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t is not an easy task to explore the links between Limerick and Australia over the past two cen- turies in a short arti- cle. For manv lrish but you ought all to have /beep hanged long ago! fl C schoolboys, one of the first times that *i. the name of Australia cropped up in The discovery of gold in Australia print was in John Mitchel's book Jail suits of yellow and grey, and with caused Mitchel further distress. 'The Journal. In the first decades of this cen- their hair close cropped, their close late discovery of gold mines in tury a copy of this work was to be found leathern caps, and hang-dog counte- Australia, which tempts multitudes of in many lrish households, and the book nances, wear a most evil, rueful, and Tasmanian ruffians over the strait, was cdmpulsory reading for most abominable aspect. They give us a interests the colony of Fort Philip very nationalist families at thattime. vacant but impudent stare as we ride vehemently in the same cause.' He wrote: John Mitchel was a man of strong by. I wish you well, my poor fellows; I am prosecuting my hay-harvest dili- opinions (to put it mildly), and was gently, with the aid of two or three noted for his dislike of the British. He horrible convict cut-throats, all from was transported to Van Diemen's Land Ireland - and all by their own with the other Young Irelanders, and account, transported for seizing Jail Journal contains an account of his arms. This is considered amongst impressions of the colony. As he pre- these fellows a respectable sort of pared to leave Van Diemen's Land on offence. The rascals could earn ten 20th July, 1854, he summed up his English shillings per diem, at harvest impressions: time; and they live all the year round ... we are fast shuttling down the like lrish kings, not to speak of lrish coast of Van Diemen's Land below cut-throats. They don't like to work the red horizon, about to stretch too hard, and require a good deal of across the stormy Bass Straits. The wine. They come early from their last of my island prison visible to me, work, smoke and chat with one is a broken line of blue peaks over the another all evening in the yard, and Bay of Fires. Adieu, then beauteous go to sleep in their opossum rugs in island, full of sorrow andgnashing of the barn. Yet, with all this high teeth,!-Island of fragrant forests, and reward they receive for their crimes, bright rivers and fair women! - Island this paternal care to make thievery of chains and scourges, and blind, happy, and munificent endowment brutal rage and passion! of rascality, the creatures are not Mitchel strongly disapproved of trans- utterly bad - not half so bad, for portation as a form of punishment: example, as the Queen of England's The British transportation system is Cabinet Councillors. They are civil, the very worst scheme of criminal good-natured with one another, and punishment that ever was contrived not thievish at all - partly because ... One main feature in convict life I they are so well off that there is little have ascertained to be a deep and John Mitchel '... Wild and menacing words' in a temptation, and partly because the heartfelt respect for atrocious villainy paper he called 7he Unitedlrishman'. punishments are savage. It would be - respect the more profound as the villainy is more outrageous. If any- thing can add to the esteem which a man in the felon worldsecures by the reckless brutality of his language and manners, the extent of his present thievings, and ingenuity of his daily lying, it is the enormity of the original offence for which he is supposed to be suffering ... And then I curse, Oh! how fervently, the British Empire. Empire of hell! When will thy cup of abominations be full? John Mitchel had little sympathy for the plight of his fellow convicts. One day, while travelling on horse-back to Brown's River, he came across a party of convicts working on the roadside. This is how he described them: And as we follow the winding of the road through the romantic glen, we meet parties of miserable wretches harnessed to gravel carts and draw- ing the same under orders of an over- Conditions on board sometimes as appalling as anythi&iIreland, 'Would more than two-thirdsbe alive seer. The men are dressed in piebald on arrival?' pleasant enough to see these crea- tures comfortable, and tolerably decent in their behaviour, but for the thought that this whole system is in

truth a fruitful "breeder of sinners, " and that the same hateful Govern- ment and state of society in England, which so richly reward these men for their villainies, punish, starve, and debase the poor and honest, for being poor and honest. Many a time, therefore, as I look upon these quiet, well-behaved men reaping, not too arduously, singing or smoking in the fields, or cheerfully "following the plough upon the mountain side," or tending thejr masters' flocks in the far forest pastures, like human hus- bandmen and simple Arcadian shepherds - instead of rejoicing in their improved conditions and behaviour, I gaze on them with hor- ror, as unclean and inhuman monsters, due long ago to the gal- The entrance to the River Derwent, the destination of the emigrant ships which took months to get there. lows-tree and oblivion... One of the convicts engaged in the hay- saving was a Limerickman. The lure of a lament for his Polly, 'who lives in the gold, however, was to prove more Limerick town': attractive to the convict than the pas- In the county of Limerick, near the toral life: town o'Ramshorn, Although John Mitchel and the ... the hay was all stacked, and the My own native country wherein I was anonymous author of 'The lrish Trans- men came to be paid. One of them, a born, port' complained bitterly about their civil and hard-working cut-throat, But to some foreign country I was fate, there is ample testimony that from the County Limerick, asked me sent for a slave, other lrish people settled happily into to sign a printedpaper for him. It was Since in my own country I could not their new surroundings in Australia. a certificate that he had been in my behave For instance, the story of the Presenta- employme,nt, and had behavedmod- tion Sisters from Sexton Street, erately well. "I'm off for the diggin's It's not those long travels that is a Limerick, who travelled to Victoria in in Port Philip, " said he, "to-morrow; trouble to my mind, 1873, provides a contrasting picture. my 'conditional pardon' had come to Nor yet those foreign islands where I Responding to the invitation of the hand, and I must have this paper to am close confined, Limerick-born priest, Fr. James Francis show the magistrate to-morrow But if we are on ship board and my Corbett, who was then private secret- morning, when I go to take out my Polly with me, ary to the Bishop of Melbourne, J. A. free papers. " Bound down in strong irons I should Goold, seven pioneering nuns, led by "I wish you luck, Mike; don't spend think myself free. Mother Paul Mulquin, set out on the all your money in Maskell's public- long journey. An account of this ven- house to-night," "By my soul, sir," Oft times have I wonder'd how young ture and the nuns' settlement in Vic- said Mike, "I must drink to-night to women love young men, toria is to be found in the book Adven- ould Garryowen, and the sky over it. And oft times have I wonder'd how ture in Faith by Kathleen Dunlop Kane, Good night, sir. To-morrow I ride young men love them, published in 1974 in Australia. down to Hobart Town, and am to Since a woman has been my ruin and In his letter of 28th January, 1873, return by New Norfolk. " my sad downfall, from St. Mary's, St. Kilda, Victoria, Fr. Writing to the Nation on 25th January, Which has caused me to lie between Corbett wrote: 1851, Mitchel recorded his order of pre- lime and stone walls. Dear Reverend Mother, ference for Tasmania and its inhabit- From the ends of the earth I write to ants: 'First and best ... the women; sec- God bless my 09father that lies in you for help ... You can contribute ond, the dogs; third the horses; fourth, cold clay very materially ... by sending three or the kangaroos; fifth the men, and sixth, Likewise my dear old mother that is four Sisters, to whom I shall give my the opossoms and wallabys.' living until this day, house, which is sufficiently com- But the time is approaching when I modious for even six Sisters ... I am shall be set free. directed by the Bishop to ask you for Then I'll go straight home to lreland four Sisters also for Melbourne, for my Po!ly for to see. whom his Lordship will provide a house and schools in the city. Cork My Polly lives in Limerick town, a girl recently sent several Sisters to the But the women at home in Ireland held that I love dear, neighbouring colony of Tasmania more attractions for some of the other And when Iget my liberty with her 1'11 and I S all be very disappointed convicts. Perhaps it was a Co. Limerick make my fare, indeed i f your own old city cannot man like Mike, in captivity in Van And when I gain my liberty with my spare a few from your flourishing Diemen's Land, who composed, in the Polly 171 remain, community. first half of the nineteenth century, the I will bidadieu to Vandieman's Land, The Presentation Sisters in Limerick convict ballad 'The lrish Transport', as likewise the raging main. and posed some questions. On The interior of an Australian sheepherder's hut during the early years of settlement,

17th June, 1873, Fr. Corbett again blinding snow storms and nasty fogs' wrote, and in answer to the queries, and 'exhilarating' alternative, but one paints a flattering picture of life in must say that Fr. Corbett is drawing a sunny Australia in contrast to the 'win- long, long bow when he compares a try' gloom of the Emerald Isle: voyage half-way round the world with With regard to the climate, I have a short jaunt down the Shannon Nowdays travelling to Australia from only to state that it will compare Estuary from Limerick to Kilrush. Shannon Airport isa 24 hour, one day's favourably with that of any other The priest went on to add a post- journey. But for the Limerick seamen country, it is on the whole a good script: 'I wish to inform your commun- who made the voyage in the last cen- one. Its air is pure, dry and exhilarat- ity, lest they should be under a misap- tury it was often a difficult and danger- ing, it has its hot winds and these are prehension of the geographical posi- ous journey. One such seaman was comparatively few, but it has not the tion of these parts, that Melbourne is Michael Joyce. days of wintry gloom, the keen and the capital of Victoria. Fr. Corbett He was born on 4th September, 1851, cutting forests, and the blinding received a reply. With the consent of at Merchants' Quay, once the busy snow storms and nasty fogs of the Dr. George Butler, Bishop of Limerick, Limerick port, and was educated by the Emerald Isle. The hot days are tem- to whom he tpd also written on 17th Christian Brothers at their Quay Lane pered by cool sea breezes and the June, the seven nuns set off on 22nd school. It was only natural that young winters are more like the balmy October, 1873. So protracted was the Joyce should fix his mind on a sailor's spring days you now enjoy ... The parting that the train was half an hour life, like his father and grandfather voyage is no doubt a long one but late in leaving Limerick. After a voyage before him. In 1867, his first year at sea, once you pass the first week on sea it of almost two months, the nuns arrived he was shipwrecked near Rotterdam, becomes agreeable, the passage is a at Sandridge (Port Melbourne) on Sun- and two years later he was nearly ship- very pleasant one through generally day, 21st December. wrecked again. Before he became a quiet seas ... In fact, I should feel as The Adare, Co. Limerick-born, Mother Shannon Estuary pilot in 1887, he was little concerned about the voyage as Mary Mulquin was then just 31 years to experience hurricanes, tornadoes, of a trip by the old 'Garryowen' from old, but showed herself to be a spirited typhoons and pamperos, as he voy- Limerick to Kilrush ... There will be no woman in the diary she kept on board aged around the world. Unlike most difficulty in erecting schools which the ship Great Britain on the voyage other Limerick people who travelled to shallnot be, by any means, subjectto from Liverpool, and in her educational Australia atthattime, he returned to tell Government or other secular inspec- work in Australia. Adventure in Faith the tale. tion, but shall belong to the Church and an entry in the Australian Dictio-- Apart from being a master mariner, and be under its control alone. nary of Biography provide much mkhael Joyce was also a talented actor The contrast is well presented between interesting information about the nun and raconteur. While he was in his 'the keen and cuttipgfrosts, and the and her life's work. teens he distinguished himself in 158 The 'Tayleur'set sail from Liverpool for Melbourne in January, 1854. She was wrecked off the rocks of Lambay lslandin Dublin Bay. amateur theatricals in Limerick. He who went on to become Bishop of entered politics and served as an alder- Maitland, N.S.W. Bishop (Sir) James man on the Limerick City Council for 27 Borne Bugbp anb omer Pink$ Duhig, during his visit to his native years. In 1900 he became a member of county in 1950, let it be known to hisfel- parliament and served at Westminister Rugby has long been an international low Limerick people that he would for 18 years. In 1905 he was elected as sport, and one of the many sporting encourage all the unemployed young president of the United Kingdom Pilots' links between Australia and Limerick men and women in Ireland to emigrate Association, and such was his prestige was recently recalled by the publication to Australia. Perhaps the depressed that when he died at the age of ninty in of a photograph of a Shannon juvenile state of the country and the high 1940, one of the many obituary notices rugby team, winners of the Tyler Cup in unemployment rate at the time influ- said of him: 'To him more than anyone the season 1905-06. A short time after enced his judgement. else, credit must be given for having on the photograph was taken, six of the There is one more Limerick connec- the British Statute Books that charter of team - Jack Bourke, Tom O'Connell, tion with Australia which should not be liberty for pilots -the Merchant Ship- Paddy O'Halloran, Tony Quin, Martin forgotten. Archbishop Daniel Mannix ping Act, which was passed in 1913.'He Clohessy (captain), Patsy Carroll - was born just overthe Co. Limerick bor- was shipwrecked for the last time on emigrated to Australia. der at Charleville, Co. Cork, and his 10th October, 1918, when the ill-fated As time passed, so encouraging was mother (nee Cagney) came from S.S. Leinster was torpedoed while he the news of their success in their Tuagh, Adare, Co. Limerick. When sail- was on his way to his parliamentary adopted country that others such as ing from America to Ireland, at the duties in London. Joe and Tom OfH$lloran, Bob and height of the Black and Tan terror, he In the last twenty years of his life, Paddy Burke and their two sisters, were was arrested and placed on a British Michael Joyce hugged the Shannon added to those 'pioneers'. Charlie Mac- destroyer. Nonplussed, he said to the shore and regaled his friends with Namara and Paddy Clohessy were to British captain: 'This, surely, must be stories of Australia and other far-away be followed by Turlough Griffin, hissis- the biggest English naval victory since places. While in the House of Com- ter and her husband, and soon they the Battle of Jutland!' mons, he met many distinguished made up a Limerick 'colony'. Later people. T.P. O'Connor introduced him Fanny Lynch and the present Irish to Mark Twain as 'the Shannon Pilot to Ambassador to America, Paddy the Mississippi Pilot'. He also met John McKiernan, from Garryowen, were to McCormack, Ada Rehan, the famous augment this group and helped to form Limerick-born Shakesperean actress a goodly sprinkling from the Treaty and a great beauty of her day, Eva City. O'Connor, the Australian soprano, and, Among the other Limerick people Not all the Irishmen who wentto seek of course, all the leading parliamenta- who made their mark in the land of the their fortunes in Australia hit the rians of the day. Limerick could hardly Southern Cross were the Broadford- wtlike Paddy Hannan of Quin, Co. have had a better ambassador to born Bishop of Brisbane,James Duhig, Clare, who eventually struck it rich in Australia in his voyages there more and former Director of the Limerick the Kalgoolie goldfields. Three than 100 yearsago. F!?- Archconfraternity, Edmund Gleeson, Limerick Ouakers - Gabriel ('Gabe') Sailing ship 'Eudora'in the Limerick floating dock, June, 1907, with a cargo of300 tons ofAustralian wheat.

Fisher Unthank, Rueben Alezander and immortalised in song, story and rugby- pilot in Sydney Harbour. He worked for Edward Robinson - became smitten by lore. I would like to conclude my brief more than twenty-five years in this big the gold fever in 1853, and decided to exploration of some of the links bet- and busy port. After his retirement, he set out for Australia. However, they had ween Limerick and Australia by men- returned to his native city in 1986 and poor luck, and Gabe, the last of the tioning three young men from Gar- renewed old acquaintances with John Unthanks, returned home with just ryowen who went to live and work in and Donal O'Connell, Frank Whelan, enough gold to make a wedding ring Australia. Martin and John Clancy, Joe and for Margaret Merrick, whom he later Munchin Sheedy was born into an Michael Sheehan, Jim Kemmy and a married in Dublin. old Garryowen family in 1907. After host of other neighbours from 'under leaving school, he worked at Shaw's the Tower'. Today Liam lives out a con- Bacon Factory in Mulgrave Street. tented and well earned retirement in However, the call of the religious life Sydney. His two sisters, Maureen and was strong and he joined the Cistercian Joan, also live in Australia, where their Order and entered their Roscrea House father was to spend the last 18 years of Not many people in Ireland or Australia in 1934, when he was aged 27 years. In his life. will have heard of Limerick, New South 1954 he left Ireland and travelled off Wales. Thanks to the help of the Austra- to Tarrawarra Abbey, Victoria. He con- Tommy O'Connell, another one of lian Embassy in Dublin and its Dept. of tinued his quiet labours there until his the O'Connell brothers from Gar- Foreign Affairs, we now know that death on 20th October, 1980. Although ryowen, was born in 1924. Like his there is a Limerick down under and that he had joined a contemplative order, father and brothers, he served his it is located near Crookwell, in New his colourful personality could never apprenticeship as a carpenter. He South Wales. At one time it had a hotel, be submerged or suppressed for too played rugby for his local team, post office, general store, houses and long, and he gained a wide circle of Richmond, and won a Munster Junior other buildings, but now, sadly, there friends in his adopted country. Cup medal with the club in the season are no longer any public or commercial Liam (Bill) Hanrahan was born in the 1945-46. He was a strong and intelli- buildings to be found there. In fact, 1920s under the shadow of St. John's gent wing forward, and went on to win today Australia's Limerick is com- Cathedral. He was the son of Jimmy a place on the Young Munster senior pletely taken over by farming, and only Hanrahan, the well known Limerick team. He loved the Shannon River, and onefamily, named Laverty, livesthere. pigbuyer, but the buying and selling of was an intrepid Plassey boatman. pigs held little attractions for him. After While still in his early twenties, he leaving school, he joined the British emigrated from Limerick to Canberra. Merchant Navy and served in many His untimely death in that city in Feb- parts of the world for more than twentmruary, 1950, at the age of 26; robbed Garryowen, situated beside the old years. On leaving the navy, he went to Lstra~iaand Ireland of an open, gener- Walls of Limerick, has long been Australia and found employment as a ous and warm human being.