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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.

Ray O hAnrachan pictured here with a mock up of what his car would be like with the rego he wanted

Thou shalt not Póg Mo Thóin

by Lloyd Gorman

ou’ve probably heard of Monty Python’s Ministry of Silly Walks but how about Roger Cook’s Ministry of Silly Talk?

Y

came up with a compromise spelling, POGMOHONN which the system accepted.

He paid the $749 fee and ordered the plate.

Raymond O hAnrachan recent dealings with a state government department reveal a bureaucracy utterly devoid of anything resembling a sense of humour and neurotic about the slightest chance of causing offence, no matter how remote or mild it might be.

But rather than the plates arriving through the post he got an email from the Department of Transport. “Thank you for your application for optional number plates POGMOHONN,” it said.

Back in July Raymond finally got around to doing something he had wanted to do for a long time, getting a customised rego plate for his car. Originally from Passage West, Co. Cork, he and his wife Michelle from Athlone have called WA home going back to the 1990’s. Proud of his Irish heritage [Ray and Michelle opened Friar Tuck’s Irish House in Rees Pl, Wannaup] and always one to enjoy a good joke, Ray knew what he wanted his personalised plate to be, the well known Irish expression ‘Póg Mo Thóin’.

“All optional plate applications are reviewed in accordance with established guidelines by a panel consisting of representatives from internal and external stakeholders, including WA Police and private organisations. The Chief Executive Officer of the Department of Transport reserves the right to refuse any application.

The character combination you have requested has not been approved as it is considered inappropriate due to the word meaning KISS MY A*SE in Irish Gaelic and has the potential to offend members of the public.”

The original and proper spelling of the phrase was not available as an option through the Transport WA website so he 4 | THE IRISH SCENE

He was told he could apply for an alternative combination and to check online

Department of Transport

Optional Plate Combination

if that sequence of characters was available.

Alternatively he could cancel the plate order and get a full refund.

Design Series - Aluminium

Ray was bemused by the official denial.

“That’s very disappointing as it is used in a humorous way by Irish people all over the world,” Ray told the DoT. There was no intention to cause offence he added and he cancelled his request and asked for his payment to be refunded. To get his money back he was told he would have to apply for it. “To add injury to insult instead of just getting the money put back into my bank I had to search for an application form to request getting the payment back, print it off and fill it in and then post it to DoT through the mail, which took nearly 3 weeks all up. Up to this all my dealings were online through my DoT account. I was thinking about applying for a plate with FECKOFF but I presumed that too would be squashed!”

Retro Series - Aluminium

Ray thinks the Irish language is “good and strong” in the state, and he might well be right. But it is hard to imagine any Irish speakers or members of the diaspora here being outraged or upset by the sight of these three little words [If I’m wrong, let me know! Editor] Even harder to imagine is an Australian who would be affronted by it. Even when they are spelt out correctly many Irish names and words leave most Aussies confused or

s

No space permitted.

Plates are manufactured with a space between the letters and numbers.

Can contain: • 3 letters and 3 numbers; or • 3 numbers and 3 letters.

No space permitted.

Motor vehicles • start with U or X and 3 letters and 3 numbers.

Motorcycles • start with U or X and 2 letters and 3 numbers; or • start with U and 2 letters and 4 numbers.

Prestige Series - Aluminium

No space permitted.

Must end with WA and contain: • 2 letters and 2 numbers.

Frangipani Series - Alum

ALUMIN IUM

ACRYLIC

BRAND WA

No space permitted.

Must contain: • 3 letters and 3 numbers; or • 3 numbers and 3 letters.

Brand WA only available in normal size.

Not available for motorcycle, slimline, 1/2 or 3/4.

Normal

Small

PREMIU M

Aluminium

No space permitted.

Must contain: • 3 letters and 3 numbers; or • 2 letters and 4 numbers.

CUSTOM

Personalised - Aluminium

CUSTOM PLUS

No space permitted.

Must contain: • 1, 2 or 3 letters; and • end with 3 numbers.

Bizplate - Aluminium

No space permitted.

Will have bottom sash. Can have top sash.

Can have image (library, own logo,own photo).

Must contain: • 3 letters and 3 numbers.

World Rally Championships

- Aluminium

No space permitted.

Must end with WRC and contain: • a maximum of 3 letters or numbers; or • a combination of letters and numbers.

Name Series - Acrylic

No leading space.

Must contain: • a maximum of 9 letters, including

No leading space. Cannot contain numbers only.

Must contain: • a maximum of 7 characte rs for motor vehicles.

• a maximum of 7 characte rs for normal motorcycle.

• a maximum of 5 characte rs for small motorcycle.

Euro Series - Aluminium

Slim Line

Chinese Zodiac Series -

and Acrylic

No leading space. Cannot contain numbers only.

May contain all letters, or a combination of letters and numbers.

Aluminium • maximum of 7 characters including spaces.

Acrylic • maximum of 9 characters for motor vehicles and trailers including spaces.

• maximum of 7 characters for motorcycle including spaces.

Metallic Series - Aluminium

Slim Line

inium

Normal

Custom Series - Aluminium

EURO SERIES

Premium Spaces permitted. Can not contain numbers only.

Must start with W and contain: • a maximum of 7 letters; or • a maximum of 7 letters and numbers.

Custom No space permitted.

Must start with W and end in Z and contain: • 2 letters and 3 numbers.

Custom Plus

No space permitted.

Must start with W and contain: • 3 letters and 4 numbers; or • 4 letters and 3 numbers.

Euro Series No space permitted.

Must start with W and end with A and contain: • 2 letters and 3 numbers.

Intense Series - Aluminium

No space permitted.

Plates will be manufactured with a space between the letters and numbers .

Must contain: • 2 letters and 4 numbers.

• 3 letters and 2 numbers.

• 3 letters and 3 numbers.

• 4 letters and 2 numbers.

spaces.

Last updated: 15/09/2020

tongue tied. Fewer still would be able to make sense of a mutilated phrase such as POGMOHONN. And if they can figure it out then they’ll surely be smart enough not to realise its only a bit of harmless smart arse fun!

Name Game

Tony Duffin is the man behind the se licence plates , Irish One and Irish Two. Irish one is now owned by Gay Collins from Pipeline Technics

E

very so often you might see a rego with an Irish word or significance around the place. We’d love to hear from readers who have customised their own plates or who have seen a good one on the road which we will publish in the next edition of the magazine. Please send your photos to irishsceneperth@gmail.com or to 0479047250.

THE IRISH SCENE | 5

No Butts about it!

W

e know them now as The Pogues but when they formed in Kings Cross, London in 1982 the Celtic folk punk band went by the moniker of Pouge Mahone. Spider Stacey, the band’s tin whistle singer, is said to have suggested the name, inspired by the line from Buck Mulligan in James Joyce’s Ulysses; “Pogue mahone! Acushla machree! It’s destroyed we are from this day! It’s destroyed we are surely!” Pogue Mahon played the live music scene for two years and got their big break two years later as the opening act for 1984 The Clash tour. After a producer at BBC Radio Scotland complained about their name and its potential to cause offence to Gaelic speaking listeners the broadcaster referred to them as The Pogues and that

Pogues: Shane MacGowan, Cait O’Riordan, Andrew Rankin, Jem Finer pictured 30/11/84.Photo by Steve Rapport from Song Smiths.

version of their name stuck. They went back to their roots in the naming of their seventh and final studio album in 1996, calling it Pogue Mahone!

Mum’s the word some eejit’ ‘You’re F

by Lloyd Gorman

ormer Matildas player Maria Hulls – née Doyle – gets a great kick out of driving her car since she changed her licence plates about four years ago.

She enjoys watching the reaction of other drivers as they try to figure out what the word on her rego plate is. “They pull up behind me and through my rear view mirror I can see them looking at it and trying to pronounce it and then they get it!

Some people pull up beside me and say they don’t’ know what it means and I say its eejit – like idiot – and that its not me, its for other road users,” she laughed.

Maria with her car & EEJITT licence plate outside JB’s

The entertaining expression is her way to remember her mum (Bridget). “My mum was Irish, she was from a family of ten from Athlone,” Maria told Irish Scene. “She was Irish and my dad was Scottish and was I was born in England before we came to Australia. I was one of 6 | THE IRISH SCENE

five kids and we were brought up in a very Irish household. She used to always call us eejits and I remember I brought a boyfriend home one time and she said to me “Where did you meet that eejit?”.”

Her mum – who lived in Adelaide – passed away about three years ago but she was alive when Maria got the personalised plates. “Mum wasn’t a drinker but she would enjoy a glass of Baileys Irish Cream and she thought it was amazing that I had an Irish pub at the end of my street.

When we called into JB’s there used to be a big chair in the corner that she just loved sitting in”.

Maria & Paul North

Maria, who lives a few doors up from JB’s, said it all started in the Irish pub one day while she was talking with the venue’s original publican, Wexford man Paul North. “I was sitting here with Paul one day and he said ‘I see you got yourself a new car!’and I said “I finally bought a little Mercedes A180 and that I was thinking about getting some personalised plates on it. I said I wanted to get eejit on it and he started laughing and said ‘well, why don’t you get it”’.

So I checked on the website but somebody had already taken it and Paul said just put another T on the end of it so I typed it in and it came up as available. So I did it, I pressed it and two weeks later they arrived in the post.

When I brought them here and showed Paul and he just about lost it,” she laughed. Maria’s mothers life story – and by extension her own story – could have been so different.

“Mum was one of the youngest of the ten so she was left at home while the older ones left the nest and made their way in life around the world,” she added. “Back then it was a big thing for a family to have a child that went on to become a priest or a nun and when she was 17 she was put in a convent and she didn’t come out until she was 29 years old. She wasn’t meant to leave the convent and I think she was never fully forgiven for doing it. I asked her why she came out and she told me she had a calling to be a mother, so she left, met my dad in England and they had five kids, and the rest is history. If she didn’t leave that convent I wouldn’t be here.”

While much of her career has been in the local government sector Maria also had another very different profession which has only recently received the recognition it deserves.

A retired midfielder who played for Australia’s national women’s team in the

Maria’s mum in JB’s

1980’s under her maiden name of Doyle, Maria was awarded her Matildas playing cap in front of 59,155 fans at Perth Stadium in October 2023.

She was one of about 40 Matildas alumni who were formally recognised thanks to the soaring popularity of the current Matildas in the FIFA Women’s World Cup and beyond.

“I had to wait 34 years for this cap, but I wouldn’t swap it for the world,” she said.

“Getting it in front of that many people just took it to another level. As I was walking out of the stadium people were grabbing me, saying we’ve seen you on the big screen. It was a great atmosphere.”

When she was a Matilda the payers did not get anything like the massive support her contemporaries enjoy.

“We wore hand-me-down shirts and shorts that got thrown in a basket at the end of each game and laundered overnight for the next days matches.

You had to put your initials on the top of your socks – that you had to buy yourself – so you got them back the next day. We were playing on pitches that you were more likely to grow potatoes in and nothing like HBF Park. Probably 60 to 70% of the crowd were family and friends.” But she is proud to be a part of the Matildas story and thrilled at the nation wide swell of support and recognition they now command on and off Maria with Matildas the pitch.

Mary Fowler, Mary has Irish heritage

THE IRISH SCENE | 7

A link to Luke Kelly Luke Kelly and Deirdre O’Connell wedding day

M

aria returned to Perth at the start of August after spending six weeks in Europe. She was in Malmö, Sweden, in July competing in the International Walking Football World Championships, one of three former Matilda’s on eight teams representing Australia. Australia (Maria’s Team) finished in

Deirdre and her father at the Garden of Remembrance in Dublin

third place but could have ranked in second place had a game against England just gone slightly different.

The trip was also a perfect opportunity to tick some items of her bucket list and to catch up with family and friends. She spent several weeks travelling with her cousin [Colleen] from USA, and discovered an incredible connection to one off Ireland’s greatest folk singers.

“On our travels my cousin she told me about our Aunt Cathy’s husband Kevin, my uncle Kevin, and that his sister Deirdre O’Connell was married to the lead singer of the Dubliners – Luke Kelly. I said “you’re joking” and she said “No! we’re related, through marriage. I’ve only just found that out. It’s crazy. I love Irish music and have had the Dubliners on my play list for years without even being aware of the link.”

Deirdre – who was baptised Eleanor and was known as a child as Ellie – grew up in a working class family in the Bronx, one of five siblings. Her father Michael J. O’Connell was born in Glen gala, Sligo and her mother, Nellie Taafe, came from Banteer in Cork.

Maria, middle, with fellow former Matildas Vicki Cerny and Sonia Gegenhuber at the recent IWFF World Championships in Sweden

8 | THE IRISH SCENE

They encouraged their children to work hard and follow their dreams. Even as a young child she was a gifted singer, dancer and performer and according to Irishamerica. com she cut classes in High School to attend drama school. As a young struggling artist she lived in Greenwich Village, sharing a

folk singer. On one trip back to Ireland she room at one stage with another up and met Luke Kelly in O’Donoghue’s pub. Sixty coming actress, Barbra Streisand. She years ago on June 21 1965 she married Kelly, performed in off Broadway plays by the accompanied by her friend and fellow likes of Tennessee Williams, actress Sabina Coyne Higgins, Arthur Miller, Samuel Beckett the wife of President Michael and Henrik Ibsen. Lee Maria’s Uncle Kevin left, D Higgins. According to Strasberg, the highly with his brother Emmett, in Irishamerica.com Deirdre’s regarded head of Dublin in 2023 for Kevin’s sister, Geraldine O’Connell the Actor’s Studio 90th birthday Cusack said of the couple: – which counted “So alike were Luke James Dean, Marlon and Deirdre, they could Brando and Marilyn have been mistaken for Monroe amongst brother and sister, the its alumni – saw same flaming hair and her in one of those the same searing fire in plays and invited her their souls.” They were to join the Studio. celebrities, an almostWhen she wasn’t magical sight as they “tripped acting she was singing lightly along the ledge” of and even shared a stage Dublin’s streets.” with Joan Baez and Bob Dylan at the Newport Folk She would have a major influence on Festival. With greatness calling she her husband. Irishamerica.com columnist bravely chose – at the age of 23 – to pursue Rosemary Rogers said: “At the urging of his her dreams in Ireland. She landed in Dublin in 1962 and became Deirdre, taking the name from the mythological figure in John Millington Synge’s iconic play Deirdre of the Sorrows. She set up an actor training school to promote the Stanislavski Method of acting – a pioneering method where actors rely on their own emotional experiences to perform a role. In the constricted and conservative world of Irish theatre this approach had a lot of critics at the time, but still she persisted.

She would go on to create the Focus Theatre and as part of her efforts to raise money to create a permanent theatre space she toured England as a ballad and

Ireland’s Favourite

Black & White Pudding

Start Your

The Irish Way SCAN FOR RECIPES

Maria’s uncle Kevin on the right, with his sister Geraldine, who lives in Houston, Texas.

THE IRISH SCENE | 9

1983 Dublin Theatre new wife, Luke took a leave from Festival, a show the Dubliners (ironically?) called to study folk “Fancy Footwork.” traditions with It remained a Peggy Seeger constant struggle to (Pete’s sister) and keep the pocket sized Ewan McColl, the Focus theatre running “godfather of folk and they relied on the music.” At the same kindness and support of time, Deirdre introduced friends as well as patrons. him to Stanislavski and Luke was her biggest benefactor he brought the same rigour, but his generosity spilled over discipline, and perfect diction Maria’s Irish family in Austin, into other parts of their married Texas, who she sends the Irish to his singing as she did to live, including inviting people Scene to, her Uncle Kevin and her acting. He had become to live with them in their family cousins Namara and Tara, more active in communist with a photo of her Aunt Cathy home. causes and his radical politics In her piece Ms Rogers added: gave conviction and edge “And his drinking, never moderate, was to his voice. Over time, both Luke and out of control as he drank “pints for thirst, Deirdre became active in political causes whiskey to get drunk . . . an accident about like Amnesty International and Ireland’s to happen.” They separated [in 1970 after Anti-Apartheid Movement, and later five years as husband and wife] but their supported the H-Block hunger strikers in bond remained, and when Luke Kelly died Northern Ireland. In 1967, Deirdre’s hard in 1984, she called herself his widow even work and planning finally paid off when though they had been apart for years and she converted a building on the laneway there had been another woman in his life.” of Pembroke Street into the Focus Theatre.

It had only a 73-seat capacity, the facilities Kelly spent the last eight years of his were crude, but as one life with his partner critic put it, the “tiny Madeline Seiler, from theatre was a place Germany. of magic.” Deirdre After the marriage created a repertory of ended she devoted contemporary and classic the rest of her works, never wavering life to Focus and from her commitment called its troupe her to the Stanislavski. A “family”. Dressed in member of her loyal traditional mourning troupe, Gabriel Byrne, black shawls she paid her this tribute, became known “With minuscule grants, around Dublin as the this unsinkable woman “Woman in Black”. has given the country She was diagnosed some of its finest with cancer but told performances and a fair no-one and even percentage of its best refused treatment actors.” Like her hero, or to go to hospital Samuel Beckett, Deirdre and passed away in worked with prisoners, 2001. She is buried in putting on a performance Glasnevin Cemetery with inmates from with Luke Kelly.

Mountjoy Gaol for the 10 | THE IRISH SCENE

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A secret 1916

death revealed

by Lloyd Gorman

A

veil over the cause of death 110 years ago of an Irish man who served for all his 25 years as a priest in Western Australia has been revealed by a new book.

Father Edward O’Reilly, who was 50 years old, and only recently returned from Western Australia died on 29 August 1916 in his native Longford. Ironically he had returned to Ireland for its “congenial climate” in a bid to help restore his health and well being but died suddenly within two months of his arrival ‘home’.

An obituary in an Australian newspaper at the time blamed his death on “heart disease” according to an article in the Irish Times. The obituary added: “Alas! it seemed the old days of his pioneering work had only too surely sought upon his strength and

gradually [he] paid the penalty of years of hard missionary effort.”

Benny Reid, author of ‘Out on our Own A History of the People and Places of Annaly and Breifne’ said Father O’Reilly had a challenging Benny Reid and demanding time of it in Australia. “[He] spent 25 years, literally on horseback, over the largest diocese in the world. The diocese of Perth spanned from north to south Australia. It covered O’Connell Street after the Easter Rising

thousands of square miles. He served in 12 different parishes there, always on horseback. He was presented with a ticket home in January 1916.”

On 24 February 1916 the Catholic Press newspaper reported: “Very Dean Edward O’Reilly, of Victoria Park, Perth, after a service of 26 year’s strenuous missionary work, is taking a trip to the old world. He left by the Osterley on January 24.

Father Edward Prior to his departure he O’Reilly was farewelled by the priests of Perth, and was presented with a purse of sovereigns by the parishioners of Victoria Park”.

Little is known about his movements when he arrived in Ireland but it appears he found a place to live in an Oblates House in Inchicore. The next time he resurfaced was in August at his cousin’s house in Fostra (Longford) where he died. “His death was not reported anywhere,” said Benny.

The only published news (Irish Scene could find) of his death here was a short notice in the West Australian newspaper on September 5 1916: ‘O’REILLY – ON September 3, in Ireland, Rev. Dean Edward O’Reilly, late parish priest of Victoria Park.

Requiem Mass will be celebrated at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception on Thursday, September 7, at 10.am. R.I.P.’

Main Street, Longford

In reality, his death should have been front page news, but was deliberately suppressed for political reasons. It would take more than 70 years for it became known, for the first time, that Fr. O’Reilly had been hit by a bullet in a lesser known episode of the Easter Rising, the Battle for the South Dublin Union. The South Dublin Union – which stood on the site of what is today St James’ Hospital near Heuston Station – was Ireland’s largest workhouse. Some 3,200 inmates – many of them destitute, insane and elderly – were housed at the workhouse which was a massive compound spread across 50 acres. It was targeted by the rebels in an attempt to disrupt the movement of troops from Richmond Baracks in Inchicore and the Royal Hospital Kilmainham. Under the command of Éamonn Ceannt, the 4th Battalion of the Dublin Volunteers occupied the grounds which saw a week of intense fighting in late April.

“Volunteer forces had occupied the complex on Easter Monday, 24 April and had immediately come under attack from troops of the Royal Irish Regiment,” an account of the battle published on the website of the Western Front Association states. “The sudden occupation and battles that erupted in the grounds of the Union prevented both sides from evacuating hundreds of staff and patients. A running battle was fought throughout that Monday through the hospital corridors with both sides suffering heavy casualties. There were many civilian casualties as innocent people were caught in the crossfire.”

Fr. O’Reilly was amongst those caught up in this particular chapter.

Had he been killed outright his death would have been registered and more would be known about him. We don’t know the extent of THE IRISH SCENE | 13

under Martial Law by the British Forces and any association with the rebellion would have attracted unwanted attention and possible harsh retribution – and there was no exemption for men of the cloth.

In his book Benny wrote that in May 1916, the Longford Leader reported that MP for Longford, Mr J.P.Farrell pictured left with family, asked the following question in the Westminster Parliament: his injuries but he was able to escape the scene either alone or with help. But his wounds were sufficient to cause his demise a few months later.

In the days and weeks after the South Dublin Union battle, Fr O’Reilly must have been nursed sufficiently that he was able to contemplate making a trip to a relative in Longford.

The midlands county did not play a direct role in the events of 1916 but it – like the rest of the country – was placed

“I beg to ask the Prime Minister whether he is aware that Martial Law has been proclaimed in Co. Longford even though the county is peaceful and not the slightest disorder occurred there whether the officer commanding King Edward’s Horse troop has authority to post guards around the town and to stop priests and people from entering or leaving without a pass whether he is aware that one clergyman going

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South Dublin Union

to attend the sick was turned back by the sentries; and whether he will immediately direct the withdrawal of these regulations.”

It was against this politically dangerous background that Fr. O’Reilly perished. ‘Out on our Own’ records Fr O’Reilly – ‘Dean Edward’ – as having lived from 1865 until 1916 and having been with the Archdiocese of Perth, Australia and received a gun-shot in Dublin 1916, with Fostra, 29th August as the location and date of his death.

This conclusion was informed by the research of another priest, one Fr. Francis Gray. Fr Gray – with his fellow cleric Fr. Edward Boylan – was looking into the history of “The Latin School” Moyne about ten years ago.

“I called to see Hugh Smith [in Granard].

He belonged to an old Smith family from Fostra,” Fr Gray wrote in a note sourced by Benny. “After he retired as a Ganger with Longford County Council he sold his farm.

Coming from the neighbouring town-land of Edenmore, I knew Hugh quite well when I was growing up. He was a very decent, honourable man who was highly respected in the area. He was also a very intelligent man. There were three priests by the name of Smith from the neighbouring town-land of Glenmore and I was anxious to interview him about them, as well as Fr. Patrick Smith from Fostra. I felt that he might be related to some of them. Hugh grew up before TV took over the living rooms of Ireland. All the local news was shared at the fireplace by the neighbours. Hugh had a very good memory and he could recall the conversation of “the old people” that called to his home. Hugh talked about Fr. Edward O’Reilly. His mother was Mary Smith, Fostra, Hugh’s aunt and his father was Terence O’Reilly, Rosduff. While he was still young

both of his parents died and he was reared

by Hugh’s parents in Fostra. After attending the Latin School in Moyne, he went to All Hallows College, Dublin to study for the priesthood. He was ordained there in June 1890 for the diocese of Perth Western, Australia. Hugh mentioned that while on holiday from Perth, he was visiting Dublin during Easter Week 1916 and as a result of a bullet would he received there, he died with the Smith family in Fostra the following August. He is buried in Colmcille Cemetery.”

Meanwhile, thanks to Monsignor Thomas Bernard McDonald at St Joachim’s Church today we know a little more about his time as Dean in Victoria Park. After being contacted by Irish Scene the Monsignor sent us some of the history of the Church compiled by one Father Humphrey Kearin who became the parish priest after Dean O’Reilly’s departure to Ireland and from this world.

The first mass at the original (but long replaced) church of St. Joachim’s took place in 1896 and there a string of Irish clerics served there, especially in the early years.

Fr. Kearin’s brief history shows ‘the late Very Rev. Dean O’Reilly succeeded Father B Fagan in 1911. The entry for 1916 states: “Rev. Father H. Kearin came to Victoria Park as locum tenens for Dean O’Reilly, who left for a holiday in Ireland. The Dean, however, died in his native land on 30 August, 1916.”

In all likelihood this could be the first time the story of Fr. Edward O’Reilly’s life – and death – has been told in full in Australia.

Could he be the sole ‘West Australian’ victim of the Easter Rising? It is possible. In any case his memory is now no longer a victim of history or circumstance.

Oblites House in Dublin where Father O’Reilly stayed

A Father to many, a brother to Benny A

s it happens, Benny Reid has some affinity for the subject matter of priests in Western Australia. His own brother Des Reid was for some time a priest in WA and Benny visited him here.

This photograph, provided by Benny, below, shows his brother Des – who was then the parish priest at Northampton – behind the wheel as they ‘forded’ the Murchison River en-route to Eunice and Vaughan Bardnon’s Yallalong Station, an area of more than 500,000 acres some 270km North East of Geraldton.

Fr Des died in February 2024, aged 89. The Irish Times published an obituary about his life as a missionary priest, including his time in Australia. A teacher, an air ambulance pilot and a balloonist the newspaper said he would be remembered in Australia “for his advocacy work for migrants”.

Fr Des was one of six prominent Australian figures interviewed by broadcaster Andrew Denton in the Australian television series Elders. Other interviewees included naturalist David Attenborough and former president Bob Hawke. Fr Reid talked about his love of aviation. He recalled how, as a child he would visit his sister in Dublin and cycle out to the back road at Dublin Airport

16 | THE IRISH SCENE

with a bag of sandwiches.

“I could sit there for ages The late Father Des Reid on end and just simply watch the aircraft coming and going,” he said.

The obituary added: “In that interview for Australian television, he spoke candidly about his struggle with alcoholism. He had his first drink aged 32, in Mombasa, and within 10 years it had taken over his life. “I lost everything, lost my pilot’s licence. I had full-blown alcoholism. I went to the pits.”

As a priest there was an added loneliness about his addiction because he felt he could not confide in anyone. He regained his sobriety with the help of St John of God hospital and Alcoholics Anonymous and later reasoned that he was given the disease in order to help others to recover from their addiction. After regaining his pilot’s licence, he returned to missionary work in Papua New Guinea, Brisbane and Western Australia. The last appointment saw him serving in one of the most sparsely populated and largest parishes in the world, where the most remote parishioners were 400km from the main church. He also used his flying skills to volunteer for the air ambulance one week every month. His final posting was in Port Hedland in 2001, home to a detention centre for illegal immigrants.

It became a notorious flashpoint for riots and unrest, and he found himself ministering to the detainees and the guards. When he tried to organise transport for the detainees to come to the church, he recalled the forceful opposition of some parishioners. “There were those who stood up and said ‘Not in my church. They have

St Joachim’s Church, Victoria Park

St Colmcille ‘s Church, Aughnacliffe, O’Reillys chalice, pictured below, is where today Father still used.

Perth’s Irish community – like many

A grou traditio and fid county tributes woman promis also he GAA cl right. E the vig of the k to the s traditio music vigil to #Ashlin in Pert

needed protection and said if there others in Australia and across he were an eighth deadly sin, it would be Similar world – came together to hold a vigil the sin of saying “not in my patch”. were s

no right to be here. I don’t want to see them here on Sunday’... I felt we were split right down the middle.”

in the wake of the shocking murder

He returned to Ireland in 2008 and across of 23 year old Tullamore teacher continuedAisling to serve parishes in Dublin, Murphy while she was jogging includi Kildare and Knock Shrine before in broad daylight in her home ill town of the Am health forced him to retire at the age at Kan Tullamore, Co. Offaly in January. of 85. Following his lifelong fascination Point, with flying,Hundreds it was fitting that his final of Irish people – including and all resting place was families withDardistown young children,cemetery, took part based closeintoanDublin eveningAirport, time vigil where and walkhe at Irish Au once sat as a boy to marvel the the Flame of Remembrance in at Kings Queen aircraft overhead.”

Park onflying January 19, organised by the

He eventually succeeded in bringing the detainees to the church and said his heart bled for the children in particular. “We fought for a long time to get the Department of Immigration to allow us to take the children into the school.” He questioned how a nation of immigrants could turn their backs on people who

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STRONG IRISH PRESCENE IN PRO-PALESTINE PERTH RALLY

by Lloyd Gorman

L

ike every other Australian capital on Sunday 24th August, thousands of protestors – estimated at anywhere between 10,000 and 25,000 by news – and dozens of civil society and community groups in Perth, turned out en masse – with umbrellas and waterproof clothing – for the Nationwide March for Palestine on a wet and wintry day. The biggest demonstration of its kind yet in Perth it was a display of people power and growing unrest in public opinion against the Israeli government’s war on Gaza and to demand action from the Albanese government. Trade unions

20 | THE IRISH SCENE

and other groups were amongst those to mobilise members while families and gathered for a common cause, an end to the war and the mass slaughter and starvation being inflicted on the Palestinian people.

Young and old Australians and people from every walk of life came together in a massive display of solidarity. Taking their place amongst them were scores of Irish.

On stage with the speakers who addressed a thronged Forrest Chase was Doctor Chantelle Ní Chróinín who has served with Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans

Frontières in Yemen and Palestine and last year in West Bank, now based in Perth where she is a member of Doctors for Palestine, the group set up by Irish doctor Mairead Heaney and her colleagues (Silent Treatment not an option for these doctors, Irish Scene, July/August 2025).

“As an Irish person I am often asked why the Irish are known for their advocacy for Palestine?,” she began. “And the answer is clear. We as a nation suffered our fair share of oppression and of genocide by famine, similar to the man made famine in Gaza today and though it shouldn’t take this to empathise and to mobilise for justice I see the same solidarity from Aboriginal communities and their allies here”.

Just last year she lived and worked in the city of Al-Khalil (Hebron) in the West Bank, just 50km from Gaza with Doctors Without Borders. “Hebron is a busy city, its a hub of commerce and culture famous for the keffiyeh made there and the ceramics and glassworks of the old city though sadly most of those family businesses have been shut down by the violent occupation.

Working as a humanitarian doctor means besides proving medical care where it is needed most I also testify and bear witness about what I saw when I worked in the humanitarian field and will continue to advocate for my patients and my colleagues. Today I want to share with you the facts about how healthcare is under attack in Palestine. I also want to share my love for Palestine and the Palestinian people because it is the dehumanisation of Palestinian people by Israel and the so called western powers that has allowed the current genocide to unfold and

horrifically continue for more than 22 months. I truly believe it is the love and respect and appreciation that we share for our Palestinian brothers and sisters and their culture and our active and vocal solidarity with them which will undo this regime of genocide.

So please share the Palestinian stories, wear you Palestinian keffiyeh with pride and speak up for Dr. Chantelle Palestine. During the time Ní Chróinín in Palestine, I witnessed speaking at the Perth these atrocities there,” she rally, see left added. “I witnessed the illegal occupation by Israel.

I witnessed the apartheid regime, how I as a foreign visitor could walk down any street I wanted – though sometimes through hostile military checkpoints – while my Palestinian friends could not enter these places in their land because of their Palestinian identity. I witnessed indiscriminate attacks against civilians. I and my colleagues were subjected to restriction of movement in access to patients and this same restriction limited patients access to life saving medical care. I saw evidence of violent attacks against ambulances by the Israeli Defence Forces. I witnessed multiple breaches of humanitarian law

by Israel. These testimonies are regularly shared by Palestinian people and they are

Dr. Mo with fellow protestors

THE IRISH SCENE | 21

reported on by organisations such as Doctors without Borders, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and others. What I want to emphasis here is that this genocide in Gaza is just one component of a decades long large scale regime of violent occupation and ethnic cleansing perpetrated by Israel on the Palestinian people as a whole.”

Medics – even foreign doctors – can be targeted. “Health care is under attack in Palestine,” she said. “Doctors Without Borders...has reported shells and bullets hitting their health facilities, humanitarian compounds and offices, all locations specifically shared with Isreali authorities in order to protect them in compliance with international law. So why are they being targeted by Israel? Why is Israel attacking humanitarians and with impunity?.”

Just this year alone, from January until August, the World Health Organisation reported more than 300 attacks on healthcare across Palestine, 115 in Gaza and 189 in the West Bank.

“These assaults include attacks on nurses tending to their patients, cutting off fuel to neo-natal intensive care units, intentionally targeting our most vulnerable babies,”

she said. “They include taking doctors as hostages and even fatal attacks against patients who are receiving medical care in hospitals. Because of Israel’s targeting of healthcare facilities only half of the hospitals in Gaza are partly functioning and half have been completely destroyed by Israel. Why are there no repercussions for these clear breaches of law? Let me be clear, healthcare is not a target.”

Dr Ní Chróinín called on her fellow doctors and healthcare workers and colleagues in Perth Doctors for Palestine and the community to build on the solidarity movement to demand justice for Palestine and all oppressed people in Australia and around the world. “No one is free until all of us are free, Free Congo. Free Sudan. Free Palestine. Stop the genocide. Call on our government, call on Mr Albanese to end our complicity now.”

After the speeches at Forrest Chase the massive crowd marched to Murray Street and then across the Horseshoe Bridge to William Street and onto Hyde Park. After the event many of the Irish who took gravitated towards Mollys Irish Pub in Highgate.

More photos of the rally and march will be published in the next edition!

22 | THE IRISH SCENE

THE EMPTY WOMB OF GAZA

by Lloyd Gorman

A

n artwork unique to Perth for the Irish Famine is set to become a practical symbol of solidarity with the people of Palestine. Appalled at the obscene loss of life caused by the conflict sculptors Charlie and Joan Walsh Smith wanted to help in whatever way they can. In the last edition of Irish Scene – in which they featured for the recent unveiling of their statue of Edith Cowan in the Perth CBD – they read about the work of Perth Doctors Medical Aid for Gaza – set up by Irish doctor Mairead Heaney and other Irish medics and a small group of colleagues – and knew they wanted to support their humanitarian campaign. And they knew how. They contacted the doctors group with their idea for ‘The Empty Womb of Gaza’, a sculpture fundraising series, selling models (maquette) based on An Gorta Mór sculpture in Subiaco, for the charity.

An Gorta Mór was unveiled by the President of Ireland Michael D Higgins at an inspirational ceremony in October 2017 at the very start of an official state visit of Australia. What is less well known is that President Higgins and his wife Sabina were presented with an exact miniature of the famine sculpture, pictured. Originally from Waterford, Charlie and Joan established their Aisling Studios in Gidgegannup decades ago and this husband and wife team have produced a huge number of sculptures, statues and public artworks across Australia and Ireland. This, their latest initiative, is an entirely non commercial project for them.

Then mayor of Subiaco Heather Henderson presented President Higgins and his wife Sabina with a maquette of An Gorta Mór sculpture. The Womb of Gaza would be based on this model.

speaks to more than individual tragedy; it captures the silenced future of an entire people under siege. At its heart is the universal grief of motherhood — a grief that transcends borders, religions, and histories.

As Irish sculptors, we carry the memory of the Great Hunger and the haunting sound of the keening women — the cries that rose when words failed. This sculpture draws directly from our Irish Famine Memorial in Perth and extends its legacy across time and geography. It is a bridge between those echoes of famine and the cries coming from Gaza today. The empty womb is the most primal symbol we could offer — a counterimage to weaponised dehumanisation. It rehumanises the tragedy, giving form to absence. And this is not absence by chance — it is absence by violence. ” They said the title Empty Womb of Gaza carries the weight of ‘grief, erasure, and injustice’. “We chose it to confront the truth without euphemism — to honour both the reality and the poetry of that truth. It is our way of bearing witness — through art, through bronze, through memory.”

Models would be made to order – as a lostwax cast bronze statue about 250mm high – mounted on a polished black granite base with an engraved plaque to the effect ‘The Empty Womb of Gaza In Support of Medical Aid to Gaza’. Once production costs are covered, 100% of the remaining proceeds from each sale will be transferred directly to Perth Doctors for Medical Aid for Palestine.

The Empty Womb of Gaza models can be “The Empty Womb of Gaza is a powerful ordered and paid for through their secure symbol of grief and solidarity – rooted in e-commerce website https:// the Irish Famine Memorial estore.smithsculptors.com/ in Perth – and has been “We believe this project created as a direct artistic has the potential to noly raise response to the devastating meaningful funds but also loss of children in Gaza,” raise awareness in artistic, they said. “We created it in medical, bearing witness response to the unbearable through our work and loss of children in Gaza Joan and Charlie pictured at standing in solidarity with — through starvation, the HMAS Sydney Memorial in those risking their lives to bombing, and forced Geraldton that they designed provide care in Gaza.” displacement. This work THE IRISH SCENE | 23

Artistic expression

P

erth Doctors Medical Aid for Gaza have already raised hundreds of thousands of dollars to provide aid to the people of Gaza and they intend to raise as much as possible. Their screenings of “Gaza: Doctors Under Attack” have sold out and will

continue. They are planning a very special event in October. Janet Holmes, owner of the Holmes à Court Gallery, has given the group the use of the West Perth venue and more than 200 artists have donated works of art. Watch the Facebook sites of Perth Doctors for Gaza and Irish Scene’s for more details closer to the time.

Bravo John and Caroline

A

nother Irish husband and wife have already been busy on a similar front.

John and Caroline McCarthy have been behind a number of fundraising events that have directly helped people in Gaza.

Back in March this talented duo organised a concert at their place in the Hills, with all funds going to Dignity for Palestinians.

Through Tony Groves from the Tortoise Shack podcast John connected with Dr. Musallam Abukhalil who is the founder of the Dignity for Palestinians campaign. They recommended this group because they were able to get water and emergency food packs on the ground the very next day and the charity has very few overheads.

A swag of musicians generously contributed their time and talents to making the event a musical and fundraising success, collecting an incredible $11,892.79 which they donated immediately.

Dr Abukhalil posted a message of appreciation. “Thanks to you, 200 families have water today. Nearly 800,000 people in Gaza are struggling without safe drinking water. Chidlren are especially at risk. On Monday, in the middle of this crisis, we were able to bring clean water to over 200 displaced families in Al-Shaqaqi Camp. This was only possible because of the incredible effort by our friend John Bravo and the Aussie Communities, who supported the

24 | THE IRISH SCENE

cost of this activity (and many more to come). From all of us at Dignity for Palestinians Campaign – thank you for helping us ease just a bit of the suffering. We are a community-led Palestinian group from Gaza, implementing community targeted activities, supported by collective action like yours.” John expressed this own appreciation to everyone involved.

“We’d like to thank all of the musicians that generously shared their talent with us on the day..

Michael Edelby, David Johnston, Ayman Qwadier, Ciaran O’ Sullivan, Brian Finnemore, Derrick Buckley, Ben Christiansen , Hilary De Prís, Ozi, Nathan Leamy, Jerry Murphy, Teresa Kelleher, Russell Clarke + Tommy O’Brien and thanks to Marcus Davidson on sound. And thanks to every single person for donating every cent!. Free Palestine!”.

Meanwhile, in June Caroline – who owns Torc Céilí Club – also organised a céilí at the Buffalo Club, Fremantle, to raise funds for the same charity. “There’s so much pain in the world at the moment and the least we can do is donate some money so those in Gaza can get some water and emergency aid!,” Caroline said. Irish Scene hears this couple aren’t finished yet so watch out for what they do next.

And if you or someone you know has been active raising funds or involved with humanitarian work in this field we’d love to hear about it to share with readers.

Contact Lloyd at 0479047250 or irishsceneperth@gmail.com.

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Ireland supports Dr Mo’s mission

I

n all the horror and hell being inflicted on Gaza, Perth doctor Mohammed Mustafa – Dr Mo – has an ambitious plan to try and ease the suffering of the most vulnerable caught up in the conflict. He has dedicated himself to the delivery of a fully equipped maternity, neonatal and children’s hospital to Gaza to help the countless children and babies injured, disfigured, traumatised and dying from malnutrition. Of the more than 60,000 fatalities since Israel began its military campaign in the besieged territory in response to the October 7 Hamas attacks, at least 17,000 of those were children.

He has twice volunteered as a humanitarian doctor at the Nasser hospital in Gaza and European Hospitals in Khan Younis and has spoken publicly and in the media about the “apocalyptic” loss of life and how every day young scores of children are dying often alone and in terrible pain while hard pressed doctors fight overwhelming conditions to help them. A distressing account of a two year old child shot through the neck by a sniper that died in his arms from a bullet wound was one of the distressing stories he shared on Irish TV (Ireland AM).

Not long after he returned to Australia from his second mercy mission to the war torn strip Dr Mo was in Ireland in June to raise awareness and support for the desperately needed kids hospital. He wasn’t quite ready for what he found there.

26 | THE IRISH SCENE

“The unique thing about Ireland compared to every where else in the world is you don’t need to win the hearts and minds of people in Ireland, its already there with the public,” he told Irish Scene. “Its not like in Australia or the UK where the general public might be sympathetic to the situation and the suffering in Gaza. In Ireland its in their bones. Its in their DNA. They know what occupation is, they know what starvation is when you talk about the potato Famine. Its not the fact it was a famine that they died, it was a forced starvation like what is going on in Gaza.

In Ireland there wasn’t just the potato, there were plenty of other crops the British took away and they created a famine in Ireland, forced starvation, forced famine, orchestrated famine. This oppressive colonial mindset and that dehumanisation Irish people know that all so well. So when

we went to Ireland to get Irish support, it was already there. When we went to the UK or to Australia, essentially we would have to have 20 meetings before we would meet one person who would be able to direct us to somebody who could do something or help us. But in Ireland I was trying to open doors that were already open and after we met President Higgins and went on national TV after all this we just had to tell the Irish public about our idea to build a children’s hospital and the public were already on board. Its unique to me, how easy this is because wherever you go in the world its always complicated, the situation in the Middle East is always complicated; you can’t have an opinion about it, its complicated, but its not complicated for the Irish people, they fully understand the situation and what they do is they take the complication out of it, they look at it as an occupier and the occupied. The Irish people don’t share the same religion for the most part as the people of Palestine, they don’t share the same culture, some might say they don’t even share all the same values but what they do share is a common history of resistance, a common history of dignity in the face of oppression.”

The Irish connection came about when Dr Mo met Irish senator Lynne Ruane (Independent Senator for Trinity College) at the launch of the Freedom Flotilla’s ‘Madleen’ in an attempt to break the siege on aid to Gaza. “We chatted about a lot of things, Irish history and Palestine and I told her my idea for a children’s hospital. She was very very supportive and I told her we were planning to come to Ireland. I’m not a politician, I’m not part of any organisation, I’m just a junior doctor with a plan and for want of a better phrase we were just going to wing it with regards to getting people on board,” he added. “We didn’t have a clear plan. We did have the Irish healthcare workers who were receptive to what we were doing but we didn’t have a clear strategy, it was more a case of seeing who was willing to talk to us and try to win over a cold room, as we’ve been doing since we got to Australia. Senator Ruane was absolutely fantastic. She arranged for us to discuss our plans with President Michael D Higgins, we met Neale Richmond, Ireland’s minister for

Dr Mo with President Higgins and Senator Lynne Ruane at Áras an Uachtaráin

foreign development and various senators all in just two days*. On our third day in Ireland we went to Cork for a community event. A big part of what we are trying to do is get communities involved as well, one of the main things we’ve always tried to

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make this pro-Palestine movement about winning the hearts and minds of people because its not just about the hospital.

Its about rehabilitating Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus from the WHO also met with the way we President Higgins that day talk about the Palestine Israel issue, about how we talk about foreign policy in the Middle East, to talk about it in a way that we talk about the humanity of it rather than looking at it as good guys and bad guys, terrorists, human shields and clash of civilisation. All these buzz words take away from the humanity of the people who are being affected on the ground and the hospital is a vehicle for people to get behind the pro-Palestine movement in a way that is not controversial, in a way that does not use trigger words because who can be against healthcare for people. Who can say “No, you shouldn’t heal a child who is sick, you shouldn’t give pain killers to someone whose in pain, you shouldn’t give anaesthetise to a pregnant woman to do a C section”. What we are trying to do with the hospital is engineer public support for it and use it as a vehicle to gain public support for it and then we would get the hospital, so it was more

than a hospital its about changing the narrative.”

Dr Mo is a member of the Perth Doctors for Gaza group that has helped to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars for medical and food supplies. He was raised in the UK in a family of Palestinian refugees but is now based in Perth as a junior doctor and has worked alongside a lot of young medicos from Ireland. “The Irish doctors and the Irish nurses have been amazing in Perth and I’ve seen a lot of support in the Irish diaspora for me and what I’m doing,” he said. “There’s a special bond between the Irish people and the Palestinian people. On the day we see a Free Palestine that would be a joyous occasion and what I’m really looking forward to is to welcome the Irish delegation. It would be a historic connection between these two countries that could be the cause of East meets West, this Christian nation that stood shoulder to shoulder with the majority muslim Palestinian people, it takes away this whole facade of a ‘clash of civilisation’ because it shows how these people stood shoulder to shoulder in their worst moment and recognised their humanity”.

Dr Mo performing surgery in Gaza

28 | THE IRISH SCENE

* Dr Mo did not ask the Irish government for money towards the children’s hospital. What he

requested was even more important than that, official support and legitimacy. He visited Leinster House – the home of the Irish parliament – and spoke with junior minister with responsibility for international development Neale Richmond. Minister Neale released a statement after their meeting. “The humanitarian blockade imposed on the people of Gaza is outrageous,” he said.

“It was heart-breaking to hear from Dr. Mustafa about the suffering people, including babies and children, are experiencing. Denying people access to food and medicine is inhumane

Dr Mo also met Minister Neale Richmond

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and immoral. Ireland has been resolute in its calls for an immediate end to the blockade. I assured Dr. Mustafa of our full support for his work.”

According to reports in Irish media the government has made contact with other governments that might be willing to partner on the initiative.

After his meeting with President Higgins at Áras an Uachtaráin on June 23, Dr. Mo wrote: “Had the honour of meeting and having tea at the presidential residence with the Irish President Micheal D Higgins.

We discussed the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and our plans for our @ piousprojects children’s hospital in Gaza and our maternity and neonatal hospital that is ready to go into Gaza,” he continued.

The president was kind, warm, full of knowledge and compassion.

Amazing to have such a noble man in our corner as we continue to fight for the children and mothers of of Gaza.”

GAZA FAMINE “MAN MADE”

T

he Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), the authority used by governments and international bodies to identify hunger levels around the world, has raised its classification to Phase 5—the highest and most severe.

Over half a million people across the Gaza strip are facing “starvation, destitution and death” it warns. This famine is “entirely man-made” it adds and that without “an immediate, at scale response” there will be an “unacceptable escalation” in famine related deaths. It is reportedly the first time a famine has been officially confirmed in the Middle East.

The Israeli government – which has blocked international agencies from distributing aid in the war torn territory – continues to deny there is famine and discredits the IPC report as nothing more than “Hamas lies”.

More than 100 international humanitarian and aid groups have warned of the Palestinian population facing imminent

and real danger of malnutrition and starvation. Hundreds of people, including many children have already died specifically of malnutrition according to the Hamas run health ministry. It estimates that at least 62,000 – including about 18,000 children – have been killed by the Israeli reaction to the October 7 attacks, when a large force of Hamas terrorists stormed a part of Israel and killed about 1,200 people and took hundreds more hostage.

“Just when it seems there are no words left to describe the living hell in Gaza, a new one has been added: ‘famine’,” said UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres.

Huge volumes of food and other supplies are ready and waiting on the border but are not being allowed to enter Palestinian areas “because of systematic obstruction

by Israel”, said Tom Fletcher, UnderSecretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator. In his diplomatic career he has also been a mediator on Northern Ireland for the British Government.

THE IRISH SCENE | 31

Slán Sean Hello Arthur

A

fter more than two decades of gigging at The National Hotel in Fremantle Sean Roche – with friends – performed his final ‘Irish Sunday’ to a full house on August 17. A master of folk and ballad Sean has entertained countless crowds over the years and will be missed, but who knows what might happen of a March 17?

Ironbark Irish band will carry on the mantle of Irish Sundays at The National into the foreseeable future.

Sean is set to follow up his finale at The National with another swan song at the Fremantle Park Club on 13th September.

That concert sold out pretty quickly and promises to be another memorable night. “We’ll be farewelling internationally renowned Irish singer, Sean Roche, who has performed annually at our club since 2012,” the organisers said. “Sadly, Sean is retiring from public performance, so this will be his final concert at the club. He will be playing all your favourite Irish songs and taking requests, so don’t miss this very special event. Accompanying Sean will be two very talented musicians: Annie Reilly on fiddle and Gus Kunnen on bass guitar As always, we will offer a delicious Irish menu before the concert.”

If Sean is making his exit from the stage then his finale also coincides with what could be the start of a brand new tradition for the Irish community. The marketing

32 | THE IRISH SCENE

promotes it as ‘Sean Roche’s farewell concert – Halfway to Paddy’s Day’. “Halfway to St. Patrick’s Day is celebrated in over 100 countries around September 17th this year the Fremantle Park Club is going to introduce Halfway to Paddy’s Day to Fremantle for the first time.” It might even be the debut of Halfway to St Patrick’s Day in Western Australia, and possibly even Australia.

The claim it is already celebrated in 100 countries seems slightly suspect if you ask this writer – who had never heard of it before – but it does seem to have roots in America, where one group claims to have invented it 20 years ago. Others have laid claim to it as well. There seems to be some evidence to support the theory that it is a spin off of Arthurs Day, first created by brewer Diageo in 2009, and named after Guinness founder Arthur Guinness. At the time it was a largely pub based promotion – including here in Perth – that had a good head of steam for a few years but petered out. But Arthur’s Day is back this year with a vengance as a one day festival of all things Irish at Wanneroo Showgrounds on September 28. Even before it has happened there has been a lot of interest and excitement in the Irish community about this new event, which has seen strong ticket sales. It looks certain to be a major success and could hopefully become an annual fixture and something for the Irish community to look forward too. Irish Scene will be there so look out for us and say hello. We will taking photos on the day for the next edition of Irish Scene. See you there!

Sean, centre stage

National Hotel, Fremantle

THE IRISH SCENE | 33

Ireland “no longer part of the British Empire”

by Lloyd Gorman

T

he hard fought and well established principle of Irish independence scored a wry mention in WA’s state parliament last month.

It is easy to forget amidst the huff and bluff of politics that parliamentarians are in fact law makers. Apart from representing their electorates their other main function is to create and enact legislation that form the basis of society.

Sometimes that can be about highly contentious and controversial issues such as the state government’s tough – many say draconian – firearms laws.

Sometimes the job entails nothing more than a bit of boring housekeeping. In August WA MPs were busy tidying up a bunch of old, out-dated and redundant legislation, loose ends of the legal political system.

said in his opening remarks to the House last month.

“It strikes me that what we are faced with here is a bill to deal with obsolete legislation that no longer fits the needs of society.

I am reminded of bills that may be centuries old that have been left on the statute book.

Is there any particular system in place to identify those which are obsolete and those which are not? For example, I was delighted to hear—this might well please certain members of this chamber who hail from the Emerald Isle—that we now recognise that Ireland is no longer part of the British Empire. That is a wonderful change that I am sure brightens the hearts of many in Australia.”

Dr Brian Walker MLC for the Western Australian Legalise Cannabis Party managed to squeeze a bit of craic out of the tedious task of cleaning house and dusting off the cobwebs.

“I have only a few words to add on the Statutes (Repeals and Minor Amendments) Bill 2025,” Mr Walker Dr Brian Walker

34 | THE IRISH SCENE

No doubt that part of his debate was for the benefit and enjoyment of Dublin born Stephen Dawson, who, like Mr Walker, also sits in the Legislative Council as MLC for the Mining and Pastoral Region.

The Statutes Bill proposes the “repeal of 9 Western

Australian Acts; repeal of 6 Imperial Acts; repeal of one provision in each of 2 Imperial Acts and amendment of numerous Western Australian Acts”. His reference to Ireland no longer being a part of the British Empire was inspired by the final clause in the Judgements Act 1893. The nearly 200 year old law is itself worded in archaic language and might well have been updated but MPs simply snipped off the last line of the law that states: “Act not to extend to Ireland”. An explanatory document to the bill states: “Section 14 of the Judgments Act 1839 (Imp) states that the Act does not extend to Ireland. This does not need to form part of Western Australian statute book.”

When the Judgements Act was written the island of Ireland was a part of what was then the British empire and as we will see in just a moment that status was most unwelcome.

Dr Walker is a fascinating character with an interesting background and obviously a sense of humour. He was born in Malaysia to Scottish parents but educated at Scotch College Perth and studied medicine at the

University of Dundee. He has practised medicine in Germany, the Soviet Union, the UK and Hong Kong before getting involved in politics. Before all that and as a younger man he enlisted with the British Army and served in Northern Ireland. He has been trained how to take life and how to save it. His background gives him a unique understanding and appreciation for the issue of Irish sovereignty.

250 Years of ‘The Liberator’ T he word ‘repeal’ features strongly in the parliamentary process of cleaning up ancient Acts but it is something of a quaint term you are not likely to hear much, if at all, in every day life. But it is a word that resonates with most Irish people, for good reason. The concept of repealing a law was central to one of the greatest episodes in Ireland’s long history and struggle for independence and self determination.

That story is also the story of Daniel O’Connell.

Daniel O’Connell

He was born in 1775 in Kerry and was raised by his wealthy uncle Maurice O’Connell. The Penal Laws were in force at the time, strict and punishing rules that outlawed many basic rights and customs of the majority Catholic population by the English government.

Despite having a privileged upbringing the young O’Connell was a student at a local “hedge school”, because proper schools were not allowed. He proved to be a bright and diligent student and when he turned 15 his uncle sent him to France to continue his education. When he was in France

THE IRISH SCENE | 35

the French Revolution broke out and he witnessed terrible violence and he moved to London to study law. He returned to Dublin in 1798 and completed his training as a lawyer.

The French Revolution inspired a rebellion in Ireland (and the Irish tricolour flag). O’Connell had seen danger and violence up close and he rejected it outright. He believed in progress by peaceful means. As a result of the failed rebellion in Ireland the British Government passed the Act of Union in 1801. The new law abolished the parliament of Ireland that had existed in Dublin and saw the country ruled directly – and harshly – from London. Amongst the many rights they were denied, Catholics were excluded from sitting in parliament by the Penal Laws. An astute lawyer and brilliant visionary he set out to restore an Irish parliament but first worked to win the right for Catholics to sit in parliament, which would become known as Catholic Emancipation.

He founded the Catholic Association in 1823 and huge numbers of ordinary people joined up, paying one penny a month to help fund the cause of Catholic Emancipation. In 1828 O’Connell stood for election in a by-election In Clare and won by a large majority. Because he was Catholic he could not take his seat in the British parliament, a move that provoked widespread anger across Ireland. Fearing it would spark another rebellion the British government lifted the parliamentary ban on Catholics.

O’Connell had achieved Catholic Emancipation and became widely known as ‘The Liberator’.

He would next set his sights on the ‘Repeal of

36 | THE IRISH SCENE

the Union [Act]’ and in 1840 established the Repeal Association. He was a talented orator and his mass public meetings became known as ‘monster meetings’ because they drew enormous crowds eager to hear him denounce the Act of Union. As his fame grew so too did his audiences. Printed copies of his speeches were circulated around the country and read out aloud to families and communities hungry for news.

An estimated 1 million people attended a rally in Tara, Co. Meath and another in Clontarf on the 8th of October was declared illegal by the government and ordered not to go ahead. Worried it would be repressed by the authorities and fearing violence O’Connell cancelled the event. Motivated for the safety of his followers and fellow Irish men and women his decision was not appreciated or understood by whole swathes of people and his once mighty movement lost momentum. The Great Famine started in 1845 and destroyed whatever chance was left that Repeal could be achieved. By now O’Connell was a 70 year old man with growing medical problems.

In his final appearance in parliament he asked his fellow MPs to come to the aid of the stricken Irish people. In O’Connell addresses a 1847 O’Connell made monster meeting a pilgrimage to Rome but he died on the way in Genoa. His last words were “My body to Ireland, my heart to Rome, my soul to heaven”.

His body was returned to Ireland and was laid to rest in a crypt with a landmark round tower in Glasnevin Cemetery over it. His heart remains in Rome to this day.

He might not have achieved his ultimate objective but O’Connell’s

O’Connells grave Glasnevin cemetery

I am sure brightens the hearts of many in Australia.”

No doubt that part of his debate was for the benefit and enjoyment of Dublin born Stephen Dawson, who, like Mr Walker, also sits in the Legislative Council as MLC for the Mining and Pastoral Region.

achievements and leadership showed the Irish people what was possible and it provided the impetus for many that followed and ultimately achieved independence from the British empire!

The Statutes Bill proposes the “repeal of 9 Western Australian Acts ; repeal of 6 Imperial Acts ; repeal of one provision in each of 2 Imperial Acts and amendment of numerous Western Australian Acts”.

The 250th anniversary of his birth was widely celebrated in Ireland in August. And apart from his status as one of the greatest figures of Irish history O’Connell is also renowned in other parts of the world as a champion of his time to end slavery.

Empire. That is a wonderful change that

THE IRISH SCENE | 37

CATALPA

F light to

A

s the 150th anniversary of the daring Catalpa escape looms next year the highly regarded Theatre 180 company has taken hold of this ever amazing story in what promises to be a standout production ‘Catalpa Flight to Freedom’. In April 1876 six Fenian prisoners and proud Irishmen defied monumental odds and the might of the British Empire to pull off one of the most remarkable prison break stories ever.

Proud to be playing his part in this contemporary retelling of that unique episode in Irish Western Australian and American history is Wicklowman and actor Tadhg Lawrence who will play one of the ‘Fremantle 6’ Fenian prisoners. Even though Tadhg was taking some time off when Irish Scene chatted with him he was trying to absorb some of the world his character would have known.

‘I’ve just spent four nights in cell 258 in the women’s prison in Fremantle Goal – you can book a room in a cell – and went on the guided tours* each day,” he said. “And I’ve been walking the streets of Fremantle with a copy of Peter Fitzsimon’s book ‘The Catalpa Rescue’ to try and highlight places and spaces. I’m fairly familiar with Fremantle but not through the lens of what they would have gone through at the time. When the prison was there a hundred or so years ago it was even more visible than it is today because there were fewer buildings to block its view from the ocean, but even still when you start to walk around you can see its prominence, so it was very interesting to spend that time like that and I’m getting more familiar with it. Its a lovely thing to walk the streets and try to put yourself back in some way, as much as you can as I drive around in one of my two cars,” he laughed.

No doubt his intuition as an actor 38 | THE IRISH SCENE

FREEDOM

– and perhaps his Irish instincts – help give Tadhg a feeling for his Fenian persona.

“When I first put on the convict uniform – yellow and black with the arrows that symbolise property of the British crown – it felt very strange. I don’t think I was ready for it you know because in the wonderful life I lead you just don’t consider things and then I’m looking at a reflection, that’s got to have its own weight. I mean the uniform itself is heavy – can you imagine it in summer? – but also the symbolism of being the property of somebody your in complete opposition against.”

As the only Irish born member of the cast there’s “a lot of responsibility on his shoulders” I joke.

“That’s part of it,” he replied. “I’m taking it seriously, not that I wouldn’t for any other show, but there’s something about that aspect of it my involvement in it. I know its an Irish Australian American story but I’m trying to hold that side of it. There will be some Gaelic in it and I grew up speaking Irish, and I’m also a primary school teacher...so I try to use it when I can and I think its a lovely acknowledgment that some of them would have had Irish and would have used it as a code but also also to connect back to the soul. An Teanga the soul is in the language its lovely to be able to bring some fo that into this with some authenticity because there is always a danger when you try to shoehorn anything like that into something that its just done as a tokenistic thing but Theatre 180 do that really well with the stories they’ve done and they’re doing it with this one as well.”

Tadhg revealed there will also be singing and a particular song – that can’t yet be disclosed it seems – that should get a good reaction from the audience. Just as well then his talents extend to being able to belt out a rowdy rebel song or a soothing lullaby.

“I started when I was 19 as a singer and toured with Riverdance for a couple of years as a singer, not as a dancer,” he added.

“And then more recently coming to Australia I trained at the Institute of Dramatic Arts in Sydney and did a combination of film, TV and theatre across Shakespeare to Checkov to Beckett and some musical theatre as well. [Tadhg who also studied at Trinity College Dublin works with his wife Maree Cole and a talented group of performers on an improvised musical theatre show called Coded Comedy]. I do a whole range, whatever I can get my hands on, its keeps me interested.”

Tadhg’s vocal abilities were employed on another similar project in October 2020 as one of the musicians on ‘Songs of the last convict ship’ for ABC radio as part

of the History Listens series, funded by the Irish government’s Emigrant Support Progamme. The promotion for ‘Songs of the last convict ship’ said; “In January 1868, the last convict ship to Australia, The Hougoumont, sailed into Fremantle, Western Australia. On board were 62 Irish political prisoners – including JB O’Reilly and the six Fenians who later escaped on the Catalpa – who, the year before, had taken part in the Fenian rebellion. Over the course of the long sea journey the Irish prisoners published a newspaper, and held a series of music concerts. This is the story of that voyage told through extracts from two of the Irish prisoners’ diaries alongside the music they performed along the way.”

Tadhg made a small (and we think his first) appearance in the July/August 2022 edition of Irish Scene when he was introduced by the Irish Theatre Players as the director of Harold Pinter’s “The Dumb Waiter” a tense story about two hired assassins waiting for the call in the basement of a hotel.

As they say in Ireland he was ‘chomping at the bit’ to get stuck into it. “I’m excited to see the story,

Tadhg gives the Catalpa play the thumbs ups

I’ve got another four weeks until I start working on it full time and I can’t wait until we are all standing around in that rehearsal space and get our teeth into the script and see it blossom again. The story itself is so THE IRISH SCENE | 39

wild. I’d say every second or third person I meet doesn’t know it and I find it very hard to start telling it because I don’t know where to stop, or which bit do I pick up on, or as I’m telling one part of it another amazing part pops into my head. So if nothing else it will be a chance to delve into a story that everyone should know about. People who know it know it really well and then there’s everybody else.”

Now the full bottle on the Fenians saga Tadhg – like most of us who moved here from Ireland – used to be in the second camp.

“When I first arrived in Australia 14 years ago, one of my first jobs was at JB O’Reillys pub in West Leederville and I asked one of the bar staff I worked with if he – JB O’Reilly – was the owner?,” he laughed.

“So I only knew about it when I came to Australia but what a story it is, and

Catalpa Flight to Freedom will be something really special.”

A

s well as a cast and crew of dedicated professionals Theatre 180 uses immersive CinePlay technology to create the epic landscapes and special effects that help bring this epic story to the next level.

Staged at the WA Maritime Museum in Fremantle the show is scheduled to run from October 30 to November 9, and at time of going to press most tickets had already sold out.

While they have yet to be publicised Theatre 180 is expected to announce another season in 2026 as well an a regional tour. You can expect to read about those upcoming productions in Irish Scene or keep an eye on their social media channels for updates. *Just to remember our old and belated friend Brendan Woods who was a legendary tour guide at Fremantle Prison and who knew so much about the Fenians and their escapades. Glory O, Glory O, to the bold Fenian men!

2026 Rockingham Catalpa Festival Cancelled

A

lready several years in planning, a full re-enactment of the Fenian’s daring get-away on the Catalpa whale ship to coincide with the 150th anniversary of the occasion next year, has unfortunately after much hard work on their behalf been cancelled due to circumstances beyond the control of the team involved, which was headed by Laurie Smith. While that would have be a real highlight of the commemorative year much is still planned in Bunbury, Fremantle and

40 | THE IRISH SCENE

the all important Catalpa Ceremony at the Wild Geese Memorial Palm Beach on Easter Monday at 10.30am – all welcome. The great grandson of Catalpa captain George Anthony, Mr. Jim Ryan from America will be in W.A. for the occasion. The Fenians Fremantle and Freedom Festival Committee are also planning a bumper series of events in the lead up to and throughout the year ahead.

Keep an eye on their Facebook site and this magazine for further details.

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Why you won’t count as Irish on 24 October!

by Lloyd Gorman

T

here are now just two months left in the 14 year (two term) and exceptional presidency of Michael D Higgins. It is now eight years since the Michael D and Sabina Higgins state visit of Australia and New Zealand began in Perth in October 2017 with a remarkable few days of events and encounters with large numbers of people from the Irish community in Perth.

On 24 Octobert the next president of Ireland will be elected by the people of Ireland, but not by the Irish people!

the North to take part in presidential elections would win with a majority of voters in the Republic of Ireland. It is the political gumption to put the question to the voting public that is lacking in Dáil Éireann but a parliamentary decision on the other side of the border earlier this year might just have put the right amount of pressure on those in Leinster House to sort it out once and for all.

Belfast

The international Irish diaspora and even On May 6th the Northern Ireland Assembly Irish citizens in the North of Ireland will all (NIA) debated and voted through a motion be denied the right and opportunity to vote about ‘Voting Rights for the next head of for the Election of the state. The possibility President of Ireland’. of this happening has been discussed and The motion read: dangled in front of the “That this Assembly these two groups for notes that the decades but on the 1998 Belfast/Good eve of another election Friday Agreement we are still no closer recognises the birth to seeing the day. All right of all the people the evidence in the of Northern Ireland to drawn out history of identify themselves this issue strongly and be accepted as suggests a referendum Irish or British, or to change the both; recalls that, constitution to allow in November 2013, the Irish abroad and in the Fifth Report President Higgins unveils An Gorta Mór memorial in Subiaco

42 | THE IRISH SCENE

Northern Irelands assembly

of the Convention on the Constitution recommended to give citizens resident outside the State the right to vote in presidential elections; further notes that Irish citizens living in Northern Ireland can stand for, and be elected as, President of Ireland but cannot vote in presidential elections; and calls on the Irish government to implement the recommendation of the Convention on the Constitution with regards to voting rights in presidential elections, thereby extending the right to vote in elections for President of Ireland to all Irish citizens on the island of Ireland.”

In a rare occurrence the Assembly has put its counterpart across the border on direct notice that it needs to get its house in order on this issue. It is 27 years since the historic Good Friday Agreement came into being and twelve since the conclusive Convention on the Constitution but very little has happened and nothing has changed since then. A United Ireland might be something for the future but here is an All Ireland step Dáil Éireann had already agreed too and should now implement. As previous editions of Irish Scene this year explored, the current Irish government formed in January dropped an outstanding commitment to hold a referendum on voting rights from its Programme for Government for the next five years. In Europe, only Ireland, Malta and Cyprus (all small island states) do not offer their citizens the right to vote if they are abroad.

Dublin The challenge set by the NIA emerged in the Dáil on June 24. Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald introduced a private members motion to the Irish parliament along the same lines as the NIA motion, which she said was “a powerful democratic message”.

Her motion said the 34th amendment to the Constitution (Presidential Voting) Bill 2014, passed second stage in the Dáil on 11th March, 2014 and was still waiting for a hearing by the relevant committee.

Her motion also called on the government to: “implement the recommendations of the Fifth Report of the Convention on the Constitution, and to extend voting rights in Presidential elections to all Irish citizens on the island of Ireland” and “progress proposals that would extend the right to vote in Presidential elections to the diaspora”.

Armagh - winners of the All Ireland 2024

“It is a matter of some injustice and a violation of democracy that Irish citizens in the Six Counties and those living abroad are denied the right to vote for their Uachtarán (President),” Ms McDonald said. “Every seven years, when the presidential election rolls around, Irish citizens from the North and those living overseas are told by the political establishment that they are less Irish, forced to accept second-class status, alienated from the nation to which they belong. The Sam Maguire currently resides in Armagh, yet the players who proudly lifted that historic cup last July in Croke Park, and indeed the supporters who THE IRISH SCENE | 43

Kneecap in action

vote in the presidential election. How is that right? A person on the Falls Road wearing an Antrim jersey and with a hurley in hand is as Irish as a young man or girl in Cork wearing a Cork jersey and with a hurley in hand. By not enacting legislation to give every Irish citizen on this island a right to vote, the Government is playing politics and denying people their constitutional right to vote.

It is shocking.”

cheered them on, will not be permitted to vote in November. You can be a champion of all Ireland yet be prevented from voting for the President of Ireland. You can also be a candidate for the Office of President but if you reside in Derry, as did Martin McGuinness, you are not allowed a vote.

You can even win the election and become President of Ireland but because you are from Belfast, as was President Mary McAleese, you are barred from voting for yourself….I look forward to the day when partition is ended and Ireland is united, when all Irish citizens at home and abroad are afforded their full democratic rights.

Those barriers and the partitionist mindset that created them will not fall of their own accord. We must dismantle them piece by piece. The President of Ireland is a President for all the people of Ireland. November’s election must be the last presidential election that excludes citizens in the North and those living abroad, who so deeply love this country.”

McDonald’s motion provoked a lengthy discussion – the biggest on this issue in the chamber for some time – between the members (TDs) of various political parties.

“The three young men in Kneecap have championed our language, people and culture in a positive way on a global scale,” said Thomas Gould TD. “In November, however, they will not be able to

Neale Richmond, the junior minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade said the government welcomed the NIA motion and was “not opposing this motion”. The government recognised its commitments in the Good Friday Agreement and was supportive of the work of the Convention on the Constitution he said. But he had “a real fear” about this issue. “In order to achieve this, it does not really matter what any of us says in this Chamber this evening or what the vote is on a motion that is not being opposed by the Government. It will require constitutional change. What is as important as having the discussion is that we do not underestimate the challenge constitutional change brings...I fundamentally believe in expanding the presidential franchise to all Irish citizens, regardless of where they live on this island or around the world, but we have to win that debate. This is the challenge before us this evening. How do we win that debate? To be frank, we have had two referendums in the past 12 to 14 months that most people in this Chamber backed, and we got a fair kicking on them.”

In March 2024 67% of Irish voters said no to the family referendum while 74% rejected the care referendum. While the government, opposition parties and advocacy groups all came together to campaign for a ‘Yes Yes’ vote. The actual result was said to be “humiliating” for the Irish political system and the government, which now has no appetite for

Mary Lou McDonald at the famine memorial in Subiaco

44 | THE IRISH SCENE

another referendum. A lot like the Albanese government after its trashing at the polls for the Voice referendum.

“I want to win this debate,” he added. “I want to win this debate because it is the right thing to do. We absolutely can win it, but much like a question on unification it is not simply about naming the date. It is about formulating a campaign. It is about presenting a very clear question to the people that will show what happens if they vote for this. It will show how people will be facilitated to vote and how we will capture the citizens abroad.”

Perth

ins Emer Higgins, left, with President Higg

and his wife Sabina

Minister of State at the Department of Public Expenditure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation Emer Higgins said it had been “a really interesting discussion on this really important issue”. Ms Higgins visited Perth in March as part of her visit to Australia in March and was asked about this very issue by Irish Scene (Australian’s in Ireland have better deal than Irish in Australia, Irish Scene, May/June 2025).

“I saw at first hand the importance of a strong and thriving community when I visited Australia for St. Patrick’s Day this year,” she told the Dáil. “I was in Adelaide, Perth and Brisbane. We all know about the growing Irish communities in that part of the world. Many are successful and are cherishing the experiences of a new life and a new culture abroad. Others, as elsewhere in the world, have a much more challenging experience. In Australia, organisations like the Claddagh Association in Perth and the GAA are working tirelessly with those who find themselves in need of support abroad.

46 | THE IRISH SCENE

The Government, through the emigrant support programme, has invested in the likes of the Claddagh Association since 2009. As a result, we have organisations that work in partnership with our embassy to support our seniors and those who find themselves in crisis abroad”.

Extending the franchise for voting rights in presidential elections was possible but not straightforward she said. It would require careful though and preparation and a yes vote in a referendum.

“As the Minister of State, Deputy Richmond, said...the Government is not interested in holding a referendum just for the sake of a referendum,” she added. “We want to hold a referendum if we are in a position to win it. That is why debates like this are so crucial. I want to reassure the Dáil that the Government takes this matter very seriously and will continue to reflect on it, and it will work cross-party to look at this issue in a lot more detail.”

Sinn Fein’s Matt Carthy said the situation was “disappointing” and “disgraceful”.

“Once again, we are going to have a presidential election and, once again, a significant portion of our nation will be denied the opportunity to participate.

Almost 30 years after our first President from the North was elected, we still have the ridiculous situation where people from the Six Counties can run in the presidential election but they cannot actually vote.”

Mary Lou McDonald’s motion to the house was carried.

If this was a first next step on the road to a referendum there will need to be many more before the Irish in Northern Ireland and abroad get the right to vote. Lets really hope so this time, but we have been led down this garden path before.

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ustralia showed up as a prime number in the Central Statitsics Office (CSO) ‘Migration and Ireland’ report, published on August 11.

In fact the most striking trend was that Australia was the part of the world attracting the greatest percentage of Irish emigrants in recent times.

“During this period there was a strong outward flow of people going to Australia,” explained CSO statistician Eva Leahy, Statistician. “We estimated that around 10,600 people left Ireland to live in Australia in the 12 months to April 2024, up from 4,700 in 2023 (+126%). This was the highest level of emigration to Australia since 2013 (14,100). Additionally, 6,400 people moved to Ireland from Australia, which was down from 7,700 in 2023 (-17%)...On the other side of the coin, 69,000 people departed the State, or emigrated, in the 12 months to April 2024, which was the highest level of emigration since 2015. Interestingly, this consisted of almost 35,000 Irish citizens, 13,500 UK and EU27 citizens, and 21,500 other citizens - including Ukranians – who all left the country. Almost 150,000 people came to Ireland in the 12 months up to April 2024 – the highest number in 16 years.

So more Irish are coming out and fewer are returning ‘home’ to Ireland. That can only mean the already 100,000 strong population of Irish citizens in Australia will swell even more (We’re on the one road taking the one road’ to Australia, Irish Scene, May/ June 2025).

Global Irish T

he Irish abroad and those who have returned to Ireland were the target audience for the recent Global Irish Survey, which closed on August 31 after a three week consultaiton phase.

Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Simon Harris encouraged people in that category to complete the survey – the first of its kind – and to have their say in the government’s new diaspora strategy. The 48 | THE IRISH SCENE

previous strategy contained a commitment to hold a referendum to allow the diaspora a vote in presidential elections, a promise that was never delivered and shelved in the current programme for government, so it will be informative to see what happens to it in the new strategy.

“Everywhere I travel, I have the opportunity to meet Irish citizens and those with an affinity for our country,” said Mr Harris. “I

am always inspired by the contribution they have made to their new homeland as well as their willingness to work with me to strengthen ties with Ireland. In line with the commitment set out in the Programme for Government, work has commenced on a new Diaspora Strategy. Our priority is to ensure our relationship with the global Irish communities is a dynamic one that meets their needs and can also adapt to evolving circumstances.

Ireland and the world have changed significantly since the launch of the last diaspora strategy in 2020 so I really want to hear from as many voices as possible so we can deliver a programme that supports our modern and diverse global Irish family.

CO

Simon Harris sitting on the fence?

The first ever Global Irish Survey provides a platform for all our diaspora wherever they are, or even if they have recently returned home, to share their views on what is important for them and their community over the next five years.Your insights will help shape our new strategy.”

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THE IRISH SCENE | 51

‘Not a conventional landing’ remit he even gets to dabble in the world of space travel.

Hawker 850-XP

D

ublin born Stephen Dawson has had a lot to do with aviation in his job as a West Australian politican but as he discovered recently there is always the potential for surprise. Elected as the local member to represent the Mining and Pastoral Region in 2013 and as the minister for the Kimberley he relies on air travel to help canvass the vast electorate and connect back with Perth and parliament.

And when he was the minister for emergency services he had responsibility for the dozens of fixed wing aircraft, freighting tankers and helicopters that make up the state’s bushfire fighting fleet.

He also opened the new $10 million heliport at Royal Perth Hospital a couple of years ago. And with Science and Innovation also falling under his

52 | THE IRISH SCENE

You could say there is a fair amount of Fly-In Fly-Out attached to the job, especially when you are also the minister for regional development and ports. He was wearing that hat when he boarded the government jet – a Hawker 850-XP – in early August to get from Perth to Carnarvon. Mr Dawson, an assistant and the crew of the plane expected to touch down around 9am on Friday morning, August 8. They were close to their destination and circling above the ocean off Carnarvon when the pilot made a worrying announcement. The plane’s landing gear was not working properly and they needed to divert to Geraldton – some 500km away – to make an emergency landing at its airport which has a wider and longer airstrip.

“Suddenly it went up in the air again and got me wondering what was going on,” he told ABC Radio Perth.

“They moved us into different seats on the plane, sat us backwards and had us ready in a brace position for landing.

While it was scary, I certainly felt comfortable being in the hands of the pilots that we had.

The gear came down, suddenly there was a problem with it not being straight, so they were

Stephen Dawson with a piece of space junk that fell near Geraldton now at Scitech

fearful it would veer off to the side of the runway so they went in as low and slow as they could land safely. But it wasn’t until I had a text from my mother-in-law saying she had said a prayer for me, and I looked out the window and there was 10 emergency services vehicles out there, that I thought ‘this is serious!,” he added. “I’m very grateful to the pilots and emergency services personnel who were on standby.

I’m feeling very lucky today, I’m off to buy a lotto ticket this afternoon.”

Paul Papalia, who took over from Stephen as Emergency Services Minister was asked about the incident on ABC. “It sounds like it was pretty dramatic,” he said. “It’s a frightening event no doubt, so it’s good to know they’re all alright. I imagine there’s been some damage to the aircraft, because it was not a conventional landing.”

“In the Nullabor the stars went from horizon to horizon. Closest thing to rowing the Atlantic” She Came She Saw She Conquered Australia.

At the start of August, about a week after she reached the east coast of Australia some 2 months after she set off from Fremantle, Galway woman and inspirational adventurer Karen Weekes offered this gripping reflection on the good and not so good elements of her epic journey (SheCanDoOz).

“Hard to believe it was a week ago since I cycled up to the Sydney Opera House,” she wrote on August 2. “Always amazes me how our mental strength can push our body’s physical ability. As with so many of these long distance journeys my body crashed once I had finished. My body felt totally wrecked. Loads of sleep, good food, socialising and a couple of cool beers is working on helping recovery. The journey brought so many new experiences. The vast remote terrain and endless roads were like nothing I have experienced before. The long flat roads were sometimes challenging as you had to continuously pedal for every mile with minimal or no freewheeling. Also the horizon looked like an incoming downhill which never came on those sections. The sounds throughout the entire trip were class. Especially variable birdsong. The colours of the birds were so cool. Bright orange, reds, greens etc. some with the weirdest shaped beak and squawks. Saw so many kangaroos and emus. One night I heard the gentle ‘boing boing’ of a roo

outside my tent. It wasn’t scary he was just going about his business. Another night I was camping beside Graham (an English cyclist) and in between our tents a dingo was ripping apart his kill. We could hear him as he chomped and then momentarily choked on a bone, coughed it up and continued his devouring. I saw some wild dogs who went up on their hind legs to watch me cycling past. Was relieved they didn’t follow me. Saw some wild pig, foxes, sheep, cattle and in sections saw so much road kill. During the Nullabour I passed a dead camel. That must have been some collision. So sad to pass all the dead animals.

People were lovely, especially in the country areas. The coastline sections were dramatic and mind blowingly beautiful. Azure seas and sheer cliffs. Always amazed me to think next stop was Antarctica. Night cycling in Karen Weekes

THE IRISH SCENE | 53

Oz is not advised by so many people due to road trains and rambling wildlife. I had to do it on a couple of occasions and must say it didn’t feel one bit comfortable. Eyes shining from your head torch (probably kangaroos etc), birds flying close by and zippy road trains in places. I kept night biking to a minimum. Night skies were so beautiful. Massive skies of stars. In the Nullabor they went from horizon to horizon. Closest thing to rowing the Atlantic. You just didn’t get the reflections. So many more stories but as I type this in the Olympic Aquatics centre in Sydney while watching high board diving practise, I am heading across the road now to the Accor centre for the final Lions game!

Thanks to a former student of mine from MTU Health and Leisure Cathal O’Reilly for sourcing a ticket for me! Thanks for following the journey. And as always thanks

so so much to Hanley Energy for all their support.

You can see all the videos etc on my business website KARENWEEKES. COM. Also if you interested in learning about coping mentally and physically in sport, work and life keep an eye out for my upcoming book which will be out in the next couple of months. As always, nothing is impossible.

If you want to do something, put a plan in place, research the challenges and requirements etc and then give it a lash!

Why not? Give your life its best version possible.”

Karen at the Sydney Opera House

Congratulations Karen and well done on another triumph from everyone on this side of the country.

AIHA FILM CLUB SEASON concludes Wednesday March 7, 7.45pm

Featuring “Your Ugly Too” with a supporting Irish documentary, together with tea/coffee, homemade cakes, Irish ENCOURAGING AND PROMOTING ANCLUB AWARENESS OF AUSTRALIA’S IRISH HERITAGE THE FOURTH TUESDAY BOOK wheaten bread and jams.

Ice creams $3.

At Kensington (South Perth).

Donation $15 to cover catering and costs.

THE FOURTH TUESDAY BOOK CLUB Sep 23, ‘Cactus Pear for my Beloved’ by Samah Sabawi, presented by Meets fourth Tuesday of the month, with exception of December. At 7.30pm THEMay FOURTH TUESDAY BOOK CLUB March 26 and April 23, 7.30pm, Irish Club Committee Room, 61 24 ‘Phosphorescence’ by Julia Baird, to be presented by Trish Dooey Thelma Blackford. October 28, ‘Power vs Force’ by David R Hawkins, presented by Mary Rose Cullinane. All welcome. Light June 28 TBA to be presented by Cecilia Bray Townshend Road,provided.

Subiaco.

All welcome.

Light refreshments provided.

Convener Mary Purcell, m.purcell@telstra.co refreshments Convener Mary Purcell, Check for venue address.

Venue Irish Club Committee Room, 61 m.purcell@telstra.com Townshend Road, Subiaco Admission Free.

All welcome.Saturday Light refreshments provided.

Tea and coffee from theIrish Bar $2 SAINT PATRICKS FESTIVAL 16thpresentation March, Leederville Parade and Festival, 10am. ourby vintage THE GHOST CHRONICLES a Halloween with illustrated talk on real ghost stories by Jim EganJoin followed Contact Convener Mary Purcell, m.purcell@telstra.com car float inPrize the parade and our presentation the Brendan Awards 2022 2023 at the concert inbarmbrack. the early Q&A. for Halloween costume/mask.

Irish of supper with home-baked cakes and and breads incl traditional buttered afternoon.

This30prestigious recognises individuals or 1/8 groups a record of dedicated Thursday October, 7pm,award Claddagh Association premises, Unit Dewarwith St, Morley.

Ample parking. $20service membersand $25 outstandin nonBLOOMSDAY - James Joyce Literary Competition presentations achievement one more aspects of Australia's Irish heritage. Meanwhile we invite nominations for 2024. members,inpay at or door.

Sundayor24 March, Irish Club Committee Thereachievement will be special ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING Brendan Award recognises individuals groups with 3pm, a record of dedicated service androom. outstanding in onemotio for LifeorMembership nominations.

Please consider joining as a committee member, volunteer or an event coordinato more aspects of Australia’s Irish heritage. Past recipients since inauguration in 1997 are on our website. Nominations for CATALPA COMMEMORATION ROCKINGHAM Annual commemoration of the escape of six Fenian convicts o 2025 are now invited https://irishheritage.com.au/awards/the-brendan-award/ 17-18THE April, 1876. WithQuarterly oration, verse, music dramaArticles and song at the Catalpa Memorial, Rockingham Beach, Easter for members. celebrating Heritage inevent Australia.

To markJOURNAL the 100th anniversary magazine of the publication of Ulysses, the AIHA will the holdIrish a celebratory on Editor Teresa O’Brien.

Monday, 1 April, 11am to 12 noon.

Free public event.

Guest speakers and dignitaries including Mayor Deb Hamblin th world-wide as Bloomsday, after Leopold Bloom in Ulysses. At the event, the June 16 , officiallytoknown Correspondence journal@irishheritage.com.au shortlisted entries Federal from our competition will be staged asState readings, drama,Stephen music andDawson; visual presentations and city councilors; Minister Madeline King; Minister Somer Bessire-Briers from US Committee Heather Deighan, Chairperson; Tony Bray, Secretary; Bratton, & Membership; Teresa O’Brien, by solo or groups.

The overall winner will be chosen by popular vote Patricia on the night andTreasurer will receive a cash Consulate; actor Michael Sheehy; musician Ormonde Og Waters; and more.

Coordinated

by David McKnight. prize.

Editor of Journal and social media; Gayle Lannon, Michael Lawlor and Peter Conole, committee. Supported by a tier of We thank adjudicators and Frances Devlin-Glass ANZAC DAYourThursday 25Frank April,Murphy 8am. AIHA at invitation of Subiaco RSL lay wreaths for Irish ANZACS at Fallen volunteers. Please talk to us if you are interested in being involved in some way!

Soldiers on the of Rokeby and Hamersley roads. Morning tea follows. Subject to confirmation DateWar Memorial Thursday Junecorner 16 at 7.30pm Venue Irish Club Townshend Road, Subiaco (to be confirmed) MEMBERSHIP 1 Theatre, January to 31 December, 2024 MEMBERSHIP 1AIHA January to 3161December, 2024 Admission members $20, Non-members $25, includes light refreshments

Family membership $65; Concession (Centrelink and unwaged students withID) ID) $55 $55 Family membership Concession and unwaged students Prizes Best$65; Edwardian dressed(Centrelink male or female.

Plus special Irish raffle with https://www.trybooking.com/BZAVU Bookings Distant Perth) $45; Membership includes deductibledonation donationofof$20 $20 Distant (200(200 kmskms fromfrom Perth) $45; Membership feefee includes taxtax deductible Online – https://irishheritage.com.au/membership/registration/ Pay Pay Online – https://irishheritage.com.au/membership/registration/ AIHA Website Or Bank Transfer: Bank: Commonwealth, 066-192 Account No: 1054 Or Bank Transfer: Bank: Commonwealth, BSB: BSB: 066-192 Account No: 1054 65026502 Check our website https://irishheritage.com.au/news-blog/ for a selection of exclusive interviews conducted AIHA has approved charity taxother deductable status.Ifwww.irishheritage.com.au AIHA approved charity andand tax Status by has committee member Gill Kenny anddeductable articlesstatus. of note.Deductable you click onGift the Recipient interview with Aine Tyrrell 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 |onTHE our website soon as available.

54 IRISHasSCENE We thank Gill and Patricia Bratton for this new member feature.

A

n act of kindness nearly 180 years ago has become a gift for the ages.

A delegation representing the Yee Ha’ólníi Doo (the Navajo & Hopi Families COVID-19 Relief Fund) visited Leinster House in Dublin on in July with a very special present – a handwoven Diné rug, created by a Navajo artist as a gift from the Navajo Nation to the people of Ireland as a symbol of gratitude and friendship.

“It’s a great honour to accept this wonderful piece of art on behalf of the Houses of the Oireachtas and the Irish people,” said Verona Murphy, Ceann Comhairle of Dáil Éireann. “It’s a tangible reminder that empathy with another’s plight can cross a vast ocean and that even small acts of kindness can make a lasting impact.”

Yee Ha’ólníi Doo Interim Executive Director Mary Francis said the delegation – who were in Ireland to attend the World Peace Gathering – had great joy in delivering the rug. “This exchange highlights how historical compassion and love for fellow humankind can transcend time and borders,” she said. “The

solidarity and compassion extended to the Navajo and Hopi nations, inspired by the historic gift of the Choctaw Nation to Ireland during the Great Famine, has left an indelible mark on our communities.”

by Lloyd Gorman

In 1847, just 16 years after their forced removal along the Trail of Tears, the Choctaw Nation raised and sent $170 to support Irish communities suffering during the Great Famine. That spirit of empathy was reignited in 2020 when Ethel Branch launched a GoFundMe campaign to protect Navajo and Hopi families during the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to Yee Ha’ólníi Doo, the Navajo & Hopi Families COVID-19 Relief Fund became one of the top GoFundMe fundraisers of 2020, raising $18 million. Hundreds of Irish donors contributed, many saying they were giving in remembrance of Native American aid to Ireland during the Great Famine. While they were in Ireland for the World Peace Gathering the Navajo delegation collected water from the Atlantic Ocean to use as a prayer offering for the fires in Arizona.

“May these waters carry strength, healing, and hope to the lands scorched by the Oak Ridge and North Rim fires,” Francis added.

Ireland: A rich tapestry At pretty much the same time that the Navajo and Hopi rug was being presented to the Oireachtas members of the Carnew Community Centre in Co. Wicklow revealed another unique hand made artefact – a knitted map of Ireland measuring 5 metres by 4 metres. It took 18 grannies knitting thousands of hours over four years of knitting and crocheting to create the piece of crafty cartography. All 32 counties and islands are represented with many of Ireland’s iconic landmarks – Glendalough Round Tower,

Dublin’s Guinness Storehouse, Wexford Lighthouse, Belfast Titanic’s Shipyard, Giants Causeway, Croagh Patrick and Blarney Castle – lovingly remade in miniature from yarns of wool. Amazing work ladies.

THE IRISH SCENE | 55

B U L C H S I R I T THE MIDWES

Greeting from

by Simon Miller

Gero was in fine form for Fleadh Cheoil

W

e hope everyone enjoyed the Fleadh Cheoil Festivities around the Irish Scene, the Midwest Irish Club sure did.

The club had another successful Fleadh Cheoil Festival, the second year running, but it was bigger and better than the previous year thanks to numerous local sponsors and grants the club received to fund the event.

Kicking off on the Friday evening, the club was entertained

by Solitary Sounds duo who played us their Irish repertoire and set the mood for the weekend’s activities. The club was a sea of green thanks to EVH Events for decorating the club with ballons which added to atmosphere of the club.

The club opened its doors from Midday on the Saturday with an Open Mic event that attracted a wide variety of talents who got to put themselves on display to the members of the club.

Moving into the Afternoon, local talent Johhny David played his array of Irish songs before we moved into our headline act, The Healys, with Gav and Al Healy entertaining us throughout the evening. It was the Healys inaugural gig at the Midwest Irish club and they did not disappoint. With the club near at capacity and the dance floor full early into the first set, not even a 20-minute power outage could stop them. For those of you readers who haven’t seen the Healys, do yourself a favour and find them in Perth as they are regulars at some of the local Irish pubs.

Moving into Sunday, the final day of the festival, the club was again entertained by Johhny David and Geoff Udy and the clubs’ members didn’t disappoint by attending yet again and filling the club. It was a great way to end the weekend with two of our local musical talents which saw the festival come to a successful end.

In order for the club to host events such as the Fleadh Cheoil Festival, it takes a mountain of work from the clubs committee and assistance from volunteer members to run the bar, decorate and clean up post events. The clubs would also like to thank its members and the community of Geraldton for coming out and supporting this event, without you all, these events would not be a success.

The club is now working towards its Annual General Meeting, scheduled for September, where there will be a leadership change. Current President, Adam Wilson, will be standing down from this role and the committee but will still remain part of the bar roster and support the club as a general member. Adam has been part of the committee for the past 5 years and the club would like to thank him for his services. We look forward to advising you of the new Midwest Irish Club executive committee in the next edition of the Irish Scene.

SPICE BAG $20

(mix of fried chicken, chips, onions, and capcicum, all tossed in a spicy seasoning and served with curry sauce)

SPICE BOX $35

DIET, DRUGS AND DOPAMINE

by DAVID A. KESSLER / TEXT PUBLISHING $36.99 According to 2022 Australian Institute of Health and Welfare figures, 66% of Australians over the age of 18 years were overweight or obese, with Australia ranking 10th out of 21 OECD countries on the overweight/ obesity scale. As a nation we continue to struggle with obesity and its related health conditions, including high blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes and more. Australia is in the midst of a health care crisis. The visceral fat (Kessler calls it ‘toxic fat’) we carry around in our internal organs is the main problem, and it doesn’t seem to matter what diet we adopt; overweight and obesity appear to return. Doctors, dietitians and friends tell us that being overweight is our fault, but Kessler, a former US Food and Drug Administration commissioner, who has himself struggled with obesity, declares that it is just not a disease of the body, but one of the mind.

In this well researched and empowering book, Kessler explains how processed food has the potential to alter our brain chemistry, creating an addiction by driving us to eat more, and more frequently. The author explores the effects of the latest appetite suppressing drugs such as Ozempic and Mounjaro, and challenges the conventional wisdom whether or not medicating our weight is the real answer to the dilemma.

Moreover, these new drugs, according to Kessler, have the potential to create additional health problems, while there is still not enough accrued scientific data to vouch for their long-term efficacy or safety. The pharmaceutical industry

58 | THE IRISH SCENE

has, in the author’s opinion, positioned these new medicaments as ‘forever drugs’, to be taken until ‘death us do part’. Kessler considers such treatments as only one tool to manage weight (maybe the least preferred selection), as he also outlines alternate options to weight control, while offering a fresh perspective on obesity as both a brain and body disorder. Kessler’s thesis isn’t presenting anything stunningly new, he is simply drawing together insights from diverse fields of medical research, pointing out why obesity is so prevalent and difficult to treat. In some ways the book is a lexically dense read, and largely America focused, however, the narrative is alleviated by Kessler’s flowing narrative style as he weaves together recent extensive research and his own personal obesity tussle.

IN THE NAME OF THE SISTER

by GAIL JONES / TEXT PUBLISHING $34.99 In the Australian outback near Broken Hill, an injured, malnourished, delirious young woman staggers on to a remote road and is nearly run down by local miner, Terry, who calls the police and ambulance.

The woman is unable to speak and has no identification, so the authorities label her ‘Jane Doe’ as they investigate who she is, her background and circumstance.

She must be someone’s daughter, fiancée, wife, sister or friend. Following extensive publicity and photographs of the young woman, numerous people come forward with claims of identification. Detective Inspector Bev Calder is assigned to follow up these assertions and to establish just who ‘Jane Doe’ is, and why she was wandering about on a desert road. Freelance journalist Angie, is

Book Reviews

by John Hagan

at a loose end (‘between jobs’) and becomes fascinated with the incident (‘is there a story in it?’), so she phones her childhood chum, Bev Calder, to see if she can assist by digging deeper into the mystery. Against her better judgement, Bev gives Angie information about those who claim to know the hapless woman, setting in train a myriad of revealing interviews for Angie. Patiently, Angie meets with informants who variously claim that ‘Jane Doe’ is, amongst other things, their former teacher, lover, neighbour, as Angie’s journalistic portfolio begins to grow and she starts to form a picture of what Jane Doe might be like and who she may be. Set between the confines of urban Sydney and the Mars-red, inhospitable landscape around Broken Hill, this literary thriller questions the concepts of identity, memory, truth, fact and fiction, as both Bev and Angie pursue their diverse goals. In her smart, lyrical, elegant prose, Jones weaves a tale that is both confronting and unsettling. This is a great follow up to Jones’ The Death of Noah Glass, which won the Prime Minister’s Literary Award in 2019.

THE LAST DAYS OF ZANE GREY

by VICKI HASTRICH / ALLEN & UNWIN $34.99 During my childhood days, on cold, wet, Sunday afternoons, I can remember my father sitting by the fire, opening a packet of Wills Passing Cloud cigarettes and snuggling down with a Zane Grey book while I played with my Dinky cars. Yes, Zane Grey was his favourite author, but he was by no means the only devoted fan.

Grey wrote over 90 books (mainly westerns), sold millions of copies, which spawned 112 movies, and is widely acknowledged as being the world’s first millionaire author. A former professional baseball player and New York dentist, Grey (or ‘Zee Gee’ as he was known) invented the genre of novels which went on to shape the American psyche. As well as being a prolific author, Grey’s passion was game

fishing. He held a number of world records including that for the biggest fish ever caught on a rod and line – a 471kg striped marlin.

While outwardly rich and successful, behind the scenes the Grey Corporation was in financial trouble. As a result of this, in an attempt to bolster his diminishing wealth, Grey made two trips to Australia in 1935 and again in 1939.

The hullabaloo caused by his Sydney arrival in 1935 mirrored that afforded the Beatles, as Grey, plus his sizeable retinue, settled, and fished, at Bermagui (NSW) before departing to tackle the great white shark at Port Lincoln, an undertaking which plunged him into the fight of his life. But, as well as big-game fish, ‘Zee Gee’ had other things on his mind, including meeting his secret lover, Australian journalist, Lola Gornall, filming his fishing exploits for release in the cinemas and making the first ever ‘Jaws’ movie at Queensland’s Hayman Island. The latter two escapades, Grey reckoned, would boost his shrinking bank balance. Author, Vicki Hastrich has uncovered a tale of obsession, money and high adventure, befitting the plot of any of Grey’s rip-roaring novels. Until now, Grey’s exploits in Australia have been little known. With her painstaking research Hastrich has deciphered Grey’s love letters to Lola (they always wrote in code) which are included in this fascinating biography of a great adventurer, film maker and prolific author. The book contains many photographs of the book’s primary characters, before ending with the chapter ‘Whatever Happened To….’, which updates the reader as to the fate of the principal individuals who grace this energetic, absorbing and revealing narrative.

THE IRISH SCENE | 59

Paula from Tasmania

BY PAULA XIBERRAS

Tenors Travel to Tasmania

BY PAULA XIBERRAS

It may seem unlikely that an Irishman at the opposite end of the world knows much about Tasmania, perhaps the Warner Brothers Tassie Devil cartoon? Many people know that one.

When I get on to Zoom to chat to Raymond Walsh, the producer and a musician in the Shamrock Tenors group I find I have underestimated this Irishman. There are of course many Irish songs that feature a Tasmanian theme, usually about transportation and so Raymond lists to me ‘the songs of a generation’ as he calls them.

There is of course ‘The Fields of Athenry’, ‘Van Dieman’s Land’ and many others.

Other Irish songs canvassed by the five-part harmony group include’ Whiskey in the Jar’, ‘The Parting Glass’ and ‘The Wild Rover’, ‘Danny Boy’, The Wild Rover’ and ‘Whisky in the Jar’, although Raymond politely admits it might be a challenge to top The Wiggles version of the latter.

We are talking today of transportation in a different context of course, The Shamrock Tenors are on their way to perform for the first time in Tasmania. It isn’t their first

time in Australia. In 2020 the guys were in Darwin and their ship was locked down floating on the ocean for ten days.

Like many of the Irish, music was part of his life from an early age with his family providing the introduction. Even so, Raymond pursued a career in marketing and advertising, which in hindsight was a pretty good move for someone who would later find and manage a band like The Shamrock Tenors Raymond was lauded by his acting coaches at school as a creative person, so he was on to a stint in a London theatre musical at twenty-one and musical plays. Observing the talent in the UK Raymond thought about the equally skilled folk in Northern Ireland and in 2018 entertained the idea of creating a group.

It also had a deeper motive, it seemed a way to unify both Catholic and Protestant, something that might not have happened thirty years ago. Raymond says, now Belfast is a safe and welcoming city. Speaking of friendship and family, The Shamrock Tenors is in its construction a tribute to family with Raymond joined in the group by his brother Jack. Matthew is the veritable orchestra of the group being able to play multiple

Princess Royal Theatre Albany, WA October 4, 2025 Regional Entertainment Centre Bunbury, WA October 5, 2025 Convention Centre – Riverside Perth, WA October 6, 2025 60 | THE IRISH SCENE

instruments, believe it or not, fifteen and counting!

The guys have quickly gained fame around the world, with their first Northern Irish national tour in 2024 with sold out shows, starting with the Grand Opera House in Belfast and going full circle to a return performance there. They have entertained in Trafalgar Square and St Patrick’s day 2024 saw them as part of the BBC St Patrick’s Day coverage, including a concert on BBC2 and BBC4.

In a short time, the Shamrocks, have taken their music to the Amazon rainforests, shared Elvis Presley’s dressing room, celebrated a St Patricks day on the USA Today show on fifth Avenue for a million people. Where next will they celebrate St Patrick’s Day. Raymond suggests Chicago, Africa, Tokyo or maybe New Zealand as the latter was upset, they weren’t included in this tour.

You can see The Shamrock Tenors at the following dates and venues.

Not Homeward but Australia Bound

BY PAULA XIBERRAS

I recently spoke to two talented gentleman, Israel Bloodgood, a Shakespearean actor, dancer, musician, songwriter and theatre teacher, now working as an actor in the UK and Luke Hogan, possessing a degree in musical theatre who has played many roles, including an Osmond brother.

Both gentlemen bring their considerable skills and experience to the story of two of the world’s most loved folk singer, songwriters, Simon and Garfunkel in ‘The Simon and Garfunkel Story.’

I asked Bloodgood and

Hogan how they arrived at these roles, and they explained it was through audition last autumn, a process of singing songs individually and then pairing up those singers that blended, as in Bloodgood and Hogans case. While both are now firm fans of Simon and Garfunkel, Bloodgood says when he was quite young his parents were fans and so provided an introduction to the music.

Neither Bloodgood or Hogan has previously been to Tasmania or Australia and Bloodgood tells me his interest is ‘the beaches’ while for Hogan it is to experience ‘the wildlife’.

The show is not an attempt of a complete impression of Simon and Garfunkel but instead an emulation of their vocal qualities, to replicate the singer’s nuances. Bloodgood and Hogan have studied videos to perfect and imitate the idiosyncrasies of Simon and Garfunkel, to capture their essence. The presentation will be backed up with screens and a biographical journey into the music of Simon and Garfunkel’s best-known songs, such as ‘The Sound of Silence’ and ‘Bridge over Troubled Waters’ and both performers are ‘gratified’ to bring memories of this music to audiences.

‘The Simon and Garfunkel Story’ was performed at His Majesty’s Theatre, Perth in August.

THE IRISH SCENE | 61

‘Always give what you can when you can’

BY MARTIN HOWLEY

A

special thank you to Irish Scene for a write up in the last edition about my book ‘You Can Make It Happen’.

Over the years I’ve been urged to write my story – having survived so much in my life – because it could inspire others.

As a suicide survivor who has turned his life around to now become a life coach – outside my work – it is very sad to hear we are losing so many today to suicide, over ten a day in Australia; including a construction worker every second day and one farmer every ten days. This is not a nice thing to hear but it must be known to all, so in my opinion people can be aware and help in anyway they can.

Communication is the key to losing more loved ones. As caring loved ones to family and friends we must all consciously step up in terms of keeping in touch with each other more often than before. Communicate regularly and consistently to anyone you may think may need your companionship in a time of need or struggle. The last thing you want to hear is they’re not there anymore cause you didn’t have to time to give a little.

With the ‘Law of Attraction’ what you give out comes back to you, so long as you don’t expect it.

The ‘Law of Circulation’ states that all things in the universe are always flowing in circulation but at an ever expanding rate. Have no expectations or control over how it comes back to you. It is also known as the ‘Law of Giving and Receiving’. You can only give to the degree that you are consciously aware of what you are giving and you can only receive to the degree that you are consciously aware that you are giving also. We live in an emotional and imbalanced environment, if we perceive we have given more than what we have received or more than we have given. The point is to always give what you can when you can! be that your time or whatever money you can for people in need. Remember your three Es; Empathy, Energy and Enthusiasm and putting

62 | THE IRISH SCENE

a smile on the other person you want to make a difference too.

Remember to follow up with the three Ps, to follow up on them, be patient and to be passionate and persistent, knowing you’re their inspiration.

My mindset has shaped everything I do, everything I create and every result I get. My outcomes are my thinking. There is no greater influence on what will happen to me and through me than how I think. My world is my reflection of how things should be. My world is created by me. How I see you, is how I see me.

How I see my business, is what I can conceive as possible. What I learn is the full capacity of my thinking. Who I help will only ever be who I believe I can help. Remember the world is not how it is, the world is who I am and how I can make a difference.

Becoming a winner.

The winner is always part of the solution, The winner always has a plan, The winner always says, I can do it, The winner always sees the glass half full, The winner says it maybe difficult but it is possible.

Became a winner.

Never Give up for there is hope and there is opportunity in every little effort and step you take.

Deep within you lies an eternal source of hope and courage that will pull you through.

Give your love and your heart top those who come into your life and they will inspire you and give you reason to live. I hope and pray this has been of help to anyone, please take the time to check out my videos and share them with anyone they may helps (martinhowley.org). Thank you and until next time.

Martin.

HURLING & CAMOGIE CHAMPIONSHIP

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

A C C O U N TA N T S & TAX A G E N T S SERVICES INCLUDE: • Income Tax Returns • Business & Instalment Activity Statements • Preparation & lodgement of objections to ATO assessments • GST and ABN registrations • Company Secretarial services • Bookkeeping

Myles Gordon LLB, FIPA

987 Wellington Street, West Perth WA 6005 Correspondence to: PO Box 480, West Perth WA 6872 E: djgordon@djgordon.net.au T: 08 9321 2266

THE IRISH SCENE | 63

Phone 08 9401 1900

info@mckeefunerals.com.au • mckeefunerals.com.au

Helping Your family

64 | THE IRISH SCENE

Trading Places

The Pipeline Technics team moved into their new HQ in Forrestfield in June and threw one hell of a house warming party with a Wild West theme.

THE IRISH SCENE | 65

Belfast.......

T

he rugby hype is over. The Lions were the victors. The good editor of this great little mag wrote about it in the last edition.

I met him in the Camfield Bar before the game against the Western Force as he was taking photos of Irish fans out to support the team. I thought he was going to invite me to a comfortable corporate box with food and drinks provided. Not to be. ‘No,’ he began in answer to my question about rugby, ‘I never played the game and in fact I know little about it. I only bought my ticket half an hour ago.’

That swiftly ended that conversation.

There were no players on the Lions team from Ulster this time around, so what was I going to write about? I scrolled through my usual you tube sights when three appeared concerning Belfast. One was an American traveller telling us what we should know before travelling to Belfast. I was surprised to see myself agreeing with every tip he brought up. So, what were these great tips?

1.

What to call the place? The North, Ulster, the six Counties? No just Northern Ireland.

Agreed.

2.

Do not ask about your great, great, grandfather’s uncle. The locals are not interested in such ancestry. It is not their

66 | THE IRISH SCENE

thing. A lot of us never even met our grandparents!

3.

Do not forget that you must drive on the left but look right first when crossing the street. Seems sensible.

4.

As a tourist, it would be provident not to visit during the marching season!

Probably wise but missing out on an unusual spectacle.

5.

The locals are more than friendly but try to avoid conversations concerning religion and politics. Agreed. You can always talk about George Best.

6.

Make sure you understand the currency (pounds sterling) and distances (miles).

Yeah, I remember those.

7.

Economically it is cheaper (lots cheaper) to fly into Dublin and proceed to N. Ireland from there, rather than fly into George Best International airport in Belfast. Seems entirely sensible.

8.

Show respect for all the murals that have been painted. Agreed.

The other two (promotional videos) concerned what to see when one arrived in Ulster or should I say Northern Ireland. I found them most exciting and informative. Had I really lived there for nearly twenty years and missed so much? Jealousy kicked in here.

Either Belfast had improved (it has), or I had missed out (I did). Neither emotion was very satisfying nor encouraging.

I watched all three video promotions, although not at the same time. How different it all was to the Belfast I lived in during most of my youth. Admittedly in a boarding school and then just across the road at the local university. Not much diversity here you

LES ULSTER RAMB

would have to agree but, in those days, one was forced to apply at the nearest university.

The UCA scheme was to be developed a few years later which encouraged students to apply for universities away from their home environment. Keele University was one such establishment which supported students in studying a range of subjects in their first year before deciding on which course to follow. I certainly would not have chosen chemistry which I was forced to do at “Queens”.

So, what are the main differences of Belfast in the seventies and Belfast in modern times. I suppose one could generalise and say, ‘the people.’ Folks in the seventies had to be careful. In one area I could be quite happy with William and in another close by area I would be happier as Liam. Same with colours especially Orange, Red, Green, White and Blue. It seems to be a much busier, brighter, and bustling place.

I must have walked past the St. George Markets dozens of times, yet I never entered.

This market was one of the top ten places to visit on the travel guide I mentioned earlier.

Another top ten place was the City Hall. I never once thought of going there as a boy. I didn’t even know it was open! It probably was not, I mention pessimistically.

Another top ten attraction was the Crumlin Road Gaol. I can honestly say I was never near the place and had no real desire to go there.

Apparently, nowadays, it is a real attraction and has thousands of inmates, (sorry) tourists attending every day. I have written about this in the past, so I will leave it to you if you want to further explore this item.

Along with this tour, many tourists combined it with the black taxi cabs. O.K. I confess I was never brave enough to get into one of these in the seventies. There were quite a few stories about them and perhaps some of the stories were true. These days they do a tour of the Shankill and Falls Roads. These were parts of the city a sensible person (and me) did not visit at night and went there by day only when absolutely necessary. The murals and peace wall are magnificent. The taxi drivers act as tour guides and give a general history of the area in the seventies, eighties and nineties.

I must confess that for some (unknown) reason, I never visited Belfast Castle.

Nowadays, it is very popular with a ramble up the Cave Hill. Again, there were various stories about this area. Most likely exaggerated but in the seventies, most of us were more than cautious. For good reason I might add.

The promotional videos highlighted lots more attractions including the recent Belfast TradFest, but I will leave them for the next edition of this top little mag.

I hope you might visit Belfast in the foreseeable future, and as always may your God go with you when you go.

David MacConnell

THE IRISH SCENE | 67

AN ALL IRELAND TO REMEMBER

T

here were always going to be winners and losers when Kerry clashed with Donegal at Croke Park on July 27 for the 2025 All Ireland Senior Football Championships.

Donegal supporters will have lamented Kerry’s 1-26 to 0-19 victory but there was at least one little chappie who had good reason to happy no matter who lifted the Sam Maguire cup.

With dad Ryan Kelliher from Castlegregory, Co. Kerry and mum Teresa Doherty from Buncrana, Co. Donegal there was always going to be great interest – and rivalry – in the game. But throw in the fact the Kelliher clan decided to travel home to soak up the atmosphere of the All Ireland and that it was the first time ‘home’ for baby PJ to be christened and you have the makings of a magic and memorable holiday.

Ryan and Teresa moved to Perth in 2009 and their little bundle of joy arrived about eight months ago. PJ had the perfect top to wear for the event, a double county jersey sent to Perth from Ireland as a gift when he was only one week old. ““Our wee boy is only seven months and he is stuck in the middle of it but luckily I have him here in Donegal with me so at the minute, he is pro Donegal,” Teresa told the Irish Independent for a piece published on July 26th. “I sent a lovely photo of him wearing his Donegal jersey to his aunties in Kerry and they are looking to bring him back down but he will be staying in Donegal for the match. It is special having him here, especially it being his time in Ireland. He is in the thick of it and he will be probably be kicking a football before he can walk if his daddy has anything to do with it.”.

On the eve of the game she said that if Donegal won she would be straight down the road to Kerry the next day but that if Kerry won her family in The Kingdom wouldn’t see her for quite some time.

“The slagging and the craic has been serious,” she added.“If we win, I will be straight down the road beeping the horn through the streets.”

She told the paper the GAA has taken over Perth and in 2012 she queued for two hours before getting into an Irish bar for the All Ireland Final that year. They were hoping to get their hands on tickets for Croker but if that didn’t happen the plan was to watch it in Donegal with family. “Nothing beats being here with the buildup and the banter,” Teresa said. “The whole county is buzzing. It is great to look out and see all the flags waving and everyone up for the match. We are watching out for tickets but we are happy to watch the match with the family too. Ryan is brave enough to come to Donegal to watch the match but I am not brave enough to go to Kerry to watch it.

She clearly recalls travelling to Buncrana in the wake of the 1992 All Ireland and relishing the sight of Paul Callaghan carry the Sam Maguire cup ‘home’ to the Donegal GAA stronghold. “I remember I was up on daddy’s shoulders and ever since that, I have been into the GAA. For Ryan, it is in his blood and it is a different animal down there. They take it very seriously. I am hoping us Donegal ones will be the ones celebrating after the final whistle. We are all just going to gather together and we are all looking forward to it,” she said.

THE IRISH SCENE | 69

Claddagh Report At Claddagh, our mission is to provide care, connection, and support to Irish people in WA, particularly in times of hardship.

This takes many forms: from emergency assistance and free visa clinics, to community fundraisers, and our much-loved Seniors program. Here’s a snapshot of what’s been happening across Claddagh recently.

Seniors Highlights Our Claddagh Seniors program continues to thrive, providing friendship, connection, and plenty of craic for our older community members while also reducing isolation and loneliness.

SENIORS OFFICE PARTY – WEDNESDAY 25 JUNE We were delighted to host a lively “office party” in our very own new premises, with more than 60 attendees. The event showcased Irish dancing from Erin & Maeve, music from Perth Comhaltas, and songs from volunteer Joe Carroll, who also celebrated his birthday. These gatherings show how Claddagh’s mission of connection and care is lived out every day.

Thanks to Joe, his daughter Joanne for singing, Grandchildren Erin & Maeve for their Irish dancing, and to Sean Doherty and the talented players from Comhaltas!

See more photos at Claddagh.org. au or scan the QR code right.

Seniors – mark your calendars for our upcoming events: • Wednesday 3 September – Lunch at Avocados Cafe • Monday 6 October – Coach trip to Gingin • Saturday 27 September and 25 October – Seniors Digital Training (10am–12pm, bookings essential) • Bookings – Call 08 9249 9213 or email admin@claddagh.org.au to secure your spot

ANNUAL CHRISTMAS IN JULY AT THE MIGHTY QUINN – WEDNESDAY 9 JULY Over 100 Claddagh Seniors filled The Mighty Quinn with festive cheer, joined by Derrick & Ben of The Broken Pokers before their Irish tour. Our heartfelt thanks go to the volunteers who made it possible.

Bringing people together in this way is one strand of Claddagh’s broader mission to care for our community. Check out these great snaps from Volunteer Paul.

Thank you – EOFY appeal

Claddagh Report

Our community continues to step up in times of need. Thanks to your generosity, we exceeded our EOFY fundraising target of $5,000. These funds allow us to continue helping members of the Irish community in WA facing challenges such as loneliness, grief, visa difficulties, domestic violence and short-term financial stress.

Recently, Claddagh supported a young family after the father became seriously ill. With no extended family in WA, they suddenly faced emotional strain, financial pressure, and the challenge of navigating medical care. Claddagh provided immediate assistance, covering essentials and offering ongoing support, so the family could focus on his recovery.

This is just one example of how donations allow us to deliver on our vision: to be there when our community needs us most.

Free Visa Clinic Navigating migration pathways is one of the biggest challenges many Irish people face in WA. That’s why Claddagh offers free visa clinics with registered migration agent Patricia Halley (MARA 1383611) from Visa4You. Whether you’re applying for a visa, working towards permanent residency, or exploring citizenship, these clinics provide trusted advice and peace of mind. Available to all Claddagh members – Not a member yet? Join for just $25!

Bookings: 08 9249 9213 | admin@claddagh.org.au

Save the Date – Claddagh AGM Our Annual General Meeting will be held on Friday 24 October at 6pm.

This invitation is open to all Irish people in WA – whether you’ve been a quiet supporter for years or are new to Perth, we’d love you to join us. Join us to reflect on the past year and shape plans for the future. If you’ve considered volunteering, joining the committee, or becoming a member, this is your chance to be part of something bigger.

Questions? Contact Shauna at 08 9249 9213 or email admin@claddagh.org.au

THE CLADDAGH ASSOCIATION - THERE WHEN YOU NEED US Claddagh’s mission is to provide support, care, and connection to members of the Irish community in WA who are experiencing hardship or find themselves in difficult circumstances.

How You Can Help: 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: Visit claddagh.org.au to make a donation.

Volunteer: Your time can make a world of difference—sign up today!

Become a Member: For just $25, you can join Claddagh.

Host a fundraiser: Got an idea in mind? Give us a call if you would like to collaborate. See our Website for full details – QR code below.

Reminder: If you or someone you know needs Claddagh’s support, please contact us: Email: admin@claddagh.org.au Phone: 08 9249 9213 Crisis Line (Urgent Support): 0403 972 265 THANK YOU FOR SUPPORTING CLADDAGH

Unit 1, 8 Dewar Street, Morley, 6062.

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

Crisis Support: 0403 972 265

Australian Association Inc. The month began with our WA State Ceili Championships & Perth Premierships on the 2nd & 3rd of August, closely followed by our State Solo Championships on the 16th & 17th. Congratulations to all of the dancers, teachers, AIDA members and volunteers involved in these events. The standard of dancing was world class, and we are so lucky to have such a fantastic community and shared passion within WA Irish Dancing. Special mention to our dancers who competed in the inaugural adults sections, it was just wonderful to see you all on stage.

Congratulations to our 2025 State Solo Champions: State Champions WA State Champions • 5 Years Mixed - Siobhan McDonald WA Academy WA

WA State Champions

• 6 Year Mixed - Clodagh Pitman The Academy • 7 Years Girls - Adalind Davis The Academy • 8 Years Girls - Brooky Hamilton Trinity Studio • 9 Years Girls - Matilda Meenan Kavanagh Studio • 10 Years Girls - Sephora Donelan The Academy • 11 Years Girls - Emmeline Summers WA Academy • 12 Years Boys - Tiernan Beattie The Academy • 12 Years Girls - Maeve Carrol WA Academy • 13 Years Boys - Tane Young The Academy • 13 Years Girls - Cassie Lin The Academy • 14 Years Girls - Sahara Donelan The Academy • 15 Years Boys - Charlie O’Connor The Academy • 15 Years Girls - Georgia Western Trinity Studio • 16 Years Girls - Tara Fox O’Hare School • 17 Years Girls - Zoe Cahoon Trinity Studio • 18 Years Ladies - Fiona Lin The Academy • 19 Years Ladies- Hayley Brooker Kavanagh Studio • Ladies 20 & 21 - Stella Ashley Trinity Studio • Senior Men - Vaughan Cooper WA Academy • Senior Ladies - Isobel Ashley Trinity Studio • Adult Mixed - Aylish Murray The Academy

Creative Fleire photography

We now wish all of the dancers and schools the best of luck as they continue their training for the National Championships, held in Brisbane in October. We look forward to an exciting few months ahead.

72 || THE THE IRISH IRISH SCENE SCENE 72

AIDA WA EXECUTIVE 2023 President: Katherine Travers TCRG Vice Presidents: Siobhan Collis TCRG & Eileen Ashley ADCRG 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 CHAMPION ACADEMY Bicton www.championacademy.com.au Niamh Champion TCRG 0421 282 616 Niamhchampion@hotmail.com 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 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 TRINITY STUDIO OF IRISH DANCING 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

Hon. Stephen Dawson MLC Minister for Regional Development; Ports; Science and Innovation; Medical Research; Kimberley.

Leader of the Government in the Legislative Council.

Member for Western Australia.

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 | 73

Irish Choir Raises A Parting Glass To The Irish Club

by Fiona Carberry

Shortly after celebrating its 8th birthday, the Irish Choir Perth (ICP) raised a parting glass to the Irish Club on a wild, wet wintry night at the end of July.

Eight years of Wednesday night rehearsals at the Club ended with choir members sharing a bottle of champagne in the green room.

ICP is now warming our new rehearsal space with a new repertoire of songs for our fourth appearance at the 8th annual Guildford Songfest on the weekend of 13-14 September 2025. The Songfest gives us a chance to mingle with, and listen to, the many other varied choirs around Perth.

After a toast, we got down to the business of moving out of the Club. Sorting out our boxes of accumulated stuff: jars used as table vases emptied of snow-like Epsom Salts; silver-painted twigs tossed; Christmas lights untangled, their used batteries removed for recycling; tealight candles kept, empty ones tossed; a moment of delight when someone found the original ICP banner; tiny wooden reindeers and miniature plastic Christmas trees carefully re-packed; sheet music bundled into folders; cars hurriedly loaded in the pouring rain with storage containers divided between members to take home.

Once Guildford’s over, ICP’s focus will be our 2025 Christmas concert, to be held on Saturday 13 December. SAVE THE DATE! New members always welcome. Just turn up ready to sing! Bring a friend, family member, colleague, neighbour… No auditions. We are a community choir whose members range from novice singers and performers to music graduates. The only prerequisite is a love of Irish music.

Wednesday night rehearsals 7-8.30pm during school terms. First rehearsal free.

Rehearsals held at the Tom Dadour Community Centre, 363 Bagot Rd, Subiaco (unless not available on certain nights).

Check out our Facebook page.

For the most up-to-date information about ICP’s rehearsals and performances email us at Irishchoirperth@gmail.com.

CARRAMAR

SHAMROCK ROVERS FC CARRAMAR SHAMROCK ROVERS

@CARRAMAR _ SHAMROCK _ROVERS

CONTACTS: MARTY BURKE 0410 081 386

October will be a busy month for Carramar Shamrock Rovers Carramar Shamrock Rovers FC is proud to announce that we have been awarded 2-Star Club Changer Status by Football Australia!

This recognition reflects our ongoing commitment to creating a safe, inclusive, and supportive environment where female players, coaches, and volunteers are treated fairly and valued as a vital part of our club.

A huge thank you to Karen Harris for her dedication and hard work in helping us achieve this milestone A big thank you to Sabine Winton MLA for coming through with an election funding grant of $50k for equipment for the club. Also thanks Sabine for coming along and supporting the ladies teams a couple of weeks ago. We managed to rope her into taking the flag and running the line!

Junior trials start in the middle of October. Further information will be on Facebook.

Our Junior Presentation Day is Saturday 18th October from 9:00 a.m. – it will be a busy day with the usual fun and games on the day.

The Senior Awards night will be held on Friday 24th October at the Pavilion in Mindarie.

As always, thanks to our sponsors, we couldn’t do this without our major State League sponsors: •

Colgan Industries,

•

The Glasgow Skin Clinic,

•

Live Lounge in Wanneroo, and

•

Frankie Atkinson, Acclaim Accounting.

Thanks also to our loyal banner sponsors and various teamwear sponsors, several of whom have been with us for a number of years now.

And last but not least, thanks to all of our 500 Club sponsors.

Follow us on Facebook for lots more information, news and photos!

If you are interested in getting involved with your local club in any capacity – coach, volunteer, committee member – please contact us at

CSRFC2020@gmail.com

THE IRISH SCENE | 75

Mucky Duck Bush Band

VALE

Kevin Saunders and Greg Hastings Two fine musicians/singers who have given enjoyment to many from the early seventies onward. Both were founding members of The Mucky Duck Bushband. Greg was in The Fo’c’s’le Firkins and involved with the running of The Stables Folk Club, with parents Stan and Dot and sister Val. Kevin ran The Hills Folk Club over many years and was in numerous bands including The Numguts Bush Band and Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann’s Sean Doherty Branch WA. Fond memories. Sympathies to their friends and families. Rest in Peace.

STILL FRIENDS AFTER ALL THESE YEARS...

Looking as lovely as ever, International Roses, 1995 Nyomi Horgan, 1983 Brenda Hyland and 2001 Lisa Manning enjoying a recent get-together and sharing their stories...

Colin Smiley, “The Usual Suspects”

NUMGUTS

Enjoying life on the road... as John Williamson would say “Old F....s in Caravan Parks” Louis and Veronica Byrnes taking selfies in Wagga Wagga NSW

The Three Amigos in 2019 at Friar Tucks...

Finbar Fury, Ray O’Hanrachan and Brendan Grace (R.I.P.). In 2019, the two lads were touring Australia and took time out to drop into Ray’s Friar Tucks Irish Inn in Mandurah. Brendan stayed and put on an amazing concert for the locals.

Nice of them I say!

CLADDAGH SENIORS GO FROM STRENGTH TO STRENGTH...

Christmas in July was again an amazing day with great music from the Broken Pokers, and a Mighty Christmas lunch at the Mighty Quinn. If you are interested in joining call the Claddagh office 9249 9213. You wont be disappointed!

VALE SEAN REID

VALE John McDonough

March 1951 - June 2025

“Raised on Songs and Stories” and a kinder and more friendly person you would not find. John loved his family and was partial to a pint and a song at the drop of a hat. To Rory and the rest of the family our deepest condolences. Will have one next St Patrick’s Day for his heavenly birthday.

Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam

GOLFING IN LURGAN! Bill and Joan Ross enjoying a day out at their local Lurgan Golf Club in Northern Ireland...

Wondering what Bill is thinking?

MEMBERS OF THE ‘SKIN’ CLUB... Spend Kids Inheritance now!

Gallivanting around Ireland. UK and Europe, Frank Glackin and Mary Carroll (Dublin Up). Having a Craicer of a time. Of couse no trip would be complete with a visit to Anfield. Enjoy

Many will be saddened with the loss of Sean.

Sean passed away in August peacefully surrounded by his loving family after a sudden cardiac arrest. Much loved son of Anne and the late Kenneth. Cherished brother of Róisín, Aisling, Máirín, Ciarán and Siobhán. Beloved partner of Brian. Brother-in-law of Flor, Dan, Paul, and Kieran. Devoted Uncle of Aoibhe, Ciara, Aisling, Aidan, Isla, Finn, Rory, Kian and Rosie.

Slan Abhaile a Chara YOU CAN DO IT KELLY! Shamrock Rovers, Mick Manning’s daughter Kelly is running as an independent candidate for the Mill Point Ward in the City of South Perth for this October’s Local Government Election.

Great to see the next generation coming to the fore!

HAPPY BIG BIRTHDAY MR. SHEEHAN! You’ve caught up with us now and the handicap will start to blow out!

Have a good one Fada and many more to come.

A BLAST FROM THE PAST! Kieran Ahern and Terese Robinson performing in ‘Dracula’s Bride’ in the Blarney Castle in Stirling Street a million years ago. Thanks for sharing on FB Kieran, we all have great memories of those days.

VALE.... SANDRA PLAYLE Incredibly saddened to hear Sandra Playle passed away recently. Sandra helped so many in their quest to know more about WWI history in Western Australia and Australia, fought hard to draw attention to what was happening to War Graves at Karrakatta Cemetery, and generously and unstintingly contributed to so many other projects. She was a force to be reckoned with.

Sandra was instrumental in getting a portrait of Tipperary man, Martin O’Meara VC donated to The Celtic Club of WA. Rest in Peace a chara!

Paddington Bear in Co Mayo?

With passersby stopping for selfies, Westport, County Mayo is one of 23 locations taking part in Paddington Visits, a trail which will see the special statues appearing in cities, towns, and beauty spots all over the UK and Ireland and our Gerry Crowley found one. Not sure who took the bite from the sandwich but bread might be a bit stale mate!

GAA LEAGUE & CHAMPIONSHIP

GAA League & Championship Finals Deliver Drama

been on another successful and fiercely competitive campaign across football, hurling, and camogie WA GAA League & Championship season.

With competitive matches and Finals narrowDeliver marginsDrama across both codes and every division, this year's been on another successful campaign across football, hurling, and camogie A’sleague highlighted the depthand of fiercely talent incompetitive WA.

his season. With competitive matches and narrow margins across both codes and every division, this year's AA league highlighted the depth of talent in WA.

WA GAA LEAGUE & CHAMPIONSHIP FINALS DELIVER DRAMA

ling: Shamrocks Edge Out Swans in Nail-Biting Final

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Camogie: Western Swans Claim Title in One-Point Thriller

In the camogie championship final, Western Swans faced off against St Gabriels in another showdown that went down to the wire.

The Swans, determined to make their mark, delivered a gritty ootball League Closes with Drama Across All Divisions performance he football league inSt WA also came to aJust thrilling conclusion, with tightthis contests across the evenly board matched against aseason tough Gabriels side. the hurling final, contest was tball League Closes with Drama Across Alllike Divisions nfootball the ladies', intermediate, divisions, aSwans true testament to thewith competitiveness and quality this from start to finish, but wastothe who emerged victorious winning 2-05 to 1-07. The league season in and WAsenior also it came a thrilling conclusion, tight contests across the board ear. one-point victory was a testament to the competitive spirit and skill on display throughout e ladies', intermediate, and senior divisions, a true testament to the competitiveness and quality this the camogie season.

78 | THE IRISH SCENE

Greenwood Edge Morley Gaels in Ladies’ Football Thriller In the ladies’ football league final, Morley Gaels took on Greenwood in a high-scoring showdown. Both sides matched each other stride for stride, with goals flying in at either end. In the end, it was Greenwood who managed to pull away in the final moments, edging out the Gaels in a 5-10 to 5-06 victory.

Greenwood Edge Morley Gaels in Ladies’Closes Football Thriller Football League with Drama Across All Divisions In the ladies’Edge football league final, tookThriller on Greenwood in a high-scoring showdown. Both Greenwood Morley Gaels inMorley Ladies’Gaels Football The football league ashowdown. conclusion, with tight contests sides each other stride for Morley stride,season with flying in atalso either end.

In theto end, itthrilling was Greenwood In thematched ladies’ football league final, Gaelsgoals tookin on WA Greenwood incame a high-scoring Both who to pullother away in the edging the Gaelsend. in aIn 5-10 5-06 victory. across the board inmoments, the ladies’, intermediate, and senior divisions, a true testament to the sidesmanaged matched each stride forfinal stride, with goals flyingout in at either the to end, it was Greenwood

who managed to pull away in the finaland moments, edging out the year.

Gaels in a 5-10 to 5-06 victory. competitiveness quality this

Greenwood Edge Morley Gaels in Ladies’ Football Thriller In the ladies’ football league final, Morley Gaels took on Greenwood in a high-scoring showdown. Both sides matched each other stride for stride, with goals flying in at either end.

In the end, it was Greenwood who Greenwood Power Past Finbarrs to Seal Intermediate Crown managed to pull away in the final The men’s intermediate football league final featured a strong clash between Greenwood and St Finbarrs. moments, edging out the Gaels in a Greenwood Power Past brightly, Finbarrsit to Seal Intermediate Crown While both teams started was Greenwood who found their rhythm early. St Finbarrs fought hard 5-10 The men’s intermediate football league final featured a strong clash between Greenwood and St Finbarrs. to stay in the game, but Greenwood maintained their composure throughout and steadily pulled ahead.

The to 5-06 victory.

While both teams starteda brightly, it was Greenwood found their rhythm early.

St Finbarrs fought hard final whistle confirmed solid 1-12 to 0-7 victory forwho Greenwood, rounding off their league campaign.

Greenwood Past Finbarrs tosteadily Seal Intermediate Crown to stay in the game, but their composure throughout and pulled ahead. The Greenwood Power PastGreenwood Finbarrs Power tomaintained Seal Intermediate Crown final whistleintermediate confirmed afootball solid 1-12 to 0-7 fora Greenwood, roundingGreenwood off their league The men’s league finalvictory featured strong clash between and Stcampaign.

Finbarrs.

The men’s intermediate football league final featured a strong clash between Greenwood

While both teams started brightly, it was Greenwood who found their rhythm early. St Finbarrs fought hard and St Finbarrs. While both teams to stay in the game, but Greenwood maintained their composure throughout and steadily pulled ahead. The started brightly, it was Greenwood final whistle confirmed a solid 1-12 to 0-7 victory for Greenwood, rounding off their league campaign.

who found their rhythm early. St Finbarrs fought hard to stay in the game, but Greenwood maintained their composure throughout and steadily pulled ahead. The final whistle confirmed a solid 1-12 to 0-7 victory for Greenwood, rounding off their league campaign.

Senior Showdown Goes to the Wire as Finbarrs Prevail In the men’s senior football league final, St Finbarrs squared off the against Western in a tense and Prevail Senior Showdown Goes to WireShamrocks as Finbarrs tactical battle. With just a single point separating the sides at the final whistle, it was St Finbarrs who In the once men’s final, St Finbarrs squared off against Western Shamrocks emerged again, edging Shamrocks by emerged victorious victorious once again,senior edging the thefootball Shamrocks league by 0-15 0-15 to to 2-08.

2-08.

in a tense and tactical battle. With just a single point separating the sides at the final whistle,

Senior Showdown Goes to the Wire as Finbarrs Prevail it was St Finbarrs who emerged In the men’s senior football league final, St Finbarrs squared off against Western Shamrocks in a tensevictorious and once again, edging the tactical battle. With just a single point separating the sides at the final whistle, it was St Finbarrs who Shamrocks by 0-15 to 2-08. While emerged victorious once again, edging the Shamrocks by 0-15 to 2-08.

the league season has wrapped up, there’s still plenty to play for—with the football championship just around the corner, teams will now shift their focus to preparing for what promises to be another fiercely contested While the league season has wrapped up, there’s still plenty to play for—with the football championship competition. just around the corner, teams will now shift their focus to preparing for what promises to be another While the league season has wrapped up, there’s still plenty to play for—with the football championship fiercely contested competition.

just around the corner, teams will now shift their focus to preparing for what promises to be another If you would like to get involved, reach out to the clubs via their Instagram or email. fiercely contested competition.

FOOTBALL CLUBS

HURLING & CAMOGIE CLUBS

While the league season has wrapped up, there’s still plenty to play for—with the football championship SOUTHERN - preparing for what promises to be another just around the corner, teams will nowDISTRICTS shift their focus to WESTERN SWANS fiercely contestedsoutherndistrictsgaa@gmail.com competition. westernswansgaa@gmail.com

GREENWOOD greenwoodgfc@hotmail.com

MORLEY GAELS morleygaelsgfc@hotmail.com

ST. GABRIEL’S stgabrielsperth@gmail.com HURLING CLUBS

ST. FINBARR’S stfinbarrsgfc@outlook.com

PERTH SHAMROCKS perthshamrocks@gmail.com

WESTERN SHAMROCKS westernshamrocks@hotmail.com

SARSFIELDS sarshurlingperth@gmail.com THE IRISH SCENE | 79

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