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Email: irishsceneperth@gmail.com Lloyd Gorman 0479 047 250 Email: irishsceneperth@gmail.com Canal Walk Media

Disclaimer: Opinions expressed by contributors in articles, reproduced articles, advertisements or any other printed material contained in Irish Scene magazine or on www.irishscene.com.au are those of the individual contributors or authors and as such are not necessarily those of Canal Walk Media. The publisher and editor reserve the right to accept, reject, edit or amend submitted material in order to make it appropriate or suitable for publication. Irish Scene welcomes submissions, ideas and suggestions for articles and features as well as photographs of events happening around and within the Irish community in Western Australia.

by Lloyd Gorman

Prepare to be Kneecapped!

T

here were strong vibrations in the air at Luna in Leederville for the opening – and sold out – night of Kneecap on Thursday, August 29. Droves of Irish and Australians rocked up at the iconic picture house for their first chance to see the highly anticipated film that exploded onto Irish cinema two weeks earlier with massive premiers in Belfast and Dublin just 24 hours later. Shown in the Luna’s main cinema and on another screen, hundreds of people of all ages turned up expecting a joy-ride, and Kneecap delivered.

Cool; raucous; inspirational; wild; funny; confronting; hedonistic; bonkers. These are not the words many people – particularly those of us with only school Irish – might associate with our national

tongue but that is exactly how it has been used and presented here. It is an Irish story, about the Irish language told largely through that idiom in a film with the potential to change the genre forever and move it from the margins to the mainstream.

Kneecap could be to the Irish language what Riverdance did for traditional Irish dancing. In a big bang moment Riverdance made Irish dancing sexy, glamorous, exciting and massively popular. Do not wait to see this film or for it to be streamed somewhere. Get to Luna or any cinema showing it and bring your friends. Here are two reviews including one ‘As Gaeilge’ by Seán Tadhg Ó Gairbhí for Tuairisc.ie. Kneecap are touring Australia next year and will be playing on St Patrick’s Day at Freo Social in Fremantle. If their live show is anything like what we saw on the screen then it will be an incredible night and way to celebrate being Irish. Tickets were still available at time of going to print but not for long I suspect.

That’s a rap, Irish Style Kneecap (MA15+) Review by Pier Leach Photos by Paul McGovern

R

eal-life Irish trio Kneecap is given a fictionalised origin story in writerdirector Rich Peppiatt’s fast, furious political comedy, bursting with unhinged, drug fuelled, often amusing energy is an understatement. Peppiatt crams it full of peppy animations, video style montages and pauses, extreme camera angles and even some deliberatley amatuer-hour claymotion.

But whether it can sustain its powdersnorting, fist pumping, politically minded bro-fest across a full 105 minutes is another question – no matter how committed to its righteous Northern Irish cause. Liam Óg Ó hAannaidh (stage name Mo Chara) Naoise Ó Cairealláin (also known as Móglaí Bap), and the Irish flag balaclava-wearing JJ Ó Dochartaigh (aka DJ Provaí) play themselves in Peppiatt’s ode to the Irish langauge, or Gaelic – which was only recognised by UK law as the country’s official language, along with English, in 2022. It’s narrated with lackadaisical sass by Liam, a drug-dealer whose childhood best friend Naoise’s dad, Arlo (Michael

Fassbender), is an Irish Republican Army militant presumed dead – but well and truly alive – who drummed into the boys the importance of their native tongue from the tenderest of ages. When Liam is is thrown into the slammer at the outset and refuses to speak English “the peelers” (led by Josie Walker) are forced to call in a translater – a downtrodden teacher named JJ. Flicking through Liam’s notebook, JJ discovers a sheet of trips and stealthily takes it, later realising the young man’s musing are rap in search of a beat. It’s a beat the frustrated Irish language and music teacher soon finds himself providing. There’s no doubt the trio’s Trainspotting-style drug adventures start out amusingly, but Peppiatt labours their substance ingesting antics beyond their natural expiry point. It would have benefitted from a 15 minute shave.

Otherwise, Kneecap is a fun, pleasingly irreverent, wincingly uncouth up-yours to the British establilshment.”

[This review was first published in the Time Out section of the POST Newspaper on August 3] THE IRISH SCENE | 7

by Lloyd Gorman

Medical Officer internship she is also studying for a Masters in Plastic Surgery.

A

new documentary series on SBS ‘Junior Doctors Downunder’ went behind the scenes at Joondalup Health Campus and Fiona Stanley Hospital to follow a group of young medics from Ireland and the UK as they come to terms with the realitities and challenges of working in a busy emergency department and adapt to life in a new country. A majority of the doctors featured in the weekly eight part series – which started in August and is still running or is available on SBS On Demand – are from Ireland while another has strong Irish connections.

Along with 20 of her class mates from university, Cork woman Jolene Forde and her boyfriend Tom, came to Western Australia, in search of adventure and advancement. She is keen to forge a career in plastic surgery and in addition to her Resident

Conor Neary is from Thermofeckin, Co. Louth, and together with his girlfriend Claire, who is also a doctor, decided to try out Western Australia.

Eoin MacMeanmain is from Corrofin, Galway and like many of his colleagues moved to WA for a better work life balance and the weather but has also taken his Irish dancing skills with him.

Catriona Quinn choose to come to Perth to help progress her medical career but misses her family and beloved pet dog Chia.

Javed Machikan is not Irish (he’s from Trinidad and Tobago) but he did his medical training in Dublin and like so many of his contemporaries choose to come to Australia for a boost start and to set him on the path towards becoming a surgeon. Irish Scene will catch up with some of these doctors for our next edition and bring you their personal stories, but until then tune in and watch them in action!

From left, Dr Eoin MacMeanmain, Dr Jolene Forde, Dr Javed Machikan, Dr Laura McLaren (UK) Dr Conor Neary and Dr Natalie Teasdale Image credit: SBS

8 | THE IRISH SCENE

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Donnelly gets under the skin of Australia’s attractive side

I

rish health minister Stephen Donnelly was given a tour of Perth Children’s Hospital and had breakfast with 12 Irish doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals who work there during his visit to Perth in March. He had similar meet and greets in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane in a bid to try understand why thousands of medically trained and qualified health professionals from Ireland gravitate towards Australia and to figure out what the Irish medical system that created them needs to become competitive and attractive.

“It’s been great to get a sense of what is going on,” Mr Donnelly told Irish Scene. “Probably the biggest take away for me is that there is a culture in the Australian health service, its not everywhere, but is strong, of treating healthcare workers well and its a journey I’ve been trying to bring the Health Service Executive on. The HSE would traditionally not be good at at that. I don’t come from politics, I come from management consulting and I was doing healthcare work and you know its no secret the highest performing organisations treat their people well and we’ve got to treat our people well. Health care workers are generally treated well in Australia. Some of them might say that is not in my hospital or my experience so it might not be everywhere, but its still a strong culture. One of the things they say that is very strong in Ireland is the clinical training, the training for doctors, nurses, allied health professionals and so on. We always focus on the bits that aren't’ working but of course you’ve got to focus on what is working as well and make sure you don’t lose it and you get better at it.

I’ll take a lot home. Look, the reality is that for anyone who is young and coming to Australia from Ireland its a great value proposition.”

He said it is not widely known but the working visa programme that allows so many Irish people to travel and work in Australia is a reciprocal agreement between the two governments.

“It turns out when you adjust for population – with Australia being five times the size of the Irish population – for every one Australian who lands in Dublin airport 200 Irish people land in Australia. And look, that’s fine, this is a brilliant, sunny friendly country and I did it, loved it. [Mr Donnelly told a gathering in Parliament House, 10 10 || THE THE IRISH IRISH SCENE SCENE

West Perth, that when he was in his 20’s he spent time in Australia, working as a lifeguard, at Bondi Beach if memory serves (Choice between Home or the ‘Happy Place’, Irish Scene, April/May 2024).

“I think its good that clinicians come out here,” he added. “We are a tiny country on the side of Europe and we need our clinicians to get international experience but we also need it to be something they look forward to coming home to work in Ireland and the public health service. Some of them do but we’ve a long way to go. I think its going to be useful to reflect back to the Department of Health and the HSE on the kinds of practices here that make the work life balance better for example. Australia has a less hierarchical, flatter structure. One junior doctor said to me that in Ireland you’d think twice about questioning a consultant but here you wouldn’t. You’d say ‘look, are you sure, or can we take another look?’, and the nurses were

Stephen Donnelly at Perth Childrens Hopsital Photo: Lloyd Gorman

saying the same. There’s a more collaborative approach, rather than what we have at home, not everywhere, but too much is a hierarchical structure where the consultant is the boss and people would be worried sometimes about questioning that.”

A peek inside PCH As well as being an opportunity to meet junior doctors and their colleagues in Perth – one of the most popular destinations in the world for young medics travelling abroad – it also gave him the chance to see a relatively new state of the art children’s hospital in action. Mr Donnelly, a TD (MP) for Wicklow, has been health minister since June 2020 and has had a couple of major issues to deal with in his time, including of course COVID. But the building of a new national children’s hospital has also come on his watch.

Construction works on stage 1 began in 2016 but the whole project ground to a halt in March 2020 because of the pandemic. At one point it was expected it could be opened in 2022 but several deadlines for the completion and opening of the new hospital have come and gone, including any prospect of it being finished this year has now pushed back to April 2025. And that’s not including the six months or more required to fit out the shell of the building and turn it into a hospital. The budget for the new children's hospital in Dublin has also trebled, and now stands at €2.4 billion.

architecture and internal design is done but I think there are things that we can take way in terms of the fit out and commissioning, which hopefully we are starting on later this year. Its very much led by the clinicians, particularly the nursing staff. They’re running the wards, they know what works, they know what doesn’t ‘work, they know in terms of patient flow and that little things that can make a big different to patients, to parents and the health care professionals, really putting the voice of our healthcare workers and our patients and the mums and dads front and centre in the commissioning.

In the few short days he spent in Perth Mr Donnelly met his WA counterpart Amber Jade Sanderson. Minister Sanderson no doubt was as keen to hold onto the hundreds of junior Irish doctors and nurses as he was to bring them home.

“It went well, its always useful as minister for health to talk to other ministers for health. Its a pretty unique job with a unique set of challenges.”

Mr Donnelly did not catch up with his Australian equivalent Mark Butler during his visit in March, but he did meet him a couple of months later in Geneva. “I was invited to participate in roundtable discussions [in May] on the effects of technology, digital media, and screen time on mental health, as part of a meeting organised by Sweden during the World Health Assembly in Geneva in 27 May – 1 June 2024,” Mr Donnelly told the Dail in June.

“This meeting was attended by Health Ministers from Sweden, Ireland and Australia and a number World Health Organisation experts.”

Perth Children’s Hospital cost $1.8 billion and opened in June 2018 but was no stranger to setbacks and problems and cost overruns that delayed its opening by years.

“It is very impressive and well designed, the open concourse is very impressive,” he said after spending a morning at PCH. “The rooms were vey impressive, single occupancy rooms with beds for the parents, a great sense of pride for the nursing staff as well, it was great to see it.”

Was there anything about it that he could apply to the new children's hospital in Ireland?

“We’re over 90% finished and the THE IRISH SCENE | 11

‘My Da the Olympic Boxer’ W

hile she has called Perth home for many years now, Ingrid Martin’s childhood in Dublin was coloured by her Dad and the Olympic Games.

Her father Kevin Martin (1925-1983) was a boxer who fought for Ireland in two Olympic Games in 1948 and 1952, making him one of the country’s first dual Olympians.

It was a very different time but one she recalls fondly.

Ingrid as a young girl in Ringsend, Dublin

12 | THE IRISH SCENE

“He’d probably turn in his grave at the Olympics today,” she laughed. “It was truly amateur in those days, not like now. Dad was a butcher and he would get up at 3am or 4am to go on a road

Kevin Mart in

run with his brother, who would cycle along with him. He’d get back, do a full day’s work, come home and have something to eat and then do another road run, and then go to bed. His older brother Eddie was his trainer. Eddie boxed in England before the war and was very successful. Dad had thirteen brothers, and his second oldest brother Dan is the great grandfather of Conor McGregor – Conor’s Granny and myself are first cousins – so there is a real boxing history there.”

Her father had pleurisy – which causes a sharp pain in the chest when you breathe and cough and which can lead to pneumonia. “He was the youngest of fourteen and he got it a second time, which

was very serious and if he got it a third time that would have been considered a major disease.

The family were very concerned about his health and his older brother Eddie got him into the boxing to try and build up his strength, and it worked.”

Ingrid, who grew up in Ringsend, never saw her dad in the ring. “Mum didn’t want him boxing when the children came along, she didn’t want him punch drunk,” she said. He was a caring, attentive and devoted father.

“He never drank or smoked. He was the best dad any girl could have, and was someone that other people came to for advice,” Ingrid said. “I remember him teaching me how to skip when I was small and then he started skipping really fast,

I’d never seen anything like it, he was just so fast, I distinctly remember him doing that.”

On another occasion she was very young she was out with him and she thinks they must have seen a parent hitting or smacking a child. “I remember him saying to me that you should never hit anyone, even as a joke.

If you can’t talk to somebody and reason with them and resort to hitting them you’ve already lost. Some people might have certain ideas about boxing but the people I knew growing up were all about discipline and controlling aggression and are not people who cause trouble.”

Her father died in Sydney in 1983 while holidaying in Australia and visiting Ingrid, who had emigrated to Sydney a few years earlier. He bought her kids, his

grandchildren, a trampoline and spent a lot of time with them, including doing sports.

“He taught them that anyone can be a winner, but it takes a great sportsperson to be a good loser, and that’s something my kids, who are now adults, never forgot. He was a great man.”

She took her Dad home to Dublin to be buried. She clearly remembers how his hands reached below his knees. “I think he should have been a very very tall but at that time – her dad was born on Christmas Day 1925 – things were tough, and he was the youngest of 14. My grandmother’s father was 6’4”. Dad might have been a lot taller if he hadn’t been a sickly child.”

The Martin family lived in Pearse Street Dublin, 32 Queens Terrace, and he went to the nearby St Andrews School where he would have joined the school boxing club. Brother Eddie set up the Mount Street Boxing Club.

About 11 or 12 years ago Ingrid – who is a keen genealogist – was back in Dublin and was in the genealogiy centre in Westland Row when she found out more about her dad from an unexpected source. “The centre is part of the library in Pearse Street and I met a man there – Jimmy – who happened to be doing a lot of research for the centenary of Irish boxing. So we got talking and it turned out as a boy, he actually was a big fan of my Dad and remembered him boxing. Jimmy said Dad had a really long reach and the other boxers couldn’t get to him and he said he was a real boxer, he wasn’t a scrapper, which I thought was lovely. Jimmy invited me, and got permission from the National Stadium Director , for me to go and view where he used to fight. I can remember being there once as a child with dad, but that was after he gave up boxing. So it was a really good experience.”

THE IRISH SCENE | 13

1948 Olympics The squad of eight Irish boxers that went into the 1948 Olympics in London had had a successful lead up to the Games and was expected to do well. The London Games set a new recording for boxing entries with 205 fighters from 39 countries taking part in eight weight divisions.

Kevin Martin (Mount Street) beat his first opponent Nicholas Linneman (Holland) but lost to Italian Ernesto Fermenti who would go on to win gold!

*According to the website of the Irish Athletic Boxing Association the IABA was formed in 1911. For almost the first 30 years of its existence, the organisation floated from venue to venue, until 1939, when the IABA built centralised location at the National Boxing Stadium. To this day the IABA is the only amateur boxing association in the world to own and oversee its own stadium. Uniquely, the National Stadium hosted the last European Championships before WW2 in 1939 and the first European Championships after WW2 in 1947. The purpose built boxing stadium is still the home of the IABA today.

Ingrid believes her Dad’s uncle Eamon Martin, a member of the Irish Volunteers Executive Council and Chief of staff of Fianna Eireann didn’t have much contact with his older brother’s family but followed her dad’s boxing career closely. He was also the Sales Director at the Irish Sweepstakes, which donated money towards the building of the National Stadium in the 1930’s.”

14 | THE IRISH SCENE

Ingrid remembers her dad talking about the opening ceremony for the London Olympics and how the Irish squad wore aran jumpers.

“It was a very hot day and but the aran tops were made of pure wool and actually insulated them against the heat.

The other funny thing was that at the end of the Games they all had to hand back their blazers and when dad went to the Helsinki Olympics they gave it back to him.”

1952 Olympicss The 1952 Olympics saw Irish boxing make sporting history when John McNally from Belfast beat Korea’s Joon-Ho in the bantameweight semi-final. “That win secured at least silver, a first Olympic medal for the IABA,” the association’s website states. “However, at the last minute, the 1952 Games saw a rule-change that made it the first Olympiad where beaten semi finalists were awarded bronze. Therefore the Northerner actually guaranteed Ireland a first medal twenty four hours previously when he saw off Italy’s Vincenzo Dall’osso in the quarters.

Lightweight Kevin Martin and lightwelterweight Terry Milligan also recorded

wins in Helsinki and Dublin brothers Ando Reddy and Tommy Reddy, Peter Crotty, Willie Duggan and John John Lyttle also lined out for Ireland. Milligan won two bouts in 1952.

Meanwhile, McNally’s silver medal was the first piece of silverware that Ireland had won at the Olympics since Bod Tisdall and Pat O’Callaghan struck double gold in track and field at the 1932 Games. For his part, Kevin beat Marcel van de Keere (Belgium) 2-1 but lost to Gheorghe Fiat (Romania) 0-3 and hung up his gloves not long afterwards.

soppy but it wasn’t, they were a great team who worked well together and they were married for 31 years,” said Ingrid.

As it turned out the 1956 Games were the best for Ireland in 32 years of competition in the Olympics. The squad returned home with one gold, one silver and two bronze, a feat that would not be repeated until the London 2012 Games.

Controversially Dublin born welterweight class Fred Tiedt was denied gold because of a highly controversial split decision reversal to his opponent Nicolae Linca of Romania.

“Linca was awarded a 3-2 verdict amid After Helsinki Martin began training with the hoots of derision intention of competing in the next Olympics at the West in Melbourne, but it was not meant to be.

Melbourne He was faced with the choice of his sporting Stadium,” the ambitions or settling down and raising a Irish Athletic family. He choose his wife and children, a Boxing decision he never regretted. “The evening Association website recounts. “Even the before he died in Sydney from a massive official Olympic dispatch specifically heart attack we were chatting together, as mentioned the 1956 welterweight final. It mum who was still jet lagged had gone up read: “Probably the most unlucky boxer was to bed, and dad told me he loved mum more Tiedt (Ireland) who lost a close final to Linca and more as the years went by. It sounds (Romania) after he had come through Kevin Martin is second from three very hard fights the front in this photo of the Irish boxing team in his division against Aeleskra (Poland), Lane (USA) and Hogarth (Australia).”

But despite the protests, Tiedt, a great stalwart of the Trinity College Boxing Club, had to settle for silver.”

1956 Olympics

Ireland finished in 7th position in those Olympics, which also marked the first Olympics in which Ireland won more bouts (9) than it lost(6).

THE IRISH SCENE | 15

She’ll be a big loss to Irish sports L

ike Australia, the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris have been Ireland’s most successful ever in terms of medals won.

Australia won 18 gold medals putting it in third place behind two global superpowers, America and China. And with a finally tally of (7) four gold and three bronze Ireland has – on a per capita populaiton basis – did even better than Australia!

Irish success did not exactly come in the form some hoped it would. With its biggest ever squad of ten fighers Team Ireland might have expected to do well in the sport, which has produced more than half of Ireland’s Olympic medal tally. In the end it won only one medal – Kellie Harringtons’ gold. “I think we have to be honest, we’re disappointed, we came here to win multiple medals and we believed we could,” Tricia Heberle, the boxing squads high performance director told RTE towards the end of the Games.

“I’m very very pleased for Kellie Harrington, I’m very very pleased for our programme, I feel pleased for Team Ireland and all the people that support her and support the sport back in Ireland, but yes, I have to be honest and say I have real mixed emotions because we did expect that we would be doing better.

We are disappointed because we have a lot of pride in our high performance programme and we know we can produce medal winning perforamnces on any international stage and we probably have the worlds best boxing coach that underpins that every single day [in training and competition but] as performance director I don’t feel satisified.”

Tricia Heberle

16 | THE IRISH SCENE

The age profile of the squad may have been a factor. Tricia said it was a predominately “very young group”. “Look at Daina Moorehouse (21), Jack Marley (21) or Jude Gallagher (22) they are really young athletes and often its a second Olympics where you get peak performance...I set out to leave a legacy and the legacy to me is in the development and progress of the athletes - who are predominately a very young squad – but its also in the quality of our staff and how we now have our staff working so cohesively with the coaches because this sport is very much around coaching athelets, there’s a lot of stuff that isn’t seen but I’d like to think that some of the areas that we could get improvement or some of the areas that would give us competitive advantage that we’ve gone there and that we are really well placed to go forward.”

She was asked about another major factor that hampered Ireland’s chances in the ring.

“We believe we had at least three bouts that may have been impacted on by judging, but also perhaps referring but unfortunately when I talk to people in boxing they say that’s what it is, its almost normalised and that I think is quite sad but I have no doubt there will be questions asked because this is not the first Olympic Games where as a theme this has emerged and as someone not just working in boxing, but someone who believes in fairness and consistency in any sport, yeah,

I have concerns, but the time to turn those concerns into opinions is probably after the Games,” she added.

Back in the studio in Dublin veteran RTE sports reporter Des Cahill described her comments as “interesting and strong stuff”, adding “she’ll be a big loss to Irish sport actually.” Both Cahill and the show presenter Rachel English agreed with her observation that “questionable decisions” had become the norm in boxing. Heberle was on the Australian hockey team at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles and later performance director for Hockey Australia.

More recently she was Team Ireland’s Chef de Mission for the Olympic Games in Tokyo in 2021. She stepped into the role of High Performance Director in 2022, after Bernard Dunne resigned. Tricia featured in the July/ August edition of Irish Scene (The Rocky Road to Dublin and Paris). On July 5 the Irish Athletics Boxing Association announced her departure after the Olympics. She told the Irish Independent she was “gleefully retiring to Australia. I deserve to walk into the sunset whatever happens, but my plan is to make sure there is a nice transition into the next leadership model.”

Perth boxers packed a punch at Paris

A

ustralia had the biggest boxing team of any country at Paris. It had 12 fighters, while Ireland was not far behind with ten. Out of the squad of twelve two came home with medals, bronze medals, making it Australia’s most successful Games in terms of boxing since Rome 1960. As it happens both medal winners are West Australians.

Like Ireland, Australia has been fielding boxers at the Olympics since Paris 1924. But it has taken a hundred years – and a return of the Games to the French capital – for an Australian woman to claim a medal in the ring. Caitlin Parker, from Gosnells, was that woman. Parker lost her bout to Li Qian of People’s Republic of China in the women’s 75kg boxing semi-final, and finished the Games with a bronze medal. Li Qian won by unanimous decision.

“It's a big relief to have done it and finally secure an Olympic medal,” Olympics.com reported an elated and emotional Parker saying shortly after her win. “The first female from Australia to have an Olympic medal (in boxing). History has already been made.

And I get to try to make it gold with Charlie Senior. It's amazing. I'm still processing it, but to get my hand raised in the ring, oh my God. I wanted to go out there and show the world and Australia what I

was capable of. I can't wait to call mum and dad and scream on the phone honestly.

It's mind-blowing.

Watching Charlie Senior secure our first medal yesterday (by winning his quarter-final), I was in absolute bloody tears, and then he came back to the Olympic Village and we just cried together.

It was just an incredible moment.”

Having scored a historic first she has her sights set on an even bigger prize at the next Games. “I've always believed that I can win the gold. I know what I'm capable of. I know I'm a sharp boxer, I'm smart and I know I can do it. I knew it for Tokyo 2020 but I just didn't bring out my game. I would do whatever it takes to win that gold.”

Team mate Charlie Senior was born in Yorkshire but lives in Butler and has been boxing since 2014 and was the reigning Pacific Games champion before making his Olympic debut at Paris. “His campaign began in the round of 16, where he defeated Vasile Usturoi of Belgium by 4:1 split decision,” reported Olympics.com.

“The 22-year-old Charlie Senior then had another closely contested bout against Tokyo 2020 silver medallist Carlo Paalam of the Philippines in the quarter-finals,but emerged victorious by a 3:2 split decision to confirm his [brozen] medal.”

THE IRISH SCENE | 17

A spectacular spectator sport I

f Team Ireland’s boxers did not claim as much Olympic glory they might have hoped for then at least the one medal the squad did win was at least a gold. Kellie Harrington’s showdown with W.L. Lang on 7 August was remarkable in more than one way. Of all the events in Paris that Ireland competed in Harrington’s fight against her Chinese counterpart was the biggest. An astoudning 1.3 million people (the population of the Republic of Ireland is 5.1 million) screamed and cheered at home on their TVs or large screens at mass viewings. Already a gold medal holder from the last Olympics Harrington was part of a very elite group (joining Michael Carruth and Katie Taylor) but securing a second gold meant she was now in a class all of her own. Her gold was the fourth for Ireland at Paris, a fact which was widely and proudly celebrated across the country, including for the homecoming

celebrations which saw O’Connell Street in Dublin packed with people.

After the Games Harrington announced she was hanging up her gloves, leaving the stage as a true Champion.

She called the Olympic fight her ‘last hurrah’.

“I've always said I want to retire a champion, that's it," Harrington told RTE. “It just gives hope to all these young kids, all these teenagers (pointing at the crowd). It gives hope to the people of Ireland, but this one was for me….The next chapter is going to be my life chapter, and it's for me and (wife) Mandy now. I just can't wait to live my life.

Not that I'm not living my life, but to not be looking at the scales every morning. (As a boxer) everything is like, 'Well you can't do that because you might get injured,' or 'We can't do that because you'll be tired tomorrow.”

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The day my hero grandad might just have saved the world!

by Gerry Coleman

Harry Hawker, left, and Harry Kauper standing on the port float of their plane at the Scottish town of Oban before take off on the next leg of their flight that crashed in Loughshinny. Local children stand on the floats that were separated from the rest of the aircraft, seen in the background

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his is the incredible story behind something as innocuous as a pen knife.

On December 17th 1903 Wilbur and Orville Wright were successful in flying the first motorised airplane for 12 seconds above the ground. This was an unbelievable achievement and the beginning of the aeronautical industry. Eleven years later saw the start of WW1 where airplanes played a very important and pivotal role in the outcome.

Lets go back to 1889 when an Australian by the name of Harry Hawker was born in Moorabbin Victoria who turned out to be one of the best and most revered test pilots and developer of early planes. When he was 22 years old Hawker went to England with his best friend Harry Kauper in 1910 and got a job as a mechanic with Sopwith Aviation Company. He soon persuaded Tom Sopwith to teach him to fly and succeeded in making his first solo flight after only three lessons, obtained his Aero Club pilots license and 1912 was appointed chief test pilot for the company and was given free rein as a designer. Hawker achieved many records for altitude, endurance and distance and was relentless in finding a way to recover from a spin to performing loop-the-loop.

As an immigrant from Ireland I’ve been living in Perth, Western Australia since 1986 and on a visit back to Ireland about ten years ago my dad, then 92, handed me an old rusty

20 | THE IRISH SCENE

penknife-utility knife (practical as it had files and a curved hook blade for removing stones from horse-donkey hooves] and said seeing as you like history so much I would like you to have this, otherwise it will end up in the bin. This unassuming knife which he had stored in a toolbox with rusty old nails and screws had an inscription on it ‘Frank Ryan from Roger Palmer’.

Frank Ryan was my dad’s grandfather, a master mariner who lived in a thatched house overlooking the bay. Sir Roger Palmer was the much respected local Lord of the manor (Kenure House) of our hometown of Rush, North county Dublin. Dad said that knife (which we discovered later was an officer horseman’s pocket knife from the Boer War) was given to him from his mum who got it from her dad Frank who got it

Gerry’s great grandfather Frank Ryan, bottom right, pictured with the wreck

from sir Roger for his heroic bravery saving the lives of two Australian blokes.

In 1913 the English Daily Mail newspaper held a competition offering 5,000 pounds to the first seaplane to complete a course around the British isles. Of the four participants, one died a week before in a plane crash and the other two pulled out which only left Hawker (and his mechanic Harry Kauper) who was asked to participate even though he was the only one left. Hawkers’ Sopwith Circuit’ was a biplane constructed of a wooden frame and canvas and was about three quarters the way in completing the challenge when it crashed into the Irish sea in Loughshinny Bay North County Dublin, a small fishing village where my grandmothers family come from. My great granddad Frank Ryan was a local fisherman in this village (which borders my hometown Rush) of about 200 people who saw the plane crash, and then rowed out in rough seas to rescue the pair keeping in mind that neither he nor any of the other locals had ever seen an airplane before.

got there first! When Hawker returned to England and Kauper remained in hospital, he got a rapturous reception in Trafalgar square from the waiting crowds and the First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill

They were both conveyed to the local doctor and then taken by ambulance to the nearest hospital in Dublin city. Hawkers injuries weren’t too bad but Kauper was in a bad way with broken bones, head and facial injuries.

The next day the remains of the plane were to be retrieved but nothing remained only a ‘sparking plug’ as the local souvenir hunters THE IRISH SCENE | 21

which went on to develop hundreds of war planes which saw action in WWII such as the Hawker Hurricane, Hawker Hornet, Hawker Nimrod, Hawker Nimrod, Hawker Tornado and Hawker Typhoon.

Gerry Coleman with the penknife presented to his great grandfather for saving the pilots

in a message said that “Hawker achieved a wonderful result”. This epic flight was recognised as the ‘most meritorious feat yet performed’ and Hawker was awarded a silver medal by the Royal Aeronautical Society and a consolation prize of 1,000 pounds from the Daily Mail.

Apart from setting multiple flight records and experimentation Hawker as Sopwith’s chief test pilot helped develop and test pilot 295 aircraft throughout WW1. Hawker was called to Buckingham Palace where King George V, a keen admirer presented him with a new award, the first recipient of The Air Force Cross and later Member Of The British Empire (MBE). One of hawkers designs the Sopwith Camel shot down more enemy aircraft than any other WW1 allied fighters including the infamous ‘Red Baron’ in his red tri-plane.

After WW1 Hawker set up his own company in 1920, H. G. Hawker Engineering Company 22 | THE IRISH SCENE

The ‘Supermarine Spitfire’ is the fighter plane that most people would identify with the Battle of Britain and of course it played a major role in the seminal standoff, but in reality the Hawker Hurricane – the first RAF aircraft to fly over 300mph – knocked out an estimated 60% of all German fighters and bombers lost in that battle which helped determine the outcome of the war. Britain and its allies lost 1,744 aircraft while German losses numbered 1,977.

As works manager at Sopwith, Harry Kauper developed the ‘Sopwith-Kauper interrupter gear’ which allowed the firing of a machine gun through a rotating aircraft propeller.

He later went on to take an interest in radio and established the radio station 5BG in Dulwich Hill NSW with one of the earliest low powered crystal radio transmitters in Australia and also did engineering work at 5CL Adelaide 3DB Melbourne and 5AD. If Harry Hawker and Harry Kauper died that day 28th August 1913, the outcome of WW1 could have had a different ending? My great grandad Frank Ryan should have been very proud of himself for his unselfish heroics.

A Hawker Hurricane in 1941

Those magnificent men in their flying machines!

by Lloyd Gorman

A

n air show and commemorative events on the ground marked the 100th anniversary of the historic crash at Loughshinny. The weather on the day happened to be a beautiful sunny summers day, perfect conditions as much for the pilots in the air and the crowds and community on the ground enjoying the display above.

the longest distance flown over water at the time.”

“Miss Pick Up” was – and still is – the oldest operational airworthy amphibian in the UK and together with his crew followed as closely as possible the 1913 route over the course of five days.

Hawker’s Sopwith was meant to ‘land’ at the Royal St. George Yacht Club, the Jeff Boyling indicates where their plane went second last ‘rest down at Loughshinny stop’ on the hugely ambitious flight.

“Alas the two Harrys never made it to Jeff Boyling, this control point originally from having crashed Brisbane but now just to the north at based in the UK, Loughshinny,” Jeff did a fly-over of said in a diary of the the festival in the trip. “The engine Catalina G-PBYA of the aircraft was “Miss Pick Up” salvaged and used he partly owns, in an Admiralty and then landed aircraft but the rest on Loughshinny. of the aircraft was Jeff was there to destroyed. However, the Royal St George complete the race and circuit of the British Yacht Club still exists at Dun Laoghaire.

Isles that Harry Hawker set out on a hundred Today, it is a very busy marina plus ferry years earlier. “He flew over 1000 miles of the terminal so careful thought is being given 1540 mile race before crashing just north of to where best to undertake an aerial display.

Dublin,” said Jeff. “This was This could be just to the south.”

One aerial visitor for the occasion was there to take care of some unfinished business – Project Hawker 2013.

Jeff’s Catalina G-PBYA “Miss Pick Up”

THE IRISH SCENE | 23

Welcome committee; from left, Ciaran Bryne, Bob Montgomery, Cepta Butler and Kevin Murray with Jeff at the Plague

Irish Scene editor Lloyd Gorman met Jeff some years ago when he was in Perth to highlight the strong association of Catalina’s with Matilda Bay, Crawley (which used to be a base for these flying boats during WWII) and to mark another aviation milestone, the ‘Double Sunrise’. This operation was introduced in 1943, to restore air connections between Australia and England, a life line that had been broken by the fall of Singapore to the Japanese in 1942. Between 1943 and the end of the war in 194 the Double Sunrise Catalinas made 271 crossings, transporting personnel, mail and other materials vital to the war effort. The flying boats were able to hold a large payload and built with a range that meant they could remain in the air for longer than other planes of the day, for at least 24 hours at a time, but known to have remained in the air for up to 33 hours – almost all of which was over water. Despite the introduction of long haul flights and more advanced aircraft in more modern times the Double Sunrise flight remains to this day the longest ever passenger airline service in terms of duration.

age” of flying and he was keen to talk about the Hawker Project and raved about his experiences in Ireland. The special guest from Australia was embraced by the community and is pictured here with local woman Cepta Butler, Kevin Murray of the Loughshinny Historical Association, aviation historian Bob Montgomery and councillor Ciaran Byrne.

Jeff’s aim is to inspire younger generations about aviation and to celebrate the “golden

24 | THE IRISH SCENE

Aslan: from left, Joe Jewell, Lee Tomkins, Alan Downey and Billy McGuinness Photo: Celeste Buffon

Ireland’s own flying Harry

H

is name in Ireland and across the world is synonymous with the earthy world of tractors and ploughing but Harry Ferguson was the first person in Ireland to build and fly a plane.

The son of a farmer he was born exactly 140 years ago on 4 November 1884 near Dromore, Co. Down. In 1902 he went to work with his older brother Joe in his bicycle and car repair business as a mechanic.

A year later Harry persuaded his brother Joe that they could design and build their own ‘monoplane’. Once finished they pulled the aircraft behind their car through the streets of Belfast on their way to Hillsborough Park for their first attempt at flight. A problem with the propellor and bad weather meant they would need to wait a week until 31 December 1909 when they managed to take off from Hillsborough.

Ferguson would go on to pursue his interest in aviation but he was also a brilliant engineer who focused his talents in other fields. After falling out with his brother Ferguson set up a company to sell a range of British cars and tractors. He would go on to innovate tractor design and develop some of the most successful tractors in

Flight attempt at Hillsborough

by Lloyd Gorman

Harry Ferguson

the world – including working with Henry Ford – and develop radical new systems and technologies to attach plough’s, making them safer and more efficient.

He introduced a new hydraulic version of the three-point linkage on his prototype Ferguson black tractor or “Irish tractor” as he liked to call it. His prototype can be found in the Science Museum, Kensington, London but most people will know his name lives on through the global agricultural machinery manufacturer Massey Ferguson which was created in 1953 through a merger but which can trace its roots back to 1847.

Ferguson monoplane at Newcastle, Co. Down, © Ulster Transport Museum, Museum of Innovation, BELUM.Y16778 THE IRISH SCENE | 25

A mere 30km or so down the coast from Loughshinny another Irish beach has a connection with aviation and Australian aviators in particular, as these articles, written by Kevin J Reid for his website Irelandmade.ie, and reproduced here with his permission, reveal.

Portmarnock Beach Ireland 1930s Aviation Epicentre

by Kevin J Reid www.irelandmade.ie

F

or three short years in the early 1930s Portmarnock Beach in north County Dublin, Ireland was the epicentre of world aviation as the starting point for several trans-Atlantic and circumnavigation endurance-flights.

The town of Portmarnock is located on the east coast of Ireland, 14 kms north of Dublin city centre. Portmarnock, 'Port Mearnóg' or 'The Landing Place of Marnock' takes is name from Saint Marnock, who having arrived in the 6th century and founded his church amid the sand dunes.

Known locally as the ‘Velvet Strand’, Portmarnock beach runs north to south and was considered as a perfect landing strip

26 | THE IRISH SCENE

in the days when there was no commercial landing site as Dublin Airport didn’t open until January 1940 and Baldonnel Aerodrome, opened in 1917, was for military use.

The three aviators most closely associated with Portmarnock beach are, Australian flyer, Charles Kingsford-Smith whose story we covered in Season 1 “Charles Kingsford Smith, flying 'Southern Cross' trans-Atlantic from Portmarnock 1930”, Scotsman, Jim Mollinson and Australian, Charles Ulm. All three aviators were known to each other having flown together on numerous recordbreaking attempts.

The ‘Southern Cross’ A replica of the Southern Cross flying in 2023

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he first aviator to pin Portmarnock beach on the world aviation map was Australian flyer, Charles Kingsford-Smith (1897 – 1935).

At 4:25 am on June 24 1930, watched by 700 spectators and taking 900 metres (3,000 feet) to become airborne, his heavily laden “old bus” Fokker F.VII took off on the last leg of his global circumnavigation flight.

Aboard his aircraft named 'Southern Cross' in honour of Australia was Irish navigator Captain P.J. Saul, Dutch co-pilot, Evert van Dijk and John Stannage the radio operator from New Zealand.

The Fokker F.VII (VH-USU) tri-motor had undergone a major overhaul in Amsterdam and was equipped with three 239 HP Wright

J-5 Whirlwind engines. It had a cruising speed of 170 km/h (106 mph) and a service ceiling of 4.267 m (14.000 ft). The Fokkers normal range was 1.100 km so to extend flight duration this for the transatlantic flight two extra fuel tanks were fitted.

The crew faced challenges, including fog and compass failure, during the East-West transatlantic flight, ultimately landing triumphantly in Newfoundland after 32 hours.

Charles Kingsford Smith was knighted in 1932 and in 1966 he appeared on the Australian twenty dollar banknote. In Ireland each year, the historic flight is commemorated on the Velvet Strand, Portmarnock beach as 'Southern Cross Day' when people dress in period clothing.

The Eccentric Orbit sculpture at Portmarnock

From left; Charles Kingsford-Smith, Evert van Dijk, Patrick Saul and John Stannage

THE IRISH SCENE | 27

The ‘Heart’s Content’ I

n 1932, young Scotsman, Jim Mollinson (1905 – 1959), arrived in Ireland with his de Havilland aircraft, ‘Heart’s Content’, intent on making his own piece of endurance aviation history.

In the 1930s pilots were young and Jim Mollinson was very young, obtaining his Royal Air Force (RAF) Short Service Commission aged 18 and was the youngest officer in the air force. After returning from postings in India, aged just 22 he became an RAF instructor at the Central Flying School establishing a record as the youngest person to hold this role.

Mollison was a skilled and fearless pilot who set many aviation endurance records and in late summer 1932 he arrived in Ireland intent on making his name with a north Atlantic solo endurance flight.

His plane was named “Heart’s Content”, a single-engine Puss-Moth monoplane built by the de Havilland Aircraft Company with

a range of 300 mi (480 km). The plane had a de Havilland Gipsy III 4-cylinder piston engine producing 120 hp (89 kW) and flew at 124 mph (200 km/h), one of the most highperforming private aircraft of its time.

Formerly an employee of Charles KingsfordSmith in Australian National Airways, Mollinson now benefited from charts prepared by Captain Paddy Saul, who had served as the navigator on the 'Southern Cross' flight from the same location two years earlier.

Piloting Heart’s Content (G-ABXY), Mollinson took off from Portmarnock at 11:00 am on August 18th, 1932. His departure was attended by his new wife, the renowned aviator Amy Johnston, along with the Lord Mayor Alfie Byrne and reports say up to 10,000 well-wishers.

Opting to fly without a bulky radio to conserve fuel, Mollinson touched down at Pennfield Ridge, New Brunswick, Canada, thirty hours later. At the youthful age of twenty-five, he achieved the historic feat of being the first person to solo, non-stop, eastwest across the north Atlantic.

There are six city streets in England named in Jim Mollinson’s honour.

‘Faith in Australia’ O

ur third 1930s aviator to avail of the uniquely long runway at the Velvet Strand, Portmarnock was another Australian, Charles Thomas Philippe Ulm (1898 – 1934).

Ulm enlisted in the First Australian Imperial Force (AIF) in September 1914 under the alias "Charles Jackson," falsely claiming a different age. He participated in the Gallipoli campaign in 1915 and was wounded, later serving on the Western Front in France in 1918.

A long-time flying associate of Charles Kingsford Smith, they had previously flown together as part of a four-man crew on the first successful trans-Pacific flight between Australia and New Zealand in May 1928.

28 | THE IRISH SCENE

Gardai help pull the

sand aircraft out of the

at Portmarnock

Ulm served as the business expert in the partnership with Kingsford Smith, securing sponsorship funding for aircraft acquisition, endurance modifications and fuel. He also collaborated with Kingsford Smith in founding Australian National Airways, where our previous endurance pilot, Jim Mollison, had also flown.

the fuel load caused the overloaded plane to sink into the sand and three onlookers were injured.

After the commercial failure of Australian National Airways, Ulm bought one of the airline's Avro X aircraft for himself and named it “Faith in Australia” and went on to set several endurance records.

Members of the Garda Síochána (police) and Aer Corps had been guarding the plane on the beach and they were then tasked with pulling it out of the sand and onto higher ground to save it from being engulfed by the incoming tide. However, attempts to reposition the plane with men and machinery led to it sinking even further and, with the incoming tide approaching, the operation had to be abandoned.

In July of 1933 Charles Ulm was in Ireland with the aim of making his own east-west transAtlantic flight attempt. Earlier in the year, the Avro X had undergone reconstruction for extended-range flights, equipped larger fuel tanks and three new 330 hp (250 kW) Wright Whirlwind radial engines.

Philanthropist and aviation visionary Lord Wakefield of Hythe covered the expenses incurred from seawater damage to the radial engines. However, by the time the aircraft was ready, it was too late to attempt an Atlantic flight due to the approaching months of harsh autumn weather.

On the morning of 27th July Ulm had flown his ‘Faith in Australia’ (VH-UXX) three-engine monoplane over from the Aer Corps base at Baldonnel (Casement) Aerodrome and landed on Portmarnock beach.

In 1978, Charles Ulm was honoured on an Australian postage stamp with the Southern Cross. In November 2008, Qantas named an Airbus A380 after him in recognition of his aviation contributions.

The Avro X had been wheeled onto a wooden ramp for the loading of fuel and afterwards was being manoeuvred into the take-off position, however, the increased weight of

In 1999, in honour of Portmarnock beach's significance in early aviation history, a sculpture titled "Eccentric Orbit" was installed on the promenade.

ENDURANCE FLIGHTS FROM PORTMARNOCK BEACH—IRELAND:, Charles Kingsford-Smith (1897 – 1935), Plane: Fokker F.VII (VH-USU), Endurance flight: June 24 1930—east–west crossing of the Atlantic flight—31 hours and 30 minutes, Jim Mollison (1905 – 1959), Plane: Puss-Moth monoplane (G-ABXY), Endurance flight: August 18th 1932—east-to-west solo trans-Atlantic flight—30 hours 15 minutes, Charles Ulm (1898 – 1934), Plane: Avro X (VH-UXX), Endurance flight: July 27th 1933—unsuccessful east-to-west trans-Atlantic flight, THE IRISH SCENE | 29

Highs and lows

A

fter the war Charles Kingsford Smith (CKS) furthered his aviation ambitions in Western Australia.

He enlisted with the Australian Imperial Force but was discharged and allowed to join the ‘British Royal Flying Corps’. It was his first time to fly but he was a natural and in his first month in the air shot down four enemy aircraft and attacked multiple enemy positions and installations. His war ended when two German planes attacked and badly damaged his aircraft, which he was still able to land safely, despite his left foot being badly shot up.

When the war ended he – like other pilots – wanted to get back into the cockpit and push himself to the limits. CKS was ambitious and daring and wanted to be the first to fly from England to Australia, a request the prime minister of the day rejected. He found work performing stunts for Hollywood movies and in 1921 he became the chief pilot of ‘Western Australian Airways’, the fledgling airline was the first regular airmail service in Australia. With three surplus war planes WAA flew between Geraldton and Derby, a route that took two and a half days. Within the next three years up to 20,000 letters and parcels a month were being flown around WA.

30 | THE IRISH SCENE

Hollywood stunt pil ot Charles Kingsford Smith

Bob Hitchcok (Left) and Keith Anderson

Three years ago some 20 planes piloted by members of the Royal Aero Club of WA marked the centenary of the first WAA flight with a three night flight from Geraldton, stopping overnight at Onslow, Broome and Derby.

Determined to lead the way for long distance flying CKS bought his own airplane – the Southern Cross – with donations from the public and money he borrowed. The flamboyant flyer was also popular with fellow pilots and navigators. In particular he befriended Charles Ulm who flew with him on many of his pioneering and record breaking flights, including one in 1926 around Australia in just 10 days and five and a half hours.

Smith and Ulm enjoyed groundbreaking and glamorous careers in aviation, but there was controversy. In March 1929 the pair were flying the Southern Cross from Sydney to

England when Smith made an emergency landing on a mudflat close to the mouth of the Glenelg River, in the Kimberley region.

The location was so remote it took a ground search party two weeks to reach them but they found them alive. The Southern Cross crew survived by cooking mud snails and drinking coffee laced with brandy.

Unfortunately, two of their good friends (Keith Anderson and Henry “Bobby’ Hitchcock) crashed their plane in the Tanami Desert in Central Australia while on their way to join the search for the Southern Cross and died of thirst and exposure.

An official inquiry exonerated CKS of any part in their deaths but many in the press and the public blamed him, believing the forced landing and their standing to have been a publicity stunt, that was widely dubbed the ‘Coffee Royal’ affair and stained their reputations and popularity.

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THE IRISH SCENE | 31

G’day from Gary Gray AUSTRALIA’S AMBASSADOR IN IRELAND

Stay up to date with what’s happening in the Australian Embassy, Ireland by following:

@ausembire

Australian Embassy, Ireland

@AusEmbIre

A farewell to Ireland As I prepare to depart Dublin, I have been reflecting on four wonderful years as the Australian Ambassador to Ireland. I am very grateful to have been accompanied every step along the way by my wife, Pippa McIntosh, and our dog, Ted. We moved from the sunny seaside city of Perth in August 2020 to the slightly less sunny, but still seaside, suburb of Killiney.

Despite arriving amidst lockdown restrictions and at the height of the pandemic, we received a thousand (socially distanced) welcomes. Having visited all 26 counties, attended events ranging from Ard-Fheiseanna to AllIreland Hurling and Football Finals to the Ploughing Championships, and met Irish icons like Bono, President Michael D. Higgins, and everyone in between, it is safe to say that we have not wasted any time since.

Like all my predecessors since 1965, we had the privilege of taking up residence in Abbey Lea. Immediately enthralled by the beautiful Arts and Crafts home overlooking Killiney Bay, Pippa took on an ambitious research project to unearth the house’s storied history, including tales of Harry Clarke’s business dealings, the IRA murder of a local gardener, and raucous dinner parties attended by figures like James Joyce which inspired Oliver St John Gogarty poetry. In June 2024, she published the wonderful Abbey Lea: A Killiney History.

Having met in Australia in 2019, it was very special for Pippa and I to be able to get married during our time in Ireland. While Pippa’s Cork ancestors might have preferred she got married in the ‘real’ capital, we had a beautiful wedding in the Shelbourne Hotel, Dublin, in August 2023 - only a stone’s throw from the Embassy and the Green. I was also extremely grateful to be visited in Ireland by all three of my sons, Riley, Darcy, and Toby. Our family’s connections to Tipperary, Cork, and Limerick, through the boys’ late mother, Deborah Walsh, made their visits particularly special. Needless to say, Ireland will always remain very close to our hearts. Australia and Ireland’s long, intertwined histories and corresponding diasporas have always made our countries fast friends. As the Irish say, Tuigeann Tadhg Taidhgín (like understands like). Our cultural and social links stretch across all aspects of society. This was really impressed on me during visits to Galway to watch Connacht Rugby, as well as when I met

32 | THE IRISH SCENE

G’DAY FROM GARY GRAY the AFLW’s 42 young Irish athletes and many of the talented Australian-Irish artists, musicians, and academics such as Thomas Keneally, Nick Seymour, and Prof. Patrick McGorry.

I am proud to leave Ireland as its longest serving Australian Ambassador, and while it is disappointing that a Free Trade Agreement with the EU did not come to fruition, bilateral relations between our two countries are at an all-time high. Hopefully, the Lions Tour next summer doesn’t change that! Myself, Pippa, On behalf of our readers and the wider diaspora Irish Scene would like to thank Gary and Pippa for the unwavering support and friendship they have showered on the Irish community in Western Australia and in Ireland over the last few years.

Since we met first met Gary in the July/August 2020 (pictured) he has been a regular contributor to this publication through his column. Indeed, he didn’t even flinch when we asked him – as a music fan with a great love of the music of Van Morrison – to critique Kenneth Branagh’s 2021 film Belfast, set to a sound track from his idol, the ‘grumpy musical genius’ himself. (Special thanks again to Pippa, Chargé d’Affaires James Hazell and the Embassy crew for their input) Gary’s columns

and Ted wish to thank the countless people who made the last four years so special. It has truly been an honour to represent Australia in Ireland and meet so many wonderful people. As we return to Perth, we are already planning future trips back to our home away from home. Go raibh míle maith agaibh agus slán go fóill, a chairde!

The Hon Gary Gray AO Australian Ambassador to Ireland will be missed. They offered interesting insights into the life and role of a working diplomat in Ireland. And as the success of her book has shown Pippa is every bit the writer and a fountain of knowledge and inspiration. They will be back in Perth soon – with Ted – and we wish them safe travels and a happy return home.

Regards Lloyd and Imelda Gorman.

THE IRISH SCENE | 33

800 year old WA landmark wiped out in blink of an eye

D

ublin man and south west WA stalwart Peter Murphy was the first member of the public to learn an iconic tree in a national park had been mysteriously – and meticulously – removed from the landscape.

A second stunning blow would soon follow when he raised the alarm about the devastating discovery he made in early August.

“I was taking a couple of Swiss and French tourists on a bush-walk into Wellington Forest in the Ferguson Valley,” said Peter, a qualified nature based tourism guide working in the south west part of WA for more than 30 years.

“I was looking forward to showing off the ancient peppermint tree that had stood for hundreds of years. Due to its age and size the peppermint was one of the highlights of my tours, as it helped put our European history into perspective, while its cultural significance to First Nations People was immeasurable. I’ve sat there with Noongar people over the years and, you know, listened to them speak to the tree.”

Visitors admiring the majestic peppermint

34 | THE IRISH SCENE

But on arriving at the site, what confronted us was a large stump. I was left speechless!.”

Peter had visited the tree a couple of weeks earlier. There had been heavy rains and he wanted to make sure the track to it were passable for visitors. “The tree was standing then,” he said.

Now there was just a large stump, and a clue to what had done the damage. “There were no logs, branches or limbs around as they had been systematically removed by a large machine (judging by the caterpillar machine-tracks in the ground around the area. Those remnants of the tree were unceremoniously dumped in river reserve about a 100metres from where the peppermint once stood.”

The tree had personal meaning for Peter but also special significance for the Green movement.

“I stumbled across it back in the late 80s, while bushwalking,” he said. “My first thoughts was how resilient it was to have survived storms, logging, fire, and disease

and it would be symbolic in the campaigns to save the surrounding forest from logging. I then contacted Bob Brown for his support. Bob paid a visit to the tree in the late 90s. It then became affectionately known as the Bob Brown Tree. I now regret discovering the tree.”

The tree was also cherished by the local community. “People are gutted that such a selfish act of vandalism, has not only robbed them of an old friend, but its loss to future generations is incalculable.”

Peter went to the media with the story, which was picked up by ABC News, 6PR and others. It emerged that a slack state government body

is criminal. It comes less than a year after the ancient Lisa’s Tree, which harboured criticallyendangered Swift Parrots, was cut down to spite environmentalists at Snow Hill in northeast Tasmania.”

The DBCA falls under the remit of environment minister Reece Whitby. Mr Whitby said he was “deeply saddened” by the incident. “It’s an absolute tragedy that it has been removed,” he said at the time. “I’m not happy about it. Far from happy about it in fact, and I’ve asked for a full report to work out what happened here.”

The minister’s tough talk did not amount to much. “DBCA has liaised with the contractor in relation to the work that they undertook and has confirmed that there has been an obvious breakdown in communication on the contractors’ behalf,” the department said.

“This is an isolated and unfortunate incident and it was never DBCA’s intention for the entire tree to be removed.”

Bob Brown was not impressed.

“This iconic tree was of significance to Aboriginal people, attracted tourists and, of course, was a source of wonder and inspiration for everyone who visited it,” he said. “But now it lies in ruins. This cannot be dismissed as a Peter Murphy (hat) with friends mistake or misunderstanding. I seek with what is left of the tree your assurance that those responsible will be brought to justice, no less than the many citizens of Western Australia had overseen the “vandalism”. The Department who have been or will be arrested, fined or jailed of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions for protecting the environment were and will (DBCA) sent contractors in to trim the be arraigned. No Australian forest defender has peppermint. Instead of pruning the magnificent ever escaped arrest and a fine or jail by telling organism they chopped it down. DBCA blamed it the court their obstruction of a chainsaw was ‘a on a communication breakdown. mistake’. Heritage tree destroyers should get no Former Australian Greens leader Bob Brown government or legal shelter, which is not given wrote directly to Premier Roger Cook. to heritage tree defenders.”

Brown, as a Greens senator, visited the tree when environmentalists were defending it from imminent logging in 1999 and it was subsequently protected in the national park.

He demanded the state government investigate the incident and take action.

“I am horrified,” Brown said.

“How this centuries-old tree and its wildlife could be destroyed by official action is beyond belief.

“The premier and minister should open up. In terms of the laws of nature, this destruction

Unfortunately, it is an all too familiar story for Peter. His wife Sally was a defender of the forest when it was being threatened with clearing in the 1990’s. She spent 15 days in the branches of the mighty King Jarrah tree to stop it from being chopped down. “She protested to save the forest, and was fined $2000 and put on a 12-month good behaviour bond,” he said. “She had to pay very, very dearly for saving a tree, and yet this beautiful, ancient peppermint tree can be destroyed with one swoop of a chainsaw, and there’s no fine, barely a slap on the wrist. There is

THE IRISH SCENE | 35

Olympics...

I

was going to write about a topic I never wanted to write about. That’s Irish, I can hear you say!

The ‘Twelfth’ for those of you who know what that means! Luckily another topic came to mind to rescue me from thinking about what my theme might be with the former. The other topic is yes, of course, The Olympics.

The word itself reminds me when I visited the ancient stadium in Greece when I was fifteen and when I stayed with my aunt in Belfast after leaving boarding school and going to the nearby University.

“You are nowhere near as neat and tidy as my last lodger,” she scolded me. Her previous lodger was Mary Peters of Olympic gold medal fame with the pentathlon event in 1972. The photograph shows the delight on her face as she waves to the thousands of people who lined Royal Avenue in Belfast to greet Mary.

“There were people hanging out of office windows,” she explained, “and I do remember there was a lot of paranoia about various threats.

But I wasn’t going to let anything stop me from sharing that joy with the people of Northern Ireland.” Apparently, she was also very proud of the achievements of 2024’s Paris Olympians.

A total of 41 athletes competed in the Games, representing either Team Ireland (14) or Team G.B. (27), the latter being helped through support from the Mary Peters Trust.

“I’ve always found that Ulster folk are very

Cathedral in Freiburg im Breisgau

36 | THE IRISH SCENE

generous when it comes to supporting young talent through work with the Trust,” she said. “Olympic gold opened so many doors for me. This summer’s success can open doors for so many more if the commitment is there. However, it’s important that we celebrate all those who were there in Paris to compete and not just those who brought home medals.”

Well said Mary so I feel bad about listing only the medal winners below. If you need to know more about their event you will have to Google it. Daniel Wiffen (Swimming - Ireland) Team Ireland's Daniel Wiffen has been the man of the moment at the 2024 Olympics as he made history with not only a gold medal, in the 800m freestyle event but a bronze in the 1500m freestyle as well.

Jack McMillan (Swimming - Great Britain) Jack is a swimmer from Belfast, who competed for Ireland in the men's 4 × 200 metre freestyle relay at the 2020 Summer Olympics and for Great Britain at the 2024 Summer Olympics when the team won Gold in the final.

Hannah Scott (Rowing - Great Britain) won a gold medal in the Women's quadruple sculls. The race might have been the most dramatic gold of the Olympics with Hannah and Team GB's quadruple sculls' success as they took the title by only 0.15 seconds. The four put in a stunning sprint to lead for the first time with one metre remaining to take a famous gold medal in a photo finish. The images of the Coleraine rower dancing around the Eiffel Tower in the days following her medal were memorable. I think I am correct in writing that with her gold medal, Scott became the first woman from Northern Ireland to win an Olympic gold since Lady Mary Peters in 1972.

Rhys McClenaghan (Gymnastics - Ireland) is an artistic gymnast from Newtownards, Co Down, who competes internationally both for Ireland and Northern Ireland. He is one of the best pommel horse workers of his generation, the 2024 Olympic champion and the first gymnast ever to win an Olympic medal for Ireland. After a mistake in the final in Tokyo three years ago, he delivered a flawless routine in Paris. Apparently, his coach Luke Carson had his head in his hands just before McClenaghan dismounted, knowing a huge score was on the cards if he landed cleanly. He did and it was. (a huge score that is).

LES ULSTER RAMB

Rebecca Shorten (Rowing - Great Britain) Rebecca and Team GB's women's four crew were pipped on the line by the Netherlands and had to settle for silver. Her boat was fastest in qualifying but missed out on gold after a dramatic finish. It was a first Olympic medal for her, after finishing fourth in the deciding race at Tokyo.

Philip Doyle (Rowing - Ireland) Philip won a bronze medal for Ireland in the men's double sculls with partner Daire Lynch. It was redemption for him, as he had missed out on a place in the final in Tokyo three years ago.

Leaving the competitors aside for a paragraph or two, I noted the fact that in a broadcasting career that has spanned 11 Olympic Games, Belfast-born George Hamilton has never been lost for words – until now. The Paris Games are the first Olympics since Moscow in 1980 where the RTE commentator hasn’t been describing the highs and lows of competition. While he’s been relaxing with a watching brief this year, he has been in the French capital to receive an George Ha milto n award of his own. George was among the media receiving recognition for their contribution to the Olympics at a special ceremony organised by AIPS – the International Sports Press Association – honouring journalists who have covered 10 Olympics or more. He was due to receive the honour in Tokyo three years ago, but Covid postponed the ceremony.

I have always followed George’s career as we went to the same school (Methody) and played together in the orchestra there and later we attended the same University (Queens).

I quote him here when he said “I watched the 1976 Olympics at home in Belfast, glued to the 1,500m where Eamonn Coghlan finished fourth.

I remember telling my father how much I would have loved to have commentated on that race.”

Fortunately, four years later he was in Moscow.

Ten more Olympics followed around the globe as the voice of sport with Ireland’s national broadcaster. “I thought my chance of actually lending the words to an Irish Olympic gold had

gone,” he admitted. “But in Tokyo, rowers Paul O’Donovan and Fintan McCarthy gave me that moment. “I can’t actually believe I’ve worked on 11 Olympic Games. Receiving the honour from Daley Thompson, well, there was a moment when I wasn’t sure what to say.”

A who’s who of Olympic talent attended the ceremony, with names like Nadia Comaneci, Ed Moses, Sebastian Coe and Chris Hoy all handing out the awards. “I’m just glad they didn’t all take to the stage at once, I don’t think I could have taken the weight of all their medals,” said George, who was thrilled to be enjoying the event with his wife Linda. “We’re both here just taking it all in,” he said. “This time round we’re taking in all the fun. With sport you never know what’s going to happen,” he added. On his broadcasting career he described “You just sit back and go with the flow.

The best lines are spontaneous, you can’t write a script. You do your homework, but just react like any sports fan would.”

He was asked what was the most difficult moment he had to commentate on? He dodged the question but answered that, “I was lucky to have commentated on all of Usain Bolt’s 100m gold medals. You get about thirty words. It’s all over so fast so you must be bang on the money from gun to line. “I have missed out on a few Irish gold medals this year,” he lamented.

The 74-year-old is now retired from broadcasting.

“But at least I managed to catch one before I was done,” he claimed.

Apparently, these days it’s the written word, rather than the spoken word, that he’s concentrating on. I am sure we can all look forward to his forthcoming book and after that I suppose L.A. By the way, I only stayed with my aunt for 3 weeks. I was asked to leave. My great sin was bringing into the house my rugby togs which in those days were probably a little bit muddy! I found another place with some friends. Not quite as good as you might well imagine but no one scolded me there.

As always may your God go with you for the next four years and beyond.

David MacConnell

THE THE IRISH IRISH SCENE SCENE || 37 37

Is mise Maria Collins agus is mise an 'Perth Rose' A

ustralia has proved to be one big mad exciting adventure for Irish woman Maria Collins.

Now that we are in post pandemic times waves of young Irish people are once again able to travel freely Down-under and explore a world of new and exciting opportunities.

Maria, a native Irish speaker, has only been here for a relatively short time but has managed to do some backpacking but also discover a part of the country she already considers to be home – and achieve a life long ambition!

“Is mise Maria Collins agus is mise an 'Perth Rose',” she said on stage for the televised stage of the competition. “I’m 29 years old, I’m from Coppeen in County Cork and have been living in Australia for over a year now. Having travelled a lot of Australia, Western Australia is by far my favourite state. I’ve met some incredible friends here in Perth and love the outdoorsy lifestyle and beautiful beaches. I’m passionate about Gaeilge and teach Irish to a beautiful family here in Perth as well as run Irish language events around the city.

I’m a primary school teacher and love my job. It’s very different to Ireland which has made my work very interesting and varied. I have recently started learning AUSLAN (the sign language

38 | THE IRISH SCENE

of the Australian deaf community) and have worked in the School for Deaf children which has been challenging but immensely rewarding.”

Having quickly embraced the local lifestyle Maria also managed to pursue another life long ambition, by representing Perth in the Rose of Tralee in August. “I am very excited to be part of the Rose of Tralee. I’ve watched the show every year since I was a little girl so it is a dream come true to be involved. This will be my first time back in Ireland since I left for Australia so I’m really looking forward to it,” she told the Evening Echo newspaper.

It was her first time back in Ireland since she left, and she certainly returned in style. There was a big reception party of family and friends at the airport and plenty of well wishers and supporters before, during and after the proceedings. Maria also had visitors from WA, Kieran and Ann from Siteworks WA and Black Swan Plant Hire who gifted her a women’s Munster Rugby jersey and a West Coast Eagles top. (Maria was also donned a ‘Dockers’ jersey on the trip) The Rose of Tralee is a whirlwind time for the Roses, their families

and other supporters and the communities they come from – and from where they are now – that runs on a dizzying timetable of events and activities, culminating with the final nights of the competition itself. Maria more than held her own on stage and she captivated the Dome and watching audiences with a beautiful rendition of the traditional Irish song Mo Ghile Mear.

“I can’t quite put into words the pride and gratitude I feel to be representing Perth at the Rose of Tralee festival,” Maria told Southernstar.ie

“Saturday was a night I will never forget. I felt so proud to be Irish and amongst such wonderful Roses that I am lucky enough to now call my friends.”

Representing Melbourne was Dervla Dolan while Ashling Heneghan did the honours for Sydney.

On the final night Keely O’Grady from Christchurch, New Zealand was crowned the 2024 Rose of Tralee, the third Kiwi to hold the title. The 21 year old Kiwi native is a speech and language therapy student at Canterbury University. Her father originally hails from Sutton in Dublin and she has been to Ireland on previous occasions as an Irish dance champion for New Zealand.

Her party piece on the big night in the Dome was a performance of Gypsy from Riverdance, wearing a customary Māori korowai, lent to her by a celebrated campaigner Sir Tipene O’Regan

B SEASON concludes Wednesday March 7, 7.45pm

ly Too” with a supporting Irish documentary, together with tea/coffee, homemade cakes, Irish jams. Ice creams $3. At Kensington (South Perth). Donation $15 to cover catering and costs.

UESDAY BOOK CLUB March 26 and April 23, 7.30pm, Irish Club Committee Room, 61 Subiaco. All welcome. Light refreshments provided. Convener Mary Purcell, m.purcell@telstra.co th S FESTIVAL Saturday 16PROMOTING March, Leederville Parade Irish Festival, Join our vintage THE FOURTH TUESDAY BOOK CLUB ENCOURAGING AND AN AWARENESS OFand AUSTRALIA’S IRISH10am.

HERITAGE de and ourfourth presentation thewith Brendan Awards and 2023 at the concert in the early Meets Tuesday of the of month, exception of December. 2022 7.30pm MARY DURACK MEMORIAL LECTURE Launched inAt1995 the Dooey annual Mary Durack Memorial Lecture honours May 24 ‘Phosphorescence’

by Julia Baird, to be presented

by Trish stigious award recognises individuals or groups with a record of dedicated service and outstandi June presented Cecilia Bray the28 pioneeringTBA worktoinbeAustralia on by many fronts by the Durack family and our founding member and first patron Dame Mary Venueaspects Irish Club Committee Room, 61 TownshendMeanwhile Road, Subiaco we invite nominations for 2024. e or more of Australia's Irish heritage.

Durack AC DBE, Australian authorLight and historian, (1913provided.

- 1994). Tea Thisand year’s lecture will beBar delivered

by Ashley McGrath, Chief Admission Free.

All welcome. refreshments coffee from the $2 Contact Convener m.purcell@telstra.com Executive Officer of CEOSMary FOR GENDER EQUITY. TheIrish talk will focus Committee on gender equity room. in Australia and howwill it has with motio Sunday 24Purcell, March, 3pm, Club There beevolved, special RAL MEETING examples of pioneering solutions to gender equity by Australian organisations/government. p nominations.

Please consider joining as aCompetition committee member, volunteer or an event coordinato BLOOMSDAY - James Joyce Literary Venue Irish Club Committee Room, 61 Townshend Road, Subiaco presentations MEMORATION ROCKINGHAM Date Sunday 13 October at 3pm.Annual commemoration of the escape of six Fenian convicts o Bookings $20music non-members, $15 and members.

With oration, verse, drama song at the Catalpa Memorial, Rockingham Beach, Easter Includes Irish afternoon tea, moderated Q&A segment open and to the audience am to 12 noon. Free public event. Guest speakers dignitaries including Mayor Deb Hamblin BRENDAN AWARD We invite nominations for 2024, Details https://irishheritage.com.au/awards/the-brendan-award/ Federal Minister Madeline King; State Minister Stephen Dawson; Somer Bessire-Briers from US To THE mark the 100th anniversary of the publication of Ulysses, the22.

AIHA will hold Irish a celebratory event on FOURTH TUESDAY BOOK CLUB Sep 24, Oct At 7.30pm, Club Committee Room, 61 McKnight.

Townshend ichaelJune Sheehy; musician Ormonde Og Waters; and Bloom more.

Coordinated bythe David known world-wide as Bloomsday, after Leopold in Ulysses.

At the event, 16 , officially Road, Subiaco.

All welcome.

Light refreshments provided.

Convener Mary Purcell, m.purcell@telstra.com shortlisted entries from our competition will be staged as readings, drama, music and visual presentations rsday by 25COMING April, 8am.

AIHA invitation of Subiaco RSL lay wreaths for Irish ANZACS at Fallen solo or groups. overall at winner will be chosen by popular vote on the night and will receive a cash UPThe Lunch and Tour of Parliament House on 19 September, limited to AIHA committee and volunteers. prize. orial on the corner of Rokeby and Hamersley roads.

Morning tea follows.

Subject to confirmation We thank our adjudicators Frank Murphy and Frances Devlin-Glass THE JOURNAL Quarterly magazine for members. Articles celebrating the Irish Heritage in Australia. Editor Teresa th

January December, Date to 31 Thursday June 16 at2024 7.30pm

MEMBERSHIP 1 January toTownshend 31 December, 2024 (to be confirmed) Venue Irish Club Theatre, 61 Road, Subiaco ip $65; Concession and unwaged students with ID) Admission AIHA(Centrelink members $20, Non-members $25, includes light refreshments Family membership $65; Concession (Centrelink and unwaged students with ID) $55$55 Prizes Best Edwardian dressed male or female. Plus special Irish raffle from Perth) Membership includes tax deductible of $20 Distant$45; (200 kms from Perth) $45;fee Membership fee includes tax deductibledonation donation of $20 https://www.trybooking.com/BZAVU Bookings Pay Online – https://irishheritage.com.au/membership/registration/ s://irishheritage.com.au/membership/registration/ AIHA Website Or Bank Transfer: Bank: Commonwealth, BSB: 066-192 Account No: 1054 6502 r: Bank: Commonwealth, BSB: 066-192 Account No: 1054 6502 Check https://irishheritage.com.au/news-blog/ for a selection of exclusive interviews conducted AIHAour haswebsite approved charity and tax deductable status. www.irishheritage.com.au by committee member Gill Kenny and other articles of note. If you on the interview with Aine Tyrrell ed charity and tax deductable status.

Deductable Giftclick Recipient Status

you will arrive at our YouTube channel. Aine is really interesting - victim of domestic violence, successful singer, living in a bus and rearing 3 children. She has great perspectives on life and had a real Irish chat with Gill. Easter Monday Annual Catalpa Commemoration was professionally videod this year. The link will be on our website as soon as available.

THE IRISH SCENE We thank Gill and Patricia Bratton for this new member feature.

| 39

who has Irish and Māori heritage. As well as wanting to representing her Irish and Kiwi roots Keely – like all Roses – is an ambassador for another group of people.

“It’s a beauty pageant that’s not about beauty,” she said on stage. “It’s about ambitions. It’s about aspirations. It’s about self-worth and talent. And it’s about the strength of women and it’s about celebrating a shared culture and connection and

heritage that we all have, all the girls that enter the competition.

That’s how I like to try and explain it.”

Maria now carries the mantle of Perth Rose from her 2022 predecessor Olivia Duffy – a native of Oldcastle, Co. Meath – who came to Perth in 2019 and who was an exemplary Rose for her adopted home and the local Irish community.

Maria’s flights to Ireland were sponsored by Jenny from British Travel while E&M Electrical and Visa4You also sponsored her. Photos: Maria Collins Facebook and Dominic Walsh Photography.

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Lesson in life

by Noel O’Neill

I walk my little dog each morning through the town of Kalamunda. I actually drive him to the town. He gets me up each morning at around five- thirty.a.m. by scratching me on the shoulder. (of course, he’s on the bed, why not? my comfort is his comfort) So I give him a treat throw him in the car and off we go. Out of the car and the ‘sniffs’ begin like a coke addict looking for a high. So, then all of a sudden, he see’s a dog, a big dog, more than twice his size.

Mind you the owner looks twice my size two. Now to put things into perspective my dog is a Maltese Shih Tzu so anything that looks above his weight and size is actually just that. So, when my little dog spots another dog, he just stops, puts on the brakes as if to say ‘hello’ what’s this? But then the owner macho of this bigger dog looks at mine as if to say ‘my dog is bigger than yours! Well yeah but I am inclined to say “Yeah but how smart is he? He’s pulling you right and left and doesn’t know where he is or how to behave and maybe that says a lot about the owner?

When a dog bites I notice the owner is a mean S.O.B. but when a dog is gentle I always see something gentle in the owner. Then I go further I think “ How is he with his kids? His wife? I think, ‘if you are taking your anger out on your dog then it must come from somewhere else. Now I am not a psychologist but if you mistreat animals then it stands to reason you mistreat people the same way. The dog loves you but you just don’t see it. Your wife and kids love you but you don’t see that either… But point is, it all comes down to, how you walk and treat your dog. I always feel when I walk my dog” this is YOUR time so I take my time, ‘sniff where you want, I have the bag if you poo so just let go” But I see these people dragging their dogs running with them, dog’s tongues hanging out and probably wishing they were home. Just my view, but I just thought… what is their view? What do they think? I like to think, they are on this earth for such a short time so let’s give them their time…. When you do,you will experience so much love coming back to you in the end… before the end. My suggestion just… try it.

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Book Reviews

Books reviewed by John Hagan

BODY OF LIES

by BY SARAH BAILEY / ALLEN & UNWIN $34.99 This is the fourth, and final, appearance of the crime fiction series featuring Bailey’s resourceful sleuth, Detective Sergeant Gemma Woodstock. But don’t worry, it’s not necessary to have read any of Woodstock’s previous misdemeanor fighting escapades, as this book may be enjoyed as a stand-alone novel. We meet Gemma, now back in her Aussie hometown of Smithson on maternity leave, accompanied by new husband Mac, baby daughter, Scarlett and son Ben. While on a visit to see her father in hospital, the unidentified female body from a recent traffic accident is stolen from the morgue, and Gemma cannot help herself from being drawn in to the investigation.

Soon she uncovers a series of additional recent crimes perpetrated in the Smithson area which may, or may not, be related to the disappeared corpse. Assisted by close friend and journalist, Candy Fyfe, the duo follows the clues left behind as they attempt to discover the identity of the missing woman. This is a task placing Gemma at odds with those she loves best while consigning her to more danger that she ever visualised. Readers are embroiled in the mire of small-town politics with Gemma having to decide whether or not to take on the authorities, so placing her own career path, and perhaps even her marriage, in jeopardy. Despite all the intriguing red 46 | THE IRISH SCENE

herrings in the book’s first part, the second portion of BODY OF LIES gets a little bogged down as it delves in to the minutiae of Gemma’s family circumstances and inconsequential dramas of her personal life, generally impeding narrative action and plot enhancement. Certainly, the book’s denouement and resolution of the ‘mystery’ comes as something of a surprise, if a tad irrational in the circumstances.

Perhaps the character of Gemma reflects that of a literary creation out of puff, and/or an author keen to move on to new character and story line challenges.

FIRST YEAR

by KRISTINA ROSS / ALLEN & UNWIN $32.99 Kristina Ross is this year’s winner of the prestigious ‘The Australian/Vogel’s Award’ which is presented annually for unpublished manuscripts by writers under the age of 35. Not only does the successful author collect a cash prize of $20,000, their book is also published by Allen & Unwin. (Last year, Irish author, Anna McGahan won with ‘Immaculate’). First Year, depicts the initial twelve months of student, Maeve, as she gains entry to a Melbourne acting school to pursue her goal of becoming a professional actor. Not only does Maeve have to compete with a posse of her fellow classmates to survive the seemingly stressful process of honing her art

Book Reviews (only 15 of the original 30 entrants will likely graduate), but she has also to cope with the often harrowing and bruising processes of the acting classes. Like her protagonist, Maeve, Ross, at the tender age of 17, accepted an offer from the Victorian College of the Arts. She graduated at 20 and, for a time, acted and produced for the Melbourne and Sydney stage. ‘The idea for First Year came to me when I was pregnant with my first son’, she declares. ‘I began ---- writing while my baby slept’. But just how much is her novel autobiographic? Ross asserts that First Year is very much a work of fictional although she does admit ‘there are a few parallels. Despite being so young, Maeve realises the value of life experience as she copes with the new school demands while she delicately balances both romantic and platonic relationships. While some of her lecturers mentor students with enthusiasm and principle, others are less assiduous as they push their charges to the limit and beyond. Although there is no real overarching plot to the novel, this debut novel provides a delicious, insightful and intelligent peek into how our actors (both stage and screen) are trained, and how they manage to survive that training.

PS. This is the final ‘Australian/Vogel Award’.

Next year it is to be replaced by the Australian Fiction Prize (open to authors of any age) in partnership with publishers HarperCollins.

The winner will receive a prize of $20,000, plus an advance of $15,000 and publication by HarperCollins.

PASTURES OF HEALING

by DENIS GLENNON / UPSWELL $29.99 The subtitle of this book is ‘from the loss of a child’ as it focuses on how the author, Denis Glennon, coped with the brutal murder of his daughter, Ciara, who disappeared from the popular nightlife suburb of Claremont (Perth, WA) on 15 March 1997. Ciara was the third woman to vanish over a fifteen-month period commencing in January 1996. Known as the ‘Claremont serial killings’, two of the bodies, including that of Ciara, were found a few weeks after their abduction triggering one of the largest, longest and costliest police investigations in WA. Over two decades more than 700 police officers worked on the case before, on 22 December 2016, telephone

technician, Bradley Robert Evans was arrested, and later convicted for the crimes. Mark McGowan, WA Premier at the time declared, ‘What happened to these young women changed our state’.

Glennon has divided his perceptive book into three sections. The first focuses on Ciara’s murder, his immediate feelings and ensuing events. In part two, the author questions how, and why, such a thing could happen, he challenges his own Catholic faith while reviewing books and articles on coping with grief and how these impacted on his own tragic situation.

‘Grieving is hard, exhausting work, but can be done by all with dignity’, he states. Glennon also examines how he was affected physically, psychologically, emotionally and spiritually by Caira’s death, before finally realizing he would have to rely on his own inner strength as he devised and developed a process to confront and deal with his personal anguish. In section three, consisting of eleven short chapters, the author continues with his healing process while assessing the effect of Ciara’s loss on his marriage, pondering if men and women grieve differently, and whether or not forgiveness is necessary to bring a sense of peace. Thankfully, as a result of his confrontational journey over the decades Glennon is finally able to assert ‘I am content’ and ‘I will not be a prisoner of the past’. While he declares that this is not a ‘how to’ publication he may well be understating its potential assistance to many. We are all going to lose someone near and dear, perhaps not in such tragic or distressing circumstances. While I am not comparing my own situation to that of Glennon, following the recent death of my wife (to MND), I found great comfort and solace in this book, thus enabling me to better cope with the intrusion of intense grief, while coming to terms with the ‘new world order’ in the shaping of my future.

THE IRISH SCENE | 47

Paula from Tasmania

BY PAULA XIBERRAS

Nathan Carter Reinventing the (Wagon) Wheel

BY PAULA XIBERRAS

Nathan smiles at the fact that his love of country music might have been joked at by his friend as a schoolboy, but now all these years later those same friends are playing a Beyonce country album!

Nathan’s take on Irish folk and country music has always been to make it his own and make it contemporary.

With six number one albums, hosting a TV show and beating One Direction on the charts with his cover of ‘Wagon Wheel’. Nathan was more than ready to write his autobiography so far when he was seventeen, documenting his many memorable moments. His friends reassured him that writing such an early autobiography wasn’t completely unheard of as didn’t fellow Irish singer Ronan Keating write his own when he was twenty-one!

You can see Nathan at the following venues in November 2024: Thursday 28 - Northcote Theatre, Melbourne

It’s been about eight years since Liverpool born, Irish singer and musician Nathan Carter has toured Australia so when Nathan heard firsthand great reports from other Irish artists touring in Australia with Troubadour it rekindled his desire to return to Australia. I talked to Nathan from his Northern Ireland home. Nathan’s first visit to Australia was a small affair with little time between gigs to do some sightseeing, so Nathan thought this time ‘Let’s make a proper go of it’.

It is still a small intimate tour, but the venues are larger with three gigs so far, Perth, Sydney, Melbourne and Nathan will be accompanied by a five-piece band. Nathan hopes he will do even more sightseeing than his ‘incredible’ walk around the Sydney Opera House last time. Maybe, he laughs, he will get to go to Bondi Beach!

Nathan was destined to be a musician of Irish folk and country music. He was taught to play accordion (he also plays guitar and piano) by his grandad as a four-year-old singing in local Irish speaking contests with traditional Fleadhs and Ceilis to singing in a choir as an eleven-year-old that toured the world’s cathedrals including The Vatican in Rome.

48 | THE IRISH SCENE

Friday 29 - Enmore Theatre, Sydney Saturday 30 - Freo.Social, Fremantle Tickets on sale from at www.troubadourpresents.com. .

A Walk (not) on the Wild Side

BY PAULA XIBERRAS Satyajit Das was an eco-tourist but after an examination of eco-tourism his views, (pardon the pun), on watching wildlife in its natural habitat were altered.

With the world now experiencing an ecological emergency he wonders why humans need to continue to want

to view animals in their natural environment, sometimes only to claim that elusive photo. The human footprint is destroying natural habitats and intruding on animals’ homes.

One of the reasons to see wild animals up close is a desire to occasionally escape the treadmill of everyday life and visit these animals in their natural habitat, whether be jungle, savanna or Antarctica, especially if a friend or neighbour has had the experience. Now, especially after the pandemic a surge of rediscovery sees tourist spots overcrowded causing even greater damage.

Take it up a level to those who have already seen the big four, Elephants, Rhinos, Lions and Buffalo and now want something more exotic, animals which are more elusive, sometimes a rare sighting

A group traditio and fid years ago means that area where they appeared county’ may be on the eco tourists’ path just in case the tributes rare animal decides to appear again, which is woman doubtful and so bringing more human intrusion promis to a pristine area. also he One thing that can be done to redress the GAA cl damage of wild animal watching is rewilding. right. E This is one way of restoring the ecology and the vig biodiversity of an environment allowing the of the k natural processes to resume and limiting the to the s influence of humans on the ecosystem. traditio For human beings seeing wildlife is a novelty, music a but Satyajit is asking us to reconsider our vigil ton wildlife visits and ask ourselves are we really #Ashlin interested or is a visit to see wildlife a token Perth’s Irish community – like many thing we do to keep up with the Joneses? If you in Perth others in Australia and across he want to see animals, it might be better to watch Similar world – came together to hold a vigil them on documentaries or on special cameras were st in the of the shockingtourist murder that are set up.

As wake one disappointed across of 23 yeartooldsee Tullamore teacher noted when he went wild cats commit includin Aisling Murphy while she was jogging a ‘kill’ in the wild he was so positioned that he broad clearly. daylight in her home town of the Am didn’t see theinevent at Kang Co. Offaly in you January.

By not goingTullamore, on that wildlife trek, may help protect animals and their important ecological Point, B Hundreds of Irish people – including and all environment. families with young children, took part based Wild Quests by Satyajit Das is out now in an evening time vigil and walk at Irish Au published by Monash University Press. the Flame of Remembrance in Kings Queen Park on January 19, organised by the by Ann Claddagh Association and supported

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35 35

Falling in love with the John Boyle O’Reilly story

by Lloyd Gorman

F

enian John Boyle O’Reilly was a passionate man. Ireland’s right to freedom from the British Crown was the cause to which he dedicated his life.

But he was also a champion for the human rights of the down trodden – including the Aboriginal people he encountered in Australia. Transported to the Swan River Colony with fellow Fenians O’Reilly soon escaped to freedom but never abandoned his countrymen and helped deliver his comrades from their incarceration. A printer and journalist by trade, he was a poet who inspired presidents. These familiar facets of his life are well documented and celebrated.

But in a new historical novel and fictional re-imagining, Perth author Sharon Barba goes to the heart of a little known story about his brief but emotionally charged time in Western Australia.

“As soon as I saw John Boyle O’Reilly’s brooding photograph and learned of his forbidden love for his warder’s daughter, I was hooked,” said Sharon. “When he arrives in the sand swept port of Fremantle, rebel poet John Boyle O’Reilly dreams only of escape… until he meets Jessie Woodman, his warder’s wilful daughter.”

A fourth generation Australian of Irish descent through her great-grandfather, John (O’) Reilly [no relation to JBOR] of

Barbara and Don at Dowth

50 | THE IRISH SCENE

County Cavan, Sharon first alighted on Fenian John Boyle O’Reilly’s secret love affair while researching her family history during a writing residency at the KSP Writer’s Centre in November 2020. While O’Reilly’s transportation to Australia, and stellar career are relatively well known, his relationship with Jessie Woodman, and the significant role she played in his life, has received less attention.

“Without giving away too many spoilers, the synergies between Jessie’s story and my great-grandmother’s, highlighting the predicaments of young women in Western Australia’s early colonial years, offered me the opportunity to celebrate the lives of two strong women — and a truly extraordinary man, in the charismatic Fenian rebel poet, John Boyle O’Reilly.”

O’Reilly’s love for Jessie is laid bare in partially decoded messages written on the covers of his notebook of poems, one of the State Library of Western Australia’s greatest treasures. A graduate of history from UWA, Sharon has spent the past three years researching John and Jessie’s poignant story.

A member of the Fenians, Fremantle and Freedom group, Sharon joined their John Boyle O’Reilly tour (2021), led by Margo O’Byrne, Peter Murphy, and Lachlan Kelly,

before heading over to Ireland last year with husband Don to visit O’Reilly’s birthplace in Dowth.

by its historic passion for freedom.

It’s been a privilege to explore John’s story, and hopefully, soon I’ll be able to share it with everyone.”

A work in progress, The Warder’s Daughter was awarded the “We hired a brilliant Historical Novel Society UK (HNS local historian, Brendan Sharon, UK) for the Biographical Fiction Matthews, to drive us right, with category of its inaugural “First Jesssie around the area,” she Woodman Chapters” competition which is for said. “The highlight, of the first three chapters of a fullcourse, was the visit to length historical novel that has not John’s birthplace, but when been previously published in any form. we arrived, I was disappointed There were 400 entries received from to learn that the property was 23 countries. for sale and was totally fenced off, except for the JBOR memorial. I must confess The entry statement for her work reads: sending off a prayer to John to work his Irish “The Warder’s Daughter: When charismatic luck and — lo and behold! — the caretaker Fenian rebel, John Boyle O’Reilly, is promptly appeared. After explaining the transported to Western Australia in 1868, headstrong Jessie Woodman is in the mood reason for our visit, the caretaker phoned for rebellion. Their forbidden affair will the owner, who kindly gave his permission challenge not only Jessie’s deepest fears, for us to enter. Two and a half hours later, but also her fraught relationship with John’s we’d received a full guided tour of the warder—her father. To set John free, Jessie entire estate.” (Around the same time the must overcome her fears and determine Dowth site was being purchased by the how much she’s willing to sacrifice for the Irish Government. An ideal spot for the book man she loves.” launch perhaps!)

Sharon (and her husband Don) and Sharon has also met with key players the other short-listed category winners connected with John and Jessie’s story, will attend a conference and Gala Ball including Jessie’s great-granddaughter, and at Dartington Hall, Devon in the UK on descendants of James Maguire, and Joseph September 7 at which the overall winner will Buswell, believed to have assisted in John’s be announced. The top prize includes £1,000 dramatic escape. “This project has been an and a trophy and invaluable feedback from utter joy from start to finish,” Sharon said. the three final judges. Best of luck Sharon, “It’s not only enabled me to restore Jessie hopefully we will have more good news to to her rightful place in John’s legend but report in the next edition! brought me closer to my Irish roots. The Irish passion for creativity is matched only

www.facebook.com/sharonbarbawriter

‘Ireland: 800 Years of Sadness’

I

n 1844, John Boyle O'Reilly was born in Dowth Castle, near Drogheda, Co. Meath. At 11, he was apprenticed in a printing business.

At 15, he moved to Lancashire, England, to live with relatives. He became a reporter.

At 17, he joined the Lancashire Rifle Volunteers; later, in Dublin, the Tenth Royal Hussars. He became angry when he witnessed government mistreatment of Catholics. Soon after, he left the army and became active in the Fenians.

In February 1866, the government raided the office of 'The Irish People', the Fenians paper, arrested the editors, and found hundreds of incriminating documents.

Soon, O'Reilly was arrested. Refusing to confess, he was tried and sentenced to death; commuted to 20 years transportation. After a short stay in Mountjoy Prison, O'Reilly, and others, were chained together, taken to London, and put in solitary confinement in a number of English prisons.

On 10th October 1867, O'Reilly, in chains, was put on the convict ship Hougoumont, with 61 other Fenians, and 218 criminals. Of the prisoners, 15 were soldiers like O’Reilly, classified as criminals.

In January 1868, the Hougoumont arrived in Fremantle. Some settlers objected, claiming that the Irish prisoners might establish a Republic.

The Catholic chaplain took a liking to O’Reilly, and had him appointed to a job in the library. Four weeks later, O'Reilly was sent to the convict settlement in Bunbury. He joined a road party, and began the life of a convict.

A Mr. Woodman noticed O’Reilly’s abilities, and gave him clerical work, including carrying dispatches.

52 | THE IRISH SCENE

by Brian Corr byline O’Reilly often thought of escaping. Doing so inland, via the bush, meant certain death.

When he had been just over a year in the settlement, he escaped, not inland, but by sea.

O’Reilly prepared for months, keeping his plans secret. One day, he was visited by a Catholic priest, Rev. Patrick McCabe, who offered to help. Weeks went by, and months, with O'Reilly trusting that the priest would not let him down.

In February, O'Reilly heard that three American whaling ships were in Bunbury.

While returning after delivering his weekly report, he found Fr. McCabe's messenger waiting for him at a plain called

the 'Race Course'. One of the ships, the Vigilant, was to set sail in four days, and the captain would take O’Reilly on board, but outside Australian waters.

On the 18th February, at about 7:00pm, the warden went on his rounds. He saw O’Reilly sitting in his hut. A little later, O’Reilly put on free-man's boots (convicts' boots could be tracked), and started his escape. He reached the agreed place, and lay down to rest, and wait, and keep lookout. Soon, horses arrived and stopped nearby. They had a spare horse for O'Reilly, and, silently, they rode to a dry swamp near the sea, close to Bunbury.

Soon, a light was seen about 800 metres away. It flashed three times, the signal for O’Reilly and his accomplices to move forward along the road, to a bridge. The boat was ready, but the tide was out, so they had to wade through mud to reach the water.

O'Reilly, and three of the others, climbed aboard.

They rowed until they were out from the coast, out of sight of land, to wait for the Vigilant. By noon, they needed food and drink, but, stupidly, had none on board. So, the boat was run ashore.

Leaving O'Reilly behind, the others set off for a nearby 'friendly' house. O'Reilly tried to sleep; impossible because of a pain in his chest. Hours passed. He looked for a tree with possum marks, found one, climbed, and caught a large possum; a great substitute for water. O'Reilly fell asleep, and awoke when his friends came back in the morning.

O'Reilly yelled. No answer. The ship sailed on.

O'Reilly went back to shore, to his hiding place. He then walked to the 'friendly' house, exhausted when he got there, staying for five days, when a letter arrived from Fr. McCabe, who had arranged with Captain Gifford, of the Gazelle, to take O’Reilly on board the next day.

There was a problem. A convict, Martin Bowman, had discovered O’Reilly’s escape plan, and threatened to go to the police if not taken on board as well. He joined the party. The next morning they rowed out to sea. About mid-day, they saw two whaling ships. In the evening, close to the ships, someone shouted O’Reilly’s name. They pulled alongside, and O'Reilly and Bowman got on board; welcomed by Captain Gifford.

Two months later, in Roderique, a small island in the Indian Ocean, to get fresh water, the Governor, and policemen, came aboard searching for O'Reilly. The captain, and crew, said they knew no-one called

They reached the beach at 9:00am, and, at about 1:00pm, the ship was in sight. Quickly, they headed out to sea. About two hours later, the ship changed course and passed by, ignoring, or not seeing, their boat.

The next day, using a smaller boat, O'Reilly set out to sea, on his own. Before darkness fell, he was out on the Indian Ocean. The next day, he suffered from the hot sun. Around mid-day, he saw a ship, which he guessed to be the Vigilant.

THE IRISH SCENE | 53

thoroughly. They found O’Reilly’s hat. Next morning, the flag was at half mast.

O'Reilly. The governor ordered a check of the crew, and Bowman was recognised.

O’Reilly was not. Those on board were certain that Bowman, when questioned later, would betray O'Reilly, so a plan was hatched.

The third mate talked with those on watch, and instructed them to keep an eye on O’Reilly, who, he said, might attempt suicide.

O'Reilly went aft, leaned over the rail, dropped a grindstone, and his hat, overboard, then sneaked into a locker.

There was a loud splash. A watchman shouted: 'It's O'Reilly. He's jumped overboard.' 'Man overboard' was called.

Boats were lowered.

The area was searched

Soon, the governor, and Bowman, came on board to identify O’Reilly.

The crew was grieving and the officials, satisfied, returned to land.

That evening, the Gazelle put to sea.

Later, O'Reilly went on deck. The captain, unaware of the third mate's plan, thought he was seeing a ghost. Off the Cape of Good Hope, they linked up with the Sapphire, an American ship, heading to Liverpool, England. O'Reilly moved to the Sapphire, travelling as a sailor who had deserted.

In Liverpool, O'Reilly moved to the Bombay; hired as third mate. One day out from Liverpool, he went on deck, and could glimpse the coast of Ireland.

O'Reilly landed in Philadelphia, travelled to New York, and, in 1870, moved to Boston, a city with a large Irish population. A few weeks later, he gave a lecture on 'England's Political Prisoners'. He repeated it in other places. A little later, he was hired as a reporter with 'The Pilot', and soon became one of the leading literally men in the city.

In June 1870, O'Reilly went to Canada, to report on the Fenian Invasion there, from the front line, his first major reporting job. In August 1872, O'Reilly

54 | THE IRISH SCENE

married journalist Mary Murphy, who wrote for the 'Young Crusader' as Agnes Smiley.

They had four daughters.

In 1875, John Devoy asked O'Reilly how Clan na Gael might rescue the remaining Fenians in jail in Western Australia. O'Reilly suggested a rescue by ship, appearing to be on legitimate business, a plan that was adopted, and which led to the rescue of six prisoners. The escape of O'Reilly, and, later, the other Fenians, helped bring together the various Irish organisations in America, under John Devoy's leadership.

It was Devoy's direct support for the rebels in Ireland that helped achieve Irish independence, 50 years later, making Devoy, and O'Reilly, significant persons in Irish history.

Later in life, O'Reilly became prone to illness and, on 9th August 1890, went home early.

He had bouts of insomnia around this time, so he went for a long walk, hoping for a good sleep later. In the middle of the night, his wife found him sitting in a chair; unconscious. A doctor was called; too

late. The public was told he died of heart failure; the official register says accidental poisoning.

O'Reilly's sudden death led to tributes, not only in Boston, but around the world.

Thousands attended his funeral, with mourners lining the streets. His wife, sadly, was unable to leave her bed to attend.

O'Reilly is remembered as one of the most respected journalists, and writers, in American history. A civil rights' activist, he defended oppressed native Americans and African-Americans, just like he had defended the oppressed Irish.

He never forgot Ireland, and spent his life working for Irish freedom. He landed in America a stranger. When he died, he was mourned across the country. In 1896, a bronze sculpture of O'Reilly was unveiled, in Boston, with American President Grover Cleveland giving the main speech.

The John Boyle O’Reilly Memorial in Boston (and above)

In 1999, Geoff Gallop, the Western Australian opposition leader, asked the British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, to grant O'Reilly a pardon; refused. For more information about 'Ireland: 800 Years of Sadness' by Brian Corr visit www.corr.au

THE IRISH SCENE | 55

Fenian

Hunter T

here was barely even standing room in the Bunbury Museum & Heritage Centre on August 11 for the launch of ‘Fenian Hunter’, the third historical novel of that theme from Peter Murphy.

Some eighty interested locals and a few members of the Irish community attended the event at which history enthusiast Peter spoke about the Fenians in Ireland and Western Australia, as well as some readings from his latest offering. Local poet Lachlan Kelly also recited some of the poetry of John Boyle O’Reilly while talented guitar player Glenn Breslin (who claims an ancestral link all the way back to the Catalpa through his ancestor John Breslin) sang three of his own songs – Down by the Glenside, Sarah, and Ballad of the Fenian Hunter – for the gathering.

Peter said the novel is aimed at those readers interested in WA’s convict history, aboriginal culture, and natural environment while also being a rollicking yarn that takes the reader on a roller-coaster ride into the south west of WA during colonial times.

“The heart of the story lies in Detective Sergeant Thomas Holmes, a dedicated Fenian Hunter on a mission to eradicate Irish nationalist activities in Western Australia,” Fred Rea said in

his review of the book.

“Holmes is a captivating character, burdened by his past actions and the political turmoil of his era. His unyielding pursuit of Fenian conspirators is a thrilling and thoughtprovoking journey, as he grapples with personal and moral dilemmas….Holmes is surrounded by diverse characters, including the mysterious Fenian leader Dermot Plunkett and a determined Irishwoman seeking revenge for her father’s murder.

Their interactions and evolving relationships add emotional depth and complexity to the story, making it more than a historical account.”

Glenn Breslin (guitar)

56 | THE IRISH SCENE

Lachlan

Copies of Fenian Kelly Hunter are available from Fremantle Prison gift shop, New Edition Books (High St, Fremantle), and Fremantle Visitor Centre. Alternatively visit www.fenianfear.com

Launching the Flight to Freedom T

he dramatic escape of the Fenians from colonial captivity is as much a West Australian story as it is an Irish one, and now one of WA’s leading creative groups is already working on a significant production of the remarkable Catalpa episode with Flight to Freedom to audiences across Western Australia and the prospect of travelling to America and Ireland, starting late next year.

Irish Scene got an early glimpse of what that might look like at a ‘Creative Development Workshop Showing’ at (appropriately enough) Fremantle Prison’s East along with other invited guests. The invite read: “two years in the planning, involving espionage, secret letters, undercover operatives who travelled from Boston to Western Australia to enact the plan, a love affair, a rescue ship named Catalpa masquerading as a whaleboat, a desperate boat chase and the threat of war against the might of America, this story has all the hall marks of a major Hollywood movie, and all the heart of an Irish ballad.”

Flight to Freedom is what they call a CinePlay, a production that combines actors and innovative stage and screen techniques and technology to bring the story to life in new ways. Theatre 180’s Stuart Halusz and Rebecca Davis presented elements of the project at the event which included a number of performances by actors Luke Hewitt, Isaac Diamond, Jo Morris and Dublin man Tadhg Lawrence who are involved with the production. As well as some of the proposed visual components, the gathering also got to hear – and even sing along to – original

music created for the project.

The world-premiere of Flight to Freedom is expected to take place at the WA Maritime Museum in Fremantle in November 2025, in collaboration with WA Museum. The plan is then to take it on tour to Rockingham, Bunbury and regional WA in 2026 (the 150th anniversary of the Catalpa).

“We are also looking at ways to get the THE IRISH SCENE | 57

Flight to Freedom enterprise. “If anyone would like to donate to the fundraising campaign for the full production, they can contact me at info@theatre180.com.au,” she added. All donations over $2 are tax deductible as THEATRE 180 is a registered charity. Photos courtesy Stewart Thorpe Photography and THEATRE 180

D.J. Gordon & Associates (WA) Pty Ltd

A C C O U N TA N T S & TAX A G E N T S

show interstate and internationally (US and Ireland),” Ms Davies told Irish Scene.

In a similar way that the Catalpa’s historical escape relied on monies collected by the Irish and Republican communities to finance it, Theatre 180 is also seeking donations and investors to support the

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‘Ye bold Fenian men’ N ational Geographic Australia published the story of the “bold” escape of the ‘Fremantle Six’ around the time of the anniversary of the events of 19 April 1876 (The whaling captain, a secret plan and one of Australia’s boldest prison escapes by Aleisha Orr on 16 April 2024) The article contains familiar names and faces for those acquainted locally with the whole episode. It opens up and focuses on Jim Ryan in New Bedford, Massachuesetts, the great-grandfather of George Anthnony, the captain of the of the whaling ship come get away boat Catalpa. Margo O’Bryne from the Fremantle Fenians and Fremantle Prison also feature in the report. Ms Orr gives a good overview of the entire enterprise, starting with James Wilson’s “tomb” letter to their arrival to a heroes welcome in New York four months later.

58 | THE IRISH SCENE

Ryan hopes to be a part of the events in Western Australia in 2026 to mark the the 150th anniversary of the Catalapa rescue, one of the greatest known jail break stories. https://www.australiangeographic.com. au/topics/history-culture/2024/04/theescape-of-the-fremantle-six/

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Claddagh Seniors Update Claddagh Seniors enjoy a Movie Day at Event Cinema, Innaloo In June, our seniors enjoyed a delightful outing to Event Cinema in Innaloo, starting with a light lunch, followed by a private screening of "The Help." relaxing in luxury reclining chairs with their favourite chocolate cornets.

Seniors Annual Christmas in July at the Mighty Quinn On Monday 22 July, our Claddagh Seniors celebrated "Christmas in July". Dressed in festive attire, they enjoyed a mouthwatering lunch, great company, and lively music from the fantastic Broken Pokers. The event was highlighted by the numerous hampers and gifts we received from our generous sponsors, ensuring many guests left with wonderful prizes. Even Father Christmas made a special appearance!

STAY CONNECTED WITH US: Please update your email address, telephone number and any change of address to ensure you receive our regular updates and invitations to future events.

Movie Day

Christmas in July

Upcoming Seniors Events

62 | THE IRISH SCENE

•

Wednesday 25 September – Coach Trip to Gingin

•

Tuesday 22 October – Coach Trip (TBC)

•

Monday 18 November – Picnic

•

Wednesday 11 December – Christmas Lunch

ARMAGH VICTORY! Some of Claddagh’s seniors, who hail from Armagh caught up to celebrate the All Ireland Final win!

Claddagh Report Notice of AGM Date of AGM: October 2024 – Exact date TBC All Claddagh members are welcome to our AGM. We will be sending out further information to all members in September.

UPCOMING EVENTS Free bi-monthly visa clinics See our Facebook page for upcoming dates Seniors Digital Training Held on the last Saturday of the month, be sure to book in, call 08 9249 9213 Remembrance Service – 2.30pm Sunday 3 November Claddagh’s members and friends are invited to gather on Sunday 3 November at 2.30pm at St Joseph’s Church, Subiaco to remember our loved ones who have died here in Australia, in Ireland or elsewhere in the past year. All are welcome.

THE CLADDAGH ASSOCIATION THERE WHEN YOU NEED US The mission of the Claddagh Association is to provide help and support to members of the Irish community who find themselves in difficult circumstances.

To support these needs of both individuals and families Claddagh must fundraise throughout the year.

If you would like to support Claddagh’s work you can donate at our website: claddagh.org.au or sign up to volunteer – your time can make the world of difference. https://claddagh.org.au/support-our-work/make-a-donation/-, alternatively for $10 you can become a member. Increasing our membership allows us to access additional funding and support through other avenues. See our Website for full details – QR code top right.

Reminder: If you or someone you know needs Claddagh’s support, please contact the Claddagh office via admin@claddagh.org.au/08 9249 9213. If your need is urgent, you can call Claddagh’s Crisis Line on 0403 972 265.

Unit 1, 8 Dewar Street, Morley, 6062.

Enquiries: 08 9249 9213 admin@claddagh.org.au

Crisis Support: 0403 972 265

Seven-Up: Irish Choir Perth

By Fiona Carberry

S

even years ago, on a winter’s night in Perth, a small group of excited Irish people gathered at the Irish Club for the first rehearsal of the Irish Choir Perth (ICP). Like the Seven-Up documentary series which tracked a group of 7-year-old children every 7 years until they were 63, seven original choir members who still sing with the choir look back at our first 7 years.

ICP first performed a Christmas concert at the Irish Club in 2017; this became an annual event with matinee and evening performances. ICP has also performed regularly on St Patrick’s Day, and at Songfests such as Guildford and Fremantle, and at Dunsborough where it will perform for the second time in November this year. ICP has also performed at the Kidogo Irish Aboriginal Festival, Perth Children’s Hospital at Christmas, and the Claddagh Association’s remembrance service at St. Joseph’s Catholic church.

In August 2020, Hilary Price-Keegan, an award-winning educator and musician from Athlone, Co. Westmeath, became choir’s third director. By the time Hilary directed the ICP at the Fremantle Songfest in 2021, she was 8 months pregnant with her daughter. Hilary often refers to the choir as “my family away from home.”

When choir first began performing, we held our black folders tightly, just in case we forgot the lyrics or our part. With experience, confidence has grown, and Hilary now insists we perform without the folders and rely on memory (and her

64 | THE IRISH SCENE

occasional charades-style prompts!).

Choir’s repertoire includes Irish language songs such as Dulaman and Siuil A Run, traditional Irish songs such as I’ll Tell me Ma and Cockles and Mussels, raucous pub favourites like The Wild Rover and Whiskey in the Jar, as well as ballads such as Yeats’ Down by the Salley Gardens and An Irish Lullaby (Shoheen Sho). Modern popular songs in the repertoire include Glen Hansard’s Falling Slowly, The Cranberries’ Dreams, U2’s Pride, and Christy Moore’s Ride On. Choir numbers rise and fall like a good Irish melody. Over the last 7 years, ICP has lost several members who returned to Ireland to live. In mid-2021, ICP sang an emotional Going Home to founding member (“choir mammy”), Audree Grennan, who returned home to Killorglin in Kerry shortly after the birth of her first daughter. Still, she’s only a WhatsApp message away from ICP and remembered our 7th birthday.

Shevaun Drislane (alto from Cork; formerly ICP treasurer), took up the post of Chair when Audree went home. Since joining the choir, Shevaun has given birth to two children, and completed her PhD. Several of choir’s concerts have featured Shevaun singing solo in Irish. Shevaun says, “It’s the people in the choir that makes it so joyful. It’s a great group who celebrate each other’s good moments and support them in the hard ones.”

Sinead Kennedy (low from Glenties, Co. Donegal; ICP secretary) was a fly in, fly out worker when she joined the choir for its second rehearsal. Sinead remembers being “nervous and quiet” at first, but she’s made good friends in choir and likes the mix of ages: “The Young Ones and the oul’ ones who you can learn from.” Sinead quit FIFO when her first son was born, and not one to miss a beat, was on stage singing and accompanying the choir on guitar at Fremantle Songfest in April this year, a

celebrates 7 years singing month after the birth of her second son.

With the choir’s baby boom, it’s just as well we have a neo-natal nurse in our midst— June Byrne (alto from Dublin). June was “excited and delighted” to join because she loves to sing and describes choir as “a constant through life’s ups and downs”.

June’s had breaks from choir, but returns because of “the connection with home” and the choir’s involvement in “events that celebrate our Irishness”.

Monica McManus (tenor/low from Dublin; ICP Treasurer) joined the choir with three friends, two of whom—Veronica Byrne and Australian Ruth Blond—still sing in the choir.

Singing at the low end of the choir, Monica notices the absence of “the men who were part of the early years, who have drifted away, for various reasons”.

Monica recalls “the excitement of learning old Irish songs in a new way, adding harmonies”, and describes as “awesome being on stage with Ciaran O’Sullivan and Tommy O’Brien at the first Gathering concert” at the Club. Although choir originally comprised only Irish people, it quickly attracted Irish music lovers of other nationalities. Monica says, “whether choir members are Irish, English, Scottish, Australian, Canadian or from wherever in the world, every Wednesday night at the Irish Club, we are all Irish for a few hours.”

Lorraine Hart (alto from Dublin; ICP “dogsbody”) made a New Year’s resolution to join a choir and tried many others that were “all intense and serious”, before attending the first rehearsal of the ICP. Lorraine remembers everyone being nervous before the first Christmas concert, and laughingly says she “almost passed out” when introducing a song. Lorraine left choir for a couple of years due to health problems. She returned in 2021 with her Belfast-born neighbour, Sarah Allison (who is still a member, and also had a choir baby) and a new hip, so she can climb the ladder to hang decorations for the Christmas concert! Lorraine loves “the friendships, the laughs, music and the craic” of choir, something all seven original members agree on.

Veronica (Ronnie) Byrne (soprano from Letterkenny, Co. Donegal), has retired since joining choir and says although she misses many rehearsals because her life is busier now—on the Irish Club Committee coordinating events, babysitting grandchildren, and being a “grey nomad”— she “wouldn’t want to give it up”.

Choir was emerging from the “terrible twos” stage of development (which actually weren’t terrible at all) when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, launching us into the “terrible threes” and rolling into the “feckin’ fours”.

The ICP adapted by taking rehearsals outdoors to a Subiaco park and Kings Park, online during lockdowns (“Whiskey Wednesdays”), or in-person with QR-code sign-ins to the Club, muffled singing with masks on and social distancing observed.

Just as setbacks in the early years of life help develop resilience, so it is with the choir. ICP bounced back from COVID with renewed passion to sing, and an influx of new members.

Jo McNally (alto/“soprano wannabe” from Cree, Co. Clare) joined ICP on its first night with a friend, who has since left. Jo’s youngest son was also a choir member for a while. Jo became a grandmother three years ago, and says “the choir babies make up for the nieces and nephews in Ireland having babies, and it’s nice to see the little choir family growing.” For Jo, “choir feels like home.”

ICP’s seventh birthday marks the end of its first developmental stage of life. What will choir’s next 7-year stage hold? Perhaps those choir babies will grow up to form a second-generation ICP, some of those who returned to Ireland will return to Perth, more men will join our ranks, ICP will tour Ireland…Stay tuned until 14-Up, or come join the choir!

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Comhaltas Perth Sean Doherty Branch Perth Comhaltas is pleased to announce that Jane Meehan will be teaching the mixed instruments class on the first Tuesday of each month from 7:30pm to 8:30pm. The regular weekly music and languagech classes will continue as normal.

Doherty Bran instruments class on the Comhaltas Perth Sean be teaching the mixed e Meehan will Tuesday that Jancommence ounce Jane’s classes 2 July 2024. ge classes will ased to ann y music and langua Perth Comhaltas is ple 0pm. The regular weekl nth from 7:30pm to 8:3 mo h eac of ay esd first Tu continue as normal.

Jane Meehan (Fiddle / Banjo) esday 2 July 2024.

nce Tu Jane’s classes comme

Jane Meehan is a multi-instrumentalist and music educator from Dundalk, Co. Louth (Ireland). o) / BainnjApplied She has a Bachelor’s degree Music and a Master’s degree in Performance She has a of Irish Jane Meehan (Fiddle alist and music educator from Dundalk, Co. Louth (Ireland).l Mu ich in wh sichas ent she specialised in her main ditiona Jane Traditional Music nst in rum which instrument, fiddle. travelled of Irish Tra Jane Meehan is a multi-i degree in Performance r’s ste acr Ma ng a chi tea and sic and Mu teaching across the globe ext ing festivals. Sheoss ively performand ree in Appliedand extensively atens conferences has also chelor’s degperforming Ba Jane has travelled le. fidd , ent trum iversity of Limerick, and ins Un in in ma ts her den in stu d of lise ber cia spe num taught a number of students in University of Limerick, and multiple Comhaltas groups over the she ght a , and takes tivals. She has also tau all fiddle playing styles at conferences and fes rest inand globe the keen inte a has e years.

She has as gro keen interest in all fiddle playing styles, takes inspiration from whistle and Sh rs. yea the ups over multiple Comhalta g. yin pla pipe playing. e pip e and inspiration from whistl efiddle and ebook at jan ram and Instag Jane is also teaching privately and youJan can find Jane online on Fac Instagram and Facebook at ine on onl e find can you privately and Jane is also teaching janefiddle and Jane Meehan Fiddle respectively. respectively.

Jane Meehan Fiddle

7:30pm Tuesdays7:30pm Tuesdays Fees for all music and language East Victoria Park RSL nue and Playfield Street) corner of Ramsden Ave the ar (ne ade Par l Bel d East Victoria Park RSL classes per night 1 Fre EAST VICTORIA PARK t bou u/a rg.a sl.o arkr riap 1 Fred Bell Members $10.00 ictoParade (near the corner of s://www.v http

Ramsden Avenueuag and Playfield ses per nightStreet) e clas Fees for all music and lang $10.00 Members EAST VICTORIA PARK $15.00 Non-members join in the session. and pm 8:30 from nd https://www.victoriaparkrsl.org.au/about There is no charge to atte

Non-members $15.00 There is no charge to attend from 8:30pm and join in the session.

Bendigo Bank BSB Number: Account Number:

633-000 Bendigo Bank BSB Number: 633-000 154 379 267 t to verify your paymen us267 Account Number:ass 154ist 379 on Bank Transfer to me na l ful ur yo te sta

* Please * Please state your full name on Bank Transfer to assist us to verify your payment

66 | THE IRISH SCENE

Celebrating Claire Wynne: A Decade of Dedication to the Irish Theatre Players

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he Irish Theatre Players (ITP) wish to extend our deepest gratitude to Claire Wynne for her outstanding service as President over the past 10 years. Claire's remarkable commitment and passion have been the driving force behind the ITP's growth and success in Perth, WA. Claire’s creativity and talent have been evident in every production, with her exceptional work in set design, costume creation, and promotional strategies. Her artistic vision has transformed our stages, bringing each play to life with authenticity and flair, while her eye for detail ensured that every costume was perfectly crafted to reflect the essence of our stories.

Beyond her creative skills, Claire’s administrative acumen has been invaluable, guiding the ITP through challenges and triumphs with unwavering dedication. She has tirelessly promoted the ITP within the community, raising our profile and securing numerous awards that stand as a testament to her efforts. Her ability to balance creative pursuits with the demands of leadership is nothing short of inspiring.

On Saturday, 17th August, we celebrated Claire’s incredible journey with ITP and her many contributions over the

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past decade. During the event, Claire was honoured with a Life Membership, a small token of our appreciation for her tireless dedication and service.

As Claire steps down, her loss will be deeply felt by all of us at ITP. Her boundless energy, vision, and leadership have left an indelible mark on our theatre family. We wish her every success in her future endeavours, confident that whatever she pursues next will be met with the same passion and brilliance that defined her time with us. Thank you, Claire, for everything—you will be greatly missed!

Caroline McDonnell Claire, cutting the cake, with fellow members of the Irish Theatre Players at the Irish Club

Australian Irish Dancing Association Inc. With our feis season well underway, AIDA WA is very proud to be able to congratulate some wonderful results both within WA and at interstate competitions.

In July dancers from WA travelled to Tweed Heads in NSW to compete in the Australian International Oireachtas. We would like to congratulate everybody who competed and represented WA at this event, with every dancer performing to a high standard and doing their best on stage.

Special congratulations to our 3 AIO Champions!

7 Years – Brooky Hamilton, Trinity Studio 14 Years – Georgia Western, Trinity Studio 19 Years – Sinead Daly, The Academy As well as dancing interstate, we were lucky enough to have a new Championship in WA with the inaugural Winter Shield Championship run by The WA Academy of Irish Dancing. This was a wonderful addition to our feis calendar and AIDA WA would like to congratulate WA Academy on such a successful competition.

A highlight of this weekend was having World Champion, Vaughan Cooper and runner up, Dara McAleer perform for our younger dancers and our aspiring dancers faces light up watching such elite dancers. Dara and Vaughan are wonderful role models and motivators for our next generation of dancers.

Our State Solo Championships were held on the weekend of 10th and 11th August, and for a lot of WA dancers this is the competition they have worked all year for. From our youngest to our senior dancers, the high standard of Western Australian Irish dancing was very evident. Each dancer should be very proud of their achievements stepping onto the stage and performing to their best.

We would like to congratulate our 2024 WA State Champions: Sub-Minor Mixed 5 years and under –

Clodagh Pitman, The Academy

Sub-Minor Mixed 6 years -

Erin Dowie, WA Academy

Sub-Minor Girls 7 years and under -

Brooky Hamilton, Trinity Studio

Sub-Minor Girls 8 years -

Nina Conway, The Academy

Minor Girls 9 years -

Sephora Donelan, The Academy

Minor Girls 10 years -

Emmeline Summers, WA Academy

Junior Girls 11 years -

Maeve Carroll, WA Academy

Junior Boys 11 years -

Tiernan Beattie, The Academy

Junior Girls 12 years -

Charlotte Langford, The Academy

Junior Boys 12 years -

Tane Young, The Academy

Intermediate Girls 13 years -

Sahara Donelan, The Academy

Intermediate Girls 14 years -

Georgia Western, Trinity Studio

Senior Girls 15 years -

Tara Fox, O’Hare School

Senior Girls 16 years -

Lene Brady, Kavanagh Studio

Junior Ladies 17 years -

Cassie Perkins, Trinity Studio

Junior Ladies 18 years -

Hayley Brooker, Kavanagh Studio

Ladies 19 years -

Sinead Daly, The Academy

Mens 19 years -

Vaughan Cooper, WA Academy

Senior Ladies 20 & 21 years -

Isobel Ashley, Trinity Studio

Senior Ladies 22 years and Over -

Dara McAleer, The Academy

AIDA WA is looking forward to our State Ceili Championships (Teams) and Solo Premiership held the 7th and 8th September, along with the Australian National Championships which are in Bendigo, Victoria 1st – 5th October. Please feel free to head to our social media page to keep up to date with all our upcoming events @australianirishdancingwa.

68 | THE IRISH SCENE

Irish Dancing AIDA WA EXECUTIVE 2023

WA State Champions Photo by Creative Fleire Photography

Brooky Hamilton AIO Champion

Georgia Western AIO Champion

President: Teresa Fenton TCRG Vice Presidents: Katherine Travers & Siobhan Collis Secretary: Shannen Krupa TCRG Treasurer: Martina O’Brien TCRG Registrar: Jenny O’Hare TCRG WA Delegate: Caitriona Slane TCRG

SCHOOL CONTACTS: CELTIC ACADEMY East Victoria Park www.celticacadmeyperth.com Siobhan Collis TCRG 0403 211 941

Photo by Creative Fleire Photography

Photo by Creative Fleire Photography

KAVANAGH STUDIO OF IRISH DANCE Mt Hawthorn www.kavanaghirishdance.com.au Teresa Fenton TCRG 0412 155 318 Deirdre McGorry TCRG Avril Grealish TCRG O’BRIEN ACADEMY Joondalup www.obrienacademy.com Rose O’Brien ADCRG 0437 002 355 Martina O’Brien TCRG 0423 932 866

Photo by Creative Fleire Photography

O’HARE SCHOOL OF IRISH DANCING Doubleview, Wembley Downs & Craigie Jenny O’Hare TCRG 0422 273 596 SCOIL RINCE NI BHAIRD Fremantle & Lynwood Tony Ward TCRG 0427 273 596 THE ACADEMY MID AMERICA & WESTERN AUSTRALIA Wangara, Kalamunda & Bicton Samantha McAleer TCRG Dhana Pitman TCRG Lara Upton ADCRG 0409 474 557 TORC IRISH DANCE Subiaco & Maylands Caroline McCarthy TCRG 0437 073 744 Caitriona Slane TCRG

Sinead Daly AIO Champion

Hon. Stephen Dawson MLC Member for Mining & Pastoral Region

Minister for Emergency Services; Innovation and the Digital Economy; Science; Medical Research; Minister assisting the Minister for State and Industry Development; Jobs and Trade.

TRINITY STUDIO OF IRISH DANCING Morley, Midland & South Lake trinitystudiowa@gmail.com Eileen Ashley ADCRG 0413 511 595 Katherine Travers TCRG Nell Taylor TCRG Siân Fitzgerald-Cain TCRG Taryn Owen TCRG WA ACADEMY OF IRISH DANCING Malaga www.waacademyofirishdancing.com Shannen Krupa TCRG Stephanie Leeder TCRG Glenalee Bromilow ADCRG Sue Hayes TMRF

Supporting the WA Irish Community PO Box 2440, SOUTH HEDLAND, WA 6722 (08) 9172 2648 stephen.dawsonmp@mp.wa.gov.au StephenDawsonMLC www.stephendawsonmlc.com.au Authorised by S Dawson, Shop 26A South Hedland Shopping Centre, Throssell Rd, South Hedland WA 6722

THE IRISH SCENE | 69

G’DAY FROM MELBOURNE

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ralee has had its globally famous Rose of Tralee international festival that attracts thousands of visitors recently. This festival is one of Irelands oldest and largest that has been running annually in the heart of County Kerry since 1959, other than the disruption of Covid19. The participant Roses represent the Irish diaspora from all round the world with the winner being crowned the rose of Tralee on the completion of the final. The festival should be on everyone’s bucket list. I can vouch for that as I have attended many of them before I migrated to Australia in 1974 and once later, as a guest in 1989.

I returned as promoter and tour manager of the Australian Traveling Wallabies Band on their taking it all round the world tour in 1991. The Rose of Tralee festival was one of the biggest on the global calendar, attracting figures quoted then at around 40,000 to 50,000 visitors. The festival lacks nothing, it’s family friendly, with a variety of live outdoor stage music concerts, singsong pubs with amazing atmospheres, brilliant Irish homely food and no shortage of fun and activities for the children with funfairs, circus, fireworks and the international Rose parade.

While on my 1989 trip to Tralee, after my long absence since my migration to Melbourne, I was fascinated to see how much bigger the festival had grown. I was now even more impressed with its new direction.

Life returned to the usual routine of, work, home chores and holidays etc on my return to Melbourne.

That was until my wife Marie, and I started to drop in to Molly Blooms pub in South Melbourne for dinner and the odd glass of whatever. The Traveling Wallabies band were playing a great mix of Irish and Aussie tunes and songs to rapturous applause it didn’t

70 | THE IRISH SCENE

take long before they were playing to full houses. The Traveling Wallabies band were, Dublin born Christy and James Cooney. Christy on banjo and spoons, he was also at the forefront of the folk boom that began in the early seventies in Melbourne and had been a member of the Cobbers and brew Band.

James played mandolin, mandola and tenor banjo, he had been a founding member of legendry band Poteen. English born Rob Fairbairn was the bands song-writing guitarist, he also played didgeridoo and shared lead vocals with Christy.

Rob had been a founder member of the popular bush/cabaret band Paradiddle. Tasmanian born, Greg Rough, played piano, accordion, flute, harmonica, and tin whistle. Greg also lent his tenor voice to many harmonies. The final member of the band was Norman James McCourt on bass guitar and vocals.

One evening after dinner Christy came to join Marie and I at our table. I was surprised and stunned when he told me that the band wanted to do a gig tour of Ireland and England, and they wanted me to make it happen. I won’t print what my reply then was as it might be offensive. Why me I asked myself, I know nothing about that business and so I politely declined the offer.

My thoughts then were that it would be the equivalent of taking coal to Newcastle as if there wasn’t enough coal there already. Taking an Australian band to Ireland to play Irish music, for the Irish. I thought the silly option of taking coal to Newcastle would have been a better option for me.

Fast forward two weeks later and I’m having dinner at home when Marie says what are you going to do about the Wallabies tour. The idea is ludicrous I replied. She came back to me with, that’s not like you to not take up a challenge, I’ve never known you to not take on a challenge. It’s amazing what happens in the brain when you are challenged. My mind set changed from a challenge to an adventure and what if I plan it right and the tour succeeded. The main challenge would be to organizing sponsorship for flights for crew and two and a half tons of sound equipment, accommodation, ground transport and booking gig venues.

The main drive in my plan if I took on the challenge, would be to have the Travelling Wallabies on the main stage to open the Rose of Tralee festival in 1991

G’DAY FROM MELBOURNE and have the biggest audience ever in attendance.

Anything less wasn’t worth my time and effort.

O what the hell, if I don’t give it a try, I’ll never know.

Yea I got hooked on the crazy idea and as Marie reminded me, I had never passed up a challenge before.

Remember back then there was no internet to help with sourcing information, so the only option was to front up to each of the potential sponsors, hotels and everyone that had to be recruited to make the tour a success. Marie and I worked tirelessly in 1990 putting an agenda together in preparation for the 1991 tour. First stop was to CUB for posters, sponsors, promotion clothing, with Taking it All Round the World on tour, in print. Next stop Continental Airlines to negotiate reduced airfares for the traveling crew for wearing their clothing.

Now it was time for me and Marie, to hop on a plane and source venues and accommodation for the tour assuming all would go well after my planned call to Courage Brewery in London to seek support for promoting their Fosters larger brand in England. After presenting Courage with a pre prepared promoting package for their Foster’s Lager brand by an Australian band, they loved the idea and agreed to book the band in all their top venues, they also agreed to supply transport for both the England and Irish leg of the tour, plus promotion posters, TV and Radio interviews.

While in London, Marie and I booked all accommodation for the initial gigs and for the gigs on the return part of the tour back in London from Ireland.

Now it was time to go for the Holy Grail, The Rose of Tralee opening night. On arriving in Tralee,

Marie and I met with the committee of the festival to outline what the band schedule was going to be, after we had secured multiple gigs in in Dublin and Cork. The committee where astonished to hear that an Australian band wanted to travel 13,000miles to play in Tralee. I explained my Irish background and my past working relationship in Co Kerry and my understanding of the history and prestige of the festival. I promised them if they booked the Travelling Wallabies for the open night, they would get the biggest audience that ever attended an opening of the festival. I said if the band was willing to come 13000 miles to play, the crowds would also come in their thousands. The committee took me on my word and booked the band for the opening of the festival in 1991.

With that in the bag Marie and I booked further accommodation for the upcoming tour. History has shown that The Travelling Wallabies from Melbourne Australia played to a rapturous estimated, audience record of 73,000 at the opening of the Rose of Tralee 1991 festival. My promise was fulfilled and after the wallaby’s performance the festival committee booked the band for a further two more performances, making them the only band to have performed three times on the main stage at the festival. Their outstanding performance caught the eyes of the Guinness marketing group, and Guinness booked the band to perform a further ten gigs in and around Tralee for the remainder of the festival. Who said you can’t take coal to Newcastle, not me anymore. The reaction of the audience to the Traveling Wallabies performances was amazing and proved that with a bit of belief everything is possible.

I recommend you book for the festival at least once in a lifetime.

Until next time, be good to those who love you Slainte from Melbourne.

Mike Bowen

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CARRAMAR

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CONTACTS: MARTY BURKE 0410 081 386

First all-abilities, truly inclusive soccer program After several months of planning and laying the foundation, Carramar Shamrock Rovers are thrilled to announce the launch of our first all-abilities, truly inclusive soccer program. This program is designed for 7–13-year-olds living with disabilities, developmental delays, or those new to the sport and not yet ready to join mainstream soccer.

For more information, contact Michael Owens at 0415 678 669 or micko@footballfutures.org.au.

A big thank you to coach Paul, Peter, Abbey, Tom, and the team for getting the all-abilities program up and running. We also extend our gratitude to our sponsor, Purple Heather, for supporting this program.

Carramar Shamrock Rovers have joined the I League, supported and run by the Football Futures Foundation. We are proud to be the only club in the northern suburbs with an allabilities team.

The all-abilities team train on a Thursday night at Grandis Park 5-6pm and get involved in cluster matches on a Sunday. If you’re interested, please email CSRFC2020@gmail.com.

If you’re interested in joining the iLeague or want to learn more about how your club can get involved, please fill out this short expression of interest form for the upcoming iLeague Open Day at Gibbney Reserve, Maylands on Sunday, 8 September: https://lnkd.in/dd9vcQc7

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72 | THE IRISH SCENE

A Leinster leader in Perth Leinster GAA Coach Developer Sean Dempsey was in Perth recently on holidays to visit his son and grandson. While he was here in July Sean took time out of his holiday to come along and take part in a training session with the Southern Districts GAC ladies team. It was a rare and exceptional opportunity for the players and coaches to have such a leading GAA figure put them through their paces and for them to

show him what they are capable of. After the intensive and rewarding session vice chairperson Robyn presented Sean with a Southern Districts jersey as a sign of their appreciation.

“We wish to thank you Sean for taking the time to share your valued experience and wisdom with us!,” Southern Districts said in a message.

“Wishing you a safe journey back home and we hope to see you in Perth again soon!.”

A former Laois County Minor manager and member of the well-known Laois family who are steeped in St. Joseph’s Club, the Dempsey clan was the recipient of the Dermot Earley Family Award in 2021, in recognition of their outstanding contribution to the GAA.

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It was a memorable trip to Ireland for our boys under-15 football team who competed at the prestigious Féile Peile na nÓg youth tournament at the Connacht GAA Centre of Excellence in county Mayo on Saturday 29 June.

If the team weren’t already bubbling with excitement after travelling 15,000km to line out at this storied tournament, they certainly were when they stepped into the state-of-the-art dome complex to play their opening group games. There they faced Newtownbutler First Fermanaghs, and eventual division winners Gaultier of Waterford.

The boys gave an excellent account of themselves in these opening games; their months of training and preparation best displayed with their fast running game. Fellow travellers Warwickshire served as opposition in the plate semi-final, and our boys again acquitted themselves well, but the English side proved too strong come the final whistle.

It was a fantastic occasion and a great

74 | THE IRISH SCENE

experience which will only benefit our players’ development, both on the field in terms of skills and game time against experienced Irish players, and off it with the friendships and memories made.

The team began their whistlestop tour of Ireland in the capital with a trip to Whitehall Colmcille where they were lucky enough to meet a star of the game in All-Irelandwinning Dublin footballer Cormac Costello. From there, they headed to Croke Park for a tour and a reception with Uachtarán CLG Jarlath Burns and the GAA’s international manager, Charlie Harrison.

A trip to the famed Rock of Cashel, and warmup games against Celbridge, Arravale Rovers and Annaghdown followed, with terrific hospitality being shown by each club, before heading to Mayo for Féile.

A special thanks to the sponsors for supporting for boys’ trip: Crowley Plant Hire; DCI Electrical Services; KLF Contracts; Pipeline Technics Civil Engineering; Resource Services Group (RSGx); SMS Mining Services; The Noel Walsh Foundation; Australasia Gaelic Games; GAA in WA, as well as a Southern Districts GAC, Perth for their donation of 10 footballs.

@GAAINWA

GAAWA

CLUB DETAILS FOOTBALL CLUBS GREENWOOD Mens & Ladies Senior Football greenwoodgfc@hotmail.com

MORLEY GAELS Mens & Ladies Senior Football morleygaelsgfc@hotmail.com

SOUTHERN DISTRICTS Mens & Ladies Senior Football southerndistrictsgaa@gmail.com

ST. FINBARR’S Mens & Ladies Senior Football stfinbarrsgfc@outlook.com

WESTERN SHAMROCKS Mens & Ladies Senior Football westernshamrocks@hotmail.com

HURLING CLUBS ST. GABRIEL’S Mens & Ladies Senior Hurling & Camogie stgabrielsperth@gmail.com

WESTERN SWANS Mens & Ladies Senior Hurling & Camogie westernswansgaa@gmail.com

PERTH SHAMROCKS Mens Senior Hurling perthshamrocks@gmail.com

SARSFIELDS Mens Senior Hurling

sarshurlingperth@gmail.com

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GAA GROUNDS

Tom Bateman Reserve Corner Bannister & Nicholson Rds (entrance off Wilfred Rd) Canning Vale

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Hurling & Camogie

message them across their socials or via email.

Connect Resources League Final Winners

Morley Gaels - morleygaelsgfc@hotmail.com

Well done to Western Swans ladies and Men’s who won the double in this year’s league finals.

It was a tough contest with St. Gabriel’s ladies and Sarsfield’s Men’s as worthy opponents.

Connect Resources Championship Winners This year’s championship winners were Western Swans ladies team (well done on the double) and Sarsfield’s came back to show they mean business with a win over Western Swan’s in the men’s. When done to all and thank you to everyone for a great year.

Are you new to Perth and looking to join a Hurling or Camogie team? We would love to see some new faces joining or even just spectating! Training will resume next year and is most Tuesdays and Thursdays at RA Cooke Reserve with game days Saturday’s. However, all clubs run socials throughout the year.

We have four incredible clubs to choose from whether it is just for social reasons or to play we welcome everyone from all levels Get in touch or keep an eye on our social media page @GAAWA for all club details. @perthshamrockshurlingclub

(Hurling)

@sarsfields_hurling_perth (Hurling) @stgabrielsperth (Camogie & Hurling) @westernswansgaaclub (Camogie & Hurling)

Football – Ladies & Mens Well done to Greenwood Men’s who won the 2024 League final and also St. Finbar’s Ladies team who won the men’s. Two very close contests with Morley girls and Western Shamrocks men’s as tough opponents to them.

Due to bad weather Championship semi-finals will be played August 19th-21st at RA Cooke with finals at Tom Bateman on August 24th.

More across socials and photos to follow in the next issue.

If football is more your game we have some great teams to get involved with both North and South of the river. With their games also commencing in May please feel free to

Greenwood GFC - greenwoodgfc@hotmail.com Na Fianna Catalpa GAA – nafiannacatalpagaa@gmail.com Southern Districts southerndistrictsgaa@gmail.com St. Finbars GFC - stfinbarrsgfc@outlook.com The Junior Academy ggjunioracademy@gmail.com

Referees, Committee’s and all Volunteers As we near the end of our leagues and championships we would like to thank all of our referees, committee’s and our volunteers.

Without these people our games could not happen.

State Games 2024 October Melbourne All codes are now in full preparation for this year’s state games which will be held from Oct 2nd to 5th in Melbourne. The teams have been decided and the kits have been ordered. Stay across our socials for more information about the games and the team’s leading about to the big weekend.

Coaching: If you would like to take part in coaching in any code we would love to have you. Simply get in touch with us via Facebook, Instagram (GAAWA) or email us on progaawa@gmail.com

Hurling/Camogie & Football Clubs: If you would like to get involved in a playing, coaching or at an administrative capacity each club has a presence on Facebook, to get in contact there are several options: • Message the GAA in WA Facebook page • Message the GAA in WA Instagram page • Visit www.gaawa.com.au for club contact details • Email progaawa@gmail.com or secretarygaawa@hotmail.com

@GAAINWA

Shauna Kavanagh enjoying a pint with uncle, Andy Kavanagh in the highest Sadly I must report the passing of Michael pub in Ireland, Johnnie Fox’s in Dublin.

The famed title of Ireland’s highest pub Murphy (above right). Michael was a is contested by the Top of Coom in frequent visitor to our Suspect Singers Kerry (318.5m), and The Ponderosa in Club over the last 16 years held at The Derry (294.7m), although Johnnie Fox’s Gerry Aherne’s family (above) Mighty Quinn. He was a delightful (281.6m) is almost certainly the highest come from good convict stock ‘from dapper gentleman, a great friend to the old sod’ as Gerry puts it. His Irish Tony Synnott and always had a musical pub doing a home delivery service. ancestors settled throughout the Midwest request or three! A good innings, as they of Western Australia. His mate Philip say, for he was well into his nineties. Our Regan of the Midwest Irish Club in thoughts are with his family and friends.

Geraldton told me of all the yarns Gerry Rest in peace, Michael. Colin Smiley tells of these early settlers in the state.

“They are fantastic to listen to and worth recording for future generations”.

We will work on that Philip.

Tony Synnott and Michael Murphy

The Broken Pokers, Derrick Buckley and Ben Christiansen were joined by Dympna Finch for a little trad session in honour of her late father Tommy Kearns in Durkins, Ballynacarrow, Co. Sligo on Tuesday 14th August. An emotional homecoming for Dympna and all reports were it was a brilliant session.

Now thats what I call a mobile phone! Not sure who Mary Tyler is calling but she sure is enjoying it. Onya Mary, Luv it!

L-R: Raymond and Marie McKeown with Ann and Kevin Smith. Marie is Ann’s sister and they were visiting from Ireland for Kevin and Ann’s joint 75th birthdays and also their 50th Golden Wedding Anniversary.

Congratulations Ann and Kevin.

PATRICK MURPHY Family and friends gathered for a funeral service for Patrick Joseph Murphy in Seasons Chapel, Canningvale on Monday 19th August. Patrick was a player for local St Finbarr’s GFC some years ago. To Mary, Pat, Daniel, Yvette, Mick, Mary and the extended Murphy family our condolences on the passing of Patrick.

Rest in Peace Patrick. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a h’anam.

James Mason and Frank Smyth at the An Gorta Mor Famine Memorial in Subiaco. Frank cleans the memorial every Saturday and James turns up with a coffee and for a chat. Maith an Fear!

Clodagh Pitman 2024 Sub-minor 5 years and under WA State Champion.

Very special moment winning The John Pitman Memorial Cup Dhana Pitman sends thanks to all The Academy Dancing School, teachers and everyone that supported her during WA State Championships.

Dhana is so proud of Clodagh for all the hard work she put in to win this special competition. Well deserved!. A special someone (Daddy, John RIP) was with you on that stage… every step.

Keep shining bright beautiful Clodagh.

Tom Murphy and Maeve receiving special attention on their flight to Ireland for Maeve’s Christening. Tom enjoying a pint of Murphy’s celebrating Cork’s win in the Camogie finals in Croke Park. Of course, being in a Cork pub, no mention of hurling and the Banner county! Tom values his life.

Annette Healy-Pickwell of Darlington, Western Australia and late of Athlone, Co Westmeath and Clonmel, Co. Tipperary passed ASLAN BACK IN TOWN! away peacefully Back in 2010 the late Brendan Woods (top left) supported and later took the late in August. Some Christy Dignam and Aslan band on a tour of Fremantle Prison. Fourteen years later, years ago, Brendan’s two sons, Ken and Alan supported Aslan at Lynnott’s in Johnnie Fox’s in Annette was on the committee of the WA Northbridge. Christy and the band enjoyed the prison visit and Brendan in his own Irish Business Assoc and also presented unique style gave them a background of the prison and the Fenian’s story. a radio program with Stephen Dawson and Pat Abbott. To Lloyd, Sheena and grandsons, Rourke, Lachlan and family worldwide, our condolences. You will be sadly missed by family and friends.

Suaimhneas síorraí leat.

Claire Wynne Thank You!

One from the past!

Cork night gathering as part of the Perth Fleadh back in early 80s. The late Paddy Connolly in deep conversation with a ‘young’ Sean Roche at The Monopole Restaurant in Cannington. Not sure what the conversation was about but Sean was always a good listener. Maybe it was about a missing hat! Who remembers?

THANK YOU CLAIRE A gathering of Irish Theatre Players and friends was held at Molly’s Irish Pub to show their appreciation to Claire Wynne for 10 years of service as President of the ITP.

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