Irish Sisters in Australia Cardinal Moran

THE AUSTRALIAN IRISH HERITAGE NETWORK No 3, March 2008 PRINT POST APPROVED PP 336663/00047 $6

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!0 0 0*('0'0 '(0*('C0<( 4*4( C0.69/0B;::0;@66 Tinteán No 3, March 2008 Tinteán is a publication of the Contents Australian Irish Heritage Network Regulars 2 Letters: Connections and more Bold Jack Donohue PO Box 13095, Law Courts, 3 Editorial: Healthy Australia? Felicity Allen Melbourne, 8010 4 News: Potatoes; The Ambassador; Sorry Day; Irish in Stitches Tel 61-3-96708865 5 News: Literary Award & magazines; Brigidfest; O’ hAilpín Email [email protected] 6 News: Updates: Hill of Tara; The Sea Stallion; Obituaries Web http://www.tintean.org.au 7 News: Events Published four times per annum 8 News: Lake School at Koroit, Felix Meagher ABN 13643653067 9 News: Daonscoil at Bacchus Marsh, Deirdre Gillespie ISSN 1835-1093 10 Financials: A Year of Extremes, Simon Good 11 Music: A History, Stuart Traill Editor: 12 Proﬁ le: Kim Keenan, Manager, Celtic Club, Melbourne Liz McKenzie 13 Bolg and tSolatháir/Odds and Ends, Val Noone Deputy Editor: 14 Irish Language: Daonscoil Felicity Allen Business Manager: Features Patrick McNamara 17 Irish Episcopal Imperialism, Colin Barr Advertising: 18 Cardinal Moran: Being Irish & Catholic, Edmund Campion Marie Feeley, tel 03 5996 3343 20 Jonathon Swift, Elizabeth Malcolm; Iron Age Medicine, Felicity Allen Production: 22 Presentation Sisters and Colonial Education, Sr Noela Fox pbvm Andrew Macdermid 24 Sisters of Mercy and Colonial Education, Dr Rosa MacGinley pbvm Other workers on this issue: 26 The Dillon Mission to Australia, Patrick Naughtin Terry Monagle, Peter Kiernan, 28 Brick Trail in Tasmania, Rosemary Gleeson Frances Devlin-Glass, Bob Glass, 29 Francis Stuart, Irish Australian Poet, Patrick Morgan John McMahon, Catherine Arthur, 32 St Patrick’s Day 1920 Meg McNena, Amanda Haberman, Poetry Kate Cliﬀ ord, Rob Butler, 30 Gort Inse Guaire/Welcome to my Country, Deirdre Kearney Bernie Brophy, Don McKenzie, 31 The reading, Gerard Hanberry; Spectres, Maureen McAteer Felicity McNamara. Reviews Views expressed in the articles, 33 The Anzacs and Ireland, Val Noone letters and advertisements are 35 Walkabout, Robert Glass; Reminiscences, Liz McKenzie those of the contributors and not 36 The Pride of Parnell Street, Mark Quinn necessarily those of the Australian 37 The Irish Red Setter, Felicity Allen Irish Heritage Network or of the 38 Dubliners, Deirdre Gillespie editor. 39 A Memoir, Eamonn de Valera, Terry Monagle 40 The Generation Game, Liz McKenzie

The Australian Irish Heritage Network to build and explore the Irish Australian identity. The maga- Membership is open to all with an identifi cation with Irish her- zine will welcome material which explores the big themes of itage. It was founded in 2007 to continue the spirit and work exile, diaspora and settlement. It will also encourage the tell- of Val Noone and Mary Doyle. ing of the micro-stories that express narratives of individuals One of its activities is to publish the magazine Tinteán and families. There will be a continual study of the political (meaning hearth in Gaelic and pronounced ‘Tintoyne’ – the and economic evolution of Ireland, and of the contribution fada on the fi nal á giving the syllable the dominant stress and which Irish-Australians have made to Australia. The intention the “augh” sound). is to explore and celebrate the playing out of the Irish heritage The AIHN offi ce is in the basement of the Celtic Club, 316 in Australia, past, present and future. Queen St, Melbourne. We express our thanks to the Club for its generosity. People are welcome to drop in. However, as we Activities are only there part time, please check fi rst. As well as the magazine, we hope to conduct social and educational events; disseminate news and information via Objectives of the AIHN the internet; off er recognition for service to literary and This Association, as its primary objective, will produce a liter- historical endeavours; issue cultural and political comment, ary magazine called Tinteán. The focus of the magazine will be and research and record our heritage.

Tinteán March 2008 1 Letters

Ballybunion connections paraphrasing a line from the poet Lord Neil has foreshadowed a full-length I am pleased to support your new exciting Byron, ‘Full in death’s face’. Both Byron article about this interesting collabora- project. I am thrilled with your choice of and Donahue were revolutionary spirits tion and some of the individual family name – Tinteán – which makes a homely David Toohey, Penrith, NSW relationships it is turning up. connection with us here in Ballybunion. Nóirín Uí Cháthain, Ballybunion, Dalley in defence of Empire Co Kerry, Ireland Many thanks for including Frank Mol- Nóirín Uí Cháthain is a principal of the loy’s review of my book about William Tinteán Theatre, Ballybunion, opened Bede Dalley in the second Tinteán. in April 2006 as a major initiative in Co I was surprised Frank didn’t mention Kerry as a centre for cultural training the episode Dalley is most often remem- and development. bered for: the despatch of Australia’s rst expeditionary force, the New South An excellent start Wales Sudan contingent of 1885. Thank you for your excellent coverage Dalley commented euphorically at the of the Amy Castles concert held recently time: ‘Dear boy, this is a great business. It in Bendigo. I think that Tinteán has got is gall and wormwood to the bigots, holy off to an excellent start. Many thanks for water to the Orangemen. Fancy, after all everything. the years they have been calling us plot- John Clancy, Bendigo, Vic. ting Papists and Fenian rebels, the rst men from Australia to serve the Queen on Bold Jack Donahue unmasked The Connecticut connection the eld of battle are being sent by a Paddy I am writing in answer to Gerry Fahey's I just received the November 2007 issue and a Holy Roman’. Three years later, enquiry about Bold Jack Donahue (Tint- of Tinteán and nd it, like the previous shortly before his death, he wrote of his eán issue 1). I am researching a book one, as good if not better than Táin, and despair at what he considered the misrep- about this remarkable man. that is saying something. resentation of his motives by critics of the The Sydney Gazette of 4 September Several years ago, I was fortunate expedition. It’s a moving human story. 1830 reported that Donahue had been enough to be invited to lunch with Peter The review also doesn’t mention Dal- killed by a police party armed with ries, Kiernan, who was visiting his son at Yale ley’s literary interests and friendships whilst he had two pistols. A death mask University in New Haven. Out of that – not least his close, but for a time dra- in plaster of Paris was made by a Mr lunch some good things have come to the matically fractured, relationship with that Morland. The mask featuring the head of Connecticut Irish-American Historical other memorable convicts’ son, Daniel the bushranger was used as a model for Society in which I am active. Henry Deniehy. clay pipes that were sold in Sydney for First, Peter sent us an entire run of the Another review can be found at twenty years. It must be the rst case of issues of Táin and we have placed them http://tinyurl.com/2p677c (PDF le) celebrity marketing in Australian history. in our library and archives at Southern Robert Lehane, Canberra, ACT There are no reports of any progeny Connecticut State University. We recip- of Donahue. At the time of his death, rocated by sending Peter a full run of our Against capital punishment he had two other escaped convicts with newsletter, The Shanachie. It was gratifying to read of the recent him. By ring back and yelling abuse at In the issues of Táin, we found men- publication ‘Confronting the Death Pen- police, Donahue enabled them to escape. tion of the Irish Genealogy Group of the alty’. It was prepared by the Australian One of them, Walmsley, an Englishman, Victorian Genealogical Society. Since Catholic Social Justice Commission and was later captured and turned informer our historical society has a lot of mem- illustrates the welcome but painfully pro- to save his life. He gave extensive infor- bers interested in genealogy, we wrote to longed change in the church's stand on mation about Donahue and against Irish Maureen Doyle of the Irish Genealogy this important question. Pope John-Paul settlers in the Seven Hills area who had Group and she wrote back enthusiasti- II gave the lead. supported him. There was no mention of cally. So we sent her a run of our newslet- The policy of any nation on state execu- any wife or children of Donahue. ter and she reciprocated. tion is surely a test of its humanity. The No image of the death mask seems to We got the word out to our members United States is the one remaining western have survived but, in the Mitchell Library about the link and urged our members democracy that practises state execu- in Sydney, there is a ne drawing of who have Australian kinfolk to let us tions and, after China, conducts the most Donahue after his death by Sir Thomas know so that we can pass the informa- executions in the world. The last execu- Mitchell, the NSW surveyor general, art- tion onto Maureen. She did likewise tion in this country was in 1967 and now ist and map maker. The picture shows a and we have had a couple of interesting Australia, under its new government, must handsome young man. (Donahue was 24 exchanges from members about Austra- vigorously lead in wiping out this barbaric when he died.) Underneath the drawing lia-Connecticut links. and immoral practice world wide. Mitchell wrote, ‘Fair in the face of death’, Neil Hogan, Connecticut, USA Peter Kiernan, Malvern, Vic.

2 Tinteán March 2008 Rich, happy, healthy Australia?

We like to think of ourselves as bronzed show a wonderful picture of Australian are improving their life expectancy, but athletes and indeed we do ght well above health outcomes However, avoidable Aboriginal life expectancy is declining. our weight when it comes to winning gold mortality rates are much higher amongst How can this happen in rich, happy, medals. Even ordinary Australians are people living in disadvantaged areas than healthy Australia? remarkably healthy by world standards. in wealthy areas and their life expectan- Most Aborigines now live in major Current life expectancies at birth (83 for cies at birth are distinctly lower. The cities and/or regional areas and their women and 79 for men) are well ahead of comparable ve year gender gap in life lifestyles vary from fully Westernised to larger, richer countries such as America expectancy is well known, but the varia- ‘fringe-dwelling’ on the edges of rural and England. In 1905 life expectancy at tion by regions within a country is almost towns. Only about a quarter live in remote birth was only 58 years for women and as big, yet it is rarely discussed though the or very remote areas, where conditions 55 for men. causes are understood. Poorer people eat can be extremely harsh, characterised by More and better food, immunisation more fast food than rich people because contaminated water, irregular or no access programmes and sanitation cut the death to health care, breakdown of law and rates from infections and meant that order and inadequate or absent rubbish most babies survived infancy. Greater ‘Health outcomes are and sewage disposal. Fresh food is rare prosperity meant that people enjoyed and expensive. Without cultural activities better housing and clothing so could keep not simply a matter of to give their lives meaning, many people themselves cleaner, reducing exposure to engage in binge drinking, drug abuse or infections. The widespread use of birth modern technology; both. Interpersonal violence (domestic control methods meant that families were they require sustained and other) is not uncommon and causes smaller, mothers were healthier and more many deaths. In the cities, Aborigines adult care was available for each child. action within a moral are often found in inner suburbs (e.g., Not all of these changes were positive. Redfern in Sydney) with poor living con- Falling death rates in infancy meant that framework’ ditions. Unemployment rates are high, the population aged and the major causes and when they are employed, it is usually of death changed from infection and in poorly paid, unskilled jobs. Although minor accidents to degenerative diseases they are more likely to live near a fast Aborigines are exposed to the greater such as cancer and heart disease and car food outlet. Positive health behaviours, health risks of poverty and rural dwelling accidents. Death from infectious disease such as regular exercise, are more difcult as well as Indigenous disadvantage, their can occur a matter of days or even hours, in areas with few or no facilities Most of pervasive social disadvantage can not but the typical killers in modern Australia the resources needed to lead healthy lives be solely explained by socio-economic are chronic after diagnosis. People are are less available, or of poorer quality, factors. Aboriginals have mortality rates usually ill for several years before death. in areas where poor people live. This is three times higher than those of the most This change brought in its wake one of technically known as ‘deprivation ampli- disadvantaged group of whites. our major moral questions – should we cation’. So this brings us to another But the Federal Government’s initia- continue to keep dying people alive as moral question – how much longer are tive only focuses on child molestation long as medically possible or should we we prepared to let it go on? We know rather than general health issues and is put in a place a system that allows people what needs to be done – provide people concentrated on Aborigines living in to choose a painless death? in poorer areas with the same access to remote areas Most Aborigines live in Nevertheless, Australian society nutritious food and vigorous exercise as cities and their health could readily be rose to the new challenges. Since 1968, enjoyed by those in wealthier areas – so improved by cheaper initiatives than death rates from coronary heart disease why not do it? sending the Army to Wadeye. Indigenous have fallen by two-thirds, stroke death Aboriginal health, if that’s not an health problems are not insoluble; New rates have halved and car accident death oxymoron, remains simply dreadful. Zealand, Canada and America have all rates have fallen by three quarters. These Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders managed to do it. So, why can’t we? improvements are due to better medical (ATSI) are about 2.0% of the total Aus- It’s time to put the moral dimension treatment for the ill and life-style changes tralian population, varying from 0.3% back into our thinking about health. to prevent illness. Car seat belts were in Victoria to 22.4% in the Northern Annual tax surpluses are frittered away hotly debated in the 1970s, but are now Territory. Their life expectancy is low in tax breaks for the wealthy and healthy. accepted as essential – cutting the road even when compared to other indigenous Surely the Australian Governments, toll. Smoking was normal at work but has groups. American First People, New Zea- Federal and State, can spend the money now been relegated to the outdoors – cut- land MƗori and Canadian Inuit all have more creatively? It’s time our political ting the lung cancer death rates. Health is life expectancies at birth of more than 70 representatives were told to come up not simply due to medical treatment and years, but life expectancy for Aboriginal with plans to spend vast tax surpluses white coated heroes – it is an outcome of men and women is 56.3 years and 60.1 on resources that will improve the life day to day decisions. respectively. If you are born Black in expectancies of all Australians, particu- The large scale gures on declining Australia, you lose about a quarter of a larly the poor and Black. death rates and rising life expectancy century of life. Other indigenous groups Felicity Allen

Tinteán March 2008 3 News Year of the Potato in two and roll out each half on a oured many years. He highlighted the contribu- The United Nations has declared 2008 board to form a circle about the size of a tion to Irish cultural heritage of the late the International Year of the Potato. Why large dinner plate. Cut in quarters (farls) Arthur Calwell, a former leader of the on earth has the humble spud or murphy and cook for about 3 minutes on each side Australian Labor Party. In particular he been singled out for such high level in a heavy frypan in a little bacon fat. quoted a St Patrick’s Day 1922 circular attention? According to the UN website Source: A Little Irish Cookbook. of the Melbourne language group, Con- it’s because potatoes Appletree Press 1986 radh na Gaeilge, of which Calwell was • are grown worldwide a signatory along with Frank McEwan • feed the hungry Ambassador and Arthur Calwell of Collingwood and Fr James O’Dwyer • are good for you, and Getting to know Victoria and supporting of Coburg. They were organising their • demand for them is growing. its cultural events have been top priorities annual Feis, or concert, and taking a While there’s no argument that they over recent months for Irish Ambassador, strong line on Irish politics. have been eaten for 8,000 years, arrived Máirtín Ó Fainín, and his wife Anne. On Val Noone in Europe with the Spaniards in the 16th Sunday 2 December 2007, Ambassador century and have now spread across the Fainín was guest speaker at the annual Sorry Day globe, the other reasons for their rise Eureka Sunday Luncheon at the Old A fresh wind is blowing in Canberra since to fame are more contentious. They’re Colonists’ Club in Ballarat. the election, symbolized by the rm and probably good for you – rich in carbohy- Fainín gave a committed account of clear enunciation of the word ‘SORRY’ drates, protein and vitamin C, but should Irish history, of the republican movement by the Prime Minister and parliament of they really be a major component in of 1798 and 1848, of Daniel O’Connell Australia. To be in Federation Square on “strategies aimed at provided nutritious and James Fintan Lalor, and he linked Wednesday 13 February at 9am, to give food for the poor and hungry?” Reading these to the story of Eureka. One interest- witness alongside thousands of ordinary the website’s remorselessly upbeat infor- ing aside he made was that many in Ire- Australians to this transformational mation about the way potatoes are ideally land during the eighteenth and nineteenth event, was to be part of a passionate, suited to places where land is limited and centuries could recognise what drove Ned attentive, emotional crowd who hung on labour is abundant is guaranteed to chill Kelly to revolt. every word of Rudd’s historic statement the blood. It all sounds so very familiar! Summer school: Máirtín Ó Fainín, (but who also got impatient with Bren- It’s certainly true that potatoes pro- dan Nelson’s curmudgeonly approach duce more nutritious food faster on less although thankfully, he too was big land and in harsher climates than any enough to say sorry). other crop, as the UN say. They might There was much to impress: the wel- also have said that they can be cultivated come to Country for the opening of Par- with very few tools, are easy to cook and liament the previous day, the language palatable raw (if you can’t even manage and solemnity of rituals both religious to cook them) and pigs like them too. and diplomatic, of contrition and atone- Unfortunately, they make no mention of ment. A story (Nanna Nungala Fejo’s, the fact that potatoes do not store well, told with her permission) which was so that people dependent on them will moving and eschewed victimhood, and more or less starve every year until the was not without humour (the quip about new crop comes in. Of course, the fact the niceties of colonialist sectarianism that potato crops quite often don’t come was delicious), the acknowledgement in isn’t mentioned either. Let’s hope that on parliamentary record, of the grave somebody with some kind of historical wrongs against children and their fami- perspective proposes a rescue plan (if lies, done in pursuance of racist agendas. there is one) for the inevitable famine. Ambassador of Ireland, and his wife What we will remember are the tears of Anne at Lake School, Koroit 2008 grief and joy, and overwhelmingly the Potato Farls In January 2008, Ambassador Fainín sense of relief. A ceremonial coolamon The recipe requires cooked, mashed joined some 250 people in the thriving (multi-purpose wooden vessel, often used potatoes. These should be freshly boiled Lake School of Celtic music at Koroit. to cradle babies) was borne by PM Rudd or better still, steamed and used while Then, Fainín, a uent speaker of Irish and Leader of the Opposition Nelson to still warm. and a son of a leading Gaelic Athletic the Speaker, full, we hope, of the nation’s 1 kg/2 cups mashed potatoes Association family, spent a day at the hopes for the possibility of moving for- 25g/1 cup plain our Irish language summer school at Lady ward together in a spirit of reconciliation, 2tbsp butter Northcote Camp near Bacchus Marsh. to deal with the ugly fallout of colonialist salt to taste He gave a bi-lingual address to open the incomprehension of cultural difference. Melt the butter and mix into the potatoes school. with the salt. Work in the our quickly Fainín recalled aspects of Irish Austra- Irish in Stitches but thoroughly and knead lightly. Divide lian history that have been submerged for Volunteers in New Ross, Co. Wexford

4 Tinteán March 2008 are working on a tapestry which depicts of two popular Irish Current Affairs speaker, Dr. Trish O’Connor, gave a lively the Norman invasion of Ireland. Loosely magazines, Magill and Village. The guest paper on the social and economic back- modelled on the Bayeux Tapestry, the speaker was the well-known Media Ana- grounds of migrants arriving in Australia project was started in 1998 by Countess lyst Anna McDonald. from Ireland since the 1980s. Her paper Ann Bernstorff to promote understanding Refreshments were provided by: Con- raised an issue of important contemporary of local history and to encourage local vent Bakery, Abbotsford; Magill Maga- social history, disrupting stereotypes of participation. The tapestry is believed to zine; Mount Avoca Winery; Richmond Irish migration. She reported on the high be the largest of its kind in Europe, con- Hill Cafe and Larder; Taste of Ireland; levels of education of these more recent sisting of 15 panels, each 1.8m x 1.3m. Village Magazine. migrants who came to well-paying jobs While it starts in pre-Christian times, the Magill Magazine: Established in the in Australia and could not be classied main focus of the tapestry is on the 13th 1970s, Magill is widely regarded as a as economic migrants. Most intriguingly, century when the town was established stable for the best political commen- she discussed how they read their Irish- by Guillaume Le Marechal, adviser to tary and current affairs journalism in the Australian and/or Irish identity. the Plantagenets. King Henry II of Eng- country. It is Ireland’s leading cultural Celtic harpist, Cath Connolly and d- land gave Guillaume land in Ireland and and political magazine. Now headed by dler/violinist Greg Hunt, who perform an 18 year old local heiress, Isabella, as Eamon Delaney, author and former dip- under the collective name Liminality, his wife, though Henry’s title to either of lomat with the Department of Foreign provided the music which fuses Austra- these items of property is unclear. The Affairs, Magill magazine has undergone lian and Irish music. pair had 10 children and founded Ros, a revamp since its acquisition by the The poetic and social links between the precursor to New Ross. In the 19th Cloughmore Media Group almost two Summer and the early Spring celebra- century New Ross was a ourishing har- years ago. The readership of Magill is tion of Imbolc were properly honoured at bour and a main point of departure for the wide and varied, ranging from students Brigidfest, as is the tradition of the event. notorious cofn ships. The tapestry will and young professionals to senior busi- be nished in 2010. ness and legal people, local and central Tall, Dark and Ó hAilpín From: Hackett and Plater, Herald Sun, government ofcials, as well as mem- From Fiji and Australia to Irish sport- 13.1.2008, p. 12. bers of the nancial services industry. ing fame. A documentary about one of Village Magazine: Village was launched Ireland’s most famous sporting families, The Jageurs Literary Award on the 2 October 2004 as Ireland’s Sean Óg, Setanta and Aisake Ó’hAilpín winners announced weekly current affairs magazine. It who have become household names The Celtic Club’s Annual Jageurs Liter- features Irish current affairs, politics, through their success in Gaelic games ary Award was presented at an Irish government and news events from was aired at The Irish Film Festival, spon- Hospitality and Literary Night Dinner on the week as well as reporting on the sored by The Irish Echo, last November. the 20th February hosted by the Celtic weeks international events in articles on Two of the brothers have made the move Club Library Service and the Irish Aus- Africa, the United States, the Middle to Melbourne to play Aussie Rules with tralian Chamber of Commerce at the East East and other regions. Vincent Browne Carlton FC. This highly-regarded doco Melbourne Library 122 George Street has edited the magazine since October tells their amazing story. East Melbourne. The award was presented 2004. It is available online from mid- by His Excellency Máirtín Ó Fainín, the night Wednesday. Hill of Tara Motorway Update Irish Ambassador, to Karen Corbett, with Sinn Féin MEP Mary Lou McDonald special commendations going to Terry Lively Brigidfest today called on Minister for the Environ- Monagle and Bill Hannan. The fth annual Brigidfest was held at a ment John Gormley to comply with Euro- The evening also included the launch luncheon at the Celtic Club on 3 Feb. The pean Commission demands and order a

ARCHITECTS AND CONSULTANTS Kevin 9326 7997 0413 101 360 [email protected] 331 Queensberry St, Nth Melb 3051 www.arena.org.au

Tinteán March 2008 5 new Environmental Impact Assessment Stavros Dimas, to re-assess the damage Words to Let the Light in on the M3 at Tara. being done to heritage there." Ms McDonald joined several dozen Obituary for John O’Donohue, demonstrators in today at the TaraWatch The Sea Stallion Update 1956 – 2008 demonstration at the Garden of Remem- Since Issue 1 Tinteán has been following brance, unfurling an M3 mock up at the the voyage to Dublin of Hahvingsten fra ‘If approached in friendship, the gates of the garden of Remembrance. Glendalough, the Viking reproduction unknown, the anonymous, the negative Gardaí locked the gates of the park military longboat, Sea Stallion from and the threatening gradually yield their permission was refused to hold the dem- Glendalough. You may remember that secret afnity with us.’ onstration inside. the Irish original was recently retrieved John O’Donohue, Anam Cara Demonstrations are also taking place from the bottom of Roskilde harbour. in Belfast, New York, Chicago and San The Danish government continues to On 3 January 2008, the esteemed Irish Francisco today, which marks the begin- cough up much patronage (2 million poet and philosopher, John O’Donohue, ning of a series of protests that will con- Danish kroner most recently), the crew died in his sleep, aged 52. Though sad at tinue up until St Patrick's Day. is almost recruited, and the invitations the loss of this inspirational and gener- Ms McDonald also called on Gormley pour in from harbours along the route. ous man, his insights endure to lead and to explain why the Department of the London will not be a port of call. Trouble comfort us. Environment had told the public that the is local yachting clubs underestimate the The son of a stonemason, he was born Lismullin national monument would be size of the crew, the cost of feeding 60 in County Clare, trained for the priest- handed over by the NRA to SIAC con- hungry rowers, and the space needed to hood at Maynooth and was a Catholic struction today, January 8, and then the pitch their tents. priest for 19 years before resigning. With NRA actually handed the site over on The voyage also seems to be a Ph.D in philosophical theology, he December 18. guaranteed prime time on BBC. How lectured and gave workshops in America "The Minister has outed EU law times have changed! Departure date is 29 and Europe. He leaves behind his mother since he came into ofce, by refusing June 2008. The return route is expected Josie, two brothers, a sister, and a wide to conduct a dew Environmental Impact to be more challenging, and they cer- circle of family, friends and readers. Assessment on Tara," said McDonald. tainly won't be matching the late Dark Since learning of his death I am revis- "The Green Party Minister for the Ages times of their Viking ancestors, iting the coming of light, of revelation in Environment has completely adopted especially not with all those welcoming his books: Anam Cara (1997), Eternal the Fianna Fáil position and rejected beacons along the coasts of Ireland and Echoes (1998), Divine Beauty (2003), demands by Environment Commissioner, Scotland. Watch this spot. Benedictus (2007). Anam Cara – Spiritual Wisdom from Farewell! our lovely red Fox the Celtic World, his lauded international best-seller, was given to me in 1997 by Obituary for Carmelita Maria Fox a friend in Donegal to help me through Ridgeway, 1968 – 2008 a rocky patch after my father died. I, in turn, gave a copy to my friend in Edmon- The family and many friends of Carmelita ton and we have been ‘soul friends’ ever Maria Fox Ridgeway were saddened by since. Our deep friendship started in 1984 her unexpected death on 10 January. but, before John O’Donohue’s reminder Carmelita, who came from Sligo of this Celtic tradition, we had not known seventeen years ago, had been unwell for what to call our open sharing of life some time, but died suddenly of a massive stories and hopes with each other. This heart attack. She was looking forward to book enriched my being and perspective FESTIVAL her 40th birthday on January 19. beyond measure. @portarlington Carmelita, a marine biologist, was a Spiritualism guru, Deepak Chopra, talented artist and very proud of her Irish called it ‘A rare synthesis of philosophy, Australia’s largest and heritage. She was passionate about Irish poetry and spirituality…a powerful and most diverse celebration music and loved dancing. One could not life-transforming experience for those help loving this vivacious lady with her who read it.’ of Celtic culture contagious enthusiasm for Ireland. When Eternal Echoes – Exploring our Even when she was battling her own Hunger to Belong followed in 1998, I sent June 6-9 2008 problems, everyone who visited her two copies to Edmonton for my friend home was struck by her amboyant and and hers. We rejoiced in such graceful Tickets @ GPAC unique creativity and hospitality. She and embracing ideology. ‘The ancient Ph: (03) 52251200 leaves two young daughters, Sinead and and eternal values of human life – truth, www.nationalcelticfestival.com Clodagh and ex-partner Noel who live in unity, goodness, justice, beauty and love Ph: 0409 017 130 Melbourne and is mourned by her mother – are all statements of true belonging.’ [email protected] Ira, brother Tom, and sisters Valerie and So, it seems that John O’Donohue Majella in Ireland. truly belonged not just to the wild coast We will all miss Carmelita our “lovely of Clare but to the wild heart that he red fox”. May her dear soul rest in peace awakened in others. Catherine Arthur Meg McNena

6 Tinteán March 2008 Events in NSW 6-9 June 2008 – the June long weekend. They even presented the actor (himself Classes cater for all skill levels from formerly a Protestant cleric) with a newly “We’ll all be ruined” beginners to uent speakers, with other made pandybat/jack for the occasion. The Annual John O’Brien (‘We’ll All recreational activities organised for the Bill will don the soutane (weather be Ruined, Said Hanrahan’) Festival, to evenings. Watch for more information permitting!) on two occasions: be held on 13-16 March in Nerrandera, from www.irishlanguageschoolsydney. • Sunday 2 March at 5pm for 5.30pm keeps the work of the Irish-Australian org.au or register your interest with in the amphitheatre at 5 Courbrant Court, priest, John Hartigan, and more generally [email protected]. Deirdre Ronai Mont Albert North Vin Ordinaire, Tea, bush poetry and song, alive. In 2006, a [email protected] Coffee and Cake. Cost $25. singer well known to the Melbourne • Sunday 9 March at 3 pm, at Will Irish, Eileen McPhillips of ‘Clonandra’ Tullamore Irish Festival and Kathy Fraser’s delightful Paramoor Mt Macedon, won the busking competi- The Tullamore Irish Festival is to be held Winery, near Woodend. Cost: $25, and tion with her adaptation of ‘Around the again this year at Easter, 20-24 March. delicious wine and local produce will be Boree Log’ to an Irish air, and returned Tullamore is nestled north-west available at the winery at modest prices. as a featured act in 2007 and will again of Parkes and south-west of Dubbo. Patrons are recommended to turn up early perform in 2008. Her repertoire is a mix Its annual festival promotes Tullamore to experience the farm, the barn and the of Scots, Irish and Australian songs, and and offers an exposure to the district’s local produce. her album is entitled Eileen McPhillips Irish culture. Bookings Essential for both these Sings around the Boree Log (see www. Opening on Thursday with the Visual events (space is limited) and they can be clonandra.com.au). Arts Exhibition, the program features a made by contacting Bob Glass on (03) Those with an ear for the long, Campre Celtic Concert, the Wearing 9898 2900. leisurely beat (often iambic pentameter) of the Green competition, the Tullam- of bush poetry might want to investigate ore Irish Hurdles, a Poets’ Breakfast, Irish Cultural Day the Bush Poets’ Association. It’s a traditional Irish Hooley and many other Melbourne Comhaltas – Irish Cultural national association with ngers in lots attractions. Maria Forde, one of Austra- Day, Sunday 16th March 11am-4pm, Col- of Australian heritage events around lia’s nest songstresses, will be a featured lingwood Town Hall, Hoddle Street, Col- Australia (see www.abpa.org.au). performer at the Festival. lingwood 3066. There will be workshops, More information about the festival, See www.tullamoreinc.com.au displays, dancing exhibitions and an which occurs on the St. Patrick Day all-day free concert. Fun for all the fam- weekend, will be found at www.johnobrien. ily! The day concludes with our annual com.au, or by phoning the Nerrandera Events in Victoria St. Patrick’s Family Dance 7-10.30pm. Visitor’s Centre on 1800 672 392. Music by Paddy Fitzgerald & friends Bloomsday in Melbourne Contact Mary McBride, 9435 4435 St Oíche le Phádraig Céilí Bloomsday in Melbourne’s Autumn Martin de Porres Parish Ofce. Oíche le Phádraig Céilí on 8 March 2008, fundraiser is Ron Blair’s play, The Chris- from 7pm. The Gaelic Club, Devonshire tian Brother. It’s a thoughtful satire on Irish Australian Person of the Year Street, Sydney. Cost is $15. Music will ’60s religion and sexuality, and Blooms- This event will take place on Friday 14th be supplied by Ceili Band and MC and day’s interest in it grew out of the 2007 March 7.30pm at the Celtic Club. Music musician for the night will be Fintan dramatisation of A Portrait of the Artist will be provided by Pat McKernan & Batty. Bring a picnic supper. Tickets are as a Young Man, which also featured Friends. There wil be a special appear- limited to 120 so to avoid disappointment Joyce’s own nemesis, a strap-wielding ance by the new and exciting Irish Trio, book early. Contact Eilis O’Rourke on unjust Jesuit. Saoirse. A 3 Course Dinner will be served 4268 4201/04140659634 Bill Johnston, well-known to Mel- – $45 Per Person. Drinks at bar prices. bourne audiences, will play the epony- This is always a very popular night! So be Scoil Gheimhridh mous role. When he last did so, it was sure to book early to secure your place. The Scoil Gheimhridh Irish Language commissioned by the Christian Brothers Contact Marion for more details on Winter School is on again in Sydney on for their community and at their novitiate. 9482 3865

MELBOURNE IRISH STUDIES SEMINARS Semester 1, 2008 An Inter-University Forum for Irish and Irish-Australian Studies Tuesdays, 6 pm to 7.30 pm The Oratory, Newman College Tues. 18 March Tues. 8 April Tues. 29 April Dr Shelley Meagher Dr Lindsay Proudfoot Craig Pett (Queen’s University, Belfast) (Queen’s University, Belfast) (Monash University) Irish Poets and Islam from the Ethnic Contribution Histories and Jonathan Swift and his Publisher Union to the Famine, 1801–45 the ‘Double Colonisation’ Thesis: John Harding: A Question of What’s so special about the Irish Money?

These are free public seminars. For further details, ring (03) 8344 3924 or (03) 9479 2440 or email [email protected] OR [email protected] OR [email protected] Convenors: Elizabeth Malcolm (University of Melbourne); Frances Devlin-Glass (Deakin University); Philip Bull (La Trobe University)

Tinteán March 2008 7 Song and Dance at the Lake School The ninth annual Lake School of Celtic Music Song and Dance kicked off with the Billy Moran Memorial session at the historic Micky Bourke’s Pub. A strong team of musicians lead by Paddy Fitzgerald played powerful sets of jigs and reels till very late – and set the tone for an exciting, but hot and exhausting week in Koroit. About 150 students – many of them rst time visitors to Koroit gathered for the Lake School program which involved over 100 workshops sessions, ceilidhes and concerts. New to the program was Mossie’s Scanlon’s Irish language classes which were well attended and obviously very funny as well as informative – any time I poked my head in there plenty of laugh- ter. Kevin McCarthy, from Queensland. also authour of the Blarney Bulletin said, Slow Session “I must say I was particularly impressed with Mossie's Irish Language classes – I er’s ddle class, and Lynnelle Moran’s sang a number of a beautiful ballads. just went along for something to do, and ute class. The Lake School Grand Ceilidhe, came away very pleased.” The Ambassador said he was on Sunday Jan 6 lived up to its name Also new to the Lake School was a impressed by the strength of the event when all the school members gathered at Youth Program organised by Gary Egan, and the enthusiasm of Australians for the Koroit Theatre to present what they Gary’s team of teenagers produced a celtic culture. The Ambassador also had learnt for the week. A four and a four page newsletter every day during visited St Brigids and Crossley Hall and half hour concert and ceilidhe revealed the Lake School week. The newsletter was shown plans for the hoped for Irish some amazing talent and learning. Mark included interviews and articles and Cultural Centre there. McDonnell’s slow session impressed drew interesting and amusing portraits of The Spud Poets Award was held at the with its cohesion and good spirit, Lake School and Koroit people. The Lake School for the third time this year, young piper Corey Henderson played a Newsletter interviewed Irish Ambas- and a dramatic evening saw the $1000 beautiful air that brought many a tear to sador, Máirtín Ó Fainín, who visited the prizemoney go to Francis Duggan, from the audiences eyes, and the Paddy O’Neill lake School on Jan 4 and 5, and followed Penshurst, with his poem about a dying Award winners, Rant, showed they could him around as he visited Vince Brophy’s piper, Old Casey. While the judges were overcame many obstacles (one of their guitar classes, Fay and Morgan McAlin- considering there decision the audience members had been in hospital during den’s Irish Set Dance class, Ewen Bak- was entertained by Shane Howard, who the week) when they performed to close the Ceilidhe. Fiddlers with Ambassador and his wife The nal night of the Lake School brought together 25 songwriters who had been working away feverishly during the week to have their song ready to be performed. Dennis O’Keeffe, songwriting tutor told the 150 audience crowded in to Micky Bourke’s Hotel that many of these songwriters have never written a song or performed in public. As has become the way the Songwrit- ers concert saw many great new songs being created and performed for the rst time. The excitement and the anxiety of the songwriters seemed to rub off onto the audience who were extremely sup- portive and appreciative… and the Lake School was over for another year! Felix Meagher

8 Tinteán March 2008 Love of language Bhí Daonscoil 2008, an triú scoil déag, ar teanga a choimead beo. Tug faoi ndeara Daonscoil 2008, the 13th Irish Lan- siúl ag Campa Lady Northcote í rith an an lá inniú. I 2007 duirt Máire Mhic guage Summer School, was recently seachtaine ín mhí Eanair. Tá an eagraithe Giolla Íosa go raibh an teanga at dul ó held at Lady Northcote Camp at ag Cumann Gaeilge na hAstráile agus bhí neart go neart de bharr an sár obain a Bacchus Marsh, Victoria. The summer daoine ag freastail ó gach aoisar duine bhí deanta at cumann éagsula. Tá sé fíor school is organised by the Irish Lan- is óige ceithre bliaina daois a caint as thabhactach go bhuil aitheantas tugta at guage Association of Australia and, Gaeilge, Bearla and Dutch agus an duine Aontach Europach don Ghaeilge mar this year, was attended by people of is sine, óchtú chuig bean a tháinig ó Baile theanga duchais. Thar rud ar bith eile, is all ages, including a tri-lingual four Átha Cliath! an nasc cultúrtha a cheanglíonn muid mar year old who is proficient in Irish, Ón Daonscoil bhi seachtain bríomhar theaghlach domhanda no nGael. Dutch and English and an 85 year old at na dalti ó thaobh iodachas, spiradáltas Ba starúil an rud é, gur oscail and who travelled from Dublin to attend! and carthanacht. Ó thaobh iodachas bhí T-Ambassadór and Daonscoil, ach, bhí The first Daonscoil was attended cúpla focal at gach duine at deairead na rud starúil eile nach raibh eolas again at by Irish poet and academic, Louis De seachtaine – ú iadson nach raibh focal an am. Sin go raibh Cupid at freastail an Paor, in 1995. This year, we had our agaibh or dtús. Bhí sé ócáid do gach Campa Lady Northcote. Siad Máire-Áine first visit from the Irish Ambassador éinne go bhfuil grá don theanga agaibh McManus agus Seán Curran an chead to Australia, Mr Máirtín Ó Fainín and foghlaim óna chéile, oibriú le chéile lanúin a thit faoi dhraoich an grá-cro trí his wife, Anne. When he opened the agus a carthanacht a cur chun cinn. Táim grá don teanga. Bhuaileadfar le chéile at Daonscoil, the Ambassador told us cínnte go raibh athas ar gach duine a Daonscoil Victoria cúpla bliain ó shin, that, as far back as 1922, it was diffi- bheith arias at Lady Northcote an bliain f’fhógraidir gur rabhadar gealta at an cult to keep the Irish Language alive seo chugainn! Daonscoiol is deanaí. in Australia. He said that people, then, Bhí an File agus Academic, Louis De Ba mhaith linn chur in umhall an cab- needed to be watchful to keep it Paor, at freastail ar an chéad Daonscoil i hair agus deontas a fuair Daonscoil 2008 going. He contrasted those concerns 1995. An mhí seo chaite, thug an Ambas- ó Embassáid na hEireann i gCanberra. to 2007 when the Irish President, Mary sadóir, Mairtín Ó Fainín, agus a bhean Le hagaidh gach eolas ar Cumann McAleese, said that the language was chéile, Aine, cuairt orainn don chéad uair. Gaeilge na hAstráile cuir glaog ar Deir- now going from strength to strength Bhí job beag le déanamh at an t-uasal, dre Uí Ghiolla Easpaig at Club Celtic 03 on account of the work that has been Mairtín, sé sin and Daonscoil a oscailt go 9670 6472. done by various groups around the h oigúil. Ar oscail na Daonscoile dúirt Deirdre Gillepsie world. These comments are especially an t-Ambassadór go raibh cruatan at ár significant in light of the fact that the dteanga fannach beo ú síar 1922 go Irish Ambassador, Máirtín Ó Fainín, European Union has now recogn- mór mór an Austrál. Úirt so go raibh gá and Irish Language Association ised Irish as an official language. It at daoine beith ar an airdeal ó thaobh an Victorian President Deirdre Gillespie is the most important cultural link that binds the various Irish speaking groups around the world. It was an historic occasion when the Ambassador opened the Daons- coil but there was another historical occasion that we did not know about at the time. That was that Cupid attended Lady Northcote Camp! It was Mary-Anne McManus and Sean Curran who came under the spell of love through the love of language. From Sydney, they met at Daonscoil in Bacchus Marsh a couple of years ago and announced their engage- ment amongst the recent gathering of 86 participants. We would like to acknowledge the financial support received from the Cultural Division of the Irish Embassy in Canberra for Daonscoil 2008. Deirdre Gillepsie For information on Irish Languages classes in Melbourne, contact Deirdre Gillespie via the Celtic Club on 03 9670 6472.

Tinteán March 2008 9 Bear eyes Bull’s territory

2007 was a year when the words for global equity markets and commodi- ‘sub-prime’ and ‘credit crunch’ were ties to hit new peaks this year. This envi- added to the lexicon of terms that ronment also provided a solid backdrop come to define significant financial for strong M&A activity, although credit market events. In this piece we market weakness impacted the potential concentrate on the key economic/ for new corporate deals in the latter financial events of the most recent months of the review. In a global context, calendar year. We also turn our mergers and acquisitions amounted to attention to the outlook for 2008 a whopping US$4 trillion by the end of and whether the threat of recession in 2007, surpassing the 2006 total value of the US will materialise. deals which was some US$3.5 trillion. Private-equity investment (especially in 12 Month Review to 31 the rst half of the year) and increased December 2007 emerging market M&A fuelled much of Simon Good A weak December brought the curtain the increase in overall activity. Client Services Manager down on a year of extraordinary activity 2007 was in many ways a tale of two BIAM Australia Pty Limited on global equity markets. It was a year markets – the rst half was very risk of extremes as China’s stock market assuming, followed by a sharp lurch to doubled in value and Irish equities shed risk aversion on fears of a credit crisis November saw the price rise to an all- 30%; banks boasted record prots before and a dramatic increase in volatility time record high of US$99.29 per barrel. succumbing to massive writedowns in (albeit from historically low levels in Copper prices accelerated for much of the second half of the year as sub-prime recent years). The health of the US 2007 as demand for the metal, driven by default worries mounted. The US dol- economy had been in the spotlight head- China, increased. Supply disruptions in lar slumped as the economic prognosis ing into 2007 due to the malaise affecting Latin America have also buoyed copper turned sour, while the Canadian & Aus- its housing sector with rising defaults on prices which have risen almost 25% since tralian currencies stormed ahead on the mortgages, particularly in the sub-prime the beginning of February 2007 to the back of rising commodity prices. The segment. Credit market weakness inten- end of December. Increased demand and Federal Reserve cut the federal funds rate sied in the latter half of the year, as a diminishing stockpiles saw the price of by one full percentage point in the space number of global nancial institutions wheat double over the past year, breaking of ten weeks, the December cut coming reported losses linked to investments through the US$10 per bushel level, cap- just days after the European Central Bank backed by these sub-prime mortgages. ping a 79% gain for the year. Meanwhile, (ECB) put markets on notice that it would Ultimately, banks refused to lend to one investors increasingly sought the safe- increase rates if ination stayed high. another as exposure to these sub-prime haven status of gold amid inationary All in all, it was a year in which ‘sub- assets remained unknown. Credit markets concerns as oil edged closer to $US100 prime’ and ‘credit crunch’ were added to broadly recovered into mid-October fol- the lexicon of terms that come to dene lowing a number of central bank liquidity Disclaimer: BIAM Australia is an Australian Finan- signicant nancial market events, while injections into interbank money markets cial Services Licensee (AFSL No. 225717) pursu- the end of the year was also noticeable and an easing in monetary policy in the ant to section 913B of the Corporations Act 2001 for mutterings of the dreaded ‘R’ word, US. However, continued unfavourable and is subject to regulation by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission for this as US economic data deteriorated. news about the US housing market and purpose. In this regard, BIAM Australia is not Notwithstanding episodes of signi- deepening losses by nancial institutions licensed to provide advice, or deal on behalf of, cant market weakness, it is noteworthy subsequently revived earlier concerns retail investors. BIAM Australia is not authorised to carry on bank- that global stock indices have in general and heightened volatility became a ing activities under the Banking Act 1959 and is achieved posted gains in 2007. The initial hallmark of much of November. It took not subject to prudential supervision by the Aus- months of 2007 followed the pattern of the co-ordinated action of ve leading tralian Prudential Regulation Authority. This piece is a general economic & market com- strong equity market gains and the robust central banks to provide a little respite mentary and is not provided with the intention of global economic backdrop that was to liquidity pressures in money markets, giving specific financial advice. Please note that apparent for much of 2006. Equity mar- while signicant injections of liquidity in mention of specific stocks should not be taken as a recommendation to trade in such stocks with- kets have been underpinned by the robust banking systems appeared to be working out taking professional financial advice. performance of the global economy, most at year-end as the cost of borrowing fell BIAM Australia Pty Ltd (‘BIAM Australia’) BIAM notably the continued strength of the from the elevated levels witnessed in Australia is a wholly owned subsidiary within the Bank of Ireland Group. Bank of Ireland, one of the Eurozone economy and surging Asian November. largest providers of financial services in Ireland, expansion, especially in China and India. Another dominant feature of this year was established in 1783. Its investment manage- Although there was a general increase in has been the steep rise in commodity ment services are offered via a number of specialist investment houses – Bank of Ireland Asset interest rates outside the US in the rst prices. Surging demand from emerging Management Ltd (Global Equities, Fixed Income, half of 2007, rates remained at historically markets, geopolitical tensions (particu- Absolute Return & Liquidity Funds); Guggenheim low levels and the abundance of liquidity larly in the Middle East and Nigeria) and Advisors LLC (Hedge Fund of Funds); Paul Capital Investments LLC (Private Equity); and Iridian Asset that characterised the initial months of falling US inventories all contributed Management LLC (US Equities). 2007 provided the perfect environment to keep the price of crude oil elevated.

10 Tinteán March 2008 per barrel and the US dollar weakened signicantly. Gold came close to the Boxed tenors US$850 per ounce level at year-end, the highest in 27 years. Boxed sets come in boxes right ? Not any more. This lot comes in a wee tin with Outlook a hinged lid like something you would Equity market uncertainty looks set to keep buttons in. The artwork is even continue into 2008 as the true extent embossed into the lid to give a ‘gift pack’ of the fallout from the US sub-prime feel. Just what you need for added cred- market remains unclear. Stock markets ibility if the surplus of shamrocks doesn’t have, on balance, achieved strong gains cut it. As is usual with compiliations that in 2007, with emerging markets from are compiled in Botswana or somewhere, Asia to Latin America powering ahead. we get mistakes in the song titles – like However, investors are concerned that Mountains Of The Mourne (sic). impossible to nd nowadays, like “Gort the global credit crunch will have a mate- Enough of the nitpicking, just who are na Mona” and “The Old House”. There rial negative impact on the wider global these tenors? In order of appearance we are even a couple of songs I never heard economy. have Leo McCaffrey, Cathal McCann, John before, including “Eileen McManus” and Many have adopted a more cautious McCloskey, Roly Daniels, Brian Coll, Red “Whispering Hope”. outlook to equity market prospects. Harper, Brendan Quinn, Ray McCreavey, Standout performances are Brendan on Defensive stocks have performed rela- Josef Locke, and John McCormick. “How Great Thou Art” with gospel choir tively strongly while there are signs of If you grew up in Ireland you will and honky tonk piano. Or perhaps Brian support for nancial stocks – sovereign recognize most of these names (Roly was on “Rose of Tralee”, my own favourite wealth funds have been actively taking big in country music for a long time) and from way back when. These types of stakes in banks such as Citigroup and feel suitably reassured, although overseas songs often trap unwary singers who think Morgan Stanley. We believe that markets purchasers may only be familiar with theatrics are part of the answer, when the are pricing too negative an outcome to the last couple. An added bonus is the question was in fact much simpler. But 2008 for a number of nancial stocks and 16 page booklet entitled “The Music of most listeners will quickly nd their own expect that to change as earnings bear out Ireland”. This has been a real labour of favourites, there is plenty to choose from. that belief. love on someone’s part and covers the One thing I noticed is that a lot of the best All eyes are on the consumer, particu- history and structure of the music in songs are in waltz time, “Wild Irish Rose” larly in the US and UK where data sug- some detail. A section covering dance being a famous case in point. gests some reining in of spending. Stocks music is followed by a rundown on each The vocal performances are actu- most exposed to discretionary spending instrument found nowadays, including ally rst class, these guys can really are recording earnings downgrades. Mar- guitar and bouzouki. Very well written belt it out, although the aforementioned kets have increasingly turned to central and quite instructive. arrangements might sound a bit dated banks to help alleviate the stresses felt on But the music described in the booklet for modern tastes, with often just a piano nancial markets, although money mar- is not what we nd (or expect?) on the for accompaniment, or sometimes a ceili ket rates may remain elevated for some CDs. The collection of songs from our band type of backing. time. Despite ination worries, we expect ten tenors seems to have been culled All up there are 33 songs to be found that UK and US base rates will be cut to from recordings made over a fairly long on the 3 discs. All of them are good combat the threat of recession. We see the period judging by the arrangements and examples of what Ireland was producing ECB on hold in the immediate future in general production. Although it doesn’t before the showbands carved a swathe relation to monetary policy, although the say outright anywhere I’d guess late for- though history. If you are of a certain age chances of a rate cut will increase should ties to mid sixties. or maybe just curious about music of a data point to a further slowing in the Old stalwarts like “Star of The County certain period then this set will provide Eurozone economy. Down” and “The Butcher Boy” sit along- lots of listening pleasure. Simon Good side some material that is very hard or Stuart Traill LONERGAN FAMILY FUNERALS INCORPORATING W.G. RAVEN EST 1849 DIGNITY • GENTLENESS • UNDERSTANDING

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Tinteán March 2008 11 Proﬁle Kim Keenan: Manager of the Celtic Club Melbourne

What is your role as the manager of the cultural occasions which are celebrated Celtic Club? in Ireland. (St Patrick’s Day!) To ensure the club meets the needs of the members. To promote the club to all. And to the Australian-Irish community? To make it a warm and inviting place for We hold events/functions for the wider members and visitors to visit. community and hope they will attract What part of Ireland do you come from more Australian-Irish to visit the Club. and do you still have family members What did you find most challenging there? about your role? What are your plans for the Club? I am from Crumlin in Dublin, it’s about 4 The role is particularly challenging for To inject more ‘life’ into the Club, (not miles from Dublin city. Both my parents anyone. You have to try and balance the that it isn’t lively already!) by letting still live in Crumlin; one of my brothers needs of the members with trying to run a people, young and old, know that we are lives in Meath and the other in Wicklow. viable ‘business’. here. Yes, we are the oldest – I prefer to I have no sisters. say ‘rst’ – Irish Club in Australia, but What do you think the Celtic Club that doesn’t mean that the Club itself What are the happiest memories of your contributes to the Irish Diaspora in can’t be an inviting place for young and childhood/teenage/young adult years Melbourne/Australian society? old alike to gather, whether to watch in Ireland? We offer a place where people can gather sport, learn a language (classes in Irish The happiest memories of my childhood to discuss/experience Australian Irish and Scottish Gaelic and Welsh among years would have been going every year to Heritage and culture. others!), or listen to the great live music Asdee (just outside Ballybunion in Kerry) We also offer a venue where people we have regularly on Friday nights. on holidays. We used to rent a house there can come in and watch the major every year. My family have been going sporting events from Ireland and other How long have you been in Australia there since I was 4. In fact my parents still overseas venues. There are organized and what brought you here? go and when I was home in August we functions celebrating Irish festivals and I arrived in Australia on 8th October 2001. visited for a week. It was fantastic – the I initially travelled over here with my scenery, the beaches, absolutely beautiful. best friend on a year-long holiday work- As good as anywhere in the world, if only ing visa with the intention of staying for you were guaranteed the weather!! For all your energy 10-11 months. However I fell in love with lighting solutions the place. My best friend travelled home What do you miss about Irish society? and supplies after 10 months. I met a lovely Irish guy The only things I miss from home are my and was lucky enough to get sponsorship. family and friends. I love going home for So here I am six and a half years later!! a holiday but wouldn’t like to live there at the moment I’m very happy here, thank What was your work experience before you very much!! you took up the position of Manager at the Celtic Club? And what do you like most about At home I worked in the Bank of Ireland Melbourne/Australia? for 5 years. On arriving in Australia I I love the fact we actually get a summer!! decided I wanted to do something differ- At home, your summer could be a couple ent. My best friend Bernie, was unable to of days sunshine, if you’re lucky!! get work in Sydney so when we arrived in In Melbourne, there’s always some- Southbank Melbourne we were in desperate need of thing going on, sporting events, footy, the Architectural work. We had a contact, Fr Alan, who was Grand Prix, tennis, etc. the Irish priest in Bondi at the time. He put Lighting us in touch with Marion O’Hagan, who in Do you think it would be a good thing turn put us in touch with Norma Taylor, if more young people migrated to who was the Manager of the Quiet Man Australia or do you think it’s a good Irish Hotel at that time. In Melbourne, I thing they settle in Ireland after their was very lucky to get work at “The Quiet Aussie experience? 592 City Rd, Sth Melb Man” Irish Pub in Flemington. I would encourage everyone to travel Tel: 03 9690 5477 Later, I moved to Finnegan’s Irish Pub over here at some stage. It’s really up Fax: 03 9696 4989 at Highpoint, where I was lucky enough to the individuals themselves whether Mob: 0419 553 825 to get sponsorship. I was Restaurant & they settle here or not. I can only [email protected] Functions Supervisor there. I worked comment on my experience, it’s the best www.sbalighting.com.au there for 2 years and then moved to the thing I ever did! Celtic Club and here I am. Catherine Arthur

12 Tinteán March 2008 Bolg an tSoláthair/Odds & Ends

Peggy of Kilmore In January 2008 Peggy Butler of Kilmore, Victoria, turned 91. At her ninetieth birthday last year I was delighted to be given a copy of a memoir she has written. She gives a striking account of carving out an independent life. Taught book-keeping by the nuns in Kilmore, Peggy moved to the city, boarded with aunts, developed further business skills, and made a career in a wide range of ofces before moving back to a bank in Kilmore. She reports examples of anti-Catholic and anti-Irish bias among employers but shows that such attitudes At Sunshine photographic exhibition: Olwen Ford, local were not universal. historian; Nora O’Connor, café manager; and Brendan O’Connor MP (not a relative) Kit of Ballybunion On 27 December 2007, in Ballybunion, Co Kerry, Kit Ahern, Works at Sunshine, Victoria. an outstanding friend of Irish Australia, remembered by many The unionists and their wives, especially Mary Smith and for her 1963 visit to Melbourne and for her hospitality in Bal- Kate Russell, did an enormous amount of work in preparing lybunion, died a fortnight short of 93. One who will miss her facts and gures for their case. For their court appearance, they especially is Mary-Ita Collard, of Mt Waverley, Victoria, daugh- hired prominent lawyer Frank Gavan Duffy, son of Charles, a ter of Kit’s friend, Thomas Culhane. Tom, a Gaelic scholar from well known Irish and Victorian politician. Glin, Co Limerick, lived most of his life in Brunswick, Victoria. The main centenary events were a one-day conference at I too will miss her. As editor of Táin, I received fantastic support the University of Melbourne; an evening of re-enactment and and help from Kit, here and in Ireland. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a speeches; and a photographic exhibition at the Granary café in h-anam dilis. Sunshine. All were of high standard and well attended. At all three, discussions turned to the prospects of progress in today’s Kiernan of Yale situation where wages are often xed without regard to the needs Ben Kiernan, a leading history professor at Yale University in of the workers. USA and son of Peter and Joan of Melbourne, has written a most The accompanying photograph was taken at the Granary café extraordinary book. Entitled Blood and Soil, it is a world history on Friday 9 November. Olwen Ford, well known as a founder of of genocide and extermination from Sparta to Darfur. Melbourne the Living Museum of the West, orchestrated the re-enactment University Press are about to release it. on the Thursday. The other two in the picture are Irish. Nora This work of astounding learning, a culmination of Ben Kier- O’Connor, a graduate of Melbourne University’s Irish Studies nan’s life’s work to this point, is worth buying for many reasons program, who runs the friendly Granary café, was born in Cork but at least for the chapter on the English conquest of Ireland and migrated in 1989. 1565-1603. Kiernan has marshalled a strong case to prove the Brendan O’Connor, born in London of Irish parents migrated horrifying genocide of the Elizabethan invasion. as a teenager and entered Australian public life as an ofcial of the municipal employees union. He is now MP for the seat of Basic wage centenary Gorton which covers the Caroline Springs-Ardeer area. He has In Melbourne on 8 November 1907, an outstanding Irish-born since become minister for employment participation in the ALP judge Henry Bourne Higgins ruled that employers should pay government. a fair basic wage to all employees based on need. The xing I set out to report the centenary and am a bit surprised how of a minimum wage was a world rst. The test case was for many Irish links showed up. agricultural implement makers at H V McKay’s Harvester Val Noone

28 hours of entertainment Breamar The Handpicked Band Pete Riley Charmaine’s Irish Dancers Emlyn’s Harp Jim Brown Maria Forde www.tullamoreinc.com.au

Tinteán March 2008 13 Daonscoil 2008 Mar a deir an seanfhocal: tús maith leath caint as Gaeilge. Located within the na hoibre. Agus bhí tús an-mhaith don Bhí ‘Comhar na gComharsana’ mar bhliain dúinne siúd atá ag iarraidh an chuid den chlár, mar is gnáth, agus de Celtic Club building Ghaeilge a fhoghlaim, gan aon agó, a bharr nach raibh ach líon an-íseal san ard chaith an dara seachtain i mí Eanáir ag rang, bhí deis ag na mic léinn i Rang a freastal ar an Daonscoil. Ceathair an ról mar mheantóirí a ghla- Bhí an scoil ar siúl i mbliana arís in cadh. Dála na múinteoirí nua thuasluaite, Lady Northcote Camp, atá an-oiriúnach rinne siad sár-obair. For the best deals dúinn. Tá áiseanna maithe sa champa agus Ag breathnú siar ar an tseachtain and service when i dtólamh bíonn atmaisféar an-chairdiúil anois, bhí a lán buaicphointí. Thar aon ann – cuireann na cuileoga áitiúla fáilte ní eile, is cuimhin liom an dráma a léirigh travelling to Ireland Uí Cheallaigh romhainn i gcónaí! an cúigear páistí ar oíche Aoine, drámú and beyond In iomlán bhí sé dhuine dhéag is den scéal ‘An Fear Sinséir’. Bhí sé an- trí chead cláraithe sa scoil, agus tháinig deas na páistí a fheiceáil ag an Daonscoil cuairteoirí eile le linn na seachtaine. agus ba ríléir gur bhain siadsan an-sult as Bhí daoine ann as Adelaide, Victoria, an tseachtain. New South Wales, Queensland, Canberra Bhí mé féin páirteach i ndráma eile, agus Éire. leagan amaideach de ‘Hamlet’, agus Fadhb amháin a bhí againn an babhta bhain mé an-sásamh as. Ghlac deichniúr seo ná go raibh easpa múinteoirí ann. againn róil ann agus ní raibh ach triúr as Bíonn daoine óga de chuid na turasóirí an ard rang ina measc. Cé go raibh gach mála droma ar fáil dúinn, de ghnáth, le focal as Gaeilge, rinne na haisteoirí ar cuidiú leis an múinteoireacht, ach i mbli- bheagán Gaeilge an-jab agus bhí am ar ana níor aimsíodh ú duine amháin acu. dóigh againne, le linn na gcleachtaí agus Is mór an trua é sin, mar, chomh maith ar “an oíche mhór” í féin. leis an múinteoireacht, tugann na hÉire- Bhain mé úsáid as an seanfhocal, annaigh óga seo fuinneamh agus eolas ‘tús maith leath na hoibre’ cheana féin, At Emerald Travel, Seamus úrnua dúinn. agus cinnte bhí tús fíor-mhaith againn. and Christina Moloughney Bhí triúr de na gnáthmhúinteoirí ar iar- D’oscail an t-ambasadóir Éireannach, a raidh chomh maith. De bharr sin, b’éigean Shoilse Máirtín Ó Fainín, an Daonscoil, continue a family tradition do dhaoine nua ranganna a theagasc, agus agus ba spreagadh an-mhór é dúinn nuair of professional travel service ba dhóigh liom go ndearna siad sár-obair. a labhair sé as Gaeilge faoin dul chun Níl slí níos fearr teanga a fhoghlaim, ná í cinn atá déanta ag an teanga le che bli- Level 3, 316 Queen St, a mhúineadh. ain anuas, in Éirinn agus san Eoraip. Melbourne VIC 3000 Bhí an líon mic léann i gcúpla rang Agus bhí ár gcéad lánúin Daonscoile 03 9670 9696 0419 401 584 an-ard, trí dhuine is chead sa dara rang againn! Bhuail MáireÁine Nic Mhánais Fax: 03 9670 7007 is airde, agus seacht nduine dhéag i Rang le Seán Ó Curráin ag an Daonscoil den a Trí. Bhí craic agus spraoi sna ranganna chéad uair, agus anois tá a gcleamhnas [email protected] céanna, áfach, ach caithfear a rá go déanta acu. Saol fada dóibh dís. mbíonn sé níos deacra comhrá a chur ar Labhair mé le gach éinne a bhí sa siúl leis an ngrúpa ina hiomláine nuair a champa le linn na seachtaine, agus ba bhíonn líon chomh hard ann. léir dom go raibh siad ag baint suilt É sin ráite, bí sé an-deas a fheiceáil go agus tairbhe as an scoil. Bhí sé go deas raibh go leor mic léinn ann ag déanamh mo sheanchairde a fheiceáil arís, agus go a ndícheall an teanga a labhairt an deas freisin bualadh le daoine nua. Táim t-am ar fad. Is fearr Gaeilge bhriste ná ag tnúth le cuid mhór acu a fheiceáil Béarla cliste, agus arís is arís eile nuair arís ag Scoil Gheimhridh in Sydney i mí a shuigh mé sa seomra bia le haghaidh an Mheithimh. béile bhí na daoine eile ag an mbord ag Barney Devlin Licence 32507

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16 Tinteán March 2008 Irish Episcopal Imperialism

To observe that the Roman Catholic Newfoundland, Grimley and Leonard provincial, or national synods. In this way, Church in the English-speaking world is in the Cape Colony, another, un-related, the Irish – and more particularly Cullen’s heavily inuenced by the Irish is to state the Moran in the Cape and New Zealand). Irish – came to dominate the Catholic obvious. Think of St Patrick’s Cathedral, Before 1850 – when he was appointed to Church in each of the affected countries New York – or Melbourne. Or consider Armagh – Cullen had used his inuence on (save Scotland) from the top down, and that even in the United Kingdom the two behalf of friends to ensure a rapid growth against the resistance of the pre-existing incumbent cardinals are called Murphy- of the Irish component of the episcopate national hierarchies. O’Connor (Westminster) and O’Brien in the United States (on behalf of Francis This phenomenon – which I have else- (Edinburgh). It is often assumed that this Patrick Kenrick of Philadelphia), British where called “Irish Episcopal Imperialism” Irish character is the natural consequence North America (in support of William – had profound consequences, both for of successive waves of Catholic Irish emi- Walsh of Halifax), India, and the Cape the Church and for its host societies. gration, both before and after the Famine. Colony (at the request of Archbishop Hiberno-Roman Catholicism emphasised To a certain extent this is true, but it is not Daniel Murray of Dublin). In this phase papal authority over the episcopate, the whole truth. In the nineteenth-century, of his career, Cullen acted as the agent of episcopal authority over the clergy, and in every part of the English-speaking others, and many of those he helped to clerical authority over the laity. The world, the Irish secured (or sought to appoint turned out to be less ultramontane Hiberno-Roman bishops were everywhere secure) control of the Catholic Church than he would have wished. After 1850, in the forefront of demands for religiously rst at episcopal level, and in the teeth of he began to act on his own account. separate education. They were also enthu- determined opposition on the part of pre- Cullen could do this because of his siastic builders, not just of churches and existing, ethnically-based, hierarchies: almost unique inuence in Rome. This cathedrals, but also of hospitals, schools, French and German in the United States, inuence was partly the result of his and convents. They helped spread favou- Scots in the Maritime provinces of British own success as a student there in the rite (Irish) religious orders throughout the North America and Scotland itself, Eng- 1820s, when his brilliant academic career United States and the British Empire, most lish Benedictines in Australia and French attracted the notice of the future Pope consequentially the Sisters of Mercy and Marists in New Zealand. Additionally, the Gregory XVI. It was his patronage that the Christian Brothers. By building semi- Catholic hierarchies of the Cape Colony secured Cullen’s appointment as rector of naries modelled on the Irish College at and India were (transiently in the latter the Irish College, and ensured his access Rome, Cullen’s bishops ensured that their case) heavily populated by the Irish-born. to the highest levels of power in Rome. own policies and attitudes permeated their This process began in earnest in the The second reason for Cullen’s inuence successors, and through them the laity. United States from about 1830, and con- was a lucky chance: few Roman ofcials Although Cullen and his bishops never tinued with great success beyond the turn could read enough English to understand enjoyed total success – Scotland was a of the twentieth-century. Only Scotland the complicated disputes emerging across notable failure, and the result in New Zea- repelled the Irish, and then only for a few the world, many involving Irish com- land was at best ambiguous in Cullen’s generations. In spite of its long duration, plaints against their non-Irish bishops. lifetime – they did create a distinctively this process was not in any way acciden- Cullen was often called upon to explain Irish episcopate, which in turn created tal, not the inevitable consequence of these disputes, and his advice – which a distinctively Irish Catholic Church in immigrant demographics. Rather, it was was almost always in favour of the Irish much of the English-speaking world. To carefully planned, and centrally directed, – was usually followed by Rome. More be sure, Irish domination of the Catholic by one man: Paul Cullen (1803-78), often than not, the advice included the Church would have eventually come successively rector of the Irish College recommendation to do one or more of the through sheer force of emigrant numbers. in Rome, archbishop of Armagh, and, following: appoint an Irish coadjutor to It was Cullen’s distinctive contribution from 1852, archbishop of Dublin. Cullen a non-Irish bishop (New York, Halifax, to pre-empt demography, and build what ensured that a substantial proportion of Glasgow, Hobart); replace a deceased (from 1850, at least) was an ideologically episcopal appointments in the English- or retired non-Irish bishop with an Irish homogeneous, condent, and Irish epis- speaking world were directed towards the successor (Baltimore, Newfoundland, copacy throughout the English-speaking Irish. Not simply any Irish: from 1850, Auckland); divide the diocese of a non- world, owing a common loyalty to ultra- Cullen sought to ensure that his candi- Irish bishop, lling the new diocese with montane, Hiberno-Roman Catholicism dates adhered to his own ultramontane, an Irishman (Halifax, Wellington, many and the cardinal archbishop of Dublin. Hiberno-Roman, brand of Catholicism. times in New South Wales); create entirely Colin Barr To that end, he secured mitres for his new dioceses with Irish bishops (the west- Colin Barr is Associate Professor of relatives (the Quinn brothers of Brisbane ern district of the Cape, Bathurst, New History at Ave Maria University (Florida) and Bathurst, Cardinal Moran of Sydney, Brunswick, and too often to enumerate in and a Fellow of the Royal Historical Michael Verdon of Dunedin, Murray of Australia and the United States). Once the Society (London). His publications Maitland), former students (Croke of Irish secured a local majority, identiably include Paul Cullen, John Henry Auckland, Dunne of Brisbane, O’Connor Hiberno-Roman disciplinary and devo- Newman, and the Catholic University of Pittsburgh, Spalding of Louisville and tional practices (such as the Forty Hours of Ireland, 1845-65. A fuller version of Baltimore, plus the Quinns, Murray, and devotion) were imposed on the remaining, his account may be found in The English Moran), and diocesan priests (Power of non-Irish majority by means of diocesan, Historical Review (forthcoming, 2008).

Tinteán March 2008 17 Were Irish & Catholic synonymous? For a lot of the time in Australia, the By and large, the Catholic people their target was Romanism, not simply words Irish and Catholic meant the same. went along with this. Too often they an errant priest. Catholics thought like Yet it wasn’t always like that: once upon a were made to feel outsiders, so they that too, and in defence of their faith (as time Irish Australians, of whatever faith, welcomed a champion willing to go in they saw it) forged letters, faked evidence on big occasions like St Patrick’s Day to bat for them. What matter if some of and stole mail. Great was their jubilation could celebrate together their common Moran’s strokes were slap-dash and even when their man got off. Celebratory meet- identities and their Irish origins. The man brutal and that at times he might sound ings up and down the east coast raised who changed that was a tall, scholarly no better than a sectarian bigot; the other thousands of pounds for O’Haran’s legal controversialist, Patrick Francis Cardinal side were just as bad, they knew. Great fees, and the Catholic press trumpeted Moran, Catholic Archbishop of Sydney, battles of the past were fought again on the defeat of ‘a foul conspiracy against 1884-1911. Australian soil as the Reformation divide God’s church’. When he came to Sydney most split society. As well, here was a continu- Allied to Moran’s encouragement Catholics and their priests were Irish of an Australian national sentiment was but their bishops had been Englishmen. his support for the labour movement. Moran set out to give the religion an Irish Famously, he sided with the emergent face. Thus, from now on, new parishes “The early success trade union movement and the young were dedicated to Irish saints – in time, Australian Labor Party. During the there would be in Sydney nine parishes of the Australian national maritime strike of 1890, he was named for St Patrick, while many others Labor Party owed a cheered by a parade of strikers and their were given Irish saints’ names. The semi- supporters. When criticized by conserva- nary Moran built, at Manly, was called St lot more to Cardinal tives for his pro-labour stance, he replied Patrick’s and staffed with Irish teachers. that Australian ‘socialism’ was sanitized Needing an auxiliary bishop, he looked Moran at St Mary’s and acceptable. Most Catholics were then homewards and chose a parish priest in working people, which explains Moran’s Ireland. Irish marriage rules, the Irish Cathedral, Sydney, advocacy; yet as a church leader he also catechism, Irish devotions (some French made sure he could deal with whoever in origin, but who knew that?), Irish than to Karl Marx was in power. The cardinal found reasons sacramentals, Irish history as a school for his pro-labour stance in traditional subject – all were brought into Austra- at the British Church social teaching. When Pope lian church practice, giving it an Irish Museum, London” Leo XIII published the social encyclical accent. When Moran published his big Rerum Novarum in 1891, Moran was book, History of the Catholic Church quick to claim it as validation of his own in Australasia, it was notable as a story positions. So Graham Freudenberg would of Irish triumphs in which his English ing contest about the pressing national write a century later, ‘The early success Benedictine predecessors in Sydney were question, what does it mean to be an Aus- of the Australian Labor Party owed a lot accorded scant attention. tralian? Protestants, and none more than more to Cardinal Moran at St Mary’s St Patrick’s Day revealed most Irish Protestants, tended to answer that Cathedral, Sydney, than to Karl Marx at clearly the pastoral plan behind all this the most important thing about Australia the British Museum, London’. determined Hibernicism. Previously, 17 was that it was part of the British Empire, Moran died in 1911 and two years later March had been a lay, unchurched cel- with all its attendant rights and duties. Daniel Mannix came to Melbourne pick- ebration. Now, taken over by the clerics, On the other hand, Catholics emphasized ing up the dead man’s episcopal motto, it became a Catholic feast day with cer- the newness of Australia and what was Omnia Omnibus – All things to everyone emonies in the cathedral, athletics at the being called the Australian national (what!) – and his pastoral project of iden- sports ground, a vice-regal luncheon and spirit. Polarised religion thus infected tifying Catholicism with Irishism. While at night a concert in the town hall featur- differences in social thinking. Mannix has many biographers – only ing a half-hour lecture on St Patrick. For Then came one of those explosive Ned Kelly has more Lives – Moran has Moran and his men identifying Catholi- events that give you a clear view of ten- eluded the various scholars who have cism and Hibernicism was a deliberate sions beneath the surface of a society. tried to capture him in a book. To date, the pastoral strategy. With unfailing zeal, Denis Francis O’Haran, an urbane young best account has been A E Cahill’s in the they promoted the idea that the only true Irish priest, had accompanied Moran to Australian Dictionary of Biography; but, Irish person was a Mass-going Catholic. Sydney as his secretary and thereafter alas, Cahill was not spared to write the Oh, yes, they might admit, there were remained as the cardinal’s right hand man. biography (his papers are in the Mitchell Protestant Irishmen – who, in Australia, So when a test cricketer’s wife, Alice Library, Sydney). were responsible for many things such Coningham, said O’Haran had seduced Now comes Philip Ayres, a biogra- as Melbourne’s library and its university, her, the subsequent court case seized pher whose previous books have been and much of the legal system, and the national interest. Behind Mrs Coningham Lives of a judge, an explorer, and a evangelical strain of Australian Anglican- and her husband, who initiated the court politician. Commissioned by the Sydney ism – in clerical rhetoric, nevertheless, to action, was an Irish Protestant clergy- Archdiocese, Prince of the Church: Pat- be Irish was to be Catholic. man, making no secret of his belief that rick Francis Moran, 1830-1911 (the

18 Tinteán March 2008 Cardinal Moran, Catholic Archbishop of Sydney, 1884-1911 © MDHC Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne

Miegunyah Press, 2007), is a triumph You would not say that of Denis lawyer, looked like the priest – but where of assiduous research, which at times O’Haran, who buried his ‘Chief’ and is there a photograph? Not here. In seven- slows the narrative: one problem, one then had to face twenty years under the teen measured words, however, Ayres has paragraph; so that you long for the biog- successor archbishop, that mitred medi- his say on a case that once split Australia: rapher to escape from the archives and ocrity, Michael Kelly. No one will write ‘Still, Alice was evidently convinced on show you something of Moran’s esh a biography of O’Haran, but there’s a the matter, and that convinces me, for she and blood, his humanity. Perhaps there meaty novel in the man. Despite the was not mad.’ was in Moran, as in many higher ecclesi- acquittal, Alice Coningham always Edmund Campion astics, little humanity to write about: the claimed that her last son was O’Haran’s Edmund Campion is writing a book on ofce absorbs the man. and people said the boy, later a Sydney Ted Kennedy, priest of Redfern.

Tinteán March 2008 19 Swift as philanthropist

I have given many lectures and talks That is the word ‘philanthropy’. them over periods of recession, of which over the years in various places, but The 18th century preferred the word there were a number during the 1720s never I confess from a pulpit before. It’s ‘charity’; charity being of course one and 1730s. This he termed his ‘industry a little daunting, and especially when I of the cardinal Christian virtues. But money’: it was intended to promote local remember what Swift had to say about the 19th century gave charity a rather industry and industriousness. pulpits at the beginning of A Tale of a Tub. bad name and thus it’s a word that’s But Swift’s greatest act of philanthropy He identied ‘three wooden machines’ somewhat out of fashion these days. was his decision, made about 1730, or by which people sought to elevate them- Instead we have philanthropy, which is 15 years before his death, to build and selves above their fellows: the pulpit, perceived to have a more ‘user friendly’ endow a hospital for, in the terminology the ladder and the stage. The stage he feel to it. Popularised in the USA, it’s a of the time, ‘ideots and lunaticks’. associated with travelling ‘mountebacks’ democratic word, while charity tends to Like so much else that Swift did, this or conmen, who were likely to end up on be associated with Victorian values of nal benefaction deeply divided people: a ladder – that is hanged on a public scaf- class and condescension. some lauded his generosity, others ques- fold – or in a pulpit – that is in a public Recent books, speeches and news- tioned his sanity. Of course he only added pillory. I hope you will not take his cue paper articles have been discussing phi- to the controversy himself with his refer- and treat this pulpit as a pillory. lanthropy, and some have suggested that ence in one of his poems to Ireland badly We are familiar with Swift in many it’s in rather short supply in Ireland these wanting a ‘house for fools and mad’. And roles. Most famously we know him as a days, despite the country’s economic suc- yet he was right, such an institution was writer, and especially a satirist in works cesses since 1990. Some have argued that sorely needed. like A Tale of a Tub; he was a churchman Ireland’s new rich are far behind their Various schemes had been put for- who administered this cathedral for over American counterparts, many of whom ward since at least the 1690s for the 30 years; and he played a signicant part have long followed Andrew Carnegie’s erection of a hospital for the mentally ill in the political affairs of his time, in both famous dictum that: ‘He who dies rich, in Dublin to serve the whole country. By Ireland and England. dies in disgrace’. the 1730s when Swift was planning his Yet there are other aspects of his life This discussion has made me think of hospital, many thought such a venture that I must say I nd even more intrigu- Swift, who was noted in Dublin for his long overdue. ing. What other Protestant cleric and charity. In our terms, he was a leading In reading newspapers articles last writer of sophisticated tracts became a philanthropist. month complaining about the lack of folk hero in Ireland? Who else had bon- Actually, he was not especially rich philanthropy in Ireland, I noted one res lit around his home, the Deanery, – he was certainly no Bill Gates or even which argued that the Irish people often by working-class Dubliners to celebrate Chuck Feeney of his time. Indeed, hav- questioned the motives of those involved his birthday? Who had pubs named after ing studied his nancial affairs, it seems in philanthropy: they suspected people him? Whose life attracted such a plethora to me that, in terms of his haphazard who raised money by means of celebrity of popular stories, poems and folklore? management of them, it’s probably more events, who had buildings and institu- Indeed, what churchman was lauded even Bertie Ahern who comes to mind. Thus, tions named after them or who accepted by the feuding urban gangs of his day? I’m not surprised that in folklore, he is awards for their activities. It all rather The fearsome Kevin Bail of the 1720s, sometimes celebrated humorously for his reeked of self-promotion and, beyond based in the Kevin Street area, which gullibility and impracticality regarding that, self-justication. specialised in rescuing its members from mundane matters. I think one can nd hints that 18th- custody, viewed Swift as a hero, as did Long before his death in 1745 Swift century Dubliners too questioned the its successor of the 1730s the notorious was giving away his money, lending motives of those who offered them char- Liberty Boys, composed largely of weav- it out, sometimes without interest, and ity, even someone as popular as Swift. ers from the Coombe. making plans to rid himself of it entirely. He named his hospital St Patrick’s, but Of course if he was very popular He certainly did not intend to die rich. for decades it was always called Swift’s with some people, he was equally very Some of his forms of giving would Hospital. In part this reects the fact unpopular with others. Many of his peers, perhaps be frowned upon today by a pro- that for many years it was believed that for instance, deplored what they charac- fessional charity worker, but others seem Swift had actually built the hospital for terised as his pandering to the ‘rabble’ or altogether more modern. He did give himself and that he was its rst inmate. the ‘mob’. money to beggars in the street, yet he also Indeed, the idea of Swift living, not in Swift’s remarkable popularity among supported schemes to license beggars so the Deanery, but in a mental hospital has the ordinary people of Dublin certainly that only deserving, local beggars, rather been remarkably persistent. I was amused came from a variety of sources. What I than vagrants from outside Dublin, would to come across folklore associated with want to do briey today is to concentrate benet from such largesse. Portrane Asylum, near Donabate in north on one, and in doing that, I’m going to use But he also invested signicantly in Co. Dublin, which was built in the 1890s. a word that Swift probably wouldn’t have small business, lending sums of about £5 Apparently there were local stories that used, but which we’ve heard a good deal to at least 100 local traders and artisans Swift, with Stella, had once lived at the of in Ireland – and elsewhere – lately. to help them set up businesses or to tide back gate of the hospital.

20 Tinteán March 2008 Heroic Medicine As well as feats of valour and blood- shed, the Táin Bó Cuilaigne describes medical interventions of the Iron Age period. As might be expected, given the times and personalities involved, patient feedback was robust. When the warrior Ceithern was so badly wounded that his intestines were exposed, he called for medical help, only to be told that noth- ing could be done. His response was to strike the doctor so hard that his brains came out of his ears and to demand a second opinion. The second opinion was the same as the first, receiving the same response. After 15 doctors had been ‘struck off’ in the same way, one heroic physician – Fínghin – agreed to treat this obstreperous patient. Bust of Jonathan Swift near his burial Tactfully, Fínghin offered his patient spot in St. Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin a choice between ‘watchful waiting’ (a period without treatment, followed Well, why not? I have a suspicion that now staff and patients have wrestled in by treatment if necessary) or high Swift might actually have relished some that place with the terrible suffering of level Iron Age technology, with the of the popular fables associated with his mental illness. patient’s view to be the deciding fac- life, and also with his philanthropy. Swift’s legacy to the world has pri- tor. Ceithern went for technology. The Why did he give virtually all his marily been his writings, but his legacy first stage of the cure was binding the money to establish a ‘house for fools and to Ireland has, importantly, included his board of his chariot to his stomach to mad’? Were his motives noble or igno- hospital. His enemies, and even some of keep his intestines in place followed ble; altruistic or selsh? Was he inspired his supporters, questioned his motives by a blood transfusion. The blood by the less attractive aspects of charity at the time, suggesting he’d built it for used was not obtained from human or by the more humanitarian aspects of himself, to cater for his own needs. But beings but from cattle, this being philanthropy? We don’t really know he hadn’t. He left his estate to build an well before the days of mad cow dis- for sure. But does it matter anyway, in institution to care for groups of the most ease. A herd of cattle was killed and the long term? I wonder if it’s worth deprived and marginalised people in reduced to a barrel of marrow, bones, questioning the motives behind philan- 18th-century Irish society. meat and hides. After being steeped thropic gestures – something about ‘not Whether you want to call his act in this mixture for three days and looking a gift horse in the mouth’ comes charity or philanthropy, it has undoubt- three nights, to allow it to seep into to mind. edly proved a valuable and enduring gift. the wounds, Ceithern recovered fully. Swift’s hospital opened 250 years ago For, nearly 3 centuries after Swift made He sprang up and rejoined the battle this year: in 1757. It’s now the oldest his decision, the people of Ireland are with all his old vigour – a testament to psychiatric hospital in the British Isles still beneting from his ‘house for fools the effectiveness (and strong nerves) still situated in its original building, and and mad’. of his physician and the toughness of almost certainly it’s among a handful of Dr Elizabeth Malcolm the Fianna. the oldest psychiatric hospitals in the Swift Address, St Patrick’s Cathedral, Fínghin, clearly a transfusion world. For a quarter of a millennium Dublin, 21 October 2007 medicine pioneer, probably worked around 100BC or even earlier as the The 6th Dublin Symposium on Jonathan Swift was held in October 2007 at the Táin Bó Cuilaigne was not put into Deanery, beside St Patrick’s Cathedral in Dublin. Swift, the author of ‘Gulliver’s written form until the 8th century AD. Travels’, was a fierce critic of English rule in Ireland, as well as being a prolific Further investigations of the curative pamphleteer and poet. The Symposium, at which talks are given by Swift scholars effects of blood transfusion were not concludes with an Annual Service of Commemoration in St Patrick’s Cathedral made for another 1800 years when for Swift, who was Dean of the cathedral from 1713 to 1745. In his will Swift again, animal blood was often used. left his estate to establish a mental hospital St Patrick’s Hospital, Dublin, which Regrettably modern day doctors only opened in 1757 and is now the oldest psychiatric hospital in Ireland and one of expose themselves to patient feed- the oldest in Europe. back in the form of questionnaires. Elizabeth Malcolm, who has written a history of the hospital, spoke at the 2007 Felicity Allen Swift Commemoration Service in the cathedral to mark the 250th anniversary of From Petticrew, M. British Medical the admission of the first patients to St Patrick’s Hospital. Journal 1998, vol 317, p288.

Tinteán March 2008 21 Singing a New Song

As in the 21st century, the mid 19th cen- they introduced striking new initiatives music was conned to bands associated tury Australian education system was a into the way education was organised. with military drill. The Presentation shambles. Teachers’ poor pay made it the The rst group opened Mount Saint Schools’ annual results from the Royal profession of last resort. Schooling was Mary’s (1868), a day and boarding school, Academy of Music, Trinity College and voluntary, so the low calibre of teaching which offered equality of education for the junior exams for the universities, staff discouraged wealthier parents from both boys and girls in junior school and revealed their impact on classical and cul- sending their children to school. The higher education for girls in the “select tural education throughout the Colonies, children of the poor learned what they school”. In the latter, where fees were well into the next century. The musical could from their surroundings. Under- charged, they subsidised the education and drama productions in their schools standably, home schooling was popular, of those unable to pay. In a move revo- were forerunners of the productions now particularly for girls and in remote areas, an accepted part of Australian education. where governesses were employed by Education similar to that in Hobart the nancially secure. Boys, when old ‘Should girls be was implemented in all Presentation enough, were sent away to school. This Schools. The rst Presentation founda- gender difference reected confusion taught the same tions on the mainland was Saint Kilda, about the appropriate curriculum for Melbourne (1883), and, as in Hobart, girls, whose only imaginable future was subjects as boys, annual exhibitions were held of the to be wives and mothers. Should they students’ work. They included exquisite be taught the same subjects as boys, or or should the focus be needlework, lace, woodwork, drawings, should the focus be on domestic skills? paintings in every medium, recitations in Bedevilling girls’ education, this conun- on domestic skills?’ many languages, dramatic presentations drum was solved in different ways by dif- and musical recitals. These exhibitions ferent schools. After 1850 urban Ladies’ showcased the students’ work, and pub- Schools, attended by some daughters lutionary in its day, the girls were offered licised the standard of education in the of the elite, offered senior girls a wider the typical girls’ subjects plus sciences Presentation schools. Their success stim- variety of subjects. Quality education and mathematics, usually only taught to ulated other school systems to conducted was reserved for the afuent, while for boys. Languages, an astonishing array of similar exhibitions. The rst school bus those from the lower stratum of society, cultural subjects, religious education and services in the Colonies were established it continued to be limited. character building were always of para- to collect Presentation children from A series of Education Acts, making mount importance. remote areas. Wagga Wagga, founded in education free, secular and compulsory The educational expertise of the Sisters 1873 from Kildare, Co. Kildare, took the for children up to 13, was passed in the was recognised throughout the Colonies initiative of introducing the Kindergarten 1880’s decade. But it could not eradicate with parents sending their children from system to the area. poor attendance and incompetent teach- as far aeld as Queensland. Other parents, Presentation education in the 19th ing, particularly in Government schools, for example, Lord and Lady Strickland, century rapidly spread to country cen- in country areas, and for girls. The secular Governor of Tasmania 1904-1909, left tres, offering the same type of education aspect of these Acts and the withdrawal their children in the care of the Presenta- as in the cities. The Sisters were moved of Government assistance to denomina- tion Sisters. By 1873, the Hobart Sisters between schools making this possible. tional schools, motivated the Australian opened a school in Launceston. Parents of both the elite and the work- Bishops to establish a Diocesan system Between 1877 and 1900, Saint Mary’s ing class clearly desired this egalitarian of education staffed by Religious, mainly had won ǧ1,000 for its pupils in univer- type of education. In remote Hay New from Ireland. sity and other Scholarships. From 1896 South Wales, a group of parents wrote When the 10 volunteers from Pre- to 1900 alone, the College, gained annu- to the Bishop complaining that the Sis- sentation Convent, Fermoy, Co. Cork, ally thirty certicates from the Royal ters refused to segregate servant girls landed at Hobart in 1866, to begin the rst Academy of Music and Trinity College, from the general classroom, but this Presentation mission in Australia, they London. The musical festivals of Saint was the only recorded opposition to the began a movement which changed the Mary’s Convent, in Lismore, also show Presentation practice of non-discrimina- face of education in what was to become the extraordinary musical accomplish- tory education. Australia. The sisters not only provided a ments of Presentation Schools. In con- The Presentation order had a great high standard of education to all students trast, Government schools limited music inuence on education in isolated areas irrespective of gender or social class, to classroom singing, and instrumental shown in foundations from Geraldton,

22 Tinteán March 2008 and Wagga Wagga. The Sisters arrived at the former from Sneem, Co. Cork in 1891, when Geraldton was the poor- est, largest and most isolated diocese in the Australian Colonies. When the Geraldton Academy for Young Ladies opened, consisting of the usual boarding and day school facilities, the local papers declared it a “great boon” providing “a rst class education … without the expenses of sending students to Perth or out of the Colony.”. Later the local paper declared that as mining towns sprang up in the spinifex country and across the deserts, so did Presentation Schools where both white and black Australians, boys and girls were given a comprehensive education, rst at Geraldton and later on the Western Australian goldelds of Southern Cross and Long- reach, Queensland. Presentation day and boarding schools, with their emphasis on equal and quality educational opportunities for boys and girls, spread throughout the the Colonies, with the exception of South Australia, by the rst decade of the twentieth century. They provided the nucleus of the Australian Diocesan system of education for both primary and secondary students. The stafng of the schools by non-salaried Religious, assured their survival until it was possible to employ well-educated salaried lay staff. The Pre- sentation schools’ emphasis on cultural education promoted activities which have become part of all school curricula. The high educational standards of the early teachers from Ireland, raised standards expected of all teachers. In order to compete for students, schools needed to employ highly qualied, zealous teachers. An examination of Australia today reveals that the provision by Religious of quality education for the working classes, and a “superior” education for The photo of three Presentation Sisters was taken at Windsor Convent, in the late girls, wealthy and non-wealthy, Catholic 40s early 50s. They are Sr Eugene Welsh, Sr Lawrence Welsh and Sr Bernard Welsh and Non-catholic, has inuenced not who were also “real” sisters – Eithne, Nora and Amelia. Eithne and Nora travelled only the educational scene but Australian as Presentation Sisters to Australia in the 20’s from Limerick. Amelia joined them social fabric. later, ﬁrst as a schoolgirl at Windsor and later as a Presentation Sister. Sr Amelia Sr. Noela Fox PBVM (92) is still alive – the last member of her family of 13.

Tinteán March 2008 23 Mission to ‘poor-rich’

Catherine McAuley, a wealthy heiress, addition to a basic academic education in the older sense. founded the religious institute of the and attracted non-Catholic as well as Their ready adaptability in providing Sisters of Mercy in Dublin in 1831. Her Catholic enrolments. appropriate education, their mission to primary aim was social alleviation for In 1857, the enterprising Perth visit homes, hospitals and gaols, their the distressed poor, by the provision of foundress, Ursula Frayne, at the invi- care of orphans and of young migrant residential care and further training for tation of Bishop Goold, established girls in the tradition of Catherine McAu- vulnerable young women out of work. Australia’s second Mercy foundation in ley’s House of Mercy, ensured that fur- But this aim soon extended to encom- Melbourne. But here a serious difculty ther foundations of Mercy Sisters were pass a free school for poor children, care was encountered. The bishop had earlier soon sought, especially in the new dio- of orphans and visitation with nursing unsuccessfully sought a teaching institute ceses being created across the Australian assistance to the sick poor. Catherine offering the highest level of education for continent. Initially, each foundation was adopted the Constitutions of the already Catholic girls – the convent high school canonically independent, with its own established Presentation Sisters, the with its boarding provision. For Ursula, major superior, its novitiate and its own emphasis of both being the free service of the request to open such a school posed convent school. Seventeen such separate the gravely disadvantaged. Each Mercy a serious problem. The establishment of foundations were made from various community was independent, with its such schools in the United States had overseas houses of origin, principally own novitiate and range of services. caused division in the Mercy ranks. (Per- in Ireland – the nal one from Derry to Before long Mercy Poor Schools were mission to do so in the USA was obtained Victoria Park, Perth, in 1898. A sample linked with the Irish National Board, from Rome in 1852, but it still remained of the spread of these houses is given by established in 1831, to provide public for some time a divisive issue.) Ursula’s the following: Goulburn, from Westport, elementary education across the country. own priority was to meet the needs of the Ireland, in 1859; Brisbane, from Dublin, The Mercy schools could now receive poor and she felt unable to deviate from 1861; North Sydney, from Liverpool, monetary support. By the later 1830s a this. However, Goold pressed the need, in England, 1865; Adelaide, from Buenos need for more widely available further his words, for the ‘poor rich’, especially Aires, 1880; Cooktown, from Dungarvan, education, still the preserve of private in country areas, while pointing out that Ireland, 1888. A further 34 independent enterprise, had become obvious; hence a he already had an extensive system of houses stemmed from these foundations, demand for ‘middle schools’. These pro- parish elementary schools. Ursula, see- bringing Mercy Sisters to further and, at vided for a lower middle class ‘who did ing the need, acquiesced. She and her the time, pioneering areas of Australia, the not want their children in a Poor School, teaching staff, themselves products of nal one being established at Balranald, but could not afford to send them to a convent high school education, were in New South Wales, in 1907. During the boarding school’. The latter provided a well equipped to teach the languages and 20th century a series of amalgamations comprehensive education for the upper accomplishments which such a school began, leading by 1941, to the seventeen classes. This level of education had not was expected to offer. Mercy congregations, which in a federa- been envisaged in the Mercy concept A ‘sea-change’ was underway, illus- tion today form the Institute of the Mercy of their mission, though, in view of the trated by these rst two Mercy founda- Sisters of Australia, known as ISMA. growing need for such educational facili- tions. Boarding at convent high schools Meanwhile, another structural devel- ties, the Mercy Communities began to was becoming as much a function of opment arose. At the urging of local establish middle schools. distance as social class and, when Ursula bishops and sanctioned by the Sacred Soon, with the proliferation of the agreed to merge her poor school with the Congregation of Propaganda Fide (the Irish diaspora, communities of Mercy parochial school already staffed by the Vatican department responsible for mis- Sisters were invited overseas. In 1846, a Sisters, another signicant Australian sion territories) houses opened by these community arrived in Perth, the second development took place: the readiness independent centres began to be incorpo- group of religious Sisters to come to of the Mercy Sisters, as well as other rated into a branch house system attached Australia after the Irish Sisters of Char- teaching institutes, to staff parish primary to its founding house, initially within one ity in Sydney in 1838. There they carried schools. This readiness to continue their diocese. This too had implications for out a mission, with residential care, for mission must have been much appreci- education. While the Sisters staffed local Aboriginal children and orphans, estab- ated, in the wake of the secularising Edu- parish schools in a wide range of suburbs lished a free school for the poor and cation Acts passed in the colonies which and towns, they provided further educa- opened a middle school for the better withdrew funding from denominational tion in developing centres through their off. The middle school offered French, schools. These parochial schools charged ‘middle school’ practice. There was a fee musical and artistic accomplishments in a small fee and were not charity schools differential between these and the con-

24 Tinteán March 2008 presents

V[O IY\UZ^PJR Z`KUL`YVHK vent high school attached to the mother house: for example, the boarding fee at T\ZPJ MLZ[P]HS Z[YLL[WHY[` Carcoar, a branch house of Bathurst, was MLIY\HY`¶THYJO Z\UKH`MLIY\HY` £20 p.a., while Bathurst’s convent high school charged £52 for its more enriched MVY[OLILZ[PUPYPZOHUKJLS[PJT\ZPJ¯ courses. The Brisbane mother house, All Hallows, established eleven such ‘middle BVgi^c=VnZh>gZaVcY chiîjiZ boarding fee of £30 p.a. compared with 7VcYÄAdj^hBXBVcjh 9dcÉiIZaaIdb 8ZaiVXanhb^X!?VX`BVcXdg All Hallows’ initial £60. (Fees at both BZbdg^VaXdcXZgi ;g^YVn'.;ZWgjVgn!-eb I]jghYVn+BVgX]!-eb BZX]Vc^Xh>chiîjiZ Bathurst and Brisbane were later reduced 7gjchl^XÌdlc=Vaa to cater for a poorer class.) For many young people, irrespective of gender or religion, these regional schools were the only post primary education available. All Mercy convents offered tuition in music, providing welcome income as well as a local cultural service. In the rst decade of the 20th century a public system of education was imple- BVgi^c=VnZhVcY9Zcc^h8V]âa mented throughout the Australian states. Secondary schooling followed on pri- IY\UZ^PJRT\ZPJMLZ[P]HSJVTH\ mary education in an age-based progres- ;gZZegd\gVbVcYWdd`^c\h sion rather than the earlier class-based E]dcZ%(.(--&)+%BdcYVnÄ;g^YVn&'cddcÄ+eb separate schools. The Mercy convent high schools and many of their regional schools sought registration as new-type secondary schools, a move facilitated by having from the 1880s, presented their brighter pupils for the public examina- TUNNEY tions of the colonial universities. The Mercy Sisters also contributed to teacher & education, using the pupil – teacher system familiar in the colonial schools. Both the amalgamated Melbourne congrega- HOULIHAN P/L tion and the Ballarat congregation had their teacher training programmes recognised by the Victorian government in the early 20th century, while the extensive teacher training involvement of Queen- sland Mercy Sisters received government recognition from the colonial era on. The Mercy Training Colleges in Melbourne, Ballarat and Brisbane were later to be founding campuses of the Australian Catholic University. Rosa MacGinley PBVM From: A Dynamic of Hope: Institutes of PO Box 98, Faireld 3078 Fax: 03 9840 1765 Women Religious in Australia (Sydney: Crossing Press, [1996] 2002), where the Sean Tunney relevant references are given. 03 9848 8919 0418 311 174 Denis Houlihan 03 9848 6171 0418 311 173

Tinteán March 2008 25 The Dillon Mission to Victoria

In the second of his series of articles, to the cause among more liberal-minded referred to as the ‘respectable class’ of Patrick Naughtin describes the rallying colonists, including several prominent Irish who had deserted them in 1883. focus of the Dillon mission of 1889 for Protestant clergymen. And the Catholic One aspect of the Melbourne recep- the local Irish nationalist movement. hierarchy had nally swung behind tion for Dillon had changed very little The purpose of the 1889 mission to Home Rule with the arrival in 1887 of since the Redmond visit. This was the Australia of Irish Parliamentary Party Archbishop Thomas Carr who supported intense opposition of the Melbourne members, led by John Dillon, was to the Irish nationalist cause, even if he was press, particularly the Age and Argus. raise much-needed funds to support the not prepared to provide a public lead. Editorials strongly condemned the Dillon cause of evicted tenant farmers in Ireland. Dillon’s work in championing the mission. The Age indicted Dillon and his However, the mission was to achieve cause of the Irish tenant farmers, and like as the cause of Ireland’s problems. much more than this in Victoria where it his recent imprisonment for this, had The Argus in similar vein deprecated was to be profoundly signicant in ral- accorded him the status of an Irish patriot, ‘these efforts to divide this community lying and re-organising the local Irish ‘almost as legendary as Parnell himself’ by old-world racial strife stirred up by nationalist movement. Patrick O’Farrell has claimed, in the eyes professional propagandists’. Dillon later The Dillon mission has not been well of many Irish Australians. His rapturous singled out the Melbourne press for documented by historians. This general Melbourne reception reected this status. particular criticism as providing the neglect is surprising considering Dillon’s most intense opposition that the envoys status as the most prominent Irish politi- encountered throughout the Australasian cal leader to have visited Australia up to ‘…there does not colonies. Esmonde, and others, however, that time, and his subsequent importance suggested that this constant press attack as a key leader of the Irish Parliamentary seem to be single man could be benecial to the cause: ‘The Party. Even F S L Lyons, a leading Irish more bitterly we were attacked and the historian of the period who has written the amongst the Irish worth more villainously abused, the more gen- standard biography on Dillon, pays fairly erously and more bravely did our friends scant attention to Dillon’s Australian a straw as a leader…’ rally to our support’. experience, despite the latter’s six months The unrelenting, vehement opposition there at a particularly formative stage in a of the Argus and Age, trying to outdo each career that was already very prominent in With the well orchestrated welcome other in ultra-loyalism, has a number of British and Irish politics. Among Austra- that Dillon and his fellow envoys, Sir explanations. The Argus’s opposition lian historians, only Gregory Tobin’s early Thomas Esmonde and John Deasy, was generally more explicable, consis- unpublished study makes any attempt to received in Melbourne on 27 April 1889, tently following the Tory anti-Gladstone detail the Dillon mission. Even the lead- their mission could not have begun more line of the London Times, though often ing historian of Irish Australia, Patrick auspiciously. The envoys’ carriage, with more strongly, reecting the power O’Farrell, only gives cursory treatment to the horses removed, was paraded from accorded by distance and control of the the Dillon mission. Spencer Street railway station through cable agencies. Recent research, however, that has Melbourne’s streets, thronged with The Age’s intense opposition was been undertaken by the author using the thousands of cheering supporters. This more complex. Dillon was particularly extensive Dillon papers at Trinity Col- demonstrative display was much more intrigued by what he called ‘the Age lege Dublin, including Dillon’s diary, than an enthusiastic welcome for the phenomenon’, referring to the penny has shed important new light on an Dillon party or deant expression of newspaper’s remarkable inuence and Australian experience that warrants much support for the Irish nationalist cause. It daily circulation of over 80,000. He fuller examination. had become an outpouring of Irish soli- noted in his diary that he had been told The mission led by John Dillon that darity and pride in the face of opponents that the Age ‘rules this Colony’. Under arrived in Australia in April 1889 was who had, many believed, tried to deny the dictates of its proprietor, David Syme, the rst such mission of Irish Party a rightful place for the Irish in colonial it had always been prepared to put aside members since the much-publicised public life. its professed liberalism to exploit Irish visit of the Redmond brothers in 1883. Inside the packed Hibernian Hall, itself issues as a means of limiting local Irish While both were primarily fund- a new and grand symbol of Melbourne’s Catholic political inuence. raising missions, the circumstances Irish (with its construction inuenced While in Melbourne Dillon was of the Dillon tour were markedly differ- by the refusal of public halls to the Red- approached by a group led by the out- ent. In the intervening years, the momen- monds) the ofcial welcome was chaired spoken MP David Gaunson to assist in tous impact of William Gladstone’s by Sir Bryan O’Loghlen who had lost the an attempt, still in its infancy, to establish endorsement of Irish Home Rule had, in Premiership and his parliamentary seat a new daily newspaper ‘that would truly the eyes of so many, now added respect- during the Redmond mission but was represent Irish affairs’ and counter the ability to the Irish nationalist cause. The now a member of the Legislative Assem- inuence of the Age, Argus and Daily Tory government’s coercion policies in bly again. Beside him was his fellow Telegraph. Dillon agreed to promote the Ireland and Parnell’s alliance with the MP, John Gavan Duffy, along with other venture but believed privately that it was Liberals had further rallied public support members of what William Redmond had doomed to failure.

26 Tinteán March 2008 This cartoon suggests that the hostile attention of the Age (represented by David Syme) and the Argus (represented by its long-term editor Frederick Haddon) was actually helping the Dillon mission to succeed, despite the inﬂ uence of the Loyal Orange Lodge, represented by the shadowy ﬁ gure at the rear. The Melbourne Punch continued the tradition of its London counterpart in using the pig as a derogatory symbol of the Irish. Melbourne Punch 9 May 1889

Dillon’s meetings in Melbourne and Celtic Club in membership and a common Parnell and Gladstone were endorsed. the major Irish strongholds of Ballarat nationalist purpose, increasingly tensions The Convention’s most lasting and Sandhurst (Bendigo) were resounding developed between the two organisations achievement was the election of Dr successes, and set the scene for a fund- with dissatisfaction with the League’s Nicholas O’Donnell as the new president raising mission that would well-outstrip leadership being openly expressed. of the Irish National League in Victoria. the successes of the Redmond tour. In late Dillon was pessimistic about the pros- O’Donnell, aged only twenty-seven and May he left Victoria to spend nearly four pects for success of the convention to native-born, was essentially a compro- months touring New South Wales and be held on 17 September 1889. The day mise candidate, being on the committees Queensland and, in his absence, Deasy before he noted in his diary: ‘Melbourne of both the League and the Celtic Club. and Esmonde conducted successful public is evidently rotten with quarrels’. Despite Despite Dillon’s misgivings – that eve- meetings throughout regional Victoria. these misgivings, an air of conviviality ning he con ded in his diary that ‘there It had always been planned that the pervaded the actual proceedings, which does not seem to be single man amongst Dillon mission would culminate in an only lasted one day. With nearly 400 del- the Irish worth a straw as a leader’ – Irish-Australian convention, as at the end egates present, Dillon was able to describe O’Donnell was to provide, as president of the Redmond mission in 1883. Origi- the convention in his opening address as for the next twenty-seven years of the nally planned for Sydney, Dillon made ‘the largest and most representative body League (and its successor, the United the decision that this second convention of Irish-Australians that had ever come Irish League), the leadership that would should be held in Melbourne, with del- together in this colony’. see the Irish nationalist movement endure egates only from Victoria, in an effort Unlike the 1883 convention, there more actively in Victoria than elsewhere to unify and consolidate the nationalist was no national representation. However, in Australia. movement there. there was broad representation of all the The signi cance of the Dillon mission Dillon had been well aware from the colony’s Irish organisations, with the for many Irish Australians, like the Red- time of his arrival in Victoria in April that, clergy, including a signi cant number mond mission before it, went well beyond despite the apparent unanimity displayed of Protestant clergymen, prominent both the cause of Irish tenantry or nationhood. by representatives of the Irish organisa- in the assembly and on the platform. No The missions provided a much-needed tions at his meetings, all was not well members of the Catholic hierarchy were rallying focus for local Irish nationalists, within the Irish nationalist movement present, though Archbishop Carr sent a though at the same time intensifying their in Victoria. The Irish National League letter of support. opposition. From the resultant attention had been struggling for support while As at the 1883 Convention, there and con ict that was aroused, the Irish at the same time, the Celtic Home Rule was no evidence of any dissension and nationalist movement in Victoria would Club, formed in September 1887 and the moderate resolutions were hardly emerge re-organised and strengthened, if now boasting 400 members, had become controversial: self-government for Ire- only temporarily. Patrick Naughtin more in uential in the Irish nationalist land was supported, just as Victorians Patrick Naughtin is a PhD candidate at movement in Melbourne. While there enjoyed ‘the bene ts and blessings of Melbourne University researching the was overlap between the League and the Home Rule here’ and the policies of history of Irish nationalism in Australia.

Tinteán March 2008 27 The Convict Brick Trail

Linking Launceston and Hobart in the to celebrate the bi-centenary of the white in a straight line. The advantage of the island state of Tasmania, is the Heritage foundation of Tasmania, then known as bricks being placed close to the shop Highway. When known as the Midlands Van Diemen's land, in 1804. fronts or fences is that they are not in the Highway, it took a more leisurely course The Convict Brick Trail was the common thoroughfare and one can pause through the towns of Kempton, Ross, brainchild of John Cameron, a resident and reect without stopping other pedes- Tunbridge and Oatlands. Then the road of Campbell Town who has become trian trafc. twisted and turned as it followed the route totally devoted to the development of Reection is enhanced if the pilgrim- of the horse and cart of earlier years. The this concept. The idea, endorsed by the age is started at the foundation stone, a old road was fIood-prone outside Ross townspeople, was to create a perpetual ne piece of granite outside the Foxhunt- and the dark shadows of Epping For- memorial to those who had hewn the ers’ Return with the general dedication… est, stretching ominously on the narrow rock, cut the stone, fashioned the bricks “to those who died on their way to stretch of bitumen, were feared by chil- and then created beautiful homes, arched Australia and were not lucky enough dren. Those were the days when parents bridges, lofty churches and strong high- to see our magnicent land...” Factual would tell children to watch out for the ways by laying a “brick trail”. An indi- information follows: the 1,500,000 'Disappearing House', a pile of gray vidual brick would be dedicated to each bricks made by the convicts for the Red stone half hidden behind a hill. As the transportee. His or her name would be Bridge (the oldest in Australia and still in road curved near the junction to the Esk formally inscribed on the brick as a way use), their building of the bridge and the Highway an old home came into view of acknowledging each one's contribution subsequent redirection of the course of the and then, to the eyes of a very innocent to the Celtic-Anglo-Saxon establishment Elizabeth River. Mayor Kim Polley laid child, seemed to disappear. on the island. Over 68,000 men, women, this dedication stone and the rst brick But that was all in times gone by. and children were transported to Van Die- of the Convict Brick Trail on August 28, The highway has been widened and the men's Land between 1804-1854. Not all 2003. Since that date many, many bricks distance between the 'northern capital' reached our shores; many perished and have been laid. Each descendant who and the 'southern outpost' lessened, and were buried at sea. The many thousands has subscribed has also been issued there are bypasses for most of these who did arrive worked under the lash, with a certicate containing information charming towns and villages. So the were housed in appalling conditions, and similar to that on the brick. It is John residents of these places now have to perished in ignominy. They were often Cameron's aim, and that of the towns- be creative in attracting travellers from buried where they fell, mostly in shallow, people, to extend the invitation to anyone the highway. In these settlements the unmarked graves. who has, or even who does not have! Georgian architecture alone should John Cameron's hope was to contact convict ancestry. It is possible to adopt entice many a traveller. Indeed Hobart as many descendants of the 68,000 trans- a deportee – a quite unknown individual, and Launceston, established immedi- portees as possible, and to invite them thus acknowledging the signicance of ately after Sydney, carry the proud titles to subscribe to an individual clay paver her/his existence, generations after that of being the second and third cities of brick – 230mm x 115 mm, on which person's demise. Australia. Their architectural style con- would be sandblasted each convict's Reection can take many turns. To veys the elements of the reigns of George details: name, age, county of origin, this writer, the great-grandchild of such III and George IV: semi-circular fanlights crime committed, the name of the ship deportees, it is a cause for celebration and above wide, panelled front doors; tall on which they were transported and, if gratitude that three generations of their elegant sash windows, the glass divided possible, her or his fate. The bricks were descendents, both men and women have by thin wooden bars. A sense of classical to be laid, end-to-end, along the streets of enriched their island home, and places proportion becomes evident even though Campbell Town. If 68,000 subscriptions well beyond, in farming, mining, hostelry, the island had its beginnings as a penal were obtained the trail would stretch over orcharding, service in World Wars I and settlement. 11 kilometres. To date, this gure has not II, engineering, business and industry, The residents of Campbell Town yet been attained. But along the Main theatre, music, photography, agronomy, have been particularly innovative in Street, commencing at the convict-built public service, education and the law. their desire to attract travellers from the inn, Foxhunters' Return, and close to the One can but stand humbly in the face of highway. Not only did they want people similarly convict-built Red Bridge, there such reality and salute these forebears in to focus on their town but in discussing is a continuous ochre strip jutting out whom our pride and gratitude rest. their proposals in 2003, they also wanted about 450mm from property boundaries Rosemary Gleeson

28 Tinteán March 2008 Francis Stuart, writer & sometime broadcaster The renowned Irish writer Francis Stuart in world war one. He then fatefully took a indulged in vague philosophical nos- was born in Townsville in 1902 to Prot- position as an English lecturer at the Uni- trums, which meant he was out of his estant parents from Antrim. In later life versity of Berlin. From 1942 to 1944 he depth in war time Germany with its Nazi Stuart wrote that ‘his hard-hearted Ulster made broadcasts on behalf of the regime brutalities. However Brendan Barrington forebears had gone to Australia and made on radio, including praise of Hitler. shows that Stuart had well-developed fortunes in sheep-farming, all except Due to the on-going controversy over political views, as revealed in the war- (my) father who’d drunk himself to death Stuart’s views, the texts of his war-time time broadcasts, so that the idea that he too soon’. This happened in his infancy, broadcasts were published in 2000 just was a naïve misguided aesthete out of his and his mother took him back to Ireland. after his death, with editing and commen- depths in politics is hard to sustain. If his life in Australia began in trag- tary by Brendan Barrington. Germany’s In 1971 the publication of Blacklist edy, in Ireland it ended in controversy. In policy was to keep the Republic of Ireland Section H (1971), purportedly an auto- 1996, just a few years before his death, neutral; Stuart argued for this position in biographical novel, the last third of which after a long and impressive writing career his talks. In addition, as an Ulsterman, he covers his German experiences, revived in which he produced many well-regarded his literary reputation and career. But was it novels and other works, he was elevated a work of atonement for his past, or a subtle to the rank of saoi (wise man) of the ‘In his talks Stuart apologia for his Nazi fellow-travelling? Irish arts academy Aosdána, the highest rejected democracy The American editor of the novel, honour that body can bestow. The Aos- Harry T. Moore, who obtained his informa- dána is comprised of eminent Irish writ- as a sham’ tion from Stuart, made three claims about ers and artists. But the award was greeted the author’s past – that he wasn’t anti- with disquiet and protest in some quarters Semitic, that he didn’t support Nazism, in Ireland, as Stuart had broadcast from pointed out the dangers Northern Ireland and that he made only a few broadcasts. behind the German lines during the faced as a combatant, with Allied military All these claims were wrong. As some Second World War, and some of his com- bases on its soil. Stuart’s general approach commentators have pointed out, the nov- ments were regarded as anti-Semitic. as an Irish nationalist was to argue that a el’s protagonist, called ‘H’, is not totally Stuart led a turbulent life at the centre German victory was more likely to see identical with Stuart – the broadcasts, for of crucial political events. Many of these the Six Counties re-incorporated into a example, are only incidentally mentioned. experiences form the basis, in transmuted united Ireland than an Allied victory. In the novel the hero’s rationale is that as form, of his writing. In Ireland as a young In his talks Stuart rejected democracy an artist he is an eternal outsider, whose man he soon moved to the centre of the as a sham. He admitted he had admired role is to criticize the conventional wis- literary and political worlds. In 1920 at Hitler since his rise to power and reserved dom of that day, which in this case was the age of eighteen he eloped with and his scorn for Churchill and Roosevelt, the belief that the Allies had right on their married Iseult Gonne, daughter of Maud whom he claimed represented corrupt side. He therefore justies himself, as an Gonne, wife of the Easter Rebellion mar- nancial interests. The implication in his adversary thinker, presenting arguments tyr John McBride. Iseult’s father was a talks was that a small group of behind- for the Nazi case. Another rationalization French politician, not McBride. W B Yeats, the-scenes nancial powerbrokers ran is that he is like Raskolnikov in Crime who had – remarkably – proposed to both Western societies. In one talk he identied and Punishment, a person who wishes Maude and Iseult Gonne, encouraged the the ‘handful who control the machine’ as to commit some abnormal act simply to young Stuart in his literary endeavours. Jews. Recent research has revealed he had see what the experience is like. At other During the Irish civil war Stuart fought on made a similar anti-Semitic remark as far stages Stuart presents his alter ego as a the Republican, anti-Treaty side, was cap- back as 1924. Stuart’s wartime broadcasts passive victim of circumstances, who tured while gun-running and imprisoned from Germany were worse than those of unfairly reaped the whirlwind. by the Free State forces. P.G. Wodehouse, but not nearly as bad In old age Stuart became a respected His rst poetry collection, We Have as those of his fellow Irishman William gure who helped younger writers, while Kept the Faith (1923), was a success and Joyce (‘Lord Haw Haw’). himself remaining reserved and inscru- brought him to literary attention. In addi- At the end of the war he was impris- table. When he was promoted to the rank tion he published plays, short stories and oned by the French for a year on suspicion of saoi in 1996, the poet and fellow Aos- autobiographical works but became best that he had collaborated with the Nazi dána member Máire Mhac an tSaoi, wife known as a novelist, publishing more regime, an allegation he rejected. After of Conor Cruise O’Brien, moved that the than two dozen novels during his long being released he had to live for more award be cancelled, but the motion was literary career. than a decade in France and England, as defeated. Just before his death Stuart took Between the wars Stuart lived as farmer his step brother-in-law, Sean McBride, out a libel action against The Irish Times, in Ireland while succeeding as a writer. then Irish Minister for External Affairs, because of an article which alleged he But his marriage was falling apart and he refused to renew his passport. He eventu- had supported Nazi ideology. The matter took up some lecturing engagements in ally returned to Ireland in 1958 with his was settled out of court. Germany just prior to the second world second wife, Madeleine Meissner. Francis Stuart died in Clare aged 97 in war. He acted there as an agent for the In Dublin, Stuart and his wife pursued February 2000. Patrick Morgan IRA in contact with German intelligence mystical and religious interests rather Patrick Morgan is a Victorian writer services, part of a plan to try to enlist than overt politics in this period. Some interested in the connections between Germany in the Irish cause, as happened said in his defence that he had always literature and politics.

Tinteán March 2008 29 Poetry Gort Inse Guaire Welcome to my country

You came with your wife and child You’re welcome to my country from the banks of the Corumbá Here we have de Oirish Mirror and de Oirish Star to a curious disappearing river Fierce excitin’ altogether, hah? from a four lane highway de wettest weather outside of de rainforests to limestone grykes and four of de greenest elds in Europe and turloughs and we have killed for them. feeble imitations of your Pantanal. Didn’t we drag the seaweed from the shore with our bare hands? A time-warped Main Street and what we didn’t use to fertilise the spuds and cabbage not yet by-passed we threw into the bath to soak away our aches and pains. genuine old style shops selling now, passion fruits Here we have culture by the bucketful, manioc and cans of lo-cal Guarana. Boyzone and Ireland’s Own Sean Nós singing, dancing and Fleadh Nua When you rst came Festivals and fringes and more they welcomed you Eurovision winners than you could shake a shillelagh at. with warmer clothes Shane McGowan lives a Fairytale in New York and recycled bicycles Dustin goes cold turkey and Christy goes on and on your puzzled smiles John Spillane asks ‘What’s it all about, like?’ confused the locals while Louis de Paor tosses his Titian locks. this place where king and pauper were famed for the lámh fhada Here we have langoustines the longhand of friendship. and Parma ham for brunch the old church over-spilling smoked salmon and chorizo and country folk overwhelmed on dandelion leaves for lunch to nd the Mass in Portuguese with rocket, and olives and feta cheese but Monday morning on paninis, ciabatas or naans and pitta bread still brought the hiring fair. we sip cold chardonnay and jasmine tea. Yes, it’s far from red onion marmalade and camembert we were reared. Deirdre Kearney Here the crack is ninety From Omagh, Co Tyrone, Deirdre h as lived in Galway since and Heineken cans rule the scrum 1983. Her poems have been published in The Ulster Herald, You must yield at our road signs Crannóg, Words on the Web, West 47 Online, Treoir, Exposed and hope your GPS has Gaeilge & Cúirt New Writing 2007. Smoke outside in the rain, and Big up the Fields of Athenry And shout Olé, Olé, Olé And when a drop kick goes over the bar watch grown men weep.

You’ll meet Chinese at the checkouts Croatians on the sites, Latvians in Lidl and Aldi Estonians strutting around poles Polish priests saving Mass Russians building products, Bulgarian baristas Moldovians serving baltis but no Irish on the Ferries.

‘Tis a great country all right. We have three wheelie bins to every house . Welcome to my country. Please, speak English, we’re Irish.

30 Tinteán March 2008 The reading Spectres

Everything is going to be all right Swaddled by the mountains of Glendowan From a poem of the same name by Derek Mahon. And Derryveagh, interned in trees in a National Park Stands the Castle of Glenveigh. A grey Galway evening, threatening rain, Tanned tourists amble around dappled gardens the bay cold but at ease, Revelling in a seldom sun, the stony hills of Clare astray in the mist. And climb hills purpled in rampant rhododendrons To see swathes of moorland, lake, and mountain I sit in our favourite room, Heartstopping in its desolate beauty. the big window, the garden, then the sea, making notes, reading Derek Mahon, In the castle, couched in careful sentences trying not to worry about you so far away, A guide tells how the evicted counting down the days, Sought the scant shelter of a damp ditch, the wound healing nicely. Or the cold charity of the workhouse, Or journeyed to the Antipodes A shaft of pale sunlight slants through With only broken dreams. as if to nger sacred ground, the forgotten resting place of some ancient saint, Then on she moves to talk of Venetian glass or else a blessed nook where years ago And furniture inlaid in mother-of-pearl, two long-dead lovers dreamed and kissed. And how the round room rang with music The sky slowly closes like a heavy door When Yehudi Menuhin played the violin. and drizzle thickens all along the pier. In a walled kitchen garden neat as a new pin It is later then I thought, shadows and silence I op on a summer seat, and the house growing cold. My gourd-like stomach heavy as history. I hear the ‘beep, beep’ of your text. Meadow pipits plummet from a blushing sky, My awkward thumb replies - Even the lake looks lachrymose. Goodnight sleep tight all ne xx. On a sultry night in Sydney, I light the yellow candle we brought back from Spain. When outside cicadas sing, Finding the page I read Mahon’s poem aloud I wonder if a Sweeney snuggles closer to an empty room, and to you ve-hundred miles away. To his lover, scenting golden skin, There are many ways to reach, To purge his dreams of haunted sodden faces. and many, many ways one can be reached. The spectre of the scattering looms, A shameful shadow, down all the years.

Gerard Hanberry Maureen McAteer Currently working on his third collection of poetry after Something Like Lovers (2005) and Rough Night (2002) from Limerick-born resident of the Donegal Gaeltacht, her poetry Stonebridge Publications, Gerard is widely published. He is awarded and widely published. With rst place in the Magill holds an MA in Writing from National University of Ireland, Summer School literary competition, this poem was written Galway, where he teaches a seminar on poetry. He won the after a visit to Glenveagh Castle. There in 1861, landlord, John Brendan Kennelly Poetry Prize in 2004. George Adair, evicted 244 people in the Derryveagh evictions. In Melbourne distinguished Irishmen like Charles Gavan Duffy formed The Donegal Celtic Relief Commitee. It paid the passages of the younger members of the evicted families who wished to emigrate to Australia. On 18 January 1862, 143 young men and women boarded The Lady Eglinton steamer and sailed to Melbourne via Plymouth.

Tinteán March 2008 31 St Patrick’s Day 1920

These photos were taken at the St Patrick’s Day Parade in March 1920. Archbishop Mannix and John Wren were seated in the midst of 12 WWI Victoria Cross winners who, on 12 greys led the archbishop’s car in the parade. It is interesting to note that this occasion was not long after the bitter conscription debates and referenda in which Mannix and Wren were high profile opponents. However this show of solidarity overcame the Melbourne civic fathers’ objections to the St Patrick’s Day Festival by ensuring it became a celebration of the bravery and resilience of Australian soldiers. © MDHC Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne

32 Tinteán March 2008 Kildea links Irish to Anzac myths Anzacs and Ireland, wars. Some carry a hatred of war in gen- Jeff Kildea, eral. Sydney, University of NSW Press, 2007 Others remember the view expressed by Archbishop Daniel Mannix of Mel- With detailed research, Jeff Kildea’s bourne, and earlier by Vladimir Lenin Anzacs and Ireland has drawn attention of Russia, that World War I was a trade to neglected Irish and Irish Australian war. Kildea mentions in passing, without aspects of World War I. He has recovered drawing out the implications, that control- from obscurity the names and graves of ling the oilelds in Persia (Iran) was one 25 soldiers of the Australian Imperial of the goals of the British war policy. Force (AIF) who are buried in Ireland. Around 1916, Australian critics of the He has recorded details about 74 AIF war such as Mark Feinberg pointed to soldiers commemorated on memorials in another factor. Quoting the Russian for- Ireland and he gives a glimpse into the eign minister, they suggested that one of experiences of the thousands of Austra- the goals of the Gallipoli campaign was Gallipoli which addresses the mothers lians who visited Ireland on leave during to hand control of Constantinople (Istan- of the Anzacs and other foreign soldiers: the war. bul) and the Dardanelles to the autocratic “Your sons are now lying in our bosom He also points out that some 6600 Czar so that his forces would have access and are in peace. After having lost their Irish-born men and women enlisted in to warm-water ports in the Black Sea. lives on this land they have become our the AIF, of whom some 1000 died during In the last sentence of the book, Kildea sons.” Can we match that on our Anzac the war. He re-tells the story of Irish men remarks on the reasons for the deaths memorials? Can we put up a monument ghting in the British Army on the Gal- of Irish Anzacs. He says that they “died to the Aborigines who died defending lipoli peninsula. Families with ancestors ghting for their new country”, Australia. their homeland? Can we have a national in any of the above groups will nd much Many Anzacs acted for that reason but memorial to conscientious objectors to of value in this book. we owe it to them to ask tough questions war? An extraordinary feature of this book such as, in whose interests did they die? Forty years ago, as a young is the story of a handful of Australians In Kildea’s book the language of many Catholic chaplain to an old who fought, some as snipers, for Britain of his comments is sanitised like an army soldiers’ home in Frankston, I was in Dublin at Easter 1916 against the Irish PR handout. For instance, he speaks of lucky to get to know a group of returned patriots led by Patrick Pearse. While the battle of Hamel on the Western Front Anzacs. Like a lot of other Anzacs Kildea mentions the interesting cases of in 1918 when Australians and Americans whom we knew in those days, they said, sympathy with Sinn Féin from John Clark killed about twice as many Germans as “We thought the war would be over and Chaplain Thomas O’Donnell, he they lost as “the nest military achieve- by Christmas”. These men had come explicitly excludes from this book details ment of the war”. Was not the Anzacs’ home with anti-war views vastly different about those Anzacs who sympathised killing ratio about the same on Gallipoli? from the naïve enthusiasm they had gone with or supported the Irish Republican And has he anything else to say of such with. Indeed they encouraged me to Army during the war of independence. factors? oppose the Vietnam War and conscrip- In general, Kildea has presented his For Kildea, Anzacs “serve”, take part tion. ndings in a framework of support for in “offensives”, suffer and die but never These were the blokes who found their the current establishment. Indeed, the seem to kill anyone much except some bitter experiences echoed in the novel, All retired Chief of the Australian Defence Irish rebels in Dublin. His rst choice Quiet on the Western Front, written by a Force, General Peter Cosgrove, launched for describing the ghting at Gallipoli is former German soldier, Erich Remarque. the book last September. Kildea tells his “the landing”. As his later remarks show, The stunning climax of Remarque’s novel readers that he has decided not to revise Kildea knows it was an invasion of sov- lies in the soldier confronting his respon- further the uses of the Anzac tradition. ereign territory. The Turks were ghting sibility for killing one of the enemy. For heaven’s sake, that is exactly what is to defend their homeland. Better to call In the peace movement I learned a say- needed. the ghting, “the invasion”. ing, “Hate the war but love the warrior”. The ruling-class view of the Anzac In this book Sinn Féin are “advanced I am condent that Jeff Kildea agrees tradition, expressed by former Prime nationalists” and “sectarianism” is an with that. He has lavished many months Minister John Howard at Gallipoli in explanation for developments that are of work on the holy and wholesome task 2005, is that Australians were seless and basically political. Kildea praises recent of remembering the dead, wounded, shell brave in serving the Empire and should increased respect among nationalists in shocked and surviving soldiers of the be ready to do similar things today, this Ireland for those who fought in the Brit- British Army and the AIF during World time in Iraq and Afghanistan for the joint ish army. Indeed, he tells the Irish they War I. Anglo-American empire. should be doing more commemorations His love of the warriors makes the Many Australian families who lost of World War I and that they should learn book worth reading. However, in my loved ones in World War I remember the from Australia. opinion, the author’s views as printed in loss and suffering, bravery and mateship, Well, Australians too have a bit of Anzacs and Ireland are in danger of giv- yet at the same time they remember the learning to do about commemorations ing comfort to today’s imperialists. senselessness of ghting other people’s of war. There is a Turkish monument at Val Noone

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34 Tinteán March 2008 Too much spirit? Heat, flies & homesickness Reminiscences, Walkabout: Life as Holy Spirit Rosemary Gleeson (Editor/Collator) Mark Patrick Hedermann Ellikon Fine Printers, Fitzroy Blackrock, The Columba Press, 2005 In the beautifully produced Reminis- In June 1995, after a three year stint teach- Heaney and Murdoch in particular. Each cences, Rosemary Gleeson has collected ing at a seminary in Gwagwalada, Nige- of these pieces – one hesitates to call and collated the stories of the Presenta- ria, Mark Hedermann, a Benedictine, was them vignettes – stands alone. There is, tion Sisters in Victoria, spanning almost recalled to Glenstal Abbey. He wrote to it seems to me, food for thought in all of all of the 20th Century. Stories of hard- his abbott that he believed he was ready them, more perhaps for the general reader ship, of achievements and failures, of for another task, the aim of which is “to than the relevant specialist. “Mosaic of comedy and tragedy come alive as the try to make Christianity an energising, Time and Space” on the other hand is an Sisters recall their experiences in both plausible even though ‘alternative’ life- extended, rather more cohesive discus- urban and rural communities across the style for the next century.” This book is sion of the (primarily) religious thinking state. Many early Sisters were Irish and largely a diary of his subsequent attempt underpinning the Abbey’s redevelop- struggled with the heat, flies, homesick- to convert the Abbey into a centre ‘where ment. The focus, perhaps unsurprisingly, ness and the Australian accent! In fact, art, culture, science and religion can meet’ is on Hederman’s personal interpretation many of the young Australian Sisters (p.44). This requires a transformation of of traditional Catholic teachings about, struggled with the same problems! the Monastery physically and spiritually: for example, the resurrection of Christ, Several common themes run through “every rule, ritual, custom and practice the Trinity and the role of the Holy Spirit. these stories. What impresses is the total must be examined and re examined to Hederman sees the Holy Spirit as the dedication of the Sisters, Irish and Aus- ensure that it is promoting freedom and source of all things creative – everything tralian, young and old, to their mission – joy of life rather than prejudice, intoler- from the birth of Christ to his own book the education of Catholic children. There ance, elitism, discrimination, competi- –“This is not my script. I have been sec- is overwhelming evidence of their com- tion, domination, alienation” (p.157). retary to another presence”. Simultane- mitment to and love of their faith, their Hederman writes (p.19) that there are ously, however, in this section Hederman loyalty and obedience to their Congre- two kinds of diary – one recording “the links his own ideas for renewal of Glen- gation and the Church, the strong and life you plan: the concrete you lay in the stal Abbey and Ireland more generally to affectionate ties established between back (and front) garden of your everyday similar calls by other iconic Irish writers them and the local communities of home”, the other “the eruptions in that such as James Joyce. which they were very much a part. concrete: intrusions from another world The earlier sections are much more The book celebrates the lives of the which seek to enter yours.” Though he prosaic. These are little more than an Sisters and their contribution to Catho- asserts that his book is a diary of the extended travelogue as Hederman visits lic society in Victoria. As such it is a wel- second kind, in fact it is both. Sections II twelve countries – everywhere from the come positive balance to the horror (The Book of the Icons 1976-2001) and Bahamas to Russia in pursuit of support stories of abuse “by religious personnel” III (Walkabout) are primarily concerned for the Glenstal venture. (Hederman so beloved of our national media. Remi- with the concrete details of the project seems to have had an enormous travel niscences is the story of the triumph of (everything from physical planning to budget, courtesy of the nancial support good, of grace under pressure and most nance) of redeveloping the Abbey to for the venture from the American phi- importantly of all, of good humour. The realise Hedermann’s ‘vision’ for the place, lanthropist, Chuck Feeney). A theme of achievements of the Sisters is reflected including its internationalization. Sections these sections is the role of leading Irish in the fascinating photos of happy chil- IV (Mosaic of Time and Space) and V. people in America in helping Hederman dren and nuns in impossible coifs and (Middle Alphabet) focus more on achieve success. Perhaps instead of the habits (no wonder they suffered in the the philosophical, religious and cultural Spirit these fortunate outcomes reect the heat!) That good humour is still alive and issues underpinning the project. I’m over- presence of the Irish diaspora in the US, well in the Congregation is reflected in simplifying, since there is also discussion and the increasing interconnectedness of Sr Rose Derrick’s wonderfully whimsical of broader issues in the earlier sections cultures in a progressively integrating sketches. The cover by Sr Patricia Dan- of the book. global village where six degrees of sepa- iels, is striking, symbolic of the Sisters The latter sections are the most chal- ration may be an overestimate. journey from the green fields of Ireland lenging. The ‘Middle Alphabet’ com- This book both inspires and frustrates. to the sunburnt landscape of Australia prises, as Big Bird might have put it, the The inspiration comes both from the ‘feel – many, many paces beyond what their letters H, I, J K and L. These stand for good’ success story and from the poetic beloved founder Nano Nagle might have Seamus Heaney, Iris Murdoch, James language Hedermann uses to articulate envisaged for their “pilgrim hearts”. Joyce, Brendan Kennelly (“Ireland’s most his indebtedness to Heaney, Joyce and For me, the greatest pleasure of this endearing and reckless poet”) and the Murdoch. The book could have been book is reading the stories to my own artist, Louis Brocquy. Hederman reports shorter and clearer, though, had it been elderly aunt, Sr Amelia Welsh PBVM. Our correspondence with the four of these so, perhaps the reader would have lost favourite story? – her own of course! I artists whose lives spanned the second his appreciation of the complexities of have listened to her stories many times half of the 20th century. Indeed, in Sec- the ‘unusual form of consciousness’ the but actually reading it from a book! – tion II of the book Hederman acknowl- author believes he is seeking to present. well, that’s something else again! edges the extensive inuence on him of Robert Glass Elizabeth Mara

Tinteán March 2008 35 The underbelly of the Celtic Tiger The Pride of Parnell Street, are Dublin’s “piss poor,” always have ages to emphasise the extent of change Sebastian Barry been, probably always will be. Joe is the that has taken place by pointing to events Dublin Theatre Company kind of man that you’d probably cross a Dublin or Irish audience will easily Tivoli Theatre, the street to avoid, yet Sebastian Barry's recall. What becomes obvious is that they Dublin Theatre Festival 2007 major achievement is to portray him in have essentially been left behind. Parnell a sympathetic light, despite a lifestyle of Street, their home but now the heart of This is a story of Dublin’s underbelly waking up at noon, robbing a few cars Dublin’s burgeoning ethnic communities, – dark, gritty and often deeply moving, and spending his "earnings" – and the rest is used as a locational hook for reections Sebastian Barry's new play is a superb of the day – in the pub. Janet raises the on this recent cultural change and history, warts-and-all love story of a hidden young family, yet she can still manage to yet their lives seem relatively untouched underclass that touches on a part of convey the love that she feels for the man by modern Ireland’s new wealth. Barry’s Dublin life often conveniently ignored whose shortcomings are all too apparent. great achievement is to depict a section by contemporary media in the new osten- Throughout the course of the play we of Irish society which has been pushed tatious, debt ridden commuter belts of come to realize how Janet’s life has been ever more underground as Ireland moves modern Ireland. dened by violence. The death of their rapidly forward. Set at the dawn of the new millen- son, the murder of her father, the 1974 The Pride of Parnell Street is an intense nium, the play tells the story of inner city Dublin bombings, and most tellingly production awash with regret and despair Dubliners, Joe and Janet Brady, whose the night Joe beat her to a pulp when his yet laced with lucid humour. During the marriage collapsed a decade previously drunken dreams of Ireland winning the thoroughly deserved standing ovation amid a violent domestic attack and the soccer world cup in 1990 were shattered. I wondered what it must be like to look tragic death of their six year old son. It is this brutal incident of domestic vio- out at a commuter belt audience, most Using interconnecting monologues, we lence that causes Janet to leave Joe and with tears in their eyes and some visibly are told of the individual events in their also sets Joe off on a downward spiral of shaken by the performance, knowing that lives that have passed in the decade since events which sees him lose his family, that they have been similarly bludgeoned they last saw each other. liberty, dignity and health. by health cuts, extortionate property The main characters, played by Mary This powerful tale is part love story prices and four hour commutes to work. Murray and Karl Shiels hide in the and part metaphor for the problems that Compelling, gripping theatre. underbelly of Ireland’s Celtic tiger. They have beset Ireland. The clever script man- Mark Quinn

Congratulations to Tinteán

Telephone: 03 9379 0981 3 Woodland Street Facsimile: 03 9379 0982 Essendon Victoria 3040 Email: [email protected]

36 Tinteán March 2008 A high-class working dog

The Irish Red Setter: Its history, whether dogs should be bred predomi- affection for, them. He is clearly in the character and training, nantly for show trials or for the work line of Irish trainers who believe in work- Raymond O’Dwyer, they are supposed to do, that is found in ing with the animal, not against it – a Cork University Press so many other breeds, notably Alsatians. strategy which shows up well in the Mel- The author obviously believes that dogs bourne Cup arena with a different spe- O’Dwyer has written a history of part of should work for a living and that they cies. Like many Celts, apparently, these Irish society like no other I have read. He should be bred accordingly. Throughout dogs work best for those with whom they begins by urging the reader to the text, it’s clear that O’Dwyer is an have a bond, so that individual affection- “Picture … Ireland without innately kindly soul who truly loves dogs ate attention for each puppy is the key to coniferous plantations, without and is only too happy to relate stories of training them. He advocates beginning mechanical peat extraction or dogs being saved from unhappy situa- gently in the rst few weeks of life: articial drainage, and you will tions or untimely deaths and moved to a “Ignore your pup at your peril in see a land of mountain and bog. country life where they can breed and do this early stage. If it goes without The vast expanses of heather were the work that they were meant to do. He the caress of a human hand, your the home of red grouse, snipe and comments that up to the end of the 19th setter will grow up without the woodcock.” (p.7) century: ability to communicate with you The introduction of ries and shotguns “.. the interchangeability of and will require far greater effort to to the Irish landscape is considered solely eld-trial and show blood is train..” (p.174). from the viewpoint of shooting birds, notable. There was only one type O’Dwyer argues against physical and a little later he approvingly quotes a and it was free from exaggeration, punishment, on the grounds that human Colonel Millner (1924) to the effect that: as Irish setters were still functional disapproval is quite enough to train these “From the time of King William dogs. [..] Thus all seemed well for dogs. He gives a detailed description of III to the unfortunate rising of 1798, the breed..” (p.37). how to train a young dog to locate and rural Ireland was the fairest eld in All of this changed in the 20th cen- ‘point’ for birds, all the while advocat- the civilised world for manly sport tury, with many setters being bred for ing patience, persistence and a laid back and the inhabitants, rich and poor, show alone, becoming placid, and losing attitude on the part of the trainer. were as they are today – keen and the characteristics that made them useful If I have a criticism of this book it the best of sportsmen.” (p.10) working dogs. O’Dwyer opposes this would be for the very poor standard of The two world wars and the liberation trend and writes approvingly of those proof-reading – many pages are marred of Ireland “..caused great hardship..” breeders who can produce big, power- by typographical errors – and of editing (p.39) and may explain the poor record- ful setters equally at home in the eld as – at least one quote appears twice. All in keeping about champion setters between in the trial ring. His disapproval for the all, a gentle ode to a distinctive part of 1900 and 1950. In other words, have all “..new type of owner, urban based, that the Irish countryside and an exemplar of the revolutions and Shannon electrica- selected Irish setters as a fashion acces- some distinctively Irish views on appro- tion schemes that you like, just don’t sory in the 1930s..” jumps off the page! priate training methods. stand between us and the grouse! His love of the breed is very clear in Felicity Allen If you can get beyond these views, the chapter 6 when he writes about the mod- If you would like to know more about book itself is quite a love poem to a very ern standards for the dog. He is openly these wonderful dogs, contact Michael handsome and charming animal, that has emotional about the effect that a stylish Doyle PO Box 173 Dromana Vic 3936. clearly been close to the Irish heart for dog in the hunting eld can have on him Ph: 03 5981 0201; MOB: 0419 988260; several centuries. A brand of tobacco was and emphasises the need for grace and or email Michael at: [email protected] named after the great champion ‘Gar- harmony in action. In specifying the need (no attachments please) ryowen’, who was also immortalised in for intelligence, he stresses the ability of Ulysses. Apparently, the red setter has human and animal to communicate – pro- retained its iconic status even in modern vided the animal has been bred with the times by becoming the logo of Bus Éire- necessary intelligence. The temperament ann, the dog’s well known powers of tire- of Irish setters apparently makes them less galloping symbolising the bus line as difcult to train unless you understand a swift, reliable, national service. and accept them. Many Australian dog For a breeder or lover of the breed, this owners would sympathise with the need book would give invaluable guidance on for a working dog to be “..ery, full of the bloodlines of the various great cham- energy and high spirited…” (p.163) – pions. The text is lavishly illustrated with qualities which are not important in the drawings and photographs of champion show ring and which O’Dwyer hates the animals demonstrating both their ner thought of being bred out of modern Irish points and the characteristic postures of setters. ‘setting’ when a bird is found. His discussion of training these dogs There is the usual controversy between illuminates his understanding of, and

Tinteán March 2008 37 Dublin women

Dubliners: What’s the Story? the young girl soaking up the summer Audrey Healy sun in St Stephen’s Green? Is it the Currach Press, Blackrock, talkative taxi driver putting the world Co. Dublin, 2002 to rights? The high prole politician in Potter, Brenda Fricker, Ria Mooney, his government ofce? The ’oul fella actors? What about Deirdre Purcell, Audrey Healy’s Dubliners: What’s the holding up the bar in Dicey Reilly’s? novelist, Maire Mhac an tSaoi, Poet and Story? is an interesting collection of The frazzled housewife struggling to Author, Sybil Connolly, Couturiere and interviews and pen pictures of more raise a family in a high-rise block of Designer, Maria Cranwill, enamellist and than fty of the city’s most famous sons ats? One interviewee, Anthony Clare, a metal worker, Grace Gifford, cartoonist and daughters. The book is pleasantly Dublin psychiatrist, describes the average and active republican? Every one of these entertaining, the people interviewed Dubliner as being wary, captivating women were Dublin-born and made interesting in their ways. It lists famous and humorous, people who don’t put an impact of Irish life down through historical gures with whom a lot of their faith in money or buildings, don’t the years. The Moore Street traders, people would be familiar, for example, take themselves too seriously, and don’t traditionally women, are as Dublin as you James Joyce, Charles Stewart Parnell, get corrupted by “all this gold and the could nd; however, their contribution George Bernard Shaw. It refers to current Celtic Tiger”. to the City is apparently not worthy of a identities several of whom live in Dublin, It was a little difcult to get a sense of mention. Pity. the most notable being The Taoiseach, that description from Dubliners. Perhaps The book is not intended to be an Bertie Ahern, Senator David Norris and it had something to do with the fact that in-depth analysis of Dublin life. Rather, novelist Maeve Binchy. most of those mentioned in the book the author has attempted to capture a Dubliners is described as ‘a personal were male (48 males and 10 females little of that rare and extraordinary sense invitation to the reader to engage in listed). I could not nd “the young girl of belonging which endears Dublin to its friendly conversation with some of sunning herself in St Stephen’s Green” people and tries to identify the unique Dublin’s most distinguished citizens. or the “frazzled housewife” among the ingredients which make up its inhabitants. At the same time the reader is asked pages. Are there no female Dubliners of It didn’t quite make it. what constitutes a real Dubliner? Is it note worth noting? What about Maureen Deirdre Gillespie, Dubliner

38 Tinteán March 2008 Familial insight into great events A Memoir, Terry de Velera courier with mysterious packages. Currach Press The intimacy of relationships and QUINN CIVIL politics in Ireland is illustrated by an Children of Nelson Mandela still carry incident involving Michael Collins’ anger at their father’s greater priority brother. Johnny Collins had come to live in for nation over family. Terry De Valera, Boosterstown with his family and became Eamon De Valera’s youngest child, though a member of the same church as the De his father was often absent, on the run, in Valeras. One Sunday morning Johnny Specialists in gaol, or campaigning at home or overseas, Collins saw the De Valeras walking to expresses only admiration for his father church, crossed the road, shook hands water and sewer and mother in this intimate memoir. with them and the two families walked Terry, baptised as Toirdhealbhach, on to the service together. infrastructure (abbreviated to Toirleach) was born in Toirleach’s relationships with his 1922, the youngest of seven children. mother and father were happy and loyal, • Rehabilitation of He nished writing this memoir in 2004 as far as we can judge, ditto with his existing pipes (water, having seen his parents, despite their long siblings. If anyone was a black sheep, or sewer & drainage) lives, and his siblings all die. if there were factions in the family, we His viewpoint of the rst 80 or so are not told. • Both hydraulic and years of the Irish state is invaluable. He He ran his own solicitor’s practice pneumatic bursting provides very specic details through in Dublin for many years, especially in the eyes and voice, particularly of his conveyancing, and nished his legal methods available mother, and father, on the Rising in career with a long stint as the Taxing • Construction of pump 1916. It is fascinating to hear the story of Master, retiring at seventy, in 1992. stations and detention Mrs De Valera’s fears and hopes during He defends his father’s political her husband’s imprisonments, expected judgements, strategies, opposition to tanks executions, escapes, reprieves and the the Treaty, and the social conservatism • Construction of new frequent raids by either the British or of this father’s governments as totally the Free Staters. There is graphic detail, predictable given the tenor of the Irish pipes narrated in the rst person, by Sinead people, and Catholic church at the time. De Valera of the Treaty negotiations He is at pains to defend his father and the Quality and the civil war which split such great heroes of the past from the cynicism close friendships and loyalties. There of revisionist historians. emergency is extensive material which Terry has He gives excellent detail, I have found collected from his mother and this could nowhere else, on the ancestors of his be considered the most valuable part of a father and mother, how we end up the service very satisfying book. ethnic name De Valera and he is intent on The family, given their father’s asserting that his father was not, despite prominence, were essentially Irish some claims, illegitimate. aristocracy with all the children having There is no muckraking, no settling prominent careers, in Irish society, living of scores, there is a dignied good word Phone: 03 5940 2955 in comfortable homes with maids, and for everyone. He seems to be innately Mobile: 0418 353 140 having the leisure for the arts and other conservative. Most recent modernising Fax: 03 5940 2956 interests. Terry appears to have been trends in Ireland have been a discomfort the family geneologist ferreting out to him, people in the past behaved with [email protected] the details of the families Spanish and much greater integrity, he believed. American connections. He became an expert in the music of Terry, rejecting political opportunities, Chopin and John Field, and travelled Cumann Gaeilge na hAstrail spent most of his working life in the law, to Poland giving lectures on their but the arts, music and sculpture were his achievements. Irish language classes main loves; though motor cars, planes He himself composed, he sculptured Tuesdays 7.30pm and guns were a balancing interest. and painted and gardened. These were The narrative is at its most intense his great loves and he achieved some Downstairs, Celtic Club, when he relates events such as his success, he was fair to average. 316 Queen St, Melb father’s description of his command of Despite his modesty and discretion, his Beginners, Intermediate & Advanced the insurrection post in Boland’s Mill and story illuminates the man, the politician, his family’s preparations for the expected De Valera, his wife Sinead, (Jane); and the Contact: Deirdre Gillespie English invasion of Ireland in 1940. Terry intimate circumstances of Irish politics 0423 080 677 had an unofcial role as the wireless and society over this long period. A most operator from the prime minister’s home, useful book which gives familial insights www.gaeilgesanastrail.com liaison with special branch, and the into great events. Terry Monagle

Tinteán March 2008 39 A Very Happy My generation St Patrick’s Day The Generation Game, David McWilliams to all the Irish Gill & Macmillan Ltd 2007

Community from David McWilliams has an enviable talent in conjuring up striking nomenclatures. To get their head around his take on a con- sumerism-gone-mad-society – his latest David McWilliams assessment of the economic state of “The Celtic Tiger” – readers must rst absorb abroad in the 19th & 20th centuries. This a plethora of tags – Bono Boomers, the was not always edifying – like the Black Jagger and the Juggler generations, the Irish in Chapter 13 – or even optimistic. Botox Economy and permalescents. Not In Chapter 14, he traces the rise and fall for him mundane categorizations such as of Uruguay as an economic miracle in the “baby boomers”, “x-geners”, “y-geners”. 19th and early 20th centuries. The paral- But once the tag system is mastered, the lels with late 20th and early 21st century most difcult part of reading this book Ireland are obvious. McWilliams does not is over – except perhaps for Chapter 10, hesitate to drive his point home. Unless which requires more concentration than the Irish heed such historical precedents, other chapters. the present era of economic prosperity McWilliams deftly uses pop-psychol- will soon be but a memory. ogy case studies and clever caricaturing McWilliams argues at length and I of contemporary fashions to drive home must confess, persuasively, for the Irish his economic/social commentary on what Government to withdraw from the EMU he sees as the sad and declining state of (European Monetary Union). His claim Irish society. His ability to convey both that by limiting economic strategies the historical and contemporary ambience available to the government, such as of his chosen locations is impressive. devaluing the currency, membership of Chapter 1 is devoted to the frenetic activ- the EMU will lock Ireland into a long and ity in any one day at Dublin Airport. A costly recession. Of course, such a move staggering 21 million passengers per year is easier said than done, particularly when BUILDING & are handled by the airport – in a country it comes from a populist economist. CIVIL ENGINEERING with an overall population of 4 million! Creating an advantage from an histori- But it is the ethnicity of the arrivals that cal disadvantage can also help in an eco- CONTRACTORS interests McWilliams. For the rst time in nomic downturn. Small, it seems, is ex- its history, Ireland is attracting immigrants ible. Flexibility and resilience have long in large numbers, legal and otherwise, been virtues of Irishness. McWilliams Suite 109, 620 St Kilda Rd, who perceive it to be a better place to live sees no reason why this should change. than their homeland – usually in Eastern Last but not least, McWilliams places Melbourne 3004 Europe or Western Africa. McWilliams a great deal of hope on the role of the Tel: 03 9510 9162 pulls no punches in making us aware of Irish Diaspora in the revitalization and the effect these newcomers have on Irish continuing prosperity of Ireland. Entic- Fax: 03 9510 9164 society in general and economic activity ing back to the Emerald Isle the well edu- in particular. And it’s not good news. cated, prosperous descendants of those, In fact, his somewhat strident thesis is who in a harsher age left her shores, that the Irish are living in a fool’s para- would encourage like–minded success, O’BOYLES dise, almost everyone is ratchetting up prosperity and a spirit of achievement. overwhelming debts and living beyond Whether members of the Diaspora feel their means. This scarey state of affairs the same way does not seem to have been ROOF PLUMBING is the result of a perception of the avail- factored into his argument! ability of cheap labour (the new immi- This is in many ways a compelling Free quotes grants), irresponsible borrowing, and book. In spite of a scholarly bibliography out-of-control, extravagant, unnecessary and a comprehensive (and very useful t"MMNFUBMSPPGTt#PYHVUUFST construction of housing which those who appendix), the style is sometimes irritat- t4QPVUJOHt%PXOQJQFT need it most cannot afford, thus leading to ingly populist. So I was not surprised to an economically unviable vacancy rate. learn, quite by accident, that The Gen- .BSL0#PZMF A rather grim scenario. But McWil- eration Game had, like its successor, The liams is no doomsday peddler. The sec- Pope’s Children started out as a success- QINPC ond half of his book looks for solutions by ful RTE series. )JDLPSZ%PXOT1MBDF %JBNPOE$SFFL trawling the history of the Irish experience Elizabeth McKenzie

40 Tinteán March 2008

St Patrick’s Day at the Celtic Club Doors Open at 9am, Food Served 12 noon - 9pm (available on Level 1 only) Special St Patrick’s Day Menu Tara Bar Brian Boru Function Room The Fitzgerald Family Session 11am - 1pm Seamus Ryan 12 noon - 2pm Shane Pullen 1.30pm - 4.30pm Darren Gallagher & Friend 2.30pm - 5.30pm Pat McKernan 5pm - 7pm Tara 6pm - 9pm Shane Pullen & Band 7.30pm - 9pm Sporting Paddy 9.30pm - 00.30am The Colonials 9.30pm - 00.30am ENTERTAINMENT FOR MARCH & APRIL 08 Traditional Sessions recommence 29 February Fitzgerald Family: 5.30 – 7.30pm Live Performance: 8pm – 11pm (Band/Duo) March April Friday 7th: Sporting Paddy Friday 4th: Pat McKernan Friday 14th: The Colonials Friday 11th: The Colonials Saturday 15th: Pat McKernan (Playing before Friday 18th: Cyril Moran Ireland v England Six Nations Rugby Match) Friday 25th: Sporting Paddy Monday 17th: St Patrick’s Day – as listed above Friday 21st: Closed (Good Friday) Friday 28th: Pat McKernan It’s that time of the year again... Six Nations Rugby For the matches the Celtic Club will be showing check www.celticclub.com.au TRADING HOURS Tara & Cuchulainn Bars Monday - Thursday: 10am-11pm, Friday: 10am-1am, Saturday-Sunday: 11.30am - 11pm* *depending on sporting xtures Shamrock Restaurant Lunch: Monday – Friday 12-2.30pm, Dinner: Friday – Saturday 5.30-9pm Don’t forget our $10 Bar Meals in the Tara Bar Monday – Friday: 12-2.30pm, Thursday – Saturday: 5.30-9pm

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