will.

I will walk the beach, in a swim suit that is stretched over a bulging body, and will dive into the waves, with abandon, if I choose to, despite the pitying glances from the jet set. They, too, will get old.

I know I am sometimes forgetful. But there again, some of life is just as well forgotten. And, I eventually remember the important things.

Sure, over the years, my heart has been broken. How can your heart not break, when you lose a loved one, or when a child suffers, or even when somebody’s beloved pet gets hit by a car? But, broken hearts are what give us strength, and understanding, and compassion. A heart never broken, is pristine, and sterile, and will never know the joy of being imperfect.

I am so blessed to have lived long enough to have my hair turning gray and to have my youthful laughs be forever etched into deep grooves on my face. So many have never laughed, and so many have died before their hair could turn silver. As you get older, it is easier to be positive. You care less about what other people think. I don’t question myself anymore.

I’ve even earned the right to be wrong. So, to answer your question, I like being old. It has set me free. I like the person I have become. I am not going to live forever, but while I am still here, I will not waste time lamenting what could have been, or worrying about what will be. And I shall eat dessert every single day (if I feel like it)”.

MAY FRIENDSHIPS NEVER COME APART, ESPECIALLY WHEN IT’S STRAIGHT FROM THE HEART !

Is drinking costing you MORE than money?

Help is available!

Alcoholics Anonymous is a fellowship of men and women who share their experience, strength and hope with each other that they may solve their common problem and help others to recover from alcoholism.

The only requirement for membership is a desire to stop drinking. There are no dues or fees for AA membership; we are self-supporting through our own contributions. AA is not allied with any sect, denomination, politics, organisation or institution, does not wish to engage in any controversy, neither endorses nor opposes any causes. Our primary purpose is to stay sober and help other alcoholics to achieve sobriety.

Contact: Alcoholics Anonymous,

24 Hour Helpline Ph: 9325 3566 • www.aaperth.wa.org

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West Coast Eagles Continue to Support Irish Sport Students The West Coast Eagles in Perth have supported Irish sports science students for over fourteen years.

Every year, a student is chosen to spend eight months with the team and they get invaluable insight into the science of AFL sport.

The latest recruit is Colm O’Hare who hails from Ballinacourty in Co Waterford. Colm told The Irish Scene, “I go to college in University of Limerick studying Sports Science and have been over here since January and will return to Ireland in August”.

Colm plays hurling and football in Waterford. “My two older brothers play hurling and football as well. My dad didn’t play but he had a keen interest in our club and is a sponsor. He and my mother would go to all the games”.

Colm is studying Sports Science in Limerick and in his third year and in the second semester students go on placement for seven or eight months. “Someone has come to the Eagles for the past thirteen years and I am the fourteenth to get the opportunity”.

Perth and the West Coast Eagles is a popular amongst the students at Limerick University. Colm said, “Sports Science placements are good because you get to go to sports industries and teams and things and the one you always hear about is the West Coast Eagles.

It is probably the best known one. There were only ten of us out of sixty in our year that actually went for the interviews in the end because some people don’t want to live away from home for that length of time, or financial costs etc”. Colm told us his parents had mixed feelings when hearing he was going for seven or eight months.

“They were happy that I got it and they know it is good experience and sets me up for the future hopefully”.

Colm also told us that students that have come here and gone back, have all done pretty well. “One was working for Cardiff City in the Premier League until recently. A couple were working with the Welsh International Rugby Team as strength and conditioning coaches and another couple have their own businesses, they own gyms and personal training set ups back home. There are still a few that are studying, gaining experience. I know there is one in Harvard University in the USA “He is on a kind of internship gaining experience and knowledge. It seems that when you have this kind of placement on your CV it always looks good, working with a professional team and the fact that you

Trevor Perriam, Colm O’Hare, Jacob Brennan Dave Feehan

have moved away from home as well. It is a big thing to show that you can live away from home and you don’t need to be looked after by mammy and daddy”.

I asked Colm about the attitude to Sports Science in Irish teams. He said “The only teams I was involved with before were hurling and football so it is all amateur.

The main thing when I came here was the amount of staff behind the scenes working at training. There could be up to twenty staff there including physios, coaches.

Each person has their own particular job whereas at home that would be one manager and he is trying to do everything. It is in more detail and the players do listen a lot more”.

I was interested in the surge of Co Clare in the hurling in Ireland, was it that they were more motivated or did they approach training differently.

Colm answered, “I don’t really know because I hadn’t heard or seen anything with their training but it does seem they bought into coach Davy Fitzgerald’s idea and what he wanted to do. I think it is important that any team has to have great faith in their coach and try to work as hard as they can in every session. Clare did last year, it showed in the finals. They always had the belief they were going to win”. Colm had heard that a couple of teams have started to use the GPS units. “It is more the money in Ireland because with sports science to be using GPS and things like that you need to have a full time person taking all the notes, reading and data off the players and when it is an amateur association and

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the players aren’t full time, it is hard to do that. The GPS units can cost a lot of money to run”.

While I was waiting for Colm, the Eagles were training and as they left the ground, he was recording their self-prognosis on how they felt after the session. “I was getting their soft tissue score which is how they rate if their body is sore or not. It is on a scale of one to ten. Seven to ten, they are feeling good and if it goes below that might feel a bit of pain an injury. We use it to get a general idea how the squad is feeling. We also take an RPE (Rate Perceived Exertion)”.

Colm said that players could keep saying they feel good but with the amount of staff involved at the Eagles, they would notice if they any limp or are not running properly.

“Even if the player is feeling sore and he tells us he is not, he would go for treatment and during a massage they would pick up there is something wrong there. With the GPS we can tell straight away, even during the game if the running is dropping off. It shows up”.

Colm also told us that he had learnt nearly as much in the five months he has been here as he did in the two and a half years at University. “It is more putting the practical side to it and learning how it is actually used and implemented in real life situations. We had heard about the GPS units and we know how to work them but actually getting the hands on experience of using them and putting them in and doing all the analysis afterwards builds a better base”.

Even though Colm has a love for hurling and football, because he works a lot of Saturdays, has not been able to play but goes to a few matches with some friends to watch when he gets a chance.

So, it’s back to Limerick for Colm in late August and he said the next two and a half months here will be enjoyed. “I am over half way through my stay, it is flying by really. It took a few weeks to settle in mainly because of the heat.

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weather”. He keeps in touch with his parent’s regularly using Skype, Facebook and texting so, as he said, “I still know everything that is going on. I probably talk to them more while I am here than when I am in Limerick. I get more messages and phone calls when I am here. I go to college in Limerick and would be gone from Sunday to Friday and I wouldn’t hear a word and I wouldn’t try to contact them”.

I was interested in Colm’s opinion on the attitude of the GAA as an organisation ever accepting more of GPS’s and Sports Science and start putting money into the clubs. “I think if it is brought in it could upset the balance of the GAA because the bigger counties and bigger teams would be able to afford it because they get the biggest amount off the GAA. Then the smaller counties and clubs might not be able to keep up. I couldn’t see it coming in to all thirty two counties”.

Colm will have a week’s break when he returns home and then go back to college until next May. “That will be my four years done and I will have my degree. I haven’t really thought a lot about what I will do beyond that. There is a Masters you can do in Sports Performance which is more kind of coaching, strength conditioning. You still have GPS and sports science

35

conditioning which gives more of a variety of things to do. Even after that, I never want to leave Ireland full time so I would probably look at going somewhere for experience, maybe America for a couple of years then coming back to Ireland eventually. They have college teams over there”.

My last question to Colm, “Will you be recommending Australia to your friends” and his reply, “Yes, most definitely”.

Over the years we have interviewed students from Ireland at the Eagles and Colm is just like the rest, great kids with a great attitude.

We would like to acknowledge the support given to the Irish students of Glenn Stewart, High Performance Manager at the West Coast Eagles. Glenn went to Ireland last year and caught up with some the former students who spent time at the club. Thank you Glenn and the students we have interviewed have always spoken very highly of you and your professionalism approach to your job. Also thanks to Dave Feehan who arranges the times for the interviews.

“I was always a great believer in buttered toast.”

Frank O’Connor, Collected Stories

“Irish Supergroup” - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

“unique style of folk ’n’ roll” - Boston Globe

High Praise for the High Kings The renowned Irish Multi Platinum Folk band The High Kings will be touring Australia in September/ October this year in support of their latest album Friends For Life. Featuring the cream of the Irish scene, Brian Dunphy (son of Sean Dunphy of The Hoedowners), Finbarr Clancy (son of Bobby Clancy of The Clancy Brothers), Martin Furey (son of Finbar Furey of The Fureys) & Darren Holden, the musical background of this foursome has seen its members perform in acclaimed music outfits/ theatre such as The Clancy Brothers, The Three Irish Tenors, Riverdance and ‘Movin’ Out’ (The songs of Billy Joel), while as The High Kings they have toured & sold out venues consistently through Ireland, Europe and the US (including a US tour supporting Celtic Woman). The ballad group’s fourth album Friends For Life (produced by Irish musical Legend Sharon Shannon), captures the essence of the ensemble’s energetic sound of ‘folk n roll’. Don’t miss The High Kings when they get to Perth on 14th October 2014 at the Crown Theatre in the Crown complex in Burswood.

I’ll be there and I am looking forward to this one.

Colin Merrey

Australian Tour Date and Venues

SEPTEMBER Friday September 19 Eatons Hill, Brisbane QLD Saturday September 20 Maroochy RSL, Maroochydore QLD Sunday September 21 Empire Theatre, Toowoomba QLD Tuesday September 23 Southport Sharks, Gold Coast QLD Wednesday September 24 Glasshouse, Port Macquarie NSW Thursday September 25 Panthers, Newcastle NSW Friday September 26 Southern Cross Club, Canberra ACT Saturday September 27 Dee Why RSL, Dee Why NSW Sunday September 28 Rooty Hill RSL, Rooty Hill NSW Tuesday September 30 Albury Entertainment Centre, Albury NSW OCTOBER Wednesday October 1 Eastbank Centre, Shepparton VIC Thursday October 2 Wendouree Ctr for Performing Arts, Ballarat VIC Friday October 3 The Palms, Melbourne VIC Saturday October 5 Crown Perth, Perth WA

'Friends for Life' Tour

SUNDAY 5 OCT

CROWN THEATRE PERTH Tickets available at ticketek.com.au Go to thehighkings.com for more details ALBUM OUT NOW

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By Lloyd Gorman

ISTEACH SA TEACH

Treasurers get their proverbs mixed up

WA’s rookie treasurer Dr Mike Nahan claims to have listened to the Irish community in Perth, but you have to wonder how much he heard. In a debate in parliament (May 21) Dr Nahan - who took over the job of running the state’s finances from Troy Buswell (a short time before the budget was announced) - said: “We heard a lot of concerns from the Filipino and Irish communities, which is one reason we altered our approach [to the question of charging the children of 457 visa holders to attend public schools]. When the government announced it would charge these workers several thousand dollars for each of their children to attend schools the Irish community and many others rose up and objected. You might think from what he said here that the government has really changed its position on the issue but parents here on the 457 visas are still going to be slugged quite a bit when a delayed charge comes into effect.

Dr Nahan went for what you might call (in tax terms) the ‘Double Irish’ on the same day.

Perhaps he thought he would be clever, or witty, by quoting what he obviously thought was a bit of Irish wisdom. He was asked

by Fran Logan, Labor MoP (Member of Parliament) about the $100 million débâcle at Synergy over its plans to switch over to a new billing system and where that mess was currently at.

“There is an old Irish saying,” Dr Nahan said. “If I wanted to go

there, I wouldn’t start where we are now. That is a lot of money and clearly it is in excess of what they would have expected back in 2009.” The Doctor (of economics) is a smart man but he seems oblivious to the real origins of his ‘saying’, which is an old joke about a tourist getting directions in Ireland from a sardonic local.

Budget time seems to have brought out the Irish in the federal treasurer Joe Hockey, something of a newbie to the job himself, with this being his first budget to hand down. In trying to sell his budget to the Australian people Hockey said it was important that everyone was asked to do their share. “We do so because—and I understand this is an old Irish saying—you fix the roof while the sun is shining,” said Hockey. “In this case we have $667 billion of debt. If we do not start the process now of trying to ensure that we never get to that level, then the pain associated with dealing with it in a few years time is going to be far greater.”

It sounds like he might have been thinking of the proverb about making hay while the sun shines. So at least he was a bit closer to the meaning of what he was trying to say, but it still sounds like something he made up out of the top of his head thinking that it was something that sounds good.

But back in the WA parliament there was at least one MoP who was able to talk direct from the horses mouth, so to speak. Peter Watson, Labor, who represents Albany was

37

giving a wrap up of sports events in his electorate (on May 13). MoP Watson revealed the story of an Irish jockey.

“In late 2011, local jockey Edward Creighton won the great southern jockey’s premiership,” said Watson. “Eddie moved from Ireland to Albany with his family to ride in the great southern. I had the opportunity to help get him here, so it was great to see him and his young family. But his life was set to be turned upside down after a season of racing when the Department of Training and Workforce Development removed jockeys from its list of occupations eligible for sponsorship. He had the choice of moving to Canberra if he wanted to stay in Australia and continue to ride, or going back to Ireland. Fortunately, with the help of his employer, Steve Wolfe, he was able to nominate as an eligible migrant to Skilled Migration Western Australia, and he is eligible for permanent residency.”

There’s probably at least one seanfhocal that would describe the story of Eddie’s experience at the fickle hands of the government system. You can’t make a racehorse out of a donkey is one that sort of fits the bill. But it seems the powers that be are more than capable of making donkeys of themselves while the rest of us have no other choice but to put up with these mules!

The art and science of 3D printing

by Lloyd Gorman You have to admire the human capacity for ingenuity and creativity.

Perth artist Graham Hay gave us an example of it in Dublin recently.

Hay, whose studio is in North Perth, was one of the artists taking part in the 2014 Dublin Biennial in June. The WA artist flew into Dublin on June 12, went straight from the airport to the IFSC where the event was being held and set up his installation. He finished an hour before the Lord Mayor of Dublin, Christy Burke - who was elected to the role only a week before - officially opened the international arts bash.

It wasn’t quite the entrance or even exhibition of his own creation to the Irish art world he had originally planned. According to the Perth artist he tends to make ceramic paper clay sculptures from hundreds of small parts, mainly rods. “This was to illustrate my understanding of dynamic nature of social networks and institutions in the Western Australian arts community over the last 30 years,” he says in a blurb on the Biennial website. I’m not quite sure what that means exactly but he says his sculptures are inspired by the uniquely WA Banksia tree flower. “Exploring the physical and social boundaries of ceramic art and paper practice, by fragmenting artworks down into small parts prior to shipping,” he added. “I am using them to create social engagement and connect with fellow artists. I hope to incorporate a public ritual with the work in Dublin.”

Hay’s approach to art means that when he is in Rome he does as the Romans do and so his interest

in ceramics (www.grahamhay. com.au/galleryindex.html will give you a very good idea of what his work looks like - and it is well worth a look) took him into the field of ancient Irish pottery, particularly beakers from the late third millennium BC (to be precise).

“I was particularly taken with the polypod bowls, many of which were discovered on the outskirts of Dublin. These are similar in form to the Kava bowels used in West Samoa drunk at all important gatherings and ceremonies.”

Inspired by this Hay planned to create two large multi legged ceramic and compressed polypod (multi footed) bowls. Hay had designed the bowls to be printed in sections in Dublin, using 3D technology.

Hay had previously hacked software for a 3D printer to allow it to print clay! The technology he wanted to use was developed by Irish brothers Conor and Fintan MacCormack, who set up their company Mcor Technologies in 2005. Last year, the brothers released their latest cutting edge 3D printer - the Mcor Iris 3D (which first prints ink paper and then compresses it into hardened wooden type models of the image in Australia, at just under $60,000 per printer. Ironically the only flaw in Hay’s plan was that these (Irish) printers were not available in Ireland and to get one he would have had to go to companies in Germany or Belgium, where quotes for the printing ranged between $3,000 to $8,000, which ruled it out as an option.

So instead of literally emailing

38

the designs ahead of himself and creating them in Dublin, Hay fell back on some more traditional methods.

“I quickly made the paperwork in my studio, by cannibalising some old sculptures I had made from thousands of identical maps of parts of Western Australia,” he said.

“I used laborious dry techniques I had invented and developed since 1993.” Now he had to figure out how he would get the 302 pieces of ceramic and compressed paper parts to Dublin. Emirates said they would increase his baggage allowance but in the end it proved easier, and cheaper to airfreight the materials ahead. It was these that he assembled in what must have been a race against the clock to be ready for the Biennial.

As it happens, in a totally separate but related development, the last Australian embassy in Ireland has been active of late on the 3D printing front. In May, the Embassy donated the use of a 3D printer for a hands-on session and an expert on the issue to the students of Donabate Community College.

The loan of the technology - perhaps a first for the Irish education system - was made possible by the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Electromaterials Science. ACES Director Professor Gordon Wallace said the donation will enable students to explore a technology that is already having a significant impact on society.

“3D printing technology could inspire students to pursue careers in industrial design, engineering, science and biomedical engineering.

Already, the technology is being used to create customised tooling, make intricate jewellery and develop innovative medical devices,” Professor Wallace said.

Australian Ambassador to Ireland Dr Ruth Adler said “science plays a critical role in our economic, social and cultural development. I am sure the 3D printer will help generate great ideas at Donabate Community College and inspire a future generation of scientists.”

Just four days earlier (May 15) Prof. Wallace and Ambassador Adler announced a $25million grant from the Australian government to Dublin City University (DCU) to develop the science and technology of electromaterial science in medicine and for the development of wearable medical devices and implants through bioprinting.

3D printing could be as important as the invention of the printing press by German printer Johannes Gutenberg. Guthenbergs invention (circa 1450AD) allowed, for the first time, the mass production and easy distribution of printed material that allowed information and ideas to spread to every corner of society, and changed the world fundamentally and forever. We could be standing on the crest of another major breakthrough to that one, with some of the biggest advances happening in Ireland, and Australia. Certainly 3D printing shops will become as commonplace in our main streets as internet cafes are now (perhaps they will become one and the same). In June a 3D printing shop opened to the public in Fremantle and similar shops are already operating in Dublin and elsewhere in the country. These are exciting times and the possibilities and potential appear endless.

Incidentally, and perhaps this is my favourite bit yet, as I was writing this column, my wife - who was on Facebook on the iPad - said I should check something out that she said was amazing. It’s an online, niche service - Childs Own Studio - run by (another) artist who at the end of June accepted just 100 customers, who would pay $250 for the product. The artist takes children’s drawings of animals, creatures, people or whatever and turns them into soft toys that look exactly like the child’s picture. The end result is a piece of personal artwork no one else in the world will ever have, and a plaything. She calls it softie making, which sounds the opposite of 3D printing, but it just goes to show how creative and clever we can be to making stuff when we apply ourselves.

Capturing the Digital Storytelling Skills of the Irish Diaspora “There’s a story in all of us” – Irish Dairy Board Supports Blogs with a Taste of Home in Best Blog of the Diaspora 2014.

Irish bloggers living abroad, whether born in Ireland or a descendant of an emigrant, are being invited to nominate their blogs that have a ‘taste of home.’ Best Blog of the Diaspora, a popular category in the Blog Awards Ireland, celebrates ‘Irishness’ in all its forms.

This year the Irish Dairy Board, proud owners of the Kerrygold brand, has come on board to sponsor ‘Best Blog of the Diaspora’ and they are reaching out to emigrants in the 110 countries they export to.

Connecting Irish Emigrants in the Global Village Jeanne Kelly of the Irish Dairy Board says, “We are delighted to sponsor the diaspora category that celebrates the experiences shared by our expat community around the world. We’ve been sharing the Kerrygold story around the world for the past 50 years and in doing so have fostered great connections with Ireland’s diaspora. They love to talk, and now blog and we look forward to celebrating their stories with them.”

Amanda Webb, founder of Spiderworking.com and co-founder of The Blog Awards Ireland, says, “Blogging about Ireland connects emigrants in what is an online global village. The Diaspora is an online community very active in promoting and supporting Irish culture, heritage, tourism and industry.

“The current generation of Irish emigrants use blogging as a tool to communicate, document and even promote their passions and expertise. Irish emigrants all over the world come together online vis-à-vis their blogs so we want to celebrate them in the Blog Awards Ireland 2014.”

Co-founder of the Blog Awards Ireland, Lorna Sixsmith has become a bit of a minor celebrity thanks to the book she wrote as a result of her personal blog ‘Irish Farmerette’. She says, “As Irish people we are particularly good ‘seanchaí’ (traditional Irish storytellers). And this storytelling has translated online into blogging, which I believe will also shape history. I can imagine historians raking through the stories of our lives as told by us in blogs.”

Closing Date for Nominations The closing date for entries in this the third Blog Awards Ireland is July 11th so bloggers are encouraged to nominate their blog at: http://www.blogawardsireland.com/nominate/ All categories are free to enter and bloggers are welcome to nominate their own blogs. Meanwhile, anyone can apply to be a judge via the website.

The Blog Awards take place on 4th October in the Westgrove Hotel, Clane, Co. Kildare.

For more details log onto http://www.blogawardsireland.com/

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CLEAR AS CHRISTLE – A MEMOIR

By Jack Cullen

Joe Christle (left) and Jack Cullen with The Gate team in 1955

Joe Christle was a great man chiefly because all who encountered him were immediately struck by his charisma. - all those involved with him admired his tremendous ability to motivate and organise. He was educated in James’ Street Christian Brothers and O’Connell Schools and he also joined a well-known athlete trainer, Jack Sweeney, who operated in the St James Gate grounds on Crumlin Road – he soon became a star athlete. All of this training benefited him to take up boxing which he did prior to his establishing the Gate Racing Club with his brothers, Mick and Colm who soon became champion

cyclists in their own right.

I first met Joe when I joined the Gate Racing Club in about 1951 and at the time Joe’s brothers Mick (who became our team captain) and Colm also raced with us.

In about 1952, Joe got a job working on a truck following the Le Tour cycle race in France and when he got back to Dublin he was full of enthusiasm for stage racing and straight away set about establishing Ras Tailteann – an Irish version of Le Tour. The first Ras was a 2 day event that ran to Wexford and back to Dublin – it was won by Colm Christle – much to the delight of the Gate members! Subsequently, the Ras became an 8 day and later 10 day event. During, usually, the first week of August each year, Ireland was brightened with the cavalcade of colour, excitement and following race enthusiasts – this continued for 8 or more days and nights – the night time usually being given over to a ceili – all of which were well attended. As I have said, Joe was a man of a great many things but he was also a great leader. One of my greatest ever moments was having pictures taken, with Joe beside me, in our Gate racing team jerseys – this would have been in about 1952.

In about 1954, Joe developed an interest in and became involved with National politics where he campaigned strongly against the British presence in Northern Ireland. He led several IRA raids on Army Barracks in the North with varying degrees of success – in fact he badly injured one of his hands during one of those raids.

Subsequently, he went on to contest Dail elections in Dublin’s South West but did not do very well after he was branded a communist – even being denounced as such from the pulpit of the Mourne Road Catholic Church in Drimnagh. In spite of this, he remained a staunch Catholic all his life. Meanwhile,

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Jim Killeen (front) and Joe Christle (rear) with Ras Tailtean champion Shay O’Hanlon.1962

other members of the Gate who were with the National Cycling Association with Mick and Colm Christle continued on with the running of the annual Ras. By this time, Joe had met the beautiful lady who was to become his wife and they had three sons, Terry, Joe and Mel, whom Joe encouraged to learn boxing skills – this led them eventually to go to America where they became World Champion boxers.

Joe then went to work for the ESB where he led a strike for better pay and conditions and these were to endure for many, many years to come. Joe went on to study law and was appointed a Law Lecturer at Rathmines Technical College.

Sadly, Joe passed away in May 1998 and was buried on 1st June 1998 in Kilmessan Cemetery at the same time as another great cyclist and friend from Co Meath, Leo Collins. With all of this, Joe was a staunch trade unionist, a sportsman, a politician, a Republican, a lawyer and an accountant who also possessed a diploma in Law Lecturing.

He still lives in my memory and I am proud to say I have always and will always call him my friend. May his God go with him.

DUBLIN’S ROYAL HIBERNIAN MILITARY SCHOOL

By JOHN HAGAN From the time of its establishment, and for the remainder of the 18th century, the Royal Hibernian Military School (RHMS), despite its name, exhibited little, if anything, of a martial character. The institution was initially established by Dublin’s Royal Hibernian Society in 1769 to educate the orphaned children of Irish soldiers killed during the Seven Years War (1754 – 1763). Later, children of Irish soldiers posted abroad while serving in the British Army, were also included.

It was customary during the 18th century, when British regiments were deployed overseas that six families, drawn by lot, were allowed to accompany the troops. When serving abroad, soldiers often took the opportunity to acquire other wives and father additional children. Many of these enlisted men never returned to Ireland when their service was completed. During the latter part of the 1760s, it was estimated that among the thousands of beggars roaming the streets of Dublin, some 1400 were either children of deceased Irish soldiers, or of Irish soldiers still serving abroad.

During the early 1800s, RHMS passed into the hands of the British Army and, as a result, the daily student routine was altered to display a distinct army demeanour, with “military evolutions” for boys introduced. Such trades as shoemaking and tailoring, which were especially useful in the British Army were introduced.

Between 1801 and 1830, around 3400 soldiers’ children were admitted to RHMS, of which some 880 were girls.

During the same period about 740 boys volunteered for Army service. Naturally, the intensities of war dictated the number of RHMS boys British forces required.

During peace time, army intakes from RHMS could be as low as six per cent of total pupils, while it might rise to fifty per cent when the Empire was under threat.

Female pupils were taught skills such as sewing and rudimentary cookery, to help them acquire positions as domestic servants. It is interesting to note that, in 1849, 21 female RHMS pupils were sent to Australia on the SS Pemberton, with most of these girls finding work as housemaids in Melbourne.

When it first opened in Phoenix Park, RHMS was known as ‘The Asylum’. It adopted an educational system pioneered by Quaker, Joseph Lancaster, where one or more teachers gave lessons to monitors, who in turn, passed their knowledge on to classes of about 20 younger students. While such a system had its benefits, by the early 1800s, ‘Hibs’ was receiving criticism

because of its perceived lack of academic rigor, as much of student time was devoted to learning trade skills.

Given this condemnation, a major educational overhaul was initiated. This focused on enhancing scholastic content by replacing the school’s military tutors with civilian teachers. At this time many British Army recruits were uneducated, so an Army Corps of Schoolmasters Course was introduced to RHMS in 1846.

It would be the task of these young RHMS ‘schoolmaster graduates’, when posted, to improve the communication and numeracy skills of illiterate, army recruits.

The new academic regime coincided with the appointment of Henry J Gibbons as the first civilian, RHMS Headmaster.

Gibbons was assisted by Commandant Colonel George Columb, an energetic and visionary individual, who helped finance the civilian teachers, enabling academic standards to be raised, thus affording many pupils an enhanced start in

Little Folk presents

THE ANNUAL CHILDREN’S CHARITY CONCERT 7:30pm, 8th August 2014 at

The Irish Club of Western Australia 61 Townshend Road, Subiaco

The Little Folk Children’s Cancer Charity is a nonprofit organization run only by volunteers to raise money for cancer research for the Children of Princess Margaret Hospital Come down for a fantastic night full of a variety of talented young musicians and performers to raise money for a fantastic cause!

Tickets: $20 per adult • $10 per child For more information please call Sean Doherty on 94551303 Joan Walker on 9397 5152, email perthcomhaltas@gmail.com or head to the Perth Comhaltas facebook page www.facebook.com/perthcomhaltas

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life. J J Crooks, who attended RHMS during the mid1800s, went on to become British Counsul in Liberia, while his contemporary, George Wells was ordained a Baptist minister. Another pupil, John King, was the sole survivor of the legendary Burke and Wills expedition and received recognition as the first European to traverse Australia from south to north.

Amongst the subjects Gibbons introduced to the curriculum were literacy, numeracy, music, history and geography. By the middle of the 19th century, there were over 70 members of staff – a ratio of one staff member for every three pupils! Supporting the RHMS teachers, both trade and academic, were a surgeon, a matron, nurses, kitchen and laundry staff. With Gibbons’ new, more academic, innovations, the summer timetable for boys during the early part of the 19th century was remodeled as follows:

From 6 to half past 7, washing cleaning shoes, 1 1/2 &c. and preparing for Parade.

From 9 to 12 in School,

3

From 12 recreation, dinner and recreation to half past 2,

2 1/2

From half past 2, until 6 in the evening, in School,

3 1/2

From 6 to 7, drill and recreation,

1

From 7 to 8, supper, recreation and prayers,

1

Monday

DINNER. Ox head Soup, one quart to the largest Children, and a pint to the smallest, with one pound and an half of Potatoes to each.

DINNER. The same as for Sunday.

Wednesday DINNER. The same as for Monday.

Thursday DINNER. Calecannon one pound and a half to the largest Children, and one pound to the smallest, with half-a-pint of milk (or small beer) to each.

From half past 5 o’clock in the Morning to 6 1/2 making the Beds and Prayers

1 1/2

BREAKFAST. Stirabout, one quart to the largest Children, and a pint to the smallest, with half a pint of Milk to each. SUPPER. Bread, eight ounces to the largest Children, and five ounces one third to the smallest, with a pint of milk or gruel, to each. Beef boiled eight ounces, Potatoes one pound and a half, with Cabbage or Greens

Tuesday

SUMMER Hours

From half past 7 to 9, parade, breakfast, and recreation

Throughout the Year.

Friday

DINNER. The same as for Sunday and Tuesday.

Saturday

DINNER. The same as for Monday and Wednesday.

In tandem with its exacting academic programme, discipline, both corporal and psychological, was harsh.

Bed wetters, for example, were paraded on wooden benches at school assembly, where they faced chants of “p---, s---, s---“. These unfortunates were also compelled to wear distinctive blue hospital uniforms until ‘cured’.

One of the pupils remarked that winter nights were so cold, wetting the bed was difficult to avoid.

In 1922, following the establishment of the Irish Republic, RHMS was transferred to Shorncliffe in Kent, and in 1924 it was amalgamated with the Duke of York’s Royal Military School at Dover (England). Prior to this move, consideration had been given to relocating it to Northern Ireland, however the expense of doing so was deemed prohibitive. So ended RHMS’ long association with Dublin, and in particular the village of Chapelizod, which, over the years, supplied many of the school’s non-military employees such as cleaners, gardeners, kitchen hands, and nurses.

The last Hibernian to leave the School was Cecil Vincent Walsh (1912-1989), who volunteered for the King’s Shropshire Light Infantry in August 1931, when aged 19. In 1942, Walsh transferred to the Corps of Royal Signals with the rank of lieutenant and served throughout WWII in a Royal Signals Cypher unit.

Later promoted to lieutenant colonel, he was awarded an OBE in 1967. Walsh died in retirement on the Isle of Wight in 1989, aged 77.

From 8 to half past 5 in the Morning, in bed, 9 1/2 Total 24

While each day offered 6.5 hours devoted to academic endeavour, it contained four recreation, or exercise, periods, so that pupils also left RHMS not only better educated, but extremely fit. Music too played a large part in the curriculum with the School becoming a fertile source for army musicians. During its existence, 33 Hibernains ‘graduated’ to become Army bandmasters or Directors of Music. Tuition emphasised music from the operas, while the works of contemporary Irish composers such as Michael Balfe and William Wallace was also included.

At weekends, boys faced a ‘toughening up’ regime which saw them camping in Phoenix Park where they had to build shelters and forage for food. In the environs of Europe’s largest walled park they learned how to ‘feast’ on hawthorn leaves, wild berries and buttercup corns. How they must have longed to return to their mundane, but nutritious, school meals (see below), devised by surgeon, Edward Trevor, during the early 1900s.

Even if the hopes you started out with are dashed, hope has to be maintained.

Seamus Heaney

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Enjoying Celtic Thunder at the Arena

Happy Bir thday Paula

Happy 21st Anton - Daragh - Michaelw

Below: The Shamrock Rovers NDV1 team who beat Cracovia White Eagles 4 goals to 1.

Johnny Beattie scored a hat trick and Brian Irwin opened the scoring Colin Lynch man of the match.

The Allforce voucher winners for JBO’Reilly’s were Marty Power and Davey Dunne.

Photos: Claire Weir Photography

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Local News of Interest from the Past

News Published Every Two Months RE SE ARC HE D

River Clyde landing at Gallipoli with Irish troops

The landing at ‘V’ Beach in Gallipoli was to be made by the Royal Munster Fusiliers and the Royal Dublin Fusiliers.

Two hundred rounds of ammunition and three days iron rations were carried by each soldier, with greatcoats and waterproof sheet in pack. Cocoa was to be issued to the troops just before dawn.

At 01.00 hours on 25-

Apr-1915, the River Clyde left her moorings and slowly steamed towards her objective. At 05.00 hours the naval bombardment of the Turkish defences commenced, all troops were ordered below decks.

As the River Clyde steamed slowly in, the sun was facing her and it was very difficult to see the shore on account of smoke from the bursting shells. The ship headed for the beach and was run ashore about 06.25 hours, and grounded without the slightest jar in water that was out of the men’s depth.

And there she remained throughout the whole of the campaign.

The barges which were to have formed the gangway to shore from the ship, instead of going straight ahead as was expected,

Maitland Weekly, NSW, May 1919

GALLIPOLI LANDING IRISH REQUEST

There are many ‘protests in Ireland against the proposal to break up, and sell the steamer, ‘River Clyde, which was beached at Gallipoli. It is suggested that the vessel should be sent to Dublin as a memorial of the participation of the Irish troops in the Gallipoli landing.

The Admiralty have replied that an attempt to bring the ship home would ‘probably result in its foundering. It would be better to convert her into cash. Moreover, a prominent naval commander says that the Anzacs might dispute Ireland’s claim to the ship.

BY

FRED

REA

went wide of the vessel, but were eventually pulled into position under a hail of machine gun bullets from the defending Turks.

The Turks had been shaken but not obliterated by the naval bombardment. The interval between the shelling and the actual landing was a reprieve for them; they had returned to their trenches to take up fighting positions once again.

After the gangways were made ready the troops instantly responded. However as they disembarked and made a dash for the shore across the gangways they were mown down under a tornado of shot and shell. One of the barges broke away and drifted into deep water, some soldiers jumped over the side in an endeavour to make the shore, however

The Border Morning Mail, Feb 1920

FAMOUS GALLIPOLI TRANSPORT

Mr Bonar Law questioned, in the House of Commons regarding the sale of the River Clyde, which was used in the memorable landing at Gallipoli, said the old tramp was dilapidated, and had nothing of interest in her. It was open to any persons interested to approach the present owners with a view to buying her back. “The Times” in a leader says, “Mr Bonar Law spoke like ice, the cold haberdasher excusing the petty act of official parsimony”. So much for Ministerial imagination!

‘The Times’ adds that a private effort to buy back the River Clyde failed.

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many men sank owing to the weight of their equipment and were drowned.

The carnage on ‘V’ Beach was chilling, dead and wounded lay at the water’s edge tinted crimson from their blood. Throughout most of the day the River Clyde was under heavy fire from the Turkish defenders. Some one thousand troops were still on board.

By 01.00 hours on the 26th April and under cover of darkness, all troops from the River Clyde had been got ashore and nearly all the collected wounded had been brought back to the vessel for treatment.

On board was ‘W’ company, Royal Munster Fusiliers and “One” company Royal Dublin Fusiliers.

The following are the Australian newspaper reports of the tragedy of the River Clyde…

Newcastle Morning Herald

LANDING FROM THE CLYDE CERTAIN DEATH

….Henderson’s company of Munsters streamed along the starboard gangway; but fell in heaps as they ran from port side.

Another company, under Captain Geddes, (above) poured out cheering. The first 48 fell. The gangway and lighters were choked with dead and wounded; but those behind did not falter. At this moment Williams was killed and when trying to support him, Unwin dropped the line and the bridge drifted into deeper water. Many Irishmen were drowned because of the weight of their equipment while others managed to struggle to the beach. Seventy per cent of the Munsters and Dublin troops were now casualties, but the survivors collected on the sandy bank at the end of the beach. To climb to the top of the bank was certain death, while all the gallant heroes who had crawled forward to cut the wire were lying dead in front. Inferring that the Turks would attack the right flank, Geddes picked out five volunteers to occupy that end of the shore. Two men were killed and Geddes and another wounded when rushing across part of the beach to where there was a protecting ledge of sand.

The West Australian July 1919

Sunday Times, Mar 1916

THE STEAMER RIVER CLYDE

A BOY & HIS V.C.

The steamer River Clyde is returning from Gallipoli and will be moored shortly in the Thames. It is reported that the Turks stripped the vessel of the brass work and everything else which could be moved from her.

A London message of February 9 last said:—”The British Admiralty is salvaging the steamer River Clyde, from which troops were landed on V Beach on the day of the landing on Gallipoli. There is a romance about the River Clyde that will rank in history almost equal with that of the Vindictive. She was an old steel collier, and with 2,000 men of the Hampshire and Munster Fusiliers on board, as well as eight, boatloads towed by steam pinnaces, approached close to the shore near Cape Helles. The boatloads—the Dublin

Fusiliers—suffered terribly, for when they dashed through the shallows to the beach they were pinned to the ground by the Turkish fire. Three lines of wire entanglements and a network of trenches had to be forced. A bank of sand, five or six feet high, runs at the back, and under, its cover the survivors took shelter. In the steel side of the collier, doors had been cut which opened and disgorged men like some new Horse of Troy.

But a tornado of shot and shell rained on the River Clyde and few of the 200 gallant men who leaped from the lighters to the reef and from the reef to the sea reached the land.

Those who did joined their fellows lying flat under the sandbank on that beach of death.

The Munsters charged first, followed by the Dublins the Worcesters and the Hampshires. Some of the Munsters got ashore. They could be seen lying in a row at two yards intervals. They had received orders to cut the wire entanglements. And they were lying dead at the posts to which they had won in the effort. Shells struck the ship continuously and a rain of machine gun fire swept the decks. Casualties in the hold of the River Clyde and about her decks were mounting up as the minutes passed. It was then that Midshipman Drury won his V.C. by swimming with a line to a lighter which had broken loose. He was wounded in the head. The captain of the Clyde, too, was trying to pick up wounded by the spit of rock under fire. The narrator relates that after hours of slaughter, about noon,

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he had given up all hope.

“One gun on the ridge and we should be smashed to pieces”. An hour later still and 20,000 more rounds of ammunition were passed in from the Fleet. By this time the Lancashires were showing over the ridge from “Lancashire Landing.” Fifteen men signalled from a window in the castle by the water that they were the survivors of the Dublins. At three o’clock 150 men from the Clyde reached the shore alive. They and the others worked their way up into the castle ruins.

The Muswellbrook Chronicle, NSW, November 1926

A MEMORY

The steamer River Clyde, of Gallipoli landing fame, is now owned by a Spanish firm. Re-named the Angela she is at present engaged in taking American coal to England.

GAELIC GAMES IN AUSTRALASIA ARE IN GOOD HANDS Gerard Roe, who lives in Alice Springs, was born in Belfast and left there in 1972 (the same year as myself). His first introduction to GAA was in Adelaide and acted as secretary to the South Australia GAA. Gerry took over as the national Australasian secretary in 1984. “That has been my full time job for near 15 years”. Gerry told us that this position is funded by the home of GAA sports, Croke Park in Dublin. His role in Australia is looking after administration and is the national coaching director and referees coordinator. “I have been doing the public relations work as well but now, Jamie Fitzimons from Sydney is looking after this role”.

We will be having regular stories from Jamie in future editions of our Irish Scene.

I was interested to hear Gerard’s opinion on the influx of young Irish footballers and hurlers in the last few years. “At this stage close to 4000 footballers and hurlers are registered in Australia. The numbers of Irish players is a concern to the Australasian GAA as the local content has been dramatically reduced”.

Gerard told us the players from Ireland now are mainly interested in playing the game and enjoying life is Australasia.

“Very few are putting their hands up and getting involved in state

by Fred Rea

committees, coaching courses and referees courses and as a result a new rule has been introduced Australia wide. From the 1st January 2015 there has to be a minimum of 4 Australian born players in any men’s or women’s football team.” Gerard said that this will run for a year and the aim is to get the locals playing football. “Some clubs may not like this but it’s all for the betterment of our game in Australasia”.

Gerard said that this year more than any other year he has seen more players going back to Ireland. “It’s only turning slightly the opposite way, so when more go, what will the clubs do then? I must congratulate Western Australia because they have introduced the 4 player rule before the National Association”.

I suggested to Gerard that maybe a national club championship with the state champions playing for the national title might be a better idea to replace the National state titles.

It seemed to me that the clubs are in a much stronger position than the state bodies. Gerard replied, “Our state championships have been very successful over the years, bar a few. The championships held in Perth 2 years ago were excellent and very well attended. The State Championships in Melbourne this year will be the biggest ever and

there is every chance there will be 2 divisions in the men’s football because we could have 8 teams.

There will also be 6 minor teams, 4 camogie teams, 4 or 5 hurling teams and 6 or 7 women’s teams”.

Gerard said that this could result in plate finals and grand finals. “Also, instead of going from Monday to Saturday we will now start on Wednesday and finish on Saturday, except the minors who will start on the Tuesday. They start on the 1st of October and conclude on Saturday 4, with the minors starting on September 30. The presentation ball will be held in Etihad Stadium Attendances at Sunday GAA matches are very healthy in Western Australia and I was interested in the support for matches in other states.

“I was over in Sydney some weeks ago and saw their new GAA pitches one of which cost over $200,000 to prepare. They start their games at 10am each Sunday and at any given time they have 3 games in progress. So every Sunday they have 14 matches and because of the pitch setup, they are finished by 3 o’clock.

It’s a hive of activity but I made a comment that I noticed that once a game is finished, most players are on their way and don’t watch other games”. I had noticed that in Western Australia as well and Gerard said that in the past a trip to Gerard Roe goal umpiring at State Game

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the GAA ground was your day out for players. “In those days you brought the family out for the day but now they play their game, have a yak, gone!”

I had noticed when the junior footballers and hurlers have a GAA day, lots of families attend and it’s a great occasion for everyone. Gerard agreed, “The shining light in WA is the Junior Academy and some months I had a meeting with the Academy and was working on having graduates come out from Ireland working with the kids and the senior clubs. We ran out of time this year but next year it will happen and the Leinster Council has agreed to cover the cost of the travel to Australia”. Gerard is also working on getting more equipment for the juniors from GAA Ireland.

In November this year, we will have a visit by an Irish Football Composite Rules team to play Australia in Subiaco Oval. Gerard said, “It should be a good game because the Australian’s have agreed to select players who have been chosen in this years or last year All- Star team”. Gerard said that they have also asked the Australian’s if junior players from the Academy can be the half time entertainment. “We are waiting for the AFL’s call on this and Croke Park has already agreed which would be great for the kids”.

Gerard told us that he is working with PRO, Jamie to produce a poster promoting Gaelic Games in Australia. “We are hoping to use a caricature of the late Jimmy Stynes for the poster with the permission of his family. We have also designed a new logo for the National Championships to help States promote the event. There is a lot of interest in the State teams this year and there is no shortage of volunteers to take on manager and coaching roles”. Gerard is hoping that the Northern Territory will participate this year for the first time.

The man credited with much of the original impetus for founding the GAA in Ireland was a Clare man named Michael Cusack. He would be a very proud man to see the calibre of players now playing the games. He would also be very proud of the game as it has evolved and played in all corners of the globe. The foundation day of the GAA was chosen as 1 November, the day when the Fianna’s power died. Cusack meant this choice of day to symbolise the rebirth of the Irish heroes, and the Gaelic Athletic Association for the Cultivation and Preservation of National Pastimes was established, its name subsequently shortened to Gaelic Athletic Association. Let us all be conscious that it not just a game it’s a tradition.

Australasian Gaelic Foootball & Hurling Association

STATE CHAMPIONSHIPS

News Update

This October, representative teams from across Australia and New Zealand will converge in Melbourne for the 2014 Magners Australasian GFHA State Championships.

The games will run from October 1st to October 4th at Gaelic Park (Minors from 30September), with up to 28 teams competing across Senior & Minor Football, Ladies Football, Hurling andCamogie.

For the first time in the competition’s history Northern Territory teams following their recentaffiliation to the Australasian Association (GFHA) & Wellington Ladies may be taking part. Another first could be minor Ladies teams from Western Australia and Victoria.

Gerard Roe the Australasian Secretary feels that the 2014 games could set a record for attendance. He said “The State Championships provide GAA players across the region with an opportunity to come together to represent their State and compete at the highest standard. The rising popularity of the Minor Football competition is testament to the trojan work the various states are doing to promote and develop gaelic games among the younger generation.”

Liam O’Neill, President of the GAA and it is hoped the Camogie President/CEO will travel fromIreland to attend the Championships.

With just over three months to the first throw-in it’s all systems go as States ready themselves. Players interested in representing their State are advised to contact their local State Committee for more information or alternatively contact Gerard Roe, Australasian GFHA Secretary via email (gerardro@bigpond.net.au) We look forward to seeing YOU either as a player, mentor or supporter at the games in Melbourne and afterwards at the Presentation Ball at Etihad Stadium on the Saturday evening of the finals.

Jamie Fitzsimons Public Relations Officer (PRO) Gaelic Football & Hurling Association of Australasia 0416 884 606 | australasiagaapro@gmail.com

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WALKING BELOW BEN MADIGAN (Part one) I relish the days when the clouds are low, are the darkest shade of thundery grey and emanate a sense of foreboding. When some heavenly spectre tips God’s bathwater out, and the clouds cannot contain the water, I don my sou’wester cap, mackintosh and wellies, arm myself with a sensible, black brolly and leave the house. Nowadays, there are few things which give me as much satisfaction as walking in pouring rain. One of those few alternate but satisfying things occurs on the two or three times in Winter when heavy snow falls and lies on the ground; and it is trudging along on a fresh white carpet, minus an umbrella, head slightly tilted skyward so as to feel the delicate tickling on my face.

I walk alone since wife number three kicked the bucket. She was not a great talker but, still and withal, was a responsible teetotaller and reasonable company; unlike number two. Two preferred a drink or three of white wine, in a tall glass, while lying on the settee, complaining about the vagaries of nature. Mind you, she did the same when the sun shone. It was an emotion akin to relief when she suffered a fatal stroke at 53 years of age (Lord, forgive me). Number one, an unlucky sod in my opinion, was hit and killed by a drunk driver. Her, I still love and will take the emotion with me when it’s my turn to face whatever lies beyond life. I hope she’s waiting for me on the other side, minus the traumatic injuries.

by Lawrence Clarke Love or no love, if she is still scarred, I’ll settle for number three. I chuckle while walking when these kinds of silly considerations enter my mind.

Occasionally, I garner a strange look from the odd passing perambulator but that only improves my mirth.

I feel fortunate in that, thanks mainly to wife three’s foresight and good financial planning, I have a nice home on the northeast lip of the saucer shape where Belfast nestles. While sleet drops like rain on other parts of the city, the Cavehill virtually creates its own weather system where snowfall begins on the high slopes and sweeps down to whiten Kildarragh Crescent and surrounding streets.

When I walk, a modicum of nostalgia accompanies me, for the way things have turned out on the winding road that has been my journey through life. My cousin often quipped that ‘nostalgia wasn’t what it used to be’, and, humorous anecdote or not, in these dimming years the statement nestles comfortably at the back of my mind. I decided some years ago that time has dissipated far too rapidly and most of life, my life anyway, will be unrecorded, rarely spoken of, history.

The gulf between unskilled wages in Ulster and the mainland was decreasing in the late nineteen forties and the Belfast that I was

BOOKS PUBLISHED

BY LAWRENCE CLARKE 50

born into, once dominated by post war poverty, was assisted by the early days of social welfare after the abolition of the poor law.

When I was two years old, the McCooeys ruled the Ulster airwaves and it ran for so long I can still recall the signature tune, ‘My Aunt Jane’, but if someone asked me who Bobby Greer or Derek were in the show, my reply would amount to little more than a shrug.

The nineteen fifties saw the province go through its most peaceful period in the 50 years prior to and 60 odd years since that decade. The Belfast Corporation, once supposedly riddled with corruption, was cleaned up and began making reparation to the housing devastated during the two air raids of the early forties.

In a largely, protestant dominated society, street parties heralded the coronation of Elizabeth in 1953, Harland and Wolff employed over 20,000 workers, Short Brothers – renamed from Short and Harland in the year I was born, 1947 – built its wealth on anti-aircraft missiles and the VTOL aircraft (vertical take-off and landing) and the crosschannel passenger ferrys and coastal cargo boats handled more business than ever before. The shipping was not without tragedy. The sinking of the Larne-Stranraer Ferry, Princess Victoria, in January 1953 cost the lives of 128 people. I was six years old then and remember nothing about the accident.

And yet, with all the successes in business and enterprise, I and my siblings were raised on handouts and occasional allotments from an irresponsible, sailor father. My mother cleaned houses, worked late shifts in Mount Collyer Laundry and still had to hide from the ‘tic’ men who came calling regularly when rent and bills went unpaid.

To say she and we five children scraped through the fifties would be to understate our struggle.

That aside, nearly every evening the family, minus a father, had a half-decent meal to eat and, in the morning, the children went off to school fed and wearing clean, patched up clothes. There were times, when money was in such short supply, a shoe mender was out of the question. It was a case of cutting a profiled piece of linoleum down to a foot shape to suit and inserting it inside the holey shoe. This first aid only operated well during dry weather. The floor was never dusty under the armchairs or settee since they were moved occasionally to cover the cut-outs in the oilcloth.

Suffice to say we survived, apart from the first child, Eileen who died at six weeks of age from a respiratory complaint.

I escaped the confines of my mother’s womb shortly after the family moved from grandmother Nellie’s Cavehill Road cottage to our first rental on a housing estate in an eastern suburb-come-village called Carnmoney. I know, from what my mother imparted, that we moved again when offered an estate house nearer the big smoke.

That estate was called Portmore Hill and, like so many estates around Belfast, it contained row upon row of Corporation sameness. In 1951, the family name, Porter, reached the head of a waiting list and my mother was offered a large semi-detached home in North Belfast.

The Benninghill Estate was a step and a half above other estate housing complexes around Belfast and its environs. The homes were originally designed and built to house some of the draftsmen and engineers who were employed by Short Brothers, the aeronautics designer and builder. When contracts were fulfilled, those men and their families moved back to England and rentals became available to the general populace. The Porter family were fortunate enough to procure a house in the autumn of 1951 when I was approaching five years of age.

My memories of that time are fleeting glimpses of isolated events. I can still recall the April street party to celebrate the Coronation of Elizabeth II and how all the children on the estate wore fancy dress. I remember clearly, being six and decked out as Sitting Bull with a bamboo cane longbow, a headdress and war paint. I also recall having three Adam’s apples because a bitter wind blew up the slopes off the Lagan and it was so bloody cold. I didn’t win the fancy dress competition and neither did my sister who was dressed as a Dutch flower girl (complete with paper tulips). The word in later years was that it was fixed anyway. One of the fathers was on the party organizing committee and his boy won dressed as Robin Hood.

My older brother, Bobby, made up as a scarecrow, was awarded third prize (a consolation and nothing more).

The Benninghill Estate was a microcosm of the World beyond the streets, the open land and Ben Madigan (The Cavehill). All the dramatic, as well as humdrum, goings-on that occurred on the greater stage happened, on a small scale, to the residents in the Corporation enclave. Murder, robbery, love, hate, poverty, comfort and general violence were all a part of estate living.

Excepting murder, there was probably as much drama associated with the struggle to exist inside as

outside the family at number 12 Benninghill Gardens.

The four children (and after a gap, five) were raised in a household where words were used to hurt as often as fists and the ability to deal with another’s love, whether family or romantic, was all but snuffed out at an early age.

.....STAY TUNED FOR PART TWO.

Lawrence Clarke www.literaryedit.com lawrenceclarke@litedit.com Member - Society of Editors (WA) inc.

Mobile 0437863577

KINKY QUIZZO FOR ROSIES No Sleezzze, Only Teazzzze!

Kinky Quizzo is a pub trivia game with a tastefully kinky twist. Rosie O’Grady’s Irish Pub in Northbridge quiz takes game players through 3 rounds of trivia focusing on the “kinky” side of TV, movies, music, celebrity news, history, laws and customs, terminology and much more. At the end of the game, winners will take home fun goodies!

Since our start in the USA, Kinky Quizzo has expanded into a world brand. It offers “tastefully kinky” bar room fun to bars and pub patrons. Kinky Quizzo bar trivia has been featured on many TV stations in the USA and is very, very popular and very, very, funny.

Rosie’s Kinky Quizzo is a fun filled night hosted by a professional comedian, lots of Fun and Laughter, sense of humour is mandatory! No Sleezzze, Only Teazzzze!

Prizes for first, second and last, also best team name and best dressed. Yes... we encourage guests to dress up in their kinky gear.

It all starts on Friday 18th July at 7.30pm. Table of 6 only and you can book by calling 9328 1488.

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The Galway Lads

Ulaanbaatar or bust for

Galway Boys!

into the kitty of the cause. “We are travelling at our own expense and all the proceeds from the event will be used to support facilities and resources for children and adults with Cystic Fibrosis who are treated in both the CF Paediatric Unit and the CF Adult Unit Galway University Hospital,” said David.

“We are funding the costs of the rally completely ourselves including flights, cars, visas, insurance etc.”

He has lost a cousin to the disease, and another of the blokes has lost a friend to it as well.

“So its very relevant to us and we wanted to do something about

The Perth Lads

By Lloyd Gorman

Galway. It has to be one of Ireland’s ultimate road trip destinations.

Every weekend thousands of groups of friends cram into cars or vans or whatever and make their way there, fuelled on motorised mania and the promise and prospect of a mighty time in the west. It is not necessarily the starting point for epic road trips, especially ones that end up in Mongolia, but that is exactly what five of its own sons (and a Donegal man) have plans to do in July.

Terry Keenan, Adrian O’Malley, Patrick Curran, David O’Sullivan, John Kearney and George O’Donnell (the honorary Galwegian from Donegal) will drive to the central Asian country to take part in the 2014 Mongol Rally. It is a distance of 10,000km across Ireland, the UK, France, Germany, Poland, Austria, Lithuania, Lativa, Russia, Kazakhstan, (back into) Russia and ending in Mongolia.(About a third of the world’s surface) “Starting off in the West of Ireland, our route will take us through Europe, Russia and Kazakhstan on our way to the finish line in the capital of Mongolia, Ulaanbaatar,” said Perth based David O’Sullivan. “This will see us travelling on some of the world’s

worst roads through the roughest of terrain with a few tough border crossings thrown in for good measure. This is sure to test the durability of our cars, our patience and probably our friendships!”

But before they can even start the trip three of the six must make the approximate 14,000km trip from Perth back to Ireland.

David, John Kearney and George O’Donnell have all been in WA for the last four years on 457 visas.

The lads flew out of Perth at the end of June to arrive back home for the start of July, to give themselves a couple of weeks to pimp out the two Nissan Micras that will be their transport and homes for the month or so they expect to be on the road (sometimes the road will be nothing more than a field of stones the size of boulders or washed away by a flash flood). Before they left they held a fundraiser in the Irish Club to raise some cash and awareness for the venture and have received good support from business people and supporters in WA (details of how to donate at end of story) This road trip is not a boozy breakout for its own sake. The lads are hitting the road for a very good cause. The money they raise - and whatever they raise goes direct

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it,” added David.

Cystic Fibrosis Galway is a regional branch of Cystic Fibrosis Ireland. They are a dedicated group of volunteers. Administration and organisation of the charity is carried out from their own homes.

They will cut a swathe across Europe and Asia in true Irish style - driving the two Micras which will both be painted a half each in the colours of the Irish flag. Parked side by side the two Nissan’s will look like a mobile tricolour. Inside will be the three amigos, times two. They will face scary border and customs guards in desolate and remote parts of the world, the possibility of breakdown in a forgotten quarter of the world and the potential for calamity. But none of this phases the lads who are heading out on their own version of the Gumball Rally.

“We’re all friends from home and we know each other well, I think the biggest issue will be not falling out with each other,” said David.

The Rally is not so much a race as an endurance test. Participants have until the end of September to complete their trip but the Galway men are optimistic and hopeful of reaching their goal within a month.

It may take longer, it might not. But they plan to see it out together come what may. They are asking for - and

deserve - your support. If you can help them make the trip you will be helping people with a chronic and terminal disease.

Satellite trackers donated by Irish company Thermo King will make it possible to track their location and progress on the journey. There is more information at cfmongolrally.ie or Facebook. com/cysticfibrosismongolrally and donations can be made to iodinate. ie/cfmongolrally.

Focus on learning or expanding on your “cúpla focal” in an interactive learning environment.

Irish language classes for groups and individuals, young and old.

Private classes taking place in your home or in Innaloo.

Classes commence October 2013.

Contact Caitríona Durham 0414 070 477 or visit www.facebook.com/cupla.focal.5

Ma’ Mooney

MA Est 2012

Irish Sandwich Bar Shure as the Lever Lads used to say...

“if you don’t like it we’ll gladly give you

your money back”

All I know from my own experience is that the more loss we feel the more grateful we should be for whatever it was we had to lose. It means that we had something worth grieving for. The ones I’m sorry for are the ones that go through life not knowing what grief is.

251 Hay St, East Perth PHONE ORDERS

9221 4872 OPENING HOURS: Mon - Fri 7am - 2pm Sat - Sun 8am - 12noon (Breakfast Only)

Frank O’Connor

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By Lloyd Gorman

You never know when or how your TV is going to give you some Irish content, it can happen late at night or early morning, pop up in the evening news or at the end of a good movie. Here’s some of the most recent offerings on Aussie telly.

April 30 Rude Tube on 7Mate included the talent and tricks of Irish professional golfer Gareth Maybin who it seems can hit or do almost anything with a golf stick and ball in its list of top internet hits. Good entertainment value and someone you can easily find on You Tube.

May 4 The Informer directed

by American film master John Ford in 1935. Set during the Irish War of Independence in Dublin this black and white film is something of a dark story of betrayal.

May 5 - A news item on ABC about the public street brawl between Kerry Packer and TV executive David Gyngell included a vox pop with people in Bondi Beach. The journalist asked a bunch of women sitting around what they thought of the famous punch up, and they told him - in good Irish accents.

Later that night, on GO, Alexander (2004) was on again.

Colin Farrell played the main role (not well it has to be said) but there is an abundance of known and unknown Irish actors in this production.

May 9, Leap Year (2010) aired on Channel 9. Inspired by the Irish tradition that allows a woman to propose to a man during a leap year.

It was filmed in and across Ireland

and ends with a romantic proposal on the Cliffs of Moher between the two main characters. Now I’m not normally a mushy movie sort but this bit reminded me of my own proposal to my wife on the incredible and ancient cliff top stone fort of Dun Angus on the Aran Islands, so it gets five thumbs up from me.

May 10 Gem Alive and Kicking.

Unfortunately discovered this little comedy very late into the story about three women who flee to Ireland when they find out they are going to be split up from their age care home. A massive chase ensues involving the army, navy and airforce and the locals on a small island “Inish fada” give them a place to hide and a new home. Looked like it would be worth a watch from the beginning.

May 11 Lucky Miles on ABC1.

The story of a group of desperate refugees who are dumped on the remote coastline of the Pilbarra by people smugglers and left to fend for themselves. Again another chase ensues and after a week the last of them are rounded up, on “Irish Road” a dirt track in the outback.

May 12 ABC2 Gruen Transfer.

In the ‘Pitch’ segment of this one of the clips shows a riot scene in the UK but the footage images of Gardai outside Leinster House. This is not the first time that exactly the same mistake has been made on this section of the Gruen Transfer, which is partly responsible for the creation of a TV page in the first place, so that these gaffs could be pointed out

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when they happen.

May 17 SBS2 Russell Howards Good News - included a clip from RTE news about an airport security official who slagged off Jedward as they went through security.

The bould Brendan Woods was told he was on TV on this day, but TSTV can’t confirm if this was the case or not.

May 18 Gaelic Games on 7Mate, shows up to date coverage of 2014 GAA football and hurling championships.

May 27 The Walking Dead on SBS2. Viewers of this fantastic drama series were told that Hershell, whose farm they set up on, was Irish on his grandfathers side, who emigrated from Ireland.

June 2 ABC4Kids Driftwood Bay. This kids cartoon is produced

by Belfast company Sixteen Suite and has a little Irish girl as the main character. Yet another example of how well Irish TV production companies are doing in the international children’s entertainment business.

On this day, Ten Eyewitness News had a news item about WA’s Foundation Day. They showed a picture of John Boyle O’Reilly and said most of the convicts sent to the Swan River Colony were petty criminals from the first ships. JB O’Reilly was no petty thief and he arrived on the very last convict ship into WA, not the first. Hardly anybody watching the news that day would have noticed the mistake, but it was there.

June 8 ABC2 Video killed the

radio star - Bono and The Edge talk about making video’s for their music.

June 10 NITV Beneath Clouds. This film has been on the pages of TV nation before, but it popped back up on the schedule at the Indigenous station again on this day. It is well worth a watch. It is in part the story of Lena, the daughter of an Aboriginal woman and an Irish father. Lena is on a voyage to discover and explore her Irish heritage and in an attempt to meet her father.

June 12 GEM PS I love you, this 2007 chick flick is based on the 2004 novel by Cecelia Ahern - daughter of former Taoiseach Bertie!

June 13 SBS! 37 Days to War A really excellent

documentary about the events and behind the scenes diplomatic posturings by the big European powers in the immediate run up to World War 1 which was shot entirely in Belfast.

June 23 7Two Father Ted ‘Faith of our Fathers’ - the episode where a fairground and TV crew come to Craggy Island.

June 26 7Digitial Mrs Browns Boys - two episodes June 28 7 Mate Reign of Fire Set just 20 years into the future from the present day and fire breathing dragons have taken over the world. Humans are often a tasty treat for the flying monsters. This 2002 production was shot in Wicklow - during the height of the Foot and Mouth scare, which put some restrictions on filming.

The Celtic Club • Perth •

BAR • RESTAURANT • FUNCTIONS

Function Rooms

Located on the first floor, the main Function Room can comfortably seat 125 delegate’s theatre style or 120 for a banquet.

The impressive Jarrah lined Presidents Room can seat up to 30 guests theatre style or up to 24 guests for a private luncheon.

Start enjoying this great Club and become a member today!

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HAY ST

HAY Rich

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ORD

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The two function rooms have a comfortable sophistication that lends themselves to a variety of uses such as presentations, training events, Annual General Meetings, Boardroom Meetings. Fully fitted with Wi-Fi, ceiling fitted projectors and screen and speaker system.

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The Clubs’s central location in West Perth with onsite parking and close proximity to Red and Green CAT bus routes makes it easily accessible to everyone.

Our Superb restaurant serves an a la carte style lunch Monday to Friday and the bar area, with separate lounge features a number of speciality beers on tap, and is ideal for relaxing, a light luncheon or coffee.

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Location

Bar & Restaurant

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The Club welcomes new members so please feel free to call in and have a look at our facilities or ask for a membership application form. We have several types of membership available including Retiree, Ordinary and Corporate. We also work in conjunction with other local business to offer additional external benefits such as discounted gym packages, corporate teambuilding and wine of the month. We also have affiliated membership with other organisations in other cities so you can still enjoy the benefits of membership when on the move.

The Club is a great place to network, meet new people, entertain clients, or just get away from the office to have a brainstorm session.

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Membership

Doing Business

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The Celtic Club has a proud history spanning over 100 years. Presently the Club has a membership of approximately 700, and appeals to a wide range of individuals, all of whom enjoy the friendly and personable hospitality of a private member’s Club.

TH

History:

A: 48 Ord Street, West Perth, WA 6005 P: Phone (08) 9322 2299 E: Email: celtic.club@bigpond.com F: Fax (08) 9322 2899 W: www.celticclubperth.com

Dining Guide

Sponsor: Northside Meats with Danielle O’Leary

On those cold Winter Days...

TRY CARNEGIES...

When we planned to go to Carnegie’s, the weather was awful.

You know those nights when it feels like you are back in Ireland, in the middle of February, and cannot fathom leaving your warm home? It was one of those nights.

We went into town on a Tuesday night and Murray Street was virtually empty with the occasional squeal of a random girl who kept accidentally, and repeatedly, standing in puddles (that girl may have been me…). Surprisingly, Carnegie’s was busy for a wet, weeknight. As we walked in, the bar was busy with the restaurant gaining more customers with the beginning of quiz night at 8pm.

With the cold weather, we were hungry. Luckily, Carnegie’s has an extensive menu that offers anything you could possibly crave.

They also offer impressive nightly meal specials for $16 including a middy of beer or glass of house wine.

For our dinner, we ordered a simple starter of Garlic Bread which was fresh and delicious. I did consider the Steak-House Chips smothered in Irish Curry sauce but chose to be good! They did

look amazing, though, and fitted in with the Irish-weather night. For our main meals, my companion ordered Chicken Parmigiana with Bacon, Napolitana Sauce and Grated Cheese served with chips and salad. He loved it: such a simple meal produced effectively and generous servings. I stole a lot of his meal, for the purpose of the review, of course! I ordered the Scotch Fillet served with steamed baby carrots, green beans, grilled tomato and creamy mash with the option of Mushroom or Pepper Sauce. It was delicious; the steak was ideally cooked to my requested medium and the vegetables were perfect. Other meals I saw delivered to nearby tables looked great, particularly the Garlic Prawns served with Chorizo, Leeks and Garlic Chips served with Olive Oil and Fresh Basil. The Moroccan Braised Lamb Shank served with celeriac puree, baby carrots and green beans looked ridiculously good also.

I love a restaurant bar like Carnegie’s – it offers honest food with brilliant service. The staff were so impressive; friendly and

accommodating. Carnegie’s has become a bit of a Perth institution since its opening in 2002. Whether you want a quick dinner or lunch, or a great night out, even on a rainy Tuesday, it is the perfect inner-city choice!

Danielle O’Leary

Carnegie’s Bar & Restaurant 356 Murray Street Perth Phone 9481 3222 www.carnegies.net

McLoughlin Butchers Malaga Proud Supporters of the Irish Scene Drop in and see our range of Irish prepared meats mcloughlinbutchers.com.au Like us on facebook

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Good old Rhubarb & Custard

Ingredients (Serves 6) For the rhubarb 800g rhubarb, washed and cut into 8cm pieces 4 tablespoons caster sugar Zest and juice of 2 oranges 1 thumb-sized piece fresh ginger, peeled and finely grated 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar For the custard 500 ml organic semi-skimmed milk 568 ml single cream 5 tablespoons caster sugar 1 vanilla pod, scored lengthways and seeds scraped out 8 free-range egg yolks 1. Preheat the oven to 200ºC 2. Place the rhubarb pieces in an ovenproof dish or tray and sprinkle over the sugar, orange zest and juice, grated ginger and balsamic vinegar.

Cover with foil and cook in the oven for 15 to 20 minutes, until the rhubarb has softened.

3. Have a taste and add more sugar if it is too tart for you. Pop the foil back on top to keep the rhubarb warm while you make the custard.

4. To make the custard, mix the milk, cream, 3 tablespoons of caster sugar and the vanilla pod and seeds together in a saucepan.

5. Bring just to the boil, then remove from the heat and leave for a couple of minutes to cool slightly and allow the vanilla flavour to infuse. Discard the vanilla pod.

6. In a large mixing bowl, whisk the egg yolks with the 2 remaining tablespoons of caster sugar until pale.

7. Ladle a little of the hot milk mixture onto the eggs and whisk immediately. Continue to add the milk, a ladleful at a time, whisking each well before adding the next.

8. Pour this mixture back into the warm saucepan and cook very gently for a few minutes, stirring constantly with a rubber spatula or wooden spoon. The eggs should cook just enough to thicken the custard, but not enough for it to scramble. If you start to see flecks or lumps of egg in your custard, don’t panic – just take it straight off the heat and pour into a cold saucepan to cool it down then strain through a sieve into a clean jug.

9. Serve the rhubarb at the table with a good drizzle of your warm delicious custard.

with Marguerite O’Dwyer The Cure Tavern Irish bar & restaurant

Irish Beef Stew

Hearty and wholesome, my slow-cooked beef stew is the ultimate taste of Ireland.

Ingredients (Serves 6) 1½kg stewing beef, cut into cubes 175g streaky bacon / 3 tbsp. olive oil 12 shallots, peeled / 18 button mushrooms, left whole 3 carrots cut into quarters or 12 baby carrots, scrubbed and left whole Salt and freshly ground black pepper 1 tbsp. chopped thyme / 2 tbsp. chopped parsley 10 cloves of garlic, crushed and grated 425ml red wine / 425ml chicken or beef stock For the roux: 50g butter / 50g flour / Champ, to serve 1. Brown the beef and bacon in the olive oil in a heavy saucepan.

2. Transfer the meat to a casserole dish.

3. Toss the onions, mushrooms and carrots into the heavy saucepan, one ingredient at a time, seasoning each time.

4. Place these into the casserole dish, along with the meat, herbs and garlic.

5. Cover with red wine and stock and simmer for one & a half hours or until the meat and vegetables are cooked.

6. To make the roux, in a separate pan melt the butter, add the flour and cook for two minutes.

When the stew is cooked, remove the meat and vegetables.

Bring the remaining liquid to the boil and add one tbsp. of roux.

Whisk the mixture until the roux is broken up and the juices have thickened, allowing to boil.

Replace the meat and vegetables, and taste for seasoning.

Sprinkle with chopped parsley and serve with champ

Marguerite O’ Dwyer The Cure Tavern Irish bar & restaurant

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land of

&

Ireland

honey

Neither Here nor There

By Sally Desmond A few weeks ago I was sitting in Dubai Airport. I was “in transit” or in other words changing planes and waiting for announcements. I was on the way back to Perth, weary and cranky. I am always cranky in airports – scared stiff in the plane and cranky at the airport, that’s my history. I thought grumpily – “well, I am neither here nor there now”. I still don’t know if I was thinking of Dubai or my state of mind. The latter, I think.

Ireland played an unfair game with me this year.

It was at its most beautiful. The woods were all soft sparkly greens and carpeted with bluebells and forgetme-nots. The rhododendrons were in multi-coloured bloom in Muckross and my cathedral of trees stood tall and proud on the lawn by the lake. The damp air beat softly against your skin with a delicious feeling that Estee Lauder could never achieve. The evenings were lengthening and stealing a few hours from the night and as you stood on the Flesk Bridge there were interesting little plop – plops happening in the Flesk. The trout were rising. Of course, it rained but what harm did a little rain do anyone. It didn’t stop the Races and I came away four euros up feeling as if I had won the Lotteries. Friends, champagne and lots of encouraging and shouting and all in the shadow of the mountains.

What more could you ask of life?

I got more. Fossa gave me a present of one of those “once in a lifetime moments”. I was invited to a first Holy Communion service. Now, Fossa Church has a whole back wall of clear glass, looking across the meadow to the lakes and the mountains. It is more

Fossa Church glorious than any stained glass. As the childrens voices rose “A Dia dein trocaire” A Criost dein trocaire” – the grass gently waved in the breeze, the cattle lay under the trees and three little rabbits looked in contentedly at the ceremony. The mountains were invisible, shrouded in cloud and fog. Then I got my present – suddenly the clouds lifted momentarily and there they were – The McGillicuddy Reeks – huge, majestic and strongly shafted, for just a moment by sunlight. Then they were gone again. It was one of those rare moments of clarity.

“Just like my God I thought – not always visible but always there!! I felt a real happiness that the explanation in the end should be so simple – because I have trouble with God at times and He with me constantly, but not that day and not again, I think.

Well I’m back home in Perth again, immersed in the loving confusion that is family and enjoying and cherishing every moment. From now on I shall call my feeling of being “neither here nor there” – Dubai syndrome.

Products include: McLoughlin’s Irish Pork Sausages Black and White Pudding Irish Bacon and Gammon Joints Potato Bread and Soda Bread Barry’s Tea and Club Orange Odlums Brown and White Bread Mix Chef Brown and Red sauce

9309 9992

Woodvale Boulevard Shopping Centre Whitfords Ave, Woodvale

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Opening hours: Mon - Wed 8:00am to 6:00pm Thursday 8:00am to 7:30pm Friday 8:00am to 6:00pm Saturday 8:00am to 5:00pm Sunday 11:00am to 5:00pm

Winners…

1st Sean Byrne and PJ Kenny Joint 2nd Mick Connelly and Maize Masterton Diarmuid Flanagan and Frank Timmons Cathal Glynn and Shane Finnerty 5th Anthony Ryan and Anthony Galvin

Generous Sponsors:

• Malone Fencing • Killarney Auto • Northside Meats • Domal Plastering • DMV Fencing • The Bailey Bar & Bistro • Garry Young Business Agent • Sarsfield Hurling Club • St Gabriels Hurling Club • Complete Cabling & Const. Beldon • WA Limos • Reoright Pty Ltd • Mighty Paving • GR Engineering Serv.

• McGlorin Family Shuttering • DNC Projects Pty Ltd • WA Hurling Club • Jim Egan (JP) • The Irish Club • JB O’Reilly’s • The Mighty Quinn • Fibber McGee • The Irish Scene • AIA Australia • Asteron Life • Macquarie Life • Tal • Zurich • HIA Insurance.

The organising committee thank the above sponsors for their largesse. The total monies raised was $8,740.

We also wish to thank the Following, in particular PJ Malone & Jim Egan (JP) for donating between them over 35 novelty prises.

Fantastic!

The following also gave unstinting donations: Peter McKenna, Peter Van Google, Vince Gallagher of AI Express, Alan Flaherty, Sean McDonagh, Paul Kelly and Bob O’Shea.

Again this endeavour was initiated and supported by the Malone family.

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Cycle of Change

By Peter Murphy The John Boyle O’Reilly Association receives many requests to relive the famous Fenian’s amazing escape from the penal colony of Western Australia in 1869. Universities, Primary and High schools along with tourists and social groups, can’t seem to get enough of a yarn that is the stuff of Hollywood. Only this time the request was slightly different, as it came from ‘Cycle of Change’, a government sponsored program that offers young people between the age of 12 and 17 who may be in danger of engaging in high-riskbehaviour, to help turn their life around by developing life-skills and discipline. And what a perfect role model is John Boyle O’Reilly for these tearaways; never giving up and forever the optimist.

O’Reilly, because of his political conviction, wit and intelligence, wasn’t about to spend 20 years of his life digging ditches on convict road-gangs. No, he had other plans; plans that would make people sit-up and take notice. And sit-up and take notice they did, as the felon went on to become not only a successful business, but also a poet, writer, lecturer, conservationist and humanitarian. Now you don’t get much more of a role model than that.

So off I went, with a bunch of tearaways and Cycle of Change Coordinator Stef Casadio, on the John Boyle O’Reilly Heritage Trail in the Bunbury region. I have to hand it to Stef, the kids from the word go were like a ‘frog in a sock’ and I don’t envy his job in trying to keep them under control and interested in the subject.

Cycle of Change - at the JBO monument...

And I have to admit; I too had difficulties getting their attention and communicating with them.

However, once I mentioned to them that O’Reilly was a felon and on the run from the law, they began to prick-up their ears.

On visiting the JBO Park at Glen Iris, the location near where O’Reilly saved a giant Tuart tree from the axe, one of the lads in our group just happened to have his skate-board with him. And after I explained on how O’Reilly stood between the convict road-gang and the tree, we all stood back and watched as the lad weaved his magic throughout the newly built skate park. This skilful demonstration was followed by a loud round of applause from our group.

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Next it was on to O’Reilly’s hideout on the beautiful Leschenault Peninsula at Australind, as it was here almost 146 years ago, that the Fenian spent almost two weeks dodging police, soldiers and black trackers before he boarded an American whaler and escaped to America.

I boiled the Billy Tea, and as we sat around in the glorious sunshine amongst the Paperbarks having lunch, we began to discuss what it might have been like back then for O’Reilly; during the hottest month of summer; on his own and with no shortage of mosquitoes, ticks, snakes, centipedes and scorpions.

O’Reilly I also reminded them; had no drinking water and spent many exhaustive hours digging holes looking for the elixir. I then asked

Cycle of Change Couth Shenae Gillisenti and Kathleen Ryder

think O’Reilly obtained the knowledge and skills to trap quokka and pull possums from out of the hollows of trees, then dispatch and eat them, raw?

I asked them He must have watched the Nyoongars do it replied a girl. Why didn’t he light a fire and cook them up? inquired a lad Don’t be stupid... If he lit a fire the mob chasing him would have seen the smoke... another lad replied.

Finally we reached the spot where O’Reilly, on March 3rd 1869, with the help of some Dardanup farmers - rowed-out into the Indian Ocean to board the American whaler

Gazelle. Together we stood atop a sand-dune and stared-out over the calm turquoise blue ocean; as if to say farewell to the great man.

On the way back to the Cycle of Change workshop in the industrial backwaters of Bunbury, I couldn’t help thinking on how the JBO story had resonated within these ‘at risk’ kids, and on how it’s such a powerful story of hope; something we tend to forget to instil in our youth today.

For more information on the JBO Heritage Trail contact Peter Murphy on 043 997 6507

them what they would have done if they had found themselves in a similar predicament Drink my own urine said one of the girls.

I then led our group onto the boardwalk which weaves its way through the Paperbark swamp - stopping here and there to listenout for bird and frog-calls and to sample some bush tucker, while reflecting and discussing on what it would have been like for the young Irishman, being thrust into such an alien environment; not only trying to elude his captors; but also trying to survive Where do you

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Ramblings of a much travelled Moyadda Goose I was asked to deliver some old photos to Sr Anna Marie, sister of the late Msgr Sean O’Shea of Rottnest Island recently and came across the following very funny story of the Moyadda Goose. Moyadda being a district in Co Clare, Ireland. Enjoy!

There was a certain goose living a peaceful existence until one fine day when Fr John O’Shea called to visit his Aunty Grogan and offered to take that same lady to visit her daughter Olive who was manageress of the Renvyle Hotel in Connemara, Co Galway. In the goodness of her heart, Aunty Lena decided that, by way of a gift, nothing would be more acceptable than a goose. Having selected the reluctant bird and put it in a sack, Aunty Lena and Father John set off for a pleasant drive.

Needless to say, when they arrived in Renvyle they were graciously welcomed by Olive, but when Olive sighted the goose, she was appalled: “Mam, whatever would I do with a live goose here in this hotel?

For one thing, the kitchen staff wouldn’t have a clue how to kill, pluck and clean a goose. Moreover, anything in that line is sent down from Dublin, plucked, cleaned, dressed and ready to put in the oven. Thanks, Mam, for your kind thought, but please take that goose away, and don’t embarrass me with the guests hovering around within easy listening distance, and that goose cackling away for all its worth. “ Having dealt with that matter, the two guests and their hostess soon settled down to a very welcome meal, and chatted away about all the latest news from the Moyadda and the Clare relations in general. As time passed, Fr John realized he had better get moving on his journey to 24 Shandon St, Cork where he had promised to spend the night with his brother Pat. Having stowed the goose safely in the back of the car he was on his way; the three hours or so journey to Cork went by without any major catastrophe - apart from a

minor incident when somewhere in the vicinity of Ennis the goose gave a sudden screech making the driver just about jump out of his skin. From there on, he was much more aware of its presence so that before long the pair were coping successfully with the Cork city traffic. On their arrival in 24 Shandon Street you can be quite certain Pat looked aghast at his uninvited guest. Luckily there was a grass patch at the back of No 24, so life went on peacefully for the goose until one day, Pat while on a morning call, noticed that things were not quite right with his visitor; for one thing, not only was the goose losing weight, but it was walking round in circles. The owner of 24 Shandon Street was puzzled.

Whatever could be wrong!!

Very sensibly, Pat went across the road to Creedon ‘s Bakery and presented his problem to the two girls who listened attentively and reflectively, before going over to survey the situation; suddenly one of the girls asked: “Pat, have you been giving that goose water?”

“Oh, my goodness, I never thought of it!”

(Take note, Pat O’Shea had come from a farm where there were turkeys, geese, ducks, hens and even a couple of bantams.) However, the city girls got him right, and from then on there was a marked improvement in the general health of the goose.

Time passed and the end of the year was approaching, so Pat thought to himself, “Wouldn’t that goose be a most welcome addition to the Christmas menu for my sister Maureen and her family”. Before long, Pat had locked the 24 Shandon Street door behind him, and was on his way through Cork City streets on the

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first leg of his journey to Dublin where he duly arrived, the goose still cackling away. Fortunately, Maureen was home and whatever her thoughts might have been at the sight of the goose, which she considered a little undernourished, she accepted it graciously enough.

In due time the McCarthy children arrived home from school and great was the joy of those city children to find a real live goose in their back yard. From then on their first visit on return from school was to check on the state of health and other matters relating to their backyard visitor - in which process they were daily assisted by a stream of young neighbours knocking at the door of 101 Ballymun Avenue, the only house on the street with a ‘live’ goose in the backyard.

However, Maureen too was keeping that same bird under observation and at her brother’s next visit, said, “Look, Pat, there is no way that goose would be ready to put on the Christmas dinner table. Take it away and I don’t ever want to see it again.

“By the time the children arrived home Pat and the goose had set out once again, this time to County Clare, the trip taking them down Ballymun Avenue, on past Doyle’s Corner into Dublin city centre, along O’Connell Street past the GPO (General Post Office) where the poor goose gave a particularly loud screech as if sounding the Last Post! As they travelled along, Pat began to do some calculating: Come to think of it, that is a much travelled goose; it has been up and down the southern half of Ireland quite a number of times and has traversed quite a few counties: from

County Clare up to Galway, then, down to Cork via Limerick. After a brief sojourn there, on the way again, through Cork once more, then via Tipperary, through Kilkenny, Laois, Kildare and into County Dublin.

Then after a brief respite in the city, back in a southerly direction again and coming to rest finally, this time on home ground.

You can imagine Aunty Lena’s surprise when she sighted Pat whose blunt greeting was, “that goose is not fit to kill “. However, she picked it up and made her way down to the fowl yard and presented the long lost goose to her mates; they looked at it in amazement and in goose language asked: “Where have you been all this time?”....“You wouldn’t believe me even if I told you!” was the prompt and snobbish answer.

Photo © THE WEST AUSTRALIAN

Mons O’Shea headstone has finally been put in place at Rottnest Island. His good friend Alf Pace is seen at the site of Mon’s burial place. Like many of us, Alf still misses his mate and made sure that Mons’ favourite hat was placed on the headstone. You can rest in Peace now Friend!

Per Sr Anna Maria

AN ALTERNATIVE BLOOMSDAY

by Lloyd Gorman “The Angophora bark is quite soft and malleable in texture, with a redish/orange/ cream colour. A considerable amount of this was collected, graded, soaked in a PVC glue mix, piled, and then bent and compressed into a curve, to fit with concentric circles, into a 60cm round ply base, which was glued and stapled. This technique took several weeks to compile and then to dry, before being bubble wrapped into a specially formed, heavy duty cardboard box. Various materials were packed around the box including smaller sec spheres, glass vials, extra bark to finish the design, gum nuts and other mechanics that would be required.

To compliment the texture and colour of the bark, a selection of Australian plant material was ordered from the suppliers. Yellow Anigozanthos, Xanthorrhoea, Crespedia Globosa, Eucalyptus cinerea and 15 stems of banksias. To repeat the round base mechanic of the bark and to give volume, round spheres of small gumnuts were constructed. Arrangements were made with Terry(husband) to post a quantity of Banksia ericifolia, Banksia plagiocarpa.

“The overall finished design, using different techniques conveyed a contemporary design, while using plant material indigenous to Australia.

“We would like to thank the Australian Floral Art Association Members for nominating us to design and execute the Australian Exhibit at the WAFA Seminar in Ireland, it was indeed a great honour and learning curve, we thoroughly enjoyed the experience,” added Mary.

Fans of Irish literature have Ulysses while admirers of flowers have their own Odyssey. Just two days after Bloomsday, the official date on which James Joyce’s Ulysses is set – June 16 1904 – Ireland saw another blooming sort of a day. Between June 18 and 22 flower lovers from around the world convened at the RDS in Dublin for 11th World Flower Show. Australia was well represented at the event by Eileen Wenn, president of the Australian Floral Art Association, and Brunswick artist Jean Shine, who will compete against the world’s best flower arrangers.

It is not the first outing for Australia at the competition in Ireland. The AFAA president herself is a veteran of the world show and even scooped a win in 1996. Two years ago the AFAA was asked to design and make the Australian Honorary Exhibit on behalf of the Australian Floral Art Association (AFAA), at the World Association of Flower Arrangers (WAFA) Ireland Seminar ‘A Celtic Journey’ in Cork.

WAFA Ireland gave them a strict set of conditions and guidelines to follow. The Australian flower arrangers were keen to show the wealth of beautiful Australian plant material to delegates who would be attending the seminar from around the world.

“Inspiration for the design came from the coloured and textured bark of the Angophora one of the many Eucalyptus (Gum) trees that shed their bark annually in ribbons flakes or chips, leaving colourful ‘new’ trunks of pale grey, pinks or orange/red tones,” said Mary Sweeney from the AFAA.

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Around the Irish scene... Compiled by Fred Rea It’s birth my 80th and I’ day par ll ty beca sing if I

want use th to, a man I t’s the am!

Happy 80th Tony Synnott and you can sing all you like... We are all listening...Our Gorgeous Gale!

Gerry and Sharon Quigley tied the knot in Cork a while ago now.... Just got photo... Andy Hawkins being Andy, invited himself along as best man with OOPS! Sorry! Missed this Bernadette as bridesmaid. (Where’s Moby?) Gerry beautiful pair of Roses in our chose his favourite clothes for the occasion, his favourite last edition. Rose Fallon guitar t-shirt and Sharon her favourite black dress. and Roisin O’Brien in the Sharon told The Irish Scene they arrived about 20 St Patrick’s Day parade! minutes early, at the Cork Marriage Office, so the Registrar he just said “Oh well, we may as well get started!” CONGRATULATIONS TO YOU BOTH!

The Nolan Clan enjoying a drink at the Bailey Bar & Grill HERE’S A COUPLE OF HAPPY BLOKES! Tim Mullins and Brian O’Callaghan celebrating Tim’s 65th birthday. Must be it’s because Tim is that much older than Fred or maybe it’s the Tax deduction!

Carmel Brennan (left) celebrated her birthday recently during a visit to Perth. Sister, Betty Cullen was on hand to help blow out the candles. That was after a fine feed of pasta and a few wines!

During her recent sell-out show at the Perth Concert Hall, 60’s pop icon, Petula Clark (Now 81) caught up with a friends Oliver and Stella McNerney.

Baby Ella! We can learn so much by seeing how a child can enjoy the gift of God’s Life and Light... especially from my brother Harry’s grandchild. Magic Moment!

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No... It’s Joff Davies (of The Gang of Three) performing in Cork with Sean Roche backing him on guitar. Wondering if Joff was singing The Banks? Sean looks a bit worried about that key!

WE HAVE SPIES EVERYWHERE!

Eleanor McEvoy (A Woman’s Heart) with support act, Teish and Fiona of Them Little Secrets at Rosie O’Grady’s Northbridge.

Helen and Colin Merrey, Moira and Mick Clancy with Lilly Rea enjoying the winter sun at Hillary’s Marina. That was after enjoying a nice cool beer in The Breakwater...

What a happy bunch!

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Irish Seniors The Claddagh Senior’s Lunch at the Mighty Quinn was a resounding success. (see photos below). Thanks to all the committee members, the performers and all those who attended and made it

such a great day.

Our condolences to Pat Cleary and family on the loss of Nancy. Nancy attended the Mighty Quinn event and always enjoyed the Irish music. Also to Lottie Crozier on the passing of Joe who was a founder member of the Irish Club Monthly Senior’s group. Dave Mills performed at the Senior’s event at the Mighty Quinn last year and was a great success.

Unfortunately Dave also passed on.

The Irish Club seniors meet on the 1st Friday of each month at the Club and the Claddagh Christmas in July event happens ob the 28th of July. (See advert below)

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Claddagh Irish Senior’s Lunch at the Mighty Quinn 65

Martin Kavanagh Honorary Consul Of Ireland

Vale Joe Crozier The WA Irish community was and remains all the better for the life and service of Joe Crozier. Joe’s contribution to the Irish community over many decades was as significant as it was sincere and as consistent as it was hardworking.

We are all forever in Joe’s debt.

I’m sure I speak for the Irish community in WA in extending sincere sympathy to Lottie and Joe’s family and friends. Vale Joe. Diaspora Consultation It was wonderful to see so many people attend the public meeting of the Irish diaspora in WA at the Irish Club on 19 June. Some excellent ideas were put forward and the community’s feedback has been sent as a submission to the Government of Ireland. The worldwide engagement with the Irish diaspora is designed to assist the Government in reviewing

how best it may engage with and support the Irish abroad. I would like to extend my sincere thanks to all those who attended and contributed in person or by email.

A special thanks to Nyomi Horgan for kindly giving of her time and for being such a fine moderator of the consultation.

Reciprocal Health Agreement Ireland and Australia have a reciprocal health care agreement (RHCA) that entitles visitors from Ireland to Australia to receive the same medically necessary treatment as public or outpatients or inpatients in Australian public hospitals as Australian residents (i.e. free of charge). “Visitors” include holders of a valid temporary visa including 417 and 457. The cover provided is quite extensive. However, many things are NOT covered and examples include: • Eligibility for Medicare benefits • GP visits • Ambulance services

• Dental care • Optometry • Medical repatriation • Funerals • Treatment in private hospitals.

I would encourage you to obtain a copy of a brochure on the RHCA from the Honorary Consulate’s website at: www. consulateofirelandwa.com.au Be prepared for family emergencies None of us like to think of death or illness at home in Ireland.

However, the sad reality is that things do go wrong and not having a valid passport can cause huge problems. A significant issue that has arisen recently is that in the event of a family emergency the parents of a new born baby or young child may have passports but the children do not. The guidelines for first time passports are very strict and we cannot give an emergency travel document to a child who has never held an Irish passport. For your own peace of mind and to ensure you and your children can return to Ireland in the event of an emergency please ensure your passport is always valid for a minimum of 6 months and that you apply for a passport for new born children as soon as possible after birth.

Perth Office: 1/100 Terrace Road East Perth Western Australia 6004 - Tel: (08) 6557 5802 - Fax: (08) 9218 8433 Email: info@consulateofirelandwa.com.au - Website: www.consulateofirelandwa.com.au Office Hours: Mon-Fri 10.30 - 2.00pm by appointment only

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ULSTER

Rambles with David MacConnell

Berlin to Belfast and “The Twelfth”...

Well if you remember my last article on “The Game of Thrones”, you are doing well.

How ironic that I wrote 3 pages on a subject I knew nothing about when I usually write a page on a subject I know really well. Now, I have been travelling again; no, not to BELFAST but to BERLIN. I never went to Berlin when I travelled around Europe in the seventies. It simply was not the in place to go. I had however written a song about “The Wall”.

The chorus went something like: “Take a brick, take a brick, take a brick. Tear down that wall.”

I was so inspired with the visit that I wrote two songs about Berlin and I was lucky enough to sing them in the “Unicorn Folk Club” in England a few days later.

The chorus of one of them went like: “I put one foot in the East and one foot in the West And I just couldn’t make my mind up which one was in the best.”

The first picture on next column shows where the wall once was at Checkpoint Charlie.

It reminds me of a post card I once saw. It was completely black and it was simply described as “Belfast at night.” The picture

below it shows the wall or what is left of it! How ironic that it has to be protected by barbed wire and you may not enter the area for any reason.

On my last day, I met Rodney and his wife as they were descending in the lift to catch their plane home. “And what flur would you be wanting?” He inquired of me. Well you might have guessed it. Yes he was from Belfast. He even went to the same school as yours truly. I asked him for the latest news from the province and he obligingly introduced me to his wife Betty who he informed me knew everything. Betty rattled on about the first minister and other political matters which I did not get, so I asked her about her thoughts on “the twelfth”. They turned out to be much like my own.

I looked on it in much the same way as I regarded a bull fight (well I had lived in Spain for five years) that is, a pageant. I never really thought of King Billy and all that stuff. However, it did seem to affect my musical inclination.

There was a band from a village nearby called the Toye Band. Aptly named but I suppose it was after the village name and had nothing

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67

to do with toys. When you are six years old, you do not really see it like that. It was an accordion band and that of course was the first instrument I bought. I also liked the sound of the fife band and sure enough (in later years) I learnt to play the tin whistle and flute. I hated the lambeg drums but recently (well fifty years later) my sister gave me a bodhrán as a present and I enjoy a bit of bodhrán bashing now and again.

Lastly there was the great pipe bands which I believe came over the water from Scotland.

I loved to watch the antics of the drum major throwing his mace high in the air and then catching it without missing a stride. Now this

liking was not to last. For eighteen years I taught at a school which had a great scottish tradition. The students played the bagpipes every Friday and at various concerts.

I came to realise that bagpipes should only be played outside and preferably on a scottish hillside!

Uilleann pipes are more pleasant on the ear but unfortuanately not easy to buy.

When I was eight years old, my father and mother went on a much needed holiday to Dublin. They dropped me off at my aunt’s house.

She lived close to the Ormeau Road. One day (well I suppose it was the 12th ) she took me to watch the big parade. Going to Finaghy I was told. Quite a frightening experience for an eight year old as the parade was long and much of the music was loud.

My next encounter with

www.dan-dooley.ie

“the twelfth” was when I lived in England for a short time. One of my friends there worked in a travel agency and he gave me a hard time when one of my countrymen tried to book a holiday in the “twelfth week” in July!

I asked two of my former teaching colleagues about their memories. Both of them, when they were young, had attended the bonfires the night before the parade. Both of them found out later that from their background, it was definitely NOT the thing to do!

I was quite surprised to find the results of my “google”. It informed me that three venues will host flagship tourist Twelfth demonstrations, (whatever that is) with an enhanced cultural experience, namely Limavady,

Markethill and Larne.

All three host districts will offer a varied programme of events surrounding their respective Twelfths, as well as the colour and pageantry associated with the largest day in the Orange calendar. Parades will also take place in the following locations; Belfast, Irvinestown, Newtownards, Gilford, Clough, Kilkeel, Dungannon, Omagh, Ballygawley, Broughshane, Ballymena, Cullybackey, Ballinderry and my old favourite Ballymoney.

I never saw the parade again mainly due to the fact that I was overseas in the summer months but Betty (you remember Betty who I met in Berlin) was able to tell me it has not changed much. Well of course it hasn’t. After all this is Ulster we are talking about.

David MacConnell

Streets ahead in the diplomacy game

by Lloyd Gorman

If there was such a thing as an award for the cheekiest diplomatic trick or way to have a side swipe at an opponent then Iran would have to be a contender for the gong.

Given the heavy and serious nature of some of the important issues in which this middle eastern nation of some 76 million people is involved a sense of humour (perhaps mischief would be a better description) if you can call it that, is not what you might think of automatically when you think of the Iranian government.

There are interesting changes and developments afoot in the Persian nation within itself and how it interacts with the western world.

Even with America, its sworn and traditional enemy, things are improving and changing. Britain too, which closed its Tehran embassy in 2011, is considering reopening the mission as relations between the powers thaws, especially in the face of a common militant threat in neighbouring Iraq in the form of the extremist terrorist group ISIS. If British diplomats return to their old mission in the Iranian capital they will be revisiting the site

which bears the marks of a previous conflict - The Troubles in Northern Ireland.

In 1981, after 66 days on hunger strike in the Maze Prison, provisional IRA member Bobby Sands died. The ramifications of his death were felt far and wide and were profound. In Iran they responded by renaming a street from Winston Churchill Boulevard to Bobby Sands Street.The intent was obvious, to celebrate what they saw as the Martyrdom of Sands at the hands of their enemy and cause embarrassment to the British establishment on their doorstep.

The play worked. Despite protests from the British the name change stayed. So, to avoid the position of needing to put the name Bobby Sands in its embassy’s letterhead for the address, or as the official drop off point for correspondence and letters, officials at the embassy bricked up what had been the front entrance to the diplomatic outpost and created a new front entrance on another street [Ferdowdsi Avenue], at what was the back of the compound. It just goes to show, diplomacy is truly the art of the impossible and the inventive.

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Now is the best time to tell the story of your life Everybody has at least one book in them they reckon. Some have more but many never leave so much as a chapter in their own words of their journey through life. Emigrants perhaps have more of a story to tell, of swapping one life for another, one place for another entirely different and new altogether.

Michael Joseph Quinlan passed away peacefully in the middle of May, age 88.

Before the end of his days arrived Michael published his memoirs in Perth, ‘The man with no Swag’, written with his sister in law, award winning author Kathleen Lewis.

Michael Quinlan would have no objections to me saying that he came from a privileged background”, she said.

“Quinlans were large landowners in Ballinacourty Cappagh and Michael was used to the attention of servants growing up. Despite this he worked hard on the farm along with his brothers up until his parents died, both within a few months of each other, and in 1947 Michael decided that he had enough of farm life. He sold his cycle in Dungarvan for ten shillings and took the train to Dublin. On arrival in the capital the twenty year old realised that he had little or no money and he also had no place to stay. Thus began a journey that would take him to England, Wales, France, Australia South America and Japan. Michael struck out for England and ventured into a world that was patching itself together after WWII. The second leg of his journey would take him to France. Here in this strange country he would learn what it was to be a tramp, he had no mean of communicating with those that he met. Starving and penniless he remembered the great faith that his

mother had in Lourdes water and so the young Dungarvan-man decided to walk over 400 kilometres from Marseilles to Lourdes. It was his belief at that time that prayers were the only solution to his problems.

It was a bone weary traveller that finally arrived at his destination. He had survived his journey by living off tomatoes which he was forced to steal from Lorries along the roads.

In Lourdes he stayed for some time, praying for the miracle that never came. In the book he said: “I had tragic life of his brother Jim is no sins in my soul and no money recalled with sensitivity and in my pocket, I knew no one so I honesty. headed back to Marseilles’ another Many Dungarvan people will 400 kilometres.” also remember Michael’s Brother This was not the end of Ned who was a well-known character Quinlan’s walking in France; who passed away last year. His early Marseilles once again proved life at Ballinacourty recalls many of useless for him. His original idea of the old characters of the time. The working the ships from this port yet book also features a number of old again yielded no dividends. One can and interesting photos of early life quite easily imagine the state the at Cappagh. young man was in, he had walked Michael’s story and example 800 km on little or no food, his is proof that it is never to late to clothes were in an awful condition, record your own life experience. As the ‘pain of hunger was unbearable’ well as being a rewarding personal he said, nevertheless his only hope experience, it will also be an eternal for survival was to foot it 750 km to and important document for future Paris. generations. It has never been easier Against all the odds, Michael to get help from books and websites eventually ended up in Western to get a story down in words and Australia, here he started a new images. If you have ever thought life and raised a family. (Wife about doing it yourself, maybe now Joan, a loving father to Jim, Nola, is the time to start!

Peter, Laurie, Terry and Helen as well as being a wonderful fatherin-law to Paula, Tony, Michelle, Glenda and Julie and Pops to12 grandchildren and four great grandchildren.)

Michael’s book is written with humour and no bitterness He Ray O’Hanrachan playing does not however back all your favourite songs! down from ‘calling a spade a spade.’ The

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Hi from the Basque country in northern Spain where it is said our Celtic forefathers came from. On this trip, I am travelling with my wife Marie and her friend Merelyn Bond. We travelled from Melbourne to Dublin on the Qantas/Emirates direct service that I highly recommend. If you haven’t travelled on an A380 plane do so on your next trip, it is much quieter and smoother than the 747 Jumbo and all other planes.

We spent our first 4 days enjoying the sights and glorious weather of Ireland’s east coast, taking in visits to Trinity College, Dublin Castle and of course Guinness Brewery. We took a day trip to take in the sights of the magnificent gardens of Powerscourt and Glendalough in Co Wicklow, and another day trip north to see the Titanic exhibition in Belfast, each of those are a must see, when you visit Ireland, that is if you are not Irish as most of we Irish know where our the best places are.

I wrote a poem some years back about Dublin which describes it perfectly. From Dublin, oops, I nearly forgot to tell you of a magnificent gem we found on our way back from Belfast to Dublin, it’s the amazing establishment of Fitzpatrick’s just outside Dundalk, an oasis, just the place for a great meal and a wonderful pint of porter (heaven on earth) is how I will describe it. From Dublin we crossed over to Galway stopping off in Athlone for what else but a pint in Sean’s Bar, just to refuel for the second half of the journey.

While in Galway we travelled to Clifden and then on to the beautiful little town of Roundstone in Connemara where we were invited by Paula O’Carroll the Marketing Director of Ashford Castle to visit for lunch and have a tour of Ireland’s finest Hotel. What can I say! Other than thank you a thousand times Paula for the pleasure, it surely lives up to its name as Ireland’s finest. Just a hop and a skip away we visited

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the beautiful Kylemore Abbey where Australia’s Maria Forde wrote that beautiful wedding song ‘Will you Dance with me’. Galway was abuzz with excitement as it was the June long weekend, as they say, there wasn’t a spare chair to be found anywhere. I also had a chance to catch up with my very good friend Charley Brady, who is one of the world’s finest reporters on social issues. He and I along with the board of Directors of the charity organisation Hand in Hand are planning to raise the profile of the organisation, we will work together to raise very necessary funds for children with cancer in Ireland.

From Galway we travelled to Tralee via, Doolin where we dropped in to Gus O’Connor’s to sample the Guinness (nectar of the Gods) then it was off, to the Cliffs of Moher. Then another top up pint at Durty Nellies in Clare and the stroll around Bunratty Castle was most enjoyable. Another reason to stretch our legs was a visit around the Beautiful Lady, Limerick City.

Finally we are on the last leg of our journey, a quick

stop in Listowel to pay homage to the great man of Irish theatre John B Keane. John B has been my inspiration from the first time I heard him tell stories, a master wordsmith. Finally we arrive in Tralee, a little weary after a magic day. The Brandon Hotel is synonymous with the Rose of Tralee festival and I can understand why, we were made most welcome during our stay.

Next morning bright and early after a fine Irish Breakfast, we headed off to the place where God goes on his holidays, Dun Chaoin on the Dingle Peninsula.

That was where the classic Movie “Ryan’s Daughter” was shot back in the early seventies. Dun Chaoin is a must for me to see every time I return to Ireland. There is far too much to this place, words could not do it justice,

right and the old mental institute on the left side of the River Lee. We get the usual rainy welcome on arrival and it wouldn’t be Cork without the rain. My home away from home in Cork is always the Imperial Hotel in the South Mall where everyone who walks in the door gets treated like royalty. Four days or catching up with friends and showing off my hometown to Marie’s Australian friend Merlelyn, who delighted in taking a bite out of The Blarney Stone, while touring the Castle and taking an IPad full of pictures. I never get enough time while in Cork and time always seems to slip away from me unannounced.

Before leaving Cork I was invited to a concert

by Charlotte O’Byrne in St Mary’s Church in Pope’s Quay, where I saw and heard some of Ireland’s best performers. Showing of their skills were, Violinist Geraldine O’Grady (now in her 80’s) Liam O Maonlai of Hothouse Flowers fame and Regina Nathan who was accompanied by the St Mary’s Choir. I am still overwhelmed in the joy of seeing such quality performers.

This time I outsmarted time as I’m returning in ten days’ time for a very historical and major occasion which I will report to you on my next article in the next edition of Irish Scene. So, today we arrived in San Sebastian in the Basque Country of Spain for 5 days and then on to Barcelona, for 5 another days before returning to Cork for that historical occasion. While in Barcelona a visit to The Camp Nou is a must for me and a chance to see the famous grounds and museum of one of the most successful teams in the world, Barcelona. All will be reported to you on my return, but for the next 5 days it is relaxing time in the heart of Celtic country, home of our forefathers here in the Basque country in Northern Spain. Until next time be good to those who love you. You can catch me on mike@globefins.com.au Mike Bowen reporting and signing off.

just come and if and when you visit Ireland, you must visit this place. If you pass on to the next world and haven’t seen Dun Caoin, then you will have missed one of the most beautiful and tranquil places on this earth.

That’s why they say, God comes here for his holidays (after Gougane Barra of course!).

On returning to Tralee that evening I get an invite to a wake, the mother of a very good friend of many years, Karl Bulman’s mother had passed away and I was privileged to witness a wonderful good old Irish style send-off of a lovely lady. The wake singing almost blew the roof off and for only the second time in twenty years I played and sang centre stage with great pride in my heart for my very good friend and his family. Although, I have to say that I have never been to a boring Irish wake.

Sorry and sore-headed, we travel to my hometown Cork where Fred Rea and also Frank Murphy hailed from a few years ago. (I did be having a few drinks on them while there, at their expense of course). I always get emotional every time I drive in the straight road from Ballincollig on the last stretch, just before that County Hall (with Cha and Miah looking up) on the

Happy 80th Birthday Margaret

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COLIN MERREY

Perth City. (see also above) – Stefen is very helpful and a good supporter of the Irish Scene Dymocks at Whitford City – ask for Tracey (and other locations throughout the State and BOOKS BOOKS BOOKS BOOKS Metropolitan Area) Welcome to the Winter edition of Corona Books shop at Warwick our wonderful Magazine. I have Shopping Centre – ask for Mark. again toiled long and hard to give In the realm of Second Hand book you a lot to choose from especially sellers for this issue so here goes.

Pulp Fiction – who have stores Firstly, I would like to tell you (again) at Whitford City and also at about an email I received after the Floreat Forum Shopping Centre last issue went to press. Stefen Elizabeth’s Bookshop chain, which from Stefen’s Books sent me the has shops in Fremantle, Perth City following – (Murray Street), and Subiaco to “In the Last few issues your name but a few branches. book reviewer Colin has been very Guildford Book Exchange complimentary about my store, and Warwick Second hand Books at I wanted to say that I appreciate it.

Warwick Shopping Centre I’d like to do something to return Please remember too to let the the favour, so I thought giving you various stores know who pointed guys some free product you could you in their direction. The use as a prize of some sort might be feedback is great for them and it cool. shows me that you are actually As I’m sure Colin is aware the taking the time to read what I have second of the ‘Sean Duffy’ books prepared for your enjoyment with

by Adrian McKinty came out in each issue. Then my work will not standard paperback recently. Since I have been in vain, as it were! think it will fit with Colin’s review section, I thought 2 copies each of And so, I’ll go straight to my book “In the Cold Cold Ground” and “I of the month – absolutely no contest Hear Sirens in the Street” would this time make good giveaways.

MRS BROWN’S FAMILY I was thinking you could do two HANDBOOK – O’CARROLL winners. Each gets a copy of ‘The AND JOSEPH Cold Cold Ground’ and a copy of ‘I Penguin Hardback $39.99 Hear Sirens in the Street’, both by At last – in the wake of the Adrian McKinty.” hugely successful This is a wonderful prize donated TV series and by one of our favoured book sellers concert tours So if you would like to win one (well deservedly of our prize packs, I will pass on so in my humble the names to Stefen of the first opinion) comes two readers to contact me on 0409 this wonderfully 882 909 and they can collect their funny companion respective prizes from him at his book that sets out bookshop in Shafto Lane in Perth some of Agnes Brown’s handy home city. So feel free! You only have hints. I won’t tell you what they yourselves to blame if you don’t are – I’ll leave you to enjoy them take part. yourselves.

So to continue with my favourite I know that Mrs Brown isn’t booksellers, don’t forget that if everyone’s cup of tea – but in the you should have problems finding light of her success, I am bound to a good new- or second hand assume that they are in a minority. bookseller, you can try – Hope you enjoy this as much as I Stefen’s Books in Shafto Lane in did – it’s hilarious!

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I’M TALKING – KATE CEBERANO ( with TOM GILLING) Hachette Paperback $32.99 I love a good biography. Kate is a much respected and multi talented Australian singer whose career has spanned many years and many musical genres. This is her story – in her own words – and a fascinating one it is too.

I have been a great fan of Kate’s for many years and was pleased to give this one a read. Take a look if, like me, you are fond of celebrity biographies/ autobiographies.

THE TEMPORARY GENTLEMAN – SEBASTIAN BARRY Allen and Unwin Paperback $29.99 Sebastian Barry was born in Dublin in 1955 and has written and published many novels and plays, several of which have won significant awards in past years.

With this pedigree, I set out to explore this tale of one Jack McNulty, a “temporary gentleman” by way of a non-permanent commission in the British Army during World War 2. In 1957, he sits down to write his memoirs of a truly amazing life – sometimes funny – sometimes fascinating and sometimes heart wrenching. This is a really good read from a truly inspirational storyteller. Enjoy it as I did.

THE HOUSE ON CARNAVAL STREET – DEBORAH RODRIGUEZ Bantam Australia Paperback $29.99 Here we have a personal memoir of Deborah Rodriguez who, following the publication of her first book “Little Coffee Shop of Kabul” was forced to flee that town to start a new life in Mexico – a place where she had never really contemplated settling down at all!

It is the amazing story of how Deborah reinvents herself at the

age of 49 years as she packs herself, all of her belongings and her cat, Polly, into a Mini Cooper and moves on to settle in a small seaside Mexican town and starts over again.

Once there, she meets a truly amazing group of people with whom she makes firm new friends thus getting back to her old self (which was her primary wish).

Loved this one – it is a fascinating memoir and one that I know you’ll enjoy, too.

THE GIRL FROM YESTERDAY – SHANE DUNPHY Allen and Unwin Paperback $19.99 Shane lives in Wexford, Ireland and has written several previous books (although this is the first that has passed across my desk to date) about his experiences as a child protection officer in Ireland.

Here, we have a young family, in particular a young girl called Emma, who are filthy, nervous and suffering from severe neglect as a result of a dispute over land between their father and his brother.

In order to protect them Shane finds himself on a collision course with the Church, local government and big business. But will he discover the truth behind it all as his fight threatens the new life he has created for himself as a journalist?

This is a wonderful story – beautifully written. I truly loved this – it is a remarkable story that I know you’ll all enjoy as well.

NIGHT VISION – ELLA WEST Allen and Unwin Paperback $14.99 Here’s one for our younger readers – a great little mystery story set in New Zealand – this is a great introduction to the world of crime and mystery for them (which is partly why I chose to review this one).

Viola is a young girl of fourteen years old who suffers from a rare syndrome that makes her allergic to

sunlight – she moves around out of doors at night and uses night vision glasses as a visionary aid. On one of her nightly excursions, she sees a murder – and more importantly can identify the murderer!

We follow her story through many twists and turns to its final and inevitable conclusion. Another wonderful little book and well worth getting for the young adults in your family to read – enjoy – I loved it – a really great little read.

THE HISTORY OF THE GARDEN IN FIFTY TOOLS – BILL LAWS Allen and Unwin Hardback $35.00 If you have read a lot of my earlier review articles, then you will know that I am (gradually) developing an interest in gardening that is beginning to run beyond just digging holes where I am told to dig them. And this book has been a great insight into the tools that I should be using to do all of the various jobs that will always be there when I am working in the garden.

I found it very useful and informative and I shall treasure it and keep it for posterity (and future reference) in my personal library.

If you are a keen gardener and would like to know how and from where the tools that you use originated, then this is definitely for you, too.

TELLING TALES – PATIENCE AGBABI Allen and Unwin Hardback $29.99 I have just acquired for my library an illustrated copy of the Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer. I am particularly fond of the original book, having studied it at some length during my school years and have been keenly seeking out a copy for some time now – this time courtesy of the

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Warwick Book Exchange (Warwick Shopping Centre – see above) so I was particularly excited when Patience Agbabi’s book arrived recently.

It is a retelling, in modern times, of some of the famous Tales by using, instead of a pilgrimage to Canterbury on foot, making it a bus trip to Canterbury Cathedral taken by punks, badasses, fixers, town criers and sinners, to name but a few. Very funny – very tongue in cheek at times – very readable and altogether entertaining excursion into one of the classics of English literature. This is another that will remain with me for a LONG time.

Hope you like it, too.

BEARA: DARK LEGENDS – BRIAN O’SULLIVAN Irishimbas Books Paperback $35.00 This is a new book, new publisher and new author to me. Brian found me by way of the Irish Scene website and asked that I give this book, the first in his Beara Trilogy, a read.

This I was pleased to do and I was more than delighted with this great little book.

It is at times very atmospheric and darkly humorous and will make you re-think a lot of the things you thought you knew about Ireland.

It tells the story of Muiris O’Suillebhain who is a reclusive historian who does not freely share his secrets with anyone. Then he is lured from his seclusion to help find the final resting place of Irish hero Fionn Mac Cumhal – as he accedes to the challenge, he finds himself trying to defy his enemies and survive his own family’s history in Beara. Loved it – can’t wait for the next two books in the trilogy.

If you want to get hold of a copy, you may have to resort to an importer – or you can try Brian O’Sullivan via the publisher’s website irishimbasbooks.com.

Hope you enjoy it – I know I did – thoroughly.

DUBLIN – DAVID DICKSON Allen and Unwin Hardback $59.99 I have always loved reading

about Ireland and its political and social history – in particular the wonderful books by Edward Rutherfurd on the subject. So I was really pleased when I read about this new book on the making of Dublin City from the pen of David Dickson. David is a professor of Modern History at Trinity College Dublin and has published extensively in this his area of expertise.

Here we have a chronicling of the creation of the city of Dublin from the days of the Viking settlements through the patrician Eighteenth century to the city as we now know it – the sprawling Irish city at the en of the millennium – dear old Dublin town.

This is an extremely well researched and documented history of a truly magnificent and cosmopolitan city – it is extremely well written and I found it a great read. I will commend this one to Denis Bratton and the AIHA and suggest to them that it be made essential reading to its leaders and members. I know it will be of tremendous interest to them as I feel it will to all Irish men and women who want to know more about their capital city and its history and heritage.

Now for my selections that are chiefly for the ladies amongst our readers – although I found most of them well to my taste also!

THE TRADER’S REWARD – ANNA JACOBS Hachette Paperback $29.99 This is the final novel in Anna’s “The Traders” five novel saga of life in the Swan River Colony during the 19th and early 20th century here in our native Western Australia.

We pick up the story where Fergus Deagan’s wife dies leaving him to care for their small children – but he doesn’t know how to manage this so he turns to Bram, his older brother, for help

and advice. He then finds himself trying to help Bram, of whom he has always been envious, to try to save his fledgling business venture.

This is a truly good read and a fitting finale to this series (the earlier books of which I have read and thoroughly enjoyed) and a book that I commend to you unreservedly. Hope you enjoy it.

BENEATH OUTBACK SKIES – ALISSA CALLEN Random House Paperback $32.99 This is thea first novel from Alissa Callen and it is one that I quite enjoyed – notwithstanding that it is principally a romance story that is set in outback Australia. It tells the story of Paige who is the carer for her wheelchair bound father and who is trying to save the drought stricken property Banora Downs.

But this is complicated by the arrival of a farm stay guest, Tait Cavanaugh. Now read on……

I think that this story will appeal to all lovers of this genre and to all those who like to read about the Australian Outback. Enjoy!

IRON JUNCTION – CHARLOTTE NASH Hachette Paperback $29.99 This is the new novel from Charlotte (whose previous novel “Ryders Ridge” you may recall I told you about a while back) that tells us about Dr Beth Harding who leaves Sydney behind to take up a locum position Iron Junction, a mining town in the Pilbara region of Western Australia.

This is a great little story that encompasses the tensions that are experienced in the North West of WA caused by the fly in fly out workers, the miners themselves and the station owners and contractors of that wild and rugged region.

I enjoyed the swings and roundabouts of this book, equally as much as I did its predecessor and know you will too. Go on – spoil yourselves – it’s gonna be a long

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cold winter and reading is a great way to spend those cold winter evenings (and days if like me you are virtually retired)!

BLACK LAKE – JOHANNA LANE Headline Tinder Press Paperback $29.99 This is yet another first novel for this issue – here we have a story set in Ireland in the rambling Dunlough estate – a place that has cast a potent spell on its inhabitants for many generations – until the present owner, John Campbell, is forced to open the Estate’s doors to tourists to try to make ends meet. All is well until a tragic accident threatens to destroy the family.

This is a great little book and one that I certainly recommend to you – all those of you who like dramas that are set in the Irish countryside.

Hope you enjoy this one – I know I did and I am not that easy to please these days!

IF YOU WERE ME – SHEILA O’FLANAGAN Hachette Paperback $29.99 Carlotta O’Keefe is happily engaged to Chris – that is until she visits Seville and meets Luke, who was her first real love. This is her dilemma – will she or won’t she stay with Chris, the man to whom she is engaged?

A good story well told – I quite enjoyed reading this one – not totally to my taste but enjoyable nevertheless. I know some of you ladies out there will love this one.

So go ahead and treat yourselves – I know you won’t regret it!

THE FORTUNE HUNTER – DAISY GOODWIN Headline Paperback $29.99 Set in the Europe of 1875, this story tells of Sisi, the bored wife of Franz Joseph, head of the Hapsburg Court, who travels to England to hunt and look for excitement. This she finds in the form of Captain Bay Middleton.

Now read on………..

This is a lovely little story and one

that should appeal to all those who read Daisy’s previous novel “My Last Duchess” and also for lovers of period dramas in the style of the remarkable “Downton Abbey” to which I must admit I am totally addicted. Read and enjoy – it is a tale well told and as I said it is in a genre whose style I really enjoy too.

A PLACE OF HER OWN – DEBORAH O’BRIEN Bantam Paperback $32.99 This is the third and final part of Deborah’s trilogy that began with “Mr Chen’s Emporium” and tells the story of Angie who, while trying to get over the passing of her husband, has made a new life for herself in the gold rush town of Millbrooke. She takes over a proprietress of the Old Manse B & B – where she embarks on a new relationship with the “erudite but scruffy” Richard Scott. That is until a woman from Richard’s past comes into town and threatens to turn her world topsy-turvy.

Now read on………

This is a lovely story and one which, if you have already read the first two in the series will round the tale out for you very nicely.

If you haven’t, it works perfectly well as a stand-alone book – but it will probably whet your appetites to read the first two in the series.

Whatever the case, I hope you enjoy this one immensely.

SHADOW SPELL – NORA ROBERTS Hachette PB $29.99 I really enjoy Nora Roberts’ writing and I enjoyed the first book in the Cousins O’Dwyer trilogy, of which this is the second instalment.

In this continuation, we pick up where Meara Quinn is convinced that love is not for her and because of her scarred childhood is not about to fall under the spell of Connor O’Dwyer. Because Connor is part of the three O’Dwyers who have inherited a dark gift from the

past which threatens to destroy them as they fight with good the evil that is hunting them down together with everyone they care for.

This is a gripping tale and one that I know you’ll enjoy – I did and it fits nicely after Book One – can’t wait for the final instalment to see how it all pans out. I know you’ll feel the same, too once you have read this great tale.

MURDER MYSTERY AND MAYHEM…….PLUS Let’s start with a few from my favourite writers – THE WOLF IN WINTER – JOHN CONNOLLY Hachette PB $29.99 First cab off the rank this time is the long awaited new Charlie Parker book from the sublime Mr John Connolly – and it was well worth the wait, too!

This time Parker is looking into the disappearance of a dead homeless man who, before he died, had asked Parker to find his daughter for him. To Charlie, the man’s death didn’t mean he no longer had to find her.

The story wends its tortuous way through a twisted enough tale (as it was) through the township of Prosperous in Maine in the USA. Here everyone keeps their lips sealed and the whole population, who appear to be members of a strange cult that is centred on a church that originated (brick for brick) in the North East of England, is determined to stop Parker from finding out the truth about the missing girl and the townspeople.

Great story – as always – I love John’s books and I loved the darkness and mystery that surrounds this brilliant story. If you have never read John’s books before, then this is a great place to start – if you have, then you will be absolutely enthralled and captivated by this latest chapter in the life of Charlie Parker.

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FIRE AND BRIMSTONE BATEMAN Headline Paperback $29.99 This next is from Belfast born Bateman (the author formerly known as Colin Bateman – name change courtesy of his publisher!) and is the latest story in the Daniel Starkey series (that began with “Divorcing Jack”). This time Dan is hired to find the missing student daughter of a billionaire media mogul – but he mustn’t tell anyone exactly who has employed him!

There follows another fast and furious – and darkly humorous/ hilarious – winding tale of the kind that we have come to expect from Mr Bateman - I love his writing and all of the dark, twisted characters that we get in his books.

If you haven’t read any of Mr B’s books before then this is a great place to start but really, if you haven’t tried Bateman before you are missing an absolute Irish literary legend. Go on – buy this one and love it.

THE SKIN COLLECTOR – JEFFERY DEAVER Hachette PB $32.99 This is another of my favourites and this time featuring one of my favourite Deaver characters in the shape of Lincoln Rhyme – the quadriplegic forensic investigator – and his lover/ assistant Detective Amelia Sachs.

Here, we have a serial killer who leaves little messages for the police etched into the skin of his victims – hence his nickname – and title of the book – the Skin Collector.

And we have the usual brilliantly written and researched tale that we have come to expect from Jeffery – very fast paced – very tortuous and very engaging. I loved it and hope you do too. Again, if you haven’t read Jeff ’s books before then now is the time to start – I know you will enjoy them just as

much as I do.

THE BONES BENEATH – MARK BILLINGHAM Hachette Paperback $29.99 I love British crime thrillers – and I love Mark Billingham’s chief character, DI Tom Thorne. If you haven’t read any of Mark’s books before, you may recall TV adaptations of two of them (with David Morrissey starring as Thorne) – “Scaredy Cat” and “Sleepyhead” – two wonderful psychological thrillers.

This time, Thorne is assigned to accompany a man he has previously arrested, tried and convicted of several serial killings (where the bodies of some of his victims had not been found) to a deserted and isolated Scottish island. The killer has promised to show them where the bodies have been buried – but what is behind his request that he would only show them if Thorne went with him?

This is a wonderfully twisted tale with some surprising and tantalising segues and a stomach churning ending. I loved it – buy it and find out for yourselves why I enjoyed it so much – go on – you know you want to!

GALLOWGLASS – GORDON FERRIS Allen Unwin PB $19.99 Gordon is an acclaimed Scottish crime writer and this particular book is the last in a four book cycle featuring Glasgow crime reporter Douglas Brodie. Set in the June of 1947, this is a brilliantly devised and written book and is indeed a very fast paced one at that.

The blurb to the book says that Douglas Brodie, ace crime reporter of the Glasgow Gazette is dead.

But can this be so? He is the hero of the story, after all. As you can imagine, there is a lot more to his death that initially meets the eye. I can’t and won’t tell you any more without spoiling it for you – suffice it to say this is a real killer of a book (pun intended) – I loved it as

will you.

NYPD RED 2 – JAMES PATTERSON & MARSHALL KARP Random House PB $32.99 This is the second book in Patterson’s cowritten NYPD Red series featuring Zach Jordan and Kylie MacDonald – this time a vigilante serial killer is on the loose in New York City who is tracking down and murdering people whose crimes have gone unpunished for various reasons by the legal/justice system.

This is yet another from the prolific pen of Mr Patterson and is equally as page turning and fast paced as his other crime novels.

Loved this one and hope you do, too.

I’VE GOT YOU UNDER MY SKIN – MARY HIGGINS CLARK Simon and Schuster Paperback $32.99 I just love Mary’s books – they all have exciting and gripping storylines, each with an unexpected and murderous twist – just as this one does.

An ER doctor is ruthlessly gunned down in a children’s playground as his young son looks on in horror.

The killer is never caught.

His young widow is a TV producer and has been asked to come up with a new TV series – so she chooses cold case re-enactments and her choice for the pilot episode is her husband’s murder.

There are many tortuous trails throughout this great story and I know you will not pick up who the murderer is and why he wants the child and widow dead – at least not until Mary wants you to know who they are.

This is a great story – well written and exceptionally well told.

NIGHT HERON – ADAM BROOKES Hachette Paperback $29.99 Adam Brookes is a new author to me - and I loved this book, the first in a trilogy of spy thrillers. This

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is the story of Peanut, a lone man who escapes a Chinese labour camp in the dead of night and flees across the winter desert of north-west China.

Twenty years earlier, he had been a spy for British intelligence and he reaches out to his then handler to arrange his extraction from China in exchange for various military secrets that are extremely valuable to Britain. But it transpires they are very valuable to more than just the Brits! And thereby the tale is woven – it is a very fast paced and unputdownable book and I loved it. Can’t wait for the next instalment(s).

FORBIDDEN TOMB – CHRIS KUZNESKI Hachette PB $29.99 This is the second book in the series that features The Hunters – a group of mercenaries who are employed to hunt out, find and recover historically significant artefacts.

This time they are tasked to find the legendary tomb of Alexander the Great and the search takes them through many exotic locations until they finally find it– but at what cost to themselves and the members of their team? Very fast paced – very well written - very believable – extremely entertaining.

Loved it.

THE COLLECTOR – NORA ROBERTS Hachette PB $29.99 Nora Roberts is arguably the most prolific of all of the women writers currently working in the world today – with stories in her own name and also as JD Robb by way of the “….In Death” series of crime novels. She is noted for her romance novels and also her crime stories, of which this is the latest. Here she features Lila Emerson who is a house sitter who becomes fascinated by the lives of the people for whom she sits.

All goes well - that is until she witnesses something she shouldn’t

– the brutal and shocking murder of a woman living across the street from her in New York.

She enlists an artist, Ashley, to help her outwit and outrun the killer who is seeking her out – but is he all he seems? If you want to know more (and I hope I have whetted your collective appetites) then buy this fast paced twisted tale of vengeance, murder, etc and enjoy it. It is REALLY worth it!

Well that’s it for books this issue.

Remember, if I haven’t heard of an author before or if it is a new author, I hope you will take my recommendations into consideration when selecting your reading matter and give them a good go. I will say no more at this juncture and wish you happy reading, and see you all in the next issue. I hope you enjoy my recommendations as much as I have enjoyed reading them on both your and my own behalf.

MUSIC & MOVIES

Dublin” – a movie released in 1968 that was narrated by Brendan himself with incidental music by the Dubliners. This is a real gem and a must see for all lovers of the work of Brendan and the Dubliners.

I urge you to buy this one (it is probably only available on import – I got mine from Amazon UK) – I am sure you will love it too.

Also available, as I have said in an earlier issue are the Celtic Thunder “Mythology” DVD and CD and the “Acoustically Irish“ CD from CT’s Neil Byrne and Ryan Kelly. See my reviews of their Perth appearances elsewhere in this Issue of the Irish Scene. Buy them amd enjoy them as a wonderful keepsake of two very memorable sets of performers.

Country mandolinist Bob Wills and a brilliant guitar duet learned by Chris and Arty from the playing of Merle Travis – a brilliant rendering of “Saturday Night Shuffle” All of this joined together by Arty’s very dry witty introductions to tunes and other hilarious stories.

The band was more than ably supported

by Them Little Secrets who were for this particular set augmented by the lovely Eleanor on fiddle. They played their own compositions together with some surprising renditions of several popular songs – all of these fared very well with the acoustic treatment they received.

Altogether this was a truly great musical event and I had an absolute ball – thanks go to all concerned.

If you want to get hold of a memento of the

Band and weren’t at the Fly on the night to get one from them, there is a wonderful CD available featuring a lot of what the Band performed called the “Heartstring Sessions” which I am sure can be obtained from your local CD shops, importer, I-tunes or Amazon.

As an aside, it has come to my notice via the Perth news media that the Fly By Night Musicians Club is experiencing some problems in regard to its being able to continue as a viable acoustic venue – chiefly because of rental costs for the building that houses the Club. It would be a great shame if we were to lose this wonderful venue – if any of you have any sort of influence whatsoever I would urge you to consider helping the Club out in any way you are able. Long live “The Fly” – long may it reign as our premier acoustic venue.

Odeon Films, late last year released a series of classic British films on DVD that had never before been available to the general public in this format. One of these was one that I have been searching for quite some time – “The Quare Fellow”

by Brendan Behan – filmed in 1962 and starring Patrick McGoohan, Sylvia Syms, Walter Macken and Dermot Kelly. I first saw this movie adaptation in London in 1962 and was really taken with the characterisations of the lead actors – as you probably know, this is a classic anti capital punishment statement – it has some high drama and some very light-hearted moments to break the tension.

I loved this one and I was also more than delighted to find that the DVD had a bonus movie in the shape of “Brendan Behan’s

CONCERT Review....

A TUG AT THE HEARTSTRINGS

By Colin Merrey

Some of my favourite musicians were in Perth (or rather Fremantle, Bunbury and Mandurah) with their new musical combination the Heartstrings Quartet. The band now includes Nollaig Casey on Fiddle, Maire Ni Chathasaigh on harp, Arty McGlynn on guitar and Chris Newman on guitar and mandolin.

These are four of the finest musicians ever to have come out of Ireland and I must say it was a real privilege to see them all playing together. Although, as I said after the show to both Nollaig and Chris, I had seen then perform together before - once in 1990 in the 3rd Guinness Festival at the Perth Concert Hall (at which time they also had Donal Lunny and Liam O’Flynn with them) and again when as a four piece unit they played as support to Cherish the Ladies and Finbar Furey, at the Concert Hall back in 1996.

Essentially they were playing the music from their Heartstring Sessions CD together with selections from their own solo and duo CD’s – Nollaig and Arty have played as a duo for some years now as have Maire and Chris.

Although all acoustic by nature, the tunes and songs covered several musical genres and included a bluegrass tune composed by

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COLIN MERREY

THUNDERSTORMS HIT PERTH CBD

JUNE 2014 Reviewed By Colin Merrey Not unusual during winter, I hear you say – but what I am referring to is two wonderful concerts I attended on Friday 13th and Sunday 15th June this year.

On Friday 13th (no evil problems experienced – by me anyway) Celtic Thunder appeared at the Perth Arena on the 22nd concert of their current Australian tour. They were here last year, too, but I didn’t make that show – much to my chagrin.

But I digress!

This was a presentation of the “Mythology” tour and DVD and one that I had anticipated ever since I watched the DVD at home a few weeks back. The group hit the stage to thunder-ous applause (pun intended) and opened with “Voices” a powerful song written

by Brendan Graham – who some of you know through either his musical compositions or from the time in the late ‘60’s early ‘70’s when he lived here in Perth. They went through a slightly varied set list from the DVD partly as a result of a restructuring of the group following the unexpected passing of one of their founder members, Scotsman George Donaldson. They continued with songs you would all recognize – the immortal “Danny Boy”, “Star of the County Down”, “Rocky Road”, “Seven Drunken Nights”, “Dearg Doom” (remember Irish folk rock band Horslips?) and the Thin Lizzy song “Boys Are Back In Town” to name but a few.

Standouts were for me “Dearg Doom” and the tribute they dedicated to their late comrade in arms George “When I Was A Younger Man” which they used as a closer. Quite a number of people left before the encores believing

that the show was over – so they and they were given a rousing and missed a set of tunes from the superb again (dare I say it?) a Thunder-ous backing musicians beginning with reception.

“Lonesome Boatman” followed by I went to the Sunday afternoon some reels from their brilliant fiddle concert and the venue (the Cab Bar) player, Nicole Hudson. Final song was ideal for what they gave us. It of the night was “Ireland’s Call” and is a great venue for intimate acoustic this rounded off a perfect evening concert performances such as this for myself and all other fans of Celtic and I had a most enjoyable time Thunder. there.

They had dedicated the entire The songs that hit me the tour to George Donaldson and had, most were a wonderful version in fact not replaced him in the line- of “Hallelujah”, a very moving up choosing to remain as a five piece “On Raglan Road”, a tribute set rather than the original six piece to of Scottish songs in memory of which we had grown accustomed. their mate George Donaldson, a If I had to make a criticism, it CT medley including my personal would not concern the performance favorite “Dearg Doom”. Closing the itself (which was extremely polished set, they chose “I Still Haven’t Found and professional – the lads all being What I’m Looking For”, the U2 song in fine voice as all CT shows are) (shouts from the audience “But we – rather that for some reason best have!). That, I felt, summed up what known to the organizers, or whoever was an exceptional show and I can’t was responsible, for there not being wait for them to bring it to Perth the super-sized viewing screens that again. Both boys were in great voice would have made it possible for and Neil, in particular, demonstrated those at the back of what is after all his brilliance as a guitar player on a large concert venue to see in detail some superb instrumental breaks what was going on on the stage. in the various songs. Musically, Nevertheless I thoroughly enjoyed they were more than ably supported myself, as did my wife, and I look by Nicole Hudson (fiddle player forward to their next visit to Perth extraordinaire) and David Munro in the future. (musical director of Celtic Thunder) In complete contrast, Saturday on keyboards.

14th and Sunday 15th June saw Neil Altogether as I have said this Byrne and Ryan Kelly – two of the was a truly wonderful show – in members of Celtic Thunder (why complete contrast with the Celtic am I telling you this? You all know Thunder concert – who could ask who they are don’t you?) – presented for anything more to make what their Acoustically Irish tour at Rosie was for me a musically complete O’Grady’s in Northbridge. Both weekend. Honestly speaking, if you are very accomplished singers and didn’t get to see these two concerts musicians who have developed a yourselves, then you missed a truly separate incarnation from Celtic special experience – particularly the Thunder (and which will run Rosie O’Grady shows. Rock on lads concurrently with the CT tours from – see you next time. now on). Their Frank Murphy presents program was taken from their solo CD’s and the one they have made together called “A c o u s t i c a l l y Irish”. The choice of songs was exactly what their audience wanted IRISH MUSIC • INTERVIEWS • LOCAL & IRISH NEWS to hear from them

107.9fm Fremantle Radio

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Saturday 7am to 9am

COLIN MERREY

FASTING THAN A SPEEDING BULLET

By Colin Merrey Is ita bird?????????? No! Is it a plane??????????? No! Is it Superman????? No! Bell X1 is a band that has been playing around Dublin and internationally for some 10 years now, having been formed from the ashes of the Dublin band Juniper that was originally led by the well known Dubliner Damien Rice. I spoke to Dave Geraghty, the band’s multi instrumentalist a while ago now about the Band and its upcoming tour of Australia. I asked Dave (having dragged him from his family breakfast at some ungodly hour in the morning!) how the band got its name. He said that, after Damien left, the three remaining members (Paul Noonan – lead vocals; guitar; drums; percussion; kazoo) Dave Geraghty – lead guitar; banjo; (electric) piano; backing vocals; occasional lead vocals and Dominic Philips – bass guitar; backing vocals) sat down and started scouring encyclopedias, magazines and the like to find an appropriate one. Dominic was looking through

the Guinness book of Records and discovered that there was a jet plane called the Bell X1 that in 1954 was the first jet to break the sound barrier – and they all agreed that this was a great name for the band and they promptly adopted it unanimously. (So yes – in reply to your quandary about Bell X1, yes it is a plane also!!!!)

They are festival and arena headliners in their native Ireland and play to ever growing numbers on their regular North American and European tours. The band recently had two songs in the Top 20 Irish Songs of All Time poll conducted by Dublin’s Phantom 105.2 FM.[3] Aside from U2, they are the Irish band with the most airplay in their native country and, according to Billboard magazine, they are also the second biggest live performers.

I asked Dave if the Bell X1 (being a jet plane) and the U2 (being a jet plane also) was an indication that the two bands’ musical styles were similar in any way. He said that, no – this was pure coincidence as he felt that, because of the band members’ varying musical tastes and influences, the musical styles were not really comparable.

When I asked Dave about his musical preferences and influences, he cited the likes of Bruce Springsteen, Nick Cave, Tom Petty,

Talking Heads and the immortal Phil Lynott. I noted that he had chosen Nick Cave, a prominent Australian musician and he said he was most impressed with the calibre of Australian performers – in particular he said that, in fact, Nick Seymour from Aussie ban Crowded House produced the Band’s first album.

I asked where the Band was based and he said that they based themselves in the small village of Ardclough on the Kildare-Dublin border, close to where all the members come from.

I also asked him where the Band spent most of its time performing and he said that they didn’t play much in Ireland apart from the odd “big show” here and there but that they spent most of their touring time in Europe and the United States. In fact their latest album (Chop Chop) was recorded in Bridgeport, Connecticut.

He said that this would be the Band’s first foray into Australia and was looking forward to his visit to Perth – Bell X 1 will be appearing at the Capitol in Murray Street Perth on 6th July – I thanked Dave for his time and sent him back to breakfast with his family.

I am looking forward to catching up with him and the rest of the band in July. I hope I see some of you there, too

Waiter, there’s a fly in my cake!

Scot’s you might ask?,” said Sharon.

As well as a cupboard full of recipes, Sharon of Hetty’s Bakery has a few stories about them in her store. One of her favourites is about the unappetising sounding Flies graveyard. In her native Northern Ireland they are known simply as currant squares, for the currants and shape of the treat. Across the water in Scotland they are known as fruit slice or fruit squares, again for the same reason. But in the North East of England they are given a name that tickles the fancy of children and others every time they hear it - fly cakes or fly graveyard pie.

“I’m serious, you can go into a Baker’s Shop in Scotland and ask for “two Fly Cemeteries and an Iron Bru please” and no-one will bat an eyelid, they are a funny bunch, them Scot’s, with the funniest sense of humour when it comes to food, I love it. This name is something that has been around a while, in Ireland my mum and dad remember them being named this when they were small.”

“Because that’s exactly what they look like, the raisins or currants are reminiscent of a collection of dead flies in their last resting place, the Fly Cemetery, ready to be eaten.

“Why are they called Fly Cemeteries by us funny

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GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN

By COLIN MERREY

In the past I have let you know about some of the noted authors, musicians and actors, etc that had passed away recently. I am saddened to have to tell you about some more notables who are no longer with us.

Firstly in this issue, I am saddened to note the passing of Joe Crozier, most of you who are reading this will know Joe from his many years’ involvement in the Irish community in general and also the Irish Club in Subiaco. Joe was also one of the founders of the Irish Scene magazine way back when together with Fred Rea and Jack Cullen who are both, as you know, still involved with the Magazine’s running today.

I first met Joe when Fred Rea and I formed a musical duo back in 1978 and approached the Irish Club for a chance to play at one of the Club’s sessions. It was agreed with Joe (who was the first person at the Club that we met) that we would donate our services to the Club to play at the Club’s official opening dance. This we did and as a result Fred and I became the first band to play ay the Irish Club on a Sunday, thus creating the first ever Sunday Session at the Irish Club in Subiaco.

After that, Joe became a good friend to Fred and I and our families and we remained so up to his untimely passing. I’ll say no more at this stage as I know that there will be tributes to Joe elsewhere in the magazine. I will just say thanks Joe for your many years of friendship – the condolences of my family and I go out to Lottie also – may your God go with you Joe – goodbye my friend.

From the world of film, we are sad to report that the wonderful British actor Bob Hoskins passed away on

29th April 2014 because of a bout of pneumonia. He was best known for playing gangster roles (as he did in “The Long Good Friday”) but played many other character roles in numerous films for both adults and children alike.

His movies for children were all highly regarded and included Smee in “Hook” with Dustin Hoffman and “Who Framed Roger Rabbit?”

Bob was 72 years old – not old by today’s standards.

From the world of music, on 17th January 2014 we lost British rock ‘n’ roller Freddie Fingers Lee (best remembered by most as piano player for the late and much lamented rocker Screaming Lord Sutch) again to pneumonia.

Although Freddie is probably not widely known outside of England (in particular in Northampton where he played for some years with Ian Hunter in Hurricane Henry and the Shriekers – a local Northampton group based loosely around the music of Lord Sutch) he will be long remembered in Britain for his wild and frenetic rock ‘n’ roll performances.

According to his daughter, one of Freddie’s favourite party tricks was occasionally dropping his glass eye in people’s drinks while they weren’t looking! He was 76 years old. – Rock on Freddie.

Also reasonably prominent in Britain was a band called Nero and the Gladiators – they were among the first to record rock versions of classical tunes. There major hits were “The Entry of the Gladiators” and “In The Hall of the Mountain King”. Their piano player was one Mike O’Neill who performed

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as Nero – he had a long musical history playing also with the likes of The John Barry Seven, The Ivy League, and Head Hands & Feet.

Mike died on 10th October 2013 from liver cancer at the age of 75 years.

Belfast born Bernard Patrick “Doc” Neeson was born in 1947 and came to fame in Australia as lead singer with the Angels band.

Having started in the Moonshine Jug and String Band with Rick and John Brewster, this band became The Keystone Angels in 1974, which eventually devolved into The Angels.

The band had huge success with the iconic rock anthem “Am I Ever Going To See Your Face Again?” with its notorious chorus “No Way……etc” – you all must know the rest – if don’t ask your children or maybe grandchildren to explain it to you!.

On 10 January 2013 it was announced that Neeson had been diagnosed with a brain tumour and would undergo immediate treatment. He passed away on 4 June 2014 as a result of the tumour – he was 67 years old.

On 19th May 2014 we lost Sir Jack Brabham – an Australian motor racing legend – after a lengthy battle with kidney or liver disease.

He was 88 years old.

Sir Jack was the first Australian to win the Formula 1 World Drivers Championship which he did twice, in fact, in 1959 and in 1960.

Further, he was the first driver to race and win Formula 1 Grand Prix races in a car that he had helped to design and build himself. He was truly a great man in motorsport and a great Australian to boot. He will be greatly missed.

Lastly for this issue, as I began

COLIN MERREY

writing up these notes, word came to me (via the all seeing all knowing World Wide Web) that English comedian Rik Mayall had just passed away. The cause of this is not known at this time – it may have been a fit or a heart problem (this from his widow).

The reason will not be known until after a post mortem has been carried out. Rik was 56 years old and was probably best known as star and cowriter of the cult TV series “The Young Ones”.

He also appeared in a number of other TV series (Remember “Bottom”?) and movies including the great little children’s movie “Drop Dead Fred” (sorry Mr Rea!) He will be sadly missed.

They have all given us innumerable hours of pleasure and enjoyment over the years – may their Gods go with them.

FORTHCOMING EVENTS, ETC On Friday 11 July 2014 at the Riverside Theatre. In Perth City, we will see the LUKE KELLY TRIBUTE SHOW that has been playing to packed

houses all over the world. It was put together in October 2001 by lead singer Chris Kavanagh who bears a remarkable resemblance to Luke, while his singing talents capture the depth and passion of the great man. He will be joined on stage by accomplished musicians who all consider it an honour to bring Luke’s memory to the stage in the ultimate tribute to the King of Balladeers. In 2009 to mark Luke’s 25th anniversary, Chris and co-writer (Hilary Kavanagh) composed a song entitled “Voice of the People” to celebrate his life. Chris will be supported by Irish singer/songwriter Paddy Casey whose years as a busker on the streets of Galway and his home town of Dublin served him well.

I am really looking forward to seeing this show – Luke has always been a big favourite and inspiration of mine – rock on Chris.

I have just been told of a new book that has just been published in Ireland to coincide with the 70th Anniversary of D-Day and the Normandy landings to some great acclaim (I expect to get a copy to review on your behalf very shortly and I will tell you more about it in the next issue). It is the publication of Tom Lowe’s Grandma’s world war 2 diaries and is a fascinating story of a rebellious young Irish nurse who is thrown into

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the deep end as the war starts. She has to care for gravely ill children with hopelessly inadequate supplies and in the midst of bombing raids her sister hospital takes a direct strike.

She follows the soldiers into France with the Normandy landings where she tends a field hospital on the frontline.

Her patients are axis and allies alike and, in the face of daily tragedy and disease, she finds her strength in her patients with their varied and charming personalities.

As a nurse and perhaps being Irish (who were neutral) she brings a less affiliated and stark account of the major events of WW2, despairing at the poor treatment of German prisoners in British run concentration camps, and relaying British foot soldiers’ dismay at not getting the air backup they were promised. Through the chaos she meets a man who is to become her husband as the war is ending, she tells of his role to protect the German civilians from Russian soldiers who are conducting revenge attacks.

It sounds a great book and one whose story should be universally read by all who think that war is “a good thing”.

One of our readers has recently contacted Fred Rea to tell him about a new and up and coming group in Dublin called the Rattlin’ Kind. They currently have a single out in Ireland called “All Around the Town” that is featured in an Irish show called “Love Hate” which is about crime on the streets of Dublin. The band is thinking of touring Australia at some time in the future and, having listened to the song on You tube, hope that they get the airplay they deserve over here in the Land of Oz and that we will eventually get to see them over here. Here’s hoping – look out for them.

Finally, if you are going to see the Rolling Stones at the Perth Arena later this year, look out for a familiar face in the choir supporting the Stones for “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” in the form of Sarah Cranfield, daughter of Lionel Cranfield of Zenith Music.

When I first encountered the name of the city of Stockholm, I little thought that I would ever visit it, never mind end up being welcomed to it as a guest of the Swedish Academy and the Nobel Foundation.

Seamus Heaney

The following review has been edited (A LOT - sorry Phil, but I did tell you of this) and Fred Rea’s review will folow Phils!

Phil Beck’s Fairbridge Review...

The Irish Scene’s proprietor Fred Rea convinced me recently to do something I didn’t want to do. After a period of exile from the pages of this magazine - for reasons I won’t go into here - he managed to talk me into writing a spot review of the Fairbridge music festival. As I have said before this annual music event is not to my taste, for various reasons. But despite my misgivings, the promise of a free ticket and the chance to catch up on some artists and groups I did want to see, I accepted the offer.

I kicked off my musical sampling with the Perth Scottish Fiddlers in the Club House, I wasn’t expecting to see too many people at the venue and was pleased to see that the room was quite full and what’s more full of people that liked and appreciated the show. The PSF are a somewhat fluid bunch of players with no fixed line up: the members apparently show up if they want to play a particular venue and not, if they don’t. There are a few indispensable players who form the essence of the ensemble around whom the others coalesce when they want to: it’s a format that suits them and is, I reckon, a pretty good way of doing things. I’ve seen them on several occasions and they have numbered anything from half a dozen to about a million. On the day, and due to the fact that they were planning to go to the National Festival with Fairbridge being a sort of dry run, there was the full million of them on stage. They performed a pleasing selection of jigs and reels and so on with the occasional strathspey bunged in for good Scottish measure, and a good time was had by all. A promising start to

the festival.

Then it was the Ballpoint Penguins for a typically idiosyncratic show of close harmony singing, of mostly self-penned humorous songs.

I seem to remember that jellyfish featured pretty heavily in one song and there were some very funny verses about said invertebrates: but I must admit that by about verse 64 I’d had enough of that particular fish. Again, the venue was packed and it was standing room only and as most people stayed for quite a while the Penguins were obviously a hit.

I’ve been here for a few hours and not a cloud on the musical horizon so far. Then it’s off to the Chapel to see Bernard Carney, Dave Hyams and a few ring-ins pay tribute to the late lamented Pete Seeger: doyen of the folk protest movement circa late 50s early 60s. Once again the venue was packed, and the crowd was enthusiastic, and even cynical old me enjoyed singing along with Seeger’s greatest hits as it were. I was a tad disappointed though that there was no explanation of what Seeger was about or what he achieved in the folk scene, Bernard and Co simply sang his songs without giving any back story to what the protest movement and Seeger in particular was all about.

Next stop, for any length of time was the main marquee where the Chipolatas were taking their place on stage. It all started off quite well, there was a really snappy riff being played as the group took their places and arranged themselves on stage and I remember thinking this is good I’m going to like this. The stage arrangement seemed to take a long time and the spruiker while introducing the band seemed intent on telling their life stories and the snappy riff was starting to get a bit annoying. Twenty minutes later and the life history routine and the once snappy riff was giving me a headache and I was longing

83

for the ‘introduction’ to be over and the act proper to start. The Chipolatas might be a good band and a Fairbridge favourite, but I’m afraid I didn’t find out, I legged it for a place where I could actually hear some proper music and get myself a soothing drink.

I went to the wine bar and listened to the Pepperjacks for a while: great musos including Rodney Vervest, a guitar wizard who’s incidentally the new musical director of Fairbridge.

The main thing though, was that a couple of glasses of red wine soothed the savage brow and serenity reigned once more.

As the festival continued I saw a few good things, and a few iffy things, but in fairness the acts on offer are so numerous and varied that it’d be the rare person that liked them all (or disliked them all come to that): it’s a curate’s egg sort of thing.

I wasn’t able to spend the entire weekend at Fairbridge and there was an awful lot of stuff I didn’t get too.

Before I leave you here I want to recommend the Rogues, a Fremantle based Pogues tribute band - I have it on the best authority they are well worth a look. Until we meet again reader, whenever that might be!

Phil Beck

Fred’s Festival Review

To me, Fairbridge is more than a festival, it is more than music and performers... it is a gathering of people on a weekend to enjoy the Craic. Reminded me of the Fleadh Ceol’s back in Ireland.

Yes, I saw a lot more than Phil and the standouts for me was the song writing workshop with Eleanor McEvoy and Mick Thomas and others. How they came to write their songs explained and then performed I did enjoy and so did the audience by their response.

Speaking of Mick Thomas of Weddings Parties Anything, I did go to his concert and wanting to hear just one song, The Scorn of the Women. I am researching World War songs at present and this song was brought to my attention by Dympna Finch. Listen to it sometime, the lyric is powerful. And Mick performed it on stage. He told me later he had not sung this song for a while and thought he would just put

it in his bracket... Thanks Mick.

Hilary McKenna’s Ceile was a hoot and a large crowd joined in to make it a most joyous event.

Rushad Eggleston is something else! This performer brought smiles and lots of joy to many faces and I could not help but notice the kids present really get involved in everything he did. When the word got out, all his concerts filled very quickly.

I believe Charlie McCarthy of Bluegrass band, The Seals was responsible for recommending Rushad to the festival. Rushad joined the Seals in one of their concerts and again the craic was amazing. By the way The Seals were also brilliant.

I stumbled in on the Rogues and was awakened from my slumber very quickly. This Pogues cover band took to the stage and took the audience on a crazy and wild journey playing the music of Shane McGowan and his friends. The audience went off, and speaking to a band member later, he, like me, was also taken aback by the response, crazy stuff!

There is just one other event I want to mention, the ‘Singing the Spirit’ in The Chapel. One microphone and various acts from the weekend came on stage and gave us very moving and uplifting performances.

This is a whole weekend of great music, in a very safe environment for all the family and I must congratulate the program planners for giving such a wonderful spread of acts to make sure that one could always find something to enjoy. I did not enjoy all the acts but that is not what it’s all about. Fairbridge caters for the whole family, with areas and shows catering for children and families. I am led to believe there were some great Irish sessions in and around the campsites each evening.

And just in closing I do have one complaint, the

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lady photographer who insisted on walking onto the stage during performances to get ‘close ups’ of the acts. I do hope the organisers do something about this next year.

I will be back next year! Not sure about Phil though?

Fred Rea

Ireland-Western Australia Forum

Promoting business, professional and cultural links between Ireland and Western Australia Hopefully by the time you are reading this, many of you will have attended our second event of the year at the Celtic Club and have further enhanced your networks within the Irish community here in Perth.

As always, we would welcome any feedback on prior events or suggestions for future events.

You can contact us by e-mailing Bronagh at bronaghdoherty77@gmail.com or Marty at marty@kavlaw.com.au

Our next event is planned for November. The committee is currently considering a number of options for what will be our final event of 2014. Further details to follow in later editions.

The Forum is keen to lift our overall footprint and activities to a new level.

If you are keen to be involved or wish to recommend speakers please do not hesitate to contact Marty Kavanagh on 92188422 or email: marty@kavlaw.com.au

All areas of Family Law, children’s issues,

divorce & property matters financial agreements Wills Restraining Orders

Marty Kavanagh

B.Comm (Hons), Grad Dip, LLB Barrister and Solicitor

2/100 Terrace Rd East Perth 6004 • t: 9218 8422 • m: 0430 960 859

with Synnott This month’s guest...

Michael Murphy, born 1928 in Drogheda is happy to living in Australia and is a Businessman and Hairdresser 1. What was your first job?

Selling firewood from the back of a horse and cart.

2. Do you have an iPhone or laptop?

A laptop.

3. What has been the best year of your life so far?

1946, when I joined the army.

4. What is your favourite sport and who is your favourite sporting hero?

Golf and Tiger Woods.

5. What is your favourite song and who is your favourite singer?

Yesterday and Matt Monro.

6. What is your earliest childhood memory?

Seeing snow from our front window for the first time at three years of age.

7. What is the best TV program and why?

Anything to do with history. At 86 years of age, everything is history.

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• e: marty@kavlaw.com.au

8. Do you use social media and if so, which one?

I have no need for it.

9. If you could be anyone famous for a day, who would it be?

That great tenor, Pavarotti.

10. What or who are you most afraid of?

Being trapped underground.

11. Where do you get your news from (eg TV, internet, newspapers)?

I watch Foxtel and read everything.

12. Who is your favourite actor and what is your favourite film?

Mel Gibson, “In The Heat Of The Night”.

13. If there was one place on earth you could visit, where would it be?

Rio De Janeiro, Brazil.

For more information: The Irish Theatre Players contact us at 61 Townshend Rd, Subiaco www.irishtheatreplayers.com.au • itp@irishtheatreplayers.com.au • Tel: 0406 085 620

Meet ITP President Fiona Murphy...

soul of the Irish Theatre Players and its committee and there is no doubt but that they will be sorely missed following their recent departure from our group. Our current committee is made up of a diverse range of It was this time two years people of all ages from all walks of life and we think ago that I decided to dip my feet this is essential as we endeavour to meet and surpass back into the world of drama the expectations of our audiences who too vary in age when I auditioned for the Irish and background. The present committee’s key focus is Theatre Players’ season of One to bring quality productions to stage and to continue Act Plays. Although I had years to grow and build the Irish Theatre Players and the of experience in theatre and radio broadcasting under legacy passed onto our committee by the Motherway my belt - I was rusty - it had been some time since I family. had treaded the boards or been behind the microphone What to expect? Well first and foremost we and I must admit that I was nervous: Who would be at want to excite and entertain our audiences over the the audition? Who would be judging me? Would I get a coming months! At the end of July the Irish Theatre part? Of course I needn’t have been nervous at all and I Players will present Brian Friel’s Lovers a two-part vividly recall being warmly welcomed at the Irish Club play of Winners and Losers. Liam MacDonald makes Theatre by Jim Motherway as he talked the auditionees his directorial debut for the Irish Theatre Players as through the scripts and upcoming production. I was cast he directs Winners and we are delighted to welcome in the role of Sarah Casey in John Millington Synge’s back Bobby Greaney to our One Act Season as he The Tinkers Wedding and I haven’t looked back since. directs Losers. Love is the theme underpinning the The Irish Theatre Players has played an integral plays and while Winners might be likened to a modern part in my sense of belonging here in Perth over the last few years. Having arrived in Perth in 2009 and, working long hours as a lawyer, I was finding it difficult to balance that perfect marriage of work and play and all work and no play was leading to a rather uninspired view of Perth and my life here. My involvement in the Irish Theatre Players immediately reawakened my love of drama and inspired a sense of community in me. Following my role in The Tinkers Wedding I went on to take a part in the ITP’s November 2012 production A Wake in the West, which in hindsight was possibly overambitious as I juggled work, rehearsals, and wedding planning from afar with my own wedding due to take place in Ireland on New Year’s Eve 2012. I probably wouldn’t recommend this extra-curricular activity to any other brides-to-be with imminent wedding dates but thankfully all went to plan and I came back to Perth married in 2013!

My involvement in the Irish Theatre Players has been progressive. Initially my participation was purely on the stage but later I became involved in the Irish Theatre Players’ committee and late last year I was appointed President. As my committee duties take centre stage it has been almost a year since I have auditioned for a part and I must admit that while I do miss the buzz of being onstage and the cast camaraderie, being part of a committee and working towards creating a bigger picture presents its own challenges and most importantly rewards. The Irish Theatre Players has always been underpinned by strong people. For many years Jim, Lucy and Ivan Motherway were the heart and

Next Production

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would love to hear from you. I have made some life-long friends through the Irish Theatre Players. If you are, like I was, eager to participate in the community and looking to meet new people, please come join us!

Lovers comprised of Winners and Losers will be performed at the Irish Club Theatre in Subiaco at 8 pm on 22, 23, 24 and 26 July with a Sunday matinee taking place at 3pm on 27 July.

day Romeo and Juliet with a twist, Losers tells the tale of an unhappy marriage. Our audience can look forward to meeting mostly new faces in the upcoming production as well as welcoming back some of our most loved actors. Our new raffle is also set to be launched and is supported by local and Irish businesses and we will have a variety of quality prizes up for grabs. All funds raised from the raffle will be applied towards the upgrade of the theatre. Our audience will continue to be greeted with traditional Irish hospitality in the form of port, sandwiches and other treats and the theatre bar will open at the intermission and post-show for our Thursday and Saturday performances.

In terms of what’s happening beyond July the Irish Theatre Players are seeking expressions of interest from directors for our upcoming productions and we are keen to build a pool of talent going forward. If you are interested in directing or would like to get involved in the Irish Theatre Players either on stage or off we

We have changed our booking details so if you wish to book tickets for our upcoming production you can do so by the following means: Online: www.irishtheatreplayers.com.au Email: itp@irishtheatreplayers.com.au Telephone: 0406085620 The Irish Theatre Players are on facebook. Like our page at https://www.facebook.com/IrishTheatrePlayers

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NancyCleary

Born 5th June, 1941 in Tipperary, Ireland Died June 1st, 2014 in Perth, Western Australia You can shed tears that she is gone or you can smile because she has lived.

You can cry and close your mind, be empty and turn your back or you can can do what she’d want: smile, open your eyes and go on.

IRISH PROVERB May your days be many and your troubles be few.

To Pat, children and grandchildren our sincerest condolences.

A most wonderful loving Mum and Nanna has left.

You will be forever loved, Rest in Peace.

May all God’s blessings descend upon you.

May peace be within you may your heart be strong.

May you find what you’re seeking wherever you roam.

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The Irish Quiz Wiz!

a.k.a. Dermot from Lesmurdie on ABC radio Nightlife program.

Our Dermot is enjoying the “fine” Irish weather. I do hope he appreciates the following quiz on Irish Writers... Editor!

1. I treated art as the supreme reality and life as a mere mode of fiction. I spent time in Reading Gaol and wrote the “De Profundis”. Who am I? 2. I am a master short story writer. “Guests of the Nation” and “My Oedipus Complex” are among my most famous works.

3. I am a living poet. My first major collection was “The War Horse” in 1975. Who am I? 4. There was a full scale riot at my play “The Plough and The Stars”, at the Abbey Theatre in 1926. Who am I? 5. I was a journalist for “The Irish Times”, where I wrote using Myles na Gopaleen, as my pseudonym. I also wrote “At Swim Two Birds”. Who am I? 6. I am best remembered for my plays which include “The Field”, “Sive” and “The Year of The Hiker”.

7. I dedicated my book, “Twenty Years A Growing”, to the women of the Blasket Island, “To send my voice into their ears again”. Who am I? 8. I wrote short stories in the nineteenth century. The collection “In a Glass Darkly”, has become a genre classic.

9. I am a poet who used old Gaelic verse forms when writing in English. “The Blackbird of Derrycairn” and “The Planter’s Daughter” are my most well known poems.

10. “It’s a queer world, God knows, but the best we have to be going on with”. I was in prison, (Borstal), and died young. Who am I? 1. Oscar Wilde 2. Frank O’Connor. 3. Eavan Boland. 4. Sean O’Casey. 5. Flann O’Brien. 6. John B Keane. 7. Maurice O’Sullivan. 8. Sheridan Le Fanu. 9. Austin Clarke. 10. Brendan Behan.

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The Australian-Irish Heritage Association HISTORY TALK Thursday 17th July, 7.30pm

VALE Joe Crozier

Topic: IRISH MEGALITHIC TOMBS Presenter: Denis Bratton Venue: Irish Club Committee Room, 61 Townshend Road, Subiaco WA 6008 Time: Thursday, July 17th at 7.30pm.

Irish Club Pie & Pint special from 5.30pm at $15 Admission: Free, All welcome.

Light refreshments provided excluding drinks.

Coffee from Bar $3.80 Enquiries: Denis Bratton 9345 3530

THE 4th TUESDAY BOOK CLUB Tuesday, July 22nd, 8pm The Irish Community in WA were saddened to hear of the death of Joe Crozier, Past President and Life Member of the AIHA. For many years Joe was the driving force behind many Irish Organisations in Perth and their various activities.

Those who knew Joe well and served on committees with him recognised his great ability and quiet considered approach in all situations to produce positive outcomes.

Sincere condolences to Lottie, from Committee and Members of AIHA.

Meets last Tuesday of the month with exception of December Venue: Irish Club Committee Room, 61 Townshend Road, Subiaco Time: Tuesday, July 22nd at 8pm Book: ‘Unreliable Memoirs’ by Clive James Admission: Free. All welcome.

Light refreshments provided excluding drinks.

Coffee from Bar $3.80 Contact: Maureen on 9279 2486

WEEKLY RADIO ‘SONGS FOR IRELAND’ Saturdays 7am to 9am

on Radio Fremantle 107.9fm, presented by Frank Murphy Irish music, interviews, local and Irish news Also available on website archives for 7 days on: http://www.radiofremantle.com/archives.html

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Secretary: 08 9367 6026 Membership Due on 1st January.

Family membership $65, Concession $55, Distant (200 kms from Perth) $45 Membership fee includes tax deductible donation of $20

The Australian-Irish Heritage Association is an inclusive organisation which encourages and promotes an awareness of Australia’s Irish heritage. To this end, the Association creates opportunities for all to learn about, participate in and enjoy this distinctive heritage.

Gaelic Football & Hurling Association of WA Inc.

Congratulations to our GAA Perth Rose!

Rob O’Callaghan, Sinead Lehane and Sean O’Casey

Rob O’Callaghan,President GAA of WA I’m not gonna say too much in this edition except to wish Sinead Lehane all the best when she heads to Ireland to compete in The Rose of Tralee in August.

Its a massive achievement for Sinead and her parents John and Trish and one which all the GAA community as well as the broder Irish community here in Perth can be proud of.

The GFHAWA sponsored Sinead in

this year’s event at Fraser’s in Kings Park and going on that performance I think I can safely say that Sinead will do a mighty job in Tralee and we all look forward to her return.

Well good luck and enjoy yourself Sinead and family and will see ye before ye go anyway.

On other matters make sure ye pop down to Tom Bateman every Friday and Sundays for football and camogie and to Cook Reserve in Morley for the hurling on a Saturday.

All the best.

St Gabriel’s Camogie Team 2014

St Gabriel’s Hurling Team 2014

Football: BGC Grounds, Tom Bateman Reserve Cnr Bannister & Nicholson Rds, Canning Vale Hurling: RA Cook Reserve, Coode St. Morley

gfhwa.com.au 90

Junior Academy Update

By Debbie Cashman

The junior academy recently enjoyed another great family fun day up in Tapping Primary School Oval. BBQ, children’s entertaining balloon twister, face painting, games for children and of course adults.

Imagine grown men with parachutes strapped to their back, killing themselves to win a run in a 20m race, with their children screaming support louder than their parents did for Ireland in the world cup of Italia ‘90!

Mums sticking to their motto of, ‘If you can’t beat ‘umcheat ‘um!’ (Maybe its me being bitter for coming last in the egg and spoon for dropping my egg, and stopping to pick it up!)

Needless to say, great craic had by all.

Our numbers are thankfully still growing, and we have plans to involve more schools and therefore more Australians as well of course as Irish kids. Having been approached by keen Physical Education teachers we are very optimistic for the growth of the academy, and always creating more awareness of Gaelic Games here in Perth.

Speaking of growth, there has been expressions of interest to start up another Academy more down south to cater for Rockingham and Mandurah regions, if you would like to help out in a coaching aspect or have children that would like to join in the growing number of children playing Hurling, Football and Camogie, then please give Martin Brady a call on 0405937233.

Martin is also coaching 13- 15 year old teenagers in Kingsway sporting complex from 6pm- 8pm every Friday during school term. So if your teen is too old for the academy and too young to play minor, then this is a great bridge to keep up/learn more skills. It is a small group with great individual attention ensured at a minimal cost.

All welcome to our main yearly social event coming up on August the 9th.. It is at the Irish Club in Subiaco from 7.30pm until 12. So if you have been looking to kit yourself out like Cindy Lauper or Adam Ant here’s the perfect excuse! Finger food, music (fancy dress is optional!) included for the ticket price of $25. Please contact our fabulous fundraising committee for tickets

Angela 0468 754 796 or Sandra 0431 917 635 or Marian McRory. It is set to be a great night!

Also thank you to Visa for You for coming on board as a sponsor, and if any other companies would like to take part in sponsoring the Junior Academy we would be delighted to talk to you! Thanks again to Fibber Mc Gees for giving us a $100 voucher as part of our fund raising efforts. Welcome to our new committee members Barney and Yvette Maher who spent many years in New York with a Junior Gaa club and helped oversee its growth, your input is most valued and a great addition to an already talented committee, if I do say so myself!

Slight change to our calendar of events, since we brought forward our family fun day, July 6th is now a skills day in both Tapping and Tom Bateman, with certificates of recognition being giving out to children demonstrating skills mastered. Gaelic Games Junior Academy Facebook page for up to date information, just ‘Like’ it and it will keep you updated.

Thanks to The Breakwater for their sponsorship of this page and Junior GAA in Western Australia.

HANDY NUMBERS:

Martin Brady 0405937233 • Pauline Brady 0410562165 (for equipment, hurley’s, helmets, footballs etc.)

Tracey Nelson 0407982752 (info on training South of River at Tom Bateman Res) Debbie Cashman 0406229450 General Enquiries Email: ggjunioracademy@gmail.com

www.thebreakwater.com.au

58 Southside Drive, Hillarys Boat Harbour Ph: 08 9448 5000 Fax: 08 9448 6000

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St Gabriel’s Hurling & CamogieClub

ST. GABRIELS GAA CLUB OF WA is based in Perth and is the only club in Western Australia with both a hurling and camogie team. All newcomers are welcome and we cater for all abilities. Please contact the persons below for more details.

CLUB NEWS: Since the last edition, the league is now well and truly underway. St. Gabriel’s GAA Club both Camogie and Hurling have had their fair share of a few wins and losses. The Camogie senior ladies have faced the Western Swans and Southern Districts in battles on the field in Tom Bateman Reserve. Their intermediate team (as they are no “New Members Welcome” longer beginners) also faced the other two Camogie Clubs in a ‘Beginners’ Blitz recently to join contact. hosted by Southern Districts. The day was a great success and was enjoyed by all.

Hurling: Shane 0438 383 517 The Hurlers have had their ups and downs this season with challenging matches in Camogie: Louise 0429 859 093 Morley. Having contested with some serious heart and promise in a couple of the games Danielle 0405 418 809 we hope to see this continue as we enter into the remainder of the season and league finals Facebook: St. Gabriels Hurling WA and championships.

The Camogie had their Annual Fundraiser a few weeks ago in Cannington Dog Races.

Our Major Sponsors: The night was mighty craic with Nicola Norris winning the Trifecta. The lads and ladies also enjoyed their bonding night together in Joondalup a few weeks ago – thanks to The MONFORD Old Bailey for putting up with us all night.

Congratulations to Stevie and Fiona O’Dowd, who got married in Ireland in May, the club wishes them the very best for the future. The club would also like to wish Ronan Kilroy and Aoife Cahill the very best for their upcoming wedding in July.

Website: Check us out on St. Gabriel’s GAA Club’s Website - http://stgabrielsgaaclub. com/ We take this opportunity to thank our committee members, managers, players and sponsors who continually support St. Gabriels club.

HURLING: Email – secretary.stgabrielshc@hotmail.com.

Facebook – /s.t.gabrielshurling.wa Shane Sweeney (0438 383 517) Ronan Kilroy (0439 979 237) CAMOGIE: Email – secretary.stgabrielscc@gmail.com.

Facebook – /StGabrielsCamogieClub Louise Madden (0429 859 093) Danielle McInerney (0405 418 809) WEBSITE: http://stgabrielsgaaclub.com/

TRAINING AT: AS LUKETINA RESERVE, 100 BUNTINE ROAD, WEMBLEY DOWNS ON A TUESDAY AND THURSDAY NIGHT. PLEASE CONTACT THE ABOVE FOR MORE DETAILS.

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Sponsored by Erin Painting

Player Profile JACK EBBS Irish Golf Club long time member and committee contributor

Where are you from?

I was born in Ballybough, in the shadow of Croke Park, which I attribute to my love of sport!

Where did you grow up?

Finglas, Dublin What school did you attend?

Christian Brothers School – St Canice’s Growing up? You hit a good ball out on the golf course Jack. Were you involved with other sporting pursuits as a young lad?

I have always enjoyed soccer. I played for the Tolka Rovers and then for

Home Farm.

How did you find your way to this paradise we live in called Western Australia?

I left home in 1973 and spent the first year in Sydney. I then worked for a year in Melbourne. Following this introduction to the Australian way of life, I went to Indonesia where I worked at a nickel mine for 13 years. I moved to this beautiful city of Perth in 1989 where I met my lovely partner Nora. We have been together ever since!

Your current job?

I have recently retired and have never been busier!

Hobbies?

I spend time at the gym and also am a member of Melville Glades so get in a few rounds of golf.

I also enjoy watching the EPL and of course enjoy anything whatsoever to do with Man U (Author note: What’s a Man U?) I also enjoy reading and one of my favourite authors at the moment is Daniel Silva.

With respect to your golf...

What do you like about golf?

The challenge of making pars and birdies, the different people you meet along the way and the stories you hear from people. So it is mainly about meeting people.

Have you ever scored a hole in one? Come close?

Actually, I have been fortunate enough to score two so far – one in Indonesia and one in Rockingham. Of course we all continue to attack

the flag in the hope of seeing the ball drop!

Thanks Jack – and enjoy your trip to Ireland to watch the World Cup soccer with your family (Author note: I didn’t want to disappoint Jack by letting him know the World Cup was actually being played in South America!)

Mike O’Callaghan PRO

Jack Ebbs

•••RESULTS ••• Nedlands Sunday 18 May - Ambassador’s Trophy Thanks go to Sean Byrnes and P J Kenny for sponsoring the day. Congratulations to the following members and guests: A close competition with the first 3 place getters all getting 38 points: 1st Mark Campbell, 2nd PJ Kenny, 3rd Jack Ebbs Gross: Mick Connolly NTP: 3 M O’Mahoney, 7 Mark Campbell 12 P J Kenny, 16 M O’Mahoney L/Drive: M O’Mahoney, L/Putt: Peter McKenna

Winter Shield - Whaleback Sunday 15 June

Congratulations to the following members and guests: 1st: Anthony Gannon, 46pts, 2nd Mike O’Callaghan 40 pts (woo hoo!)

3rd: Tom Barr 39 pts. Gross: PJ Kenny NTP: 6 Sean Byrnes, 8 PJ Kenny, 13 Sean Byrnes, 18 Tom Barr. L/D: John Cronin L/P: Bill Kavanagh

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SHAMROCK

Rovers

Michael Manning President Shamrock Rovers

Rovers from Humble beginnings...

Shamrock Rovers will celebrate its 30th Anniversary with a “Gathering” of all players and members, past and present who are or have been a part of the Hoops journey from its humble beginnings in the Briar Patch Tavern in Victoria Park to the present day which sees it competing in the third tier of Australian soccer - AWA State League Division 1.

Although never a rags to riches story the Hoops have steadily grown over the 30 years and picked up many a trophy along the way. The Club currently has 7 teams, three competing in the Saturday State League and four in the Sunday leagues, both amateur and social.

In 2013 the Club changed its name from Shamrock Rovers to Shamrock Rovers Perth and from Soccer Club to Football Club to better identify it with it’s locality and to give it a stronger West Australian profile.

The move to Grimrey Park in Lockridge, initially for its State League section, is hoped to be the beginning of a new growth era for the club with plans to incorporate a number of junior teams at the venue in time for the 2015 season. there are also plans to negotiate a long term lease for the venue with the City of Swan and to commence on upgrades to the pavilion club house and change rooms in the near future. A development fund is planned and the club will look to engage with interested partners in the corporate sector to assist.

Kieran and Shamrock Rovers would like to thank the following sponsors for their support of the Racing Night at the Irish Club...

The Irish Club / Maurice Duff, Woodvale Barber Shop / Paul McLoughlin, Northside Meats Ernie Hannigan / Jim Mulligan, Painter & Decorator David Murphy, Jewellers / Paul Doyle, Shamrock Tiling Mick & Sons, Plasterers / Jerry Sweeney, Professional Real Estate / Perth Celtic Supporter’s Club/ Paddy McOnie Neil Lenihan, Killarney Autos / Premium Select Sales J B O’Reilly’s, Beldon Tavern, Vintage Velvet, Frank Grimes, Cairde Sinn Fein, Michael Callaghan.

Your support helped us raise much needed funds for the club. Sincere thanks to you all. Go Raibh Mile Maith Agat!

Kieran

SHAMROCK ROVERS 30th ANNIVERSARY

REUNION

Saturday 19th July Rosie O’Grady’s Northbridge @ 7.30pm Enquiries: Wayne Brooks 0421 347 571 wbrooksie@hotmail.com

Please accept the clubs invitation to attend the Shamrock Rovers 30th Anniversary Reunion. Shamrock Rovers Perth Soccer Club has had a memorable and successful 30 years and as a contributing member to the club we look forward to celebrating the night with you at Rosie O’Grady’s on the 19th July.

This free event to all past members, players and supporters to ensure we make this a memorable night. We will have a bar, live entertainment and finger food up stairs to celebrate the clubs achievement. Looking forward to speaking to you on the night.

Michael Manning Shamrock Rovers Perth Soccer Club President RSVP (via return email/SMS) to: Wayne Brooks Email: wbrooksie@hotmail.com Mb: 0421 347 571

Please bring your old photos?

www.shamrockrovers.com.au 94

IRISH BUSINESS CONTACTS / INDEX

BAGGAGE (UNACCOMPANIED) 30 Australian International Express 9243 0808 69 Exportair Tim 9477 1080 BUTCHERS 56 McLoughlin’s Northside Meats Tel: 9249 8039 58 Meat Connoisseur Tel: 9309 9992 CAFE/DELI: 53 Mooney’s Irish Sandwich Bar Tel: 9221 4872 35 Kallaroo Seafood 9401 9141 Taste32 Mt Hawthorn - 0448 328 112 CAR RETAILERS: 30 John Hughes, Vic Park - Tel: 9415 0110 CELEBRANT: 65 Marian Bryne Tel: 0410 345 224 CHARTERED ACCOUNTANTS: 17 UHY Haines Norton Tel 9444 3400 CIVIL ENGINEERS: Neo Infrastructure Tel: 0407475033 COUNSELLING Fiona Carberry, Counselling Psychologist carberrycounselling@westnet.com.au Tel: 0439 549 481 EMPLOYMENT: 16 All Force Labour Solutions Tel: 0457824916 Network Recruitment Tel: 9380 9727 Final Trim Operators Tel: 1300 083 599 ENTERTAINMENT: Fiddlestick - David MacConnell 0413 259 547 Them Little Secrets: Fiona Rea 0404 831 445 FINANCE/ADVICE: 66 The Loans Café-Nik Silsby Tel: 0402 284594 FREIGHT HANDLERS: 30 Australian International Express 9243 0808 69 Exportair - Tim Hawdon Tel: 9477 1080 FUNERALS: 69 Hetherington Funerals Tel: 9459 2846 61 McKee Funerals Tel: 9401 1911 FURNITURE: First in Furniture Joondalup Tel: 9300 9010 IMMIGRATION ADVICE: 8 ASC Migration Tel: 93015905 Visa4U - Tel: 0416 727 787 19 Immigration Network Aust Carol-Ann Lynch 0402 514 741 87 Aust Visa Professionals Tel: 0420 907 109 INSURANCE BROKERS: Avoca Insurance Brokers Tel: IRISH FOOD: Taste Ireland Sydney - Tel: 02 9386 5522 14 Essence of Ireland Tel: 9301 5485 28 Hetty’s Scullery Tel: 0416365099 JEWELLERS: Sean Carroll online: seancarroll.com.au

MECHANICS: 1 Killarney Autos - Neil Lenihan 0439 996 764 89 BVM Autos - Mike Barton Tel: 0413 889 501 PAINTERS: 93 Erin Painting Tel: Dominic 0414 595 605 PUBS, CLUBS & RESTAURANTS: Bailey Bar & Grill Joondalup Tel: 9300 0633 91 Breakwater, Hillarys Tel: 9448 5000 48, 49 Carnegies, Perth Tel: 9481 3222 55 Celtic Club, West Perth Tel: 9322 2299 26 Durty Nelly’s, Perth Tel: 9226 0233 3 Fenian’s / Novotel, Perth Tel: 9221 1200 Friar Tuck’s, Wannanup Tel: 9534 4788 96 Irish Club of WA, Subiaco Tel: 9381 5213 JB O’Reilly’s, Leederville Tel: 9382 4555 61 Paddy Maguire’s, Subiaco Tel: 9381 8400 31 Paddy Malone’s Joondalup/Alexander Hgts 24 Rosie O’Grady’s Fremantle Tel: 9335 1645 2 Rosie O’Grady’s Northbridge Tel: 9328 1488 11 The Mighty Quinn, Tuart Hill Tel: 9349 9600 23 The Cure Northbridge Tel: 9227 9055 9 The Shed, Northbridge Tel: 9228 2200 13 Voyage Kitchen Tel: 9447 2443 Woodvale Tavern, Woodvale 9309 4288 87 Woodbridge Hotel, Guildford Tel: 9377 1199 REAL ESTATE: 45 O’Rourke Real Estate Tel: 15 Professionals Kelly Team YokineTel: 9344 5544 27 Peard - Valerie Boyle Tel: 0404 864 932 Veritas Reality - Gillian 0415 858 016 SAFETY SERVICES: Custodian Safety Services SCAFFOLDING: 25 Eire Scaffolding SIGNS, BANNERS: 28 Sign It Tel: 0452 521 518 SOLICITORS & LEGAL: 85 Kavanagh Lawyers - Tel: 0430 960 859 SPORT - CLUBS AND INFORMATION: 90,91 GAA - Rob O’Callagahan 0407 421 224 94 Shamrock Rovers 92 St Gabriel’s Hurling Club -Stephen 04088940265 93 Irish Golf Club of WA Martin 0419934681 THEATRE: 86 Irish Theatre Players TRAVEL & TOURISM: 26 British Travel - Jenny Allen Tel: 9388 3114 5 Flightworld Michael Deering Tel: 9322 2914 TYRES, BATTERIES, BRAKES WHEELS: 20 Tyrepower: Perth City - Fiona: Tel: 9322 2214 WEDDING RECEPTIONS: 55 The Celtic Club, West Perth Tel: 9322 2299

Trades+ Maintenance CONCRETE & WALLS PC Walls Contact: Sean King Tel: 0418 949 292

ELECTRICIANS Iluka Electrical Contact: Tom Bowe Tel: 0422 440 588

GARAGE DOORS Buckley’s Garage Doors Contact: Kevin Buckley Tel: 0425 125 889

CAR MECHANICAL Killarney Autos Contact: Neil Lenihan Phone: 9309 4445 BVM AUTOS Contact: Mike Barton Tel: 0413 889 501

KERBING

AAH Captain Kerb Contact: Noel Steenson Tel 0412 679 652 or 9405 8948

PLUMBING

Charlies Plumbing & Gas Services PL8223 - GF014437 Contact: Charlie O’Hare Tel: 0400 484 933

ROOF PLUMBING Mick’s Maintenance Contact: Mick Tel: 0418 917 050

SKIRTINGS

Contact: Ken McLoughlin 041 544 6122

THE IRISH SCENE

Publisher/Advertising: Fred Rea 0418 943 832 Editor: Lloyd Gorman 0479 047 250 - gormanlloyd@hotmail.com Proof Reading: Jack Cullen, Imelda Gorman and Colin Merrey Publisher: Gaelforce Promotions, 12 Dysart Court, Kingsley WA 6026 Email: fred@irishscene.com.au Tel/Fax 9309 3167 www.irishscene.com.au Disclaimer: Opinions expressed by contributors in articles, reproduced articles, advertisements or any other printed material contained in Irish Scene magazine or on www. irishscene.com.au are those of the individual contributors or authors and as such are not necessarily those of Gaelforce Promotions. The publisher and editor reserve the right to accept, reject, edit or amend submitted material in order to make it appropriate or suitable for publication. Irish Scene welcomes submissions, ideas and suggestions for articles and features as well as photographs of events happening around and within the Irish community in Western Australia.

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OPENING HOURS & ACTIVITIES

JULY: 4th 5th 6th 9th 12th 13th 18th 19th 23rd 26th

Dates for your Diary:

Seniors Lunch 12 noon & Ceoltas Dinner @ 7.00pm Northern Soul AFL Football: Eagles v Sydney James Tobin Visa seminar SENIOR’S LUNCH first Friday of each month. $15 per person Rotaract Table Quiz Bar open from 12 noon. Lunch at 1pm.

AFL Football: Freeo V G.W.Sydney Bookings 9381 5213 Motown Magic Junior WA Hurlers X mass Party 24, 26, & 27 ITP PLAY “WINNERS & LOSERS” Bookings.: 0406 085 620 Book Launch Elizabeth Brennan at 4pm

AUGUST: 1st 2nd 8th 9th 10th 15th 17th 23rd 29th

Comhaltais Concert Northern Soul Ceoltas Concert Junior Academy Gaelic Games AFL Football: Eagles V Collinwood Motown Magic AFL Football: Freo V Hawthorn AFL Football: Eagle V Melbourne AFL Football: Freo V Port Adelaide.

Pie & Pint Night Every Thursday All welcome to join in.

Live music from 7pm.

EVERY MONDAY: Traditional Irish Music Classes & Session with Comhaltas Also Gaelic Irish Language Classes from 7pm

Book your Function at The Irish Club!

Contact the club on 9381 5213.

We have 3 function rooms and can cater for up to 200 people!

Full bar and catering options are available.

500 mtrs from Paterson Stadium

QUIZ NIGHTS • PARTIES • FUNDRAISERS • STAGE SHOWS AND ANYTHING!

61 Townshend Road, Subiaco, WA 6008

Tel: +61 8 9381 5213 irish1@irishclubofwa.com.au

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MONDAY: Bar: 4 - 10.30 Comhaltas Music Lessons Set Dancing 8.00 followed by the Seisiun TUESDAY: Bar: 4pm - 10.30 WEDNESDAY: Bar: 4 - 10.30 THURSDAY: Bar: 4 - Midnight Pint and Pie Night Music from 7 FRIDAY: Bar: 4pm - Midnight Kitchen 5.30 - 8.30 SATURDAY: Bar open 4 - Late SUNDAY: Bar open from 4 to 10

Book your Function at the Club!

Contact the club on 9381 5213.

We have 3 function rooms and can cater for up to 200 people!

Full bar and catering Options are available.

The Irish Club is a members only club, and we welcome new members. Application forms can be downloaded from the website irishclubofwa.com.au

Fax: 9381 9764 www.irishclubofwa.com.au