25th Anniversary Edition
AUST RALI A’ S I RI S H N E WS PA P E R
THE TOP 100 June 5 – 18, 2014 | Volume 27 – Number 13 | AUS $4.95 (incl GST)
Print Post No 100007285
IRISH AUSTRALIANS
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25th Anniversary Edition 1989 – 2014
Congratulations to the IRISH ECHO on its 25th Anniversary Wishing you continued success FROM
Est 1998
Safety First
“Helping to Construct a Better Tomorrow” WWW.LIS-CON.COM.AU Lis-Co n is an in t eg r al p ar t b eh in d t h e im p r o vem en t an d co n st r u ct io n o f h ig h q u alit y in f r ast r u ct u r e all ar o u n d Au st r alia o ver t h e p ast 15 year s
Som e of our past and present project s; QLD Airport Link, The Gateway Bridge, Hale St Link Bridge, The Horizon Alliance, Leichardt Power Station Mount Isa, Pacific Motorway Gold Coast. NSW Leura Bypass, Darlrymple Bay, Tamworth Treatment Station, Gawler Station, Hunter Expressway, North West Rail, Port Botany, M5 Motorway. SA Urban Superway, Adelaide Desalination Plant, Southern Expressway, Outer Habour Bert, Adelaide Aqua ACT Cotter Dam, Majurra Parkway NT Ichthys Combined Cycle Power Plant, Ichthys EPC Cryogenic Tanks Project Darwin. VIC Peninsula Link
Lis-Con is a large civil construction company operating Australia wide with a highly skilled workforce of approximately 400 employees. We have been involved in every major infrastructural project in the last 15 years due to our expertise and excellence in engineering, formwork, steel fixing, concreting and metal fabrication. Our ability in the industry has made us the company of choice. Contact us on PH: 1300LISCON or EMAIL: admin@lis-con.com.au
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25th Anniversary Edition 1989 – 2014
A message from the publisher MORE than one million Irish have come to Australia since 1788. Some came in chains, convicted of often trivial crimes that were a consequence of their poverty, not their criminality. Many more came as free settlers, looking for a better life than the one their home country could afford them. More recently, we have come here predominantly as skilled immigrants, accepting Australia’s invitation to seek out opportunities and stay for the lifestyle. It is a rich history. The Irish have played a significantly greater role in the development of Australia than they have in, say, the United States of America. So much so that the Irish Australian identity has been largely subsumed into the mainstream culture. In America, the Irish are also part of the mainstream but have maintained a separateness that, in many ways, defines their influence. Of course, there are important differences between the countries that also must be taken into account when assessing the role and perception of the Irish. America is a republic that got rid of its colonial rulers. Australia remains a constitutional monarchy with the flag and the crown and the monarch of its colonial rulers intact. The Irish in Australia have thrived, despite historical challenges of sectarian isolation or jingoistic suspicion. Too often, the story of the Irish in Australia is clumped in with British-Australian history. How often have you heard the lazy, catch-all expression Anglo-Australia used to describe those Australians that hail from ‘the UK’? But the Irish have their own story to tell. It is important for us – as the current wave of Irish immigrants – to honour those Irish who came before, to know and understand their stories and to honour and celebrate their legacy. But it is also important for Ireland itself to embrace their achievements and to cherish their life stories. This Top 100 Irish Australians list puts faces and names to our diaspora. We have chosen 100 individuals who have been conspicuous in their contribution to their adopted country. We could have chosen hundreds more. It is a magnificent list, full of characters whose talent, imagination, fortitude and hard work helped to build this country into the thriving, wealthy, peaceful nation it is today. Their common denominator is that they – or their parents, grandparents or ancestors – one day boarded a ship or a plane, left the country of their birth to come to this one. That experience of leaving is one that connects the present and the past. We, who have chosen to come here as immigrants, should draw strength from these stories as we seek to write new chapters in Irish Australian history. Best Wishes, Billy Cantwell Publisher
CONTENTS
Top 100 Irish Australians
Page iv A–C Barlow, Mary Kate Brennan, Gerard Cahill, John Joseph
Page vi
Carmody, Kev Darcy, Les Duhig, James
Page viii
Dunphy, Myles Durack, Patsy Fahey, John
Page ix
Fitzgerald, Nicholas Gillen, Francis Hartigan, Patrick
Page xi
Hogan, Edmond Keating, Paul Knowles, Marian
Page xii
Lyons, Joseph Martin, James Minogue, Dan
Page xiii
Moran, Patrick Neeson, Doc O’Connor, Cy
Page xvi
O’Farrell, Patrick O’Reilly, Maurice Pottie, Eliza
Page xviii
Prendergast, George Rudd, Kevin Smith, Thomas H
Page xxi
Stynes, Jim Torrens, Robert Whitty, Ellen
Page xxii
Cremin, David Malone, Michael Stephens, Ursula
Barry, Redmond Brennan, Louis Calwell, Arthur
Bates, Daisy Buchanan, Nathaniel
Bourke, Richard Buckley, Vincent
Chifley, Ben Deane, William Dunlop, Eliza
Costigan, Frank Deniehy, Dan
Curtin, John Duffy, Charles Gavan
Durack, Elizabeth Dwyer, Kate Fihelly, John
Durack, Fanny Dwyer, Michael
Durack, Mary Fanning, Mick
Flynn, Errol Gleeson, Murray Healy, Mary
Foy, Mark Greene, Anne
Frayne, Ursula Hanna, Paddy
Hogan, James Francis Kelly, Isabelle Mary Lalor, Peter
Jageurs, Morgan Kelly, Ned
Johnston, Trent Keneally, Tom
MacDonagh, Oliver Mccaughey, Samuel Moran, Herbert
Mahon, Hugh Mcdonagh, Isabella
Mannix, Daniel Meehan, James
Moriarty, John Neill, Lucas O’Dowd, Bernard
Murphy, Kerry Nolan, Sidney
Narelle, Marie O’Carroll, Maureen
O’Leary, Cornelius O’Shanassy, John
O’Neill, Paddy O’Sullivan, Dr John
O’Reilly, Bill ‘Tiger’ Plunkett, John Hubert
Quinn, James Savage, Michael Stoker, Harry
Rice, Peter Scullin, James
Ronan, Mary Sexton, Hannah
Therry, John Joseph Travers, Pl Worrall, John
Tisdall, Bob Treacy, Patrick
Toohey, James Wentworth, William Charles
Jimeoin O’Sullivan, Sonia
Joyce, Alan Potbelleez
C–D
D–F
F-H
H–L
L–M
M–O
O–P
P–S
S–Z
Irish Migrants – The New Wave Kennelly, Tadhg Power, Tom
A message from the President Of Ireland, Michael D Higgins I WOULD like to send my best wishes to all involved with the Irish Echo newspaper as you celebrate your 25th anniversary. Here in Ireland we are very proud of our diaspora. The Irish community in Australia is a large and dynamic member of that great global family. Many have made new and successful lives in Australia; contributing to both their communities and their workplaces, while remaining profoundly connected to their Irish homeland. Publications such as the Irish Echo play a significant role in allowing our diaspora to retain that strong bond with Ireland, and with other members of the Irish community abroad. The Irish Echo is not just an important source of news and information for the Irish living in Australia; it is also a sense of home and a valuable hand of friendship for those who may have arrived recently to your shores from Ireland. I thank you for 25 years of dedicated service to the Irish living in Australia, and I wish you every success as you continue with your important work. Michael D. Higgins Uachtarán ne hÉireann
A message from An Taoiseach, Enda Kenny TD IT GIVES me great pleasure to congratulate the Irish Echo as it celebrates 25 years since its first publication in 1989. In that time, it has acted as a bastion of the Irish community throughout Australia, playing an important part in maintaining links between Ireland and the diaspora in Australia. Throughout its history the Echo has worked tirelessly to engender a true sense of community amongst the Irish in Australia, keeping its readership informed about community news and encouraging them to come together and get involved with Irish organisations and associations. The Echo has been an important supporter and sponsor of countless events, festivals and community initiatives. It has also kept the community up to date with political, economic and social developments in Ireland. The Embassy of Ireland in Canberra and the Consulate General of Ireland in Sydney have a long and fruitful history of co-operation with the Echo, which is an important partner in the promotion of Ireland and Irish interests in Australia. Over the past 25 years, the Irish Echo has evolved to meet the changing needs of the Irish community in Australia and in a world which has become, in many ways, a great deal smaller and more connected. I am delighted that the Echo remains just as relevant today as it was 25 years ago as The Irish Exile, and would like to take this opportunity to wish Billy Cantwell and all the team the very best in the coming years. Enda Kenny TD Taoiseach THE TOP 100 IRISH AUSTRALIANS is published by the Irish Exile P/L Editor Billy Cantwell | Contributor Pádraig Collins | Graphic Design Diarmaid Collins | Advertising Lorraine Heneghan IRISH ECHO: Email: mail@irishecho.com.au | phone: +61 2 9555 9199 | www.irishecho.com.au All rights reserved. No part of this feature may be reproduced without the written permission of the publishers.
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25th Anniversary Edition 1989 – 2014
MARY KATE BARLOW
RICHARD BOURKE
1865-1934 Philanthropist, Women’s Activist
1777-1855 Governor of NSW
BORN in Co Limerick, Barlow (née McDonagh) emigrated to Sydney in 1884. In 1887, at St Mary’s Cathedral, she married architect John Bede Barlow and they lived at what is now Waverley College. They had two daughters and a son who was killed at Gallipoli. She became active in fundraising for institutions designed by her husband such as the Sacred Heart Hospice for the Dying and St Vincent’s Hospital Nurses’ Home. In 1911, she joined the new Catholic Women’s Association of New South Wales and was president from 1914 to 1934. Barlow supervised the opening of a library, visited hospitals and prisons and raised funds by organising lectures, social evenings, and concerts at St Mary’s Cathedral. During the Eucharistic Congress of 1928, she presided over the first Catholic women’s conference, attended by 500 delegates who set up the Australian Council of Catholic Women. For her work she was created a dame of the Holy Sepulchre.
REDMOND BARRY 1813-1880 Victorian Judge BARRY was born at Ballyclough, Co Cork, and had a very successful legal career that included being a barrister and judge. However, everything the Corkman did in his career has largely been overshadowed by his part in one of the defining moments of Australian history. Barry will forever be known as the man who sentenced Ned Kelly to hang in 1880. Barry was brought up an Anglican and graduated from Trinity College in 1837 before being admitted to the Irish Bar a year later. He emigrated to Australia in 1839. Barry did a huge amount of work for Aborigines even though he rarely received a fee for his services. His interest in Aboriginal affairs lasted throughout his life. He died suddenly on November 23, 1880, outliving Kelly by a mere 12 days.
DAISY BATES 1863-1951 Aboriginal Activist, Researcher BORN in Co Tipperary to James and Marguarette O’Dwyer, Bates arrived in Australia in 1884 where she married legendary Australian poet Harry “Breaker” Morant. This marriage did not last long, however, and in February of 1885, she married Jack Bates, a cattleman, in Nowra, NSW. Within four months Daisy had divorced Jack and married Ernest Baglehole in Sydney, but she was soon back with Bates and their son, Arnold, was born in 1886. She moved to London in 1894, leaving husband and son behind, and worked as a journalist there for five years before returning to Australia. Having become interested in Aboriginal life through reading about allegations of atrocities against them in north-west Australia, in 1904 the Western Australian government appointed
BOURKE was born in Dublin on May 4, 1777, to a Limerickborn father, John, and mother, Anne, from Co Tipperary. Educated at Westminster School and Oxford University, he spent holidays at the home of his distant relative, Edmund Burke, becoming acquainted with his friends and Whig politics. After serving with the British army in the Netherlands and South America, he worked in various colonies. He was appointed Governor of New South Wales when the Whigs took office and arrived in Sydney with his family on December 3, 1831. Despite strenuous opposition, he managed to bring in civil rather than military juries in most NSW criminal cases, and reduced magistrates’ power to inflict unfair punishments on convicts. The Sydney Herald dubbed this Bourke’s “soothing system for convicts”. A liberal Anglican, he abhorred sectarian intolerance and was sensitive to the needs of Catholics, Presbyterians and dissenters. In 1839, Bourke was appointed high sheriff of Co Limerick, where he died suddenly on August 13, 1855. her to research the state’s tribes. Living in camp with a local Aboriginal community, Bates recorded valuable data on language, myth, religion and kinship. She wrote 270 newspaper articles about Aboriginal life and helped move governments into action in medicine and childcare.
SIR GERARD BRENNAN 1928Chief Justice of Australia THE grandson of an Irish immigrant, Brennan was born in Rockhampton, Queensland. He did so well at school that when he finished aged 16 he was deemed too young to go to university. So he waited a year before going to the University of Queensland to study arts and law. Brennan was admitted to the Queensland Bar in 1951 and became a Queen’s Counsel in 1965. In 1976, he was appointed as the first President of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal. Five years later he was made a Justice of the High Court and in 1995 was appointed Chief Justice by the Keating government. Perhaps his best-known judgment came in the Mabo case of 1992, which recognised native title in Australia for the first time. Brennan rejected the common law doctrine of terra nullius (land belonging to no one) as offensive to “the values of justice and human rights (especially equality before the law) which are aspirations of the contemporary Australian legal system”.
LOUIS BRENNAN 1852-1932 Engineer, Inventor BORN in Castlebar, Co Mayo, Brennan’s parents took him to Melbourne with them when he was nine. After being apprenticed to an engineer, Brennan, then aged just 22, invented a coastal defence torpedo which could be retrieved if it missed its mark. After getting a grant of £700 from the Victorian government, Brennan patented his invention in England on September 4, 1877. In 1880, British government experiments with the torpedo were so successful that he was awarded £6,000 a year while the invention was tested. After five years of tests the torpedo
was accepted by the War Office, and in 1887 Brennan was granted £110,000, a huge sum which caused a stir in the press. He later worked for the British government on a monorail locomotive, a helicopter and other inventions. In 1892 he married Anna Louise (née Quinn) and they had two children. He died in Montreux, Switzerland, in January 1932 after being hit by a car
NATHANIEL BUCHANAN 1826-1901 Pioneer BORN just outside Dublin in 1826, Buchanan came to Australia as a young man with his family where he first settled in Rimbanda in New South Wales. Just over 10 years later, Nat and his brothers Andrew and Frank joined the rush to the Californian goldfields but returned emptyhanded, at which point Nat began his work exploring the Australian wilderness. He was a great bushman and a good explorer and after years of exploring he knew the country from northern Queensland to Western Australia very well. He was a pioneer on Bowen Downs in north-central Queensland, on the Barkly Tableland in far west Queensland, on the Roper River in the Northern Territory, and on the Victoria River in the far west of the Northern Territory, while he also pioneered the trail from the Kimberley towards Perth. When he died in 1901, he owned almost no land, but he made it possible for other men to reap fortunes on the back of what he had pioneered.
VINCENT BUCKLEY 1925-1988 Poet, Academic THOUGH born in rural Victoria, seven of Buckley’s greatgrandparents were Irish, and Ireland was a constant presence in his life and work. Educated by the Jesuits in Melbourne and later in Melbourne and Cambridge universities, Buckley’s abiding interest in Ireland’s politics, culture and history led him to spend much of his later years there. He was appointed professor of English at Melbourne University and was central to the style of poetry which developed there in the 1950s and ’60s. His seven volumes of poetry range from the intensely personal to reflections on Ireland and its politics. He also published books of essays and criticism.
By the end of his writing career Buckley aimed to write “poetry without attitudes”, but he was a man of firmly held beliefs and convictions. He was a key figure in Catholic intellectual debate at a time when the Australian Labor Party was divided by the splitting off of the Catholic-led Democratic Labor Party. His writing on these subjects in Quadrant magazine was both polemic and influential. In 1992, the Vincent Buckley Poetry Prize was established in his honour to promote connections between Australian and Irish poets and poetry.
JOHN JOSEPH CAHILL 1891-1959 Premier of New South Wales CAHILL was born to Irish parents Thomas and Ellen in the Redfern area of South Sydney. A committed trade unionist and champion of the ordinary Australian worker, he was elected to the Legislative Assembly for St George in 1925. In 1944, he was given the local government portfolio, and proving more than equal to his demanding duties, he set up the State Dockyard at Newcastle, the State Brickworks and supervised the establishment of the Electricity Authority which brought electricity to much of rural New South Wales. He was elected Labor Party leader and commissioned as premier in 1952 and he won a landslide victory in the 1953 elections. He triumphed in the 1959 elections when Labor, against all odds, narrowly clung to power and in June of that year he became the longest continuously-serving NSW premier. In his final years he grew increasingly in public stature, receiving honorary doctorates from the University of Sydney, the University of New England, and from the New South Wales University of Technology. He died of myocardial infarction in October 1959.
ARTHUR CALWELL 1896-1973 Politician CALWELL’S maternal grandfather, Michael McLoughlin, was an Irish Catholic who is thought to have deserted ship in Melbourne in 1847. His paternal grandfather, Davis Calwell, was an American whose father was an Irish Protestant. Calwell attended the Christian Brothers’ College in North Melbourne and later, as secretary of the Young Ireland Society after the 1916 Easter Rising, came under the scrutiny of security authorities. He joined the Victorian Public Service after high school and was a prominent trade unionist and member of the Labor Party. His first wife, Margaret Murphy, died in 1922 and a decade later he married Irishwoman Elizabeth Marren, who was social editor of the Tribune, a Catholic weekly newspaper. Calwell won the federal seat of Melbourne in 1940 and in 1945 he became Australia’s first Minister for Immigration. He promoted mass immigration, and sought the help of the Australian Jewish community in arranging passage for Holocaust survivors. He became ALP leader in 1960 but was never prime minister. He received the Papal knighthood in 1964 before passing away in 1973.
25th Anniversary Edition 1989 – 2014
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BUSINESS MENTORING “HORIZONS GROUP” The IACC are proud to announce the launch of their new initiative for 2014, aptly named the ‘Horizons Group’. The group was the brainchild of Bill Winter, one of our most experienced mentors within the business mentoring program. Bill is a Senior Consultant with experience managing CEO forums and during his participation on our 2013 program, he believed that a group should be established to support the young executives within the Chamber in a similar format to that of a CEO Forum. We are piloting this initiative for 2014 and hope to offer it to a wider group in 2015.
Congratulations to Billy and the Irish Echo team on its 25th year anniversary edition from the Board and members of the Irish Australian Chamber of Commerce (IACC). The IACC also celebrated its 25th anniversary since in October 2013. The IACC was formed in 1988 as a forum for networking and developing business opportunities amongst the Irish Australian business community. We are delighted that the Chamber has continued to grow and remains highly relevant today, with members benefiting from networking and thought leadership events, together with our Business Mentoring Program. The Irish Echo recently published a story about this Program providing practical support to some of our more recent arrivals. The Irish Echo and the IACC have many shared histories over the years. Events such as those captured across the page of welcoming Presidents, Taoisigh, Prime Ministers, Premiers, Treasurers and others to Australia having featured in the Irish Echo. The IACC are proud to be part of the Irish community here in Australia, which is served so well by the Irish Echo. Here’s to the next 25 years! Colin Egan, President
The board of IACC.
Bill is the organiser and facilitator of this group which is made up of 15 young executives from a range of different industries that are sharing knowledge and experience to help one another become more successful within their careers. The group hold 5 two hour breakfast roundtable meetings over an 8 month period and participants are drawn from the previous year’s business mentoring program. The feedback to date from Horizons participants has been excellent. This is primarily down to Bill sharing his knowledge and supporting the group and to the support of our sponsors Grant Thornton who have hosted these early morning gatherings.
UPCOMING EVENTS 12th June Victorian Parliamentary Lunch 18th & 25th June Business Mentoring Program 26th June EOFY Networking Drinks 24th July Business Breakfast 8th August “Building Prosperity” Corporate Lunch 14th August Business Breakfast 9th October ”The Business of Racing” Corporate Lunch 21st & 28th October Business Mentoring Program
“As part of the Horizons group, we share our knowledge and encourage each other with career aspirations. Each meeting is thought provoking, interesting and enjoyable.” Aoife Kealy, VicTrack “Horizons has helped me progress as a leader. Having a support group of like-minded people from such diverse backgrounds and industries really helped me develop and focus on what I want to achieve. The group is a great environment to get some honest and open advice from some experienced and future leaders.” Rory Carty, ANZ “The IACC Horizons Group meetings continue to help me advance my career and life here in Australia by allowing me to connect with like minded young Irish business people. Our meetings both challenge and inspire me; they help build my leadership skills and business acumen.” Martin Lynch, Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream “The format allows everyone’s voice to be heard and leads to meaningful discussion where we can learn from each other. There are no right or wrong answers and everyone’s opinion is respected. Building a supportive business network is so important here in Australia, and this is another step towards doing that.” Susan Tutty, Buncorp Pty Ltd
MUCH MORE THAN A ST PATRICK’S LUNCH While having hundreds of members and their guests in attendance makes our annual St Patrick’s Lunch a “must attend” year after year, there is so much more that goes on in our calendar to appeal to you. We have a series of speaker-led lunches in the diary for Melbourne and Sydney, including “The Business of Racing” in the lead up to the world famous Melbourne Cup Carnival where our keynote will be Bernard Saundry, CEO of Racing Victoria and will feature panellists to (hopefully) find us a winner or two for the big races while building our understanding of how the industry operates. With so many members involved in all aspects of infrastructure, property and construction, we will host a “Building Prosperity” corporate lunch in August hosted by James Kirby from Business Spectator and featuring the likes of Brendan Lyon, CEO of Infrastructure Australia and subject matter expert for the main media outlets. We will also be looking forward to the arrival of the Ireland team who are in Australia in November for the latest instalment of the International Rules series. When they were last here, in 2011, we packed the famous MCC Members Dining Room for lunch with the team and were treated to some entertaining tales of what went on when Messers Liston, Stynes, Brereton and Daniher took part compared to today’s modern, business-like approach. Away from the large events, we are delighted with the popularity of our Networking Breakfasts. These small group events seat guests at tables of six to help conversation run smoothly and feature two members at each breakfast speaking about innovation and developments in their sector. These breakfasts are open to members and their guests so provide an excellent way to try a Chamber event or to introduce a new member to the group
Many photos and reports of IACC events down through our shared 25 years have featured in the Irish Echo.
“Congratulations to Billy and all those at the Irish Echo who have contributed to 25 successful years in the business. It’s a great achievement and on behalf of our members we wish you all the best for the next 25!”
D M www.irishchamber.com.au i w