Irish history in Australia

Feelgood

I have visitors coming to stay with me in a couple of weeks and am looking to take them to some areas around Sydney with Irish history attached to it.

So far I have the Irish famine memorial at Hyde Park Barracks.
http://www.irishfaminememorial.org/en/

Is there anything else around Sydney worth looking at?.

Cheers.....

Father Damo

The Queen Victoria statue outside the QVB centre was shipped and sold to Australia by us after we left the Commonwealth. Might as well make a profit on oul rubbish sure

myhorse

Feelgood wrote: »

I have visitors coming to stay with me in a couple of weeks and am looking to take them to some areas around Sydney with Irish history attached to it.

So far I have the Irish famine memorial at Hyde Park Barracks.
http://www.irishfaminememorial.org/en/

Is there anything else around Sydney worth looking at?.

Cheers.....

The Irish memorial in Waverley cemetary is worth a visit. Could do the coastal walk a swing into Waverley and have alook. It is a memorial to 1798 alot of the leaders were sent over here. And also 1916 and the hungerstrikers. Probably the most scenic graveyard in the world imho

Batgurl

I don't know what the Irish connection is but their is a suburb on the North Shore called Killarney Heights...it's really bizarre.

All the street names are named after Irish places so their is Carlow Cresent, Dublin Ave, Donegal Rd, Westmeath Ave, Tipperary Rd...plus many many more.

Strongest links seem to be with Athlone, Mullingar and Rathowen which makes me believe whoever created it was from the Midlands but worth checking out just for the photos you could get!!!

jackbhoy

Batgurl wrote: »

Strongest links seem to be with Athlone, Mullingar and Rathowen which makes me believe whoever created it was from the Midlands but worth checking out just for the photos you could get!!!

That's interesting, I'm originally from Westmeath and heading to Sydney next weekend, meeting mates out that way too so might check it out.

Saw on an ABC doco during week that 25% of Victorian population was Irish at end of 19th century, that's much higher than I had thought.

mandrake04

Batgurl wrote: »

I don't know what the Irish connection is but their is a suburb on the North Shore called Killarney Heights...it's really bizarre.

All the street names are named after Irish places so their is Carlow Cresent, Dublin Ave, Donegal Rd, Westmeath Ave, Tipperary Rd...plus many many more.

Strongest links seem to be with Athlone, Mullingar and Rathowen which makes me believe whoever created it was from the Midlands but worth checking out just for the photos you could get!!!

I work with someone who lives in Killarney Heights and been up there a few times, I have looked it up online before and was slightly disappointed that it there's not really any connection other than the word 'Killarney'

Killarney heights was the name given to the area as a recreational area of middle head, it was all bushland up until the '50s & '60s then it was developed by LJ Hooker.

Likely the area called after Killarney in Ireland in the early 20th Century and when it was developed into housing 50 or 60 years later they looked at a map of Ireland and picked place names as potential streets.

mandrake04

feelgood if you want real History try

http://www.thehills.nsw.gov.au/IgnitionSuite/uploads/docs/Death%20or%20Liberty%20-%20The%20Castle%20Hill%20Rebellion%20&%20Battle%20of%20Vinegar%20Hill%201804.pdf

http://www.thehills.nsw.gov.au/external/hillsvoices/heritagepark01.htm

http://www.thehills.nsw.gov.au/external/hillsvoices/DeathorLibertyMovie_colorbox.htm

http://historyservicesnswblog.blogspot.com.au/2011/05/castle-hill-heritage-park.html

http://www.blacktown.nsw.gov.au/our-city/history/the-region/vinegar-hill_home.cfm

http://static.lifeislocal.com.au/multimedia/images/full/1730970.jpg


Castle Hill is a sister city agreement with Wexford Town, I actually borrowed a book out of my local Libary Dan Breen My fight of Irish freedom and inside the cover was a label "Donated by Wexford Council"

If you visit Castle Towers shopping centre the story of the Rebellion is told on Archiving/Cornicing around the walls.

markymark21

jackbhoy wrote: »

That's interesting, I'm originally from Westmeath and heading to Sydney next weekend, meeting mates out that way too so might check it out.

Saw on an ABC doco during week that 25% of Victorian population was Irish at end of 19th century, that's much higher than I had thought.

Have you been into Melbourne Gaol? They have a list of convicts that were shipped in in those days. Easily one in four was Irish!

jackbhoy

markymark21 wrote: »

jackbhoy wrote: »

That's interesting, I'm originally from Westmeath and heading to Sydney next weekend, meeting mates out that way too so might check it out.

Saw on an ABC doco during week that 25% of Victorian population was Irish at end of 19th century, that's much higher than I had thought.

Have you been into Melbourne Gaol? They have a list of convicts that were shipped in in those days. Easily one in four was Irish!

I haven't but convicts made up a fairly small percentage of entire population at that stage and would've guessed the Irish representation was lot less than 25%.

When you think about the size of Ireland it always amazes me the reach we have had all over the planet. I think back to visiting isolated towns in places like Uruguay and Burma and seeing streets with Irish names it's just a bit mad!

catbear

jackbhoy wrote: »

I think back to visiting isolated towns in places like Uruguay and Burma and seeing streets with Irish names it's just a bit mad!

Not surprising really considering that Ireland was part of an economic empire, the travel agent in ireland we booked our ticket with started as a business back in 1850 selling packages to the new worlds.
Burma is very interesting, i read in a preface to Orwell's "Burmese Days" that the nascent Burmese independence movement was greatly inspired by Irish soldiers stationed there before WWI.
Here's a great link if you want to find out more about where Irish born ANZAC came from.
http://mappingouranzacs.naa.gov.au/map.aspx?p=Kilkenny,%20Ireland

jackbhoy

catbear wrote: »

jackbhoy wrote: »

I think back to visiting isolated towns in places like Uruguay and Burma and seeing streets with Irish names it's just a bit mad!

Not surprising really considering that Ireland was part of an economic empire, the travel agent in ireland we booked our ticket with started as a business back in 1850 selling packages to the new worlds.
Burma is very interesting, i read in a preface to Orwell's "Burmese Days" that the nascent Burmese independence movement was greatly inspired by Irish soldiers stationed there before WWI.
Here's a great link if you want to find out more about where Irish born ANZAC came from.
http://mappingouranzacs.naa.gov.au/map.aspx?p=Kilkenny,%20Ireland

Yeah, I had a look at that Anzac link before, it's really interesting alright

Ireland was certainly part of an economic empire back then but the vast majority of Irish back then were p1ss poor plebs, so I suppose thats why I was surprised by traditional Irish names on streets etc in far flung parts of the world.

catbear

If you ever get a chance do see the show "Our countrys good" by Timberlake Wertenbaker. It's a very interesting cross section of prison society based on real people in the earliest penal colonies. It's based on a Thomas Kenneally book and gives us a good idea of what it might have felt like in the strangeness of a new alien environment for both prisoners and keepers.

statina

My boss lives in Killarney Heights- she says the developer from LJ Hooker was from Rathowen and thats why all of the streets are named after the Midland towns.

jackbhoy

statina wrote: »

My boss lives in Killarney Heights- she says the developer from LJ Hooker was from Rathowen and thats why all of the streets are named after the Midland towns.

Interesting, from Rathowen myself so gotta check that out...

Slidey

Found my home town here in WA

rightyabe

In the subarb of Floreat in Perth theres heaps of Streets named after irish towns/counties.

Donegal rd
Lifford rd
Tullow rd
Dundalk rd...too name just a few, easy 20 street names.


Google it yourselfs, theres heaps of them in the one small area. Anyone know why this could be?

catbear

rightyabe wrote: »

Anyone know why this could be?

Perhaps because half of Perth seems to have an Irish ancestor. After the penal colony phase Australia was a magnet for immigrants, from 1850 onwards Ireland saw a steady stream of people leaving for opportunities in the new worlds. The old practice of plot subdivision had ended with the famine and the new practice of passing on the farm to one person meant many more had no choice but to leave for new lands. I've been told by a farmer from north WA that most of the agricultural land there was started by Irish farmers. Areas like Floreat had grazing cattle a hundred years ago. The new world produce undercut Ireland as a grain exporter and refrigeration meant Irelands beef exports had more competition.
As the Empire was effectively an economic union under the gold standard it made sense that people would go where the highest yield was to be had, the Irish in Australia wasn't just about deportation but it certainly takes up a massive proportion of the narrative compared to just basic migration.
Edit to ad: The White Australia policy actively encouraged migrants from Ireland, It think it was £10 to get here, Australian government would cover the rest. I think that only stopped in the late 60s.

howwedoin

rightyabe wrote: »

In the subarb of Floreat in Perth theres heaps of Streets named after irish towns/counties.

Donegal rd
Lifford rd
Tullow rd
Dundalk rd...too name just a few, easy 20 street names.


Google it yourselfs, theres heaps of them in the one small area. Anyone know why this could be?

The jist of it is (I must find out the full story again), there was a church/monastery in that area that was founded by Irish priests. When they were handing it over to the Australians, they didn't ask for any money, just for the surrounding streets to be names after Irish places.

Batgurl

catbear wrote: »

Edit to ad: The White Australia policy actively encouraged migrants from Ireland, It think it was £10 to get here, Australian government would cover the rest. I think that only stopped in the late 60s.

Correct - I used to work with a guy who's mum came over in the 60's. He called her a ten pound pomme and she was one of the last so it must of finished in the late 60's some time.

catbear

The monastery of Saint Benedict was established Spanish and Italian monks in the 1850s overlooking Lake Monger, they left in the 1860s for New Norcia and the Floreat streets with Irish town names wasn't developed until the 1930s so I doubt there's any link between the two. Subiaco got its name from an Italian monk and Floreat was latin for "to flourish".
It's far more likely that the development coincided with a large influx of Irish immigrants.

rightyabe

I read somewhere that Perth/WA was not far of from becoming a Republic state seperate from the commonwealth, something about "Fenians" anyway, ha.

Think it was in that Irish Scene magazine.

catbear

rightyabe wrote: »

I read somewhere that Perth/WA was not far of from becoming a Republic state seperate from the commonwealth, something about "Fenians" anyway, ha.

Think it was in that Irish Scene magazine.

That old WA chestnut, anytime a West Australian talks about ceding from the union because they're a net contributor to the federation I remind them that that's only been for the last few years whereas for most of the 20th century WA was a net recipient of federal aid! They'll be singing a different tune when mining revenue has cooled off.

seipeal1

Within Victor Harbor, a popular holiday home destination for well to do Adelaidians in South Australia, there are a series of streets linked to the Northern part of our island

Down Avenue
Antrim Avenue
Donegal Avenue
Tyrone Avenue
And a Dundalk Street

Must be to do with the developer?

mandrake04

seipeal1 wrote: »

Within Victor Harbor, a popular holiday home destination for well to do Adelaidians in South Australia, there are a series of streets linked to the Northern part of our island

Down Avenue
Antrim Avenue
Donegal Avenue
Tyrone Avenue
And a Dundalk Street

Must be to do with the developer?

Constitution Hill just outside Parramatta/Westmead is Armagh specific

Keady way
Portadown Road
Lurgan St
Craigavon Way
Charlemont Way
Bann Way
Callan way
Killylea way
Tandragee st

CatFromHue

There was a show on RTE on Sunday night "The Irish in Australia" which was about the Irish history/settlers to Australia. It was interesting enough and if you're interested in history I'd recommend you watch it as it's on the RTE player.

I don't think I saw a single GAA jersey in it at all :P

Pisco Sour

Anyone interested in Ned Kelly stuff, take a trip to Glenrowan, a couple of hours from Melbourne, where the famous siege took place in 1880. It's worth 2-3 hours anyway.

MCG Stadium tour and sports museum. Relive Ronnie Delany's famous Olympic gold perhaps?

old_aussie

http://irishmile.com.au/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=23&Itemid=39

Walk an Irish Mile

ambasite

visit Clontarf beach north sydney, just over the Spit bridge:

Henry James O'Farrell - Clontarf assassin

On 21 January 1868, the Duke of Edinburgh, Queen Victoria's second son, arrived in Sydney during a round-the-world cruise to spread royal goodwill among the colonies. The visit was marred when a Irishman named Henry James O'Farrell, attempted to assassinate the Duke during a picnic at Clontarf on 12 March. After a bullet was extracted from his back, the Duke graciously assured the people of New South Wales that his belief in their loyalty had not been shaken by the action of one individual.

The Aussie

Pisco Sour wrote: »

Anyone interested in Ned Kelly stuff,

Talk about taking the good with the bad, a knacker who shot a unarmed policeman in the back and then stole his watch, some history is best ignored unless you like the misty eyed red neck Robin Hood version which should be taken with a pinch shovel of salt.

Pisco Sour

The Aussie wrote: »

Talk about taking the good with the bad, a knacker who shot a unarmed policeman in the back and then stole his watch, some history is best ignored unless you like the misty eyed red neck Robin Hood version which should be taken with a pinch shovel of salt.

I agree with you. He was a cold blooded killer. I'm amazed how he is celebrated so much here, but regardless of this the story is interesting enough.

The Aussie

Pisco Sour wrote: »

I'm amazed how he is celebrated so much here.

Its interesting in seeing what sections in society do celebrate him as a "Folk Hero" and those that see him as nothing but a Knacker Scumbag, I dont think i would know many people who do think he is any way a Hero.