The Irish Scene March April 2019

Registered with Australia Post PP100003914

Vol 21 Number 3

March/April 2019

In this issue...

Irish Anzac St Patrick's Parade IACC Lunch Luka Bloom Interview Markievicz Play Ambassador's Message PM's Irish Guard!

Easter Commemorations Irish Governors of WA Fairbridge Festival and much more...

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THE IRISH SCENE

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Page Index A view from Home 7 Ambassador’s Message 19 Around the Irish Scene 87 Big Tom Book Launch 85 Bill Daly – Where it all began 30 Book Reviews 80 Childhood Recollections 12 Claddagh Association 69 Comhaltas Perth 51 Daisy and Breaker 33 Daniel O’Donnell Interview 76 Darkness into Light 47 Easter and Famine Events 45 Easter Monday at Irish Club 67 Fairbridge Festival 28 Fairbridge Preview 75 Family History WA 82 Famine Commemoration 21 Fenian Festival reviews 72 Fiddlesticks Folk Club 68 Fr Patrick McCabe Memorial 38 G’Day from Melbourne 46 Gaelic Sports 90 Gaelic with Brid 47 Gavin James Preview 39 Grab the Money 67 Hugh Brophy Letter home 34 IACC Corporate Lunch 13 AIHA 29 Inner Magic of Oz Bush 20 Irish Anzac from the Grave 4 Irish Choir Perth 86 Irish Club of WA 59 Irish Consul Message 53 Irish Dancing 65 Irish Golf Club 95 Irish Seniors 70 Irish Theatre Players 76 Isteach sa Teach 36 IWAF 58 Kevin Barry Window 25 Land of Milk and Honey 71 Lock Hospitals 48 Luka Bloom Interview 15 Marguerite’s Recipes 50 Mary-Ann O’Connor Interview 44 Matters of Public Interest 60 Michael McDonald’s success 93 Minute with Synnott 78 Mooney’s Bar Subiaco 11 Mountmellick Lace 40 Paula from Tasmania 84 Prime Ministers Bodyguard 23 Quiz – How Irish are you?

32 Shamrock Rovers 94 Shane’s Shamrock 66 Siobhain Na Spag Poems 52 Skyrocket your Business 54 St Patrick’s Day Parade 8 TeleStationTele Nation 63 The first Steeplechase 79 The Quiet Man Prints 56 Train your Brain 38 Ulster Rambles 54 WA Irish Governor’s Book 26

Restoring the memory of an

Irish Anzac from the grave

By Lloyd Gorman

The sad passing of his mother twelve months inadvertently led Kilkenny man Peter Dwyer on a personal quest that led him to the unmarked grave of another relative in Perth. What he discovered was a story of sadness but one which has eventually had a better outcome than the one history dealt. “My mother died in March last year and I was chatting with my dad about family and he talked about an uncle of his who went to Australia but they never heard any more about,” said Peter. The talk of this mysterious figure reignited a curiosity in Peter who had in 2002 travelled to Sydney where he lived and worked as a quantity surveyor.

He was aware of his granduncle’s existence even back then but he didn’t do much about it at the time. Now it was different, it proved to be a distraction for his grief.

“I went on Google and his put his name in and started searching to find out more about this John Dwyer. It didn’t take long to start building up a picture of his life and within weeks I was able to join the dots. He was conscripted into the Royal Irish Regiment and we think he may have even fought in the Boer War. When he finished his twelve years term there he went to Australia in about 1910/1912 for the gold rush. He went to Kalgoorlie where he would have lived on camps, it would have been tough going. When war broke out in July he signed up for the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) on 8 September 1914.”

The quality and easy access to his military records detail much about his joining up and other details which have lain dormant for a hundred years but which are highly significant. He joined the 11th Battalion, the first battalion to land at Gallipoli on April 25, 1915.

John suffered several injuries including a bullet wound to the knee on the first day of action for which he had to be taken way to hospital to recover. He returned to ‘The Dardanelles’ in August when he would be hit by shrapnel. After that campaign - which was the first time Australian soldiers had fought in a war in Australian uniforms - he fought for two years in France. He returned to Australia and Kalgoorlie and would lead a lonely life, dying alone of cancer aged 71, having suffered from his war wounds through his life.”

Peter can’t help escape the pathos of John’s experience. “John left Ireland before his youngest brother the youngest of nine - was born so he never knew him.

That brother went on to fight with the British Army in

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France and its sad to think that the two of them could have been fighting side by side or close to each other and they would have never known. John never married or had children himself and would have led a tough isolated life.”

Peter’s journey to find out more about his relation also revealed another injustice to his memory.

“I have to say the Australian archives are excellent and easily searchable,” added Peter. “They are much better than the British records, which are terrible. All his papers, medical service documents and that kind of thing are scanned in and on display when you check the Australian sources. It was through these that I was able to track a death certificate for him and where he was buried. I contacted Karrakatta cemetery and they told me they had a record of his plot, but that his grave had no headstone.”

Peter contacted the Returned Services League in WA who were able to provide a lot of support and information about what he needed to do next. The Department of Veteran Affairs agreed to install a commemorative headstone at his burial location but some red tape and expense needed to be dealt with first. The Grant of Right of Burial on John’s grave had expired some time ago and the Metropolitan Cemeteries Board said it would cost $2,335 to regain. Late last year Peter started a gofundme appeal which reached and even passed the target amount at a good trot. “We were about $600 over what we set out to raise so we donated all of that to the RSL, who support service personnel and veterans.”

Peter said it was very satisfying to track down the details of John’s life and be able to do something about the situation. He hopes to travel to Perth in April for a very special occasion. The headstone will be dedicated on or close to ANZAC Day with a ceremony involving senior figures from RSL WA and maybe also from the Boulder Sub-Branch that represented John. The aim is to have a bugler to play the Last Post and Chorus and it is also planned to have members of the 11th Battalion

Association, a representative of the Irish Consulate and possibly members of the Irish community in Perth.

Peter is pictured here with his son Dillon at the unveiling of ‘The Haunting Soldier’ statue in Dublin. The six metre tall sculpture - made from scrap metal - represents a soldier returning from war and was installed in early November 2018 in St Stephens Green to coincide with the centenary celebrations and commemorations of the end of World War One. Hundreds of people attended the opening event with thousands more coming in following weeks.

John was one of the chaps of Cheops

Despite the best efforts of the RSL and others to date it has unfortunately not been possible to track down a photograph of John Dwyer. Portrait shots of soldiers and officers in uniform positioned in front of a traditional backdrop were popular at the time as something to send home to family and many have survived more than a hundred years, allowing modern day Australians to see the normally fresh faces of a different generation thrown into one of the worst conflicts in human history. We may not know if John ever had his individual portrait photograph taken but we do know his image was captured in one of the most iconic Australian photographs ever taken.

John is one of the 703 Australian ‘Diggers’ of the West Australian 11th Battalion AIF posed in front of and on the giant sized steps of the Cheops Pyramid at Giza, Egypt. The problem is we don’t know which one of them he is.

The photograph - which was shot on a glass plate and captures an incredible amount of detail - was taken on January 12, 1915. Just three months later these same

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men from the 11th Battalion would be the first to land at Gallipoli, with an estimated 69 of their number killed on the first day of action - April 25 - which is commemorated today as ANZAC Day. On the 100th anniversary of its being taken that moment in time and the men in it was remembered here in Perth when nearly 1,000 people - descendants - gathered at the WA State War memorial in Kings Park.

It is a powerful, unusual and haunting photograph that has carved out a special place in the Australian imagination. It is also spawned several myths including that one of the men was dead but included by his mates, who propped him up. Another was that there was a father and his sons near the front who were all killed on April 25. It was also popularly believed that there were ‘no Catholics’ in the shot because their mass time would have conflicted with when it was taken. Like the other myths mentioned above, we know the claim there are no Catholics pictured is not true.

One of the uniformed men in the very front row is the Battalion’s Catholic Padre, Father John Fahey. Fr. Fahey was a Tipperary man and a brave man. He ignored orders that only soldiers were to take places in the landing boats and crashed onshore with the troops in the face of murderous enemy fire. He was wounded in the attack but would survive the war and would live long after the war and return to Western Australia where he befriended the late Monsingor ‘Mons’ Sean O’Shea from Co.Clare, who served in many parishes in Perth, including at Rottnest. ‘Mons’ told me about him many years ago, Fr Fahey was a remarkable man and what you might call ‘a great priest’. A brilliant intellect, he was also a formidable sportsman.

Fr. Fahey is clearly visible in the photograph and would have known many of the men around and behind him. It is possible that he could have picked John Dwyer - a fellow countryman - out of the swarm of faces.

More than 30 years ago the task of trying to identify all the soldiers in the extraordinary Cheops photograph. That work started with Western Australia researchers Allan Ellam and his wife Raye from Mount Lawley in the 1980’s who collected letters, photographs and other documents for the 11th Battalion. While they are no longer alive their legacy has been taken up by the Western Australian Genealogical Society (WAGS).

Thanks to these endeavours more than 200 men have been identified and about 60 cases of mistaken identities corrected. The pain staking and time consuming challenge goes on today. It is quite possible of course that with the passage of time it might never be possible to put a name to every face but there are very dedicated people doing a lot of detective work to give these men their rightful place in Australian history. Sometimes a tiny clue or new piece of information could be enough to unlock the mystery to a man’s identity. Every identification is a victory for the future and some family’s link to this page of history.

Through good work done by WAGS we know the full

list of the soldiers, with some details, in the first contingent who embarked Fremantle on 31 October 1914 on the Ascanius (HMAT A11) and the Medic (HMAT A7), and joined the convoy from Albany as they sailed into history on November 2nd after spending two days at anchor in Gage Roads. According to the genealogical society these are the only men who could appear in the Cheops photo. Captain (Chaplain) Fr. John Fahey appears on the list and gives the place of next of kin as Kalgoorlie. The column for next of kin reveals at least two soldiers with strong Irish links. John Joseph White, a machine gunner, has next of kin in Dublin while Nicholas Hannigan nominated family in Waterford. Quite a few men - many with Irish names - did not state where they had next of kin. One of those was John Dwyer (B Company), Peter’s great granduncle.

So it can be said with some confidence that it is likely at least four Irishmen could be pictured at Cheops.

The 11th Battalion lost 59 men on April 25, 1915, with thousands more Australians (and Irish/British/ French/Indians) following them to the grave over the next ten months until the Allied forces were evacuated. At least two of those fatalities on D-Day were of men born in Ireland. Private William Calderwood, 31, D Company from Belfast and Private Patrick Francis Kiely, 29, 2nd Reinforcement from Cork – he gave his mothers name and address Mrs Elizabeth Kieley at 29 York Street as his next of kin. William was Church of England and Patrick was Roman Catholic. William named Miss J.J Harrison of Albert Street Cottesloe Beach as his. There is no known grave for either of them at Gallipoli.

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Michael Cluskey

One day five years ago I was given the devastating news that my dad was no longer responding to the treatment he was being given, it was decided the only course of action left was to turn off his life support the following day. To this day it still affects me thinking back on that decision. I sent my mam and brothers home to rest, knowing of what was to come the following day. I stayed overnight just talking gibberish to my dad, hoping there would be some kind of response.

It was about 2am that morning whilst sitting beside his bed that what I can only describe as an angel in a nurse’s uniform sat down beside me. Seeing my tears, she put her arm around me and told me that my dad would not be suffering anymore. She sat there telling me

A View from Home that he wasn’t feeling any pain and explaining to me about what lay ahead. It was a this point I turned to thank her, and to my astonishment she was crying as well. I asked why she was crying? You don’t even know this man? She explained that she wasn’t a machine and all these situations affected her.

From that day on I realised all these nurses had one of the hardest jobs ever, who else could do what they do on a daily basis!

I’m telling you this as we here in Ireland at the present moment are in the middle of a nurse’s dispute.

As things stand the strike action by 40,000 nurses and midwives will go ahead on Tuesday 12th, Wed 13th and Thursday the 14th. The nurses are demanding an across the board pay rise to bring them in line with

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other healthcare professionals.

Recent rallies by nurses were led by young nurses wheeling suitcases to highlight the numbers of nurses leaving to work abroad.

All I can say is STAND BY THE NURSES AND MIDWIVES!!!!

It seems health issues dominate the news so far this year, the other story being the building of the new Irish Children’s Hospital. Questions have arisen over the escalating costs of the project. A figure of 983 million euro for the development was approved by government in 2017, but the public accounts committee heard recently that this could rise to over 2 Billion euro.

What an absolute sham!!

Finally, congratulations to the staff of the DAA in Dublin Airport who managed to raise over 315,000 euro this year for the staff charity partners who were, The Irish Motor Neurone Disease Association, Laura Lynn Children’s Hospice and Snowflakes for Autism. Each Charity receiving 105,000 euro each. Speaking at the presentation ceremony the DAA Chief Executive Dalton Philips said “I am immensely proud of the continuing support and unwavering passion of the DAA staff in raising this huge sum of money. Which in total since being established in 2007 has raised a massive total of 2.6 million euro helping 24 charities. And good luck to this year’s nominated charities Spina Bifida Hydrocephalus, Debra Ireland (helping children with skin diseases) and the Gary Kelly Cancer Support Centre.

All that’s it just to say La Fheile Padraig Sona Duit.

May your Troubles be less, and your Blessings be more, and nothing but Happiness come through your door!!

Have a great one!!

Mike.

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Saturday 16 March in Leederville

BE THERE EARLY! PUBLIC TRANSPORT IS THE BEST OPTION.

Come and enjoy the largest parade in Australia, and spread the word.

We have trams, trains, floats, face painters, confetti cannons, dignitaries, sports legends (Force Rugby, Perth Glory, Australian Champions, Future Champions Beats U-12 State Team, AFL stars, world champion sprinters netball, basketball, Irish dancing champions, hurlers and footballers and much, much, more).

There will be music, dance, kids activities, free fairy floss, free rides, free everything bar food and drinks, water fountains, McDonald's Farm, foam pit, racing cars, fairy's, face painters, bouncy castles for younger and older kids and the list goes on and on.

Don't miss out on the huge raffle prizes also with $10 a ticket first Prize a trip for two to Ireland and lots more.

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The main stage will have "Welcome to Country", anthems by The Irish Choir, speeches (not too many), music by, Tommy O'Brien and guests LUNA, Prohibition and a couple of Irish visitors taking the stage. There is also a stage for Irish Dancers as well as mass at 9am on the Oval.

VIP's get catered for within the Licenced area with all drinks $8 each for the day and free water at the fountain. We are looking for a massive turnout for the event and the day.

Please come and be part of our national day and get recognised in the various photos and videos by being dressed up for the day.

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"HOME & AWAY'" and it's FUN, FREE & SAFE. See you all on Saturday, the 16th March in Leederville.

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Bringing Peace, Love & Irish Craic to Subiaco

The well established Ma Mooney’s Kitchen in Osborne Park is expanding and bringing some buzz to Subiaco, with the new Mooney’s Subiaco | Bar and Kitchen.

Open Daily from 7.30am for Breakfast, Beer, Business, Betting & The Buzz Located in the Heart of Subiaco at: 328 Barker Road, Subiaco, WA 6008 Email: Bookings@moooneyssubiaco.com Phone: (08) 9381 8400

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Bringing

THE BUZZ back to Subiaco

Meet you at Mooney's

by Lloyd Gorman

Paddy Maguire's in Subiaco was very recently reborn and baptised as a truly Irish pub when it opened its doors early on March 1 as Mooneys Bar and Kitchen.

Dubliner Brian Mooney became the proprietor of the establishment earlier this year after spending the last 12 months eying it up as his next business venture.

Brian – or at least his surname – will be a familiar one to most people in Perth through the success of his sandwich bar in East Perth which outgrew its city centre location and expanded into Ma Mooney's Kitchen in Osborne Park.

Now that Ma Mooneys has bedded down at its new home Brian is free to jump into this next project and raring to go, promising to give it 100 per cent over the next 12 months.

“I like it was my first feeling

when I walked into the place,” said Brian.

He said it felt a bit like his local pub at home in Finglas The Willows.

“I have a lovely feeling here of it being a Dublin pub in the heart of Perth.

“In fact, do you know what I want to create? Johnny Foxes.

[Johnny Foxes is famed to be Ireland's highest pub – set on top of the Dublin mountains – but is also one of the most successful traditional pubs with visitors and Irish alike, with good food, music and dancing] “I want to make it Perth's Johnny Foxes for the Irish and locals and I want the tourist to come and when they get off the plane they say “Lets go to Mooneys” and give them that experience of Johnny Foxes and when people walk in they go Wow, guess where I am? Its like walking into Johnny Foxes' Dublin. That's my goal” Brian envisages the venue being fully authentic, with his homemade recipes and cooking on offer, drinks you'd get in pubs back 'home', Irish music and radio playing, Irish news-

papers around the place and a great atmosphere and a place where everyone – including families with young children – can feel comfortable and relaxed.

“It will be a place where you can find peace, love, happiness, something to eat and something to drink and when you leave you are genuinely going to leave better than you came in first,” Brian added.

Mooneys opens at 7.30am and will be a place for 'business, breakfast and beer' until late seven days a week.

Brian said he will need the support of customers to make the place a success but in return patrons stand to get a lot out of frequenting the venue.

Every community organisation, charity group, union, clubs and associations can register their details at the bar and when customers order a drink can nominate which one they'd like a percentage of the takings to go too.

Goodbye Paddy's, Hello Mooney's.

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to have a sleep before we went.

When I woke up the next morning he insisted that I had been at the party and tried to tell me that I had eaten cake and was made a fuss of by lots of people. He said Aunt Lal had given me some chocolate and Uncle Robbie had read me a story.

Through the years whenever the subject came up he never wavered in his insistence that I had been to that party but I knew I had not been there.

Another very different incident, which I also still remember with clarity occurred several years later.

Something was happening in West Essex St which was just around the corner from my home but nobody seemed to know exactly what.

Aunt Kathleen, my mother and me went to take a look. My sister and brother were in a push chair with us. This side street which did not normally attract much pedestrian traffic was on this particular day full of people. A lady told Aunt Kathleen that shots were being taken for a movie. The two people who caught my attention were Maureen O’Hara as she was wearing a cloak with a hood. I wanted that cloak, it was so beautiful. The second was Barry Fitzgerald who was sitting on the ground with his back against the wall of the oldest house within the city walls. I asked him why he was sitting on the ground, he told me he was so tired. Both of these were Dubliners. Barry Fitzgerald expressed admiration for my sister’s thick dark brown curly hair. The movie was The Quiet man. I have so many memories from years gone by, I sometimes wonder what memories the children of this generation will treasures.

Childhood Recollections

By Marie Moloney During my childhood in Ireland families were large and lived mostly within a short distance of each other.

Interaction was frequent and social isolation was something few people had any hope of experiencing. As a senior citizen looking back on a long life, endeavouring upon the task of putting it all together is like pondering over one huge jigsaw puzzle. From the cradle to the grave we are a work in progress. What makes us who we become? As I look back and think of my childhood in Dublin, the socio economic, cross cultural and generational differences which separate the lives of my grandchildren and mine, it entertains and amuses me to try to put myself as a child into the life of the children around me today.

I am the oldest of seven children. I have only a vague memory of my brother Patrick who was born on 11th of January 1942 almost four weeks before my third birthday. He died on 4th of July 1942. My next sibling was born in 1945 followed by four more. The age difference was such that I never did have any playmates in my immediate family. On the plus side I still have all of them while friends and acquaintances have lost some of theirs. My father had a large extended family, several of these lived with their families in St Laurence’s Mansions, a large block of flats in Sherriff St North Wall.

I loved going to visit as there were dozens of them or so it seemed to me. One memory which has stayed clear in my mind happened when I was about four years old.

Always alert and listening, I heard talk of a party to be held at Aunt Lal’s flat. This filled me with excitement, I talked nonstop about it to everyone around me. In answer to my constant queries my father promised he would take me with him to the party. When the big day arrived I was put to bed early as daddy said I needed

When You Are Old

BY WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS

When you are old and grey and full of sleep, And nodding by the fire, take down this book, And slowly read, and dream of the soft look Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep; How many loved your moments of glad grace, And loved your beauty with love false or true, But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you, And loved the sorrows of your changing face; And bending down beside the glowing bars, Murmur, a little sadly, how Love fled And paced upon the mountains overhead And hid his face amid a crowd of stars.

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Our St Patrick’s Corporate Lunch series is coming to Perth!

Join hundreds of business owners, corporates and startups to celebrate the past, present and future of Ireland while building relationships and finding new opportunities.

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Luka Bloom’s ‘Grá’ for Australia is an open secret. He has been gigging Down Under for a long time and keeps coming back time and time again. Give him half a chance and the affection for the place oozes out of him. But of all the gifts Australia has to offer it is Western Australia in particular that he treasures on a personal level. With his latest CD album Refuge in his back pocket Luka returns to Australia for his 13th tour but it may also be his last (potentially). On his Facebook page Luka speculates that: “At 63 years old, who knows how many more tours of Australia there will be. This could be the last one. Who knows.”

What we do know is that The Refuge Tour kicked off at the end of February in Noosa and finales 18 gigs later on April 5 at the Charles Hotel.

“I generally try and finish my tours in Perth because I have a lot of friends in Fremantle,” Luka told Irish Scene. “I love spending the last couple of days of my time in Australia, hanging out with my them. I love Fremantle, I absolutely love it. I think its a really unique place in the world, not just in Australia. As well as being unique I think that when you have friends in a place it changes it, its not just about showing up and doing a gig you do wherever.

When I get to Perth I get to hang out with some really good friends and there’s a few Irish people living in the area as you know. I don’t know a lot about Perth itself to be honest with you. I just generally hang out in Fremantle. I just love it, its an incredible town.”

Luka pays special homage to

By Lloyd Gorman

the port city in his homage on the Frugalisto album to Australia. In the lyrics to ‘Australia’ the Kildare thoroughbred singer songwriter wrote “there were golden evenings in South Fremantle shore, and everything about her said love is what living is for.” It describes a vista and sentiment he knows well. Luka’s affair with Australia began back in the early 1990’s and in a sense it was a case of love at first sight.

“This is my 13th tour of Australia which is a lot, not too many singers get to come to Australia that many times, most artist come to Australia in the course of their career two, three or maybe four times. But I’ve been very determined since 1992 that I would visit Australia as regularly as possible. Its weird, this is the only country in the world that I never had to struggle in because my first album Riverside came out in Australia in 1990 and it got a lot of airplay and it was quite successful so when I recorded my second album The Acoustic Motorbike I came in 1992 and did my first tour here and the shows sold out. My first show in the southern hemisphere was in Sydney and there were 2,000 people, which was unbelievable.

I never had to watch to build up an audience in Australia. I arrived and the audiences were there, that doesn’t happen to me, most of the time I struggle in a place and build up an audience, but its like there was a crowd waiting for me the first time I came and it was a beautiful thing.”

I first interviewed Luka at that time, upstairs in a city centre cafe in Dublin. He was - as he still is now - a 15

gentleman whose Newbridge home was just a parish away from where I grew up in part in the Curragh, a fellow “short grass” man. I asked Luka about the title track of Acoustic Motorbike - a song about riding a bicycle through the Irish countryside - and the interesting use of the distinctly Aboriginal instrument, the didgeridoo. What was the story behind the didgeridoo and who played it I asked Luka.

“I think it was Liam Ó Maonlaí [Hothouse Flowers] if I remember correctly - or it might have been Steve Cooney - no, I think it was Liam Ó Maonlaí, he was playing a lot of didgeridoo at the time - that guy can play any instrument - and he was playing on another couple of songs (of mine) and I remember saying it’d be great if we could use a didgeridoo on that song, I’d love to have it because I knew that I was going to be going to Australia and I wanted to have that sound and it really worked in the song.”

Much more recently I put it to Luka if the 2018 CD DVD Exiles collaboration between Irish and Australian artists including Paul Kelly and Declan O’Rourke - subtitled Songs and Tales of Irish Australia - would have been something he would have liked to been involved with?

“Its interesting you say that!

There isn’t at the moment but that’s something I’ve been quietly keeping my mind open too, and my mind is open to that,” he said. “I’d be a big fan of people like [Aboriginal artist] Archie Roach, I love Archie Roach and there’s probably a couple of people down there I would love to

collaborate with, but its just never come about and I hope it will, only because I haven’t met the right person to make this happen and I don’t try and force things to happen, I kind of like things to happen in their own way and time, rather than trying to make something happen that I think would be a good idea and go out and start looking for people. Things tend to happen organically for me.”

Any chance of a collaboration with your brother Christy Moore in terms of an album I ask?

“Over the years Christy has recorded about five of my songs and in years gone by we’ve done a little bit of playing together but we both realised we are very different, we have a very different rhythm.

I often say about Christy and I that he grew up listening to Woody Guthrie and I grew up listening to Bob Marley. Even though we are from the same family, we have different approaches in music. There’s ten years between us and quite a generational difference as well. I’m really thrilled and honoured he has chosen to record a couple of my songs, including City of Chicago, I absolutely love his version of it, but we sort of walk differently in the musical world you know, its cool.”

An unlikely cover version of another artists song - LL Cool J’s I need love - helped expose Luka to wider audiences than he had known until that stage. A Keith Nolan wanted me to ask Luka about the origins and success of that track.

“I was living in New York, if I wasn’t living in New York that would never have happened, I never would have thought about learning a rap song - I was never interested in rap music of anything like that, but then when I was living in NY, I thought to myself “you know what, maybe I should look for a song that might work for me and then I heard this song and I thought WOW, this seems re-

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12-3 pm Rhys Woods & Dave Fyfe Full Menu 4-7 pm The Sheds available 8-Late pm Tinker's Cuss opeKnitsc1h0eanm Woodbridge Hotel 50 East Street Guildford 9377 1199 ally amazing. It was one of the most difficulties songs I’ve ever learned, it was a challenge. The rhythm of it is so completely different to the lyrics of it and it was a challenge but I ended up loving it, loving the song and it was good for me, my version of that song got a savage amount of airplay.”

All the royalties from his version went straight into the pocket of LL Cool J, Luka didn’t make “ a bean” from it.

“I knew that a guy who was a driver at Warner Borthers played [my version] for him (LL Cool J) and he commented to him that he thought it was cool - whether that’s true or not. I’d say he was happy with the amount of royalties he would have gotten from my version.”

While he lived in America for an extended amount of time Luka feels closer to Australia. “I lived in America for five years but I never felt like we even necessarily spoke the same language, when I’m in Australia I instantly relate to the people and the way they are. I think there’s something about the black humour in Australia that Irish people really get. I think the Irish and Australian’s really get each other, we understand each other. I love that. So much of the Irish psyche has penetrated into Australia society, I think its a beautiful thing, I like being there 16

and singing there, I have a lot of fondness for Australia.”

A fluke of coincidence and timing on the final day of Luka’s last tour and visit to Australia in 2016 left a big impression on him. Gill Kenny wanted me to ask Luka if he might come to the Irish Club when he was in town as part of this tour. He said he might try to get there but that he would be tired after a grueling line up of performances would just want to chill out in Freo and would not play a gig there. Then he remembered the last time he was in Subi.

“Funnily enough, the last time I was in Australia I was flying home on the night of Easter Sunday in 2016, the 100th anniversary of the Easter Rising. On the day I was to leave, my flight from Perth airport was at ten at night and I went out with some friends to Subiaco and we went to the Easter commemoration parade. It was absolutely incredible. It was an unbelievable acknowledgment of the sacrifice of a 100 years ago and it really affected me.

Not only because I knew it meant so much to Irish people

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who are now Australian citizens living in the suburbs of Perth, connecting with each other and acknowledging this incredible event that took place in Ireland a hundred years ago, I found it absolutely amazing. I couldn’t get over how many people were there. There was maybe a thousand, two thousand people at it, I don’t know exactly but it was a substantial crowd, the Proclamation was read out at the end of it and it was just phenomenal. It stayed with me, it really left a mark with me about how incredible that here I am so many miles from home and here are all these people who want to commemorate the awful events of 1916 so far away from home. That just blew my mind, it really blew my mind, much more so than if I had witnessed that at home (in Ireland).”

It only occurs to me after our telephone conversation – me in Perth sitting at the kitchen table at 7.30am and him on the other end of the line in Liscannor, Co. Clare after midnight – ends that Subiaco was also the site of another moving and profoundly Irish experience just a year or so after his experience in the Suburb. In October 2017 Uachtarán na Éirinn Michael D Higgins (President of Ireland) officially dedicated An Gorta Mór sculpture in Market Square Park, just around the corner from the Irish Club in Townshend Road. Mr Higgins unveiled the haunting figure of a woman keening after delivering what was a world class speech about the Famine, Ireland, Australia and other issues. Everyone - Irish and Australians alike – who was lucky enough to be present on that occasion was struck by that momentous speech.

If Luka has a soft spot for Western Australia, then he also has a special place for the west coast of Ireland.

Martina Fox wanted me to ask Luka about his move to Liscannor, Co. Clare, close to Milltown Malbay where her sister lives.

“I am a proud Kildare man and I’ll be a Lilly White until the day I die, but I made this move to Clare seven years ago. I’m here right now and its the middle of January and you know what I went out with some friends to Doolin and it was hopping with music, fun, its an amazing part of the world. I’m so very happy that I live here, it really suits me. Its perfect for me because Clare people are great, the Burren is great, the (Atlantic) ocean is great and the music is great but there is also a lot of people passing through all the time, even in the depths of winter there’s always something going on, its amazing. I love traditional Irish music but I’m not someone whose in and out of sessions all the time, but I love that they are there and from time to time I go out and have fun with people.: But Luka also enjoys the solitude and wild natural surrounds as a place he can relax when he is not on tour.

Luka Bloom plays The Charles Hotel on April 5. See www.lukabloom.com/live/ for more information.

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St Patrick's Day message from the Ambassador of Ireland

Breandán Ó Caollaí

find the Irish and Irish culture a fun experience to be around. As we say in Irish – Tá céad míle fáilte romhat/We wish you a hundred thousand welcomes.

Is é Lá na Féile Pádraig 2019 an ceiliúradh is mó agus is fearr ag aon phobal ar fud an domhain agus is linne, na Gaeil, í mar Fhéile – bainimis taitneamh as agus déanfaimis pobail uilig Iarthar na hAstráile a fháiltiú isteach inár measc don chraic, don spraoi is don sport. Guím rath agus séan ar cheiliúradh na Féile an bhliain seo is ar na Gaeil is cairde na nGael a bheas ag glacadh páirt libh.

St Patrick’s Day is one of the world’s greatest and most inclusive of national celebrations, celebrated on every continent not only by the seventy million members of the Irish diaspora but by many tens of millions more who simply enjoy the fun, craic and experience of taking part.

Western Australia is home to one of the most resilient and more self-confident of Irish communities anywhere in the world, confident of its achievements and positive about its future.

I salute your achievements and I thank you for your ongoing commitment to Ireland whether you were born there, have Irish heritage or you just

2019 will be another eventful year in recalling, commemorating and where appropriate celebrating our history as we continue to mark the Decade of Centenarians. The Irish of Western Australia are keenly aware of the importance of our shared history in mapping out our shared path to the future.

I want thank all of you who work to make the St Patrick’s Festival such a success, I know your dedicated work commences long before March and continues long after the spotlight turns to the next big cultural celebration in the region. I also want to thank all those who work so tirelessly, far from the limelight, throughout the year to promote Ireland, its culture and its economic interests in Western Australia.

Guím gach rath ar an obair Breandán Ó Caollaí

Ambasadóir na hÉireann/Ambassador of Ireland

Sásta Lá Fhéile Pádraig 19

Inner Magic of the Australian Bush

By Peter Murphy

Introduction: It was an essay in ‘The Weekend Australian’ newspaper (Oct 2018) ‘Review’ supplement that caught my eye and would inspire me to write a letter of response to its author, journalist and novelist Nicolas Rothwell.

In his essay, Nicolas claimed it was D.H. Lawrence the ‘father’ of Australian modern literature, and the first European to capture in his writings: inner magic of the Australian bush.

I disagreed with Nicolas and promptly wrote him a letter explaining it was Irish poet John Boyle O’Reilly - who 50 years before Lawrence set foot on Australian soil - in his poetry - had captured: inner magic of the Australian bush.

Nicolas’ publisher tells me he’s only received my letter. I look forward to receiving his response which I’ll share with you in next edition of The Irish Scene.

Dec 2018 Attention: Author and journalist Nicolas Rothwell.

Dear Nicolas, Been meaning to respond to your essay re D.H. Lawrence, Weekend Australian (Review), Oct 27-28, 2018, where you mentioned Lawrence and his wife Frieda, in May 1922, disembarked at Fremantle, and that it was Lawrence – after a stay of barely 3 months – managed to capture in his writing the inner magic of the Australian bush.

Also in your essay, you claimed it was Lawrence who’d set the stage for those who came after him, to go further, look further, see further, bring back more in your words, more, always more.

For instance in his novel ‘Kangaroo’ published in 1923, Lawrence wrote: By the stream the mimosa was all gold, great gold bushes full of spring fire rising over your head, and the scent of the Australian spring, and the most ethereal of all golden bloom, the plumy, many balled wattle, and the utter loneliness, the manlessness, the untouched blue sky overhead, the gaunt, lightless gum-trees rearing a little way off, and sound of strange birds, vivid ones of strange, brilliant birds that flit round. Save for that, and for some weird frog-like sound

indescribable, the age-unbroken silence of the Australian bush.

With those poetic words, you claimed it was Lawrence the first modern writer of world stature to lay eyes on Australia and spend himself upon its mysteries, and that legions of authors have placed the Australian bush at the centre of their stories since Lawrence‘s day.

Well Nicolas, you’ve obviously never heard of author, poet, orator, conservationist, humanitarian, Fenian and felon John Boyle O’Reilly, for it was he who – through European eyes – captured first the inner magic of the Australian bush 50 years before Lawrence would set foot on our great continent.

For instance, O’Reilly’s prologue to his poem `Western Australia’ written in 1868, I believe usurps well your claim it was Lawrence the father of modern Australian writers: How can I show you all the silent birds, with strange metallic glintings on the wing?

Or how tell half their sadness in cold words, The poor dumb lutes, the birds that never sing?

Of wondrous parrot-greens and iris hue Of sensuous flowers and of gleaming snake,Ah! What I see I long that so might you, But of these things what pictures can I make.

Sometime, maybe, a man will wander there,A mind God-gifted, and not dull or weak; And he will come and paint that land so fair.

And show the beauties of which I speak.

And should you doubt my claim, may I suggest you familiarise yourself with O’Reilly’s novel ‘Moondyne’ published in 1880, a mere 42 years before Lawrence would set foot on Australian soil; especially opening verse in chapter 2: It was a scorching day in midsummer – a few days before Christmas.

Had there been any moisture in the bush, it would have steamed in the heavy heat. During the midday not a bird stirred among the mahogany and gum trees.

On the flat tops of the low banksia the round heads of the 20 20

white cockatoos could be seen in thousands - motionless as the trees themselves. Not a parrot had the vim to scream.

The chirping insects were silent. Not a snake had courage to rustle his hard skin against the hot and dead bush-grass. The bright-eyed iguanas were in their holes.

The mahogany sawyers had left their logs and were sleeping in the cool sand of their pits.

Even the travelling ants had halted on their wonderful roads, and sought the shade of a bramble. All free things were at rest; but the penetrating click of the axe - heard far through the bush, and now and again a harsh word of command, told that it was land of bondmen.

From daylight to dark, through the hot noon as steadily as in the cool evening, the convicts were at work on the roads the weary work that has no wages, no promotion, no incitement, no variation for good or bad, except stripes for the laggard.

And while you remind us Lawrence spent barely 3 months in Australia, please also be remindful, O’Reilly, although having spent just over 12 months on this vast continent, did so in shackles, and in spite of such hardship, still managed to capture a sense of place which to this day eludes many modern writers.

March 3rd 2019 celebrates the 150th anniversary of O’Reilly’s dramatic escape from Australia to America, where his poetry is ranked next to Longfellow, Whittier and Holmes.

Please join us in celebrating this momentous occasion at the Fenians, Fremantle & Freedom Festival, Feb 22, 23 and 24.

For more information go to: info@feniansfestival.com.au Kind regards Peter Murphy kiahcreek@bigpond.com

Western Australia

Famine Commemoration

Sunday 19th May at An Gorta Mor Memorial Market Square, Subiaco at 3pm Visit www.waifc.org for details of Memorial 2121

22

Galway bodyguard remembers Australian Prime Minister

By Tom Gilmore, Tuam Co Galway Prime Minister's Lodge, Canberra, Australia 14/12/1967. Australian Prime Minister Harold Holt wishing Martin Tyrrell a pleasant trip to Ireland. The Prime Ministers final words were: "Give my love to Ireland". Martin was stationed as a security officer for two years at the Prime Minister's residence.

Only three days after Australian Prime Minister Harold Holt had said “have a pleasant trip back to Ireland” to his personal bodyguard, Galway man Martin Tyrrell, the world heard the PM had died in a drowning accident on December 17th 1967 off Cheviot Beach.

Martin had risen to become one of the Australian Prime Minister’s most trusted bodyguards who was often left “in charge of The Lodge at weekends”. Now in his 80s Martin remembers hearing the sad news of the PM death only days after they exchanged their last goodbyes.

“On December 14th 1967 Mr Holt and I chatted and posed for photographs with a formal handshake. Then he put his two hands around mine and said ‘give my love to Ireland’, says Martin.

“You can imagine the shock I got after getting off the plane in Queensland to visit my uncle when the barman in a pub there said to us ‘Holt is missing’.

“By the time my flight stopped off in Perth it was confirmed that the Prime Minister was dead. On my arrival at Shannon Airport the Irish flag was at half mast as a mark of respect,” added Martin.

The strange and sudden nature of his death has carved the passing

of Harold Holt deep into the Australian psyche. It is as much history, as it is mystery. A regular swimmer he went into the water at Cheviot Beach near Portsea, Victoria on 17 December 1967 and never came out. Despite a massive search effort his body was never found. Theories around what happened range from the likely that he drowned in rough surf and that his body washed out to sea or became trapped in rocks - to the ludicrous - that he was a spy for the Chinese who had planned a rendezvous with a submarine.

Two days later Holt was officially presumed dead.

His unexplained disappearance of course plunged his family into despair but it also pushed the country into crisis, Australia needed a Prime Minister. The baton was almost immediately passed to the de facto deputy PM, John McEwen, the leader of the Country Party. McEwen was born on 29 March 1900 in Victoria to Amy Ellen (née Porter) and David James McEwen. His mother was born in Victoria and was of English and Irish ancestry. His father was born in Mountnorris, Co. Armagh, of Ulster Scots stock. Ewen and his sister were orphaned while they were young children. He would be married three times but never had children. His last wife was Mary Eileen Byrne, his personal secretary, he was aged 68, she was 46.

Ultimately his Prime Ministership was short-lived. He 23

Martin Tyrrell in Galway

was officially sworn in as PM on 19 December 1967, but was replaced in the role by the Minister for Education and Science John Gorton on 10 January 1968.

Having spent eight years in Australia, the final few years as a bodyguard to Prime Ministers’ Menzie and Holt, Martin decided to take a six months sabbatical back home in Ireland.

It was a spirit of adventure and wanderlust to see the world that resulted in young Martin making a four weeks sea trip to Sydney to taste life in the Southern Hemisphere in the late ‘50s.

“Australia was the University of my Life and I always have great time for the Australians. To this day I have friends in Australia from Perth to Canberra.

He got a job in a Post Office in Sydney initially before joining the Australian Police Force.

“I joined the police because I knew that it would take some rough corners off me with their tough training,” laughs Martin.

He was firstly stationed at the new Royal Australian Mint headquarters where his dedication to duty was noted by some senior police officers.

“Sometimes while stationed at the Mint an officer at the Prime Minister’s Lodge might be off sick and the inspector would ask me to do cover there.

“Then a vacancy arose as one of the four regular bodyguards at The Lodge and because I had got to

know the place very well I was promoted to the post.”

Martin’s first term as a bodyguard was with Prime Minister Sir Robert Menzies but later on he forged a much more personal friendship with new PM Harold Holt and his wife Zara.

“I wrote to her from Ireland after his drowning accident and also sent a Mass card.

“Even though their religion was Anglican a lovely letter came back from Zara Holt and what pleased me most was that, written in her own handwriting, were the words ‘thank you for your Mass card – it is greatly appreciated by us all,” added Martin.

He always remembers Harold Holt as having a “lovely friendly Aussie style” about him.

“When they would go to Melbourne for weekends he always nominated me to be left in charge of the house.

“So I was in around The Lodge, a huge house taking care of everything.”

This a great honour for the Irishman but also a great responsibility as it was during the volatile era of the Vietnam War with Prime Minister Holt having backed his close friend US President Johnston. There was always a fear that somebody would try to assassinate Mr Holt especially after a window of one of his offices was smashed by a bullet.

“It was a top security job with four of us working as bodyguards on a shift work basis and I was the only Irishman. Tensions were high as over 500 Australian soldiers were in Vietnam. While we were well armed and trained, we were still always on edge,” says Martin.

When President Holt was informed that Martin was taking a six months sabbatical back in Ireland to decide his future the PM invited him to dinner wished him well and gave him gifts.

He has good memories too of staying with friends in Perth including the St John of God Sisters in Subiaco. Here he remembers the welcome

accorded to him in particular

by Sr. Enda Fitzgerald from Tuam and Sr. Martina Hoban from Claremorris.

Back home Martin’s brother Pat suggested they set up an auctioneering, insurance and financial business in Tuam.

Today the company employs five people with offices in Tuam and Headford. Martin was president of Tuam Chamber of Commerce on numerous occasions and of the local Lions Club as well as being involved in many voluntary organisations But he never lost his love for Australia and perhaps that was also because he met the love of his life in Canberra, his wife Ann McKeon from Drumlish, Co. Longford.

“She trained as a nurse and midwife in Manchester before going to Australia where she became a head nurse at Canberra Community Hospital.

Ann also decided to come home some years afterwards and we got married in Rome.”

They have four children, three of them trained as accountants and one as a physiotherapist. Ann and Martin went back to Australia to celebrate their silver wedding anniversary in both Canberra and Perth.

The Tyrrells fondly remember how Qantas Airlines staff became aware, before they boarded, that the Tyrrells trip was to celebrate their silver wedding anniversary.

“Before we got off the plane in Perth a staff member presented us with two bottles of Tyrrell’s Wine from a winery of that name in Hunters Valley.

What a pleasant surprise that was but it was just typical of Australian hospitality. That was the sort of spontaneous hospitality that the late President Holt epitomised to during my time as one of his bodyguards,” concluded Martin.

24

No Holt’s barred in this Irish love affair

By Lloyd Gorman

If “Give my love to Ireland” were Harold Holt’s parting words to Martin Tyrrell 52 years ago then that love would ultimately find its way back to the Holt family as a girl meets boy story. Holt’s granddaughter Pippa is a Denizen of Dublin. A Melbourne girl by birth this fashion guru followed in the path of many other young Australian’s by travelling to London in search of adventure and experience. She found all that and more on a blind date. “I met a handsome Irishman six years ago in London,” she says. “Conor [Roche] had just moved back to Dublin after living in New York and London for 10 years and wanted to settle in his home town,” Pippa told Gourment Traveller website in 2014. They fell in love and got married.

Her career as a fashion pundit and commentator takes her around the world, but Dublin is her permanent base, and their home in the Irish capital is in leafy Donnybrook. “That’s one of the great things about Dublin - it’s so easy to fly everywhere in Europe, so we travel a great deal. And from a lifestyle point of view it’s less hectic than a big city like London or New York, particularly now we have two small children.”

She attributes the family’s fashion sense to her grandmother, Dame Zara, a canny fashion designer, astute businesswoman and widow of Prime Minister Harold Holt. “I remember Zarie teaching me how to draw ball gowns with beautiful bows on the bustle at Portsea during summer, when everyone else was at the beach.”

Holt still spends summer holidays at Portsea, when Dublin is in the depths of winter. “Dublin is a city with interesting food, warm hospitality and a great spirit,” she says. “It’s steeped in culture.

There are beautiful Georgian doors next to great little coffee shops and then the countryside is right on your doorstep.

You can feel the history.”

Window commemorating Kevin Barry at UCD In 2011, 76 years after its original installation in Earlsfort Terrace, a stained glass window commemorating the life of Kevin Barry, an IRA volunteer who was executed by the British Army during the War of Independence, was unveiled in its new location on the UCD Belfield campus.

The relocation of this historic artwork marked the final stage of UCD’s move from Earlsfort Terrace to Belfield which began in 1970.

At the unveiling, Irish Government Minister, Mr Ruairí Quinn, TD said: “The Kevin Barry Window depicts the long struggle for Irish Freedom and the many people who laid down their lives for this cause.

We would not be the nation we are today without their sacrifices and without their example. It is important that we protect monuments to the past such as this window to remind us all of where we came from and what we can achieve as a people even when faced by the hardest of times.”

Kevin Barry was a first year medical student at University College Dublin when he was arrested by the British Army during the War of Independence for his part in an ambush on a British army vehicle in which three British soldiers were shot. He was subsequently charged with murder and executed by hanging in 1920.

He was 18 years old.

In his last letter, written on the night before his execution, Barry wrote: “Well boys, we have seen some good times. It’s the only thing which makes it hard to go, the fact of leaving you chaps and other friends behind.”

In the years following his execution, Kevin Barry’s fellow UCD students raised funds for the creation of a memorial window, but it was only when Richard O’Rahilly, was elected to the UCD Governing Body in 1932

Easter Commemoraton

EASTER SUNDAY 21st April Assemble Famine Memorial Market Square Subiaco 1.45pm Sharp Proceeding to the Irish Club, 61 Townshend Rd Subiaco Reserve a free seat from Eventbrite: Easter 1916 Commemoration Perth, Western Australia

that the window was finally commissioned. Graduates once again began involved in 2007 when the university appealed for funds to restore, converse and transfer the window to Belfield.

Dr Hugh Brady, president of UCD, said: “The final decision to bid farewell to Earlsfort Terrace prompted plenty of discussion and opinion in relation to the fate of the Kevin Barry window. Perhaps because I was myself a medical student in the Terrace, I felt strongly that the window was – and is – an integral part of the heritage of the university. We have a role to play in providing the next generation with not just the symbols of our past, but a context in which to understand our history. I believe that this wonderful piece of art provides an important touchstone for that understanding.”

Designed and worked in double-glazed glass by Richard King at the Harry Clarke stained glass studios in Dublin, the memorial window was unveiled in Earlsfort Terrace in 1934 by the then President of Ireland, Eamonn de Valera.

The Kevin Barry Memorial Window depicts images of prominent people and events associated with the Irish nationalist struggle.

The cultural resonance of the window is emphasised by its links with the University and the importance of Kevin Barry’s association with UCD is shown by the inclusion of the UCD crest at his feet.

A collection of Kevin Barry materials is also held in the archives at University College Dublin including: copies of charge sheets, witness statements and summary of evidence relating to his court martial and execution, letters received by Mrs Barry after his execution, and personal memorabilia – his college cap, athletic suit, and a sliotar.

Source: UCD News 25

Andrew Clark

(Born 1793 - Died 1847)

Frederick Irwin

(Born 1793 - Died 1860)

Book Preview –

IRISH GOVERNORS OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA (by the author Peter Conole)

Regular readers of the Irish Scene may remember a fairly expansive series of articles by this writer on certain Governors of Western Australia, all of whom held office when the position was the most vital

Charles Fitzgerald (Born 1796 - Died 1887)

Arthur Kennedy (Born 1809 - Died 1883)

William Robinson (Born 1834 - Died 1897)

executive position in the colony. Governors of the period 1829 to 1890 were endowed with a degree of power and influence that subsequent premiers of our State could only dream of.

Those colonial Governors had just one critical reporting line, a direct connection with the Secretary of State for the Colonies in London. As imperial Governors they were key agents of social, economic, cultural and political change. In time they oversaw the gradual development of political institutions, culminating in the introduction of Representative Government in 1890.

Starting from the founding of the colony in Western Australia in 1829 until 1890 ten men held the position of Governor. Half of them were Irishmen, a stunning fact that in itself should have been given just a little attention by historians in this country.

Furthermore, the life stories and careers of those Irish Governors have long deserved at least some effort to get things right. When they do rate a mention information about basic facts such as years of birth and important career moves is frequently incorrect.

As Mr Lloyd Gorman points out in his Foreword this drastically expanded and revised study removes a lot of errors and omissions concerning the Governors. Their origins and career patterns were quite varied, but as Irishmen they made their mark during times when their homeland was experiencing turbulence and deep distress. The destructive divisions in Ireland along religious lines, the horrors of the Famine, the exploits of the Fenians and the political struggle for Home Rule were to become factors in the lives of some of those Governors in one way or another.

The Irish Governors of our future State all rose to power because of a combination of factors in the history of 19th Century Ireland. A very brief summary of some life themes, with just a few comments about key issues, could be helpful.

Sir Andrew Clarke (1793-1846, Donegal) - the son of a medical man, who was in turn of minor gentry origin. The future Governor (perchance born in the West Indies but raised and educated in his Irish homeland) was a professional solder - commissioned at the age of 13, on active service at 16, a reforming Lieutenant Governor in the Caribbean, a Governor who firmly ruled out the

26

introduction of a convict system in Western Australia.

His son was one of the greatest engineers of the 19th Century - and a political radical who supported both Home Rule for Ireland and the rise of the trade union movement.

Sir Frederick Irwin (1793-1860, Fermanagh) - also of minor gentry origin, the son of a prominent clergyman and headmaster. An army officer from the age of 15 and eventually the battered veteran of nine major battles and sieges in the Peninsula War. As de facto Governor for a year he too swatted away any notion that convicts should be sent to Western Australia. Back home in Ireland he took a deep interest in Irish literature and efforts to revive the Celtic language.

Charles Fitzgerald (1796-1887, Clare) - an aristocrat by descent, a member of a famous and gloriously flamboyant dynasty. He chose the Royal Navy for a career and joined as a midshipman at 13. As a strong opponent of the Atlantic Slave Trade he played a stellar role in two once famous and dramatic international incidents. As Governor of the Gambia in West Africa he was a strong advocate for the rights of freed slaves.

Ironically, as Governor of Western Australia he was pushed into introducing convicts. In retirement, his research into various old Irish genealogies was a solid contribution to scholarship. His brother, be it noted, played an important but frustrating role in famine relief work in Clare during the 1840s.

Sir Arthur Kennedy (1809-1883, Down). The descendant of a Scottish aristocrat who settled in Ireland in 1671, Kennedy served for years as an army officer and quit to work as a Famine Relief Commissioner in Clare. His painstaking, desperate work attracted a lot of attention and controversy. As a professional imperial administrator, he held several testing Governorships.

Western Australia was one - his working life here was

often difficult, to say the least.

Sir William Robinson (1834-1897, Westmeath), almost certainly descended in the direct male line from old Gaelic stock, was the son an admiral and the younger brother of a man who also worked hard in the desperate and so often futile struggle to provide famine relief in the 1840s. Robinson is the only Governor of the colony who served for three separate terms. Ironically, he was the person on the spot when the Fenians made their great escape in 1876. Robinson, a very cultured and good humoured man, did the hard yards in planning and arranging self-government for Western Australia.

One of Sir William Robinson’s ancestors gave up Catholicism and united with the protestant Church of Ireland. There is no point in beating about the bush on the issue: conversion to high church Protestantism opened a lot of doors for many of his valiant and talented descendants. The Act of Union in 1800 also needs to be factored in. The Irish Governors were all men of faith and, as such, also products of the Protestant Ascendancy. However, as revealed above, that did not stop them or their families embracing their Irish identity and heritage.

The Irish Governors whose careers are outlined in this book work are worthy of larger biographical studies. Current trends in historiography indicate that is not likely to happen, but this writer may well give at least one of these Irish administrators overdue and expansive attention. All of the paraphernalia of scholarship will then be brought into play. For present purposes the prime, and indeed sole aim, was to make amends by providing more accurate and expanded knowledge of their lives and careers. For what was considered to be a good reason no index has been included.

IRISH GOVERNORS OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA

RECEPTION OF THE NEW GOVERNOR (KENNEDY) IN WESTERN AUSTRALIA (The Illustraled London News 1856)

27

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ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING AND FREE PUBLIC TALK Sun March 10

We are appealing to lapsed members to renew before the AGM and to members to avail of the privilege of attending your annual meeting to review our activities, finances, elected Board and volunteers and to vote on adoption of new Model Rules under the Associations Incorporation Act 2015 to replace our Constitution. We welcome items in General Business. The meeting should conclude within the hour. Complimentary afternoon tea will follow. At 3.15pm we welcome Professor Denis Ladbrook who will present an interactive talk on homesickness titled, ‘Is the Grass Greener’. During the seminar Denis will invite participants to share bits of their story, their journey in life, focussed on do they feel better off here in WA or is their love of homeland, culture and community pulling them back to Ireland.

Irish Club Committee Room (upstairs) AGM at 2pm. Talk at 3.15pm Free (AGM is members only. Afternoon tea and the Talk is open to the public ) To book for this FREE short Seminar, call: 0417099801.

ST PATRICK’S DAY PARADE AND FAMILY FUN DAY, Sat 16 March

10am Parade through Leederville to theme of ‘Home and Away’ followed by concert and festival with exhibitions of traditional Irish hurling and football at Leederville Oval. Free event

‘THE QUIET MAN’ special event, Irish Club Sun Mar 31 2pm

Screening of documentary ‘John Ford; Dreaming the Quiet Man’. a fascinating and revealing exploration of the most popular Irish movie ever made, by kind permission of director Sé Merry Doyle Afternoon tea with exhibition and fundraising sale of posters from the film, and anecdotal notes by Hon Irish Consul Marty Kavanagh and John Flood followed by screening of ‘The Quiet Man’, 1952. Starring John Wayne, Maureen O’Hara, Barry FitzGerald, Victor McLaghlen. Winner of two academy

Australian-Irish Heritage Association awards for Best Director and Best Cinematography.

Irish Club Theatre, Enquiries 9367 6026 $15 covers afternoon tea and costs, pay at the door

‘DAISY BATES and BREAKER MORANT – The Early Years’, Sun 14 April

A Presentation of Story, Song and Verse,

by Colin Smiley, With Phil Beck, Tony Bray, Carmel Charlton and Phil Gray.

Daisy Bates worked with and documented the tribes and customs of Aboriginal People. Breaker Morant is remembered for his horsemanship, bush balladry and for his contentious execution in the Boer War. Daisy and Breaker didn’t always tell the truth, and created “new backgrounds”. Both had dark secrets they kept quiet about! They married in 1882, but not for long! Come along and learn about their escapades!

Irish Club Theatre. Sunday 14 April, 3pm. $10, pay at the door, includes Irish Afternoon Tea. Enquiries 9367 6026 EASTER MONDAY CATALPA COMMEMORATION ROCKINGHAM, 11am Annual commemoration of the escape of six Fenian convicts on 17-18 April, 1876.

With oration, verse and song at the Catalpa Memorial. Guest speaker Peter Fitzsimons AM, author, journalist, tv presenter and former Wallaby will discuss his new book ‘The Catalpa Rescue’ which will be officially launched in the Irish Club on the following evening Tuesday 23 April, 7pm. Premier of WA Hon Mark McGowan and special guests from

government, Rockingham City council and Diplomatic Corp will be in official attendance. At Catalpa Memorial, Rockingham Beach, walking distance south of Township. Free public event.

Enq: 9367 6026

AIHA Supports

Feb 28, Fri Mar 1, 8pm, 'THE TRIALS OF JOHN BOYLE O’REILLY' written and directed by Noel O’Neill, starring Mike Anthony Irish Club Theatre, $30/ $25 conc, trybooking.com/BASWE Flyer attached SPECIAL – watch Noel O’Neill in the new local series ‘THE HEIGHTS’, ABC Fridays 8.30pm Free Heritage Tour John Boyle O'Reilly Commemorion Sun 10 March, to celebrate 150th anniversary of poet John Boyle O’Reilly’s dramatic escape from Western Australia to America (March 1869) on the John Boyle O’Reilly Heritage Trail, Leschenault Peninsula (north of Bunbury). Join guide Peter Murphy and poet/actor Lachlan Kelly in exact location where O’Reilly hid before his dramatic escape on a Yankee whaler to America. Tour will be followed by a celebration of O’Reilly’s life with guest speakers, poetry and song at the JB’O Memorial, Buffalo Rd. Tour 9 to 10am.

Memorial 11 to 12 noon Contacts: Tour -Peter Murphy 043 997 6507; Memorial celebration: Fred Rea 0418 943 832 ANZAC Commemoration Tues 25 April, 8am Subiaco. AIHA at invitation of Subiaco RSL lay wreaths for Irish ANZACS. Morning tea follows

Be proud of your Irish heritage

Australian-Irish Heritage Association - Non Political Non Sectarian Emphatically Australian PO Box 1583, Subiaco 6904 Secretary: 08 9367 6026 Treasurer: 08 9345 3530 Email: aiha@irishheritage.net Web Page: www.irishheritage.net Look us up on Facebook Membership Due 1st January – Family $65, Concession $55, Distant (200kms from Perth) $45 Membership fee includes tax deductible donation of $20 Check out events on http://www.irishscene.com.au/calendar-of-events.html 29

Where It All Began Towards the end of last December I was amused at the Christmas activity that was going on. Millions of us here in this small island of Ireland were bustling in and out of the shops, and leaving millions of Euros in our wake. All of this activity made me reflect on another time, when the very first settlers arrived to an Ireland that was very different indeed from what we have today.

When people look back in time at Ireland it is, more than likely, through the lens of history. We have always learned history from an emotional point of view: we were the victims and they were the bad guys. There was very little com-

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plexity in it. However, there was another Ireland, way back before the beginnings of written history - into prehistory and the realm of Archaeologists.

12,000 years ago marked the end of the last Ice Age in Europe.

The era between the retreat of the ice and the development of farming is called the Mesolithic, or the Middle Stone Age. This phase lasted from 8,000BC to 4,000BC, which is over 40% of our recorded time on this Island. Ireland at that time was completely different than it is now and everywhere was covered in a thick canopy of trees. The new settlers could move more easily on rivers and lakes, and sought out these places for their refuge. A good supply of water was very important, for drinking purposes and also to attract wild game.

They were the last of the Hunter-Gatherer people, before humans were to become involved in farming (Neolithic) or metal-working (Bronze Age), they were also very creative and inventive. Because they did not grow any crops, or have the ability to store their produce, they had to become very skilled at hunting and fishing. The main animals at the time in Ireland were the wild pig and hare, along with fowl, and the rivers and seas yielded salmon, trout, eels, oysters and mussels.

They always had to be on top of their hunting and fishing game, or they did not eat.

From flints and sharp stones, they made sharp blades called microliths, creating tools and knives for cutting, and they were the first 30

humans to create a vital new weapon – the bow and arrow. Long before there was any hint of farming practices in Ireland, they would have been hunting wild boar, and also collecting hazelnuts and berries that would have been available seasonally. They would have known their landscape very intimately, and what would have been available in certain areas at different times of the year.

They also had another hunting asset at their disposal – dogs. Dogs would have been domesticated for many thousands of years at this stage, and it gave them the ability to become involved in driving game, and it would not have been uncommon for men, women and children to participate in these game drives.

Nothing went to waste, and they used sharp bone needles and animal gut thread to make clothing.

Wooden poles, saplings, animal skins and rushes were used in the construction of their flexible houses that could be quickly moved if required.

We cannot stop the ever accelerating wheels of progress, or interfere with the Christmas shopping; but it is also worthwhile to reflect from time to time on the people who laid the foundations of our time on the island of Ireland. Wishing everybody a very happy and peaceful St. Patrick’s Day, and may your wear prosperity and happiness as a warm cloak during 2019.

Bill Daly: Originally from Tallow in West Waterford, Bill spent 30 years in Cork as a Senior Manager in the Electronics Manufacturing industry with such companies as Apple, EMC and Logitech.

He has been working on his own as a Consultant/Contractor in Manufacturing Operations and Materials for the past 18 years. He also attended UCC and has a BA Degree in Archaeology and Geography. Bill is now resident in Connemara, Co. Galway since 2009.

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16. 70 Million people, worldwide claim what?

17. What is the official symbol of Ireland?

OW H H IS IR E AR U O Y

18. With 22 letters what is the longest place name in Ireland?

?

19. Where is the oldest pub in Ireland?

20. St Valentine is buried where?

21. Only 9% of the Irish population are WHAT?

2. The three most famous symbols of Ireland?

3. What does the 'Mac' mean in Irish names?

1.7 times, 2.Shamrock, Harp, CelticCross, 3. Son of, 4. Captain Charles Boycott (1832-1897), 5. Royal Cork Yacht Club, 6.Maureen O'Hara,7.Eurovision Song Contest, 8.Lucky, 9.1998, 10.Rotunda Hospital in Dublin (1745), 11.The Shannon, 12.Ireland, 13.Rain (surprise), 14. Dublin-born Cedric Gibbons, 15.Eamon De Valera, 16.Irish Ancestry, 17.The Harp, 18. Muckanaghederdauhaulia, 19. Sean’s Bar in Athlone (900 years), 20.ADublin church, 21.Natural redheads.

1. How many time has Ireland won the Eurovision Song Contest?

4. The term Boycott is called after who?

5.Name the world's oldest yacht club?

6. Which actress played the part of Mary Kate Danaher in "The Quiet Man"?

7. What music competition did the priests from Father Ted once enter?

8. Any person who is born on St. Patrick’s Day in Ireland is considered to be very what?

Wishes You A Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

9. When was the peace agreement NI and Ireland signed?

10. Name the longest running maternity hospital in the world.

11. Name the longest river in Ireland?

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32

“Daisy Bates and Breaker Morant – The Early Years” A Presentation of Story, Song and Verse; by Colin Smiley, With Phil Beck, Tony Bray, Carmel Charlton and Phil Gray.

Sunday 14th April 3 PM. The Irish Club, Subiaco. Tickets: $10, on the door.

Back in 1981, I was involved in a presentation at the Irish Club, which included material on some Irish/Australian “Greats”.

Alas, my information on Daisy Bates was scant and seen through green tinted glasses!

Daisy spent some forty years on The Nullarbor Plain, documenting Aboriginal tribes and customs. Recent research and documentaries now portray her in a slightly less favourable light – writers Bob Preece and Xavier Herbert call her “A deeply flawed friend of the Aboriginal People” and “Just an old frump!” However, it is her earlier life that tells another interesting story. Daisy was associated with three unfortunate deaths, had three husbands (all at the same time!) and was a most polished liar!

In 1980, the Bruce Beresford movie: “Breaker Morant”, starring Edward Woodward, was released. Whilst it is a brilliant movie, in hindsight and again in the light of new information, it took considerable artistic licence. Around this time, it was also revealed that Daisy and Breaker were married in 1882. A rather unlikely union! Breaker, born Edwin Murrant (Junior), is remembered for his horsemanship, his bush poetry and, of course, his execution in the Boer War, for killing prisoners, about which debate continues to rage: Was he acting on orders?

Was he a “scapegoat”? Were there legal anomalies? It is, however, his earlier life and background that interests me. His mother, Catherine Reilly, was the daughter of a Killarney farmer. She later moved to England as an elementary teacher. Catherine married Edwin Murrant (Senior) and they became Master and Matron of a Workhouse. Thus

Breaker had a Dickensian upbringing, which may explain some of his deviant characteristics. He too was an outrageous liar and a real scoundrel! These two characters have piqued my interest for a good while now; and I was delighted to have this program about them accepted for The Top Half Festival, Glen Helen, NT, in June. It’s a great story, (two tales in one!), and it’s also to be put on at The Irish Club. Special thanks to the Australian Irish Heritage Association, who are kindly sponsoring this event, and to all the musicians and performers, who are putting in their time and effort to bring these stories to life. Thank you all, again. Do come along on Sunday April, 14th and add your voices to the choruses. Hope to see you there.

Colin Smiley.

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33

Letter from Hugh Brophy to his mother Bridget...

Clarence Road, Fremantle Western Australia 4th July 1868 My dearest mother, You will be glad to hear that the climate of this colony agrees with me very well.

I am stronger now than when I left England; in fact, I never got better health than since I came here thank God. I only wish all of you at home were as well and as strong as I am.

The climate in the colony, so far as I have seen and experienced it, is a very good one; every day since our arrival has been a fine summer day, with the exception of one week and then it only rained until about ten in the morning.

It is not so hot or so oppressive as I expected it to be, for there is nearly always a nice steady breeze blowing that moderates the great heat of the sun, particularly when it blows from the sea, which is generally every day in the afternoon.

We are still at the same work as when last I wrote, it is very rough and heavy, making a new road to Fremantle. At present we are camped within two short miles of the town. I was in hopes we would have got something better to do before this, as there is a good many of our men belonging to one branch or another of the building trade, but at present there is no sign of a change for the better.

Bernie Brophy with Peter Murphy's "Fenian Fear'

Hugh Brophy Letter Found!

By Fred Rea

During a recent visit to Melbourne I had a pint with Bernie Brophy, the great grand nephew of Hugh Brophy who arrived in Western Australia on the Hougoumont in 1867 with his Fenian comrades. I mentioned to Bernie a letter I found from Hugh Brophy to his mother in Ireland in 1868 written while he was serving his time in WA. Bernie had not heard of this letter and was delighted when I forwarded it to him on my return home.

Upon receiving his pardon, Hugh Brophy settled in Melbourne and was involved in the early days of the Celtic Club of Melbourne. Bernie continues this tradition by also being a committee member of the club.

My dear mother, there is not the slightest sign that the government intend mitigating our punishment in any source whatever, so that by sending us here they have added banishment to our original sentence of hard labour, and this is our reward for conducting ourselves orderly and well, and being obedient to the prison rales, for now nearly three years; but God’s will be done; perhaps it is all for the better; He knows what is best, so I am satisfied to leave it all in the hands of God. My dearest mother, I am sorry to have not more cheerful news to send you than what I send by this; but I trust in God things will soon change for the better. There is one thing in favour of this place – our imprisonment is not so strict as in England; and the rations are better and more plentiful – consequently, all of us that came from Portland have improved very much since our arrival.

I saw a great number of natives lately. Several hundreds of them encamped within a short distance of us. They are quite savage and uncivilised in appearance but quite and inoffensive in their 34

manner. The men are about middle height, with very small, light limbs. They are very dark in colour – nearly as black as a pot – with middling good features; but their women are very small and ordinary.

They wear nothing but kangaroo skin about their shoulders and hanging loosely as far as their knees. Some of the men paint their faces red. Their women do all their work, drudgery, etc. The men do nothing but hunt and fish.

ST. PATRICK’S DAY AT PADDY MALONE’S

As soon as I get my liberty, I will send you a full account of the country and its inhabitants.

Your affection son, Hugh F. Brophy

Who was Hugh Bropy?

Hugh Brophy was likely born in Maryborough, (now Port Laoise), the main city of what was then Queens County, now County Laois, Ireland. He was the son of Thomas Brophy and Bridget Traynor. Brophy became more involved in the Fenian movement after he was introduced to the Fenian leader Jeremiah O'Donovan Rossa. Brophy was convicted at the Dublin Assizes and sentenced to ten years penal servitude. He spent some time in the Richmond (Bridewell) and Grangegorman remand prisons as well as Kilmainham Gaol, along

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with O'Donovan. The sentence of treason and felony was subsequently commuted to transportation to a penal colony in Western Australia. In October 1867, along with more than 61 other Fenians he set sail on board the Hougoumont. This ship was to be the last to transport convicts to Australia. The voyage was a relatively peaceful one, monotony being one of the major concerns, and the ship docked at Fremantle on January 9, 1868.

"They think that they have pacified Ireland. They think that they have purchased half of us and intimidated the other half. They think that they have foreseen everything, think that they have provided against everything; but the fools, the fools, the fools!– they have left us our Fenian dead; and while Ireland holds these graves, Ireland unfree shall never be at peace".

From Patrick Pearse’s Graveside Oration at the Funeral of Jeremiah O’Donovan Rossa, August 1915

35

By Lloyd Gorman

ISTEACH SA TEACH The trouble with the Troubles In February WA’s parliamentarians debated making changes to the 1982 Bail Act in relation to people linked to terrorism. The purpose of the [Bail Amendment Bill] is to implement the 2017 Council of Australian Governments (COAG) agreement for a presumption against bail applying to persons with links to terrorism,” an explanatory note on the parliament’s website explains. Basically it aims to make it harder for terror suspects or person of interest to get out of police

or security detention.

The issue saw a lengthy debate in state parliament, which touched on events – including Brexit – in Ireland.

Speaking in the Legislative Assembly on Febuary 19, Dr Anthony Buti talked about the Munich Olympic terrorist attacks which he said changed the Olympic games forever. He also spoke about the Sydney Hilton Hotel bombing in 1978 in which

two garbage collectiors and a police officer were killed, and eleven people injured.

“As a result of the bombing, the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation’s powers and budget were increased,” Mr Buti said. “It was also the motivation for the formation of the Australian Federal Police. Of course, there was also the continual terrorism in what is known as the troubles in Northern Ireland. I am not sure whether any member has been to Northern Ireland in the last five years, but I was lucky enough to be there in 2016.

Belfast is considered to be the safest city in Europe. Even during the troubles, Belfast was—besides the bombings, which I understand is a major thing—actually a very safe city if terrorism was taken out of it. There was very little crime. When I went there in 2016, it was a great place to be.

A lot of the problems that Prime Minister Theresa May is having trying to come up with a Brexit agreement are due to Northern Ireland. There is fear of a hard border because of the concern that it will regenerate sectarianism and violence, and we will go back to the bad old 36

days. I do not know whether this was articulated before the referendum but it is obvious that if the United Kingdom were to leave the European Union, Northern Ireland is part of the United Kingdom and therefore there has to be a border.

The problem is that Theresa May has an agreement with the EU but the British Parliament will not agree to it because it will still allow free movement of people between Ireland, which is in the EU, and Northern Ireland, which is not in the EU. Obviously, if people can move freely from Ireland to Northern Ireland, once they are in Northern Ireland, they are in the UK; therefore, they can move to England and Scotland. One of the major reasons for people wanting to leave the EU was freedom of movement; that would be the major factor. Of course, there was terrorism in Northern Ireland. I mentioned Munich, and there are the continuing problems that have resulted in terrorism in the Middle East and has been relayed to other parts of the world.”

Also addressing the Assembly, Mark Folkard representing the North Beach district talked about the nature and definition of terrorism and how state police here had responsibility for this area. He alluded to a recent incident in which a farmer in Harvey (south of Perth) was alleged to have fired his shotgun after a violent encounter with

two vegan activists.

“Let us look, for example, at the silliness that is going on in relation to the vegan individuals,” Mr Folkard said.” According to the definition, it could be argued that their conduct is an act of terrorism, but because the states are involved in that space, they will make that determination first. Clearly, the commonsense approach is that it is not, and that is because the state has carriage of the investigation.

That is important because the states will make the determination on whether the incident should be escalated so that it is considered to be a proper terrorism incident.”

According to Mr Folkard there are five types of terrorism such as state sponsored terrorism.

“The second type of terrorism is dissident terrorism. These are acts conducted by terrorist groups that have rebelled against their government,” he said. “The Irish Republican Army is probably the best example in recent times, but we have had it in Australia. The Hilton bombing in Sydney could probably be seen as a dissident terrorist act that occurred in Australia.”

Two days later, in the Legislative Council, Stephen Dawson, member for Mining and Pastoral seat and Minister for Environment, pursued a similar line of argument, and was able to bring his recent trip back to his native Ireland in as an example. He was speaking to Colin de Grussa’s motion to provide greater protection for the safety and welfare of farmers, their families, workers and livestock against animal activists who illegally trespass on private land or interfere with lawful activites.

“As a regional member of this place, I share the concerns about “activists” and their actions over

the past few months,” Mr Dawson said.”I was overseas during the parliamentary recess, and it seems to be a worldwide phenomenon.

Activists have been able to get a foothold in various cities around the world. It seems to be the case that a philanthropist of some sort has provided the money and they are campaigning for that cause. In Dublin, there are ads on the back of buses and signs saying that veganism is the way of the future and we should stop eating meat. It is fair enough to campaign. In the past, I was an activist on various issues. Campaigning is fine. We live in a democratic society. However, I have an issue with these so-called activists going onto people’s farms and putting cameras in people’s faces. That is wrong and we should all say that is wrong what they are doing.” The advertising campaign Mr Dawson was referring to is GoVegan.ie.

Meanwhile, with the prospect of the general election in May becoming a blood bath for the Morrisson government the Liberal Party in Canberra seems to be haemorrhaging senior members. At the end of January Michael Keenan, member for Stirling in Perth, and Minister for Human Services was one of three to announce they were leaving parliament at the next election, to concentrate on family. Mr Keenan has been the representative for Stirling since 2004 and was the first politician I interviewed for Irish Scene, back in about 2009. At the time Mr Keenan had just been to Ireland on a taxpayer paid trip to Leinster House in Dublin to study amongst other things, how treaty’s and referenda operated in Ireland.

More recently again, in late February Julie Bishop, member for Curtin, made a shock announcement that she too was stepping down from Federal politics at the 37

next election. Bishop’s five year term as Australia’s foreign affairs minister only ever took her to Dublin once - last year - where she saw first hand what the lye of the land was in terms of Brexit. Her last year in public life has been a tough one but Bishop has always been a constant and graceful presence locally and nationally. Isteach sa Teach wishes both of them well, and indeed anyone who puts up their hand for the job of being an elected representative - I don’t think I could do it.

BREXIT...

“I have an open mind on a second vote. I have been in the UK too much last year to think that a second vote would be what some people here think would just be a simple task. I have done a lot of student debates in the UK. It’s a very dicey scene,”

Modern life hits your brain the hardest.

Meet Perth’s most cost effective and results oriented approach to mental health affording clients a higher quality of life.

Irish-born Neurofeedback expert Elaine Corcoran is the Founder and Clinical Director at Perth’s Mindsight Clinic which has helped thousands of West Australians overcome their mental health challenges.

“The demands of modern life are not the same as the issues people had to deal with 30 years ago, so why are dated methods still being used for treating modern day problems?” said Elaine NASA Astronauts have been using Neurofeedback for over 50 years, and whilst Neurofeedback is gaining popularity in Europe, Canada and the United States, little knowledge exists of the Neurofeedback options in Australia.

So who is using it and why?

“Every client has a different starting point. At one end of the spectrum we see clients presenting with issues such as suicidal ideation, anxiety, depression and anger, and at the complete other end of the spectrum we train high performers such as Business Executives, Sports Athletes (Golfers, AFL players) and most recently many of the upcoming Port To Pub and Rottnest Channel swimming competitors.”

Open 7 days, and with no extra charge for late evening or weekend appointments, a one hour appointment will set you back $150, almost $100 less than the industry rate for a Psychologist in Western Australia.

“We need to consider our mental health the same way we consider our physical health. Neurofeedback does just this, it’s like going to the gym for your brain.” she said.

Mindsight Clinic works with children, teenagers and adults on a one-to one basis to help clients restore healthy mental processes. Enjoy $50 off your first appointment with Irish Scene Code MSC-IrishScene3

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307 Lord Street, Highgate WA 6003 1300 501 843 (local call cost) For a free phone consult or visit www.mindsight.clinic

Memorial to Fr Patrick McCabe

George McLaughlin in the USA has been telling the Irish Scene about the Fenian Memorial Committee of America campaign to erect a memorial stone at the grave of Father Patrick McCabe of Arnaghan, Lough Gowna, Co. Cavan, who was instrumental in the escape of the great Fenian, John Boyle O’Reilly and six military Fenians from Fremantle Prison in Western Australia to America aboard the whaling vessel the Catalpa which sailed from New Bedford, Massachusetts to rescue them and bring them to New York, before they dispersed to different parts of the U.S. Funds have been raised to go towards the memorial for Father McCabe, who is buried in the hamlet of St. Mary, on the outskirts of Waseca, Minnesota, where he fled to from Australia and being the parish priest for mainly Irish immigrant farmers. The unveiling of the memorial stone and commemoration will take place on May 18, 2019 at St. Mary, Waseca.

Congratulations to you George and your committee. Glory O! 38

Australian tour is ‘Only Ticket Home’ for James

ONLY TICKET HOME · AUSTRALIAN TOUR

By Lloyd Gorman

Dublin singer songwriter Gavin James will soon be back in Perth for a second time. The likeable lyricist first came to Western Australia in 2016 off the back of his first studio album Bitter Pill. It was a visit that was long overdue. He is still ‘traumatised’ about not being allowed to join his parents on a trip here when he was six. He has an uncle John and “loads of family” who live in Perth and the end of the tour here gives him a chance to break from the routine of an itinerary and spend time with family. The ginger headed Irish man also knows now to bring his sun block with him.

March is a good month for him, having scooped the Choice Music Prize Irish Song of the Year award in 2013 and 2016. He was also named Spotify Spotlight artist of 2016. In March this year he will squeeze in four gigs over four days in a whistle-stop tour of Australia starting on March 21st at The Foundry in Brisbane, the Prince Boardroom, Melbourne, the Manning Bar in Sydney and ending at the Badlands in Perth on March 24.

Striking a perfect balance of upbeat-anthem tracks with Gavin’s signature ballad sound, ‘Only Ticket Home’ describes the ups and downs of life on the road over the last three years – contrasting with the emotions of being away from home and loved ones to the amazing thrill of traveling around the world and loving what you do.

James grew up in a family where he was surrounded by music and exposed to a rich variety of musical genres and entertainment. He picked up the guitar at the age of eight and has been plugging away at the musical game ever since.

When he got older the now 27 year old crafted his trade as a working muso, performing up to seven nights a week in various lively Dublin pubs. “It taught me how to sing properly,” he said. “It also helped me with the stage presence thing. It was definitely a tough gig. Without fail, they’d always ask me to play Robbie Williams ‘Angels’,” he laughed. “They’d go, oh don’t you know it?

It goes like this…and then they’d begin to sing it and I’d go…hmmm no…don’t know that one. That would happen every night, someone would ask for that song.”

His first live album was recorded at one of Dublin’s best music venue’s Whelan’s on Camden Street in 2014, taking him into the Irish Top 20 and also in the Netherlands.

A studio version of Live at Whelan’s - with some new material - called Bitter Pill followed in March 2016.

Since then he has been carving out his place in the musical world. He has toured with Ed Sheerhan [who by chance he met in a pub in Dublin in 2014 and the pair jammed together and drank whiskey all night and who helped give him a step up] including opening a capacity 90,000 crowd concert at Croke Park in Dublin and Sam Smith, collaborat-

Sunday 24 March Badlands Perth Tickets on sale now troubadour-music.com

f GavinJamesMusic t GavinJames www.GavinJamesMusic.com New Album ONLY TICKET HOME out now

ed with Australian hip hop trio Bliss n Eso on the ARIA award winning song “Moments” in 2017, tinkled on Nat King Coles piano and recorded in the legendary Capitol Records building in Hollywood where Frank Sinatra recorded many of his songs. He has also played the Electric Picnic music festival in Ireland, amongst others, and is regularly seen on Irish and British TV. His second studio album Only Ticket Home was released in October 2018.

He plays Badlands Bar at 1/3 Aberdeen Street Perth, on Sunday, March 24, 2019, 6:00 PM 9:00 PM. Do yourself a favour and get there!

39

Faced with this alienation, with threats to the health of his family and with bleak prospects of any immediate revival to the Irish economy, he at last decided to emigrate. The address which his fellow Mountmellick citizens presented to him on the eve of his departure in 1852 shows that the community of Mountmellick was more understanding of his achievements and his difficulties than was his Monthly Meeting. It also sums up both the cause of migration and the expectations which led him to choose the formidable long voyage to Australia rather than the shorter crossing to America.”

Stitches in the fabric of time

To Joseph Beale. Esteemed friend, "We feel it is a pleasing duty which we owe you, to express on your removal from amongst us to settle in Australia our recollection of the benefits conferred on the locality from the extensive employment given by you: ‘Whose family have been residing here nearly two centuries’ more particularly in the Woollen and Cotton manufacture which owing to your own enterprise and exertions was brought to near perfection. We regret that the great depression in those branches of trade a few

By Lloyd Gorman

Mountmellick in Co. Laois, Ireland and Capel, Western Australia are tied together by a common thread in the fabric of the history of our two countries writes Lloyd Gorman.

As part of their trip to Western Australia last year Arbour Hill Prison in Dublin Governor Liam Dowling and his wife Ann ‘gifted’ a replica ‘travel box’ to Subiaco council in appreciation for its help to install and establish the Irish Famine Memorial An Gorta Mor in Market Square Park, not far from the Irish Club in Townshend Road. The wooden chest was handmade from scratch by the inmates of the historic Dublin prison in honour of the young women and girls who came out to Australia on ‘Bride Ships’ to avoid the hardships and horrors of the Great Famine. During their time in WA the couple also made time for another local craft based connection with Ireland when they visited Bronwyn Mutton in the town of Capel - 212 km south of Perth.

“The history belonging to Bronwyn’s (Mutton) family is unbelievable,” said Ann. Her great great grandfather Joseph Beale was a Quaker and descendant of the original ‘Society of Friends’ who helped develop the small midlands village with a population of just 147 to a major trading hub. “The Quakers were very industrious people and they started many industries, as Joseph Beale did in Mount Mellick. At one stage he had 4,000 people working for him in the linen textile industry but when the famine came, they lost everything, but they did the best they could and set up soup kitchens, practically ruining themselves.”

A thesis called ‘Quakers in Australia in the Nineteenth Century’ written by a William Oats in 1983 at the University of Tasmania (which can be easily found by Googling it) adds to picture of what we know about Beale. “He was a leading merchant and miller in Mountmellick, Queen’s County, Ireland, with extensive properties and business interests, particularly in wool.

When the Irish famine struck in 1846, Beale turned his mill to grinding corn for the starving. His woollen trade collapsed because of the disastrous effect the famine had on the whole of Ireland’s economic structure. Many, like Joseph Beale, found their prosperous businesses in ruins. Four of his family of ten children died. It is a sad commentary on the rigidity of the Quaker attitude to insolvency that Joseph was disowned by his Meeting.

Ann Dowling (right) displaying Mountmellick Lace to the Mutton family in Capel, Western Australia (Joseph Beale's descendants)

years ago forced you to relinquish a business which altho’ unprofitable to yourself diffused the benefit of extensive employment to others and which period of depression has been succeeded by years of famine and consequent destitution of a large proportion of the population.

Under those circumstances we consider the decision you have come to of removing to Australia is judicious, offering as it does so wide a field of success to those possesed (sic) of industry and perseverance - You carry with you our best wishes for the welfare of yourself and family and we earnestly hope that your new settlement may realize for you, those advantages which at present 40

appear unattainable in this land.

Your character, education, habits of business and perfect knowledge of the Wool trade, and its manufacture qualifies you beyond most others to succeed in that part of the world. And whilst we regret the loss of a useful member of society we feel assured the change will be for your advantage.”

Joseph Beale was over fifty years of age when he landed with his two older sons at Port Phillip in 1852 to prepare the way for the arrival of his wife, Margaret, and the rest of their family two years later. “A blend of desperation and optimism must have prompted this Irishman to attempt to start a new life for himself and his family at this late stage of his life” added Ann Dowling the Thesis author. Beale and his with one of sons would go on to prosper Joseph and found the Australian Quaker Beale's travel community to be a lot more chests understanding and forgiving than the one they had left behind in Ireland.

Ann takes up the story: “Joseph Beale left Ireland after the Famine, in 1852. He brought six chests with him to Australia. Bronwyn had one of the chests - which came from the Rowantrees Coco factory in England while her son had another two of them, complete with newspapers in them dated from the time. I cannot believe the significance of finding those chests in relation to Joseph Beale. It was unbelievable to see it.”

Remarkable as they are theses boxes may be eclipsed in importance by another treasure previously held by the family - a “sampler” of Mountmellick Embroidery.

“They found it after her father died about 10 years ago,” added Ann. “It was a sampler of a map of the world, which the family donated to our museum in Mount Mellick which we got restored and which is on display there. The hand stitched embroidered map of the world was very very significant it showed how the children were taught these skills in conjunction with their geography. That was their education. The boys and the girls were taught differently in Quaker schools. The girls learned needlework while the boys were taught maths and science. The thing of making samplers was it was the piece of work they would have to show they were good at needlework and were able to keep a house and would be able to make a good marriage.

Their education would have stemmed from learning Mountmellick Embroidery. “ Ann said the things they made were practical and durable every day items such as pillow cases, quilt covers, table clothes but today is also used in wedding and communion dresses for example. She went on to give this description and background to the craft.

“Mountmellick Embroidery is a dimensional white on white embroidery done in white knitting cotton on a

heavy white cotton satin jean.

Although sometimes referred to as ‘Mountmellick lace’, eyelids or open work are excluded. Motifs include a variety of natural floral designs, usually fairly large in scale, and pieces are often finished with buttonholed and fringed edges.

There are three embroidery stitches specific to Mountmellick work: the cable plait stitch, Mountmellick stitch, and the Mountmellick thorn stitch.

Other commonly used stitches include: bullion, long cable or cable chain, thorn, French knot, stem, blanket stitch or button hole (can be sawtooth, houndstooth or plain, with French knots in some cases), leaf fill, cable plait, satin (can be padded or couched), snail trail, chain, seeding, lazy daisy, feather stitch. Although many stitches are available, some of the best work make make use of only

three or four.

Designs were originally inspired by plants growing along the local Owenass River bank: blackberries, acorns, dog rose, ivy, oak, barley, woodbine, wild clematis. Cultivated plants, such as passion flower, cyclamen, tiger lily, snowdrops and daffodils also appear frequently in the designs, and even butterflies, seashells, birds and bird nests. The passion flower seems to be a particular favourite among current workers.

The embroidery was traditionally done on tablecloths, coverlets, christening gowns, cushion covers, pillow shams, and laying out coverlets.

Sometimes on old work, almost the entire surface of the material was embroidered. Today pieces are

Ann Dowling (right) and Liam Dowling with members of the Embroiderers' Guild of Western Australia.

41

often framed, and may be given as a gift to celebrate a wedding or the birth of a child.

The cloth may be a natural colour although bright white is traditional. The cloth is steeped overnight in cold water, then vigorously boiled to bring it up snowy white. One of the features of Mountmellick work is, in fact, its serviceability. It is meant to be used, and repeated washing has given older examples of the work a particular softness and ‘patina’.

Being white on white, it is difficult to see the intricate detail in photographs but in person one cannot help but admire the detailed stitches and feel somewhat in awe of the amount of work that has gone into each piece.

Many pieces are now viewed as family heirlooms, to pass from one generation to another.

Joanna Carter is generally credited with creating Mountmellick Embroidery. In 1816, she received an award for developing new embroidery stitches at a prominent London Exhibition, and by 1825 was running a small school in a thatched cottage in Mountmellick, teaching young girls the craft. The early 19th century saw creative needlework developing nation-wide in Ireland: Limerick Lace, Carrickmacross Lace, and Muslin embroidery were being developed in various parts of the country. Mountmellick Embroidery seems to have been set up originally as a way to provide a trade for poor girls.

The craft has a long association with the Society of Friends (Quakers) who had opened a school in Mountmellick in 1786. (Another woman associated with its early development was Quaker Margaret Beale, an accomplished lacemaker from Enniscorthy, Co. Wexford.) Girls at the Quaker school were instructed in the embroidery work as a way to earn money for their books. Mountmellick Embroidery became a popular ladies hobby in the Victorian era, shifting from a source of income to a middle-class social pasttime. Between 1880 and 1898, Weldon Publishers of London produced four volumes entitled Weldon’s Practical Mountmellick Embroidery, and a popular needlework publication in the US also featured the craft.

Mountmellick work declined in popularity as the 20th century wore on, and by the 1970s it seemed there were only a few older nuns at the Convent still remembering the stitches. Many directly attribute the revival of the craft in the 1970s to the interest and enthusiasm of Sister Teresa Margaret McCarthy. Born in Abbeyfeale, County Limerick, Sister Teresa has been in

the Presentation Convent in Mountmellick since 1936.

She is too modest to say so herself, but all the locals will tell you she is the authority on the embroidery and the spark behind the revival. (Sister Teresa was named a Laois Person of the Year in 2000 for her contributions to local culture and craft.)

‘We hadn’t a single sample in the house,’ Sister Teresa recounts, ‘until 1976. Mrs Hayes gave me a scrap, a little doily, and I tried to track down the material then.’

Using an old book from the Convent she sorted out the stitches, and on request, soon began teaching them to others. Since then she has taught countless students, many of whom have gone on to become teachers themselves. Sister Teresa taught many classes during the 1990s at An Grianan, the residential college of the Irish Countrywoman’s Association, at Termonfechin, County Louth, and gives them much credit for adding Mountmellick Embroidery to their syllabus. As interest in the craft was renewed, old pieces of the work began appearing from attics and bureaus, and exhibitions were held during the 1980s in Mountmellick, Dublin and beyond. Although pieces are sometimes worked in colour, it is the traditional white on white embroidery that people were most anxious to examine up close, as photographs rarely do justice to the beautiful and intricate stitches and delicate buttonholing and fringework.

A trunk filled with old original Quaker patterns was donated to the Convent by the Pim family of Mountmellick. This has proved to be an invaluable resource, and many of the patterns found in the trunk were included in the 1985 publication Mountmellick Work: Irish White Embroidery by American Jane Houston-Almqvist. At classes today the old trunk is brought out and the original patterns copied and taken away. It is possible to take classes in the homely craft in Mountmellick, local teachers or from the ICA’s residential college at Termonfechin.

Examples of traditional Mountmellick embroidery are held in the collections of the Victoria and Albert Museum (London), The National Museum of Ireland (Dublin), The Ulster Folk Museum (County Down), The Ulster - American Museum (County Tyrone), The Historical Library at the Religious Society of Friends (Dublin), and the Muriel Gahan ICA’s An Grianan, Termonfechin, Co. Louth. Donations of old work are gratefully accepted, as plans are developing for a permanent exhibition space in the town.

TOMMY O'BRIEN GIGS St Patrick's Weekend

Tommy O’Brien, Teresa Kelleher & Jerry Murphy @ JBs Thursday 14th March 6:30-9:30 St Patrick's Festival 16th March Leederville Oval Saturday 12 noon to 2:30.

Followed by The Irish Club Saturday 16th 4pm-7pm Tommy O'Brien & Fiona Rea @ JBs St Patrick's Day 8am-11am Tommy O'Brien & Teresa Kelleher @ Karalee, Como Patrick’s Day 6-9pm 42

WEEKEND S AT U R D AY S U N D AY & MARCH 16TH M A R C H 17 T H 80’s Theme Night

Live Irish Music by

Prizes for Best Dressed

Ciarán Mullin Duo (3pm-6pm)

Down The Swannee (11am-2pm)

Celtic Academy Buffet Dinner Menu Irish Dancers (2.30pm)

7pm-11pm

Irish Food & All Day Specials

$20 Entry

FREE Entry 9am-6pm

CONTACT US FOR FURTHER DETAILS!

4 0 M A S O N M I L L R OA D , C A R M E L 6 076 9293 511 2 - BOOKINGS@MASONMILL.COM.AU W W W. M A S O N M I L LG A R D E N S . C O M . AU

43

Orange, New South Wales, and gold panning was part of our history. My grandfather used it to survive the Great Depression, in fact. I know they were poor, yet educated, and people came from miles around to hear my ancestor John read from the newspaper. (Picture attached.)

3. My mother’s mother’s family were also Irish and they also settled in Orange. Their name was Richards. Nana still used a scattering of Irish phrases when I was growing up like ‘up-a-day’ and ‘go for row’. The whole family

MARY-ANNE O'CONNOR Interview with John Hagan JOHN HAGAN: Tell me something of your Irish background.

MARY-ANNE O’CONNOR: I am mostly of Irish decent on both sides of my family with my paternal side all Irish (save one stowaway Liverpudlian) and my maternal side entirely Irish (save one Welsh woman who apparently had dark hair and could sing beautifully – a rogue musical gene that still makes the occasional appearance). The rest are from Ireland although I know little of my father’s ancestral story. Everything I could find out about my mother’s side I have fed into my new novel or included in the acknowledgements. This is what I know of them: 1. The Clancy clan, my mother’s father’s ancestors, came out here from Killaloe in Country Clare as one in 1841 after receiving free passage and, as family folklore has it, land grants, although my research shows some monies would have most likely been paid.

2. They settled in Parkes and

Mary-Anne's relations

drank endless cups of tea, like we lived in a far colder climate, and many still do.

4. The Irish Catholic connection is strong and I have fifty-six first cousins. I am the youngest granddaughter on both sides and named after Our Lady ‘Mary’ and her mother ‘Anne’. Our family tree reads like a list of apostles and saints.

JH: The character ‘Jack’ in your previous novel, ‘Gallipoli Street’, was based largely on your grandfather, James Clancy. Any family inspiration behind the characterization in your latest novel?

M-A O’C: Yes, the Clancy family name has been adopted for some of the main characters, Kieran, Liam and Eileen, three siblings from Killaloe. I used the real life story of my ancestors in that they 44

also emigrated due to their parents dying and the poverty and harsh existence in Ireland at the time, and because they were educated enough to apply. I also had them settle in Orange and fictionalized the family interest in gold panning.

JH: You have a professional background in marketing. What encouraged you to become an author?

M-A 0’C: It was a gradual journey to authordom, from writing songs, to poetry, to co-writing two artbooks with my artist-father Kevin Best to blogging, and eventually, writing novels in my forties. Working in marketing supplemented the process nicely and allowed for some creative freedom alongside my aspiring writing career.

I was always encouraged to be an author by my parents, family and friends who knew I had a great passion for it, but it was my sister-in-law (and fellow author) Benison O’Reilly who gave me the confidence in the end. She taught me to work on my craft, take professional advice and put the hours in. Being published requires initial inspiration, a lot of hard work, a fair dose of luck and, most importantly, perseverance.

JH: When composing a novel, do you adhere to a strict writing regime?

M-A O’C: I treat it like an office job, sitting down early with a cup of tea to re-read yesterday’s efforts and starting fresh copy usually by midmorning. When I’m on a deadline I write seven days a week which sounds tiring- and it is- but it’s a labor of love too.

JH: Who are your favourite authors, and, your favourite Irish authors?

M-A 0’C: I admire Liane Moriarty whose writing is incredibly clever and I’ve been a J.K.Rowling tragic for years. Prior to that I feasted on the classics and most contemporary and historical fiction of note, but I also love chick-lit and can never get enough of Marion Keyes. She’s hilarious and so relatable.

JH: What plans do you have

for your next book? Will you continue to explore Australian history?

M-A O’C: Yes, again. I’ve just had my fifth manuscript approved which focuses on the High Country and bushrangers in the 1880’s and it’s due for release next year. Number six is underway and I’m deeply entrenched in federation and women’s suffrage in 1901-1902 in Sydney and Melbourne. One the greatest perks to writing history is learning so much more about it. Each book feels like a minor degree.

JH: Your father, Kelvin Best, was one of Australia’s best known artists. Do you have any inclination to follow his example?

M-A O‘C: I always loved to draw and still do but, as my sister Linda and brother James pursued art, I decided to paint with words. Dad and I were very close and, as he painted, I played piano and guitar or wrote poetry for his books. There are many scenes in my novels that draw on that shared love: the description of a misty rainforest, the sight of wild brumbies traversing a stream.

I hope I am following his example in my own way. He always said ‘follow your star’ and writing is mine.

JH: What brings you happiness?

M-A O’C: Love, nature, creativity. Those things are like happiness pills to me and if I ever need to feel uplifted I inject myself with one, two or all of the three. I suppose the ultimate would be having fun with family and friends overlooking nature and playing music. That’s pure bliss. But so is falling into a good story – it’s like dreaming on paper. Happy sigh.

Fenian Commemorations

Anniversary Commemoration of the Escape of John Boyle O'Reilly Sunday 10th March 2019 @ 10am

John Boyle O'Reilly Memorial Monument - Buffalo Road, Australind, Bunbury.

Tour of Memorial site with Peter Murphy at 9am Enquiries: Fred Rea 0418 943 832 or Email fred@irishscene.com.au

CATALPA COMMEMORATION ROCKINGHAM Easter Monday 22 April, 2019 Annual commemoration of the escape of six Fenian convicts in April, 1876

With oration, verse and song at the Catalpa Memorial With special guests including Rockingham City Councillors

11am The Catalpa Memorial Rockingham Beach, Rockingham walking distance south of Township Adjourn to Latitude 32 Restaurant, Railway Terrace, Palm Beach Boardwalk – walking Distance (Bookings 9592 8881) 45

’ G da FROM MELBOURNE.

By Mike Bowen

I wish you all a happy and safe St Patricks celebration week. On March 17th there are no national or international borders that can stop the Irish celebrating. As he made his way to the hill of Tara in the year 433 after lighting his paschal fire in defiance of High King Loegaire, little did St Patrick think the flow on impact his action would have on future generations of Irish all round the world.

We have to be thankful to him for giving us a reason to unite and celebrate on this special day. Back in the days when I was a young upstart in Cork, all I can recall was having to wear a big sod of shamrock and a green white and yellow badge with a harp on it. Oh how the day and parades have evolved in Ireland since I migrated all those years ago.

I have been lucky, to have attended the Dublin, Cork, Killarney and also the Tokyo parades on a number of occasions and it’s a delight to see so many families dressed up in their finest and draped in our national colours. On my many visits to the celebrations, I haven’t seen one soul with a sod of shamrock as big as the ones I had to wear. St Patrick's Day celebrations have become big business all around the world and not just for the Irish. It has become a day when families get together for a celebration meal and an opportunity to mix with their Irish friends. For those who don’t have Irish friends it gives them the opportunity to social climb with the Irish. On March 17th there are Irish and there are those who wish they were.

Nowadays with the help of social media, and all the other information sharing technology almost every detail relating to our patron Saint becomes instant. In days gone by, one could only dream of one day attending the St Patricks day pa-

y rade in New York. If you can’t make it there, you can see it on TV or you can have a DVD of the historical event. It is much easier to attend the big parade presently, with the competitive cost and the amount of flights going in and out of New York from almost anywhere in the world. I highly recommend that you put the longest and oldest parade in the world on your bucket list. While there make sure you visit two of the New York’s finest Irish bars Garrett Doyle’s Tuttles Bar and Grill at 735 on 2nd Ave and Eamonn Maher’s Bar and Grill at 9 East 45th St, tell them that I sent you and to give you a drink on the house. If by chance you have the slightest inkling of being in Melbourne for March 17th make sure you bring a shoehorn with you, because you’ll need it to squeeze into any of the Irish bars here. As they say in Ireland, they will be packed to the rafters, getting in might take some time while getting out will take much longer. I promise, if you visit Melbourne you won’t have any trouble finding a bar that you won’t want to leave for a long while.

For us migrants St Patrick’s Day wouldn’t be the same without an Irish breakfast of bacon, eggs, sausages and black pudding breakfast to kick the day off. With the hearty meal washed down with a glass of champers, it’s time to do the pub crawl to find where the best music is. As you can’t grasp a feeling on social media, you have to be in one or the many bars to experience the mood of the crowd, the music and the beer. I’d like to say it’s a very tame and relaxed day but that wouldn’t be telling the truth. In actual fact it is anything but tame, it gets quite hectic and robust as all Irish party’s do, how else can you kick up your heels? I’m stumped when look46

ing for an answer to that question myself. St Patrick’s Day being on a Sunday this year will make it a bit difficult for some of those, who have to turn up to work next day and look like they are quite normal. I suppose as long as they don’t turn up in their pyjamas or wearing the Leprechaun outfit that they wore the day before, their job should be safe for another year.

If St Patrick was about today, he would be astonished to see how popular and famous he has become.

If that were so, then he would have to be given the honour of leading his own parade in New York for sure.

No doubt the bidding would be at a peak as to which bar he would be having his first pint in after the parade and with a bit of luck maybe Donald Trump might join him to tell about the wall that he wants to build. Could you imagine for a second the expression on St Patrick face and his disbelief on hearing Donald’s limp excuse, in a time when the world is trying to break down walls? On second thoughts I couldn’t imagine Donald Trump wanting to play second fiddle to anyone let alone a Saint. I wonder would our patron saint be at war with Guinness, wanting a slice of their profit from the day’s takings, also would he be entitled to royalties from the millions of badges that his image is printed on.

If so, he would then have to take some of the blame for the many hangovers endured by those who celebrated in his name and those who fell over damaging themselves, while singing on their way home after overindulging in too much of the witches brew. The brew is sometimes called idiot juice the day after a session. I hope you get to celebrate our patron Saints day with great friends and family wearing your shamrock and wearing something green.

Until next time be good to those who love you and Sainte from Melbourne. Mike Bowen

Ar an Drabhlás i Londain Le Dónall Mac Amhlaigh Dé Domhnaigh, 3.3.1957. Shroich muid Euston buille beag mall ar maidin, tar éis bheith ag taisteal óna cúig a chlog tráthnóna inné. Bhí an-slua ar an mbád ag teacht anall, agus bheadh an-time agam marach an fear a bhí in éindigh liom. Cén diabhal a bhí orm chor ar bith a leithéid de leathcheann a thabhairt liom? Dúirt mé riamh é gur fearr asat féin thú, ach mo léan, ní dhearna mé mo chomhairle féin nuair ba liom é a dhéanamh.

D’fhan muid thuas in uachtar go ndeachaigh soilse beaga dearga Dhún Laoire as amharc agus chuaigh muid ag ól deoch sa bheár ansin. Casadh go leor de mhuintir Chonamara dom agus ba ghearr an mhoill a bhí orthu ag baint an tarta díom féin is de mo dhuine.

Bhí an oiread iontais air faoi muid a bheith ag labhairt Gaeilge, a mhac! Tá mé ag ceapadh gur shíl sé nach raibh a leithéid de rud ann taobh amuigh de theach na scoile.

Tá sé blianta móra fada ó d’fhág mé féin is mo mhuintir an áit thiar, ach ina dhiaidh sin is mó ceart a bhainfinn de mhuintir Chonamara ná de dhream ar bith eile.

Breis is deich seachtaine a chaith mé sa bhaile. Céad agus tríocha punt a bhí agam ag dul siar dom; is beag de atá fágtha anois agam. Cé’n dochar? Bhí saoire bhreá agam chúns a mhair sí, ag ól is a léamh is ag fanacht amuigh san oíche ag damhsa is ag cóisir. Is diabhalí an lear pórtair a d’ól muid tígh Stephen an oíche, sul má d’imigh mé. Céad slán dó anois go ceann bliana eile, nuair a bheas mé ag dul siar arís má fhágann Dia an tsláinte agam.

D’ith muid greim bricfeasta i ngar don stáisiún agus chuaigh muid chuig an Aifreann i gCamden Town ina dhiaidh sin. Ar éigean má d’fhan a dhath cumha orm tar éis teacht amach as teach an phobail dúinn, casadh an oiread sin de mo sheanchomrádaithe dom. Seo iad cuid de na daoine a casadh dom: Michaeleen Connolly, Cóilín Bheartla Choilmín, Peadar John agus Marcus Joe

Bhairbre. Is iontach go deo an méid Éireannach atá thart ar Chamden Town agus a bhí riamh.

Bhí mé ag moilleadóireacht thart gur oscail na tithe ósta. B’fhacthas dom go mba ghránna an blas a bhí ar an bpionta, tar éis an phionta bhreá pórtair sa bhaile.

Ní dúil san ól a sheol isteach mé, ach le tuairisc oibre a fháil. NÍ mórán ar bith atá le fáil anseo, más fíor do na leads é, agus dá dhonacht asam féin mé tá mé seacht n-uaire níos measa in éindigh leis an mboc seo. Bhí ceol breá á chasadh sa Bhedford – veidhlíní, cairdíní agus feadóga – agus níor fhág siad cor ná port nár sheinn siad. Bhí iontas ar Arthur, mar is cosúil nár shíl sé go mbíodh tada mar sin taobh amuigh d’Éirinn, ach tá dul amú air. Is Gaelaí go mór an baile seo ná bunáite na n-áiteanna sa bhaile. Is mó Gaeilge a labhraítear ann agus is minice ceol Gaelach á chasadh ann.

Fuair muid an-bhéile tígh Phanó nuair a tháinig muid amach as an teach ósta, agus chuaigh muid anonn go Marble Arch ar an traein fo-thalamh go gcloiseadh muid na cainteoirí. Dar ndóigh, is fearr a d’fheilfeadh dúinn dul agus áit chónaithe a thóraíocht dúinn féin, ach tá mo dhuine le fear as Cill Choinnigh a fheiceáil ar a sé agus tá an fear sin le lóistín a fháil dúinn. Dá mbeadh cead mo chinn agamsa ní bheinn ag brath ar aon duine le mo chuid gnó a dhéanamh dom, ach tharla an socrú déanta aige seo níor mhaith liom dul ina aghaidh ró-mhór. Tá a fhios ag Dia go bhfuilim sách géar ar an diabhal bocht.

(Dialann Deoraí, Dónall Mac Amhlaigh, An Clóchomhar Tta. 1960) Sean Fhocal Giorraíonn beirt bóthar.

Beannachtaí na Féile Pádraig oraibh go léir.

Bríd.

Register to walk: May 11th 2019

www.darknessintolight.ie

Darkness into Light Perth 2019 Sir James Mitchell Park, South Perth

47

Locked into a

HOSPITAL OF HORROR

by Lloyd Gorman

The New Year opened with a highly significant and long overdue recognition in Western Australia of one of the darkest and least known chapters of Australia’s brutal treatment of its Indigenous people. On January 9 hundreds of people gathered in the coastal town of Carnarvon some 900 km (560 miles) north of Perth for the dedication of a bronze sculpture titled ‘Don’t Look at the Islands’ at One Mile Jetty. As well as being a local landmark the jetty is a place with special significance to this story of injustice. It was from this spot that over the course of about ten years starting in 1908 - that hundreds of Aboriginal people who the authorities said had venereal diseases (what are now classed as Sexually Transmitted Diseases) and medical staff embarked were rounded up and marched towards, destined for the dreaded ‘Lock Hospitals’ on Dorre and Bernier Islands in Shark Bay, some 58km off the coast of Carnarvon across often dangerous waters that made the crossing treacherous and terrified the Aboriginal people.

Men and women were segregated. Male ‘patients’ were sent to the ‘hospital’ at Bernier Island, while female’s went to Dorre Island. If the patients should have been sent to a place that would be therapeutic then conditions on

the islands were inhumane, penal.

Shelters sheds were only erected the prisoner patients were forced to do all the manual and building work on the islands - a year after they arrived on the barren outpost, because eight patients had died from “coughs and colds”.

The sheds - structures measuring eight feet by four feet with canvas sides on three sides and a tin roof made to house three people at a time - provided only rudimentary protection. But their inhabitants adapted them in several ways, including pushing them together to make a camp for a larger group.

Some 200 people are thought to have died as a result of attending the two Lock Hospitals, and were then buried in unmarked graves.

Yamaji researcher Dr Robin Barrington has written of the Bernier and Dorre lock hospitals that they were: “places of imprisonment, exile, isolation, segregation, anthropological investigations and medical experiments made possible by laws of exception”.

It was not only the island confinement that was punitive; people often faced traumatic long jour48

neys, on foot and by ship, as well as long periods in prisons or other lock-ups awaiting transport to the islands. Many in the medical profession at the time considered the practice of neck-chaining Aboriginal people for long periods of time to be humane.

In February 1911 Perth newspapers published detailed reports about these Lock Hospitals reporting that 55 operations were conducted under anesthesia during 1910, in rough, makeshift conditions. Several inmates were also subjected to unsuccessful experimentation with a “vaccine” - reported in the Perth press to be “magical” - containing arsenic

compounds that had previously been tested on British soldiers with syphilis. While it went onto become a successful and effective

treatment, this early version of the drug, also known as “compound 606”, became known for its toxic side effects.

Even then the authorities acknowledged that Aboriginal people saw the Bernier and Dorre lock hospitals as penal institutions. In 1909, newspapers reported WA’s Chief Protector of Aborigines, Charles Gale, stating they were seen “as a sort of gaol”.

Their perception of the place only deteriorated with their treatment and time there. A Pilbara newspaper reported in late 1917 there were plans to close the off shore centres - with 35 women on Dorre and 15 men on Bernier - were to close. “The natives themselves will be greatly pleased at this decision as they looked on deportation to the islands with even greater aversion than a Russian regards enforced absence in Siberia, and many and various were the stratagems resorted to by the collectors in mustering the patients.”

The last patients left the islands on 9 January 1919 but sadly the story of the Lock Hospitals in Australia did not quite end there.

Well known Australian identity Peter Garrett experienced some of the Lock Hospital story and discovered a family connection to it. He was one of the guests in SBS’s 2018 season of Who Do You Think You Are?. Garrett unearthed the secret life of his grandmother who worked as a nurse in the Lock Hospitals. More than a century later, he followed her footsteps to the remote outcrop where he met Kathleen Musulin - who has campaigned for years to get recognition for the issue - on Dorre Island.

Garrett - a former federal minister and Midnight Oil lead singer - picked up on the Siberian theme himself, when he called the hospitals “Gulags”.

He also said this about the terrain those people found themselves in. “Even by Australian standards, it is remarkably barren, remote, inhospitable and, to be there for weeks on end, never mind

years on end, yes, it really brings you up with a start,” he said. “You can’t fail but to come away with a very strong feeling of loss and of unhappiness and of confusion.”

During his visit to Carnarvon, Garrett was struck by the lack of local acknowledgment for this internationally significant history, including the large new historical display at the One Mile Jetty. His comments were recorded in March and broadcast on SBS in September.

Unbeknownst to him work was actually happening behind the scenes to address the problem. In late October 2018 the WA state government announced funding - in partnership with the Shire of Carnarvon - of more than $160,000 - for a sculpture to mark the centennial anniversary of the last person to be repatriated from the Lock Hospitals - which legendary Tipperary born West Australian Aboriginal advocate Daisey Bates described as “a ghastly experiment” and the islands as “the tombs of the living dead” - at a Path to Pain ceremony.

Regional Development Minister Alannah MacTiernan said the Lock Hospitals off Carnarvon were an appalling chapter in Western Australia’s history, and their story needed to be told.

“The Path of Pain event and commemorative sculpture acknowledges the injustice experienced by those who were rounded up, placed on the islands and subjected to medical experiments,” she said.

“The significant cultural ceremony in January will provide cultural closure for those spirits and their grieving families.

“The recognition of injustice is necessary if we are to move on the path of reconciliation.”

It was also announced that the task of creating the monument fell to Smith Sculptors, who have completed other commemorative pieces within the State and region, including the HMAS Sydney memorial in Denham.

49

Regular Irish Scene readers will be familiar with some of the prolific public artworks and sculptures of husband and wife team Charles Smith and Joan WalshSmith, including most recently the Irish Famine Memorial An Gorta Mor in Subiaco, unveiled by Irish President Michael D Higgins in October 2017. Charlie and Joan are originally from Waterford but have for many years now called Perth particularly their studios in Gidgegannup - home.

The artist couple consulted with the Aboriginal community and elders in Carnorvan for about a year to ensure their creation was appropriate but they were also able to tap into their Irish heritage for inspiration.

“The concept for the Lock Hospital Tragedy Memorial project, Carnorvan Western Australia is based on a very broad ‘footprint’both literally and figuratively - in order to encompass the enormity of the story of this terrible tragedy and in doing so convey the colossal effect this sad episode of West Australian History had on so many Aboriginal people throughout this vast country, from the far dry depths of the desert regions to the sea – where so many suffered and died in ‘oceans of pain’,” they said.

“Our mission has been to symbolise all this, yet presented it in a form that will speak to all. Not only to the direct descendants of those who were directly involved, and thus were touched with the scars of this pain, but the people of this country today, who do not know, but we believe, would want to know and thereby open their hearts in an understanding that will hopefully lead to a deeper sense of reconciliation and community bonding in the years to come. As artists we felt humbled and honoured to be invited to create memorial artworks that would do justice to such a personal and emotional journey of pain and loss.

Apart from the intensive historical research we carried out, the most important influence for us was the

personal contact with a wide variety of Aboriginal people, including many elders and the profound effect that hearing these stories of such suffering had upon us personally. We listened, and cried, and took all

rish Recipes from Marguerite's

White Soda Bread

that was said to heart. We must say here, that as Irish artists, the similar historical injustices suffered by our ancestors, carried out under the very same colonial administrators* had such a profound effect upon us that we were infused with a deep sense of creative purpose, that we feel very few other artists could bring to this project. We share a very common history with Aboriginal people being violently suppressed and exploited by the same colonial masters; in our case, for seven hundred years. Therefore, we feel deeply honoured to be able to lend our creative skills and lengthy experience, to this essential, and long overdue, memorialisation of the Lock Hospital tragedy.” * Irish Lock Hospitals Ireland has its own experience of Lock Hospitals. During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries many hospitals would not admit patients suffering with venereal diseases leading to a need for a dedicated hospital. Lock Hospitals popped up around England and the British empire. The second ever Lock Hospital was built in Dublin in 1733 while two more were built in Ireland, one outside the British Army base at the Curragh Camp in Co. Kildare and Cork.

In Ireland the Lock Hospital’s were used for women with sexual diseases under the Contagious Diseases Act. They could be admitted to the hospitals by force and held until such time as they were certified to be cured. Patients at these hospitals often met a grisly end, with “smotheration” being a favourite form of euthanasia.

The term Lock Hospital dates back to earlier leprosy hospitals, which were known as ‘lock’ hospitals derived from the French loques, the rags that were used to cover the leper’s lesions.

Ingredients: 450g plain flour ½ tsp sugar ½ tsp salt ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda 350ml – 600ml (1/2 – 1 pint) buttermilk (Makes 1 loaf) Method: 1. Preheat the oven 250deg C 2. Sieve the dry ingredients.

Make a well in the centre 3. Pour the milk in starting with 350ml. Using 1 hand, with your fingers stiff and outstretched like a claw, stir in a full circular movement from the centre to the outside of the bowl in ever increasing circles. The dough should be softish, not too wet and sticky. If too dry add another 100ml – 200ml.

Be careful not to overwork the dough. When it all comes together, turn it out onto a wellfloured work surface. Wash and dry your hands. Tidy it up and flip over gently. Pat the dough into a round, about 4cm deep 4. Cut a deep cross on the loaf and prick in the four corners 5. Bake in the oven for 15 minutes then turn down to 200deg C for 30 minutes until cooked. If you are in doubt, tap the bottom of the bread, when it is cooked it will sound hollow.

Cool on a wire rack

Honey Comb

Ingredients: 400g caster sugar 100ml honey 100ml water 2 tbsp liquid glucose (can purchase in any major supermarket in baking aisle) 1.5 tsp bicarbonate of soda Thermometer Method: 1. Line a large baking tray with non-stick baking paper 2. Place the sugar, glucose and honey in a heavy bottom saucepan with 100ml water 3. Place the saucepan on a medium heat and stir until the sugar has dissolved 4. Once dissolved stop stirring! Simply swirl the pot gently to ensure the mixture heats evenly. Use the thermometer to monitor the temperature. Allow the boiling sugar solution to reach 160°C in temperature; then quickly but carefully whisk in the bicarbonate of soda 5. Pour the mixture onto the lined tray 6. Allow to cool. Break into pieces 7. Store in an airtight container

Marguerite O’ Dwyer Pantry Dolls 0405 680 480 www.facebook.com/pantrydolls/ 50

Seán Doherty Branch

Page Sponsored by: Reid’s Bootmakers

Welcome back everyone, especially our new members.

Here are a couple of dates to put in your diary…

March Dinner

everyone joins in. The camp is not just about music, it’s about having a great time and enjoying yourselves. So please bring your family and friends.

2019 Ceili We are also hoping to have a Ceili later in the year, date to be confirmed yet.

Wishing you all the very best this year and hope to see you all around on St Patrick's Day and at our functions.

Yvonne Jones, President

On March the 8th is our dinner at the Irish Club in Subiaco. All are welcome to bring family and friends and to get to know everyone. We also have a session after so bring your instruments, it is always a great night and we usually get to the club 6.30 for 7pm.

Hope to see you there.

Next Music Camp

Next is the Camp dates, it's May the 17th to 19th. It’s a weekend of fun, music, dancing, meeting old and new friends, lots off activity for the kids and teenagers. With a disco and movie night arranged by Marina for Saturday night is the great session where

WEEKLY SESSION

EVERY MONDAY @ THE IRISH CLUB

Come and learn a tune 7pm in the committee room or join in the session.

There is also set dancing most Mondays about 8.30 pm. It’s great fun, beginners welcome.

For news updates visit: www.facebook.com/perthcomhaltas

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Siobhán Na Spág poems....

Siúlóid i nGwelup

Trasna dhroichid na bhfeadáin Feicim crainnte lúbtha spallta Gaidhrín bheag eireaball ag damhsa Lán le sult ag tochailt an tsalachar Síongáin le meachán mhór A mbéile trasna slat a ndroma Compórd an Kookaburra Le cloisint ina scairt croíúil Loch ghorm triomach an tSamhraidh Faoí ionsaí na gréine ag sú a himeall, Foscadh do na nathair bheaga Ag sleamhnú leo thar chosáin Ar thóir bhia A mhúcadh saol le plaic amhasach A n-áilleacht is a gcontúirt ag damhsa Le feiceáil ina gcoirp Máireáine Bobtail tumtha ins na duilleoga Gan suim aige i mo shúilóid Bheadh solas an tsaoil Teanga na draoíchta a shá amach I do shúil Craiceann chrua á chosaint ón aimsir Tú ag tnúth le breith Siúlann sé go leisciúil leadránach Do chlánn fhéin Déanann mo ghaidhrín suntas Mé le do thaobh Boladh beag chun tuiscint Ag faire ón tairseach Ach ar aghaidh leis, sásta leis na freagraí Ag tuiscint d’imní Radharc na súil meallta Ag cuir treóir Ar acra bheag fhoraoiseach le do chuid ceisteanna Brainsí na gcránn á ionsaí Ag tomhais gach coiscéim ag aoráid thais Ag sioscadh nuair do mhaitheach na hAstráile A thagadh ort Á lúbadh, ag casadh chugham Ceann catach Ar thóir dí mar chomhartha dhorcha Dhom iad a shábháil Chomh mín Iad a fhliuchadh, geaga fada síogach Compord do do dhearthair A shloigfeadh mé gan smaoineadh Le cursaí an tsaoil Gréim an fhír bháite acú A bhagairt is a reiteach Ach nar rugadh ariamh thú. Brainsí bhriosc mar chnámha aosta Gar don bhás ach fós ina seasamh Féar bhuí ghainimhleach Neamhthorthúil, tíortha, lag Máireáine Músclaíonn a dtart mo bhrón The twinkle of life A gcuid ocrais mo dheora In your eye Cuileogaí bheaga crua m’ionsaí Waiting for the coming I lár an tSamhraidh ag troid Of your own family Leis an gcolainn ar thóir dí Me beside you Ar mo shúile, mo bheola, allas Yet observing from Mo chraiceann, uile dheóir á shú The hearth Castar sean Mhel ar an mbealach Understanding your A shean ghluine leathar le grian Worries directing Hata fhairsing chothrom Your queries á choinneáil foscaithe Measuring each step Ó chontúirt na ngathanna Chatting when called for Atá á n-íonsaí gan trocaire Your dark waved tresses Deanaimís cómhrá bheag eadrainn So Soft Scéala faona ngadhairíní, a bpearsa Comfort for your sibling A gcuid nósanna éagsúla To threaten and prepare Tapaidh anois chun an chairr For life’s course Gathanna na gréine á ndúnmharú But that you were never born. Craiceann faoí íonsaí ag cur Preabadh i nearóga na mbunn Isteach i meaisín an chompord Faoiseamh. A bhfuarú, a gceansú.

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52

A walk in Gwelup Across the bridge of reeds I see bent parched trees a little dog, a dancing tail joyful, boring dirt ants, their meals heavily weighed across the broad of their backs the comfort of the Kookaburra heard in its hearty calling a blue lake, the dryness of summer under the sun’s attack, draining its edges sheltering little snakes sliding across the paths in search of food who could extinguish life in one savage bite their beauty and their danger dancing in their bodies a bobtail hiding in leaves disinterested in my walk its magic tongue potruding hard skinned, protected from sun it walks lazily and bored my little dog notices, smells for understanding and off he goes, contented with his responses the eye is drawn to a few acres of forest branches attacked by the unforgiving climate of Australia beckoning towards me for rescue long ghostly branches that would consume me with a drowning man’s grip brittle branches as aged bones at death’s door yet still standing yellowed sandy grass barren, dry and weak their thirst saddens me their hunger is my tears firm flies attack me in the mid of Summer fighting my body in search of drink my eyes, my lips, my sweat absorbing each drop I meet old Mel his old knees leathered with sun a wide generous hat keeps him sheltered from the dangerous rays that attack mercilessly we make small talk, our dogs their various ways briskly towards the car the murdering rays turning on my skin arousing the nerves of my toes into the machine of comfort relief. Cooling. Calming.

Dánta Póca le Siobhán Na Spág For comments or communication please contact siobhns@gmail.com

Martin Kavanagh Hon Consul of Ireland

St Patricks day is upon us again. I thank Fred for the opportunity to publish this message.

The Irish Club of WA

March 17 reminds us all (if we need reminding) of our heritage and our sense of being Irish. It also reminds us of our long history of migration and how the Irish have made new lives all around the world. Ours is a story of hard work, opportunities taken, and obstacles overcome. In this context, it was very heartening to see the positivity, goodwill and determination shown at the recent Irish Club Community Forum. May I encourage one and all to support the Irish club. Details will be released soon about a fundraising dinner for the Irish Club to be organised by Minister Stephen Dawson and myself. Please attend if you can.

Minister for Business, Enterprise, and Innovation, Heather Humphreys TD

On behalf of the Irish community in Perth I am delighted to welcome Heather Humphreys TD, Minister for Business, Enterprise, and Innovation to Western Australia as part of the Government of Ireland’s mission to ensure that Ireland, the Irish and our economy benefits from the worldwide attention that focuses on us during the St Patrick’s period. Minister Humphreys and our colleagues from Enterprise Ireland are very welcome to WA. St Patricks Parade Once again on behalf of the Irish Community in WA I’d like to express my thanks to the many volunteers who give of their time, passion and commitment to ensure we all have a wonderful parade and family day in Leederville. The Government of Ireland, through the Emigrant Support Programme continues to be a significant financial supporter of the parade.

165/580 Hay Street, East Perth WA 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

Jessica Stojkovski MLA MEMBER FOR KINGSLEY 4/923 Whitfords Ave Woodvale WA 6026 08 9309 2666 jessica.stojkovski@mp.wa.gov.au @JessicaStojkovski

SUPPORTI N THE WA G

IRISH COMMUMITY

jessicastojkovski.com.au 53

Evensong at St Georges Cathedral

Once again St George’s Cathedral Perth honours St Patrick and the Irish with Evensong at 5pm 17 March. Please attend what is always a very moving event.

Looking after our own

A big thank you to the many volunteers who are selflessly (modestly and quietly) giving of their time, compassion and generosity to help those in need in our community. As ever The Claddagh supports many throughout the community, especially those in mourning. Go raibh mile maith agat. My thanks also to the many sporting and cultural organisations who nourish and support our community.

La Fheile Padraig Sona Dhuit

Richard and I wish everyone all the very best for St Patricks Day. I think it’s fair to say that as a race and a nation we are generally held in high respect and regard throughout the world. How lucky we are to be Irish. Let’s hold our heads high and enjoy our national day.

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ULSTER

Rambles

with David

Bout yeese all again and a Happy St Patrick's Day.

Some good friends of mine have just recently returned to Perth after spending some three months in the province and of course we got talking about a thing or two! They reminded me that even though there are almost a million Protestants living on the island of Ireland, Irishness if you see what we mean here, is often equated with Catholicism in many people’s minds. What has this got to do with St. Patrick you might well ask?

Well, St Patrick was captured as a young man by Irish pirates and taken from his home in Britain to Co Antrim, where he was sold into slavery. He eventually escaped to France but chose to return to Ireland and work to convert the pagan Irish to Christianity. According to legend he performed various miracles (converting the Irish at the time was certainly one of them and banishing the snakes was another; assuming of course that they had snakes there in the first place).

St Patrick has often been portrayed as bringing Catholicism to Ireland, but of course at this time there was no such religious distinction. Patrick lived one thousand years before the Reformation and five hundred years before the split between the Eastern Orthodox Church and Roman Catholicism.

In the eighteenth century many Irish (both catholic and protestant) immigrated to the United States. The first St Patrick’s Day parade ever recorded in the world took place in Boston on 18th March 1737, or so I am led to believe. At that time, St Patrick was seen as a figure that Irish people of all backgrounds could celebrate. Church of Ireland buildings from this time are often named St Patrick’s.

However by the twentieth century a new idea of Catholic Irishness, independent from Britain, was being firmly promoted in Ireland. At the same time Protestants on the island fought hard to maintain their political links with Britain, and they became more reluctant to think of themselves as Irish.

In the fight for what ‘Irish’ meant, St Patrick was claimed for the Catholics.

Protestants retreated into celebrating their ‘differentness’ from the Catholic Irish on Orange Day, 12th July. This led to two very separate identities based around green and orange as symbols for the two Irish traditions.

Mixing was not encouraged and could get very complicated as is illustrated by the song ‘The Orange and the Green’:

Chorus: Oh it is the biggest mix-up that you have ever seen My father he was orange and my mother she was green Oh my father was an Ulsterman, proud Protestant was he My mother was a Catholic girl, from County Cork was she They were married in two churches, lived happily enough Until the day that I was born and things got rather tough Baptised by Father Reilly, I was rushed away by car To be made a little orangeman, my father’s shining star I was christened David Anthony, but still in spite of that To my father I was William while my mother called me Pat With mother every Sunday to mass I’d proudly stroll Then after that the orange lads would try to save my soul For both sides tried to claim me, but I was smart because I played the flute or played the harp, depending where I was One day my ma’s relations came ‘round to visit me 54

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Avok Pale a A and P le Now o ils n Tap! Just as my father’s kinfolk were all sittin’ down to tea We tried to smooth things over, but they all began to fight And me being strictly neutral, I bashed everyone in sight Now my parents never could agree about my type of school My learning was all done at home, that’s why I’m such a fool They both passed on, god rest them, but left me caught between That awful color problem of the orange and the green

I remember when this song came out in the sixties.

It was actually very popular with both sides or so I thought at the time. Perhaps I was dreaming; so, to continue my rambles…….

The small state of Northern Ireland was set up in 1921 and had a majority Protestant population, but also a substantial Catholic population. Yet the peace process which has evolved since the Belfast Agreement in 1998 is having a remarkable effect on the Northern Irish Protestant sense of identity. They are beginning to engage once again, with the history and heritage of the island on which they live, as well as with the unique contribution which their ancestors have brought to Ireland.

Saint Patrick is once again coming to be seen as a shared figure. Apparently, some of the traditional bastions of Northern Irish Protestantism are opening up to hold St Patrick’s Day celebrations. Some local Orange Halls are opening their doors on the evening of 17th March for a night of festivities, including Ulster-Scots music and traditional Irish dancing. This would have been unthinkable a decade or two ago and is a remarkable sign of change in Ulster society.

I mentioned earlier that many Irish people immigrated in the eighteenth century and afterwards of course all over the world. I wonder how that equates to the prob-

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lems of migration today in modern times. Millions of people are trying to secure a better life for themselves and their children. They leave because of the wars in Sudan, Iraq and the Yemen; from poverty in South and Central America and from dictatorships in various other countries. This puts strain on the richer countries which the migrants target. It helps very right wing candidates to get elected to government and of course it helped in the surprise vote with Brexit. It causes both Australia and the U.S. to enforce unreasonable policies with migrant children including Nauru and the socalled Mexican wall.

Apologies; this is the St. Patrick’s Day edition. It’s the time for celebration with the sainted man. Let’s have some happy material from the Ulster Rambler I hear you say.

Right: If you are a professional person or just a worker there are several ways of telling you that you have lost your job. If you are an officer, you are cashiered; if a doctor you are struck off. If you are a barrister you are debarred and if you are a priest you are defrocked.

Maybe we should invent a few more. A sparky could be enlightened, a model could be deposed; a jockey could be dismounted, and a secret agent despised. Perhaps an office clerk could be defiled, and a magician disillusioned. And for my last two examples, perhaps a M.P. could be dismembered and a call girl definitely called delayed. Ah, the vagrancies of the English language. We should have all stuck to Gaelic. If you think of any more good ones, please email Fred.

Have a great day on the 17th and every other day now that I think of it.

David MacConnell

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Limited edition The Quiet Man print marks iconic movie’s 65th anniversary

A LIMITED edition print of The Quiet Man has been commissioned to commemorate the 65th anniversary of the iconic film and a percentage of the proceeds will support worthy causes.

The commission was inspired by a love of the film and childhood memories. Tara from Tara Fine Art prints said: “Like many people all over the world The Quiet Man brings back many fond childhood memories, the film was on repeat in our house and we knew it word for word. It was my dad’s 65th birthday last year, he was born the same year as The Quiet Man was released, and as he loved the film so much it was an opportunity to celebrate both occasions.

There are a limited number of these striking and detailed prints by Peter Deighan, who is an internationally renowned artist, available. Widely-regarded as one of the world’s leading painters of sporting moments and portraits, Peter Deighan’s works hang in some of the world’s most prestigious collections, from the Vatican to London’s National Portrait Gallery.

The print captures a number of classic scenes from the film. “The central image was important for me,” said Tara. “I love the mystery of not knowing what Maureen O’Hara said to John Wayne in the final scene of the film, it leaves it open to the imagination.

"Whatever passed O’Hara’s lips re-

mains a mystery to this day.

"It’s been great to see the response we’ve had online, people sharing their memories and stories of the film. When we commissioned the piece last year we limited the print to 500 and we have had orders from all over the world including Australia, Canada, Ireland and the United States. We’re very proud of the piece.”

Each print is hand-numbered and individually signed by the artist, who is originally from Co. Monaghan but now lives in England.

Some of his most noteworthy Irish portraits include Peadar O’Donnell, Sean McBride, Charles J. Haughey and Michael O’Hehir, with the latter unveiled on RTE’s Late Late Show in Dublin.

For more information or to buy a print please visit www.tarafineartprints.com

Séan Roche Appearing

2pm Sun 17 March & Sun 7, 14 & 28 April at 3.30pm

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Ireland Western Australian Forum The Ireland Western Australian Forum hosted a celebratory networking event on 21st February which was kindly sponsored by Vibe legal.

The event marked the end of an era for IWAF and the beginning of a new direction for Irish Australian Business networking in WA with the announcement of the merger of IWAF into the Irish Australian Chamber of Commerce.

An enthusiastic crowd enjoyed an evening of networking, socialising and opportunity at Durty Nellys Private function room in Shafto Lane.

In typical IWAF fashion the event provided a platform for a number of individuals within developing companies to introduce and promote their business within the Irish Australian Business Community of Western Australia.

Leo Barry Director of Vibe Legal and Trevor McGrath Director of KraftigLED Australia gave two well-crafted presentations that were both informative and entertaining in equal measure.

Mark Black, Chairman of IWAF, gave a detailed insight into the Forum, it’s contributors and its achievements from the early days in 2011 up to the current group. He presented a compilation of events over the years and identified ongoing key supporters of the organisation with the Irish Families in Perth team, the Irish Scene and the GAA singled out for special mention.

The new era will commence with the first Irish Chamber of Commerce St Patricks Day Lunch event in the Crown Casino on 15th March. Sponsored by PWC the event promises to be a fitting celebration to mark the occasion. With the continued delivery of informal networking evenings under the new Chamber banner the Irish West Australian Business community can expect to enjoy ongoing access to these event opportunities along with the added benefits associated with taking out membership of the Chamber. The IACC WA chapter will consider the range of Mentoring programs including Emerald and Horizons. Going forward a key focus will be an improved connectivity for Irish Australian Businesses in WA at a national and international level through the broad reach of the established kindred network of the Chamber.

Visit our Website for details irishscene.com.au

Ireland Western Australian Forum

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Join LUB THE C

The Irish Club is a members only club, and we welcome new members. Application forms can be downloaded from the website.

Irish Club Community Meeting The Irish Club of WA was abuzz with energy and passion on what would normally be a quiet Sunday morning at the Club. On February 10th around 100 people attended the Community Forum organised by the Management Committee.

Honorary Consul for Ireland to WA, Marty Kavanagh, did a fantastic job in his role as facilitator on the day keeping us all focused on the job in hand. The purpose of the forum was to give the Management Committee an opportunity to present the current challenges facing the Club and to explore and discuss opportunities for the future of the Club with those in attendance. The support for what the Management Committee is doing was overwhelming and is proof that people care deeply about the Club. It was evident that the majority of people agree with the Management Committee’s vision which is for the Club to be the go-to-place for all things Irish in Perth – a Centre for Irish Culture and Heritage. A number of key actions came out of the meeting which are currently being worked through by the committee. Some of these include: • Complete strategic review and develop a business plan focused on sustainability of the Club • Explore financing options to manage current debt • Fill vacant management committee positions • Targeted fundraising opportunities with a range of stakeholders

• Develop a number of working groups to work on specific initiatives for Club sustainability • Explore renovation options for current location and identify alternative Club locations • Explore opportunities for mergers with other clubs • Re-introduce Irish Ball and other Club-focused social events The committee is currently consolidating the results of the recent online survey and will make these available to members and the broader community shortly.

The committee looks forward to convening a Special General Meeting in due course to seek a mandate from members on how we prepare for and proceed into the future. In the meantime, please consider the Club as the place to hold functions, conferences, concerts, meetings etc. We have introduced hire fees in order to help to pay our bills (83% of members surveyed believed charging fees was reasonable) but we remain very competitive and our staff will go out of their way to ensure your experience is a positive one. Please phone us on 9381 5213 to make a booking. Thank you for supporting the Club.

Damien Cronin Secretary to the Management Committee

St Patrick's Weekend at the Club

A weekend full of entertainment for you and your family starting at 12noon on Saturday 16th March and all day Sunday 17th March. We are taking bookings for St Patrick's Day breakfast with two sittings, live music from 10am. Full Irish breakfast plus a pint for just $28.

Kids breakfast just $10 including a juice.

Telephone bookings: 0430 023 610 Or follow the link below to trybooking.com/468414 From 12 noon on St Patrick's Day KIDS EAT FREE, one free child's meal with each adult meal purchased. Check out our website for the full menu of delicious Irish fare. www.irishclubofwa.com.au NO NEED TO BOOK

Live Bands All Weekend

Sat 16 12noon - Open Music Session Full details on our website... www.irishclubofwa.com.au

The Irish Club A GREAT PLACE FOR A PARTY

Functions & Fundraisers Contact Club:

Tel: 93815213

Irish1@irishclubofwa.com.au

Pie & Pint Night Every Thursday

Opening Hours: Mon - Wed 5-10pm Thurs & Fri 5pm - 11pm Sat - 5pm - late Sun 4pm - 10pm

61 Townshend Rd, Subiaco Western Australia 6008 Phone: 9381 5213 • secretary@irishclubofwa.com.au • www.irishclubofwa.com.au 59

Matters of

PUB-LIC INTEREST!

by Lloyd Gorman

GUINNESS SUPPLIES RUN DRY Hopefully this will become a regular column about the pub scene and related shenanigans in WA’s Irish watering holes and sometimes even further afield. God knows with St. Patrick’s Day fast approaching every Irish pub in the world will be getting ready for the big fixture on March 17.

One place that was going to need to replenish its stocks was an unlikely premise. In late February

it emerged that the Mansion House, (above) the home of the Lord Mayor of Dublin, had practically run dry within six months of the current incumbent Nial Ring being elected to the office. The Mansion House in Dawson Street is an historic venue in its own right. It housed the first meeting of the first Dail/ Irish government on January 21, 1919 - the centenary anniversary of which was recently marked in Ireland. In more modern times the building - which is occupied by the first citizen of the capital for a year - plays host to civic events, receptions and functions for all sorts of groups and occasions.

But it seems the current office holder and resident at the address might be a tad ‘heavy handed’ when it comes to doling out the drinks to his guests.

In the first seven months of ‘his watch’ some 17,000 free pints of Guinness - his full year’s quota have been downed by guests and

visitors to the House.

“I’m delighted we’ve run out of beer,” the Lord Mayor prone to acts of largess is widely reported as saying about the situation. Mr Ring said the Mansion House is the people’s house and wants to give as many citizens as possible access to the place. “The Mansion House is belonging to the people of Dublin,” he added.

The basement of the Mansion House is normally well stocked with kegs of the black stuff.

Guinness/Diageo supplies the Mayors office with 120 free kegs of stout every year. Mr Ring said the drinks maker had already offered to supply more kegs for the St. Patrick’s Day celebrations that will be conducted there. The mayor has accepted the offer but said he will ‘review’ the arrangement after the dust has settled on this years Paddy’s Day. The $19,000 wine bill for the same period is another matter and doesn’t have such a generous benefactor.

There is an historical link between the office of the Lord Mayor of Dublin and Guinness. Sir Mark Rainsford was Dublin’s Lord Mayor from 1700 to 1701. He might probably be better remembered as being the original founder of the Guinness Brewery in St. James’s Gate, Dublin - which has remained the physical and spiritual home of the Guinness factory ever since.

It was Rainsford’s grandson - also called Mark Rainsford - in 1715 that signed the famous 9000 year lease at St. James’s Gate to Arthur Guinness on 31 December 1759.

That lease is set into the ground beneath glass on the ground floor of the Guinness Hopstore in Dublin.

Out of pure curiosity I tried to imagine similar shenanigans happening at the City of Perth. I typed Guinness into the council’s website to see what that would 60

turn up. There was just one result: Novotel Perth Langley…A central city hotel featuring Fenians, a traditional Irish pub and a website address for the venue.

Before we move on - here’s a useless but interesting piece of Guinness trivia. St. James’s Gate played a very small part in the events of the Easter Rising in 1916.

The Guinness stores were occupied by 12 volunteers for one night in the middle of the six-day rebellion but vacated early the next morning.

AVOKA DUO BRANCH OUT INTO BREWING WORLD

Frank Glackin enjoying a pale ale with Derek Boyle at Avoka

On the subject of beer, two new ones were launched locally in late February at the Irish owned and operated Avoka in the Woodvale shopping centre in Trappers Drive.

Dublin couple Derek and Valerie Boyle who run the successful eatery and entertainment spot have expanded their menu by adding Avoka Pale Ale and Avoka Pilsner to their range of refreshments. There was no shortage of volunteers at the ready to help them launch the beers in February.

HOW DO YOU MAKE A GOOD IRISH PUB EVEN MORE IRISH? I couldn’t tell you how long Paddy Maguire’s in Subiaco has

Ma

Kitchen

been around for exactly, but it has been an Irish themed bar and meeting place for many years now.

I remember drinking there on my first outing to Perth in 2005 and it already felt well established at that stage. But the well-known pub in the heart of Subiaco was recently sold by its last Australian owners (Maher Family) and is now under new management. A name change for the venue is on the cards but its credentials as an Irish pub can only be bolstered by its new owner Brian Mooney. Brian is a True Blue Dub and his name will be known to hordes of hungry and satisfied customers who have been enjoying his famous sandwiches and snacks as well as cooked breakfasts from his days in the centre of Perth to the current location in Osborne Park. Paddy’s came on the market late last year and Brian did some market research on Facebook, asking people what they thought of the pub and position in Subiaco.

There was a lot of positive feedback and support from punters for him to take the place on but also very mixed reaction to Subiaco itself and how it is not what it once used to be. Armed with the thoughts of quite a few folk Brian went ahead and quickly sealed the deal. This will be his first St. Patrick’s Day as the pub’s owner, so maybe drop in and show your support.

BREAKWATER CHANGES HANDS Another high-profile licensed premises, recently went the other way, from ‘Irish’ ownership to Australian. The Breakwater in Hillary’s opened as a very different proposition to its current incarnation 26 years ago when it was started by [Wexford man] Ken Reid. Ken passed away in

about 2008 sometime after which it shifted location slightly in the Habour marina and became an anchor tenant. After his passing the premises remained under the management of the Reid family and the two-storey pub went from strength to strength. According to one industry source it generated over $10 million revenue a year and scooped a raft of gongs for its food and drink. If there was one criticism of the two-storey venue with unbelievable views over the water it was some of the prices patrons had to pay for the privilege of being there. While some locals

The late Ken Reid enjoying a a joke with friends at the old Breakwater Tavern

dubbed it the ‘Breakwallet’ many more were happy to patronise it.

It is an aspect of the business that the new owners have been reported as saying they will address. Perth hospitality group Capitol Corp already own and run several live music venues, bars and nightclubs including Amplifer Capitol, Metropolis Fremantle and The Edison Bar. The purchase allows the group to expand into the northern suburbs and said it aims to continue it as “a quality dining and drinking experience - without the obscene price tag”, the Joondalup Times reported on January 11, 2019.

The local news site said Capitol Corp chairman David Heaton pledged this pricing would be a thing of the past.

“It’s fair to say the venue has been running as an event and special occasions spot and we would like to change this perception,” he said. “Over summer we will be implementing changes that will bring the venue back in line with local expectations.”

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COMING AND GOING IN SCARBOROUGH Plans for a new Irish themed bar The Galway Hooker in another part of the northern suburbs are also ripening, and expected to come to fruition later this year. Ark Group director Adam Kapinoff, who operates The Peach Pit, bought the Scarborough Beach Bar in late 2018. Mr Kapinkof was reported in January 2019 on Perth Now that the influx of visitors and new residents to the area spurred him to buy a third location on The Esplanade, which will be the home of the Galway Hooker.

“We’ve secured the tenancy that sits between The Lookout Bar and Cordingley’s Surf Store, which has been sitting vacant for about five and a half years now,” he added.

Towards the end of 2018 a Scarborough landmark was finally and fully demolished to make way for a big Chinese backed high rise development. For many years Contacio’s - which stood on the corner of Scarborogh Beach Road and West Coast Highway - was a well patronised venue, particularly its Sunday sessions. At least two of its regular and long-term staff before it shut its doors a good few years ago were Limerick woman Imelda Flannery and Dubliner Jackie Mangan who worked closely together and enjoyed their time there. It is the end of an era.

TO JB OR NOT JB For months now there have been rumours and whispers that JB O’Reilly’s has been sold off and the site will become an apartment block. “Contracts have been signed” and “the deal has been done” are some of the remarks that It Must

be the Drink Talking has heard first hand and no doubt there are plenty more circulating. I popped into the Cambridge Street emporium hoping to catch owner Paul North and put it to the man himself. He wasn’t there on the times I tried to find him but I do know of two trustworthy and reliable sources (one Irish and the other an Aussie - with Irish heritage) who asked him about it face to face. Both times he denied it. In fact, he might have even joked that he wished a developer had approached him and offered him an obscene amount of money to buy the joint, which has been around now for a quarter of a century. With any kind of luck JB’s will continue to be around for at least another 25 years. On the face of it it seems to be one of those cases where you can’t believe everything you hear.

IRISH CLUB S.O.S Finally, a serious word about the Irish Club.

There was a Community Forum in early February to discuss the club's financial problems, and what can be done about it. The event - hosted ably by Irish Consulate Marty Kavanagh - was very well attended by members and non-members, with the entire ground floor area full of old and new faces. It was made very clear that the Club has some very serious financial issues, which I won’t delve into here. But just to give you an idea of what’s involved it costs more than $2,000 a week just to keep the doors open and lights on at the Townshend Road venue.

In the interests of transparency, the committee laid the financial situation bare and opened up the floor to comments from the floor. There were plenty of suggestions and good will and the meeting that started at 11am and lasted until 1.30pm and could have easily run longer.

Everything from investigating a possible merger with the Celtic Club or other community clubs to changing the Irish Club to a cultural hub with the emphasis off it being a “drinking den” were all thrashed out in and open and frank way. The general message was that the club needs to look forward for its survival and to concentrate on what needs to be done to get it out of the hole

its in. A range of suggestions and recommendations were adopted by the meeting to be explored and a follow up meeting was planned to be held four to six weeks after that date. It was well worth attending that gathering to get an unadulterated picture of how the Club is travelling and to see the energy in the room to do something. By way of an observation rather than a criticism the forum is something that probably should have happened before now but that aside the turnout and decision making at the second forum will be absolutely critical to the Club’s survival. If it is within your power to get to it at all then please do. The Club belongs to all of us and it will take more than the hardworking efforts of a few people to pull it through, we should all get involved in whatever way we can. One thing seems certain, the Club cannot continue as it is for much longer. If we allow it to sink, we may never get another one. We should rescue and reclaim our Club for our own sakes, and those of future generations.

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By Lloyd Gorman

TeleStationTeleNation Ireland seems to pop up quite often on House Hunters International as usually seen on 9Life as a place that people from other parts of the world want to move too. Ireland is a pretty great place to live and has a lot to offer so its not that big a surprise.

What might be a surprise is the cost of living there, especially for accommodation. If the bottom falling out of the property market sparked the crash of the Celtic Tiger, then it would seem the tiger has survived and gone through some kind of rehabilitation to become even fiercer than before. Two things strike you about watching an Irish episode of House Hunters International. One is the cost of buying or renting property and the other is that most of the places guests on the programme get shown nowadays are apartments.

As someone who was a student and then a worker in the Irish capital during most of the 1990’s and 2000’s who moved around quite a lot, I only once lived for a short period of time in an apartment block. All the other times it was semi-detached houses - old and new - or maybe renting the basement of a big old Georgian house. Two different couples from America were on the lookout for a place to live in either January or February, with both being shown just apartments. Also coming from America but making a homecoming

on February 1 was a John Hanley who wanted to move back to his native Malahide with his wife and their two daughters to be near to his family. The format of the show is that the guest gets shown three properties and they must choose one, before the programme finishes it shows an update about how they get on. John was taken aback at the cost of renting a home compared to what it used to be but bit the bullet and ended up getting one close to ‘home’, for about 1,500 Euro a month. One of the things this show reminds me is that unless you already own a house or property in Ireland it would be tough and expensive to find a place to set up shop!

There has been at least one episode of HHI where a couple wanted to move to Perth (if memory serves correctly from America). But as it happens on the day before (January 31) we watched John’s attempts to return to Ireland HHI aired the house hunting adventures of another couple Neil and Claire MacRae, from Perth. After some time living here in WA Neil, Scottish, and

his Irish wife Claire and young daughter were wanting to swap places with Tasmania. After considering three very different properties there they went with a 6363

house with amazing views to suit their new lifestyle. Good luck to them if they are still there.

The Graham Norton Show on TEN is another TV stable with regular Irish guests and content.

On February 22 American actor John Reilly and UK comic Steve Coogan were guests on the show, for their new movie Stan and Ollie

about one of the most famous comic pairings of all time. They showed a clip of the film and it looks really excellent with Reilly and Coogan carrying off a very convincing likeness of the stars of the silver and silent screen from its black and white days. There was quite a bit of discussion about how popular they were in Ireland and attended often, with Dublin audiences giving them one of their biggest live shows of their long careers. It wasn’t entirely clear if the Irish component of their time would feature in the film, but it looked worthwhile in its own right. A lot of former boybands seem to be making come back tours lately and on this show particular episode it was Westlife’s turn to put in a cameo and plug their return. True to its format the show finished with a story from the Big Red Chair, which saw Lucas - a French chef -

tell a saucy story about a wedding he catered at in Ireland once.

The following week Norton had Soairse Ronan on. For a 25 year old she has had an amazing career and you can’t help think we have only seen a fraction of her full potential.

On this occasion she was talking to Graham about speaking Irish on set of her latest offering Mary Queen of Scots with another Irish actress so as not to be understood by others.

After a while of gossiping ‘As Gaeilge’ she got a tap on the shoulder from the sound guy who happened to be Irish as well and knowingly told her ‘I can understand everything you’re saying’.

The anecdote provided a segway for Norton to introduce another one of the guests on the couch as being able to speak Irish.

English comedian Stephen Mangan was born in North London to Irish parents, who spoke Irish at home.

As it happens another comedian - this time a homegrown Australian one - has Irish parentage of sorts.

Judith Lucy was born (in 25 March 1968) in Perth and raised here, going on to study theatre at Curtin Universitsy before moving to Melbourne as a twenty year old to start carving out her career as a stand up. She was a guest on the popular ABC radio programme Conversations and spoke about her unorthodox upbrigning in “the georgeous suburb of Melville”.

Both her parents – now deceased – were Irish and as well as being a bit odd – her father wore make up and her mother had “a fear of

running water” - they also had a stormy relationship for most of their marriage. But it was only at the age of 25 years – she is now 50 – on a return trip to Perth for Christmas – which turned out to be a very grim occasion that included a very bad drunken brawl between her father and brother – that she discovered she had been adopted. Her interviewer asked her if that explained certain things in her life and what it was like to be the last to know this crucial piece of information.

“Yes, everybody else knew (I was adopted), so I did feel a little bit like a psycho,” she said.

“I think we are going to be having the nature nurture argument until the end of time unless there is some extraordinary breakthrough which there may be but I’ve gone on to have a really amazing relationship with my birth mother and while I can see she and I have loads of similarities I can also see that a lot of who I am God help me has a lot to do with Ann and Tony Lucy so I feel like I’m a real mix of nature and nurture and I don’t think I’d be a comedian if I hadn’t grown up with Ann and Tony Lucy so whether that’s a good thing or a bad thing who knows?.”

On February 28 NITV screened the excellent 2002 movie Black and White. The film is about the real events of the 1958 prosecution of an aboriginal man, Max Stuart (David Ngoombujarra) for the alleged murder of a young white girl and is sentenced to death.

Stuart’s lawyer was a Dublin solicitor who came to Adelaide called David O’Sullivan.

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O’Sullivan is convinced of his clients innocence and goes to extraordinary lengths taking on the powers that be to save Stuart’s life, at great personal cost to his own career, in what became a landmark Australian legal case. O’Sullivan is played by the Scottish actor Robert Carlyle who plays the role of the Dubliner convincingly in every way, including his accent.

Black and White is not shown that much on Australian TV but should be, and is well worth a watch.

Finally, fans of Border Security on the Seven Network might be interested to know its cameras were in Perth airport over February so watch out for some ‘local’ content coming your way.

Also, look out for coverage of the Perth St. Patrick’s Day parade and festival on the box on the night of March 16. TV crews are usually on hand to capture some of the colour and pageantry of the event. “Lá fhéile Pádraig sona dhuit!”

AIDA WA EXECUTIVE 2019 President: Caroline McCarthy TCRG Vice Presidents: Katherine Travers TCRG & Melissa Kennedy TCRG Secretary: Katherine Travers TCRG Treasurer: Martina O’Brien TCRG Registrar: Jenny O’Hare TCRG

Australian Irish Dancing Association Inc. 2019 All Ireland Championships

CONGRATULATIONS

SCHOOL CONTACTS: Celtic Academy East Victoria Park & Karragullen www.celticacademyperth.com Siobhan Collis TCRG 0403 211 941

The prestigious All Ireland Championships took place in Killarney from the 17th-24th February. Four dancers from Perth travelled to the competition to represent Western Australia, and all four had great success!

2nd place -

Kavanagh Studio of Irish Dance Maylands www.kavanaghirishdance.com.au Teresa Fenton TCRG 0412 155 318 Deirdre McGorry TCRG Caroline McCarthy TCRG Melissa Kennedy TCRG Avril Grealish TCRG

DAKOTA COURTNEY,

O’Brien Academy (Ladies Under 21) 6th place -

The Academy/Keady Upton Subiaco, Wangara & Pearsall Samantha McAleer TCRG Kalamunda Lara Upton ADCRG 0409 474 557

DARA MCALEER,

The Academy Keady Upton (Ladies Under 23) 16th place -

O’Brien Academy Butler, Mindarie/Quinn’s Rock, Ocean Reef, Connolly, Duncraig www.obrienacademy.com Rose O’Brien ADCRG 0437 002 355 Martina O’Brien TCRG 0423 932 866

BRITTANY PYMM,

WA Academy (Ladies Under 20) 31st place -

O’Hare School of Irish Dancing Doubleview, Wembley Downs & Craigie Jenny O’Hare TCRG 0422 273 596

CAOIMHE MCALEER,

The Academy Keady Upton (Girls Under 17)

Scoil Rince na hEireann Rockingham irishdance@iinet.net.au Megan Cousins TCRG 0411 452 370

A massive congratulations to these dancers and their teachers on their fantastic results!

Scoil Rince Ni Bhaird Fremantle & Lynwood Tony Ward TCRG 0427 273 596 Three Crowns School of Irish Dance Wangara & Padbury www.threecrownsirishdancing.com Eleanor Rooney TCRG 0449 961 669 Trinity Studio of Irish Dancing Morley trinitystudiowa@gmail.com Eileen Ashley ADCRG 0413 511 595 Katherine Travers TCRG WA Academy of Irish Dancing Malaga Glenalee Bromilow ADCRG 0410 584 051 Sue Hayes TMRF 0412 040 719

St. Patrick’s Day

Irish dancers will be out in force this St. Patrick’s Day - keep an eye out for them around Perth, and feel free to join them for a jig!

Brendan is Minister for Environment; DisabilitySrServices congratulated Deputy Leader of the Government in the Legislative Council by the Italian PO Box 2440, SOUTH HEDLAND WA 6722 members of the stephen.dawsonmp@mp.wa.gov.au community (08) 9172 2648 • 1800 199 344 (toll free) 65

SUPPORT IN THE WA G

IRISH COMMUMITY

Shane’s Shamrock ST PATRICK’S DAY STORY The following is an edited copy of an article with the same headlines as above that appeared in the Southern Cross Newspaper on March 19, 1915. It recounts the life story of an Irish woman and what the symbol of Ireland - the Shamrock - meant to her.

It begins with a passage titled ‘Off to Australia’ that describes the scene as a young Maurreen Rooney, accompanying her uncle, says goodbye to family on board their ship that was bound for Australia.

“Then he [her uncle] turned to his brother and sister-in-law and the gossons (boys) fanned bade farewell to them, for they intended to settle under the Southern Cross,” the article reads. “Maureen turned a pair of blue Irish eyes on Uncle Maurice, and opening her garden of the soul, showed a spray of green immortal shamrock.

“Where did this come from, uncle?”

“Bless the colleen, from Aunt Margaret’s pot of shamrock. Why, child, it isn’t rooted; it won’t grow.” “Don’t want it to. It marks the memory rare. That is all I want.”

“Aye, aye, I see. Well, my dear, good-bye, and God bless you.”

The bell rang. He gave her one last kiss. The boat sailed landwards. The Ocean Pride was on her way to the land of the golden wattle.”

“Maureen, who was a good sailor, stood on deck and looked at Green Erin till the last. Like Marie Stuart when leaving France, she had a prophetic feeling that she

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would never see it more. She pictured the small town wherein her uncle had a practice the homestead outside it which had been her home: the church on the hillside; the soggarth who ministered with all the old, never-to-be-forgotten familiar faces, and then the receding shore grew dim, and she went downstairs to mother.”

The second part of the article is called “Maureen’s Choice” and describes another milestone in her life.

“Among the [church] congregation was Maureen who was even prettier than when we met her last, for she had ripened, so to say, in the new, sunny land,” the article states. “Indeed, she was known as the Rose of Carroll’s Flat, and had quite a small army of admirers. I am sorry to say that she was a bit of a flirt, was pleasant to all, caring really for none. Sometimes the world tempted her sorely. She felt half-inclined to marry Julius Carroll, son and heir of the owner of the Flat. She did not love him, but she could have loved exquisite gowns, a motor car, foreign travel, a long purse, and all kinds of pretty things. Father Seraphim, a Franciscan priest, was holding a mission, and Maureen had come to it on the festival. The Mass began. Before the altar, in his brown habit and Mass robes, with arms outstretched, knelt the priest, who began to intone the Veni Creator Spirituis.

Slowly and solemnly the majestic hymn proceeded, and Maureen always loved it, listened spellbound. As she listened a change came over her. Her uncle and aunt were dead. “All things passed,” as the Saint of Aisla said. In time to come she, Maureen, would be as they, would be as a shadow, as grass cut down in the noontide. What would having been Mrs. Julius Carroll profit her then?

Would not the humblest bride of Christ have lived a nobler, worthier life? All the queens who had ever lived were as nought compared with Mary Virgin. Even the wattle blossoms faded. Their gold grew tarnished, the palm-like fronds withered. That Sister of St. Joseph whom she had seen leading a blind girl in the streets of Adelaide was doing something worth living for. Could not she also do something? The glorious hymn ended.

Maureen’s head sank lower. The spouse of the immaculate had spoken to her. As He spake to St. Clare in old Italy, to St. Catharine in Sienna, to the Little Flower of Jesus not so very long ago, and she like the, had answered – “Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth.”

The third and final part of the article - On the road to the trenches - describes another very poignant scene in another church, much later in Maureen’s life.

“It was a cold and dreary winter’s day in Northern France, when a party of soldiers, fighting with the allies,

entered a convent chapel to pray,” the story continued. “Amongst them was a young Irishman called Shane O’Neill, whose brave heart was sore for Erin, the old homestead and those left behind in it, for Bride MacDermott, who would one day be his if he came back. He took some tapers, lit them, and placed them round the statue of Our Lady of Perpetual Succour. “Virgo Fidelis,” he prayed, “Ora pro nobis,” and as he made the petition an aged nun came up in the habit of St. Joseph. It was Sister Catherine, nee Maureen Rooney, who had come on a visit for reasons of health to her friend the Mother Superior of the Assumptionists. She looked kindly at Shane, then whispered, “Are you from Ireland?” “Sure, yes, Sister.” “I am Irish, too. See here.”

She went to a stall in the choir and brought from thence a large prayer book, and opening its pages showed a spray of faded shamrock.

“Shamrock, Sister?” “Yes. I brought it from Ireland years and years ago.

Those who came with me have gone – (Rest their souls!) – I and the shamrock are left.” She took the withered spray and pinned it on to the front of the soldier’s tunic, crossed herself, and left the chapel. Shane O’Neill rose, too, and went on his way to the trenches with the dear old nun’s treasured shamrock near his true and loyal heart.

Lest We Forget

Grab the money and away you go!

6PR’s Bill Buster promotion has proved to be a bit hit with listeners of the Perth radio station, who doesn’t have a bill that needs paying? The $150,000 up for grabs is actually spread across several Australian radio stations in the Macquarie Media Network rather than just sitting in a big pot of cash in the East Perth offices of the local station. But some of that money was won by Irishman turned Perth resident. Trevor Keys registered a bill for $420.17 with the promotion and was lucky enough to have his name called out on the morning of about February 19. As part of the deal the person has to ring in within ten minutes to get the money, otherwise they lose out. Trevor was on the buzzer so quick that Breakfast show host Steve Mills said he was so fast he was like Usain Bolt. Millsey asked the Trevor - who had an Irish accent - what the bill was he wanted paying.

Trevor said it was to fix the air-conditioning in his car. “The Irish lot are coming over,” said Trevor. “My sister [Mamby] and her kids are visiting.

They’ve never been in this sort of heat before, its going to be a big shock to the system for them, so I wanted to get the aircon in the car fixed so its not too bad when I’m driving them around [to Margaret River].”

Meanwhile, Millsey and his co-host Basil Zemplas recently gave Irish Scene a bit of an on air thumbs up on their hit morning show after they received a copy of the January/February edition which carried a story about Millsey’s holiday adventures in Ireland where he went to Galway with his wife Trish for a wedding, and then onto the UK where he caught up with Wexford native and SKY News ace Enda Kenny and his family in their Oxfordshire home around Christmas time. Basil also said a few words on the subject of how attractive he thought Irish women were!!!

Annual Easter Monday Uprising Commemoration Monday 22nd April 2019

The Irish Club, 61 Townshend Rd Subiaco Live Music •••• 2PM START •••• 67

Special Guests from UK Paul Walker & Karen Pfeiffer Tuesday 16th April 2018 @ 7.30pm at Woodvale Tavern Function Room

Unaccompanied baggage

So, what is it that makes this internationally touring duo so irresistible? Could it be Karen’s German accent tinged with an oatcake induced North Staffordshire dialect? Or Paul’s besotted gaze whenever she takes to the microphone? Or is it simply the exquisitely performed music and the happy, warm feeling everyone seems to get at their shows…

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With their unique onstage-chemistry and their widely praised harmonies, the Anglo-German duo Paul Walker & Karen Pfeiffer entertain and engage their audiences “in a likable, humorous style”. Combining their own beautifully written songs with a fine choice of folk favourites, Paul’s vocal and individual guitar style blended with Karen’s voice, clear and yet so powerful, leaves audiences mesmerised: “I have never seen our audience so spell-bound!” exclaimed a promoter recently. Karen adds with alto and tenor recorders, Irish flute and whistle - and not to mention the odd German ‘joke’ - to this fantastically entertaining night.

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www.exportair.com.au 68

Claddagh Update I

The Christmas break seems like a distant memory and we are already well into February.

Claddagh Strategic Plan

In 2018 as a committee we undertook to create a Strategic Plan for Claddagh. The Strategic 13/15 Bonner Drive Malaga 6090 Plan outlines the environment within which the Crisis support: 0403 972 265 Claddagh now operates, the vision and mission of the organisation for the years ahead, the All other enquiries: 08 9249 9213 principles by which we work and the strategic goals and objectives we aim to achieve to ensure that the Claddagh is well governed, fit for purpose and responsive to the future needs of the community, our members and stakeholders.

In January 2019 we identified the key areas of the plan we would concentrate on this year. Those three areas are:

1. Generation and Diversity of Revenue 2. Management and Coordination of our Volunteers 3. Communication and Brand We have formed sub-committees for each of these projects. If you have an interest in any of these areas and would like to donate your time – we’d love to hear from you.

St Patrick’s Day Call to all members and friends of Claddagh - we will be taking part in the St Patrick’s Day parade in Leederville and we would love you to join us! We’ll have a walking group in the parade and a shaded area in the oval for our seniors where we’ll be serving up some Irish fayre. We’ll also have an information stand in the oval where you can come along and find out more about the work we do – we look forward to seeing you all there. Thanks to the St. Patrick’s Day Parade Committee for their support.

Returning to Ireland We’ll be holding another ‘Returning to Ireland’ session in the coming months, look out for details on our social media, Facebook and Instagram and on our website!

Fundraising and Donations The support we provide the Irish community in Western Australia would not be possible but for the generous donations and fundraising efforts of the Irish community. We welcome donations to the Claddagh Association and encourage people to donate at https://www.givenow.com.au/thecladdaghassociation or via our bank account details on our website.

Why not get active, go the extra mile, support the Claddagh and take part in the HBF Run for a Reason on Sunday, 19 May 2019 you can set up a fundraising page for us at https://nfp.everydayhero.com/au/claddaghassociation Until next time – thanks for supporting the work of the Claddagh Association Heather

www.claddagh.org.au 69

Crisis support:

0403 972 265

Irish Club Seniors Lunch At lunch time on the first Friday of the month they come from far and near to enjoy a nice meal and fellowship at the Irish Club. They are Gaels and non- Gaels each with a common love of Ireland and all things Irish.

In 2019 we are planning some very interesting theme lunches. The Wearing of the Green started the ball rolling in March and later in the year participants will enjoy a special Christmas in July.

Each month, the socialising starts at noon followed by a sit-down lunch. After lunch we have an entertainment segment or a guest speaker. Anyone with a song in their heart is then invited to perform. A talent competition for the over 50’s could yet be featured!!!!

Attendees at the lunch have a chance to win one of a number of door prizes.

We are looking for ideas to make this lunch more successful. Ideas could include involvement and contributions from local businesses and local school groups.

If you think of anything where you can help with ideas, or help out on the day, we would love to hear from you.

Bookings (and yes this is a must) are taken by calling The Irish Club on 93815213 and further details enquiries or suggestions call John Flood on 0422 495 807.

Looking forward to seeing you at The First Friday.

John Flood Irish Club Seniors Lunch Coordinator

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Land of

&

honey

Ireland

"Give Ups" for Lent with Sally Desmond

There are two constants annually for March - Lent and St Patrick's Day. When I was growing up, the latter relieved the former immeasurably. For weeks, day in and day out, in school, the virtues of fasting, abstaining and giving up everything apart from breathing were extolled. Sr. Immaculata didn’t actually promise you safe passage straight to Heaven if you became a penitent but she had no hesitation in promising you thousands of years in purgatory if you didn't. I always felt she must have had relations there her descriptions were so bloodcurdlingly passionate. You were held personally responsible for every soul that was left there after Lent. “All because you girls couldn't EVEN give up sweets". You see, you could offer up your sacrifices and hopefully get some soul in purgatory a shortened sentence or at least parole!! I was in shreds from the whole thing - somewhere in the six weeks you were bound to break the fast and eat a toffee or if you were old enough have a bad thought!! You might even forget and inadvertently enjoy something. Well you could almost hear the screams of anguish, and she always knew when you had transgressed! Nuns had an instinct for that sort of thing they could smell guilt at forty paces. There was the main meal and the two collations every day, which had to be watched - there were no designer sandwiches in those days and woe betide you if there was a jam cake in your lunch.

Then, usually in the middle of all that purple gloom, came St. Patrick's Day and lo and behold the virtuous got out their jars of saved sweets and ate them smugly knowing that purgatory had closed for the day and the rest of us enjoyed the parade, followed the bands and promised ourselves we would do better for the rest of Lent. There wouldn’t be a soul left in the place we vowed come Easter Sunday. All the while Sr Immaculata looked on, cynically. She knew us well.

There was a great tradition of “giving up” in lreland. Lots of men actually gave up, or at least tried to give up, alcohol, cigarettes and even playing cards. I had a cousin who one year “gave up the boyfriend for lent”. That was at the instigation of

her mother who couldn’t stand him and hoped it would be the end of it.

They're very happily married and have grandchildren.

Lent was a great time for fish, all sorts of fish, boiled, steamed, baked, fish pie, fish cakes, fish soup, I never found that a hardship, I loved fish, so much so, in fact, that I often wondered if I should “give up” fish and eat meat as penance. That suggestion would not have been well regarded by Sr. Immaculata.

Everything was allowed for St. Patricks Day. Dance Halls were allowed open – there was no dancing for Lent!! Men had their favourite tipple and beef was on the menu and no collations!! Corned beef was the traditional fare with mashed potatoes butter, parsley sauce and cabbage. No wonder St. Patrick is a much-loved Saint with enough sense to have a feast day right in the middle of a time of "give up”.

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

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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

A Brilliant Weekend!

To think that just over 5 years ago, Fenian stalwarts such as the late Liam Barry, Ormonde Waters and Dr Ernie Manea - along with Brendan Woods, Sean Roach and Tony Costa - were knocking on doors to create more public awareness on one of the greatest Australian-Irish stories ever told, has now become one of the greatest Australian-Irish cultural events held: Fenians, Fremantle and Freedom Festival.

The festival celebrates the lives of the 62 Irish political prisoners (Fenians) transported to WA in 1868 including their contribution to Australian society.

To bring together (during the 3 day event), such Australian-Irish icons as Dr Fiona Stanley, retired WA Premier Peter Dowding, author Peter Fitzsimons, actor Peter Rowsthorn, musician Bryan Dalton, media personality Frank Murphy, poet Lachlan Kelly and Irish Ambassador (to Australia) Breandon OCaollai and his wife Ms Carmel Callan, is testament to FFF (Inc) committee’s organisational skills of Margo O’Byrne, Felicity Dillon, Joy Lefroy, Anne Golden, Tracy Routledge, Declan Greaney, Jim Kelly, Donough O'Donovan, Elizabeth Dempsey, Nadine Magill and Seamus Hughes including their amazing band of volunteers determination, the 62 Fenians will with affection, live on in the hearts and minds of all Australians.

Congratulations!

Peter Murphy

Well done Margo!

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Exhilarating entertainment at Fremantle Fenian Festival

By Tom Gilmore

An exhilarating, exciting, eclectic mix of music mutating from Traditional Irish tunes into the Creole and Cajun sounds of Louisiana, appropriately called Gaelic Gumbo, was a fitting finale to the Fenians Fremantle and Freedom Festival as the white-surfed waves lashed the shore beside the musicians while the sun set way out at sea on a balmy Sunday evening in West Australia.

The setting on the docks at Fremantle was idyllic with the striking stone facade of the Kidogo Arthouse acting as a sunshade for the packed concert audience. The music created sound pictures which, albeit in a tenuous way, in the mind’s eye, and nostrils of the more imaginative may have created the imaginary smells of crawfish pie and bacon and cabbage mixed in dishes at an Irish-Cajun hooley!

The music was that sort of mix too, it was made of the stuff that lifts your spirits to have them soaring to high heavens. The crowd danced, clapped and sang along in this seashore setting serenaded by the sounds of Lucky Oceans and the Zydecats with the high-spirited songs and tunes of Ireland belted out and Rocked up just sufficiently by Fiona Rea and Tommy O’Brien.

Fats Domino’s iconic song Blueberry Hill blended seamlessly into the Traditional Irish tune Carrickfergus with sax sounds, double bass beats, steel guitar riffs from Lucky plus the biggest brass sounds of all coming from a sousaphone. This big brass instrument wrapped around the musician’s body, almost in giant snake-like fashion, with a large, flaring bell, pointed forward, projecting the sound ahead of the player exhaling music that you would be more likely to find somebody playing while standing or marching in a brass band in Perth, Dublin or New York at a St Patrick’s Day parade.

The mix was magical as Fiona Rea sweetly sang a Rocked-up version of the Sean McCarthy Irish ballad Step it Out Mary which eased into yet another Fats Domino number. Then the sensational sounding finale of this most modern sounding set was a rollicking Rockin’ version of the Irish rebel song The Boys of Wexford belted out with panache by multi-instrumentalist and singer Tommy O’Brien.

Tommy also modernised other old Irish ballads such as the Raggle Taggle Gypsy and The Little Beggar man (Old Johnny Doo) into the sort of sound that perhaps even The Pogues could be proud of!

Lucky Oceans doubled up on accordion as well as steel plus singing while Fiona Rea did something similar alternating from guitar to bodhran to vocals and Tommy O’Brien (almost!) played the tin whistle and sang simultaneously while his banjo pickin’ was impeccable.

All the other musicians, plus guests, including fiddle virtuoso Rod Lewinsky were perfectionists personified on everything they played from the fast-paces Down By The Riverside or You Are My Sunshine to the more poignant When Irish Eyes Are Smiling or the hauntingly beautiful Lakes of Pontchartrain.

Irish eyes, ears and mouths, Australian eyes ears and mouths, Creole eyes, ears and mouths, Aboriginal eyes ears and mouths must have all been shinning, smiling singing and the imaginary smelling of the appetising scent of crawfish pie mixed with Irish bacon and cabbage at this concert with a difference on the shores of the Indian Ocean.

The Fenians Fremantle and Freedom Festival is still in its formative years but as the Aboriginal and Irish flags fluttered in the balmy evening breeze of Fremantle bay one got the feeling that, if it continues to develop and expand this festival has the potential to eventually attract fans from all over the world.

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26 – 28 April 2019 | Pinjarra

England’s Edgelarks (undergoing a name change since they appeared at the festival some years ago as Phillip Henry and Hannah Martin) return with the sensitivity and atmospheric songcraft that so endeared them to audiences then.

WA’s favourite family-friendly festival is back for 2019, with an incredible line-up of folk, world and roots music. This year sees three headline acts from Ireland, Scotland, and England gracing our stages, playing a combination of traditional and modern folk that’s sure to make you wistful for rolling green hills, and raucous country pubs.

This year the festival introduces a session venue, and is inviting the cream of Western Australian musicians to form a core group for our session band. Look out for some hot interaction with locals and visiting artists as things get lively each night of the festival.

From the heart of the Irish midlands comes a quartet of fine young players who define themselves as an I-Grass band, retaining the best of traditional playing and fusing it with American bluegrass.

Collectively JigJam have achieved over 20 AllIreland titles, which gives you a bit of an idea of the astonishing level of musical ability of these youngsters, who are forging a new direction and their own new sound.

With day, night, weekend, camping and no-camping tickets available, bring your family and your mates, grab a pint, settle in, and enjoy the festival, your way. Head to the website now to find out more.

Mànran from Scotland are one of the busiest bands on the UK circuit today. With a central ethos built around the band’s traditional Celtic roots, expect fiery tunes from the fiddle, accordion, flute, uilleann and Highland bagpipes, all binding powerfully to a rhythm section awash with elements of funk, jazz and rock.

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Wee Daniel inspires big fans

by Lloyd Gorman

He might be easy listening music royalty, but Daniel O’Donnell is also the king of hard work. A prolific recording and touring artist the Donegal man also dedicates himself to his fans with all the attention of a dedicated gardener to his roses. After every concert - of which there is apparently no such thing as a bad Daniel O’Donnell show - the man himself will normally spend hours meeting and greeting members of the audience, listening to their stories, chatting with them about the music and being in the moment.

“Its not something I have to do, its something I want to do, its something I’ve always done” he told Irish Scene ahead of his March 9 gig at the Riverside Theatre in the Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre, where he will be supported by fellow Irish singer and entertainer in her own right Mary Duff.

If the fans come out in large numbers for Daniel, then he just as much turns up for them. Heavy tour commitments and dates mean Daniel doesn’t have much leisure time to take in the places he visits.

“I always enjoy the tours and Perth has always been great. We get people traveling huge distances from across Western Australia. We did do Perth and Bunbury the last time, so I got to see a bit that way, but its not like a holiday you know. But the

people of Perth make you feel very welcome and its always the people who make the show. Once the show is over its definitely a great opportunity to get to know people. No matter where we go, I would know people, a lot of people would come to the shows and I enjoy it the interaction and opportunity to meet people. Sometimes whole groups of friends will come together, and I get to meet them again.”

Fans - including Eleanor Rooney from Three Crowns Irish Dancing School in Perth can sometimes even find themselves becoming a part of the action on stage.

“The last time we were touring in Australia and in Perth we gathered a group of people in every city we went to to join me to do this broom dance. It was only a bit of fun. I wouldn’t be the greatest dancer, but I enjoy having fun with it. We get people locally to come on and they will be from dance schools or whatever and join in.”

Daniel’s 2019 tour does not leave any room for him to even consider making a pit-stop at the Irish Club in Subiaco to meet members of the Irish Community.

Neither does it leave him any room to be a tourist, even briefly, but he doesn’t rule out possibly returning one day on his own terms. “You never know,” he said.

Now arriving and performing for his 15th Australian tour Daniel has a hardcore Irish fan base but also appeals to a wider audience who have remained loyal to him through the years. And the crowds here are a bit like back at home.

“Sometimes its hard to know if at the show there are a lot of people who would be Irish,” he said. “The difference between an Irish audience and most parts of the world is that Irish audiences sing from the word go, they sing all the songs, all the words, a lot of other countries the audiences are listening audiences. I think the Australian’s would be a bit more like us in that they would join in and sing along with you too.”

You can hear Daniel sing on Saturday 9 March, Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre, Riverside Theatre. For more information see www.pcec.com.au/event/daniel-odonnell/ 76

Irish Theatre Players Awards Night The idea behind our first Annual Irish Theatre Players Awards Night have one night, at the end of a busy year, where we get to stop, relax and enjoy the fruits of our labour with the awesome community that we’ve built up around us. The committee of course, work hard all year round, planning the shows and doing all the boring bits behind the scenes.

But the fun starts when the cast, crew and volunteers get involved. Rarely, if ever, do we get the opportunity to stop, look back at what we’ve done and appreciate the people that made it possible. We took the opportunity to celebrate with you all and thank you all for everything you’ve contributed – be it in the last year, or the last 30 years...

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there before flying to Melbourne for the Melbourne Cup. After a couple of weeks of drinking and gambling we bought a 4WD and drove to Queensland to do fruit picking. That was all in the first month in Australia and I’m still here 12 years later. How time flys. I remember at the time in 2006 in Ireland the country was booming and everybody thought I was mad going. In 2008 my plan was to go home but the bubble burst back home so I had to stay really for work. Best thing I ever did.

6 Do you ever find time to go to the cinema and what is your favourite film?

We do go to the cinema a lot actually these days. I’d probably say The Commitments is my favourite movie. Great Irish humour to it.

7 Please tell us what you think of the Irish Scene magazine?

I think it’s a great magazine. There are some great historical articles. But the advertising for the Irish pubs and businesses are fantastic. I always look to see if I got my picture taken at the Mighty Quinn but it’s usually only pictures of you Tony.

But honestly the work that goes into filling that magazine is unbelievable. It shows how big and successful the Irish community is.

8 Who is the favourite person in your life?

I’m lucky to have had great people in my life but I’d have to say my mam. She’s a great woman, she still works down in the old folk’s home in Kilmacow and still manages to look after my father and two brothers and still have time to help my grandmother with my grandfather who is not very well at the moment. And after all that, she still has time to ring me every week. I have gone back home a good few times and mam has come over to visit so that makes it a bit easier on her. I’m hoping she will be over this year or next year again for a well-deserved holiday.

9 You now live in Perth; will this be your home?

It is my home now. I’ve been in Perth ten years now so I’ve spent more of my adult life in Perth than I did in Ireland. Don’t get me wrong, Kilmacow will always be home too but I have a great life here and have so many friends both Australian and Irish. It’s hard to see myself living anywhere else. There’s plenty of work, sunshine and beer here which are the three must haves in life. This year myself and my girlfriend are planning on building a house so that will probably keep us here for another while. You never know what lies ahead down the road but for now the suitcases are staying in Perth.

10 What do you work at and are you happy there?

I’m a formwork carpenter and I do enjoy my work. It can be tough at times in the hot conditions but it can be very rewarding too. I work for an Australian man called Sean Gallagher who himself claims to have Irish heritage somewhere around Sligo I think. This would explain his good work ethic and his love of a beer and a yarn. He has a lot of Irish lads with him and has been very good to the Irish lads helping them out with visas and stuff. He even hires lads from Donegal and Roscommon which says a lot for him.

11 You tell me you went home for Christmas; did you find your parents OK? I found them alright; they were still sitting in the same spot since I was home the last time. It was actually the first time back in over two years which is the longest I’ve been away without going home. It was my father’s 60th birthday so I surprised him.

He hadn’t a clue I was coming even though the whole parish knew I was. It was great to see the shock on his face. It was great to have a few beers with the younger brothers as they weren’t allowed drink the last time I was home.

With Tony Synnott

Tony chats with Lee Vereker 1 What county and village in Ireland are you from?

I come from a small little village in South Kilkenny called Kilmacow, right on the border of Waterford. My mother is actually a Waterford woman and my father is from Kilkenny so it’s a great craic when the hurling is on, the slagging and banter.

2 Did you do well at school and enjoy homework?

I got a decent enough Leaving Cert.

I hated homework and I think you do enough in the day, why do you have to do more at home. You’re young and should be enjoying these times. My problem is that I have a very low attention span and I used to be interested in class for about ten minutes then I’d start day dreaming and looking out the window. I’m still looking out the window now writing this!!

3 What family values did you have and where did you fit in?

I don’t know about family values but we are a very close family.

I’m the eldest of five, four boys and one girl, Sarah, John, David and Larry. I get on great with all of them and they are all doing well in life. My only regret is that I left when Larry and David were only eight and nine years old. They are 20 and 21 now so I missed them growing up and all the communions and confirmations and debs.

4 Did you have a lot of hobbies or things to play?

Not so much hobbies but sport. I would watch any sport.

Coming from Kilkenny, hurling was drummed into you night and day and I enjoyed playing it but my real passion was football or soccer they call it here. I played at a good standard underage and at senior level with Kilmacow Football Club and I played a bit in Melbourne and here in Perth too. Age has caught up with me and I’m not as trim as I used to be so I’m an armchair/ barstool sportsman these days. I love Manchester United and still get up at all hours to watch them. I love my AFL too, it’s a great sport with lots of Irish young fellas playing now so that’s good to see.

5 At what age did you get the travel bug and where did you travel to?

Back in early 2006 a few of my friends came back from Australia and they loved it. I had thought of going before but this was kind of the turning point. I managed to persuade three of my friends to join me so off we head for Thailand for a month of relaxation on the way. It was anything but relaxing! We landed in Sydney in October 2006, green as an apple. We spent a week 78

12 The Irish Club is the hub of the Irish here in Perth. Do you get there often?

I’ll be honest and say I don’t get there as often as I should. I do enjoy going there for a hurling match when Kilkenny are playing but we’re not going great lately so we don’t get on the telly much anymore. It’s a great place to meet people of all ages and from every corner of the country.

13 I’m not pushing you, your girlfriend wants to get married, when will this happen?

I was waiting for this question. If I had a dollar for every time I got asked this she would be getting a million dollar diamond. I’m a very lucky man to have met her and she has the patience of a saint to put up with me. We get on great and she has a lot of the same interests as me. She loves a drink which is how we met so that helps. Who know what the future will bring but I can’t say when it will happen because that would ruin the surprise of it all. You never know, she could ask me if I leave it any longer. A leap year is only around the corner.

14 What about friends and family in Australia?

I have a lot of friends and family in Australia and Perth. I have three uncles who emigrated to Australia 20 - 30 years ago. My mother has two brothers and my father has one brother. They are spread out in Brisbane, Sydney and Adelaide. They are all doing well in their lives. I was recently in Brisbane for an Irish rugby match and caught up with my uncle Ricky for a beer which was brilliant. As for friends, there are too many to mention but I’ve met some friends for life here, some have moved on and some are still here who I meet regularly in the Mighty Quinn, where you will find me most weekends. The first weekend I was in Perth I met the famous Ashley Doherty in the pub and we are still best friends to this day. Also one of the lads I came to Australia with in 2006 is still living with Eddie Walsh. I’m very lucky to have so many good friends in Perth, including you Tony.

Thanks for letting me share my story and keep up the good work. You are a credit to yourself and the Irish community.

What a pleasure it was to interview Lee, a laugh a minute.

Tony Synnott

VISITING Ireland?

Gerry & Elsie Tully will give a great welcome!

DIVINE MERCY BED AND BREAKFAST Airport Road, Knock Co Mayo Phone: (094) 9388 178 International: 0011 353 94 9388 178

Who won the first Steeplechase?

Was it money, a hogshead or cask of wine that two Corkmen competed for in the world’s first steeplechase.

What was the wager made in 1752 by huntsmen Edmund Blake and Cornelius O’Callaghan to see which of their horses would gallop fastest the four miles between the steeples of St John’s Church in Buttevant and the Church of St Leger in Doneraile in North Cork, a distance of 4.5 miles.

An account of the race was made and went viral in an 18th century way — so much so, that the news of the steeplechase made its way into Australian newspapers for many years.

In the land of the famous Duhallow hunt, other huntsmen and women soon abandoned riding to hounds for the thrill of this form of point-to-point racing. It had the added advantage that, by keeping the steeple of the church in sight (steeplechasing), both riders could see their finishing point.

The race was over a four-mile course between the steeples of St John's Church in Buttevant and St Mary's Church in Doneraile. Racing alongside (and sometimes in) the River Awbeg at breakneck speed, they cleared stone walls, ditches and hedges in a show of strength, stamina and tremendous skill.

While history does not record who won the race, it does record the fact that the race introduced two new terms steeple-chasing and point- to-point.

The name steeplechase, however, was not bestowed upon the sport until 1803, when a party of Irish foxhunters re-enacted the race in a straight line towards a church steeple visible in the distance. The sport took its name from the chase to the steeple in North Cork.

This event is extremely important in horse racing, it is the first recorded steeplechase which also gave a new word to the English language and introduced a new concept in the history of racing.

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far as I am concerned, the title is pretty apt. Of the 101 movies featured, I had seen a mere seven, and only heard of another 16. Hence, the bulk of films reviewed

by Stratton, I had indeed ‘missed’. Stratton’s forgotten treasures are not chosen from the entire 120 years of moviemaking, but only from productions made since 1980, and all, with the exception of one, are films made in English.

Stratton explains why each of these 101 movies should be watched, and why they have fallen through the cracks and been largely overlooked.

Reasons include the inability of the production company to find an Australian distributor, such as, ‘Mike’s Murder’ (1984), because of box-office failure overseas, Kenneth Branagh’s, ‘In the Bleak Midwinter’ (1995), or movies which went straight to DVD. Stratton cites ‘The Journey’ (2016), a fictionalized account of car trip undertaken by Sinn Fein leader, Martin McGuinness, and Democratic Unionist leader, Ian Paisley, as an example of a gem which never hit Australian screens. Some movies, such as ‘Mississippi Grind’ (2014), starring Aussie actor Ben Mendelsohn, sank without a trace because of miniscule promotional budgets. Thankfully, the book includes a sizable number of Australian films, such as, ‘The Custodian’ (1993), and ‘Garage Days’ (2002).

Stratton’s reviews cover thriller, comedy, western, romance and musical genres, and have been made by notable directors such as David Lynch, Ang Lee and Sidney Lumet. Many films feature star actors including, Reece Witherspoon, Sean Connery, Tommy Lee Jones, Emma Thompson and Clint Eastwood. For each film Stratton offers a plot narrative, information about the production, and reasons why each movie never quite made it. Thankfully, in addition to his insightful and informative analysis, Stratton also provides advice about where the movies might be found (Netflix, Stan, iTunes etc), or, purchased through various outlets in Australia, the United States or the UK (website addresses provided).

This is an invaluable book for those wishing to enlarge their movie repertoire by seeking out cinematograph delights that may have been previously missed. I know I’ve compiled a long list of gems for future viewing.

101 Marvellous Movies You May Have Missed is published by Allen & Unwin. $24.99.

BOOK REVIEWS by JOHN HAGAN IN A GREAT SOUTHERN LAND

by MARY-ANNE O’CONNOR

It’s 1841 and their adventure is about to begin. In Killaloe (County Clare), ‘jack-the-lad’ Kieran Clancy, and his brother Liam, learn that they have been granted land and free passage to New South Wales. They are enthused about the opportunity to make a fresh start far away from the weight of English oppression and Irish poverty. Meanwhile, in Liverpool, following the death of her father, the spirited and clever, Eve Richards, takes up a serving position in a new household where she soon catches the eye of the landlord’s son. Their liaison is doomed from the outset and Eve finds herself, through no fault of her own, on the wrong side of the law. She is condemned, penniless and alone, to be deported, in chains, to the fledgling NSW colony. A chance meeting with Kieran on Parramatta docks, leads to Eve securing employment in the household of an English army officer.

Kieran departs Sydney to farm with Liam, who has secured land at Orange - but not for long. The news of gold strikes at Ballarat lures Kieran away to seek his fortune, and another meeting, and a blossoming romance, with the feisty and resolute Eve. Together they face an uncertain future as tensions in Ballarat grow, and Kieran’s loathing of repression and injustice rekindle his struggle against the forces of tyranny and corruption which he thought he had left behind in Ireland.

Time for Kieran and Eve to stop and make a stand.

This novel is an epic, panoramic, historic, tour-deforce, ranging from the soft, verdant, hills of County Clare, to the furore and chaos of the Eureka Stockade, where the Australian people found their voice. MaryAnne O’Connor deftly weaves a narrative full of passion and verve - a tale replete with dramatic incident, love and loss, liberty and oppression, hope and despair.

Here is an author who knows how to craft an historical drama in prose as clear and cascading as an Irish mountain stream.

In a Great Southern Land is published by HQ Fiction. $32.99

IN A HOUSE OF LIES by IAN RANKIN

101 MARVELLOUS MOVIES YOU MAY HAVE MISSED by DAVID STRATTON

I consider myself something of a cinema buff, so, when the doyen of Australian film critics released this new book on movies, I couldn’t resist. Surprisingly, as

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For the last 30 years, and featuring in 22 novels, Ian Rankin has regaled, bewitched and confounded us with the exploits of his irascible Scottish detective, John Rebus. Over such a period, one might excuse Rankin for running out of steam – not a bit of it – Rebus keeps on getting better and better. In this novel we meet an ageing Rebus, concerned with his health and no longer smoking or visiting his favourite watering hole, ‘The Oxford Bar’. Rebus’ retirement is interrupted, and undoubtly reinvigorated, when the skeletal remains of a

ing how and why the city proved so attractive to a country boy from Wexford, and Dan Berry reveals something of Frank McCourt’s tribulations in writing ‘Angela’s Ashes’. In all, there are 24 personal essays and poems in which eminent authors (including Seamus Heaney) explore the cultural, historical and social relationships between Ireland and Irish America.

Despite its clunky title, this is a sumptuously produced, highly informative book, replete with evocative photos and images, exploring the development of Irish identity and sense of place in both New York, and beyond. Central to the book’s narrative is the Glucksman Ireland House, which I must admit I had not heard of until reading this publication. Now I stand in awe of its work and reputation, and next time I visit New York, Greenwich Village and Central Park can wait. I’m off to 1 Washington Mews to learn more about the Glucksman Ireland House to view its facilities and further explore its operation and potential.

Being New York, Being Irish (edited by Terrry Golway), is published by Irish Academic Press. It is available from The Book Depository www.bookdepository for $38.14 (free postage).

private investigator, who disappeared over a decade previously, are discovered in a rusting car on the private estate of an influential Edinburgh politician. Rebus’ former subordinate, Siobhan Clarke, now a Detective Inspector, is assigned to the ‘cold case’, and reluctantly seeks assistance, and information, from her old chief.

From this liaison, Clarke discovers a different side of her old mentor – a side Rebus would prefer to keep hidden. Like Rebus, every officer involved in the reopened case must be questioned; all, including Rebus, have something to hide; all, have secrets. Neither Rebus nor Clarke could have predicted what the new investigation will uncover or who might be tainted. In his quest to resolve the mystery, Rebus again locks horns with Malcolm Fox, a former Police Professional Standards officer, who had previously investigated him over his questionable sleuthing methods, and Edinburgh’s, ‘Big Ger’ Cafferty, a criminal overlord Rebus would like to see locked-up. Both Fox and Cafferty wish to take Rebus down as the ex-detective copes with his own mortality. Rankin is at the top of his game in this intriguing and gripping tale of corruption and consequences. He remains the master of the police procedural with his intricate plotting, eye for detail and complex characterization. Long may he treat us to more iconic Rebus mysteries.

In a House of Lies is published by Hachette Australia. $32.99

THE STORM KEEPER’S ISLAND

by CATHERINE DOYLE REVIEW by NEVE HAGAN (AGE 11)

This is an amazing action packed adventure about a boy called Fionn and his sister, Tara, who go to live on the remote Irish island of Arranmore with their grandfather. Their grandfather, the storm keeper, is a secretive old man who lives in a cottage filled with candles. On Arranmore Fionn and Tara discover that mysterious dark secrets lurk beneath the earth.

They are anxious to find the special magical sea cave, a place where a wish is granted to a single person. However, as well as Fionn and Tara, someone else is desperate to have the wish - something which threatens the whole island and the people on it.

The Storm Keeper’s Island is published by Bloomsbury$14.99

BEING NEW YORK, BEING IRISH – Editor TERRY GOLWAY

New York University’s Glucksman Ireland House was opened on 26 April, 1993. The new institution, situated on Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue, was charged with providing ‘New York City with a focal point for the breadth and depth of Irish culture, both old and new’. Lew Glucksman, and his wife Loretta Brennan Glucksman, set out to foster a world-class Irish Studies programme, to teach, research, interrogate and archive the Irish experience in the United States. But why would a Hungarian Jew, like Lew Glucksman, bestow his wealth and bequeath his name to Ireland House? According to Loretta, the answer is simple, ‘Lew truly loved Ireland’. To mark the twenty fifth anniversary of that auspicious opening, ‘Being New York, Being Irish’ was published. The book contains contributions by many giants of Irish and Irish-American cultural life who address changes in Irish American culture, art, identity and politics since Gluckman Ireland House was established.

Second generation, Irish American, Alice McDermott, hailed as ‘being one of the greatest chroniclers of Irish-American life’, recounts how her son, Patrick, found his Irish cultural roots through music. Colm Toibin recalls his first visit to the Big Apple (1989), describ-

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24 Hour Helpline Ph: 9325 3566 • www.aaperth.wa.org 81

WAGS Western Australian Genealogical Society Inc. IRISH FAMILY HISTORY Case of the Brass Door Rapper 18 December 1815 It’s a week till Christmas and there’s snow on the streets of Dublin. It’s dark and cold outside. John Noble Talbot, 43, and his brother Thomas are chatting in the front room of John’s house in Blessington Street, a 20 minute walk to John’s workplace at Custom’s House, where he is a Revenue Officer. He had always been a public servant. Earlier in his career with the Excise Department his position was Keeper of the Diaries in the Office of the Secretary to the Commissioners of Excise.

Now he is a Revenue Officer, a clerical job, carrying some authority. By 1810 he was on an annual salary of £130, in today’s money, about £6,048 or AUD 10,920 . Not wealthy.

He and his brother hear a metallic sound, like something falling and hitting the floor in the front hall.

John’s daughter Mary come from the back parlour to investigate. It’s happened four times before. People have

been stealing the brass rapper from the outside of the front door and inside they’ve heard the nut holding it in place, falling to the floor. This is the last straw. The three go outside to investigate and spot a young man, a little dishevelled, standing nearby. John grabs him, accusing him of stealing the rapper. There is no one else in the street to be seen.

They make a civilian’s arrest and take him to the closest watch house, in the St George parish where they live. He’s accused of theft of a brass door rapper. Later that night the man is taken in handcuffs to Fisher’s Lane (police) depot where most cell occupants are rogues or 82

prostitutes. Next morning he is taken with others and a watch party, to the Police Office, where he is eventually discharged.

Later the younger man, identified as a surgeon named Austen Cairncross, sues John Talbot for assault and false imprisonment. Austen claims £500 damages, a massive amount in the day. Six months after the event the case goes to trial in the Court of Common Pleas, in the Four Courts Building on the Liffey at Inn’s Quay.

The solicitor for His Majesty’s Revenue appears for John Talbot, while Austen is represented by a Mr Speere, who was not as senior as the State solicitor.

Various witnesses are called, the watch house constables at both watch houses, John Talbot’s daughter Mary, and a servant of theirs. Mary says she went out the front of the house immediately she heard the sound and found the man later identified as Austen Cairncross.

They failed to find the rapper in the snow - although they did not search Mr Cairncross’s person. John Talbot testifies that he had not realised that the plaintiff was a surgeon. The plaintiff was not very fashionably dressed on the night in question and his cravat was loose. John had made some assumptions based on his appearance, although in court he will not be drawn into stating whether he looked genteel or not.

Though the plaintiff Cairncross claims he was very violently seized, John Talbot’s servant states that he witnessed no violence by his master John Talbot towards the plaintiff. The acting constable at Fisher’s Lane depot testifies that the plaintiff was discharged about 11 next morning because there was no information sworn against him; it appeared Mr Talbot was in a hurry to go to work at Customs House. The acting constable heard them speaking to each other about the matter and understood that it was amicably resolved. He pointed out to them that if the accusation was proven it would be a transportable offence. Witnesses were not in agreement about whether Cairncross could make bail or provide personal references. Mary Talbot agreed under cross examination that she would expect someone who had stolen something would run away, not just stand there.

After 15 minutes deliberation the jury returned a verdict for the plaintiff, but reduced damages to just £5 and six pence costs. This would be equivalent to about 2 week’s salary for John and about £300 in today’s currency, about AUD520.

I discovered this fascinating story about my great X 4 grandfather John Noble Talbot in the 15 August 1816 issue of Freeman’s Journal, a major nationalist Dublin newspaper in the eighteenth, nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, accessible free from home using a reader’s card from the State or National Library. (An Australian version of Freeman’s was published too and is available at www.trove.nla.gov.au).

John’s middle name, Noble, which still puzzles me, is very handy for pinpointing the correct John Talbot, as does his occupation as a public officer. The article spreads across a several columns and reveals so much about him and his family. So much more than you can get through birth, death and marriage statistics. And such a lucky find for an Irish ancestor in the early nine-

bot through his son Thomas Talbot.

Irish family history research is not easy, especially during the early nineteenth century - but sometimes you get these little gifts from heaven. A story that brings the character of your ancestor to life.

Ten years after the incident of the door rapper, widower John Noble Talbot married Isabella Glenholme who lived in the same street as John, Blessington Street.

However the marriage did not last long. He died three years later - at just 56 years of age.

Have you searched old newspapers for a story about one of your Irish ancestors? Your ancestors do not have to be nobility to be reported in the paper. As you can see, it’s amazing what you can find.

The Irish Special Interest Group (Irish SIG) of FamilyHistoryWA met in January to explore how to look for Australian clues about Irish ancestors who came here.

The next meeting will be on Sunday 14 April from 10.00 am till 12.30 pm - not our usual Sunday afternoon, because of Easter.

Continuing with the Back to Basics theme in 2019, Jenni Ibrahim will run through some key moments in Irish history with their implications for Irish family history research. Don’t worry - it won’t be like history at school.

New members and visitors are always welcome.

Gold coin donation is appreciated. If you’d like to come along and are not yet a member of FamilyHistoryWA (the business name of WA Genealogical Society) do drop a line to the convenor Robyn O’Brien. Please book a free place using the online booking site TryBooking, details below.

The Irish SIG has been working on an index to the family history stories in past issues of Irish Scene. Indexing is still underway, but you can search some of the more recent years. Thanks to Maureen Mulligan. Details below.

Wishing the Irish community all the best for St Patrick’s Day, when everyone is Irish.

Jenni (Kirby) Ibrahim, on behalf of the Irish Special Interest Group

teenth century.

The story suggests that John Talbot might have been rather impatient and intolerant about petty crime, possibly typical of many people of his social class at the time. Through this article I discovered he had a daughter called Mary, and a brother Thomas, though I have found nothing more about them. These first names are consistent with the family’s naming pattern and would hint at the father’s name if I knew who was the oldest. I already knew John’s wife’s name, Mary Chappell, from the www.IrishGenealogy.ie (free government site). I assume Mary had died before the events of this cold snowy night in December 1815, otherwise she might have been the one to go to the front door and call her husband to investigate.

I already knew John Talbot had a son called Thomas, named like his brother. Before discovering this story I had made in contact with a number of living descendants of John’s sons Thomas Talbot and William Henry Talbot. Two live in USA, though one was born in Perth.

Three more, sisters, live in Dublin, born with the Talbot surname, one of them my DNA match. I’ve spoken to them by Skype and it was thrilling to talk to my 5th cousins, our common ancestor being our great x 4 grandfather, John Noble Talbot of the stolen brass door rapper.

And I am descended from John Noble Talbot’s daughter Euphemia, also known as Effie, who moved from Dublin to Liverpool with her husband and three sons in the 1830s. There they produced two daughters, one of them my direct ancestor, Alicia Kirby. Eventually, in 1919, Effie’s grandson and my paternal grandfather, Cyril Kirby migrated from London to Melbourne. You will have seen that he had the same surname as his grandmother. He had had several other names by 1919, but that is another story.

I wonder whether my grandfather realised that his 2nd cousin once removed, Pierce Butler Talbot, was already living in Fremantle and working as an entertainer and a mariner. He was a descendant of John Noble Tal-

Robyn O’Brien, Convenor Irish Special Interest Group E irish.sig@fhwa.org.au (Note that our email address has changed) FamilyHistoryWA (FHWA) http://membership.wags.org.au T 9271 4311 (Website address has not yet changed) Book a free place for 14 April at TryBooking https://tinyurl.com/irish-april2019 Join FHWA Facebook group FamilyHistoryWA – researching family worldwide, open to non members Irish SIG page at FamilyHistoryWA https://tinyurl.com/irishsig Index to family history stories in Irish Scene magazine (in progress) https://membership.wags.org.au/members-data/ public-data/irish-scene-index

Front Cover Photo: Have a plastic fantastic St. Patrick’s Day There are many ways to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day. This bunch did it WA style by playing with a Lego replica of Ireland in a swimming pool in Heathridge, Perth. The Lego landscape includes a GAA pitch, round tower, archaeological treasures, mini-figure version of the Irish army and even a graveyard. The base itself was cut from an election poster of Willie O’Dea, Limerick TD, that found its way to Perth.

From left, Doireann Kerrigan, Molly Gorman, Saoirse Jordan, Holly Gannon, Fionn Kerrigan, Eoghan Boyle, Megan Gannon, Ewan Gorman and Ronan Jordan.

Photo: Lloyd Gorman

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Paula Xiberras from Tasmania

Campion takes a Chance on Tassie

By Paula Xiberras ‘The House of Second Chances’ is Irish/Tasmanian Esther Campion’s companion novel to ‘Leaving Ocean Road’. The first novel was the story of Ellen, who migrated to Australia from Ireland, and Gerry, the love she left behind. Ellen went on to find happiness with Nick and their daughter but after a freak accident found herself embarking on a relationship once again with Gerry.

The House of Second Chances still gives us a continuation of Ellen and Gerry’s story, but has as its main focus Ellen’s brother Aiden’s story as he seeks to renovate the scene of their childhood happiness, their grandmother’s cottage with the help of interior designer Colette.

Parallel to the interior design of the cottage is the renovating of the interiors of the novel’s characters as the relationships between them develop.

Ellen recently answered some questions for me regarding ‘The House of Second Chances’ set in Ireland and Australia.

P: Readers will be delighted to revisit the lives of Ellen and Gerry, although this time they take a little bit of a back seat to the story of Ellen’s brother Aiden and his relationship with work colleague Colette. What encouraged you to write a sequel or companion novel to ‘Leaving Ocean Road’ and will there be another book in the series?

E: When I finished my first novel,

I felt I wasn’t finished with the stories of some of the characters.

I know some of my lovely readers felt the same as they told me they wanted to know what happened to Ellen and Gerry afterwards.

Something I always loved about the late Maeve Binchy’s books was that you recognised characters from before. I basically decided to have a go and ended up putting two minor characters, Colette and Aidan, from Leaving Ocean Road, front and centre, while keeping Ellen and Gerry a little in the background. So, although The House of Second Chances is a standalone novel, I’m hoping readers of Leaving Ocean Road will be happy with the outcome. As to where my characters go from here, I can only say I’m working on it and that the next story is partly set on the beautiful northwest coast of Tasmania as well as in Ireland.

P: The work on the house that Aiden has avoided for so long in a way parallels his own awakening to getting both his house and life in order. Did you intend the reader to make the connections between renovating the house and renovating relationships?

E: To be honest, I write by the seat of my pants, so it wasn’t until readers of the uncorrected proofs began to suggest that the house was like a character itself that I truly understood the metaphor for healing which developed through the course of writing the novel.

P: Some aspects of this novel are inspired by real life. How do you usually get your inspiration?

E: That’s a great question which on a day where I’m a bit stuck, I wish I could answer. But inspiration can

come from anywhere, maybe an article in a newspaper or a snippet on Facebook, a story I hear or even overhear. For The House of Second Chances, I took inspiration in part from a friend whose family are living with an incurable syndrome.

It is this friend to whom the book is dedicated.

P: You are originally from Cork but what other parts of Ireland do you think would make a good setting for a (maybe future) novel and why?

E: The last time I was home with my daughter, I took her on a brilliant road trip from Cork to Connemara so you can imagine the number of places that impressed.

Clifden was a highlight for me as I found it so remote. Driving the roads around the Connemara National Park through the peat bogs is truly something to be experienced. Whether I’ll set a novel there or not remains to be seen but I certainly got an idea for one on my travels.

•• WIN A COPY ••

"The House of Second Chances" We have of two Esther’s books to giveaway…

To enter draw just send your email to: fred@irishscene.com.au 84

You are Invited

Keith brought his music to Tasmania

by Paula Xiberras Musician Keith Harkin has a surname that suits, to ‘harken’ means to listen and many found themselves doing just that when the singer /songwriter visited Hobart this February.

Many people may know Keith formerly from his time with Irish group Celtic Thunder, who have been frequent visitors to Australia including Tasmania. People may not know that for many years before joining ‘Celtic Thunder’ Keith was a solo performer who joined the group after seeing an ad in the paper when he was in the pub with his dad. Keith loves Australia because he finds Australians share the same dry sense of humour as the Irish.

For the last seven years Keith has returned to performing solo and while Celtic Thunder was a slick well-rehearsed outfit, Keith has been enjoying displaying his personality with the spontaneity and adlibbing and acoustic guitar of his solo work.

I spoke to Keith just prior to his Australian tour and he told me he has friends on the west coast of NSW and Byron Bay and Burleigh Heads where he and his wife spent a six month holiday with friends and he even enjoyed a spot of surfing.

Keith says music has always been part of his life from around four years of age. He explains in Ireland music is all pervading because says Keith it’s something everybody can do regardless of their status. Any event is an excuse for music. Children are encouraged to take part in performing early on with events like the ‘Feis’ an Irish festival which encompasses music dance and poetry reading.

Inspiration in writing music is found everywhere for Keith in what he reads, observes and in his own life. The writing process can be a visit from the muse or a more protracted process and sometimes it might be a riff, a word or a melody that triggers his writing process.

Keith doesn’t mind his music being put into a genre like folk/pop and is always interested in how it is received by audiences. Many around Australia harkin-ed Keith’s musical message and went to see him on his first solo tour of Australia in January and February. On the back of this tours success Keith plans to return to Australia next year.

Daniel O’Donnell with the book on Big Tom and author Tom Gilmore

Big Tom book launch

by Daniel O’Donnell in Perth The best-selling book “Big Tom the King of Irish Country” will have its Australian launch in the:

Grand Hyatt Regency Hotel, 99 Adelaide Terrace, Perth Saturday afternoon March 9th at 12.30 with Daniel O’Donnell as guest of honour.

All are welcome to the Perth launch.

The book is a tribute to Big Tom McBride, 'the Johnny Cash of Irish country music'. From labourer to music star, the journey of the singer who brought so much joy to fans at home and to emigrants abroad over five decades.The author of the book Tom Gilmore will be present to sign copies of the book which will be on sale at the launch and the it will also be on sale at the merchandising stand at Daniel O’Donnell’s concert in The Riverside Theatre Perth which commences at 5 on that Saturday evening.

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ments of songs such as Sinead O’ Connor’s ‘In This Heart’ and ‘Zombie’ by the Cranberries.

It’s no surprise that the Choir is so popular - they are a phenomenon sweeping the globe, made popular by social media and trends like Pub Choir. Gone are the PERTH days where a choir was limited to a church or CITY concert hall. You can find them today performing in venues ranging from conventional to the obscure - pubs and clubs, on public transport, coffin factories (it’s true, UK choir ‘notorious’ held a Halloween performance in one!).

Cities across the world host festivals dedicated to choirs, including several in WA. Guildford Songfest, run for the past two years, will play host to some of the best choirs in the area when it returns in September. Fans of the Irish Choir Perth who will be able to watch them perform there again this year.

Where else can you catch the Irish Choir Perth?

There are a number of events planned for the year. The Choir will be taking part in the St Patrick’s Day festival in Leederville, the Guildford Songfest in September, and will be hosting two of our own concerts in June and December.

New members are always welcome at the Choir and anyone interested can drop in for a casual session. Practice sessions are on Wednesday nights, 7pm at the Irish Club of WA. Details of term dates, fees and performances will be posted on our Facebook page.

It is said a song can lift the heart up, a song is as good as therapy, song is meditation - when you sing, you breathe, song is expression, its passion, it’s tradition.

And for the Irish, it’s a part of our identity, our history, ourselves.

Kerry native Audree Grennan started the Irish Choir Perth as a celebration of Irish music for those who love it. From its inception in June 2017, the Choir has held firm to this simple idea. Everyone is welcome, there are no auditions and we learn by ear so you don’t need to read music. The Choir has developed into a fun, social group, with a mix of ages and nationalities.

Our Musical Director is Australian Raelene Bruinsma, an experienced singer, choir leader and vocal coach, among others, but a novice to Irish music. It’s been an interesting experience for her and others unfamiliar with Gaeilge, to broach our often tongue twisting language, but worth the effort to hear our voices unite in our beautiful mother tongue. Raelene has embraced Irish music and put together some impressive arrange-

Fr Sean was completing a Temperance sermon during the St patrick's Day mass said, "Drink is the scurge of the Irish!" With great emphasis he said, "If I had all the beer in the world, I'd take it and pour it into the river." Then with even greater emphasis he said, "And if I had all the wine in the world, I'd take it and pour it into the river." And then finally, shaking his fist in the air, he shouted, "And if I had all the whiskey in the world, I'd take it and pour it into the river." With the sermon complete, he sat down. Then the song leader stood up and announced, "For our closing song, let us sing Hymn number 365, "Shall We Gather at the River."

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Around the Irish scene Compiled by Fred Rea

Irish Ambassador to Australia, Breandán Ó Caollaí and his wife Carmel with Tom Gilmore from Galway at the Fremantle Fenian Festival.

Tom interviewed the Ambassador for Galway Bay FM. Tom also presented Breandán with a copy of his book 'Big Tom, the King of Irish Country'.

Tom's book will be launched in Australia by Daniel O'Donnell at the Hyatt Hotel on Saturday 9th March. All welcome at attend the launch!

Monkeying around in Dublin Jackie Mangan (on the left in both photos) was in Dublin recently, her first trip 'home' in 12 years. She's pictured in O'Connell Street Dublin with her aunty Mary and cousin Michelle but also in a group shot taken in the West County Hotel Bar, the scene of a reunion. At the centre of the family photo you might notice a stuffed toy. Jackie explains: "The monkey is Charlie, a cousin toy, since he was four.

My dad used to send Charlie Christmas cards, even from Perth. My cousin Alan, who sadly couldn't make the bash, never knew who sent them. A family memory from when we were growing up."

Galway boys at Sharon Shannon concert in Fremantle. Dermot Ryan, Dunmore, Michael Keaveney, Glinsk and Joseph Coyne, Clonbur with Tom Gilmore, Tuam Herald.

Happy 80th Birthday..

Patricia Bratton celebrating the big day with Claddagh friends at Mooney's in Osborne Park.

The pork sausages and black pudding flowed freely!

Congratulatons

Irish Graves at Karrakatta Bill Whyte and friends visited the grave of Martin O'Meara, VC and laid a bunch of flowers at his grave recently. They also found James Kiely's plaque the last Fenian. In the pictures Bill Whyte, John Carroll (both from Offaly), Dave Kelly (Carlow) and Roy Nolan (Dublin).

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Melbourne Famine Memorial Fred & Lilly Rea at the Famine Memorial in Williamstown, Melbourne. This was the site of the International Famine Commemoration in 2019.

The Bowens...

Mike Bowen and family made Lilly & Fred very welcome. Thanks Mike

Visitor to Perth Helen Sheridan with her brother Joe & Marlene Carroll during her visit to Perth. Also in photo is Marlene's mother Amy Booth.

Visit to Newcastle New South Wales...

(L-R) Brian O'Callaghan, Lilly Rea, Ann O'Callaghan, Tim Mullins and Wendy Mullins. It was way back in 1972 that Tim and Fred Rea made the long journey to Australia. It was the O'Callaghan family who made our life happier during the earlier years.

By the way I am not responsible for the cockies passing...Happy 70th Tim. Fred Rea

The light of evening, Lissadell, Great windows open to the south, Two girls in silk kimonos, both Beautiful, one a gazelle.

From ‘In Memory of Eva Gore-Booth and Con Markievicz’

by William Butler Yeats

Song for Ireland Productions

Bernie and Geraldine celebrating a birthday at the Irish Club

“DEAREST OLD DARLING” Wednesday April 17 • Thursday April 18 Friday April 19 • Saturday April 20, 2019 at 8pm Bookings: trybooking.com

Returning to Ireland?

JACK STILL GOING STRONG! Jack Cullen with wife Betty and Lilly Rea enjoying a coffee in Sorrento.

Jack was our proof reader for a number of years and also a keen golfer with the Irish Golf Club. He sends his regards to all his friends!

Family and Friends Friends of near 50 years Eileen McSweeney (nee Manning from Cork) (left) and cousin Chris Lightfoot with Lilly and Fred Rea in Williamstown, Melbourne.

We can help you with the move!

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Happy 90th Birthday

Michael Murphy of Coogee celebrated his birthday with the Mighty Quinn singers club mob!

It was a great night and the bus home was a mighty craic.

Congratulations Michael!

Where opportunity shops!

You never know what you'll pick up in a charity shop when you walk into one - that's why they're called opportunity shops (Op-shops). It isn't always the stock that's interesting, sometimes it's the people working there. Last year I* discovered this great group who pitch in at the Heathridge Vinnies every Friday. Martin left Belfast for Australia in about 1973 while his wife Pat came out from the Northern Ireland capital a little bit later in 1974/75.

They have been volunteering at the local branch of the charity for about three years now. Glenyse has been a friendly face and helpful hand at the store for 22 years. She was born in Osborne Park to an Irish father (from Carlow) and mum from England. Glenyse got a job in the Celtic Club for most of the 1970s as a drinks waitress, thanks to then manager Marty Kavanagh. She recalls the club was in a lovely building on the corner of Kings Park Road and Havelock Street.. She was also on the committee of the Irish Club for many years in the 1970s. Glenyse went on to marry Frank Aylward from Dublin. They were happily married for 30 years before he passed. She is very proud of their children - Paul, Phillip, Joanne, Damien, Gerrard and Peter, their 12 grand children and five great grandchildren. (*Editor) From left, Martin O'Neill, Alice Luckhurst, store manager, Pat O'Neill and Glenyse Aylward 21 years in Collie Marie (Annie) Hicks recently celebrated 21 years in Collie, south of Perth. Marie celebrated at the local Chinese. It was a most memorable occasion for Marie who is pictured at the memorial to Martin O'Meara VC. Marie is off to Ireland and UK in May to visit family and friends. Safe journey Marie and thank you for your support of Martin O'Meara and the Irish Scene.

Happy Birthday Gerry!

Gerry Tully (with Elsie) recently celebrated his 70th with family and friends on his annual visit to Western Australia. T'was a great night!

Meadow Jordan

We had Marcus Jordan on the front cover many years ago after we gave him some stick about not putting a photo of him in the magazine after taking many photos over the years. Well here's his daughter Meadow with her first copy of the Irish scene a few months ago.

Congratulations Marcus!

Sean Roche meets the great Micky McConnell

During a visit to Kerry, Sean Roche bumped into Micky McConnell. Micky who penned Only Our Rivers Run Free still looks hale and hearty! Sean will be back in Perth in March and April playing at The National in Fremantle.

Tony and Veronica McKee PO Box 994 Hillarys WA 6923

"The Fighting Priest" The headstone of Irishman, Fr John Fahey has a new home in the grounds of Cottesloe Catholic Church. Fr Fahey is an unsung hero of WW1 and this new position is well deserved!

Lest We Forget

New Celtic Club Manager Simon Brown has been appointed Managing Secretary of the Celtic Club in West Perth. Simon extends an invitation to you to visit the club. Good luck Simon!

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info@mckeefamilyfunerals.com.au www.mckeefamilyfunerals.com.au

Tel (08) 9401 1900 • Fax: 9401 1911

Mob: 0413 337 785

Gaelic Football & Hurling Association of Australasia Western Australia 2019 John West Feile Peile Na nOG: 2019 Executive Committee: There is a huge amount of work A new year, and a new season lies ahead for GAA going on at an underage level GAA in Western Australia. On the 19th January a new wise in WA and in a historic first, Executive Committee was elected at AGM with GAAWA will be sending a Under the following Officers taking up roles; 14 team to take part in the 2019 John West Feile Peil Na nOG to be hosted by Connaught GAA in PRESIDENT: Gerry McGough June 2019. The event will see 32 SECRETARY: Tara Pratarelli county champions plus teams TREASURER: Ronan Cullen from the international units take PUBLIC RELATIONS OFFICER: Tom Murphy part in a feast of Gaelic Football VICE PRESIDENT AUSTRALASIA: Alan Burke at the Connaught GAA Centre VICE PRESIDENT: John Whelehan of Excellence in Claremorris, Co Mayo. Not only is this the first-time Minor Board Quiz: a under 14 team from Western Onn the 15th February a table quiz in aid of the Australia has travelled to Ireland Southern Area Hospice, Newry, Co Down was to take part in competition, it is the held by the GAAWA Minor Board in the Irish first time that a under 14 team from Club. Held to honour one of our minor coaches Australasia has travelled to Ireland Mick O’Connor who passed away suddenly while to take part in competition. raising funds for the Southern Area Hospice in 2018, the event was a great success with GAAWA Clubs: 12 tables taking part and over $2,000 raised All our Clubs are back in training on the night. The Minor Board hope to meet for the 2019 season. Several events representatives of the Southern Area Hospice in have taken place to mark the new the next number of months. The night also saw season with bubble football, BBQ’s, presentation to our minor players who received team bonding sessions & meet and All-Stars due to their performances in the 2018 greets days being held for new Australasian Championships that were held in and returning players. If you or Melbourne. Both the Australasian Plate & Mick somebody you know would like to O’Connor Cup were on display in the Irish Club meet new people, get fit and have on the night. Sincere thanks to the Irish Club fun at the same time, please get in and everyone who made the event possible. contact with any of our clubs. All of them have a social media presence, www.gaawa.com.au so you have no excuses!

Facebook: gaainwa Twitter: @GAAinWA Instagram: gaainwa Facebook: GaelicGamesJuniorAcademyofWA Football Clubs Greenwood Morley Gaels Southern Districts St. Finbarr’s Western Shamrocks Hurling Clubs St. Gabriel’s Western Swans Perth Shamrocks Sarsfields

GAAWA CLUB DETAILS Mens Senior Football - greenwoodgfc@hotmail.com Mens & Ladies Senior Football - morleygaelsgfc@hotmail.com Mens & Ladies Senior Football - southerndistrictsgaa@gmail.com Mens & Ladies Senior Football - stfinbarrsgfc@outlook.com Mens & Ladies Senior Football - westernshamrocks@hotmail.com Mens & Ladies Senior Hurling & Camogie - stgabrielsperth@gmail.com Mens & Ladies Senior Hurling & Camogie - westernswansgaa@gmail.com Mens Senior Hurling - perthshamrocks@gmail.com Mens Senior Hurling - sarshurlingperth@gmail.com 90

WA Minors Quiz Night

Football: BGC Grounds, Tom Bateman Reserve Cnr Bannister & Nicholson Rds, Canning Vale Hurling: RA Cook Reserve, Coode St. Morley gh

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Gaelic Football & Hurling Association of Australasia Western Australia

The Gaelic Games Junior Academy update We recently held our AGM and elected our new committee to help run the show this year, so welcome onboard to: Gerry Crowley - President Derek Lalor- Vice President Kieran O Rourke- Secretary Open - assistant Secretary Sarah Foster - treasurer Tony Ward - assistant Treasurer PRO - Lloyd Gorman Deborah Teahan - founder and committee member John Broderick- committee member Andy Brennan - committee member

We’ll have a busy year so we are hitting the ground running with our first activities on St Patrick’s Day with our kids marching in the parade, the kids really loved being part of such a huge day! We are also planning to host a large sausage sizzle there on the day so come and support our first fund raising event of 2019!

NEW VENUE: We have a new venue for our training it is at the HBF arena In Joondalup (rugby pitch to the left of the main building) it’s a great facility and one the parents and children will enjoy, no doubt swimming will become some of the children’s cool down practice. It’s a shame we no longer have the pristine ground of Sacred Heart in Sorrento, but we were lucky enough to get 2 years there, and the new ground at the HBF has plenty to offer!

As always please download the ‘team app’ and look for us on Facebook for more up to date information or we are happy to be contacted via email also: ggjunWioracademy@gmail.com Our Registration date is: 31st March at HBF arena so if you have children aged between 4-12year olds please come along all equipment is provided and there is a early bird discount of 20% for more information please download the ‘Team App’.

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Michael’s not afraid TO TACKLE THIS CHALLENGE

by Fred Rea/Lloyd Gorman

A new star of Australian rugby is rising from an Irish horizon.

Michael McDonald is a scrum half with the Palmyra Rugby Club and kicks for goal. The 19 year old born Dundalk man measures in at 84kg and stands 178cm tall. He has proved to be a figure worth watching on the field and a stand out player.

He recently started playing with The Western Force in their Future Force Academy. “I spent all week training with the first team this week and did a pre-season bloc with them for six weeks before Christmas, so hopefully there’ll be an opportunity there this year,” Michael told Fred Rea. “I just went to my first national camp (last week?) with 50 lads and the next camp is at the start of March and they are taking 42 guys and then there’s the World Cup in Argentina in June, so its pretty exciting. Its really high intensity, really good stuff and I love it, love it, love it, they are a great bunch of fellas.”

There is a lot of competition for places on the camps. Michael is one of just a handful to make the grade from West Australia, and even more nationally. Coaches from the Wallabies are regular visitors to the camps, where they can keep an eye out for up and coming talent in a pool of already dedicated hopefuls.

New opportunities would seem to be presenting themselves to Michael, but he is in many ways an old hand already at the sport.

“I’m from Carlingford and grew up playing rugby for Dundalk,” he said. “In fact the whole family played for Dundalk Rugby Club, my dad played for Dundalk, my uncles and two older brothers Cillian and Gearóid. I grew up watching them play for Dundalk. There’s a bit of rugby in all of us.”

Of course, watching rugby at all levels - from Leinster and Munster to Ireland and European rugby - is part and parcel of normal life too.

The family - mum Sally Ann and dad Andy - left Ireland about six years ago and they became Australian citizens in late 2018. “Its good,” Michael says about becoming naturalised.

“I’m going to study project management at TAFE this year and am playing rugby full time. Its good. Its very enjoyable.”

Another popular sport has featured prominently in the McDonald family and Michael’s upbringing. “I love golf. Dad’s a big golfer, he used to be a big golfer but sort of stopped playing because of the rugby but growing up golf was our main sport.

I got down to a 10 handicap. That was my main sport and then about four or five years ago I stopped taking it really seriously and started playing rugby.”

Irish are big fans of the Force The Western Force made their debut against the Brumbies at a packed Subiaco Oval in the 2006 rugby season. Since then the Club has gone through many highs and lows, not to mention the scandal about its unfair treatment at the hands of the Australian Rugby Union in 2017 which cut it out of the Super Rugby series. But like its players in a tough game the Club picked itself up off the ground and with a lot of local WA support came back hard with 93

Michael (centre) Ian Prior and Tevin Ferris

the creation of World Series Rugby in 2018.

From day one and through all that one Irish venue in Perth has been steadfast in its support for the Club. JB O’Reilly’s has always been a popular spot with sports fans, including rugby, to watch games on big TVs. But the pub was also quick to back the fledgling WA rugby team and became a sponsor in 2006 and has been involved with them ever since. The Cambridge Street haunt is the official pub of The Western Force Supporters site (twf.com.au) and it is not unusual for players, coaches and others linked with the club to meet there.

Dust off those boots Finally, pre-season training for the Perth Irish Rugby Club started back recently. The first session of the year was held on Tuesday 5th February at Centenary Park, Belmont. All players were welcomed regardless of previous experience.

The McDonald's at Australian naturalising ceremony this year

SHAMROCK

Rovers

SPONSORED AND SUPPORTED BY McLOUGHLIN'S BUTCHERS MALAGA

Hoops prepare for upcoming season

Pre-Season training has kick started as the preparation continues for the upcoming 2019 season at Shamrock Rovers. Head Coach, Gerry McEwan, is supported by Adam Walsh and Keith Traynor to form a formidable coaching team to oversee the continued progress of the Hoops. Last season seen the club taking positive steps on and off the field.

The target for this year is to challenge at the top end of the League with a number of new recruits arriving to bolster both the first and second team squads. Training has been very robust as fitness and sharpness is the priority after the summer break. Gerry is extremely happy with progress and the squad is taking shape to tackle upcoming challenges.

Rovers kick-started in the Night Series away to Forrestfield. There were many positives from the narrow defeat against the side from the higher league. Gerry McEwan reflected on the first outing of 2019, “We had a number of lads making their debuts so many positives with plenty of potential that will make for an exciting season ahead”.

Rovers are currently looking for new recruits to play in the Under 18’s league. If you are looking to play football at a decent standard and avail of excellent coaching at the Under 18 level then contact the club. We welcome new recruits to the club and look forward to building on the Under 18’s we have developed in recent seasons.

Off the pitch, we have an enthusiastic committee that achieved great stability in the 2018 season and eager to build on the progress. If you would be interested in volunteering time in the football community, we would be eager to have a chat.

Big thanks to our sponsors Pipeline Technics, Killarney Autos, McLoughlin Butchers, Express Bins and Bendigo Bank.

For additional information contact details below.

Contacts: Chairman Marty Burke 0410 081 386 Secretary Dean Keating 0415 534204

McLoughlin Butchers Malaga Drop in and see our range of Irish prepared meats 58 Westchester Rd, Malaga WA 6090

mcloughlinbutchers.com.au Like us on facebook 94

THE IRISH GOLF CLUB OF WA Our first outing for 2019 was on 20th January at Hartfield Country Club followed by our Annual General Meeting.

Golfers experienced very hot conditions with a few unseasoned players succumbing to the heat.

Other well-seasoned players came to the fore and collected their rewards.

On the day our winner was Sean

Byrne with 39pts, runner up was Brendan Wymbs on 38pts with PJ Kenny third on 35pts. Best visitor was Cian O’Connor and lowest gross Kieron Lyons.

Our novelty prize winners, NTP’s Martin Fahy, Kevin Ducker, Sean Byrne, longest first putts went to Ciaran O’Hanlon & Davy Doyle and longest Drive, Kieron Lyons.

Club Officers for the 2019/20: President: Peter Mckenna, Vice Presidents: Eamonn Fitzpatrick & Kevin McGloin Treasurer/Secretary: Allan Rowlands Asst. Secretary: Sean Dunne Captain: Allan Rowlands Vice-Captain: PJ Kenny Handicapper: Jack Ebbs Results/Score Cards: Tom Burke + PJ Kenny

My Golf Ball In My Hand I Hold A Ball, White And Dimpled, And Rather Small.

Oh, How Bland It Does Appear,...

This Harmless Looking Little Sphere.

By Its Size I Could Not Guess The Awesome Strength It Does Possess.

But Since I Fell Beneath Its Spell, I've Wandered Through The Fires Of Hell.

My Life Has Not Been Quite The Same Since I Chose To Play This Stupid Game.

It Rules My Mind For Hours On End; A Fortune It Has Made Me Spend.

It Has Made Me Curse And Made Me Cry, And Hate Myself And Want To Die. It Promises Me A Thing Called Par, If I Hit It Straight And Far. To Master Such A Tiny Ball, Should Not Be Very Hard At All. But My Desires The Ball Refuses, And Does Exactly As It Chooses.

It Hooks And Slices, Dribbles And Dies, And Disappears Before My Eyes.

Often It Will Have A Whim, To Hit A Tree Or Take A Swim.

With Miles Of Grass On Which To Land, It Finds A Tiny Patch Of Sand.

Then Has Me Offering Up My Soul, If Only It Would Find The Hole.

It's Made Me Whimper Like A Pup, And Swear That I Will Give It Up. And Take To Drink To Ease My Sorrow, But The Ball Knows, I'll Be Back Tomorrow.

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Happy St Patrick's Day from Paul McLoughlin and Staff

Products available at our Malaga address and selected IGA and Coles OUR RANGE: • Bratwurst Sausages • Irish Pork Sausages • Lamb & Rosemary Sausages • Mild Italian Sausages • BBQ Sausages • Bacon Hock • Champagne Leg Ham • Gammon Ham • Pork & Fennel Sausages

• Chorizo • Chicken Schnitzel • Chicken Parmigiana • Lamb Burgers • BBQ Steak Sausages • Beef Burgers • Bacon Rashers • Boiling Bacon • Italian Sausages • Smoked Bacon Bones

• Chicken Kiev • Beef Ribs • Lamb Ribs • Marinated Roasting Beef Pieces • Beef Steaks • Corned Silverside • Black Pudding • Black Pudding Slices • Pickled Pork

58 Westchester Rd, Malaga, WA 6090 McLoughlinButchers.com.au Phone: 08 9249 8039 96