Irish Scene July August 2015

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Volume 17 Number 5 July/August 2015

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Meet the International Rose Sir Andrew Clarke Irish Queen of Mullaloo Mrs Brolly’s Confectionery Collie SHS Anzac Tour Meet Sean Cassin at Paddy’s The Skye Hidden Bar Mucky Duck Story Rose of Tralee Photos The Muck Savage Sandwich Midwest Irish Club 25th Hon Irish Consul meets the President at Áras

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30 Mins with the 2014 International Rose of Tralee

Maria Walsh

By Brid Ni Mhuineachain

I met up with Maria Walsh on 23 May, during the afternoon before the Perth Rose Selection Ball commenced at the Adina Hotel.

Maria was just after getting her hair and make-up done for the big event and snuck off to meet me for a quick catch up and coffee.

There was such a buzz around the place. The potential Perth Roses and Committee were passing in and out with dresses under their arms, hair styled and make up on for the night’s celebrations ahead.

Everything seemed to be running smoothly for a great night ahead.

Maria has had an amazing year so far as the International Rose of Tralee.

She has been referred to as the Rose who has changed and modernised the Rose Festival with her smart mind, sense of style, relaxed friendly personality, passion for helping children’s charities and also her openness about her sexuality. She is a breath of fresh air to a competition which has been described by critics as ‘nothing more than a beauty pageant’. She has definitely proved them all wrong!

Maria was born in Boston and moved with her parents and three siblings to Shrule, County Mayo when she was seven years old. She studied in College in Dublin and later moved to New York and then on to Philadelphia where she got involved in the Rose festivities and decided to enter for a chance to represent Philadelphia.

It has been a very busy year for Maria since winning the crown. For the first five months she worked every week in Philadelphia and travelled back to Ireland almost every week for Rose duties. She has travelled to Kolkata with the festivals charity partner the HOPE Foundation to see the positive support the foundation are providing to children on the street and in the slums of Kolkata.

She also travelled to Belarus with

PERTH CENTRE Chernobyl Children International to help the children at the Vesnova Orphanage. To add to all the charity work, she has already appeared on the Late Late Show three times, a first for any Rose winner and earlier this year she won Most Stylish Newcomer in the VIP fashion awards. She also got to shake hands with the President of the United States Barack Obama. Not a bad year for a young lady from Mayo!

Tell us about your Rose of Tralee Australian Tour? Where has your favourite place been?

Australia tour kicked off on the 26 April. My mother and my aunty Cathy (my entourage) are travelling with me. It’s great that they get to share this time with me and see what I am getting to see. We started off in Wellington with the New Zealand Rose and did two nights there. We then flew into Melbourne followed by Sydney, then Brisbane and now here our trip finishes in Perth. The only two rose centres that I have missed are Adelaide and Darwin. The Rose Selection Ball is on in Adelaide tonight and as much as I would love to be in two places at the one time, I can’t and Perth won because my sister Eileen lives here and my ties lie with her. If I was in Australia and did not visit her I would be in a lot of trouble!

The tour has been jam packed and I have fitted so much in. In terms of my favourite City, I do really like the suburbs of Perth. Eileen lives in Leederville and I really love the small suburbs. But in terms of the small streets, walking around and the ‘downtown’ feel, I really loved Melbourne (sorry Perth people).

How have you found the general awareness to the Rose of Tralee in Australia and does it differ a lot to the US? Australia centres have a lot more ‘punch’ within their communities

4

compared to the US. Australia is the number one place for young people to emigrate to at the moment so there has definitely been an increase in applicants. But here they do it in a much grandeur affair. All the selection balls have been held in beautiful hotels and they receive lots more corporate sponsorship.

Last year when I entered in Philly, there was a formal dinner and a couple hundred people but it definitely doesn’t have the same foray and atmosphere as here. The excitement here is brilliant and I am really looking forward to tonight. Ye Aussies do it very well!

What advice would you give to the Australian Roses going to Tralee this year?

Do I know what the judges are looking for? No. You cannot control what five people think about you and there is no formula for winning.

You are judged on your private interview, your public interview and how you engage with the public. However, I feel everything that I have learned has been in the past ten months. You need to feel comfortable in your own skin and as corny as it sounds you just really need to stay true to yourself. The other thing I tell the girls is to leave your phones at home, your family are there to take pictures. Your job

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Continued on page 8

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I have an extremely lazy style but since I have been Rose I have to be a little more aware of what I wear because I am meeting people, children all the time and there are lots of photos. Comfy and classic is the best way to describe my style.

I feel most myself when I am in a nicely cut dress that sits a little

I would have to split the answer to that question. Personally, it was getting presented with the Mayo jersey in Croke Park. That was amazing and then as an ambassador, meeting the President of the United States of America was definitely significant but when I turned around after meeting him and being in a room with 350 prestigious

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Do I think that young people now look at it and think it’s cool because there is a short haired tattooed lesbian as the ambassador… perhaps? I would never take credit for that though. In January this year, I met up with loads of the older roses from the 50’s, 60’s

You recently won the ‘Most Stylish Newcomer Award’ at the VIP Fashion Awards in Ireland. How would you describe your style?

What is your most memorable moment of the year as the Rose of Tralee?

Ha

No. But I can understand why people think I have. I think the festival has been more ahead of its time than most people give it credit for but I think with social media and technology it is now a little more relevant.

below the knee. I think they are a little classier plus logistically they work better because I do so much different stuff from being on my knees taking photos with a load of children to standing shaking hands with someone important like the President of the United States! Saying all that, if I could live in my converse I would. I loved walking around the little shops in Leederville. Australia has a really cool loose, style, which is nice and I like.

in S

The festival can sometimes come under scrutiny by critics who have described it as ‘nothing more than a beauty pageant’. Do you feel you have modernised and revitalised the festival with your intelligence, sense of style and openness about your sexuality?

and 70’s and each of these women was smart, confident women. You can tell as soon as you meet them why each of them was selected as Roses and I think they were the modern Roses of their time. I also think because of all the LGBT issues that are happening at the moment and the referendum on same sex marriage it has made me more relevant. I think if the festival is still being discussed nine or ten months into the year then its good sign and if people see it as more than a twonight television show then I am happy.

Col

is just to take in the moments. It’s about connecting with people and future possible roses and enjoy the moments. Have fun!

Malcolm St

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Maria Walsh Continued

hard working driven Irish people, I just thought wow there are Irish people all across the world and we are doing alright as a country. I remember that moment as being so proud to be there as an ambassador of the Rose of Tralee Festival.

What has been your favourite place you have travelled to this year?

People don’t believe me when I say this but definitely when I did the tour of the 32 counties of Ireland. They were all spectacular, especially Mayo. There is a really cool Chronicles of Narnia tourist way up North and I really want to go back. I didn’t get to do the walk of Derry and I didn’t get to do the Titanic tour but it’s something I would definitely like to go back and do as maybe a honeymoon or as an adventure holiday for two or three weeks where you can really take everything in. In international terms, I love Africa and I am really excited to head back to Kilimanjaro in June with a group called Development Perspectives. I have been to Tanzania before as a volunteer when I was 21 so I always have a soft spot for Africa. I love the people.

What advice would you have for Irish people abroad?

I hear people at home saying ‘oh

we are losing all our young people every day’. I think it’s great to travel.

My own parents travelled and took their chunk out of America and returned home great people. For me, home is where your parents are. Being abroad, people think you lose your sentimentality for Ireland but I honestly think it gets stronger.

That is why I threw myself into the Rose of Tralee Festival. I missed that connection with who I was and Ireland and the festival was a great way to get reconnected. I think most people want to move home eventually. I have met many people in Australia who said ‘Home is Ireland and Australia is a destination’. I think that goes to show you how good Ireland is. For young people abroad, I think the more you can immerse yourself in the Irish community abroad the better. It keeps your feet on the ground and your great Irish sense of humour.

What do you miss most about home when you are in Philadelphia and travelling?

A proper cup of tea! In fairness, the Aussies don’t do a bad cup though. There is something very nostalgic about being in your own home in front of a fire with a cup of tea. I miss that. I also miss that human connection of sitting across the table and talking to your family about nothing in particular like

hearing all the gossip from home, who won the latest match, who got sent off in the latest Shrule/ Glencorrib game etc. It’s that local gossip and chat. you miss when you are gone away. Dare I say I miss going down to the local pub and having the chat with neighbours or even going to Mass and meeting neighbours. It’s that community connection.

So what’s next……

On August 18, I will be handing over the crown to the next Rose. It will be a bitter sweet moment for me. I am really excited to see who the 2015 Rose will be. I knew that it was a twelve month journey so I am excited to see what happens for me next. I can dust myself off and go back to Philadelphia or I could go and do more travelling. Another option I am considering is, do I move home and see what happens?

There have been some talks with a group called MK Management, which is agency that deals with media so maybe I will go down that road. If I do television though, I want it to be about a project that I am very passionate about. I would prefer that people think of me as the Rose who did things that meant something. I am also passionate about children and would like to do some work in that area.

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8

County Tyrone in Glory (Part Four)

By Peter Conole

Sir Andrew Clarke was in the transitional stage to retirement when he participated in the British general election of July 1886. He had solid backing in the Medway river towns, some of which had close armed forces linkages dating back several centuries. Chatham was one and Clarke stood as the Liberal (Whig in old-style terminology) candidate for that seat.

The main plank in his election platform was, of course, Home Rule for Ireland. He was an ardent supporter of the idea and we know what he had in mind for old Ireland: status as a fully selfgoverning dominion on the same lines as Canada and New Zealand then had and as Australia was to obtain in 1901. In short he probably envisaged an Irish federation of the five provinces. Sir Andrew obviously hoped to strike in the heartland - England - because William Gladstone’s Liberal Party had a realistic chance of pushing through the right legislation. The votes of Charles Parnell’s Irish Parliamentary Party would help when things came to the crunch in Parliament.

The general had to swallow his pride and personal grudges in dealing with his old foe Gladstone.

The latter at least supported him on Home Rule and Clarke’s more general desire “not to withhold from a struggling nation its reasonable and safe demands”. Local people agreed that Sir Andrew was ‘’the most distinguished and experienced candidate to stand in the Medway towns”. Despite the disadvantages of a short, underfunded campaign he only lost to the sitting Conservative Party (Tory) member by 700 votes.

Gladstone’s Liberals emerged victorious anyway and a Bill proposing Home Rule for Ireland was introduced later in 1886. A last minute split in the Liberal Party ruined everything, but even then the Bill only lost by thirty votes - 311 for and 341 against in the House of Commons. It is rather

Sir Andrew Clarke, 1873

Sir Andrew Clarke

ironic that similar party divisions and attacks by free trade supporting Whigs had crippled Tory attempts to provide adequate Irish Famine relief in 1846.

Regardless of the election result Sir Andrew soldiered on among the Medway populace and emerged as a stalwart of old-style, upper class British reformism. He helped establish a local Radical Association in 1889, then campaigned hard on the eight-hour day issue from 1890. He also worked with the Ship Construction Association to form a broad-based trades council more capable of securing improved working conditions. Yet another factional split ruined this plan in 1891.

Clarke was endorsed for the second time as the Liberal candidate for Chatham in the May 1892 elections. The Home Rule issue remained part of his platform, but by now he was advocating that industries under national control (including defence establishments) should be model employers. In one speech he urged “every government workman to join a trade union”.

Startled political opponents began calling the remarkable old warrior the ‘Agitator-General’ of Britain. Sir Andrew lost again by a very narrow margin. He then gave up his political

9

career, to the dismay of many supporters. One influential union leader proclaimed that “we have lost our best friend”.

Readers should bear in mind that Clarke’s political career did neither his social standing nor his reputation any harm whatsoever.

He was not a fanatical, bitter red-flag ideologue but rather a reformer who simply believed that a fair deal for all classes would be of general benefit. Many of the things he fought for (eg, reduced daily working hours and trade union rights) are now taken for granted in the English-speaking world. That being said there is a suspicion at the back of this writer’s mind that Clarke would have been better off concentrating on the Irish Home Rule cause at the expense of social policies. The voters had warmed to his ‘Irishness’ and a Chatham election victory in 1892 will have opened up opportunities to press matters to the sticking point in Parliament.

Clarke was active in several spheres of public life during and after his political days. He was in great demand as a public speaker and adviser and he wrote and delivered papers on Malay affairs and naval policy. He also lobbied hard to honour his martyred friend General Charles Gordon. Thanks to Sir Andrew’s efforts a fine statue of the hero was unveiled at Chatham in May 1890.

His advice on imperial affairs was of particular benefit in the Pacific. Clarke spoke up for the Australian colonies to help protect their concerns and exerted as much influence as he could to prevent France from annexing the entire New Hebrides (now Vanuatu).

In the same vein he had already supported efforts to bring eastern New Guinea into the imperial fold after the colonies provided financial support for settlement in 1884. Britain formerly annexed the region in 1888, thereby preventing German expansion to the south.

Not that the old soldier was notably anti-European. As early as 1882 he had submitted plans to build an English Channel tunnel to connect Britain and France! The scheme was quite feasible and a century ahead of its time. It was rejected by those who saw the channel as a vital defensive moat.

Sir Andrew had always maintained close links with Australia, notably Victoria, for which he operated as an acting Agent General in 1886 and again from 1891-1894. During the Victorian financial crisis of those years he worked hard and effectively to obtain assistance for the colony.

The Victorian government formerly thanked him for his labours in April 1894.

Some of Clarke’s finest work was done on their behalf in the build-up to Federation during the 1890s. He strongly encouraged the colonies to combine resources in dealing with the vital matter of Australian defence arrangements. In addition he stressed the need for an effective and inexpensive coast-to-coast postal system. At all times he strove to develop cordial personal links with local political figures, such as Alfred Deakin in Victoria and John Forrest in Western Australia.

In 1897 the Victorian government again appointed him acting Agent General to represent its interests in Britain. Tasmania did the same, which further enhanced Clarke’s standing ‘down under’.

As ever Sir Andrew was hardworking and effective in office and in 1899 the Victorians gave him the position of Agent General on a permanent basis. The general was not interested in the money; he never needed to draw a salary for the work. The British Army had provided him with a good pension and he had a comfortable residence at Portland Place, London.

In regard to his personal life, Sir Andrew suffered a heavy blow when his wife Mary died in 1895.

However, his daughter Elinor provided him with much care and affection. She had married Captain M.F.Sueter of the Royal Navy, a link which further enhanced Clarke’s position in London society. An early biographical sketch noted

some of Clarke’s basic qualities: he was tactful, genial and ardent when involved in causes close to his heart. His practical and sensible approach to problems also added to his popularity.

The Australian colonies paid Sir Andrew a great compliment before the turn of the century. As part of a grand plan to improve world trade an International Commercial Congress was held in Philadelphia, USA during 1899. Clarke went to head up one delegation for the event, but it was not as a Briton.

The Australian colonies chose him to be their key representative, an astonishing honour and an indication of the high level of trust he had built up in this part of the world.

It is perhaps important to note that he had already attracted favourable attention in the States.

The USA had emerged victorious from an 1898 war with Spain and acquired some territorial possessions in the aftermath, including the Philippines. Clarke wrote and sent an advisory paper on colonial management that was well received, printed and archived as a ‘white paper’ by the US Senate.

The Americans discounted Clarke’s probable emphasis on delegated rule, for they chose direct control instead and had to deal with a bloody three-year insurrection as a consequence.

The year 1900 provided, in the personal sense, perhaps the most

10

satisfying highlight of Sir Andrew ‘s career. Five of the six Australian colonies had banded together with a view to forming a united, federal system of government. Negotiations with Britain followed in London and three delegates arrived there to help steer the federation legislation through Parliament. One was Alfred Deakin of Victoria. The whole story is (or should be) a well-known saga in our national history. During proceedings Deakin fell ill and as a result a substitute had to be found to act in his place for some time.

Unbelievably a non-Australian was chosen, the retired general Sir Andrew Clarke, possibly the finest compliment he ever received.

The Colonial Federation Bill was passed by the British Parliament on July 9, 1900. Western Australia stepped into line by way of a referendum and the stage was set for the formal establishment of the Commonwealth of Australia on the first day of 1901. Sir Andrew said at the time that founding the new country “would lead to closer not looser ties between Australia and Britain”, which turned out to be true enough in 1914. It is fair to affirm that his work for Australia plus Malaysia and Singapore entitles Clarke to recognition as one of the founding fathers of three nations.

Of course his activities in nation building had begun very early: by 1901 he was the sole survivor of the men who had drafted the constitution of Victoria in 1854.

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When King Edward VII ascended the throne Sir Andrew’s health was in severe decline.

Another great honour came his way towards the end when in January 1902 the King and the Army selected him to fill the largely decorative but prestigious position of Colonel Commandant of the Corps of Royal Engineers.

The old soldier passed away peacefully at Portland Place on March 29, 1902.

He was given a large public funeral at the Clarke family’s favoured resort city of Bath and his mortal remains lie alongside those of his wife. As a Tasmanian observer wrote soon afterwards in summing up Sir Andrew Clarke’s life “his career was marked by conscientious work and distinguished ability and his name is a synonym for all that is good, true and noble”. The vagaries of time, social change and sectional politics have now consigned almost all memory of him to the dust bin of history.

Pigeon Whisperer

by Peter Murphy

Wings flap, flutter.

Necks outstretched as they dart across the bluest sky on earth.

Built for speed, he said.

John ‘Joxer’ Murphy, Peter’s brother

A fading orange sun-beam on their undercarriage lands, plumages caught, glitter.

Here they come now! he yells.

His whistle-call, like sonar peppers the warm evening air.

Wings folded-in, legs outstretched, like stones they drop to terra firma.

Feet on landing firm, one by one, they file into the loft.

As he shuffles amongst them, shimmering eyes watch his every move.

Tomorrow, chosen Blues, Checks and Grizzles, will travel to a far-off distance land, then make their way safely home, to his warn gentle hand.

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The Irish Queen of Mullaloo The following is an edited version of the eulogy for Peggie McGeough, which was written and spoken by her son Paul McGeough, Chief Correspondent for the Sydney Morning Herald. The funeral mass was celebrated at Our Lady of the Mission Church, Camberwarra Drive, Craigie in Western Australia. Lloyd Gorman.

Peggie McGeough (April 25, 1924 – May 8, 2015) might have stepped from the Irish imaginings of Maeve Binchy or Roddy Doyle. More grandly, the arc of her life was Shakespearian; sometimes and sadly, it was a bit Pinter-esque too. Her zest for life, her steely but understated confidence and her acrobatic capacity to land safely on her feet, either by the intervention of circumstances or by her god, made her quite the heroic figure.

Peggie briefly trod the boards of Dublin’s fabled Gaiety Theatre and knocked about with the likes of Dennis O’Dea and Cyril Cusack, who later became greats in Irish drama and film. But while on holidays at Bundoran, on the Donegal coast, Peggie met a young medical student; she married him on graduation; and then went to live with him in a market town called Carrickmacross. As Mrs John McGeough she had one baby, and another, and another, and another, and another, and another, and another, and another and another!

“In Ireland we lived just south of the border with the north. When Dad did his medical dispensary duties at Crossmaglen, we used to play on the spikes that the British had driven into the road, in their effort to reduce uncontrolled cross-border traffic. When I went back to Carrickmacross in the 1990s, to write about growing up in what was known as Bandit Country, I was embarrassed to hear, in interviewing Protestants of my age in the town, that the entire McGeough clan was seen as a Catholic threat. I suspect there’s a good chance that some of the nine of us would have been sucked in by the madness of what locals called ‘the troubles.’ For a time, at St Joseph’s Patrician Brothers’ Primary School, I sat next to the boy who grew up to be the Lord Louis Mountbatten bomber; we used to throw stones on the roof of the Protestant school; and someone we used to see every day, now informed me that it was he who had hidden a cache of arms, which the police had uncovered at Doyle’s farm, just out of the town. That find had been a particular object of fascination for me as a child.

Thursday was market day, and by living in the main street, we had a front row seat to watch the horse and tractor-drawn trailers that brought livestock to auction – the auctioneer was Mr Gunn; we called him Mr Bang-Bang. The house had a grand Georgian façade, with street-level windows through which we’d watch the passing parade - Nick-Knack, a whiskered tramp who wandered the town, often would thrust his nicotine-stained beard in at us, demanding: “Gis a kiss!!!”

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But Mum was never truly happy in the house – her nose was permanently out of joint because, although it had been a wedding present from her in-laws, they had furnished and decorated it, but without once consulting the newly-weds.

Peggie and John’s decision to migrate to Australia, after two years of back and forth in the early 1960s, was remarkable enough to warrant front-page treatment in the Dublin press. Why, and how, were they able to uproot the lot of us with such confidence?

Peggie hankered for the sun; more importantly, they saw Australia as a land of opportunity; though for a time, it had to compete with South Africa, because Mum liked the idea of the household-staff she might have had in Cape Town or Durban. But that would have been swapping one crisis on her doorstep for another – Ireland’s hideous sectarian conflict for the hideous racism of apartheid South Africa.

It should be said that in going over the Alps, Hannibal had an easier time of it than did Peggie, as she prepared for the journey to Australia. In hindsight, some of the things she did were ‘crackers’ – like spending days at her knitting machine, running up two woolen singlets and two woolen pullovers for each of us, that we’d never wear.

The three-week long voyage was a real adventure – being painted with melted ice cream in a ceremonial crossing of the Equator; and exotic stop-offs in ports like Naples Italy; Aden Yemen, and Colombo, in what then was Ceylon. For Mum, that voyage also was a time of grief – as we played she miscarried, losing the baby that would have been the 10th little McGeough.

On disembarking at Fremantle, we were quite the sight – two parents, nine children, 59 suitcases, 17 steamer trunks and Dad’s much loved, new Mercedes Benz 190E sedan – white.

Our destination was Northampton, 30 miles, as it was then measured, north of Geraldton, which was about 300 miles north of Perth – not an especially long distance for Australians to drive, but we were from a postage stamp called Ireland. It took us three days to get there, overnighting at new Norcia, where Dad insisted on having the car washed; and again at Coorow.

For us, Northampton was as exotic as Naples, Aden and Colombo – but the people spoke English, or at least a version of it that we would come to understand – ‘G’day, mate…how-ya-goin’?”. When we’d report to Mum that we were being mocked for our broad Irish accents and pronunciations, she’d tell us: “You go back out there and tell them that the best English is spoken in Dublin.”

Even before we ventured into the wonders of the parched local landscape, such a dramatic change from the 40 shades of green that we knew in Ireland, we marveled at what were the most mundane aspects of

an Australian house – I’m thinking, for example, of the Hill’s Hoist, which we thought was a merry-go-round and which, after a week, we had wrecked by swinging it in circles, with our full body weight hanging from the steel arms on which the hanging wires were strung.

We still hadn’t settled in to this absorbing new life, when, as a family, we were engulfed by the drama that would reveal Peggie’s hidden, heroic side. Four months after landing in Australia, Dad had a massive heart attack – I can still remember Mum’s scream as she found him slumped on the floor.

It was August 31, 1965 – life as we knew it changed forever. But Mum’s pragmatism and sure-footedness in making decisions big and small, and so many of them, was breathtaking.

In Ireland Mum’s family rallied – they were offering to repatriate the lot of us, back to Ireland, to their sense of what was safe and normal in the world. “No way,” said Peggie. She hadn’t come all this way to go all the way back – the McGeoughs would be staying in Australia.

Through tears of grief, she could see nothing ahead; but at the same time, she fully grasped that for a 41-yearold widow and nine children, all still at school save for Una, the baby, this was our future, Australia would be our home.

The day before Dad died, the local insurance agent dropped by the house. Dad was out, up at the local hospital, but that was no problem – the agent told Mum he’d come back the following week, for Dad to sign his life policy papers. The day after he died, the circus came to town. Shocking as it sounds, we all wanted to go. Mum consulted the parish priest – “Let them go,” he told her, and we did.

She sold the Mercedes Benz and bought a cheap, more useful Holden station wagon – but there was a wonderful moment before she downsized. When we went to the local beach, a drive of 13 miles, some of us would insist on bringing a friend or two, which meant as many as 17 being squeezed into the Mercedes sedan – a challenge which Peggie resolves by sticking halfa-dozen of us in the boot. Observing all this, the local traffic cop was reluctant to book the new Irish widow, so he went to the parish priest, Monsignior O’Connor, he was Irish too, and asked if he might gently pull Mum into line.

The seamlessness of our adaptation, as a family, to our new circumstances was a testament to Mum’s capacity to navigate uncharted waters – without ever frightening us. A household in which Dad used to say ‘money’s no object,’ now relied on charity. We had a reprieve from becoming a lost chapter of Angela’s Ashes because of a considerable widow’s pension that Mum received from the Australian government – for us, a foreign tribe that had just arrived on these shores. And in the face of all the other charitable acts, Mum, the wife of a doctor, was able to responded graciously – and with great dignity.

The Northampton farmers rallied with produce – eggs, milk, meat; I’m pretty sure a close audit of the parish funds in Bluff Point, on the outskirts of Geraldton, to where we moved a year after dad died, would reveal that unspecified church funds came our way. Mum was able to get bulk discount rates at the catholic school.

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Our school uniforms were secondhand; Christmas presents became what we needed, not what we wanted.

For all of that, there was never a sense of feeling deprived. As we all spent more time at school, Mum spent more time at work – doing the books at Jack and Hovel’s garage, and later at Bernard Anton’s legal practice; and here in Perth, she reinvented herself as a receptionist and nursing assistant at Dr Jack’s practice in Scarborough.

From time to time, she went out of her way to give each of us a special treat completely out of whack with our circumstances – another of mine was when she drove me all the way to Perth, to the Octagon Theatre, to see and hear the then grand dame of Irish theatre, Siobhan McKenna, do stunning excerpts from James Joyce.

And here’s an intriguing, seriously Maeve Binchy kind of thing – at the head of the table for dinner every night for the eight at Bluff Point, there was an outsider – that would be Father Michael Moffat, as Irish as Paddy’s Pigs; red-bearded and much inclined to that bleak disposition that is known as ‘black Irish.’ He had a brilliant, Brendan-Behan-like wit; and with his cheeky take on local and world events, and his cursing of various parishioners, he was a joy. He was the nearest some of us would have to a male role model – consciously or unconsciously. Each evening, after dinner, we’d all get down on our knees in the sitting-room and he’d lead the family in the prayers of the rosary; then we’d all sit on the sofas – and when Mum wasn’t looking, he’d slip us a packet of his un-tipped, rough-as-guts Craven A cigarettes. They nearly killed us – but we smoked them.

She was fiercely proud of us – and of being the mother of so many of us. If progeny and pride were the criteria for motherhood as an Olympic sport, Peggie surely would have won gold. She used to say that she had eyes in the back of her head, her way of letting us know that invariably, she found out what we had been up to.

If you wanted rom-com entertainment, you’d get Mum to talk about how she and John swept each other off their feet – but as she told their story, it would break your heart, because always evident, was how much she still loved him. In the fifty years after his untimely death, it was always clear that John and her Catholic faith were bedrock for the edifice called Peggie. She had a small portrait of him in a sombrero on the windowsill at Mullalloo, over her kitchen sink; and there was another of his graduation, by her favorite reading chair in the living room. In a very real sense, she was still married to him.

Valerie, (my siser) who deserves Olympic silver for the seven McGeough she produced, was blown away by Peggie’s reaction to The Commitments, the film on the grittiness of life in Dublin – she loved the accents and took to gleefully repeating the raw, coarse language.

Once, when she and Brian were out in the city, they encountered a few lads – one of whom had his hand down the front of his tracksuit. Brian asked: “what are you doing?” And he replied: “feelin’ me bollix”!!! Far from being shocked, Peggie fell about the place in laughter – tears of mirth would stream down her face as she got to the punch line with every retelling of her Dublin ‘bollix’ story.

“They broke the mold the day Peggie was born. I’m

not sure how these things work – but Una told me that another of the priests whom she seemed to organize in relays to visit in those last days, had given Mum an Apostolic Blessing – “it means she goes straight to heaven,” Una explained.

That’s what I love about Catholicism – but, hey, if it works like that, who are we to complain. Margaret Mary O’Hara, Peggie McGeough, mum, granny, great-granny … rest easy, your work is done. And if it’s for real, that straight shot to heaven is so richly deserved.”

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Mrs Brolly ’s Doors Open !

If you have been in Australia for a year or maybe many years, I bet you are missing a few home comforts.

There is no need to worry anymore, I found a little bit of Ireland in Perth city centre, more specifically, London Court.

Having lived in Perth for more than 40 years, I must have walked through London Court which is between the Hay Street Pedestrian Mall and St George’s Terrace.

London Court is like a quaint little street in Dublin with many little shops selling their wares.

The entrance, with its castle-like iron gates are decorated with the cross of St. George, a large clock and figures of knights on horseback, creating a rather noble-looking entrance.

On my walk through the court what should I see but Mrs Brolly’s

Confectionery Perth on the window. I stuck my head in the door and was greeted by an Irish accent. “How are ye?” It was Emma Brolly and I got talking to her about the shop. I could help noticing the Fig Rolls on the shelf and on closer examination saw many other Irish ‘comfort food’ as they call them. “You wouldn’t have that hard toffee?” As quick as a flash Emma had it in my hand. I bought it of course and let me tell you it was well devoured long before I got home.

Mrs Brolly’s is owned by Matthew and Emma Brolly from Limavady in North Derry. Emma, a qualified accountant, worked in the resources industry and decided to

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give it up and open a sweet shop.

Emma said, “We will be bringing in Irish products that you can’t get anywhere else and be a home away from home for Irish people living in Perth, a place where they can get their comfort food”.

Emma has lived in Australia for 3 years and Matthew 6 years.

Emma said, “This is our first venture in business and it’s scary but exciting and we are getting lots of sound advice”. Emma said the most popular at the moment is the Barry’s and Lyon’s tea along with the club orange.

“The Cadbury’s chocolate from Ireland is very popular along with the Tayto’s”. Matthew said that they did a taste test on the Cadbury’s and notices a difference, so they are going to stick with the Dublin Cadbury’s. One of the biggest selling products is the McDonnell’s Curry sauce. “We even had some on chips last night at home”.

One of their plans is to have weekend Irish Breakfast packs with Bacon, Pork Sausages and Black and White pudding along with potato and soda bread.

They will have a suggestion board for customers to put up their request for certain Irish products.

“If we can import it, we will and go out of our way to satisfy their needs” said Emma.

Mrs Brolly’s are also able to arrange online orders to regional areas. So, drop in and say hello, you will find that comfort food you long for!

Fred Rea

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457 Visas – The Good, The Bad and the downright Ugly A 457 visa is a bit like a marriage. The employer makes promises to you and you make promises to the employer and if all goes well, once you’ve got your 457 visa it can be a long and happy union, which in many cases leads to the employer nominating the 457 visa holder (and family) for permanent residence.

Good employers look after their 457 visa holders. Good employers keep the promises they made to the employee and to the Department of Immigration and Border Protection (DIBP) which includes paying an agreed wage; ensuring full-time employment in the agreed occupation AND spending a certain amount of money each year training Australian and permanent resident staff.

Bad employers fiddle their books to make it look like the 457 employee is being paid the agreed amount, but actually pays less and in some instances … much less than was agreed. Bad employers force 457 employees to work much longer hours than agreed for no extra money and threaten to sack the 457 employees if they don’t comply. Bad employers promise to nominate the 457 employees for permanent residence under the 186 or 187 visa (Temporary Residence Transition Stream) but conveniently “forget” to spend the required amount on meeting something called the “Training Benchmark”

which makes securing permanent residence impossible for some.

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Collie Students Remember Martin O’Meara VC & Fallen Anzacs The small town of Collie in the South-West of Western Australia has a special link with the Irish community. During WW1 an Irish immigrant who was working as a sleeper-cutter in the Collie area enlisted in the AIF. His name was Martin O’Meara and he went on to win the Victoria Cross for his bravery during the battle of Pozieres. Sadly Martin returned from the war a broken man and was to spend the rest of his days in the Claremont Mental Hospital, suffering from shell-shock or PTSD as we now call it. Collie has always been proud of its sons and daughters who have served the nation and Anzac Day services are always well attended.

The local branch of the RSL are an amazing bunch who look after one-another and perform valuable service to the town as the keepers of our military history.

The local high school, Collie Senior High School, is also deeply connected to the commemoration of those who have served our nation.

The school runs a bi-annual journey to Turkey, France and Belgium for up to twenty students and twelve adults, a mix of teachers, parents and a RSL veteran. The aim of the tour is to demonstrate that Collie SHS students are motivated, responsible young citizens of enormous potential. The tour started in 2006 when a tragedy occurred at the school and a particular group of history students were upset and hurt at the media portrayal of youth in the town stemming from the incident. They determined that they would prove to the whole world that kids from Collie were not going to be defined like that. That group

of students made a commitment to stand on the shores of Gallipoli on Anzac Day and raised the funds by themselves to make their point.

Since then, this commitment and dedication have been the hallmark of each and every tour.

The 2015 tour began in 2013 with the merit selection of the twenty students. The school only accepts students who demonstrate exemplary behaviour, community engagement and above all else are respectful, nice people. They must write a written application and sit an interview before a panel for selection. In 2014 the fundraising began. The school was contacted

by Mr Fred Rea, who was looking for some information as to where a play about Martin O’Meara, “Under any Old Gum Tree” could be held. This was in preparation for the visit by His Excellency, The Ambassador of Ireland, Noel White to WA, and who was coming to Collie to commemorate the service of Martin. As the school had recently just finished completion of its brand new Performing Arts Centre, the suggestion to hold it at the school was put to Fred and perhaps the 2015 Tour could use the opportunity to raise some funds for their trip.

Thus the association between the school and Fred began.

The ambassador came in March and enjoyed the hospitality of the town, laid a wreath at Martin O’Meara’s memorial in Soldier’s Park. We then watched a captivating and emotional performance of a most excellent play about a brave man ruined by the horror of war.

It was a sell-out performance to over 180 people and all of them

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were treated to a memorable experience. The ambassador gave a speech and presented to the students a cheque on behalf of the Irish Business Council to help them on their way. Fred was also organising music and the filming of the proceedings as part of a short DVD on the life of Martin O’Meara entitled “Martin O’Meara VC Collie Western Australia” and is well worth having a look at.

The students continued fundraising for the next year and achieved their target of $238,000 in order to fully fund their trip. A massive effort which saw them working hard almost every weekend in ventures as varied as a sausage sizzle, sheep poo selling (and collecting), mulch sales and delivery, gardening, quiz nights, catering and raffles. There was very much more to this list as well as many community service type functions, like the delivery of phonebooks, rubbish pickups and tree plantings. This saw the students awarded “Young Citizens of the Year” on Australia Day in the town.

April came around and the students left on the trip of a lifetime. They first went to Turkey where they toured extensively the peninsula and paid homage to those first ANZACs who through their actions established an identity and a reputation for the world to see and united this country more so than any political change could. The 100 years commemoration meant that the school could not participate in the Anzac Day services in Gallipoli due to the ballot system.

They then toured Istanbul and experienced all that this most wonderful ancient city had to offer. From there they travelled to Paris where the cultural delights were experienced, but they also formally participated in the Revival of the Eternal Flame Ceremony at the Arc de Triomphe, a great honour. They then began touring Northern France into Belgium visiting all the significant sites along the Western Front. The school had

its own bugler and at family graves and memorials the students held their own service and each student recited a poem before the Last Post was sounded and a minutes silence observed after the reading of the Ode. This also included a service at Pozieres. Anzac Day was spent at Villers Bretonneux and Bullecourt were the students formally participated.

The students had a fantastic time but also learnt a great deal, about service, sacrifice, the enormity of the misnamed Great War and about themselves.

They wish to thank the Irish community and Mr Fred Rea for their support and for making their aspirations a reality. The play was their very first fundraising event and the success of that venture gave them an enormous confidence boost and a positive start. The school hopes that the association with the Irish community can continue. Please come to our town and visit Martin’s memorial and see what the town of Collie has to offer. You will not be disappointed.

Ed Croft, Teacher-in-charge, Collie SHS Anzac Tour

Photos courtesy Collie SHS Tour Blog

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Meet Sean Cassin from Paddy Maguires Paddy Maguire’s has a new General Manager - Kilkenny native Sean Cassin.

Sean told The Irish Scene, “I have spent the last 10 years living in Australia and have been working in Paddy Maguire’s for the past 8 years, starting as a bartender.

Sean met his fiancée (who is also Irish) whilst working together in Paddy’s. That was 6 years ago and they will be returning to Ireland this August to be married.

Sean has lived around the Subiaco area since moving to Perth and is very familiar with the ins and outs of the local community, especially on big footy days. “I would consider myself a bit of a sports fanatic taking keen interest in Irish sports especially hurling being from Kilkenny. I love to attend all the local sports over here from Perth Glory, Western Force, The Fremantle Dockers, West Coast Eagles and our own WA GAA”. Sean said that Paddy’s has sponsored numerous sports teams over the years from hurling to Gaelic football, soccer, netball and rugby.

Sean would love to see more of the Irish community in Perth to drop in and not just on St. Patrick’s Day. “We have begun a Traditional Irish Music Session on Wednesday Nights and are trying to introduce new Irish meals on the menu to satisfy the tastes of the Irish around Perth”.

Facebook Link: facebook.com/paddy.maguires Website: paddymaguires.com

FAREWELL BILL HERLIHY Bill O’Herlihy’s “conversation with the nation” which was his long-term television relationship with soccer pundits, the “dysfunctional family, the three amigos”, Eamon Dunphy, John Giles and Liam Brady, was recognised when all three men carried his coffin out of the church. Brady was seen to wipe away a tear after the service.

Bill began his media carreer in the Cork Examiner’ reading room, progressing to the editorial staff and

Paddy’s have reintroduced our Quiz night on Monday which was a great success a few years ago and hope to establish this as one of their mainstay nights. “We also start the weekends with a DJ on Friday nights for sundowners and after work drinks and on Saturdays we have live music in the evenings.

“When it comes to food, during the week we have the amazing $10 lunch special from Monday – Thursday which are the best value meals in Subiaco”. The $15 Steak Night on Thursdays is still going strong and Paddy’s have reintroduced Sunday Roast for the winter.

They usually have a few drinks specials on - our Feature Wines and Beer of the Month are always big sellers. Sean added, “We run drinks promos and competitions every now and again so there is always a bargain to be had in Paddy’s”.

So drop in soon to Paddy’s and sit around the open log fire, its just like home!

the to RTE. Bill passed away in May aged 76.

Growing up in Cork in the early 1960s I clearly remember Bill beginning his broadcasting career when he started to do local soccer reports from Cork for Radio Éireann. Before him, I also remember the Philip Green’s League of Ireland results every Sunday evening when we would be glued to the radio waiting to hear how Hibs or Celtic faired. For the Irish diaspora, Bill was, for many years, presenter of the RTE Gaelic games shown in Australia

by Setanta. Slan abhaile a chara and thanks for the memories.

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22

Skyes the limit for the Hidden Bar! O

ne of Perth’s best known pubs is undergoing something of a sea change and Irish Scene dropped in to see the extent of the changes.

Many readers will recognise and remember The Shed as a popular place where countless numbers of young Irish have worked and socialised over the years but The Shed as an entity no longer exits and is now trading as The Skye Bar. More than just a change of name there are big changes happening across and throughout

the business.

In 2013 two of the three business owners at The Shed decided to leave the hospitality industry due to the excessive licensing restrictions and

regulations being placed on the venue,” Bridget Kenny told Irish Scene. Originally from Co. Longford Bridget was a one of three owners and driving influence behind the success of The Shed over the last ten years. She became the sole owner in early 2014 and armed with her extensive experience and expertise in the local and overseas hospitality sector and full control of the operation, she set about revitalising and updating the business model and look and feel of the pub.

Previously Bridget had earned the much sought after status of Australian Irish Pub of the Year award for The Bog - the previous incarnation of The Shed - she is now on a mission to create a more relaxed and comfortable experience for customers.

The changes are what you divide into the categories of capital works and cultural improvements.

In terms of capital works, the front decking of the venue has been refreshed to give it a

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more comfortable garden feel for customers, with modern stylish furniture and plants installed. It is The Skye Garden from which the bar now assumes its new identity. Inside the modifications are even more influential on the overall ambience of the place. The

stage area for live bands has seen the removal of the corrugated iron effect which allows better acoustics and reducing the height of the stage allows touring international and interstate live bands to perform at the venue.

On Sundays the live band area transforms into a huge sports bar area to broadcast the GAA live every week; with comfy bean bags and high tables and the amphitheatre design of the area makes it an ideal spot to screen the games live every week.

Half of the venue which was previously unused has now been renovated and resulted new space and the creation of a licensed European style café called Old Mother Hubbard’s where baristas serve up the houses’ special brand of coffee and a casual dining environment and extensive menu and ability for you to create

your own sandwiches. Tucked away at the back of the Café is The Hidden Bar, the front of which has been themed around the Temple Bar in Dublin. It has a pond area (with fish) multiple TVs and audio visual systems, ATM, a phone app with a loyalty option, telephone and lap top charging station, free WiFi for customers and is able to accommodate large groups, corporate functions and is accessible for those with disabilities. Parents too will find that getting buggies and prams in is easy and that toilets have baby changing facilities, screens showing kids programs and colouring books also available.

Parking is available directly across the road in a multi-storey car park.

The Hidden Bar as the name suggests is neatly tucked in behind the Café and has been trading very successfully for the last number of weeks. With numerous sofas and a comprehensive menu this is a relaxed place to eat or enjoy a drink, perhaps even a cocktail.

Bridget said they have also introduced their new creamy Irish brewed Guinness which customers tell them tastes just like the brew from home. Home is probably a good way to describe the changes that have brought this establishment back to its Irish spiritual and emotional roots.

Ireland Western Australian Forum

Promoting business, professional and cultural links between Ireland and Western Australia The Irish WA Business Forum held a successful networking event, at the Irish Club in Subiaco, on Thursday 18th June. There was over 50 businesses represented on the night, all with Irish connections – some large Irish companies and some newly established startups. The night gave an opportunity for people to mingle, exchange advice and most importantly, to explore the potential for business development, collaborations and referrals.

On the night five companies were given the opportunity to promote their business through a 2 minute pitch – which is easier said than done!

Marcus Towner from Cubic Construction Services, Felix O’Neill from Southern Cross Wealth Management, Ciaran McKeown from Simplicity Sites, Adrian Tobin from Caterlink and Padraig Kenny from Kenny Management Consultancy all spoke about their businesses.

“It was a highly enjoyable and beneficial evening. I made some excellent contacts which will potentially help my business” – Niall McCarron from Excel Plumbing & Gas. IWAF will have their next keynote speaker event later in the year.

Details will appear on their website http://irelandwaforum.org/ and here in the Irish Scene.

DERMOT COSTELLO

The Forum is keen to lift our overall footprint and activities to a new level.

If you are keen to be involved or wish to recommend speakers please do not hesitate to contact Marty Kavanagh on 92188422 or email: marty@kavlaw.com.au 24

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27

The Tale of a Mucky Duck and a murky Duke

that. The following day I was talking to a mate and he asked me why I didn’t ring up the crime reporter on the West Australian and I thought, ok, why not. So I did. I said I had a photograph of that guy in the Mucky Duck band and she drove straight out. I gave the newspaper that picture and the next day on the third page of the West there was Barry Halpin, a member of the Mucky Duck Bush Band. Then every radio station rang me, every TV station. I had to put my mobile phone of charge permanently. I had people from the BBC ringing me up at all hours. That was worth thousands of dollars of publicity to

By Lloyd Gorman and Fred Rea

Ma’ Mooney

MA

Lord Lucan

About 12 years ago in Perth a folk group called The Mucky Duck Bush Band that had been knocking around for donkeys years and that had built up a loyal local following shot to global attention without warning. But it wasn’t exactly a case of overnight success for a group of musicians who had been plying and perfecting their craft for decades.

In fact the ‘Duck’s’ new found fame had nothing to do with their music and everything to do with a mystery murder and scandal of the age.

“I was sitting in a mates place in Fremantle and it came on the news about a book Dead Lucky in England and they had a picture of a guy, Lord Lucan on the cover and I thought to myself, that’s not Lord Lucan, that’s Barry Halpin,” Greg Hastings told Irish Scene.

Barry Halpin was one of the original members of the Mucky Duck that Greg had started in the early 1970’s with his father, Stan.

Barry was an Irish Liverpudlian and musician.

Richard Bingham was the 7th Earl of Lucan, known as Lord Lucan, a handsome and charismatic playboy - a gambler who had expensive tastes and a passion for driving fast cars and boats and was once considered for the role of

James Bond - born into an AngloIrish aristocratic family who had an estate near Castlebar, Co. Mayo. In 1963 he married Veronica Duncan and they had three children and lived in London. On November 7, 1964 the family’s nanny was brutally beaten to death in the basement of the Lucan home. Lady Lucan was also attacked but managed to escape and raise the alarm at a nearby pub.

She identified her husband as her attacker.

His car - an Aston Martin - was later found abandoned and soaked in blood in Newhaven, East Sussex.

The last reported sighting of Lucan was in the early hours of November 8.

Since then there have been a large number of sightings of him in Ireland, the UK, Australia, India and other places but none have ever been proved to be him. He is now presumed to be dead but if he is alive, Lucan would be about 81 years old. Whenever a sighting has been reported over the years the press/media normally have a field day with it.

“So I rang the TV station and they said it was a Sydney report and that I would have to ring Sydney. I got the same answer three times from different channels and I said stuff

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the group”.

The whole thing was a case of mistaken identity. The former Scotland Yard detective and author of the book had gone to Goa in India on the trail of Lord Lucan and had found someone who looked like Lord Lucan would have looked in his older years, and who spoke in a similar way.

“He assumed that was possibly Lord Lucan and he printed the picture of this guy and that’s when the crap hit the fan. A lot of people knew Barry from the Kimberley where he was a teacher and had died in 1999. His face had also appeared in posters for the Duck when they played tours.

The whole saga became farcical said Greg. “If you’d been a lord and committed a murder and wanted to hide the last thing you’d want is poster’s of yourself all over the place. Mucky Duck performed on the television for Telethon in 1997, he was playing the whistle. I have a picture of him in the backyard of my dad’s place, with a duck and it’s the same bloke as the front of the book.

The writer of the book must have sold a million copies of the book before people woke up and realised he was bullshitting.”

The origins of the name for the Mucky Duck can be traced back to Greg’s family home. “My mother was leaning over the table in Fitzgerald Street where mum and dad lived. She came up with that name because of the Black Swan on the WA flag. Pubs in the UK with the name The Black Swan often got called the Mucky Duck.”

He said the Duck started in 1974 as an informal group of musos that

played for dances. “I started calling the dances, I was completely green but very cheeky being a Welsh man and in 1974 we had the offer of a gig in a place that is now Rosie O’Grady’s in Northbridge.”

A job as a printer - which was his trade - in the Community Education Centre in Fremantle did not work out for Greg for reasons outside his control and the situation gave him the opportunity to consider going professional with the Duck.

“It was a reaction to that, I walked into Clancy’s in Fremantle and offered him a band - that was November 1976. The original Mucky Duck Bush Band was Stan Hastings, me, Butch, Barry Halpin and Gratten Brennan. “Within a few months we were doing three to four gigs a week. We got into the schools doing the bush dancing. The whole Paul Hogan Australia thing was taking off at the time and we were at the right place at the right time. we were the only bush band around and I went from earning $96 per week for a 40 hour week as a printer to earning $200 for 12 hours work.”

Greg was born in Cardiff, Wales in 1947 to a Welsh mother (Doris) and a Cockney father (Stan) and had two siblings, sister Val and Barry.

His English sounding name didn’t go down very well in the village of Maesteg in Wales where they lived, but Greg did his apprenticeship as a printer there and was also a champion bike rider.

At the age of 22 he left Wales for Australia and sponsored his family to come over two years later in 1972. Greg’s departure had caused his dad Stan - who was also big in the cycling game - to look at other activities and interests and he hit upon the folk scene and the origins of the Duck.

“An English couple (Phil and

Dave) came out here in late 1972 for a six month visit and they did dances with tape music,” said Greg. “At the end of the night a bunch of musos would play some music and we would do some simple dances. They returned to England and a couple of months later I said to Dad those dances were fun and he told me that you could get books on it so he got them for me and I learnt the dances.

We had dances in the League Hall in Subiaco, just off Rokeby Road, and had 25 or 30 people at them but they grew to about 50 or 60 so we moved up to the Protestant League hall in Beaufort Street and we used to get 100 people coming to that.

Then people wanted to book us for their socials so the name Mucky Duck came up.”

While Greg and his father had previously left the Duck and formed various combinations of band, including with his sister Val, she joined the Duck in 1998 when Roy Abbot asked her to do some dance calling. When Val joined I became friends with the gang again and sometimes jumped up on the stage with them. Unfortunately Val fell foul of Breast cancer in 2006.”

While he has close links to the Duck and their paths continue to cross at festivals and events, Greg went in a different direction. He can genuinely claim some standing association with some of the biggest names in the folk scene. “When Dad came out here he got into the folk scene and drafted me to a folk club.

That was Governor Broom Hotel and I saw Colin Dryden sing “The Life of a Man” I will always remember it and still sing it. Then Eric Bogle wandered in one day, he was still an accountant in 1972, and sang “The Band Played Waltzing Matilda”. That inspired me to go on writing and I was singing unaccompanied with

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Dad and Val at this time. So I showed Eric a poem. When I met him I sang “The Ballad of Glenco” and he wanted the words, so I swapped to the words of ‘The Band Played Waltzing Matilda” and gave him “The Ballad of Gleco”. His song wasn’t a huge hit at this time but it came third in the Australian Song Writing Competition.

He wasn’t too confident of the song at the time but nobody knows what songs came first and second now. I have a story about me and Eric standing around a pitch in Dunedin in New Zealand in 1982 and he said to me “Gregboy you have been a professional performer for a few years now do you think I should turn professional?

I sad, “Jaysus Eric, if I had written that song of yours I would have been professional within a month, to which he replied “You are full of crap”, and I said “Am I, we’ll see about that. I last caught up with him at the Nannup Music Festival, we are still great mates”.

“In 1981 I got a phone call from the Folk Federation to pick this guy up at a hotel in Wellington Street and take him around some radio stations and then up to Toodyay for the folk festival. So I took him - it was none other than Ted Egan (who would also become administrator of the Northern Territory from 2003 to 2007) – While driving, Ted told me he performed around the stations and it was then he told me he got one of his best ideas.

People come to Australia to get a taste of Australian culture, Aboriginal dancers and whatever else. So he did this show in Alice Springs playing a beer carton, singing about the drovers and the shearers. I went on to take Ted to Toodyay and I remember walking with Ted to the Freemason’s Hotel where he met for the first time his future wife, Nerys Evans. So yes, I introduced Ted Egan to Nerys in October 1981 and he never forgot that.

In 1989 he had a huge opening of his property - called Sink a Tinny Downs - in Alice Springs and invited me to that event where I caught up with a load of celebrities including Slim Dusty and John Williamson, so I have rubbed shoulders with the top echelons,” he smiled.

Greg went overseas for a year and returned in 1982.

Armed with the idea he’d heard from Ted Egan he bought a combo van and he travelled around Australia in an Akubra hat and sold an Australiana show to places like Hamilton Island which became one of the most popular shows in the resorts. While working on the island as a restaurant entertainer the former printer, had another light bulb moment. “When people go out to eat there is a menu for the food so I printed a menu for the songs, which had a choice of songs from the likes of Eric Bogle, Bob Dylan, Neil Young and his own songs.

“Sometimes people asked for The Band Played Waltzing Matilda and then Neil Young, and then Whisky in a Jar”.

He did that for 15 years until his car was rear-ended by a truck outside of Byron Bay at St Helena’s - “the same mountain Napoleon fell foul of” - in 1988. “I had PTSD and couldn’t finger pick for about three or four months, so I stared to do children’s shows, which lead to what I’m doing now - which is the Wandering in the Bush show - which I’ve been doing for 16 or 17 years.” After the accident Greg was tested for a range of conditions and the tests showed up a serious issue with his kidneys which he wasn’t previously aware of - something he continues to live with. He is immensely proud of his bush show in Whiteman Park. “The thrill of

the job for me now, the buzz I get out of it, is something I had never really thought about. I go in with this bit of a Welsh accent and do this show and the kids always have fun. But when I finish the show those Aboriginal kids in the audience are walking out with a sense of pride that I’m talking about their culture, it’s positive for the. I did a show at a school in Geraldton about three years ago and every carer of the Aborignal kids made a point of coming up and hugging me because of what the show had done.

One of the ladies said I’d given the kids a sense of pride. I believe we have to learn about Aboriginal culture for the survival of the human race. If you have a garden and its starting to go you talk to the bloke who tended it for the 60 years before you, that’s just common sense. We are starting to ask, and I believed I’ve made a big difference.”

Greg Hastings “Bringing the Heart of Australia into the Hearts of Australians.”

Phone: 0417 724 209 www.greghastings.com

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Life Imitating Art

By Marie Moloney n 1940’s inner city Dublin the to a different space and Irish theatre streets were the only avail- has always been up there with the able playgrounds for local chil- best. Any sign of activity around the dren. However what could today theatre was quickly spotted by the be viewed as a disadvantage was local children and the news spread in some ways, an opening for inter- instantly. Observing who was going esting experiences. Playacting was a in or out of the back door and trying common part of our activities. One to creep inside unnoticed was the memory I have is of being a passen- main concern.

And of course there was Mickser ger in what was to become the last genuine horse drawn hansom cab Reid. This gentleman was a dwarf in Dublin. The business premises who also lived locally and was part of the brothers who owned the cab of the cast in shows at various vencompany was on the next street to ues across town at the time. He had my home and sometimes, as a treat, a three wheel bike which was the my friend and I were driven along envy of local children. When particthe Liffey side to Kingsbridge Sta- ipating in a show at the Olympia he tion. If the driver did not pick up a would ride up to the back door on passenger we would then be driven his bike. The waiting group of chilback home. While in this cab we be- dren would beg and plead for a ride came ladies dressed in satin on our on the bike. Sometimes a couple of brave souls managed to grab the way to a ball.

Growing up a five minute walk bike for a short ride down the street.

Every year the usual Christmas from the Olympia Theatre in Dame Street Dublin, I grew up with an pantomime was staged at the Olymawareness of the arts. Theatre has pia Theatre. One performance of this the ability to transport the audience was for the poor children of the dis-

I

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trict, which of course meant almost all of us. The capacity of the theatre is 1,300. Tickets were distributed at the local schools and were coveted by all. Since this was the only interesting happening of the year, excitement began mounting several days prior to the event. With the dawning of the day of this great local “Extravaganza” the excitement in the air was almost palatable. Long before the appointed time of doors opening, a slow trickle of children could be seen journeying toward the theatre. This slowly increased until there was a steady stream, I watched the action from the front window of my home until my mother deemed it proper for me to leave and join the throng. There was much pushing and shoving as we stood waiting for the big moment, each one of us tightly clutching our ticket for entry to the “Panto”. When the doors opened some strong armed tactics were needed to manage a semblance of orderly entrance. When this had been achieved, staff distributed small bags of sweets, (Lollies) one for each child.

The show began, the noise level almost blew the roof off (or so it seemed) and a great time was had by all, well perhaps not the staff.

The Olympia’s fame is still relevant, a photo of this theatre is featured on the Australian Irish Embassy web site. Sometimes as I pass the sculpture of Percy Button standing on his head in Hay Street, where in the early part of the twentieth century, he entertained theatre goers with his acrobatic performances, I think of the “Panto”.

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Dermot Byrne

The Irish Quiz Wiz! a.k.a. Dermot from Lesmurdie on ABC radio Nightlife program.

Welcome to the Irish Scene Quiz. As this edition covers the months of July and August, with the Quiz this time I would like to test your memory of events and happenings in July and August over the years. Dermot

(1) Name the Irish leader who was killed in an ambush at Beal na Blath in Co. Cork on 22nd of August 1922.

(2) What was the name of the battle fought between James 2nd and William of Orange in July 1690?

(3) On what dates is The Rose of Tralee Festival being held in Tralee this year?

(4) What happened in Paris on 14th July 1789?

(5) What two Roman Emperors are the months of July and August named after?

(6) Who in July 1981 became the only Irishman to win the Tour de France?

(7) What was the name of the Australian war-time Prime Minister who died on 6th of July 1945?

(8) Name the German composer who had the first performance of the Messiah held in Dublin in 1742?

(9) What French sporting event was first held in July 1903?

(10) If your birthday is in July or August which three signs of the Zodiac do you come under?

Answers: (1) Michael Collins. (2) Battle of the Boyne. (3) 14th-18th August. (4) The Storming of the Bastille (start of the French Revolution), (5) Julius Caesar and Caesar Augustus. (6) Stephen Roche, (7) John Curtin, (8) George Frideric Handle, (9) Tour de France, (10) Cancer ,Leo,Virgo.

32

PERTH

Denise Lynch 2015 Perth Rose of Tralee

Rose of Tralee Ball 2015

By Claire Wynne I recently had the pleasure of attending the Perth Rose of Tralee Selection Ball, held on Saturday 23rd May at the Perth Exhibition & Convention Centre, which was meticulously organised by Sarah Morrow and her fellow Rose of Tralee committee members and hosted by Channel 7’s Blake Johnson. It was an evening of fine food, good wines and great entertainment from local Irish contemporary quartet Sparrow, who ensured party goers kicked up their heels until the small hours of the morning.

CENTRE There was understandably great excitement as contestants took to the stage for the final segment of the lengthy Rose of Tralee selection process. The judges, including Hon. Stephen Dawson MLC and 2001 International Rose of Tralee winner Lisa Manning, said they were on the lookout for personality, charisma, sophistication, confidence, great communication skills and presentation – and that’s just what they got in eventual winner, Kerry native Denise Lynch. Co-incidentally from Tralee – Denise moved to Perth 4 years ago and is currently studying a BSc (Honours) Nursing at Curtin University and hopes to work at Sir Charles Gardner Hospital once she qualifies.

She works as a beautician to fund her studies and has identified her CIBTAC Beauty Tutor of the Year Award as one of her greatest achievements to date. Denise is also very proud of her work with charity organisations St. John’s Ambulance and RUAH. Denise is a deserved winner and we wish her all the best at The Rose of Tralee event in August.

We look forward to Denise’s return from Tralee when we will have a full report of the event and wonderful experience.

Leith Putland presents the cup for the Novelty Race.

Irish Night at the Trots with Roses Congratulations all round to the organisers of the inaugural Irish Night at the Trots. Held on May 22nd the night was a wonderful success.

When Leith Putland, Marketing Manager of Gloucester Park Harness Racing contacted me some months ago about his proposed Irish Night at the Trots my reply was “Why did you take so long”. Leith and his team put in an amazing amount of effort and kindly donated the total race naming sponsorship to the Claddagh Association. I know Joan Ross and her team appreciated the generosity of Gloucester Park.

Speaking to people at the night, they were all in agreement that it was brilliant.

The atmosphere was created by the green bunting, balloons and decorations throughout the venue.

A bonus of course was the attendance of the International Rose of Tralee, Maria Walsh and all the Perth Rose entrants. Compere for the night was Brian Corr who performed his task in the usual professional manner.

The sponsors will be lining up next year and the attendance will see a huge increase.

Bring it on, can’t wait! Fred Rea

Frank Murphy presents

107.9fm Fremantle Radio

Denise Lynch with flight to Tralee sponsor, Jennie Allen of British Travel

Saturday 7am to 9am

IRISH MUSIC • INTERVIEWS • LOCAL & IRISH NEWS

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Irish Night at the Trots

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Perth Rose of Tralee Ball 2015

35

By Lloyd Gorman

ISTEACH SA TEACH Bushfires, religious attacks and war – just another day in Parliament This edition of IST was going to report on the interesting and even entertaining evening in Parliament House on May 28 at which Irish born Labor man and a representative for the massive Mining and Pastoral Region Stephen Dawson spoke. Stephen gave a good account of himself and his life’s journey from being in an Irish speaking Dublin family to a member of parliament for a constituency that’s bigger than large parts of Western Europe. For different reasons that report will have to wait until the next issue of Irish Scene but I think I can say without fear of contradiction that the 20 or so people who turned up at the Australia Irish Heritage Association sponsored event all enjoyed the opportunity to get to know at least one member of parliament a lot better.

We know from Labor’s Lisa Baker, MLA for Maylands that at least one Irish person had a relatively close call with one of Perth’s most recent and devastating bush fires.

On May 14 she was debating plans to make some changes to the Fire and Emergency Services Amendment Bill 2015. She said it was vital that people had access to good information about fires, about whether they were prescribed burns for example, or out of control and sudden blazes.

“My experience has been with the Parkerville fire that started a couple of Christmases ago,” she said. (Some 50 houses and other properties and a man’s life were lost when this fire was sparked by a faulty power pole) I had just left my brother’s house and was pulling onto Great Eastern Highway, and I had a friend of mine who was visiting from Ireland in the car who was blissfully ignorant of what bushfires meant to a hills dweller in Western Australia,” she added. “I was heading down the hill, and as I looked over my shoulder to

the left, I saw some smoke go up. I looked at it and thought: That is not good. I turned the car around and drove down the hill and got to the bottom of the hill and looked in the rear-vision mirror and saw what was happening. I turned around and went straight up the hill behind six or seven fire trucks and a lot of emergency equipment that was starting to head up there. The Department Fire and Emergency Services website had nothing on that fire; there was nothing on any of the places that would have been expected at the time that my friend and I saw the fire from the car.”

A spate of attacks on Mosques in parts of Perth has helped bring about the introduction of new legislation to tackle this issue. As part of his speech in support of the proposed Criminal Code Amendment (Criminal Damage to Places of Worship) Bill 2015 Labor man Chris Tallentire MLA for Gosnells drew on the experience of the Troubles to make the case for these new laws.

“It gives me some degree of optimism that it was not that long ago that there was animosity between Catholics and Protestants and there were graffiti attacks on Catholic and Protestant churches,” he said in Parliament on May 13. “We know the history of Northern Ireland and how bloody that has been and how for much of my life it seemed like a conflict that was never going to end, yet things are very much better in Northern Ireland these days, such that it seems many years since we were in that constant state of terror with all the spill-over consequences from terrorist acts in London and elsewhere, where bandsmen and horses were being attacked—all sorts of events took place related to that war between Catholics and Protestants. These sorts of conflicts are absolutely dreadful, and we do not need that in Australia at all. This is why we need to make sure that attacks on places of worship—attacks on a mosque— are not tolerated.

That is why the provisions within this legislation will help make attacking a mosque the offence that it

36

should be. That is why this bill is so necessary.”

Perth GP Dr Stephen Wilson who has had a medical practice in the Bassendean area for 32 years got some backing in the national parliament in Canberra in March.

Perth MP Alannah MacTiernan outlined some of the massive health issues and problems facing the area and asked the Federal government to allow a solution to be found. “In the area of Bassendean the ratio of GPs to population is one to 4,800.

That compares with the WA average of one to 1,500 and the Australia wide average of one to 1,277. We have a very dire situation here in the town of Bassendean and covering Ashfield and Eden Hill. That stats show that they have a significantly lower use of healthcare centres than the metropolitan state average, an increased rate of accidental falls in children and a very high rate of diabetes, stroke, arthritis, heart ideas and asthma - all much higher than state average….I ask the minister to deeply consider this case and the plight of Dr Wilson, and to give approval for him to bring in a GP he has found from the Republic of Ireland. I think it would be a great win-win for our community and for the minister.”

In memory of Martin O’Meara The push to remember the story and sacrifice of Tipperary born WA Victoria Cross medal winner Martin O’Meara has come some way in a very short time. On the cusp of Anzac Day (April 23) this year during a debate about the new National Anzac Centre in Albany Stephen Dawson gave a good account of O’Meara’s background and how he came to Australia and the deeds that led to him winning the VC, the highest military decoration that can be awarded to a Commonwealth soldier for bravery in the face of the enemy. Dawson also highlighted the work being done by the Australia Irish Heritage Association and Ian Loftus have done to commemorate him.

Incredibly O’Meara’s story was also highlighted in Canberra by a

Liberal poli, Dr Sharman Stone, the member for Murray.

In her speech about the Centenary of Anzac she made a brief - and nearly entirely correct - mention to O’Meara, but not by name.

“Remember the stretcher-bearer, born in Ireland, a Victoria Cross recipient who died in a straitjacket 15 years after the war, never having recovered from the fact that for four days he was out bringing wounded back from no man’s land on the Western Front. It was four days without rest and it broke him physically and emotionally. He ended his days in a very unhelpful mental institution in Victoria, a great Victoria Cross awardee.”

Martin O’Meara died in 1935 as a patient at an asylum in Mount Claremont, in Perth and he was buried with full military honours at Karrakatta Cemetery in Perth. A case of “all politics is local” perhaps by the good doctor?

Another Canberra member of parliament, this time Senator Don Farrell for South Australia, on March 3, gave quite an interesting and colourful account of the close ties that existed between Australian families and Ireland during World War 1. Senator Farrell spoke about

his grandfather’s role in WWI, Sergeant Edward Farrell who was injured while on the Western Front where he saw action at the major battles of Ypres and Passchendale which saw massive casualties and repatriated to England to recover from his injuries in about November 1917.

“Had it pretty quite coming across the (English) channel in the good ship “St. Patrick”. Got into Dover in the dark and had several hours in the train. In late January 1918 he wrote home from No.1 Australian Auxiliary Hospital, Harfefield Park, Middelsex after he had been examined by doctors and found to have concussion and been poisoned by mustard gas. “I’m nearly OK again, and the doctor says a fortnight in the country will fix me up. That means I’ll be leaving here in a day or so for London where I’ll get a ticket to Dublin and county Cork - adding that a chap in the next bed was joining him for the trip to Ireland. Edward sent me several post cards from Ireland but waited until he returned England to report more fully on his journey. On February 16 he wrote: “Enjoyed the trip through Tipperary and Limerick and saw the peat boys and ate lots

of cakes. We changed train at Fermoy and arrived at Mitchelstown on time at 1.24pm, got outside the station where a young fellow came up and asked if we were looking for Mrs Kent, who was his aunt. His name was Joe Twomey and - or course some relation to me, as Mrs Kent’s father was Gran’s brother. I also met the O’Briens, Caseys, Hennessys, Quinlans and Gearys and so on- who were all cousins of some sort.” Over the next few days Edward met other relatives and a number of Sinn Feiners, and visited Kilbehenny, Carhue, Kingstown and Dublin. He also reported: “Food is very plentiful over there, and indeed- there doesn’t’ seem to be a shortage of anything.

The real butter, eggs and bacon were altogether too much for me and, of course, meeting all the relation’s was grand, I had no idea there were so many.”

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THE MUCK SAVAGE SANDWICH HAS ARRIVED!

by Lloyd Gorman

Donkey years ago on an Aer Lingus flight I was given a snobbish punch in the nose by an air hostess.

The drinks trolley was wheeled up the aisle passengers were asked what they would like to drink.

The memory doesn’t recall if the beverages being served were free or charged but I clearly recall telling the hostess what I would like to drink, a can of cider, Bulmers (Magners) to be precise. The impeccably turned out trolly dolly looked at me and answered with delicious disdain: “Sorry sir, we haven’t sunk quite that low yet!”. Cider drinking had something of a reputation as an entry level and affordable alcohol that was popular amongst young people who skulled flagons in fields or shell-suit wearing street thugs. But it wasn’t like I was asking for a six pack and trying to pay for them with a fist of filthy coins or cash that might have snatched from the handbag of an elderly woman ten minutes earlier. Today - and for some time now - cans of Bulmers (Magners) have been readily available to Aer Lingus passengers who can safely request one without fear of rebuke or condescension.

So news of another more recent breakthrough on the Aer Lingus inflight menu - after scarcely being able to believe it wasn’t some prank - caught my interest and showed just how much things have changed for another Irish classic that hasn’t always courted official recognition.

Punters on the national airline can now enjoy a Tayto sandwich at high altitudes. Four Euro will secure the traveller with a small tray comprised of one packet of the famous crisp, two slices of white bread, a nub of Irish butter and a plastic knife. (If there is one fault I can see with this packaged product

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is that two slices of bread may not be enough to capture the contents of a packet of Tayto.) But in one fell swoop the crisp maker has fused brilliant marketing and apparently a revolution in eating habits.

There was a time when the humble crisp but predominately Tayto sandwich was considered the uncouth cuisine of muck savages.

At least that is what I was always told by various people over the years who have caught me in the act of preparing or scoffing one.

The humble Tayto sandwich - which I consider to be a remarkable gift from Ireland to the world - had a bit of stigma about it. Not that that would stop you from eating one, but regular snipes about it being “muck savage food” (a muck savage for the benefit of Australian readers is Irish slang for a “culchie”, or a backward person from the country) from people who presumably snacked on truffles or caviare tends to infer a bit of an inferiority complex.

Most pubs and eateries in Ireland, and other countries, will regularly serve sandwiches with crisps as a side and no-one raises an eye-brow. Put the one into the other though and somehow you somehow become some sort of philistine.

To borrow the lyric of that classic Luke Kelly - of The Dubliners fame song “Scorn not his simplicity”. The Tayto sandwich might not qualify as cuisine or gourmet but it is a simple pleasure that conjures up childhood memories of holidays, picnics and the like, able to rival any other food.

It is hard to know for sure but presumably Irish people - or at least quite a few of us - have been slapping Tayto’s between slices of bread for some time now. The popular brand was invented in 1954 by Irish crisps and popcorn maker Joe “Spud” Murphy in 1954.

It has taken a long time for the sandwich to officially make its mark however. Back in March of this year Tayto itself temporarily opened a shop, its first, on Wicklow Street.

As well as promoting the brand and selling tickets and merchandised to Tayto Park in Co. Meath the outlet also sold Tayto sandwiches.

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For the princely sum of $2 - half of which went to the homeless charity The Simon Community many Dubliners were reintroduced to the humble ‘sanger’ - as they say here in Australia.

The Dublin outlet came as a result of a successful experiment in Ireland’s other capital city (no, not Cork). Simply Crispy in Belfast had the honour of being the world’s first crisp sandwich shop. Within two hours the pop up cafe had completely sold out of cheese and onion Tayto served in a soft bap baked in Belfast.

Up until relatively recently the majority of Irish Scene readers and many other Irish in Australia besides probably became somewhat detached from the Tayto sandwich. For a long time there were only two ways to really get your fingers and teeth into a pack, courtesy of a care package from the folks back home, or by picking up a packet in an Irish pub or club or the occasional speciality food shop where the product could prove to be pricey, and too tempting not to be opened and eaten over a pint or two.

So when Coles and Woolsworths introduced Tayto to their shelves in about February of last year that was another giant leap for the muck savage sandwich fancier. Suddenly Taytos were everywhere, and affordable.

You might notice that it is only ever the cheese and onion flavour ones that sell out at the supermakets, the poor cousin salt ‘n’ vinegar version is always available and abundant for obvious reasons.

(By the way, have you noticed that the supermarket chains have dropped Hula Hoops which they were stocking for a while?).

In the last couple of years Coles of course got into trouble for selling bread which it said was fresh and made in store - which actually was produced in Ireland. They could have turned the marketing embarrassment to their advantage by promoting it as Irish bread. They might have found that a certain cohort of their customer base would marry the two together on a weekly or at least regular basis, providing them with a steady income stream on those lines. And now that Brennan’s bread - mainly batch loaves - have become available in Perth and across Australia another front is opening up for muck savages everywhere. (Disclosure: Taytos were eaten in the writing of this article, some on their own and some in between white slices of bread).

ARTHUR SHIELDS - THE ‘OTHER’ BROTHER

By JOHN HAGAN

Though perhaps not as well known as his brother Barry Fitzgerald, Arthur Shields was also a hugely talented actor who appeared in nearly twice as many movies as his elder sibling. he seventh of Adolphus and Fanny Shields’ eight children, Arthur Shields was brought up in a Dublin, middle class, Protestant, socialist household. As a teenager he loved to read Irish poetry and Russian novels, and in 1911, aged 15, his passion for acting led him to form “The Kincora Dramatic Club’.

Their first production was Lady Gregory’s rebel play, The Rising of the Moon. The young Arthur Shields went on to produce, and act in, other plays by Yeats and Synge.

In 1913, Arthur’s future direction in life was settled when he saw Yeats and Lady Gregory’s seminal folk play, Cathleen ni Houlihan. He resolved to become a professional actor and enrolled in the Abbey school of acting to learn the rudiments of the craft. By December 1913, he had his first Abbey walkon role, and in March the following year, his first speaking part as, Mr Butterfield, in The Lord Mayor.

National insurrection temporarily impeded Shields’ thespian endeavours, with the eighteen year old swept up in the nascent Irish Volunteer movement and the 1916 Easter Uprising.

As a recruit in the Volunteers ‘F’ Company, Shields stored his firearm, together with the press on which the Proclamation of Ireland was to be printed, under the stage of the Abbey Theatre. By 1916, Arthur had become an enthusiastic member of the Citizen Army.

Following his action defending the Dublin Bread Company building, he was apprehended by the British Army and sent to a detention camp in Wales. By the time he returned to the Abbey (in August 1916) he found that the established actors had resigned due to conflict with the company manager, St John

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Ervine. This created opportunities for Shields and his timid older brother, Will, who was to later adopt the stage name of Barry Fitzgerald.

Within a few years the Shields brothers became the theatre’s leading actors.

In 1931, the Abbey Theatre Company left Dublin to tour North America. This decision was made, not so much from the desire to spread the company’s fame, but because Dublin audiences were on the wane due to the effects of the Great Depression. The Abbey directors, who included W B Yeats and Lady Gregory, dispatched the troupe abroad essentially to keep the actors in funds, and the Abbey afloat. Arthur Shields, accompanied by his wife, Baize McGee, accepted the position of ‘tour manager’ for an additional fee of $200 a week. It was to be a joyous and satisfying tour.

The actors skated in Wisconsin, tobogganed in Winnipeg, basked in Idaho’s hot springs, and played to full houses in Dallas, Houston, Denver, New York and Boston. The Shields brothers loved the racial and ethnic diversity of North America and, while Barry liked New York, Arthur preferred the more casual life of the West Coast. Both brothers were amazed at the vibrancy of the North American theatre scene.

Audiences were enthusiastic and appreciative and so lavish were the theatres that Shields remarked,

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“The money spent in staging one of [your] more elaborate shows would keep the Abbey Players going for two years”.

Two more Abbey tours to the United States followed (1932 and 1934) and it was during the troupe’s third foray that film director John Ford, a great admirer of the company, threw a ‘welcome’ banquet for the actors inviting them to the set of The Informer, his latest film, which was purportedly set in Dublin. It was the start of an ongoing collaboration between the Abbey players and Ford. The director subsequently engaged Arthur to play Padriag Pearce in O’Casey’s seminal work, The Plough and the Stars (1936).

Although an established Abbey star with a number of film roles to his credit, Shields found he was gradually being sidelined at the theatre, and to make matters worse his marriage to Baize was in tatters, as he had become romantically involved with the young Abbey actress, Aideen O’Connor. In 1938, on advice from W.B. Yeats, Shields and O’Connor left Dublin for New York, where they were to play in Spring Meeting, a Broadway production directed by John Gielgud.

On October 24, 1943, Baize died and Arthur and Aideen were married 17 days later, and settled down on Sunset Boulevard (California) near brother, Barry. From this time Arthur was kept busy in Hollywood on such productions as Lassie Come Home, National Velvet, and The Fabulous Dorseys.

In February 1949 Shields turned fifty-three. It was a busy year for him. He had just completed a film role as an Ulster businessman in Fighting Father Dunne, when he was engaged to give voice lessons to Shirley Temple in preparation for her part as an Irish colleen in Always Sweethearts. He was also busy with hosting and narrating, Your Show Time, a TV series sponsored by

Lucky Strike cigarettes. But not all was progressing smoothly. Aideen became ill, and by July the following year she fell into a coma before dying from cirrhosis of the liver. Shields was distraught, but fortunately film roles continued to be offered. He was especially pleased, in 1951, to be cast in the role of ‘Mr John’, in Jean Renoir’s, The River. It was a part lusted after by Ronald Regan and numerous other Hollywood leading men. Unfortunately, Shields contract called for his salary to be deferred and paid later from screen profits. It appears that he never received a cent for this role.

Arguably Shields is best remembered for his long association with director, John Ford.

In 1939 he appeared as Reverence Rosenkrantz, in Ford’s Drums Along the Mohawk, followed by, How Green Was My Valley (1941), She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949) and again in Ford’s Irish classic, The Quiet Man (1952), in which he featured in tandem with brother Barry. In 1964, three years after Barry’s death, Ford was preparing to direct Young Cassidy, a movie based on the

life of Sean O’Casey, and he called upon Arthur to appear in and to serve as the film’s voice coach. By this time, still grieving his brother’s death, Shields himself was in poor health. Unfortunately a lifetime smoking Camel cigarettes plus a bout of TB left him with emphysema and he was unable to accept Ford’s offer.

Despite this setback, a lifetime in theatre, plus 73 film credits and 24 TV appearances left Shields, his third wife (Laurie) and children, well off. His income was further boosted by a 10% stake in a television production company, Ziv Productions, and by television voiceovers to promote Italian Swiss Colony Wine.

While Shields had been in Dublin caring for Barry just before Barry’s death in 1961, he was invited to call on the President, Eamon de Valera. It was a visit which left him unimpressed as Shields and the President did not see eye to eye on the ‘new Ireland’. Shields regarded the Civil War, which de Valera had started over the Oath to the King, and the subsequent Partition of the

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six counties by the 1922 Treaty with dismay. He hated the constitutional declaration that Gaelic was the ‘national’ and ‘first official’ language of the country. In fact, when questioned as to why he had left Ireland to live in the United States, Shields had replied it was because he didn’t want to pray in Gaelic.

However, it was more likely the ban on divorce which had led him (and Aideen) to leave, a ban which he always considered iniquitous.

Despite these ‘differences’, Shields never lost his love for Ireland, its people and its literature. On 27 April 1970, aged 74, Arthur Shields died at his home in Santa Barbra and was laid to rest beside brother Barry in Deansgrange Cemetery, near Dublin.

“Come away, O human child!

To the waters and the wild With a faery, hand in hand, For the world’s more full of weeping than you can understand.” ― W.B. Yeats, The Collected Poems

Local News of Interest from the Past

ECHOS OF THE PAST RE SE ARC HE D

BY

FRED

News Published Every Two Months

REA

Happenings in Geraldton early in the last century Western Mail Perth 26 March 1915

St Patrick’s Day in Geraldton

St. Patrick’s Day was observed very quietly at Geraldton, in the evening there was an Irish concert by the pupils of the Presentation Convent at the Town Hall, and this was fairly well attended. An enjoyable programme was received with great appreciation, and the proceedings were wound-up with the customary dance. A sports gathering and picnic were held at Walkaway, which attracted a number of visitors from Geraldton, and the day proved very pleasurable.

Freeman’s Journal Sydney 5 January 1901

IRISH AFFAIRS THE BISHOP OF GERALDTON

The Right Rev Dr Kelly, Bishop of Geraldton, West Australia, is (says the Catholic Times, Nov. 23) on a visit to Ireland. He is staying with Father Kehoe, Bridgetown, County Wexford. His Lordship is an Australian by birth, but Irish by descent, a fact of which he is quite proud. In the course or an interview with a representative of the Wexford People, his Lordship strongly expressed the feelings of pain and regret caused in Australia by the past divisions amongst the Irish Parliamentarians.

Western Mail Perth 18 April 1940

GERALDTON DOINGS

….At 12 o’clock the church bells rang. We strolled up the Terrace to hear the bagpipes when we came on a procession headed by two horses, a white and a bay, ridden bare-backed, followed by the bagpipes. Behind them again were some men marching. Honestly “Virgilia,” they had awfully solemn looks on their faces as though they were a a chain gang or some such thing. Quite a few cars and people followed on and with much blowing of whistles they stopped at the Esplanade Hostel, where a few Scotch reels and sword dances

were done. The M.C. was Irishman, John Wayland and the Piper was a Jock McLeod. What made me laugh most was that it was supposed to be a Scotties night, yet most of the men were Irish. I know my friends Harry and John are not Scotties, and of course I had to give them a dig.

However, while it lasted it was good fun, and everyone present enjoyed themselves.

Les May, Geraldton.

says the Adelaide Southern Gross, August 26, on Monday 5, evening when there were present the Right Rev. Dr. Corbett; Bishop of Sale, and the Right Rev. Dr. Kelly, the newlyConsecrated Bishop of Geraldton.

West Australia.

His Lordship introduced some very laughable illustrations in the course of his interesting address; one of which was that a certain Irishman claimed that whilst his countrymen The Bunbury Herald & Blackwood Express 2 June stuck to their national drink of Irish whisky, they remained steadfast to 1922 their Faith, but when they began to ‘IRISH MOSS.’ One of the interesting features of introduce foreign beverages, in the present day civilisation is that so shape of beer, etc heresies crept in. many of the articles one sees widely (Laughter and applause). advertised in the columns of the Sunday Times Perth February 1931 Press have now become positive DEATH OF MRS. J. J. RYAN household necessities, whereas News Cabled from Ireland. years would have in the light of rare News was received by cable this luxuries. This in the determination- I morning of the death of Mrs. J. J. of the cost of living for our own basic Ryan, wife of Mr. Jerry Ryan, of the wage a monthly allowance for ‘face- Club Hotel, Geraldton, and formerly powder,’ and a weekly allowance for of the Savoy Hotel, Perth. Deceased ‘patent-medicines’ was included. had recently recovered from a Those thoughts occur to us as we serious illness In Geraldton and see once more, regularly as the fall had gone to Rome to witness the of Autumn leaves, the consistent ordination of her son as a Roman advertising of Messrs Bonnington Catholic priest. She was on a visit to and their famous ‘Irish Moss,’ For her sister at Dublin when she died years now the words ‘Bonnington’s suddenly. For Mr. Ryan, who is well Irish Moss for coughs and colds’ known in many parts of the State, have been consistently ‘kept in the the sincerest sympathy will be felt. public, eye, till to-day, we believe Albany Advertiser 3 April 1941 they are a catchword from Cairns NAMING OF GERALDTON in the distant north, to Geraldton Recently the librarian of the in the far west. Real merit must Department of Defence Cobe the chief secret of this far-flung Ordination (Mr. R. K. Peacock) popularity; for everywhere where wrote to the Geraldton Municipal people are troubled with coughs, Council asking if it was known why colds, or by devastating ‘Flu,’ there Geraldton had been so named. He you will find: some ready to offer explained that it was intended to the advice to others — ‘Why don’t use Geraldton as the name for one you try Bonnington’s Irish Moss?’ of the new ships and it would be desirable to have actual historical Freeman’s Journal Sydney 3 September 1898 THE BISHOP OF GERALDTON facts relating to the formation and derivation of the name. The ON TEMPERANCE The usual fortnightly meeting of Council decided to enlist the the Guild of St. John the Baptist was assistance of Mr. J. M. Drew, M.L.C., held at St. Patrick’s School room in respect to the matter. Mr. Drew

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has since replied that he found from the “Western Australian Year Book for 1902-04,” issued by the Government of the State,’ that in June 1850 the first town blocks were sold in Geraldton.

Irishman, Governor Fitzgerald was Governor of the colony from August, 1848 to July, 1855. It would, therefore, follow that it was he who approved of the declaration of the townsite, which was called Geraldton after him. The great lead mine, which was discovered

by Explorer Gregory on the lower Murchison and which was visited

by Governor Fitzgerald shortly afterwards, was named by-the owners “Geraldine.” Northampton townsite was declared by Governor Hampton, whilst the main street was called Hampton Road. It was apparently the custom in those days to perpetuate the memory of a Governor in one way or another.

Freeman’s Journal Sydney 11 June

IRISHMAN’S LUCK GOLD FIND IN WEST AUSTRALIA

An Irishman named John Regan,

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THURSDAY – SUNDAY. 43

Concerning this same Murchison goldfield, we learn from Perth, under date May 26th that gold in large quantities has been brought into Geraldton. This has had the effect of counteracting the feeling of timidity caused by the outbreak of fever on the field, and now many who formerly held back are straining every resource to get away to the Eldorado of their dreams.

Martin Kavanagh Honorary Consul Of Ireland

promote Irish culture abroad; Irish-focused business networks and campaign groups for emigrants.

Minister for Foreign Affairs, Charlie Flanagan, took the opportunity to highlight the opportunities for returning migrants during his address to the Forum on 4 June: “We have a strengthening economy with a growing SME sector and we are home to an impressive range of multinational companies whose names are recognisable all over the world. Above all, we have a thriving start up sector which accounts for two thirds of all new jobs created. Jobseekers can now look to the future with hope and optimism. There are now new opportunities for Irish emigrants who wish to return home.

“The huge wave of emigration that occurred when our economy crashed was a source of significant heartache to our entire country. We want those people to come home – to live, to work, to raise their families, to be part of communities, to be part of Irish society, to enrich our country with their experiences overseas, to be part of the new Ireland where we have vowed that never again will we allow our economy and the livelihoods of our people to be exposed to such risk and vulnerability.”

Minister Flanagan also thanked those present for their support to the Irish diaspora over the years: “I want to pay tribute to all of you for your work in assisting emigrants. I have been inspired by your passion for your work and your commitment to Irish emigrants which is demonstrated in so many different ways whether it’s providing companionship to the elderly, teaching children our Gaelic traditions in sport, dance or music or offering mentorship in business. The work that you all do and the people that you represent are vitally important to the Government. We are pleased to support many of your organisations through the Emigrant Support Programme and also through our Embassies and Consulates around the world. Your work extends the reach of our network and ensures that Irish people around the world can make the best possible lives for themselves in their new homes.”

Call for ideas and plans for Ireland 2016 Commemoration.

Do you have some ideas about how the centenary of 1916 can we commemorated in WA? If so, we’d love to hear from you. We are hoping to put together as big a range of events as possible. Please join us to discuss your ideas: WHERE: City venue TBC depending on numbers.

WHEN: 11am Sunday July 12 2015.

The meeting is open to all. So we can select an appropriate venue please advise by email on info@ consulateofirelandwa.com.au no later than 3 July 2015 if you are able to attend.

Hon. Consul Marty Kavanagh and Richard visit to Áras an Uachtaráin and President of Ireland Michael D Higgins and Sabrina Higgins.

Global Irish Civic Forum

I was delighted to be invited by the Government of Ireland to attend and moderate at the first ever Global Irish civic Forum in Dublin on 3-4 June 2015.

The first ever Forum saw almost 200 representatives of over 140 organisations working with the Irish diaspora gather to share their experience. Among the diverse organisations represented at the conference are those which provide support to vulnerable emigrants; those which

Perth Office: 1/100 Terrace Road East Perth WA 6004 Tel: (08) 6557 5802 - Fax: (08) 9218 8433 Email: info@consulateofirelandwa.com.au Website: www.consulateofirelandwa.com.au Office Hours: Mon-Fri 10.30 - 2.00pm by appointment only

Follow the Irish Embassy on Twitter: @irlembaustralia 44

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or the benefit of readers who are not familiar with Geraldton, the history of Geraldton began some 40,000 years ago when various aboriginal tribes lived in the area. Geraldton is located on Champion Bay, 424km north of Perth, Western Australia and has become a popular seaside resort town for the wheat farmers of the CentralWest region.

In the early days of the Swan River Colony it was struggling to find suitable land for new settlers.

All the fertile land close to Perth was already taken up and the colony’s economy was stagnant. As a result, in 1846, two exploration parties were sent out, one led by John Septimus Roe to the south-east of Perth and the other led by explorer and surveyor, Augustus Gregory (and his brother) to the north of Perth. Gregory returned with glowing reports of good pastoral land and coal deposits in the midwest coastal region.

In 1848 Governor Fitzgerald (an Irishman) travelled to the Murchinson River to inspect the mineral deposits for himself. He got a little more than he bargained for on the journey when he was speared in the leg by local Aboriginals, at what is now known as Elephant Hill.

Regardless of the attack, ore exports from the Murchinson River mines began in 1849 from Champion Bay and soon after Gregory was instructed to survey a town site.

The Club

On the 21 November, 1849, a flagstaff was erected and the Union Jack flag hoisted up the mast, as a symbolic claim over the district.

There had been no consultation between the Europeans and the traditional Aboriginal land owners.

A week later a barracks was erected and Lieutenant Elliot (military leader of the 99th Regiment) was appointed magistrate in preparation for clashes between Europeans and Aborigines. On the 3rd of June 1851, the town site of Geraldton was declared and the first sale of Geraldton lots were sold by public auction in Perth. Geraldton was originally called Gerald’s Town after Governor Charles Fitzgerald (184855) but later shortened to Geraldton.

If you visit a town in central Western Australia there’s a good chance nestled amongst the gum trees and pink and grey galahs you will also find a rather unusual and beautiful catholic church.

These stunning places of worship are the work of Monsignor John Hawes a man of faith, service and inspirational architecture.

During his time in the Mid-West, Hawes, born September 7th, 1876 in Richmond, England was responsible for an astounding body of work throughout the region. His creations ranged from basic corrugated iron structures like St Patrick’s church in Wonthella, Geraldton, (now the home of the Mid-West Irish Club), to the unique design of Our Lady of Mt Carmel in Mullewa or the grand structure of Nazareth House Convent perched on the edge of Champion Bay in Geraldton.

He designed a small cottage, the hermitage, adjacent to the new St John of God Hospital in Geraldton.

Hawes declared the building, completed in 1936, was to be his retirement home. However, in 1939

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Monsignor Hawes left for Cat Island in the Bahamas, never to return.

He lived out his life as a hermit, and died on June 26th, 1956 in Miami, Florida aged 79.

Midwest Irish Club was established in 1991. The club’s home is St Patrick’s Hall in Wonthella. This building, completed in 1939 the structure was built to cater for the local communities needs until a ‘proper’ church was required.

In 1991 a meeting was called and took place at the Catholic Centre in Geraldton. Present was Joe Clancy, RIP, Jack Regan, Kathleen Regan, Paddy Monaghan, Jimmy and Theresa Ginnane, Colin Klause, Patrick O’Rourke and up to 20 others. Paddy, Jack, Jimmy and Joe were given the task of finding a suitable building to house the club.

Paddy Monaghan told the Irish Scene that Jimmy with Frank Kelly found the old church in Wonthella

Jack Regan belts out an Irish Song

and negotiations commenced. The parish priest and the bishop were very accommodating and offered the premises at a very low rent.

The building needed a lot of work and volunteers were plentiful to get the building up and running.

Paddy said, “It took near 7 months to complete the renovations and was officially opened in 1991”. The building was in disrepair with a white ant infestation. Paddy added, “We had to replace all the uprights and all the walls and replace with

St Patrick’s Day Celebrations

We wish the club well and look forward to the next 25 years. The club opens on Friday evenings and Sundays. The best time to call is on a Friday evening on (08) 9921 7460.

First Committee: Frank Kelly, Joe Clancy, Paddy Monaghan Kathleen Regan, Theresa Ganane, and Colin Klaus

Paddy Monaghan, President of the Mid-West Irish Club, presents Geraldton Mayor Faye Simpson with an Irish Flag to mark St Patrick’s Day in 1991. The flag, still used, was hoisted alongside the roundabout in Geraldton.

Above: The young brigade helping out their more senior members (below) celebrate the 25th at the Irish Club in Geraldton.

Full report in our next issue.

gyprock”. It was all worth it at the end and the opening was a wonderful occasion. Community spirit was alive and well in Geraldton then and it must have been one hell of a party. Paddy said that the driving force for the club was Frank Kelly along with Joe Clancy and all they had to do was ask and the task was done.

Paddy Monaghan was elected the first president and Kathleen Regan (from Mallow Co Cork), vice-president.

The club has continued in Geraldton since then and now celebrates 25years. A big event was held on Saturday 27th June. Past and present shared many memories of the early days and subsequent years. The club was open all day with a complimentary drink and a BBQ lunch.

There are plans to get the ‘younger generation’ involved with a facebook page for the club.

What’s Paddy Monaghan up to?

Certificate presented

by Hon WA Irish Consul Marty Kavanagh

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The Celtic Club • Perth •

BAR • RESTAURANT • FUNCTIONS

Doing Business

Function Rooms

The Clubs central location in West Perth with onsite parking and close proximity to Red and Green CAT bus routes makes it easily accessible to everyone.

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Located on the first floor, the main Function Room can comfortably seat 125 delegates theatre style or 120 for a banquet.

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The two function rooms have a comfortable sophistication that lend themselves to a variety of uses such as presentations, training events, Annual General Meetings, Boardroom Meetings. Fully fitted with Wi-Fi, ceiling fitted projectors and screen and speaker system.

DS T The impressive Jarrah lined Presidents Room can seat up to 30 guests theatre style or up to 24 guests for a private luncheon.

A: 48 Ord Street, West Perth, WA 6005 VEN

Location

Our superb restaurant serves an a la carte style lunch Monday to Friday and the bar area, with separate lounge, features a number of speciality beers on tap, and is ideal for relaxing, a light luncheon or coffee.

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The Club welcomes new members so please feel free to call in and have a look at our facilities or ask for a membership application form. We have several types of membership available including Retiree, Ordinary and Corporate. We also work in conjunction with other local business to offer additional external benefits such as discounted gym packages, corporate teambuilding and wine of the month. We also have affiliated membership with other organisations in other cities so you can still enjoy the benefits of membership when on the move.

Bar & Restaurant

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Membership

The Club is a great place to network, meet new people, entertain clients, or just get away from the office to have a brainstorm session.

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The Celtic Club has a proud history spanning over 100 years. Presently the Club has a membership of approximately 700, and appeals to a wide range of individuals, all of whom enjoy the friendly and personable hospitality of a private member’s Club.

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History:

Start enjoying this great Club and become a member today!

Tony and Veronica McKee PO Box 994 Hillarys WA 6923

info@mckeefamilyfunerals.com.au www.mckeefamilyfunerals.com.au

Tel (08) 9401 1900 • Fax: 9401 1911 • Mob: 0413 337 785 47

P: Phone (08) 9322 2299 E: Email: celtic.club@bigpond.com F: Fax (08) 9322 2899 W: www.celticclubperth.com

“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of other’s opinions drown out your own inner voice.

And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.” – Steve Jobs

With Claire Wynne

Fiona Rea Who are you and where are you from?

I’m Fiona Rea - the product of an Italian mother and Irish Father, blessed with an upbringing immersed in both of these cultures - making our own sauce every year, living with our beautiful Nonna and eating pasta every week on the Italian side AND spending most of my life in Irish Dancing and surrounded by Irish culture on the Irish side. I am the eldest of 3 - with 2 handsome brothers, both of whom are gifted guitarists and have also been blessed with 2 supportive parents. Lilly, maybe the kindest and most selfless human on the planet and Fred, pillar of the Irish community here in Perth and generous and talented musician and Dad. What got you started in Music?

It would have to be my Dad. I’d say I started visiting pubs in utero and have loved the sweet scent

of beer filled carpet ever since.

Dad played with the band, The Quarefellas from well before I was born (that’s how Mum and Dad met actually... Mum falling in love with the skinny Cork fella singing his heart out in Albert’s Tavern). Dad sang to us a lot as kids and Mum was the driving force behind me starting piano lessons at 5 years of age. She’s the one who made me practise and God I hated practise, but I’m grateful now. It was the Suzuki method to begin, learning and playing by ear.

But when theory came into play, I apparently had them fooled by pretending to read the sheet music but not having any idea what it said. That was the beginning of the end for me, and I stopped playing at 12, picking it back up again in my 20’s when I decided I wanted to be Jewel and Mary Black. What started me gigging, however, was forming the duo ‘Them Little Secrets’ with Lateisha Boucher.

We recorded an album and played some beautiful festivals and gigs, sharing our original songs. It’s an album we worked on solidly for a year recording and is something I am still so grateful for and proud to listen to and share, because it was us.

What instruments do you play?

Piano and guitar predominantly.

But I am learning mandolin and tenor banjo from the incredible and generous Colin Merrey and I play a bit of Cajon drum and Bodhrán, which I love just as much.

Where can we see you gigging?

I play every Sunday at Durty Nelly’s alongside Jon Edwards, who is maybe the kindest and most talented all-round musician

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there is. I play Thursday and Saturdays fortnighty at 3 Sheets in Hillarys and have just started Friday nights at Lot Six Zero. I will also be playing Saturday nights in July at the Mighty Quinn Tavern with Brett Hardwick. I also play as part of the band ‘Sparrow’, playing festivals and bigger gigs around WA alongside Jane Morris, Charlie McCarthy, (phenomenal musicians) and Jon Edwards.

What can we expect from a Fiona gig?!

Well, I just want you guys to have a great night you know? A dear friend put it this way for me - You can always connect with the song you’re singing, but the magic moments happen when a triad occurs - when there’s you and the song AND listener connecting to what you’re singing. That what we crave I think. I just laugh that people want to pay me money to do something that brings me so much joy. It’s not always unicorns and happiness, there are nights when your front teeth are nearly knocked out by a Michael Flatley impersonator spinning too close to your mic! But, all in all, it’s just awesome really. And you know why? Because I’m surrounded by the most incredible people, whose love makes it safe to sing.

For more information on Fiona, as well as other Irish music gigs around town, check out the “Live Irish Music in Perth” page on Facebook.

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Irish score a double at Subi Oval

C

By Lloyd Gorman & Fred Rea

arving out a first in in the competitive world of the Australian Football League is not an easy thing to do but a young Kildare man has managed to do just that. Paddy Brophy, from Celbridge, can rightly claim to be the first international rookie ever to be selected to the West Coast Eagle’s in the clubs history. No small achievement for a young lad who grew up playing junior and senior Gaelic football for his county. “Celbridge club have been the grass roots of my progression really, I owe them a lot,” he told Fred Rea. “Now I’m out here to see how far I can go, and for a bit of craic.”

Brophy has inked a two year contract with the Eagles but knows that this is just the start of his AFL journey and there is a lot to prove and some way to go.

“The same day I was called onto the Kildare senior panel in 2012, so I was 18 at the time, and I got a phone call at home. I wasn’t there but my mother took it. It was Tadhg Kennelly on the other end. “Your son has been invited to partake in a combine in Dublin in February (2013),” he told her. He said I’d been identified at Kildare minor games as talent to be scouted for the AFL. So I went to the combine and was one of a host of other young Gaelic footballers, about 20 or so of us. I impressed very well at speed test, agility tests and from there I progressed and the clubs became interested.”

At the same combine Padraig Lucas and Daniel Flynn were also picked. In the previous year Sean Hurley another young Kildare man and friend of Paddy’s was selected and went to Fremantle. In the year after Conor McKenna and Cian Hanley were snapped up. “The combine have been pretty successful,” added Paddy.

But the AFL National Combine system is not without its critics and Kennelly who has been at the fore of it also takes some flack for his role.

“Tadhg says that people always ask him “do you not feel bad for taking a lot of talent from the GAA?”, his response is “no, I had the best ten or eleven years with the Sydney Swans and I want other players to experience that as well, I don’t want other players to pass up opportunities to become a professional.”

Like the lucky few who get invited to come out Paddy has experienced some of the changes and challenges.

“I’ve been here about seven months and I love it. Its a beautify place and the climates a big factor and the club have been great to me and help me with a lot of things, my family were over recently for a few weeks and they had a great time. It was great to have family over here to see what happens because they wouldn’t

Paddy Brophy, Dave Feehan and Fionn O’Carroll

really understand what is going on, obviously they wouldn’t follow AFC,” he said. Paddy has an older sister and two older brothers. His oldest brother Connor has also played for Kildare and has been a big influence on him, he says he learn what it is to be a sportsman from his sibling.

On coming to Australia Paddy visited four clubs in Melbourne and the Eagles in Perth. “I based my decision on my four day stay in Perth. The Eagles were the most welcoming, they had a great set up and I wanted to stay here.”

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“Its a pretty big change with the ball,” adds Paddy.

“With Gaelic football you are used to kicking around the corner, kicking with your instep the whole time, or the outside of your foot. But with the oval ball you have to be precise with your ball drop, how you hold the ball and where you kick it, you always want to kick from the laces.”

Paddy has no doubt that he has learned and improved a lot from the experience of being inside the world of Aussie rules. “Initially the club were hoping I’d play in the East Perth reserves for the first half of the season but they were quite happy with my progress and thought I was good enough to go straight into the senior side, so I’m holding my spot there for the moment. They have a development plan in place for me. Gavin Bell is the head of development and there is a head coach and a team of coaches. They are tacking my progress. I still have a long long way to go but I would love to get out onto the oval (Subiaco).

That could take a year or it could be sooner, you can never put a timeframe on it. If I went back to Ireland now I’d be a better player in terms of preparation, recovery, managing my body, nutritional recovery and in terms of being an athlete. As a professional sportsperson you learn so much about your mind and how to use your mind and your body to get the most out of them. I would definitely be a better athlete.”

Another young Irish lad from the midlands is also helping the game and players from off field. Fionn O’Carroll is a third year sports science student at the University of Limerick and is part of a growing and important connection between the Irish sports world and Aussie Rules.

“My job here is the sports science stuff, like GPS tracking and monitoring and tracking the players progress to see how they are developing,” said Fionn.

“Its a great opportunity. I first got word of the job around November, I was lucky to get in. There were ten applicants.”

As part of the course students do an eight month placement with a professional sports organisation.

For more than a decade one UL student has been cutting their teeth in AFL at Subiaco with the Eagles.

“I’m number 13,” said Fionn who will finish his term in August. “From what they tell me here the others have gone on to do a physic work and a lot of them are working with athletes and teams, at home and abroad. I chose to come over here and to get some experience at the top level and work with elite athletes and its been really good so far. Unfortunately I’ll just miss the Grand Finals but hopefully I’ll be here for most of the season and hopefully the Eagles will keep going as well as they are. The plan after college is to keep working hopefully with elite athletes and keep building my experience.”

Editor: We appreciate the help of Dave Feehan in getting The Irish Scene access to the Eagles.

Dave is a great supporter of our mag.

Brendan can help you with your new car!

From Co Antrim to Clarkson, and a member of the car industry 20 years, Western Australia’s newest Nissan dealership now has an Irish feel thanks to Brendan McAfee. “I have just been promoted to New Vehicle Sales Manager to help build the business and will personally look after all the Irish Scene readers.

With the arrival of the all New Navara NP300 and the largest range of SUV vehicles on offer, I have a vehicle which will suit everybody and I’m very happy to look after the Irish community personally”.

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Stupid Bitter, Sweet Regret.

E

very time I make the long journey back to my homeland, I set aside time to walk the streets where I ran as a boy and a young man. Little has changed as regards the dilapidated buildings and dirty roads but, naturally and sadly, most of those who once were my friends, like me, have moved away to make their lives on distant shores. Some, perhaps, are still within the country but distant from the locale. It is a given perhaps the main reason - I visit the spot where she and I first met and, although our love affair only lasted three years, the memories are as sharp as they were when we said our final goodbyes. I stand at the junction of Alliance Avenue and Cliftonville Road and the location fills me with bitter sweet regret.

It is a simple truth that coincidence occurs when one least expects it. The day prior to flying away with the intention of beginning a new life on the other side of the World, I was queuing at the same intersection, waiting to catch a bus into the city. I didn’t live in the area where the stop was located but had been staying overnight with my lifelong best friend and cousin. Who should appear out of Alliance Avenue but Amanda Beattie, the girl I still loved. My heart missed a beat when she joined the end of the queue. I had not seen her since we went through our final bustup, a period of nigh on a year.

I knew full well we would

never be back together, and that was the main reason for me leaving my homeland.

The temptation to contact her again had been with me as a constant companion and if I didn’t move far away, I would do just that eventually. Vanity held my temptation in check; that and the hammer blow of her possibly telling me, she was in love with someone else. I had a dream back then, of returning one day, long in the future, looking her up to find she had never married. I would be suitably contrite whereupon, she would forgive me for my weakness of character and sharp tongue. The dream, needless to say, never came to fruition.

My sister, who worked with Amanda in those days, set up a blind date and it was arranged that we meet at a certain place. Sister Carol was there to introduce us, spent at least two minutes doing so and rushed off for a night on the tiles. It took no more than a further five minutes to realise that Amanda was painfully shy. Why, I don’t know because, apart from being pretty she possessed a wonderful figure.

I also found out quickly that she preferred to listen rather than talk and, so it was, on that first damp Autumn evening when we agreed to simply walk and chat, I did most of the talking. I can still hear her mirthful laugh, even as I scribe these few words. It was warm, genuine and tickled my insides when it burst forth, at times, during the years we were together.

I admit to being hard to get along with at times and I put that down to upbringing. We five children were not dragged up, because my mother had been reared in a strict household, but we were half a step beyond being classed as poor. We had to fight and scrape in order to earn our share of what little there was in the way of food and money and, by the time we were well into our teens, each of us possessed a hard-bitten edge to our characters. All five of us

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were working then, and putting money into the household. I must mention here, we had a totally irresponsible navy man as a father and he infrequently sent money home. Such as what he earned went mainly on gambling and drink. Even now, as an old man myself, he seldom crosses my mind. He died alone and, truthfully, I wouldn’t have a clue where he is buried.

Amanda, on the other hand, although not much better off, was raised in a gentle household.

I made her cry on occasions, I was jealous of others. I liked to see her happy but I needed to be involved and close to the centre of that happiness. If I didn’t want to do something, I wouldn’t, but she went out of her way to make me happy while not exactly bending to my will. I loved her but it was love on my terms and could not last indefinitely. It didn’t.

I decided we should become engaged and begin saving for our future. Our lives continued towards marriage, and I never stopped to think how my happiness depended, to a large degree, on being in control of our relationship, until one evening I arrived to pick her up for our weekly movie excursion.

I knew something was wrong the moment I sat down among her family. Her father’s winsome smile, her mother’s studious avoidance of my eyes and the leaving of the room by her siblings. “Let’s go into the dining room,” she said, rising from her seat. I followed.

When we were seated, she stunned me with the news that someone else had entered her life. I must give myself credit for controlling any outburst I could have made. “Go on,” was my initial response.

She raised her eyes to meet mine and there were tears in her’s, which added to the surprise I was feeling. “I still love you, Darling, I really do,” she said, “but there is another who deserves my love as well.”

“Who?” was all I could muster, my shock beginning to become anger.

She caught me right on the

hop, again. “Jesus Christ. I have decided to give my life to him.

As you can guess, I was completely deflated. I found it impossible to mount any sort of argument or defence and my anger dissipated rapidly. “When did you make the decision?” I asked, in a soft voice.

“I know you’re hurt, I can see it in your face but I’ve been thinking about Christianity for a while and last night, my father and I went to a gospel gathering. When the preacher gave the invitation to join with Christ at the completion of the service, I felt compelled to go forward and be baptised into the faith.”

“There is nothing I can say, Amanda. I can’t go off my face at you. You know, this is a life changing decision, not only for you, but for me if I decide it’s right for us to keep dating.”

We had reached the stage in our relationship where we weren’t completely intimate, but very close. We had made love once but I knew she was not happy afterwards and we hadn’t done it again, much as I really wanted to. Marriage was the only way now I would get what I wanted. “What happens when we marry? You’ll be living in sin if I’m not a Christian, correct?”

“I’m not really sure but I’d like you to attend a few meetings with me.”

I agreed because of my feelings for her. A month later, I was duly baptised but, in the months which followed, I never felt the obvious joy that Amanda did. I didn’t read my bible, I missed meetings and our weekly movie trip was cancelled to be replaced with a mid-week gospel gathering. It dawned on me, I had lost any control I had. I was holding on to the back of her coat, trying to stop her moving away from me.

She knew.

Things came to a head one cold Autumn night when I was leaving her home. I was arguing, and I can’t remember what about now, but I do remember one hateful thing I did, which I regret even to this day. She had given me a beautiful gold-leafed bible for my birthday and, in my frustration at

everything, I threw it at her along the length of the pathway to her door. I walked away. That was it.

Done. Complete.

On that Summer morning, when she boarded the same bus as me, I knew she was going to work. When she alighted at the bottom of the Cliftonville Road, I followed. I caught up to her.

“Amanda, may I have a quick word?” I fell in step beside her.

She was surprised but regained her composure quickly. “You’re not going to throw something at me, are you?”

I released a short, bitter chuckle. “No, and I really regret that hurtful and stupid action. I’m leaving tomorrow for Australia and when I saw you at the bus stop, I took the opportunity to say goodbye.”

“I heard you were going. I wish you luck there, I really do.”

“I will love you for a long time, but I couldn’t compete with God, and wasn’t prepared to try. My weakness. In case we never meet again, I hope your life turns out happy.” I leaned forward and kissed her; she kissed back. I turned and walked away. I didn’t turn around and heard the click of her high heels when she went in the opposite direction.

The following day, I flew out, bound for Perth in Western Australia. Six months later, Amanda married a preacher and went to live in Texas, his home state. I married three times but never again did I have that same, warm feeling in my heart and mind. I live alone now.

In the year 2000, I managed to contact Amanda through her sister. I was given a phone number and duly called her. She had a real American twang and when I said this, she mentioned my Aussie drawl. We talked and, once again, after 35 years, I apologised for my weakness of character. She was understanding, saying we were young and trying to deal with the emotions we felt at that time. She finished by saying, I would always be her first real love. In the years since, those words still reside in my heart and we have swapped letters on an infrequent basis.

I will make one more trip to

53

my homeland, before age sees me unable to travel comfortably, and I will spend a time at the corner of Alliance Avenue. I’ll think of that young woman and what I lost. I wish her well.

Stupid, bitter, sweet regret.

Lawrence Clarke Principal at LITedit dip. English and English Lit. www.belfast68.com lawrenceclarke@y7mail.com Member - Society of Editors (WA) Inc. www.skillpages.com/lawrenceclarke Phone: 9247 4371 Mob: 0437 863 577

Forgetfulness Anonymous (13th-17th Centuries) Translated by The Earl of Longford

If now you hate me as you say, Can you forget so soon How you and I, the world away, Once lay and watched the moon?

Can you forget the day when cool Seemed to our love the sun, The day that we-? But I’m a fool, Besides, that day is done.

Can you forget you stroked my hair?

Moist palm upon my brow, Red mouth, soft breast-.

You do not care.

All that’s forgotten now.

Have you forgotten too, my flower, How often you would tell How God ne’er made until that hour A man you loved so well?

Can you forget your love for me, Whom now you do detest?

But that’s all one, those times are gone.

No doubt ‘tis for the best.

If each could learn as well as I To profit by my pain, There’s ne’er a man beneath the sky Would ever love again.

MONS MOVED HEAVEN AND EARTH FOR HIS LITTLE CHURCH

By Lloyd Gorman

N

inety people recently celebrated the 40th anniversary of the Holy Trinity Church on Rottnest Island.

It was really a celebration of the life of late Monsignor Sean O’Shea, the gregarious Irish-born Catholic priest, who was the island’s priest from 1961 until 2012 when he died, aged 87.

The church opened on Sunday, May 25, 1975, and Perth Archbishop Emeritus Barry Hickey celebrated the anniversary mass on the island outpost and unusual parish which sees more than half a million visitors to its shores each year, as well as a small population of resident workers.

In the early 1970s, Mons, as he was affectionately known, told the then archbishop of Perth that mass on the island was being held in an old wooden WWII picture hall and he wanted to build a dedicated church.

Mons, who was born in Clare and ordained in Dublin in 1955 and arrived in Fremantle six months later, built the church with a $90,000 loan from the archdiocese.

He picked the hill-top site and was closely involved in its construction.

Before he relocated to Rottnest on a permanent basis about 10 years ago, he was parish priest at Mosman Park and chaplain to Iona Primary School.

As the national director of the Apostleship of the Sea, he travelled around Australia 10 times by car,visiting priests in other ports and towns and advising them on the spiritual needs of sailors and

other seafarers.

Ten years after he built the Rottnest church, Mons asked the chaplain on board a ship with the US Pacific Seventh Fleet for help installing the bells.

A helicopter carried the bells, which had been cast in London, from the mainland to the belltower.

Church visitors can play the bells using an electric keyboard inside the porch.

About 600,000 people visit the island each year, and many of them the church as well.

“The presence of the church can hardly be ignored because of the constant ringing of the carillon of bells by the children,” Archbishop Hickey said at the special mass.

The church, with a priest’s flat attached, is the only privately owned accommodation on the popular island.

It is also the final resting place for the ashes of 12 people whose urns are buried under bricks on the floor.

It was Mons’ wish to be buried on the island where he had given 50 years’ service as chaplain and lived out the last decade or so of his life. Mons was in his 80s when dug his own grave in the presbytery courtyard.

After digging the hole, he first used wooden beams to keep its shape but later rebuilt it with bricks when he noticed subsidence. After

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he died the then local government minister gave special permission for Mons to be buried there.

A headstone and dedication for Father John O’Hara are next to the grave. Father O’Hara, an assistant priest at Mosman Park, drowned at the age of 29 with three Presentation Sisters in a boating accident at Mandurah on January 28, 1959.

The church is a popular and well visited spot on Rottnest and is a real part of the legacy our friend Mons brought to the island and the Australian community.

Mons O’Shea’s niece, Bríd McCarthy sent us a picture that she took of a very happy Mons boasting about the strawberries in West Clare the year before he died, and also a picture of Mons, Bríd and his sister Anna Maria taken 7th November 2012.

By Lloyd Gorman

As the father of three young children I get to watch more than my share of children’s TV. Its hard to know what to make with some of it but thankfully there is also some quality content shown as well, so its a question of trying to sort the wheat from the chaff. One of my personal favourites - and thankfully one the kids have taken to as well - is Roy (O’Brien). Set in a primary

school in Ballyfermot, Roy (ABC3 June 21) is an 11 year old cartoon boy from a real family in the real world. It is well written, produced and performed and distinctly Irish.

It has the backing of RTE (who lets face it don’t have a good track record of backing domestic ideas for production) and is distributed by the BBC and obviously picked up by the ABC too. I’ve said it before and the point seems to keep raising itself, that Ireland is producing a lot of good children’s programming. The latest offering is Bubble Bath Bay, an animated series for pre-school children about the adventures of Sydney the Sailboat and his fleet of

friends who live in Bubble Bath Bay. The series - which is made with the input of Telegael in Spiddal, Co. Galway - premièred on ABC4Kids on March 9, 2015. Telegael are also involved with the making of Tashin another kids animated programme which is shown on ABC3 on May 29.

Fortress (2012) on WTV on April 24 is quite a good war movie about the Irish American crew of a B17 Flying Fortress.

On April 28 SBS2, Bazil Ashmawy’s Extreme Worlds takes us across Ireland as he goes out on the road with different vermin and pest specialists and shows us a world few are exposed too. Through his good offices Baz is able to help a family in Celbridge, Co. Kildare whose home has for decades been over-run by rats.

The next day has My Ireland, With Colin, the first of a two part series shot in Ireland by the Dublin born chef and restaurateur Colin Fassnidge who is a judge on My Kitchen Rules. It felt like ‘My Ireland’ was made on a shoe-string budget but to be honest I didn’t care. Fassnidge is naturally likeable and easygoing and brought us around Ireland to see some people who wouldn’t normally have graced our screens in Australia. So it was all good. Mrs Browns Boys was

55

shown before Colin’s show and later on GEM, Spooks the spy drama set mainly in London has a plot about Irish terrorists trying to outwit MI5 and do some damage in the English capital.

The reputation of the IRA for being hardcore and ruthless operators also features in the storyline of Sons of Anarchy (Network Ten) on May 11 and Patriot Games (1992) with Harrison Ford and Sean Bean who was of course Tadhg in the Field (1990) the role which helped him to rise to prominence.

On May 1 ABC 3 had a rerun of Dancing Down Under, a peek into the world of Irish dancing and competitions in Australia.

Foyles War is no longer being made in Ireland but the series being rerun on Sunday nights on ABC during May is one of those that were filmed there. If you look closely you will be able to see that the backgrounds are places like Trinity College, the Four Courts, Custom House and Pro-Cathedral just off O’Connell Street.

A self confessed science and math nerd Dara O’Briain’s new show

School of Hard Sums is shown on SBS2 on May 21 but appears to be another low budget production.

Again, the appearance of O’Briain

World’s - which in fairness tend to be a bit more hardcore than Baz Ashmawy’s - was in South Africa on June 9, ABC2. Kemp - who deserves more merit than what he gets for his hard hitting and investigative journalism - was in Johannesburg, South Africa - to investigate the half a million rapes a year that happen there.

Many of them he said take place outside illegal bars - known locally as Sheebens. In response to this some of the community forms self described lynch mobs - another Irish inspired name - to hand out brutal justice.

On June 13 the post-apocalyptic horror movie 28 Days Later (Channel 10) is dominated by the performances of Irish actors Cillian Murphy as Jim and Brendan Glesson as Frank the taxi driver.

and Irish comedians such as David O’Doherty and Jason Byrne does at least give the show some real entertainment value. The same night also saw Eurovision Greatest Hits on sister channel, SBS1, a comprehensive round up of the famous national talent show. The usual suspects - Johnny Logan aka The King of Eurovision and Riverdance - featured in this but what I didn’t know – or maybe chose to forget – until watching was that in their very early days Boyzone were the interval act for the 1997 competition which was held in the Point Depot. Then of course SBS showed The Eurovision itself and while Ireland’s entrant, Molly Stirling, a young teenager with a good song did us proud didn’t poll so well.

The Sapphires (May 28 Channel 7) was made in 2012 and features Irish comedian Chris O’Dowd as the

Irish manager of the Australian girl group singing for soldiers in Vietnam. O’Dowd’s Irishness is on display in the movie - he uses the word “Deadly” quite a bit and in one scene he is drunk and singing “A Nation Once Again” with US Marines.

A couple of nights later (May 30) on SBS One we were treated to another movie based on the exploits and adventures of a musical group. This time it was The Commitments, the 1991 Roddy Doyle inspired flick about a struggling and talented group of hot headed young Dubs. It had been a few years since my last viewing and even rewatching it with the benefit of hindsight and age I could easily see why it became a global sensation. As it happened, Andrew Strong, the singer who played the part of the obnoxious and detestable lead singer was in Perth for a performance just two nights earlier, and according to Fred Rea who was there to hear it, he put on quite a good show.

The Commitments was a massive deal at the time that it gave many of those involved in it a platform onto other things. Bronagh Gallagher for example - the Committmenette who worked in a chip van and brought in the other two singers - would go on to have a role in the 1994 sensation Pulp Fiction which was screen on Go, a couple of nights after the Commitments was shown.

Sometimes you can find an Irish influence in the most unlikely or unexpected of places. Ross Kemps Extreme

•

I have a total irreverence for anything connected with society except that which makes the roads safer, the beer stronger, the food cheaper and the old men and old women warmer in the winter and happier in the summer.

Brendan Behan

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www.facebook.com/perthcomhaltas

Traditional Music Website for Radio Stations

Page Sponsor: Reid’s Bootmakers,

WEEKLY SESSION EVERY FRIDAYS AT THE IRISH CLUB

Tony Lawless contacted The Irish Scene to tell us about his new website www.tradconnect.com Ireland largest traditional music website.

“We have just launched a Download Centre for traditional and Celtic music. It provides broadcasters with access to the latest Irish/ Celtic traditional albums (with a strong emphasis on Irish artists) which they can download at no cost to your station. The albums include links, liner notes and other content written by Tradconnect on the artists. This assists artists by increasing airplay and the general promotion of their work”.

Tradconnect is an independent traditional music network with close to 6,000 members. Over the last 12 months they received 530,000 page hits from 135,000.

“Our goal has been to create a strong independent channel that allows musicians to access a global audience of musicians, broadcasters, writers and lovers of traditional music and culture.

To access this audience simply join up and we will follow your music.

To find out more read about us.

You can also advertise with us and share your story with our many readers and members.

Comhaltas Perth now meets on Friday nights. Come and learn a tune 8pm in the committee room or join in the session ( starts off slow). You don’t have to be a member of Comhaltas to join in. There is also set dancing most Friday’s about 8.30 pm. It’s great fun, beginners welcome.

Irish language classes are still on Monday nights at the club between 7 and 8pm.

Are to be logged!

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Dining Guide

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Unbeatable Value @ Paddy Malone’s!

Paddy Malone’s in Joondalup is a little gem. On the Tuesday night that we went, Joondalup was pretty quiet. But not Paddy Malone’s. It was Open Mic Night, and Burger and Pint night so there was a great, lively crowd.

Sitting in the restaurant, we had the last available booth. There were a variety of groups from large families to couples in the restaurant. Sectioned off from the bar, the restaurant has the benefit of having the atmosphere and still being able to chat.

The menu reads like a novel; there are a ridiculous number of choices that offer you anything you could possibly crave. For entrée, we ordered a delicious bruschetta mix topped with feta cheese and balsamic drizzle. We also wanted the Grilled Black Pudding – an Irish boxty stack, caramelised apple, crisp bacon and a light Magners cider sauce. We had seen the size of the main meals coming out from the kitchen so we opted to stay with just the bruschetta. It was the perfect, light start to the meal with a great balance of flavours.

The Irish dishes on the menu are some of the most popular.

From Grilled Irish boiled bacon, served on creamy mash potato,

savoy cabbage and parsley sauce to Paddy Malone’s famous all day breakfast with bacon, sausage, fried eggs, baked beans, potato bread, soda farl, grilled tomato, black pudding and mushrooms. I saw both of these generous dishes leave the kitchen, and they looked as if they left a kitchen in Ireland.

With all the choices, from steaks to pies, I was persuaded by the Chicken Parmigiana purely because the crumbed chicken breast was topped with Irish Gammon. Proper Irish ham on a Chicken Parmigiana is unheard of and should be mandatory. Coupled with the tomato and basil sauce with melted cheese served with chips and salad, the ham provided the perfect salty compliment to the dish. I can easily say, without doubt, it was the best Chicken Parmigiana I have ever had. And that is a massive call. Seeing as it was Burger night, we ordered the Paddy’s Snapper Burger – crumbed snapper fillet with lettuce, tomato, cheese and tartar sauce with chips.

With two fillets of perfectly cooked snapper, the burger was delicious and the chips were pretty great too!

The staff at Paddy Malone’s are friendly and professional. Our

waitress Beth was so lovely – she made our night fantastic, though, she didn’t tell me how big the Chicken Parmigiana actually was.

She said the element of surprise was the point and I was secretly delighted.

If you want to head up to Paddy Malone’s, be sure to check out the $19.90 deals for each week night Monday’s Pie and Pint, Tuesday’s Burger and Pint, Wednesday Parmigiana and Pint, Thursday Pork Ribs and Pint. The value is unbeatable and you’ll definitely be back.

Paddy Malone’s

Pub grub, plus trivia, live music and sports, in a boisterous Irish tavern with outdoor seating.

13/115 Grand Bvd, Joondalup Phone: 9300 9966

McLoughlin Butchers Malaga Proud Supporters of the Irish Scene Drop in and see our range of Irish prepared meats mcloughlinbutchers.com.au Like us on facebook

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The Australian-Irish Heritage Association THE FOURTH TUESDAY BOOK CLUB

COMMEMORATION

Irish Club Theatre Sun July 19, 3pm An afternoon of theatrical performance, music and readings will feature as this year’s Commemoration of Ireland’s Great Hunger of 1845 – 1851. In Ireland this year’s observance will be on Saturday, 26th September, in Newry, County Down.

The great hunger saw over one million impoverished people emigrate to America, England and Australia. And so we of the Irish Diaspora join with our international reflection on the victims and survivors and their legacy for today.

• Presented by AIHA • Irish Club Theatre, 61 Townshend Road, Subiaco Sunday 19th July at 3.00pm Members $10 Non-Members $15 Afternoon tea is included.

Bookings: Patricia – 9345 3530 or 0417 099 801

Irish Club Committee Room, 61 Townshend Road, Subiaco Tuesday, July 28 and August 25 at 8pm Book: ‘The Goldfinch’ by Donna Tartt, Presented by Cecilia Bray.

(771 pages so divided over two months) Admission Free. All welcome.

Light refreshments provided excluding drinks. Coffee/tea from Bar Contact Maureen on 9279 5959

PROJECT IRISH HERITAGE TRAIL

We are developing a series of Heritage Trails in and around Perth for online and print access. If you would like to contribute with places and items of interest contact coordinator Sally-Ann O’Neill c/o of AIHA 1916 COMMEMORATIVE CELEBRATION IN PLANNING Next year marks the centenary of the 1916 uprising which laid the foundation for the Irish free state. We are planning a one-day public symposium to present a series of educational and informative talks by eminent speakers on the 1916 theme. We are also seeking to encourage local Irish Community organisations to engage a widespread participation in a range of community cultural a social events. This will include our annual Easter Monday Catalpa memorial commemoration in Rockingham. Please contact us if you have ideas or are interested in joining a steering sub-committee.

HISTORY TALK LOCAL RAIL HISTORY

THURSDAY 23 JULY, 6PM Serpentine Jarrahdale Library Friends Inc. would like to invite you to their Winter meeting on 23 July 2015, when David Whiteford and Charles De Bruin, Rail Historians, will talk about the history of rail in the district which began in 1870s with the establishment of timber milling in Jarrahdale. To complement the talk and slide show a photographic and model display will support the factual information provided by David and Charles.

Refreshments will follow when you can further browse the displays.

RSVP to the Mundijong Library to assist with catering, 9526 1133. $5 Non-members. Members free At Serpentine Jarrahdale Resource Centre, 2 Paterson St Mundijong

WOULS YOU LIKE TO BE PART OF US ENCOURAGING AND PROMOTING AN AWARENESS OF AUSTRALIA’S IRISH HERITAGE?

We welcome enquiries to; Australian-Irish Heritage Association Non Political-Non Sectarian-Emphatically Australian PO Box 1583 Subiaco 6904 Tel: 08 9345 3530.

Email: aiha@irishheritage.net Web Page: www.irishheritage.net Membership Due in 1st January.

Family membership $65, Concession $55, Distant (200kms from Perth) $45 Membership fee includes tax deductible donation of $20

The Australian-Irish Heritage Association was founded in 1993 as an inclusive organisation which encourages and promotes an awareness of Australia’s Irish Heritage and Culture. To this end, the AIHA creates opportunities for all to learn about, participate in and enjoy this distinctive heritage.

59

land of

&

Ireland

honey

THE LAST WORD FROM MOLLY BLOOM? As I settle down to write I realise it is Bloomesday and all over the world people will be taking that long day’s journey throughout Dublin with Leopold Bloom. The Ulysses journey has become one of the traditions that stand the test of time.

Dublin has always been a strumpet city and Joyce with Ulysses got it so right. The characters spring off the page, and as you make the journey you can smell the town, you can feel the vibrancy of its raggle taggle people intermingled with auras of piousity. Were we ever meant to understand Ulysses? Not in the accepted norm of “understanding” I would venture. It does not respond well to minute dissection and judgement. Go with the flow, I say.

Embrace the waywardness of its, sometimes, scatological language.

Revel in the Buck Mulligans, the Dedalus’s and Molly Bloom. For all its semi tragedies and cynicism it is at heart a very positive masterpiece.

If it troubles you that you cannot understand it let me make it easier for you.

I have spent the last three weeks curled up, miserably on my sofa surrounded by boxes of tissues, used and unused, coughing, blowing

and spluttering. Looking in the mirror took a real act of courage.

With enforced confinement such as this, one is forced to look at enormous amounts of television.

Eventually, through sheer lack of will, you end up watching a lot of political interviews. Why? You ask.

Because they are like God, they are everywhere. I now know a lot more about Politicians that I ever needed.

First to be a Politician the only qualification needed seems to be a Degree in Tautology with a major in Gobbledegook. There obviously is a special unit in the use of the monosyllabic answer. NEVER USE A MONOSYLLABLE when answering appears to be the cardinal rule.

When the obvious answer to the interview’s question is manifestly either a Yes or No, lean forward on the chair, look into the interviewer’s eyes and say something like “Now Emma to understand this question we must go back at least fifty

years…..” Then take a deep breath that will last at least four minutes and go into a spate of gobbledegook that would make James Joyce look to his laurels. Don’t these Politicians realise that there are sick people confined to sofas screaming hoarsely at them in frustration.

My use of invective has had a lot of airing in the last three weeks – Mrs Brown would be proud of me. Joyce, by the way, would have recognised and loved Mrs Brown. I have come to the conclusion that to understand Ulysses all one need do really is to listen to a stream of consciousness political answer from a Politician bent on never drawing breath. After that Ulysses becomes a model of clear and concise writing. Politicians would do well to remember that the last word in the book is an emphatic “YES” breathed rapturously by Molly Bloom.

Sally Desmond

“A gaffe is when a politician tells the truth”.

Michael Kinsley

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Executive

President: Eileen Ashley TCRG Vice President: Teresa McGorry TCRG Secetary: Samantha McAleer TCRG Treasurer: Deirdre McGorry TCRG AIDA Inc Delegate: Hilary McKenna TCRG School Contacts SCOIL RINCE NI BHAIRD Lynwood Tony Ward TCRG 0427 273 596 SCOIL RINCE NI CEIDE/UPTON Subiaco/Woodvale/Kalamunda Samantha McAleer TCRG 9405 6255/0414 188 784 EIREANN SCHOOL OF IRISH DANCING Como, Jandakot & Rockingham Siobhan Cummins TCRG 0422 075 300 KAVANAGH STUDIO OF IRISH DANCE Osborne Park & Melville kavanaghirishdance.com.au

Teresa McGorry TCRG 0412 155 318 Deirdre McGorry TCRG 0400 077892 / 92551375 O’BRIEN ACADEMY OF IRISH DANCING Butler, Kinross, Subiaco Rose O’Brien ADCRG 94016334 / 0423382706 O’HARE SCHOOL OF IRISH DANCING Wembley Downs & Osborne Park Jenny O’Hare TCRG 0422 239 440 SAOIRSE SCHOOL OF IRISH DANCING Caramar Sinead Hoare TCRG 0414 647 849

Australian Irish Dancing Association Inc. WESTERN AUSTRALIA

May and June have been very exciting months in the Australian Irish Dancing world. The second annual Australian International Oireachtas was held at the Royal Pines Resort on the Gold Coast with 20 Western Australian dancers attending. As Australia’s Premium International event it was very successful and patronised by dancers from as far away as the UK, USA and Canada, with 54 dancers from New Zealand.

Congratulations to the following Western Australian dancers for their wonderful results: Sub Minor Girls 6 Years Sahara Donellan (Ceide/Upton School) 8th Sub Minor Girls 8 Years Isabella Campeotto (WA Academy) 16th Cassandra Perkins (O’Brien Academy) 19th Minor Girls 10 Years Lauren De Smet (Trinity) 24th Junior Boys 11 Years Griffyn Ryan (WA Academy) 4th Junior Girls 12 Years Tara Collis (Trinity Studio) 29th Junior Boys 12 Years Adam Robinson (WA Academy) 2nd Intermediate Girls 13 Years Trinity Ryan (WA Academy) 13th Intermediate Boys 14 Years Luke Hanson (WA Academy) 4th Senior Girls 15 Years Brittany Pymm (WA Academy) 5th Senior Girls 16 Years Brittany Tyson (WA Academy) 3rd Dakota Courtney (O’Brien Academy) 7th Junior Ladies 17 Years Taylor Pymm (WA Academy) 3rd Ladies 19 Years Elleanor Purser (Trinity Studio) Senior Ladies Over 23 Years Shannon Kennedy (Kavanagh Studio) 4th Avril Grealish (Kavanagh Studio) 10th

The popular McAleer Feis was held in Melbourne on the first weekend of June. A small but successful number of Western Australian dancers attended. Congratulations to: Senior Girls 15 Years Brittany Pymm (WA Academy) 2nd Ciara-Mae Crone (Ceide Upton) 3rd Junior Ladies 17 Years Taylor Pymm (WA Academy) 1st Senior Ladies Georgia McDonald (Ceide/Upton) 7th

May was also a stressful but rewarding month for some of the Irish dancing teachers in Western Australia. ADCRG (Adjudicator) and TCRG (Teacher) exams were held in Melbourne. Congratulations to Hilary McKenna who passed his ADCRG exams and Kara O’Dea and Caroline O’Connor who passed their TCRG exams. The WA Irish dancing teachers are delighted to have two new members Preparations are well under way for the 2015 WA State Championships.

The solos Championships will be held at the John Curtin College of the Arts on Saturday and Sunday the 1st and 2nd of August. This year for the first time our Ceili Championships will be held on a separate weekend, Sunday the 30th August, at the Morley Sports and Recreation Centre, Wellington Road, Morley. The public are very welcome to come along and see the very best of Irish dancing in WA.

THREE CROWNS SCHOOL OF IRISH DANCE Warwick & Kingsway Eleanor Rooney TCRG 0449 961 669 TRINITY STUDIO OF IRISH DANCING Morley Eileen Ashley TCRG 0413 511 595 WA ACADEMY OF IRISH DANCING Malaga Glenalee Bromilow ADCRG 9276 3737/0410 584 051 Sue Hayes TMRF 9377 5600 Hilary McKenna TCRG 0404 730 532

Shadow Minister for Mental Health; Disability Services & Child Protection PO Box 2440, SOUTH HEDLAND WA 6722 stephen.dawsonmp@mp.wa.gov.au (08) 9172 2648 • 1800 199 344 (toll free)

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SUPPORT IN THE WA G

IRISH COMMUMITY

Touring Muso?

LIVE MUSIC PROMOTIONS CAN HELP.

by Fred Rea I am heading to Ireland in July with my dear wife Lilly. It’s a trip to celebrate our 40 years of marriage.

The late Sir Christopher Lee was married for 53 years.

When asked for the secret of a long-lived marriage, he replied: “Marry someone wonderful.” He was right and with my wife Lilly it’s exactly what I got, a wonderful wife and mother. We are looking forward to this trip!

To help us celebrate, my ‘old’ mate Sean Roche (what a crawler I am), who now resides in Cork has organised, with the help of Aidan Heaphy of Live Music Promotions, an Aussie Unite night at the Muskerry Arms, Blarney Co Cork. The Muskerry Arms Guest House and Pub is within a stone’s throw (actually right across the road) from the World Famous Blarney Castle & Blarney Woollen Mills. Located in the heart of Blarney Village the charming guest house and pub holds much character and heritage within its walls.

Set in the beautiful wooded countryside of Blarney, just 9 km from Cork, you will find it is a convenient base for touring Blarney, Cork, Kinsale and other parts of County Cork. Its location is ideal for fishing, golfing (with a choice of 10 super golf courses within a 20-mile radius), horse riding, cycling or just relaxing. We will have more to say about the Muskerry Arms in our next edition.

LMP is a new player in the promotions business in Ireland and has done wonders setting up this gig! Aidan told The Irish Scene, “We set up in January 2015 from a need we discovered whilst helping out our partners/ children/friends with their bands and acquiring gigs”.

Being in the music game for near 50 year I know it’s hard for the bands to do everything and management can be stressful, believe me! Aidan added, “So we bridge the gap between the venue and the band. Helping bands get regular gigs without the headache and also making it easier for the venues to speak to just one or two people instead of multiple musicians”.

LMP are new in the game so it’s a learning curve for us too. “Our ethos is ‘Fairness and loyalty to all’ and we hope to get this in return from the bands and the venues”.

LMP supports and promotes local and overseas bands by offering them the opportunity to play quality music venues. Helping bands raise their profile through social media networking and marketing. They also offer promotional services with professional photography through to live footage. LMP works with touring bands helping them to secure shows outside of their county or country. LMP supports the Irish and world music scene

Aodhán Ó’hÉafaigh, Elsha De Souza and Sean Roche

Aidan: “If you have a venue that needs entertainment - get in touch! We will suggest a hard working amazing band/musician - because we only have the best on our books! We will handle the PR before and afterwards. We will advertise your gig on all the social media platforms, all the free local radio stations and will also supply posters a week in advance of gig. We will take crowd shots of your audience dancing away on the night and post them in an album to your Facebook Page the next day. All this will be inclusive of the gig price. It’s a great deal, call us!”

Contact Live Music Promotions if your band is looking to gig in Ireland. Please send your EPK (Electronic press kit) to Aidan livemusicpromotions15@gmail.com Aidan said, “We love what we do and our business is growing daily”.

Live Music Promotions Elsha De Souza & Aodhán Ó’hÉafaigh Aidan International: (+61 86 852 8859 Elsha Local 085 759 6537

62

G’day from Melbourne

Flights of fancy

Cast your mind back to when you were a seven or eight year old to a time when you used to play cowboys and indians, cops and robbers or doctor and nurses with your friends on the streets of your neighbourhood. Little did we know then that we were actually shaping out the position we would take on in our adult life. I bet you the kids who always wanted to be the top cop or cowboy are leaders today as adults. While in Cork recently I had breakfast with one of my old pals who was always the captain of the cavalry or the leader of the cowboys when we played. To us young cavalry troopers he was Captain Buckley (Eugene Buckley in reality) I was always his sergeant and guess what? Here we are fifty years plus later doing the same thing in adult life. He’s the hero and I’m writing about him and his extraordinary life and career.

Eugene was born on January 7, 1946 in the Coal Quay in Cork, to those who don’t know the Coal Quay it is to Cork what Moore Street is to Dublin. His dad was a barman originally from the North Mall and his mother sold second hand clothes in the Coal Quay. She was originally from Boyce’s Street when Eugene was six the family moved by

donkey and cart to 13 St Anthony’s Road in Gurranabraher, just five doors down from where my family moved into one year later.

He had two older siblings’, sister Sally and brother Raymond and three younger siblings Muriel, Finbar and Geraldine. He attended Blarney Street Christian Brothers School and was a part of the school band but like a lot of kids of our time never finished his full term.

From the moment I met him as a seven-year-old I could tell he was going places; this young lad was going to make his mark on this life, I just knew it. He was strong in views, kind hearted and most of all adventurous like myself.

At the drop of a hat, we two young adventurers would go anywhere. We would travel to Dublin to see all the soccer international matches by picking up a used tickets at the railway station and winging the trip. Waterford and Limerick were on our travel list also for no other reason than adventure and to see a soccer match. Eugene had a passion for airplanes, so every now and again we would skip school and take off to the old Cork airport, which was then known as Farmers Cross. One time we even went to Dublin to see a jet plane. It was a time when jet’s - and security - were rare which meant us two country boys were able to get in and sit in the pilot’s and co-pilot’s seats in the cockpit. This was a time when the only exciting thing in Cork was the introduction of TV and two neon signs television in Patrick Street.

The city was lost in the colour grey.

Eugene’s adventures and inquisitive mind would take him on an exciting journey to this present day. I envied him. He was a member of the school band and aged 12 he took a delivering job with Hillgrove’s Butchers. In old terms it was called a messenger boy with one of those very heavy bicycles with a big basket in the front.

Then sadly to us young troopers of Captain Buckley’s cavalry we lost him to a Norwegian freighter at the age of fourteen as he decided to sail off onto the high seas just like Captain Morgan that we played out on many occasion in the gardens of St Anthony’s Road.

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After satisfying his curiosity with the sea, he settled in London and got a job at the BBC. He then took elocution lessons and joined the Swiss Cottage Library so that he could borrow the full set of LP’s of Richard the Third to learn off by heart and hoped that this would help improve his accent and vocabulary.

The adventure bug bit him again and he bought a white suit and decided he to go San Tropez in the South of France to call on no other than Bridget Bardot and ask her out on a date, and why not? She’s just another girl. He was on midnight train from Paris to capture the heart of Ms Bardot when he met a gorgeous young Dutch lady. Eugene being Eugene started chatting her up for quite some time and then asked her to join him for a meal and over dinner agree to meet for

breakfast. Then her father rudely interrupts and whisks her away, to Eugene’s disgust. Downhearted and deflated Eugene retreated to the comfort of his first class sleeper, undressed, folds his new white suit so not to show wrinkles in the morning. Just ten minutes later there’s a thundering knock on the cabin door, his heart jumped in his mouth, was it the father or his new love? It was neither, it was the train inspector who told him he can not travel in first class as he only has a fourth class ticket. He spent the rest of the journey in the back carriage with lots of strange

characters that were drinking out of bottles covered by brown paper bags. With his dignity and funds dramatically reduced San Tropez and his new love would have to wait for another time and he returned to London to make new plans. He returned to Cork to open the first Carnaby Street style suit shop called Clobbers Innovative Suits in Paul Street. Paul Street was not a fashion street at that time but Eugene’s influence helped to make it the ‘in street’ it is today. He also set up Mr Buckley’s & Mrs Buckley’s ladies fashion and also Match children’s denim.

After his success in the rag trade then followed his success in the restaurant business Bully’s in Douglas. Bully’s in Paul Street El Grochous in Popes Quay the number one place to have a hen’s party. Adding to his list of success he established Hardwood and Uncle Pete’s in Popes Quay. He was one

of the first of the Irish to buy a home in Spain long before it became a fad.

After our fourth coffee he says: “You know what Mike?, Some of the lads we grew up with got a job and did it for years and sadly they missed out on the adventure of life, isn’t that true?”. I agree and I’m glad I got the chance to catch up with my pal to reminisce in the glory of past adventures of old times, a time of cowboys and indians, a time when little boys could adventure anywhere and be safe to return. Success will always be Eugene’s partner and adventure his lover and Cork is much the richer for having Eugene Buckley, Captain Buckley to me.

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

Slaiñta from Melbourne Mike Bowen

“When You Are Old” WHEN you are old and grey and full of sleep, And nodding by the fire, take down this book, And slowly read, and dream of the soft look Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep; How many loved your moments of glad grace, And loved your beauty with love false or true, But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you, And loved the sorrows of your changing face; And bending down beside the glowing bars, Murmur, a little sadly, how Love fled And paced upon the mountains overhead And hid his face amid a crowd of stars.”

W.B. Yeats

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64

A word from Claire Wynne

New President of Perth’s Irish Theatre Players As you will have read in the last edition, our President, Fiona Murphy has sadly left us to relocate with her family to Dubai.

Fiona was a very strong leader with fantastic, fresh ideas and a very clear concept of where she wanted the ITP to go. She generated great energy in the committee and, with their help, was responsible for raising the standard of the ITP and its profile in the community in general. I joined the ITP Committee in November 2014 as “Head of Costuming”, bringing my Fashion & Dressmaking skills learned in Central Tafe, and my experience of running a Costume shop in Morley. I have now undertaken the somewhat daunting task of picking up where Fiona left off – but I am both honoured and excited to do so and look forward to exciting times ahead with the Irish Theatre Players. We now have our new modernised logo, an online booking system - www. trybooking.com - and, thanks to committee member Liam McDonald, a brand new website where all the ITP information you could possibly want is just a click away.

And what a great start it’s been for me! In May, directors Mary Murphy and Brian Dennison brought us the John B. Keane classic, “Big Maggie” for an 8 night run.

Having advertised our open auditions on our Facebook page, we had a fantastic turnout, right from the start, of young, raw, local and Irish talent. We also had the pleasure of welcoming back some familiar faces to the Irish Theatre Players stage. Dubliner Denice Byrne was cast in the title role of Maggie Polpin and performed to full houses every night at The Irish Club theatre. With Brian & Mary’s fantastic stage as a backdrop, audiences

were wowed as Denice appeared larger than life as the recently widowed, cold-hearted mother of 4, who seemed determined to make her adult kids’ lives hell after the sudden death of their father. Standing ovations and rave reviews helped to re-affirm that Irish Theatre Players are on the right track – providing a great night out, with high quality entertainment to the local and Irish community in Perth. We were also delighted to stage a fundraising matinée performance for the seniors of the Claddagh Association, with huge thanks to Joan Ross and Abbie Kelly for their help and we look forward to partnering with them to fundraise for their many worthy causes again in the near future. We’d also like to thank Sharon from Hetty’s Scullery and Essence of Ireland for providing the authentic Irish produce used to stock “Maggie’s Bar & Siopa” which was the theme of our lounge area which welcomed theatre goers each night, and sent most of them home with shopping bags full of Barry Tea, Cadbury’s Chocolate, Brennan’s bread and lots, lots more! We also received fantastic support from our sponsors who donated great raffle prizes each night, so that we could fundraise to further improve the theatre facilities at the Irish Club.

We’ve still so much more in store for the rest of the year! Rehearsals are currently underway for our Festival of One Acts which starts on August 6th at The Irish Club of WA. We have 3 new volunteer Directors; Caroline McDonnell, from Mayo, directing “W.A.G.” written by Gemma Doorly; Katie Galvin, from Kerry, directing “Over the Top” written by Rodney Quinn; and Lisa Reilly, from Dublin, directing “Voices in the Rubble” written by Darren Donohoe. On July 12th we’ll be holding auditions for our exciting new musical “A Man of No Importance” in collaboration with Playlovers in Floreat - it tells the story of Alfie Byrne, a bus driver in 1964 Dublin, whose heart holds secrets he can’t share with anyone but his imagined confidante, Oscar Wilde, and will be the first time ITP have undertaken a musical

65

production. Then in November, in association with Maverick Theatre Productions, we welcome back Noel O’Neill with his play “Last Bus to Contrition” – an insightful and twisting tale of growing up in regional Ireland in the 60s” for a 9 night run.

For information on these upcoming shows, auditions or perhaps volunteering with the Irish Theatre Players – check out our website - www.irishtheatreplayers.com.au or like us on facebook/ irishtheatreplayers – we’d love to hear from you.

I’d like to take this opportunity to thank you all for your support thus far, and I look forward to bringing you some great shows in my time as President of the Irish Theatre Players.

For information on future productions visit...

www.irishtheatreplayers.com.au or email to itp@irishtheatreplayers.com.au or by phone on 0406 085 620.

Irish Old Time Music plus original songs

David MacConnell Musical Entertainer

Phone: Mob: Email: Web:

9409 9572 0413 259 547 wdmacc@bigpond.net.au www.maccdouble.com

66

ULSTER

Rambles with David MacConnell

Irish Open brings back memories I watched nine holes of the Irish Golf Open a few weeks ago on television. It was held at Royal Co. Down near Newcastle where I played very occasionally in the sixties.

Unfortunately Rory did not play particularly well. Nine bogeys in his first round to be exact. Perhaps it was the weather, or the pressure of running the tournament. Well, who wants to win their own tournament?

Of course seeing the Mourne Mountains in the background, brought back a lot of nostalgic memories. When I was at boarding school, we used to cycle down to Annalong where the school owned a property and we would spend the whole weekend walking through the Mountains there. You can actually walk along the wall you see in the photograph above and become very dizzy by continually looking down. It was very healthy, I’m sure, and was supposed to build character. The only character I obtained was very sore feet! It was certainly a lot safer than the Mountains in Tibet and Nepal.

Our hearts, thoughts and aid go out to the many people from those countries who recently suffered from the earthquake in May. Sorry I just had to reflect on that for a few moments.

Now my friend from a well-

known school in Perth, Sean, told me of a story similar to this.

His grandfather always spoke in Irish to him as a child. “This was a god-send” he told me in his immaculate Belfast accent.

“Sure I was sent to a camp in Donegal where all the priests spoke in Irish and not a word else!” he continued. “It drove most of us daft for the six weeks we were there. “Sure them ones

from Dublin were the worst.”

“We weren’t allowed to speak anything else and they were far too scared to try.” “They didn’t understand a Bl…..y thing and in consequence were mute for the whole six weeks.” “ We did learn other things” he ventured and proceeded to tell me in no uncertain terms what those other

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things were. (probably quite normal for adolescent boys) “The priests got money for every ‘Student’ they had”, he proceeded to tell me, “So we were packed into small dormitories with about fifteen of us in each. The bunks were three deep and not all that comfortable”, he moaned. Now in his case it DID build character!

Now back to my nostalgia. I arrived back in Belfast from one of my trips abroad and met Jean who had a fourteen year old precocious daughter called Sinead. (Her surname was not O’Connor) Now Sinead and her friend Stacy had entered the talent show at that time “Opportunity Knocks”. You might remember this programme. It was hosted by Hughie Green.

“Would you listen to our entry?” Sinead pleaded to me one day. They sang to me “Women in Love” or some such ditty. I said it was really good but diplomatically suggested the theme might be a little unsuitable. “Why?” she demanded.” Because everybody

www.dan-dooley.ie 67

will be singing that sort of a song” I hastily replied.

“Well what should we do? The show is this Friday.”

“Ok, OK,” I pathetically replied. “I will write you a song.”

Well, I did and the three of us sang it and it even went down well and Hughie actually asked us if we had written it. It made their day and I suppose I got a buzz out of it too.

Here are the words of the song which is probably typical of the rubbish we wrote in those days. As a saving grace the melody was reasonable with a very haunting harmony.

Miles from Belfast Town When the fog disappears out there somewhere And you can see and smell the down Planes take off and land somewhere Miles from tear-saddened Belfast Town When the sky at night is crystal clear And you can see the stars all around So can people far away Miles from tear-saddened Belfast Town

And in that dim dawn of morning light You can hear that rumbling sound People driving to get somewhere Miles to get to tear-saddened Belfast Town When the clouds have gently sailed away Not a drop of rain to be found Children skip and dance and run Miles to be in tear-saddened Belfast Town

3. Rosary beads on top of the television during All Ireland Finals and sports jerseys for teams none of your Australian friends recognised.

Irish Australians families are serious about their sports.

4. Irish dance classes.

You had to go, whether you liked it or not.

5. You couldn’t hear your parent’s (or parents’) accent.

Your friends all tried to mimic your mom’s or Dad’s Irish accent, but to you they just sounded like mom and dad.

There’s no light in the night and we need those stars in the sky In the night there’s a light flowing down from on high.

I do hope Rory performs much better in the U.S. Open and in the British Open. The latter will be held at the St. Andrews course in July.

Best of luck from all of us down under.

David MacConnell

A S S O C I AT I O N

1. You were Irish in Australia and Australian in Ireland.

It was complicated. You understood that you’re not as Irish as the people in Ireland (as your cousins often reminded you), but all of your friends in the OZ thought of and referred to you as “Irish.”

2. Yearly hauls of Tayto’s and Barry’s Tea from Ireland.

Your suitcases were almost always heavier on the way to Ireland than on the way back.

(Tayto’s are lighter).

There’s no light in the night and we need those stars in the sky In the night there’s a light flowing down from on high.

B U N B U RY W E S T E R N A U S T R A L I A

10 ways you know you grew up in an Irish/ Australian household.

John Boyle O’Reilly Weekend in Bunbury April 2 & 3, 2016

Advanced planning for the 2016 John Boyle O’Reilly Weekend in Bunbury, Western Australia is well underway and we are happy to announce that the dates have already been set for the evening of the 2nd of April and the morning of the 3rd of April. We would advise given the timing and nature of the event that anyone who is interested books accommodation in Bunbury well in advance.

We recommend the following if you are looking for accomodation.

• Lighthouse Beach Resort • Comfort Inn Admiral Tom Dillon, President • Rose Hotel

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6. Everyone was really excited for you on St. Patrick’s Day. Sure, pretty much everyone likes to celebrate Paddy’s Day, regardless of their heritage.

But being Irish Australian on St. Patrick’s Day made you feel like a minor celebrity, and people went out of their way to wish you well.

7. You preferred Irish Cadbury’s to Australian Cadbury’s.

What and where do you get the best kind of chocolate? That’s not even a question.

8. You know all the words to Fairytail of New York or any Christy Moore song.

No family gathering was ever over without someone breaking into a Christy Moore song and everyone else joining in (except your Australian friends but they love it).

9. You went to church on Christmas and Easter and that was it, but you knew never to breathe a word about it to your grandparents.

“Don’t tell Granny how long it’s been since we went to mass!”

10. You understand that there’s “home” as in the house where you and your family live and “home” as in Ireland.

You knew exactly what your parents mean when people would ask them what they were doing for holidays and they would say “going home.”

This month’s Guest...

Eamon Fitzpatrick

with Synnott

Unaccompanied baggage

Eamon Fitzpatrick is well known in Irish community, from the Mighty Quinn to Irish Golf Club and is avid reader of the Irish Scene.

What was your first job?

Picking potatoes and vegetable for my father.

What is your earliest childhood memory?

Playing Hurling and Football on the street.

Who is your favourite singer and song?

Johnny Cash – Ring of Fire

Backpackers • Tourists • Windsurfers •Surfboards

Do you use an iPad and laptop?

No!

If you would like your baggage, suitcase, backpacks, windsurfers sent back to your home 25 country/city while you YEAR’S E XPERIENC tour australia E

Which has been the best year of your life so far?

Recovery from near death experience.

What is your favourite sport and player?

Hurling, JS Delaney Kilkenny

e people to We are th

Is there a TV show you like watching and why?

English drama.

If you could be anyone for a day, who and why?

Rory McIlroy, his swing might rub off.

We have been in the Perth International Airport for over 20 years and offer a money back guarantee service.

What are you most afraid of and why?

Not waking up in the morning.

Please be aware the airlines will not accept any check-in baggage that weighs more than 32kgs in one item nor can you carry more than 7kgs on the aircraft.

Do you go to the movies? Who is your favourite actor?

John Wayne or Clint Eastwood.

Are you a book reader, any special type?

Only if about sport.

EXPORTAIR

Where do you get your news from? TV, papers.

Both TV and papers and radio.

UNACCOMPANIED BAGGAGE & CARGO

If there was a special place or country you would like to see or visit, where and why?

Rome to meet the Pope.

Phone: (618) 9477 1080 Fax: (618) 9477 1191

“You cannot put a rope around the neck of an idea; you cannot put an idea up against the barrack-square wall and riddle it with bullets; you cannot confine it in the strongest prison cell your slaves could ever build.”

Sean O’Casey

contact.

Tim Hawdon

Mob: 0421 884 999 & 0411 081 311 tim@exportair.com.au

www.exportair.com.au 69

Around the Irish scene..Compiled by Fred Rea

Congratulations to Hilary McKenna who passed the adjudicator exam and is officially When recently holidaying in the Caan ADCRG. He can now judge Irish naries, Peter Murphy dropped in to dancing competitions. Well done Club La Santa (Lanzarote) and caught- Hils, you deserved it! up with Frank Bruno’s old sparring partner John ‘Joxer’ Murphy

Gerry Salinger and Cariosa and family have returned to Ireland.

Hope it all works out for you!

Thanks for all the work you did for the Irish community.

Caragh Morgan who is 9 months old managed to get her photo taken with the beautiful International Rose of Tralee Maria Walsh when she visited the GAA grounds in Canningvale.

A future Rose of Tralee, some may look back at this in years to come and agree.. the crown suits!

John Moore is alive and well and is now modelling for hair pieces.... Are you looking of a wig?

Who are these two unlikely lads checking out the form guide at the recent Irish Trots night?

Subiaco Mayor, Heather Henderson in conversation with ex Mayor Tony Costa at the Subiaco Anzac Day Commemoration.

Hon Irish Consul, Marty Kavanagh with Bill Marmion MLA at the Anzac Day commemoration, Subiaco.

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All you 60s tragics and the Showband era. Can you name the showband members?

Proud Irish contingent at Subiaco Anzac Day Parade

Tom Shorthall (left) of The Woody enjoying his birthday at the Irish Night at the trots.

Roy McCabe sent me this photo of Tom McGowan, Derry City, Mick Morgan, Rostrevor Co Down and Sean Byrne Rathdrum area Co Wicklow.

Sean was wondering where all his hair went, if you find it, he would like his hair back!

The wonderful and dedicated Marie Hicks laying a wreath to Martin O’Meara VC in the Soldiers Park in Collie on Anzac Day. Marie has been doing this for many years and the O’Meara family overseas appreciate that Martin is remembered each Anzac Day.

From left, Ray Edge and his wife Margaret, both from Dublin, with their daughter Sophie and Corporal Ben Stark, a veteran member of the Australian Defence Forces, pictured together after the Dawn Ceremony at Irwin Barracks in Karrakatta. They are friends of Major John Liston at the barracks which is HQ for the 13th Brigade. John’s late father was a GP from Galway. The site occupied by the barracks has been used for military purposes for more than 120 years and adopted its current name after WWII in honour of Lieutenant-Colonel Frederick Chidley Irwin, the first military commandant of Western Australia (1829–1833). Irwin was born in 1788 in Enniskillen, Ireland. In 1808 Irwin was commissioned into the 83rd (County of Dublin) Regiment of Foot and served and was decorated in Spain and Portugal, and took part in several major battles of the Peninsula War.

A very proud Miles O’Neill with his son Brandon who joined Sydney FC on a two year deal.

The 21 year old made 16 appearances for the Glory and played his last match against the Sydney FC in a 3-1 defeat at NIB Stadium in February 2015.

The Perth born midfielder will remain a Sky Blue for the next two Hyundai A-League seasons. Miles comes from a very strong soccer family in Ireland and son Brandon is carrying on the tradition down under. Well done Brandon and maybe one day you will wear the Irish shirt, dad will be happy then!

It is what you see but it’s not. It’s an Irish pub with a twist or should I say, lots of wind! An inflatable Irish Pub. The latest craze the yanks love, and only they would!

Lilly and Fred Rea recently celebrated their 40th Wedding Anniversary and Gerry Grogan and Frank Murphy made special Rhubarb and Apple pies for them and very tasty they were!

Fiona and Jon take a break from their Sunday Session at Durty Nellys to have a photo with a bunch of likely lads!

Peter Doherty recently celebrated a BIG BIRTHDAY. How many years?

Not sure, but he was getting lots of goodies in for the Big Bash! Happy Our own Dermot Byrne (The Quiz birthday Peter King from Lesmurdie) surrounded and lets hope you by beauties at the Rose of Tralee have many more, Ball. (Dermot is in the centre!) with 0’s.

Recently at Eddie Bullen’s place Phil Beck and myself met Kerry Davison (4th from right). Kerry is the grand-daughter of Dan Sheahan, the Corkman who penned the original ‘Pub with No Beer’. We shared songs and stories and had a great night with Bullen family friends. It was wonderful to hear stories the stories about Dan.

Do you have photos you would like to include in our Around the Irish Scene pages?

Send to: fred@irishscene.com.au 71

More than just Mr Trundle

Gerry Duggan with Garry Pankhurst in Skippy

Gerry Duggan – Memories

By Jack Cullen In the last issue of the Irish Scene in an article titled Telly Nation – Telly Station one section

Gerry Duggan and Sean Connery in Goldfinger

called The Siege of Pinchgut (Feb 27 Gem) was featured. The film had a small cast who are taken hostage on the island. Most of this cast included well-known actors, Aldo Ray, Heather Sears, Neil McCallum and an Irish/Australian actor named Gerry Duggan.

Because of this and also the fact my wife was related to Gerry, I felt his work as an actor deserved outlining on a larger scale. Gerald Joseph Duggan was born in Dublin in 1920. At the tender age of 16 he went to New York where he saw a play for the first time called The Front Page on Broadway. Gerry

migrated to Australia in the late 1930s and soon fell in with Sydney’s Bohemian set. In 1956 he moved many when he played the part of Lennie in John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men and was honoured with the Sydney Critic’s Award as Best Actor of The Year.

His big breakthrough came in 1951 when he was the only Australian cast in a leading role (alongside Aldo Ray and Heather Sears) in Harry Watt’s film The Siege of Pinchgut.

For his performance Gerry was nominated for the British Film Academy Awards as most promising newcomer. Gerry worked steadily in England in films, Goldfinger, The L Shaped Room, This Sporting

Connery 007, opposite “Odd Job” caddy to Goldfinger.

Gerry appeared in episode 10 of Skippy the Bush Kangaroo as ‘The Swagman’, Mr. Trundle, an old tramp who befriends Sonny and Skippy, but who actually was Miles Vincent Archer, the head of a vast corporate empire. He reprised the role in episode 29, ‘The Empty Chair’.

Although Gerry had appeared in guest roles in many Australian series, it is those two episodes for which he is best remembered. “For some reason or other that episode has never left me,” said Gerry.

“I think Mr. Trundle’s appeal to viewers was that here was a man who could do good by stealth. The character obviously made such an impact that I’m very surprised the producers didn’t write a series around him”.

Gerry died in 1992 at the age of 82, an actor right up to the end.

He shuffled off to an audition only a week before entering hospital.

Editor: Jack Cullen is one of the Irish Scene’s proofreaders

Visiting Ireland?

Gerry & Elsie Tully will give a great welcome!

Gerry Duggan with Heather Sears in The Siege of Pinchgut

Life, The Avengers, Coronation Street as well as theatre parts. In the film Goldfinger Gerry played the part of a golf caddy for Sean

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DIVINE M E R CY BED AND BREAKFAST Airport Road, Knock Co Mayo Phone: (094) 9388 178 International: 0011 353 94 9388 178

COLIN MERREY

BOOKS BOOKS BOOKS

Hello, and welcome to the Winter 2015 edition of our wonderful magazine. As always, I have done a lot more reading over the last few weeks and the results of this can be seen by my scribblings below! So without further ado, I’ll continue by reminding you of my favourite booksellers - don’t forget that if you should have any problems finding a good new- or second hand bookseller, you can try any/all of the following – For new books, you can’t go wrong with the following dealers Corona Books shop at Warwick Shopping Centre – ask for Mark – he is extremely helpful with any book queries and orders you may need assistance with.

Stefen’s Books in Shafto Lane in Perth City. Stefen is very helpful and a good supporter of the Irish Scene.

Dymocks at Whitford City – ask for Tracey (and other locations throughout the State and Metropolitan Area) In the realm of second hand booksellers (who are very useful in getting hold of hard to get or back catalogue books – you know, the ones that may be out of print from time to time) I generally go to Pulp Fiction – who have stores (again) at Whitford City and at Floreat Forum Shopping Centre – the proprietor is John who is a good supporter of our magazine.

Warwick Second hand Books at Warwick Shopping Centre Elizabeth’s Bookshop chain, which has shops in Fremantle, and Perth City (Hay Street) to name but a few branches.

Guildford Book Exchange on the front in old Guildford When I get South of the River I make a point of visiting the New Edition

bookshop in Moat Street Fremantle (for new books ) and Bill Campbell in High Street Fremantle for second hand books – Bill helped me over a long period when I was collecting Giles Cartoon Annuals (a particular favourite read of mine). Thanks Bill.

Please remember too to let the various stores know who pointed you in their direction. The feedback is great for them and it shows me that you are actually taking the time to read what I have prepared for your enjoyment with each issue.

Then my work will not have been in vain!

Also, if all else fails, there is the Internet (for those of you who are computer literate and have access to a computer, Ipad, etc.

You will appreciate that I don’t relate any of the books’ contents in these review notes as I feel that it would spoil your own voyages of discovery into the stories as they unfold A SONG OF SHADOWS – JOHN CONNOLLY Hachette Paperback $29.99 Charlie Parker is back!! And what a return – this time he is recuperating after being shot a the end of his previous adventure and having gone through multiple surgeries to save his life. He is recuperating in the town of Boreas in Maine USA where he gets drawn into a tangled web of mystery encompassing nastiness that dates back to the Holocaust of World War 2 and the hunt for Nazi war criminals. Mix in Angel and Louis, Parker’s two cohorts and you get a brilliantly twisted tale that will keep you on the edge of your seats.

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Another cracker from the pen of Ireland’s leading master of macabre mystery writing. This one is bound to keep you up at night until you’ve finished it – I really couldn’t put this one down. Loved it.

ONCE LOST – BER CARROLL Killard Publishing Paperback $24.99 Ber is a Sydneysider who was born in Blarney, Co Cork but moved to Australia in 1995. She is a new author to me, although this is not her first novel and I must admit I enjoyed this one – I will certainly look out for her earlier books.

This story concerns loss in all of its many forms – a missing mother, a fractured childhood and misplaced love (to name but a few).

Its central characters are Louise and Emma who grew up together in Dublin but now live on opposite sides of the globe. Emma is fighting to get over the split from her former partner, Jamie, and Louise is trying to find the mother who walked out on her when she was eight years old. A very emotionally moving story – and well told. Hope you enjoy it.

FALL OF MAN IN WILMSLOW – DAVID LAGERCRANTZ Hachette Paperback $29.99 This is an English translation of David’s book which was originally published in Swedish and it is the continuation of the theme of some other recent books I told you about.

It is the story of the fallout from the death of Alan Turing (the man who cracked the enigma code at Bletchley Park in the middle years of World War 2 (who was the subject of that wonderful movie “The Imitation Game” that I told you about in the last issue).

Here, a detective sergeant is not happy that the death (a supposed suicide) is in fact a suicide and he sets out to investigate further – which takes him on a tortuous path through the intricacies of the lives of some of his own family members, not to mention the twisted life of Turing himself. Can’t tell you any

more for fear of spoiling it for you.

Loved it – great premise – great story well told. Hope you enjoy it, too THE DARKEST DAY – TOM WOOD Hachette Paperback $29.99 This great book is the continuing story of a hitman known only as Victor (to whom we were introduced in “The Hunter”. This time ,Victor is the hunted and he is forced to chase his would be assassin all other the globe to try and get HER before she gets HIM! Phew – very fast paced and really enjoyable book.

I love this series and know you will too.

TIME OF DEATH - MARK BILLINGHAM Hachette Paperback $29.99 I always enjoy Mark’s books – especially those featuring Tom Thorne – and this is the latest story in that series. This time, Thorne and police officer Helen Weeks are called upon to sort out the abduction of two schoolgirls in a part of Warwickshire where Helen grew up – in fact, the accused suspect is the husband of one of her school friends. Is he innocent? His wife believes so – so Tom and Helen again really have their work cut out for them . Brilliant story – full of twists and turns – it will keep you guessing almost till the very end.

Loved it and I know you will too.

THE ART OF THINKING CLEARLY – ROLF DOBELLI Sceptre Paperback $19.99 Last month, I told you about a superb little book that I was introduced to by my good friend, Lionel Cranfield (from Zenith Music) – this is another of his recommendations to me and I thought I’d tell you about it in this issue.

It is a worldwide best seller and will help those amongst you who, like me, may find clear headed thinking and decision making a bit of a headache at times.

Here then are some

of the secrets of perfect decision making – I hope you find them helpful. Especially if, again a bit like me, you may have invested in something that in hindsight wasn’t worth it, or maybe continued doing something that was bad for you. I found this book very useful in helping me to rationalise some of my thought processes – great recommendation, Lionel – thanks a million – hope you all get something from this one.

THE STRANGER – HARLAN COBEN Orion Paperback $32.99 Harlan Coben is another of the authors whose books I eagerly await – again I wasn’t disappointed with this remarkable stand alone thriller.

This time, we have the tale of Adam Price – he has a lot to lose – a wonderful wife – a big house – two great sons – and all goes well until a stranger arrives and tells him a secret about his wife that will bring his world crashing down around him!

I really can’t/won’t tell you any more – to do so would surely spoil the story – again you will love this one if you enjoy a good twisty/turny thriller. Loved it – know you will as well.

PREY – JAMES CAROL Allen and Unwin Paperback $19.99 I love books James Carol’s books – his central character Jefferson Winter is a fascinating enigma – the son of a serial killer who is an exFBI profiler who hires himself out to law enforcement bodies to advise in the hunt for other serial killers.

Jefferson is a good profiler because he can get into the minds as it were of serial killers to track them down. His father told him that this was because he, Jefferson, is himself a serial killer.

This time, Jefferson is set the task of finding out the truth behind the murder of a young couple that happened six years earlier by an elusive female killer. Almost unputdownable – I read it in two sittings – loved it – didn’t pick the ending until VERY close to it in the

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book. I just know you’ll love this one.

THE HARD PROBLEM – TOM STOPPARD Allen and Unwin Paperback $22.99 Tom Stoppard is arguably one of the best playwrights to come out of Britain in the last 40 years – I remember his brilliant TV trilogy “The Norman Conquests” from a while back and have seen several of his productions since.

This is indeed a script of a play – this one tells the story of a young psychology researcher who is trying to solve “the hard problem” of whether, if there is nothing but matter, is there still a consciousness in that matter. It is a tale set around the world of evolutionary science. On the face of it, the premise is a bit deep but I found it an intriguing tale – albeit not for the squeamish amongst us – it was I felt more than a little disturbing – I can’t say enjoyable because that isn’t the word to describe this kind of play but I must say it may make you think about a few things that are tackled in the narrative. It is worth a read – let me know what you feel after you have read it.

FAITH IRELAND AND EMPIRE – CHRISTOPHER DOWD St Paul’s Publications Paperback From a Tom Stoppard play to the biography of Patrick Joseph Clune CSSR who was the first Catholic Archbishop of Perth WA during the first few decades of the Twentieth century. It describes his life from his training for the priesthood in All Hallows College Dublin to his tenancy here in Perth as one of the “Irish Australian builder bishops” via his time in Australia that began in Goulburn New South Wales.

He was a supporter of conscription but at the same time insisted on Ireland’s right to independent nationhood within the Empire. Historically, he is probably best known for his failed fight to end the horribly brutal Anglo Irish war.

I found this a most enlightening and informative book and commend it to you if, like me, you have an

interest in Irish Australian history.

ORIGINAL ROCKERS – RICHARD KING Allen and Unwin Hardback $35.00 I really enjoyed reading this one – it is a recounting , from Richard King’s personal point of view from his time working in Bristol’s Revolver Records, of the generations of music from the 1970’s onwards and touches on the likes of Captain Beefheart, Rod Stewart, Sun Ha and their contemporaries including the great British punk music scene.

Loved it – I like and collect books about the music of my and in fact any generation – if you enjoy reading about recent music history, then this one is for you. Hope you enjoy it.

SOLITUDE CREEK – JEFFERY DEAVER Hachette Paperback $29.99 This is the latest in Jeffery’s Kathryn Dance series and is an absolute cracker – she is a profiler who deals from the perspective of a criminals body language – a great premise – and one that I have enjoyed over the year’s since he created the Dance character. This time, Kathryn is suspended from duty after she reads a dangerous gang member as innocent when he is in fact guilty. There ensues a hectic fast paced trail of incidents and “accidents” where, since she is suspended, she can only act as a consultant until the final “dying” moments of the case where the villain of the piece is brought to justice.

Great book – great character – great premise – buy it and enjoy it – I know you’ll love it – it has more twists than the proverbial pig’s tail!!!

THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN – PAULA HAWKINS Random House Paperback $32.99 This is a really good thriller in the tradition of “Gone Girl” – if you enjoyed that one then you’ll love this psychological thriller of a girl who sits on a train as she goes to and from work and as she passes one block of houses, she invents stories about the people who live in them – but are they jest stories or

is there something a little deeper to her thoughts?

It took me a while to get into this one but overall I thought it a worthwhile read. It is told in the present tense – a style I am not overly fond of – but nonetheless I found it a fascinating read.

Hope you like it.

THE PATRIOT THREAT – STEVE BERRY Hachette Paperback $29.99 Again, I really like Steve Berry’s novels – they are somewhat reminiscent of Dan Brown or Clive Cussler (just a little) but I find them a little more readable and enjoyable. He deals with the realms of historical enigma and archaeological finds and the like in his stories and, this time, he unearths a problem that if it was to be made public would strike at the very heart of the USA and its viability in the modern world – in fact it could bankrupt that mighty nation.

But is there anyone who would do just that if he got hold of the secret? Indeed there is in the form of a renegade North Korean exile!

NOW READ ON – loved this one – it brings Stephanie Nelle and Cotton Malone of the Magellan Billet back into our collective lives – and oh so dramatically does it do so! Superb book.

THE NOVEL HABITS OF HAPPINESS – ALEXANDER McCALL SMITH Hachette Paperback $29.99 This is volume 10 in the Isabel Dalhousie series – I must admit I haven’t read any of his others in this series but I have read several of the No1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series and also a few of the 44 Scotland Street books too. I love his humorous and laid back way of writing and always look forward to reading his novels. This time, Isabel we see her in her position as editor of the Review of Applied Ethics – which she wields as a weapon against anyone who she feels might adversely affect the happiness of her beloved Edinburgh – like two academics who have just arrived in

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the city. How will she address her concerns in the next issue of the Review which she has styled “The Happiness Issue”? You’ll just have to read this lovely little book to find out. I enjoyed it tremendously and hope you do too. If you haven’t read any of his works before, then this is as good a place to start as any.

ENJOY!!!!

WORLD GONE BY – DENNIS LEHANE Hachette Paperback $29.99 Dennis is the creator of the brilliant stand alone tales “Mystic River”, Gone Baby Gone” and “Shutter Island” which have all been made into very successful and award winning films – I love his books – and I have read a great number of them to date.

Here, Joe Coughlin, a “retired” gangster, is now a consultant to the local New York branch of the Mob – it is set in the time of the Second World War and involves some extremely devious underworld figures. There is a lot of wheeling and dealing going on – and Joe finds that someone has taken out a contract on his life. But who could that be? He doesn’t know of anyone who hates him enough to do that. This is a case of who is my friend and who my enemy – very good book – very good tale that really smoulders along – thoroughly enjoyed it. It is a very dark novel – if you haven’t read any Lehane’s before, I urge you to start with this one – loved it altogether.

Well that’s it for books this issue. I hope you will take my recommendations into consideration when selecting your reading matter for your Winter/ Spring reading delights and indeed for the future and give them a good go. I wish you all very happy reading, and see you all in the next issue. I must say that I hope you enjoy my recommendations as much as I have enjoyed reading them on both your and my own behalf. See you next time!

now available from Amazon as an e-book format if you would like to get them that way. I have them all in hard copy as that is my preference but I understand that e-books would appear to be the way of the future.

UPCOMING

By COLIN MERREY

PAT SHORTT

CELTIC WOMAN

On 25th September this year, we will be welcoming back to our shores the wonderful Irish singing sensation “Celtic Woman” for their 10th Anniversary World Tour If you were not already aware, it was a decade ago that Celtic Woman first introduced millions of new fans to the group’s fresh fusion of Irish musical tradition, contemporary song craft and state-of-the-art stage production.

The 10th Anniversary World Tour showcases four gifted Irish women – three world-class vocalists and a brilliant Celtic violinist – whose talent and charisma bring centuries of musical and cultural tradition to vibrant life. Under the direction of Emmy®-nominated music producer David Downes, the anniversary performances will honour Celtic Woman’s musical history while looking to the future.

The shows will feature a selection of fan favourites, encompassing Irish classics, contemporary standards and classical favourites alongside memorable original compositions, bridging the past and present with the distinctive grace and style for which Celtic Woman has become known.

Celebrating an incredibly musical journey, Celtic Woman’s 10th Anniversary World Tour offers a oneof-a-kind concert experience that will enchant longtime fans and newcomers alike. Celtic Woman 10 Years – Join the Celebration!

The tour dates for Australia are set out below.

September 2015 Fri 11 Gold Coast Gold Coast Convention Centre Sat 12 Brisbane Brisbane Convention Centre Sun 13 Maryborough The Brolga Theatre* Tues 15 Tamworth Entertainment Centre Wed16 Newcastle Civic Theatre Newcastle Fri 18 Sydney Qantas Credit Union Arena Sat 19 Canberra Royal Theatre Sun 20 Melbourne Margaret Court Arena Tues 22 Adelaide Adelaide Entertainment Centre-Theatre Fri 25 Perth Perth Arena This is not their first visit to Australia and I was delighted to get the opportunity to see them in their last visit here in January 2014. It was a brilliant show and I certainly won’t be missing this one in September.

I’ll no doubt see some/all of you there!

You can obtain your tickets from www.ticket.com.au if you haven’t already got them.

I am also eagerly awaiting (as I told you last issue) the new CD of originals from Fiona Rea led local band Sparrow and also the latest book to come from our brilliant local author, my good friend Lawrence Clarke.

It is called FIRMAMENT and I have received it but not yet read it. When I have, I’ll tell you all about it so you can enjoy it for yourselves. As a matter of interest to you all, Lawrence tells me that all of his books are

The irrepressible Pat Shortt is heading to Australia on a debut nationwide tour with his new show “SELFIE”. He tells the tales of a singing undertaker Mossey Burke, along with a host of new characters, as he recounts his favourite funeral - a funeral that was nearly the death of him and changed his life forever!

His unique, comedic but somewhat universal look at everyday Irish life has cemented his place in the public’s heart and his work on stage and screen over the last decade have proved him to be an enduring, versatile and award winning talent. This is Pat’s first visit to Australia and no doubt we will see some of his most beloved characters come to life for the crowds that will gather down under at the Astor Theatre on Sunday 16th August 2015.

If any other events come to my notice after the magazine has issued you can check on the Irish Scene’s Facebook page or website.

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NotFadeAway

By COLIN MERREY

I am again saddened to have to tell you about some more notables who are no longer with us. This is the column that I least enjoy writing – because it means that some of my favourite people have passed and are no longer with us.

Ruth Barbara Rendell, Baroness Rendell of Babergh, CBE (née Grasemann; 17 February 1930 – 2 May 2015) was an English author of thrillers and psychological murder mysteries. Her bestknown creation, Chief Inspector Wexford, was the hero of many popular police stories, some of them successfully adapted for TV. But Rendell also generated a separate brand of crime fiction that explored deeply into the psychological background of criminals and their victims, many of them mentally afflicted or otherwise socially isolated. This theme was developed further in a third series of novels, written under her pseudonym Barbara Vine.

She was born Ruth Barbara Grasemann in 1930, in South Woodford, London. Her parents were teachers. Her mother, Ebba Kruse, was born in Sweden and brought up in Denmark; her father, Arthur Grasemann, was English.

As a result of spending Christmas and other holidays in Scandinavia, Rendell learned Swedish and Danish. Rendell was educated at the County High School for Girls in Loughton, Essex.

She suffered a stroke on 7 January 2015 and died on 2 May 2015. She will be sadly missed in the literary world.

Ronnie Carroll (18 August 1934 – 13 April 2015) was a Northern Irish singer and entertainer and political candidate.

He was born Ronald Cleghorn in Roslyn Street, Belfast, Northern Ireland, in 1934. Through work in variety theatre he met his first

wife, Millicent Martin and scored his first hit in 1956 with “Walk Hand in Hand” on the Philips label.

Perhaps his best known song was his British Eurovision Song Contest entry, “Say Wonderful Things”.

He contested Hampstead and Highgate in the 1997 UK General Election, and the Uxbridge byelection in July 1997, both for the Rainbow Alliance. In 2005 he released a comeback album, Back on Song. He stood in the 2008 Haltemprice and Howden byelection as a candidate for Make Politicians History and received 29 votes despite announcing that he was trying to enter the record books by receiving no votes!

He latterly lived in Hampstead, London, and was a regular caller to phone-in shows on BBC London 94.9. He died aged 80 on 13 April 2015.

Benjamin Earl King (September 28, 1938 – April 30, 2015), known as Ben E. King, was an American soul and R&B singer who was perhaps best known as the singer and co-composer of “Stand by Me” which was a Top 10 hit, both in 1961 and later in 1986 (when it was used as the theme to the film of the same name). It also reached no.

25 on the RIAA’s list of Songs of the Century. He was also one of the principal lead singers of the R&B vocal group the Drifters for a time prior to embarking on his solo career. As a Drifter and as a solo artist, King had achieved five number one hits: “There Goes My Baby”, “Save The Last Dance For Me”, “Stand By Me”, “Supernatural Thing”, and the 1986 re-issue of

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“Stand By Me”. He also earned 12 Top 10 hits and 26 Top 40 hits from 1959 to 1986. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a Drifter and was also nominated as a solo artist.

Lester Errol Brown MBE (11 December 1943 – 6 May 2015) was a British-Jamaican singer and songwriter, best known as the front man of the soul band Hot Chocolate. Hot Chocolate’s hits included “You Sexy Thing”, “Emma”, “So You Win Again” and “Brother Louie”. He died of liver cancer at his home in the Bahamas on 6 May 2015. He is survived by his wife Ginette and his two daughters, Colette and Leonie.

Riley B. King (September 16, 1925 – May 14, 2015), known by his stage name B.B. King, was an American blues singer, songwriter, and guitarist. The BB stood for “Blues Boy”.

Rolling Stone magazine ranked him at No. 6 on its 2011 list of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time (previously ranked No. 3 in the 2003 edition of the same list), and he was ranked No. 17 in Gibson’s “Top 50 Guitarists of All Time”.

According to Edward M. Komara, King “introduced a sophisticated style of soloing based on fluid string bending and shimmering vibrato that would influence virtually every electric blues guitarist that followed.” King was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987. King was also inducted into 2014 class of the R&B Music Hall of Fame. He is considered one of the most influential blues musicians of all time, earning the nickname “The King of Blues”, and one of the “Three Kings of the Blues Guitar” (along with Albert King and Freddie King). King was also known for performing tirelessly throughout his musical career, appearing at 250–300 concerts per year until his seventies.

In 1956 it was noted that he appeared at 342 shows. King continued to appear at 100 shows

a year through the end of his career.

Over the years, he developed one of the world’s most identifiable guitar styles. He borrowed from Blind Lemon Jefferson, T-Bone Walker and others, integrating his precise and complex vocal-like string bends and his left hand vibrato, both of which have become indispensable components of rock guitarists’ vocabulary.

His economy of style and phrasing has been a model for thousands of players. He mixed blues, jazz, swing, mainstream pop and jump into a unique sound. In King’s words, “When I sing, I play in my mind - the minute I stop singing orally, I start to sing by playing Lucille.”

(Incidentally, Lucille was the name he gave to his Black Gibson ES355 stereo electric guitar for the uninitiated).

Who will assume the crown as “King of the Blues” with his passing – there are so many contenders – for me (and for my son, Sean) it must fall to either Buddy Guy or Eric Clapton – but who knows? Long live the king – he will be long remembered in both our and many other households throughout the music world.

Irish Craic in Bunbury

May your gods go with you.

THE GIG THAT NEVER WAS

By Colin Merrey In October 1969, my friend and fellow member of the Idiom Folk Group, Graham Fletcher, and I were playing a gig at a folk club in Nottingham for a good mate of ours, Barry Ledington. At the end of the gig, a fellow came up to us and introduced himself as Ken Woollard – who was the organiser of the Cambridge Folk Festival. He asked if we would like to play at Cambridge the following year in the club tent – to which we eagerly said yes in no uncertain terms! He took our contact details and said he’d be in touch.

I was in contact with him over the intervening months and sent him a ban promo and a photo ostensibly to go in the festival programme.

He kept saying he’d post our passes etc – as week followed week so no passes came. I phoned him and said they’d be on the door. I discussed it with Graham and we

decided the whole thing was a con and therefore we opted not to go to Cambridge and instead went to the Sidmouth Folk Festival in Devon which was on at the same time. We thought no more about it.

Until we were having a quiet (?) drink in a pub in Sidmouth when some friends of ours turned up and asked why we hadn’t gone to Cambridge – we said it was all a big con – they said no it wasn’t and produced the Festival Programme containing our bio and photo (see

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the attached programme extract).

We were flabbergasted!!! What a missed opportunity we thought.

HOWEVER as a footnote to this, some weeks afterwards, we got a lot of phone calls from folk clubs in the Midlands area offering us gigs at their clubs saying “we saw you at Cambridge and thought you were very good” – to this day I don’t know who was kidding who.

Graham and I still laugh about it to this day!

Irish Families in Perth

Western Australia

S

ince so many in the Irish community use Facebook as a communication medium amongst strangers, we have been in contact with another couple of groups who have set up pages, and are reaching out to their community, as IFIP was initially set up for, its great to see that since we have gotten so big (over 8,800 members) that these other groups have cropped up to keep it more local.

Irish Mam’s Perth NOR (as in North of the river) has a lovely little group and look after young mothers with babies and preschool age children with meet ups on Mondays and Wednesdays. The Monday meet up is indoors at 9.30am at Warrandyte Park, Craigie, I did have the opportunity to pop along one day for a cuppa and Linda Morton was there to welcome me and everyone that came in, so straight away she makes you feel at ease, which is great for newcomers to motherhood and/or Perth! They also have a page for Dads.

Wednesday’s meet ups are 10am Mawson Park, Hillary’s, this is outdoors so weather is a factor, but it is rare that meet ups are ever cancelled as winter here is usually being akin to an Irish Summers day!

I would also like to mention Maria Byrne’s group called Irish Mammies Perth who have playdate meet ups on Wednesdays and Fridays, and are currently planning their next social night out on Sat 15th Aug, so your calendar will be getting very full!

At IFIP we did have sad news that one of our members Fran O Toole passed away, Fran was a sweetheart and never had a bad word to say about anyone, she fought cancer so graciously, keeping a smile on her face. I could go on, as Fran became a personal friend of mine, she will be sorely missed, IFIP wish to send condolences to Ian and their 4 year old girl Caireann and to Fran’s parents Gerry and Marie who did make it to Perth before she passed

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and to Ian’s parents who also made the tough journey. The Claddagh Association are organising a volunteer effort to help Ian out with renovations of their Ballajurra home that he didn’t get to finish with Fran’s hospitalisation, so keep an eye out on the IFIP page for an update on that if you would like to help.

It’s always lovely to see how things are created from a post on the page, like men’s soccer teams, book clubs (aka wine appreciation clubs) kids GAA clubs, and one of the newest thing that has come to fruition is the Irish Grannies in Perth Facebook page, which is great to see the older (I should say mature) generation organising their own social get together and dragging the men along, as lets face it lads, ye are not the best for the get up and go when it comes to socializing!

Keep an eye on the Claddagh’s Association’s Christmas in July in the Mighty Quinn for Seniors, where they have a great day planned for just $15.

Comhaltas have music classes for children still on going, for anyone interested please check out their

page for more information.

Many of our members are heading home for the July school holidays as a way to catch up with family while the kids at home are on their summer school holidays, so wishing those making the trip, a safe journey. As always thanks to our sponsors, we are able to fund play groups north and south of the river and plan family fun days/movie events etc: 1. Insulation systems, 2.

Liz O Hagan, 2. Wrightway training, 4.Killarney Autos, 5. Bridget Donnelly Realmark, 6. Felix O Neil – financial planner, 7. Lernihan O Neill Solicitors, 8. Sheamus Walshe – Endeavour Finance, 9. Eadaoin Clancy Taxation & Business Services Mobile: (0423) 423 652.

We have more family fun days planned for the near future, so hope to see you there, any enquiries can go to Irishinperth@hotmail.com Debbie

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Please don’t think I am being patronising in any shape or form with this report, because I assure you I’m certainly NOT. Just prior to the Irish super group ‘The Script’s’ Australian tour, I phoned Bronwin Tasker at Sony Music and left a message on her voicemail inquiring if I could do an interview with the lads. Next day I received a call from her assistant confirming a time 3.40pm on Wed the 29th of April at the Rod Laver Arena Melbourne where the band were performing that night. I have interviewed the lads on all their previous tours here in Australia and I have to say that on every occasion I have interviewed The Script, I have had nothing but the best support and cooperation from all connected with the group.

Ok so here goes, my son Jonathan, who is my cameraman this time, and I turn up at 3.30pm at the Rod Laver Arena, Australia’s home of tennis where the best tennis and music stars of the world have performed. Capacity is 14,000 not counting the fans that fill the floor of this famous stadium when there is a music concert. Krystal Hingston from Sony is there to greet and take us to meet the lads, Danny, Glen and Mark. Danny says a quick hallo and excuses himself as he is committed to another interview, Mark is talking to some of the crew but that doesn’t stop him from giving us a bear- hug and telling us that Glen was waiting for us in the other room.

As soon as we enter the other room Glen greets us with another bearhug then Mark joins us saying it’s a while since we caught up guys.

We do the usual how’s the family and how’s the health going, in typical Irish laid back conversation fashion. While Mark, Glen and I chat Jonathan is clicking away with the camera and it doesn’t bother either of the lads as we have done all this many times in the past.

Joking I ask the lads would they sooner I do an audition to join the

In conversation with Mike Bowen band or do the interview. I don’t have to explain the answer as you are reading the interview Mike. Let’s go back to the first time when you thought, we might have something.

Glen. We were playing in the Sugar Club in Lower Leeson Street Dublin one night and the crowd were a bit noisy, you know what it’s like when people have a few drinks in Ireland.

I think it was after the second song we did that night when I noticed the crowd had quietened down and they were listening, we looked at one another and knew then, that we were on the right track.

Mike. Ge lads it’s been and long road since then, and here we are in this amazing stadium and four albums later the latest being ‘No Sound Without Silence’. I remember the first gig you did here in Melbourne, I wrote, that I was certain that it was only a matter of time before you joined the elite in the music industry and became one of the top shows in the world.

Mark. We work very hard on every aspect of our act and music. We are a people band we mix a lot with the fans at concerts we are amongst them not above them, we interact with them and they respond to us and that keeps us all on the same level.

Mike. I said before that your lyrics are so true to everyday life and this latest album is a cracker in the same vain Mark. We write about everyday issues, Superhero is a typical

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example, of what’s going on in Ireland right now with youth selfharm and suicide.

Mike. How do you find the time to write new material with such a busy schedule?

Glen. We write as we see things happen daily and we have bits of melodies taped, when we get back home we have the basics of what he want.

Mark. What the fans don’t get to see or hear of is, all the stuff that we write that never makes it to the albums as you have to write a lot of songs to get some good ones.

Mike. Should I have worn a cardigan? To get that audition that we spoke of earlier? Because I know you have done a big favour for that other person who wears a cardigan Mrs Brown.

Mark. Laughs out loud, well there could not have been a better person than myself to have been asked to write that song ‘Hail Rain or Shine’ for The Movie. Me ma used to sell flowers and used to drag me along to do the same and so I had an affinity with the whole thing and the lyrics just flew out in no time.

Glen. One day long before Mrs Brown hit the TV screens I’m at home banging on the drums upstairs when Brendan Carroll a friend of me Da calls in and asks him if I can join his show, so I spent a bit of time having a howl of a time with him/her stage show. Small world isn’t it!

Mike. Sometime back, you told me you were having a hard time coming to terms with the success that the Script were having, considering how bad things were in Ireland for so many after the Celtic tiger decided to do a runner and the Script were riding high Mark. Yea, it was a confusing time for us as we were doing so well and we felt so sorry for those who were having a tough time. I think lots of people lost sight of the important things in life during the time of

Celtic Tiger. The song For the First Time was born out of that very situation and writing that song was a great example of something great coming out of something sad as it explains about getting back to the basics of where you started. The song resonated with so many, that’s what made it such a big hit. Sadly there are still thousands of our young migrating.

Mike. Would it be fair to say, when The Script play in any city or town here in Oz or in any other country where our young have migrated too, not alone do they want to see you play but they see you as a lifeline to home?

Glen. You have to come and see the show tonight to see how proud they are and how they react with us, it gives the three of us goose pimples, you could nearly hear our hearts beating louder than the drums.

Mark. Yea it’s very emotional and humbling, we are so so happy to be able to bring a bit of Ireland to our Irish abroad and ‘Paint the town Green’ for the night. Of course we realise that our fan base is much more than those who we share the same Celtic blood. Our fan base stretches much further around the world than we could ever have thought.

Mike. What do expect when you play Croke Park on June the 28th.

Glen. It’s going to be MASSIVE. Mark. Playing to a full stadium, what else could you ask for?

Mike. I know that you are always on a tight schedule every time you come to Australia and I would like to thank you for always being very generous with your time to me on every occasion.

Mark. No problem it’s a pleasure, as we always look forward to a casual chat with you as its different from the formal interviews.

Glen. We’ve never missed and catch up with you on all our down under tours and it’s always a bit of fun chatting and let’s do it all again next time. See you later, at the show.

NOW FOR MY REVIEW ON THE SHOW.

Lights dim and a huge video screens shows The Script in specular colour and motion.

Surprise surprise, no band on stage.

To music ‘Paint the Town Green’, The Script enters through a side door on the floor of the stadium led by 40 green flags. Nothings’ better to start a party than pulling at the heart strings and Paint the Town Green was the perfect opener. The 14,000 plus were on their feet and instantly hooked on parting with The Script. All was set from the first lines than Danny delivered “Yeah I know you’re missing home, it’s been so long since you’ve been and the life you had in Dublin now ain’t nothing but a dream. The crowd go wild with excitement,as a chorus of 14,000 join in.

There was no let up with the pace, as the band delivers hit after hit.

The play list Included ‘Hail Rain or Shine’ from the Mrs Brown movie, followed by Breakeven, Before the Worst, Super Hero, We Cry and If You Could See Me Now. Then Danny asked for one of the girls who was recently jilted by a boyfriend to ring the ex-boyfriend and he would sing the song ‘Nothing’ to him over her mobile phone and that’s exactly what happened to the delight of the full house. Good Ol” Days was followed by ‘Never Seen Anything Quite Like You’.

Danny tells the fans that at one stage he Glen and Mark were

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broke and sleeping on couches and struggled, it’s you our fans are the ones that put clothes on our backs.

The stadium goes into darkness and The Script have moved from the main stage to another stage on the other side of the stadium, so the fans there can get a close up look at their idols. They begin with ‘The Man Who Can’t Be Moved’ and Danny leaves the stage to sing his way through the crowds with Science & Faith followed by ‘Six Degrees of Separation’.

Back to centre stage the band is delivering high energy in all directions as Danny asks the audience to turn their mobile phones lights on, the stadium lights super bright to what looks like 14,000 plus mobile lights. It’s an amazing sight as Danny blasts out ‘The Energy Never Dies’ followed by another mega hit ‘For The First Time’ and ‘No Good In Goodbye’ before finally finishing off an amazing nigh of brilliant entertainment to an ecstatic audience with ‘Hall Of Fame’.

The lighting was spectacular and the video backdrop that was done

by Mark O’Herlihy was amazing, Mark is no newcomer to this work as he spent many years with U2 doing their videos.

In Summary. An amazing night of brilliant entertainment that kept the audience on their feet all night from a band that has everything summed up in two words ‘TOP CLASS’. Don’t miss them, when they return next time. Until I talk to you again next time Slainte from Melbourne.

Bloomsday 2015 at the Irish Club Reviewed by Lloyd Gorman

M

ost people will have heard of Ulysses by Dublin born James Joyce but only a fraction will have read, or attempted to read, this famous novel.

Someone remarked that it is not a book to be read, but to be reread. Having read it twice myself, I’m not even sure that is even be true for the average reader. Yes Joyce is a behemoth of Irish literature and Ulysses, as well as Finnegan’s Wake, are his crowning literary achievements but they demand much of the reader. The unique writing style and new writing techniques such as ‘stream of consciousness’, pages and pages of unabbreviated text and having (at least for 80 years) the longest single sentence in the English language (a total of 4,391 words) are just a few of the elements to be dealt with. They are of course some of the things that also make it a world renowned masterpiece.

Bloomsday happens on the 16th of June 1904 in Dublin on which the whole book is based. Frank O’Connor, the Irish short storey writer argued that because the whole thing is based in such a confined place and time - one day in one city - that it should be classed as a humble short story. Given that the date is significant because it is the first date he had with Galway girl Nora Barnacle you could say the novel is his Taj Mahal to the woman who would become his wife. It is also worth remembering that Joyce wrote Ulysses while he was in Europe, an emigrant of sorts, one who exiled himself from his native country and circumstances. So it is a work of art about the Irish, at home and abroad.

So Ulysses is a lot of things to a lot

of people and thankfully there are devotees out there who have a passion and great understanding of the book, and its author, who are happy to share their knowledge and enthusiasm with the rest of us. That is one of the joys of Bloomsday. It allows die hard Joycean’s an opportunity to indulge and celebrate their compulsion with an audience whether it be schooled in Joyce, or not.

In Perth we are fortunate to have a dedicated and talented group of people who make themselves available for the Bloomsday Literary Celebration, as they did this year on Tuesday 16 June at the Irish Club.

Because re-enactments and performances of and inspired by Ulysses are far more entertaining and accessible than trying to plough through pages of dense literary jungle.

Actors, enthusiasts, academics, performers, musicians and artists bring the words, stories, jokes and songs off the page and shape them into entertainment.

Colm O’Doherty, actor and writer, gave an excellent and effortless account of the influence and impact a Jesuit priest - Rev John Conmee - had on Joyces’ education and life.

And with seven people on stage doing for the different readings and reenactments there is plenty of scope to hear a variety of accents and sounds. So while I have said Joyce can be hard to get through when his work is presented as it is at the Irish Club you are reminded that his writing is full of swear words, sexual language and raunchy talk, the noises of people farting and scoffing food, spinning yarns and laughing out loud. It is not high-brow stuff at all, it is the guts and stuff of ordinary life. The

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Bloomsday players - some of them quite prominent people in WA played their parts exceptionally well, and they had fun with it too.

The text of Ulysses is robust and flexible enough to allow itself to be adapted for use in Perth or even to embellish and make up some new material.

Dressing up (in period costume) and eating (lovely beef and Guinness pie) are also enjoyable parts of the experience.

The place names and names of people are all familiar and friendly to the ear. Sitting in Perth it is pleasing to hear a hundred haunts and locales mentioned. This year’s Bloomsday also emphasised and payed homage to another popular Dublin icon, Molly Malone. The programme for the event told us that Molly Malone died on 13 June 1699, and that this date - so close to Bloomsday the location and date - is officially recognised as Molly Malone Day in her native city. The evening opened with a rendition of Molly Malone and finished with a section of Molly Blooms soliloquy and a sing along to My Irish Molly.

The performance sparked a chilling but unintentional

moment, at least to me. There is a line recalling a scene in Dublin, part of which is a description of a newspaper board telling of a disaster in America, where these things always seem to happen the speaker says. As it happens on the way to the Irish Club I heard about those unfortunate Irish students who were killed or badly injured when a balcony collapsed beneath them in Berkley.

Now in its 26th year the Australia Irish Heritage Association run event has apparently reached a point of no return. The format for next year’s Bloomsday is not yet known but it seems it will be very different.

Chief organiser Tony Bray who with the help of his wife Cecilla (and others) who has worked tirelessly and passionately on Bloomsday for so many years is inviting ideas for the next gathering and there are all kinds of possibilities. With change comes renewal. Bloomsday is celebrated across the world in a thousand different ways by people of all sorts and ages. Maybe a reborn Bloomsday can speak to many of the younger Irish community who have made Perth their permanent or even passing home and hopefully they

will reciprocate in kind. Perhaps there are other audiences out there who haven’t yet discovered Joyce, or the fact that the Irish celebrate their culture and traditions on more than just St. Patrick’s Day. Anything that genuinely brings the community together - from culture vultures and bar flies and everyone in between - in a spirit of friendship, cultural craic and creativity can only be a good thing.

“When the short days of winter came, dusk fell before we had well eaten our dinners. When we met in the street the houses had grown sombre. The space of sky above us was the colour of ever-changing violet and towards it the lamps of the street lifted their feeble lanterns. The cold air stung us and we played till our bodies glowed. Our shouts echoed in the silent street.”

― James Joyce, Dubliners

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Irish Seniors' When I’m an Old Lady

IRI Hosted by: SENIORS’ H S EVENT 2015

Christmas in July “Festive Cheer & Song”

Venue: The Mighty Quinn Tavern 112 Wanneroo Road, Tuart Hill Date:

Monday 27th July 2015

Time:

11.30am – 2pm

ent** rtainm **Ente a Rea n io F oll e Carr and Jo

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3 Course Lunch Tea & Coffee ONLY $15 Bookings Essential Call David 0497 446 531 Closing Date for Bookings 23rd July 4pm

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When I’m an old lady, I’ll live with each kid, And bring so much happiness...just as they did.

I want to pay back all the joy they’ve provided.

Returning each deed! Oh, they’ll be so excited!

(When I’m an old lady and live with my kids) I’ll write on the wall with reds, whites and blues, And I’ll bounce on the furniture...wearing my shoes.

I’ll drink from the carton and then leave it out.

I’ll stuff all the toilets and oh, how they’ll shout!

(When I’m an old lady and live with my kids) When they’re on the phone and just out of reach, I’ll get into things like sugar and bleach.

Oh, they’ll snap their fingers and then shake their head, (When I’m an old lady and live with my kids) When they cook dinner and call me to eat, I’ll not eat my green beans or salad or meat, I’ll gag on my okra, spill milk on the table, And when they get angry...I’ll run...if I’m able!

(When I’m an old lady and live with my kids) I’ll sit close to the TV, through the channels I’ll click, I’ll cross both eyes just to see if they stick.

I’ll take off my socks and throw one away, And play in the mud ‘til the end of the day!

(When I’m an old lady and live with my kids) And later in bed, I’ll lay back and sigh, I’ll thank God in prayer and then close my eyes.

My kids will look down with a smile slowly creeping, And say with a groan, “She’s so sweet when she’s sleeping!”

How about this yarn...

Hospital regulations require a wheel chair for patients being discharged. However, while working as a student nurse, I found one elderly gentleman already dressed and sitting on the bed with a suitcase at his feet, who insisted he didn’t need my help to leave the hospital.

After a chat about rules being rules, he reluctantly let me wheel him to the elevator.

On the way down I asked him if his wife was meeting him.

“I don’t know,” he said. “She’s still upstairs in the bathroom changing out of her hospital gown.”

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Sr Monica Kirby and Sr Irene Fitzgerald

SISTER MONICA KIRBY 75TH JUBILLEE

Daughter of an Irish Immigrant

A

fter 75 years of loyal and dedicated service, most people would be excused if they opted to sit back and rest on their laurels but Sr Monica Kirby, who turns 90 in July, has no intention of slowing down.

Sr Monica celebrated her remarkable milestone with family, friends and a very supportive congregation on 2 May at Saints John and Paul Parish in Willetton

where she has been based for the past 21 years.

At her Jubilee, Sr Monica recalled her childhood in Northam, 100km east of Perth, as the second of eight children. Raised in an environment of family prayer, including a weekly 12 mile horse and buggy ride to Mass, and inspired by the Sisters who taught her, Sr Monica entered the Order of St Joseph of the Apparition in Fremantle when she was 17.

Sr Monica told The Irish Scene, “My dad was born in Belkelly, Co Clare, Ireland in 1891 and migrated to Australia arriving on 13th December 1913, after a six week voyage by sea. It was so hot he used to tell us he thought there was a “sheet of tissue paper between Fremantle and Hell!” (Yes, he had real Irish wit!).”

In 1918 her parents married and moved to Coombesdale (no longer on a map), 12 miles north of Moora in Western Australia. “He was employed by the Midland Railway Company. In 1926 we moved to Northam where all eight children attended school run by the Sisters of St. Joseph of the Apparition”.

On completion of the Leaving Certificate Sr Monica joined the Sisters in 1938 and made 1st Profession on the 4th May 1940 when she was 17 and became a teacher.

“Since then I’ve spent time in schools in many places; Beaconsfield, Fremantle, Albany, Gisborne (Victoria) and Northam and enjoyed every moment of teaching. Next I spent five years

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in office work in our hospital in Bicton before moving to De Vialar College in Samson. From there I was transferred to Willetton where I spend over 22 wonderful years in parish work with care groups including the Vincent de Paul Society and the R.C.I.A. (Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults)”.

At her Jubille celebration, Parish priest Fr Thai Vu expressed admiration for Sr Monica’s zest for life when he told those gathered, “I am a third of her age and I would love to have the energy and drive that she has today,” he said.

In 2011 Sr Monica came to live in semi-retirement in Samson where she is able to do some home visits and also visit nursing homes. “We have a Prayer Ministry here among our Sisters”.

When Sr Monica was invited to address the Willetton community during her 75th celebrations she began with the words, “The Lord has done great things for me, holy is His name”. But for the many who have been the beneficiaries of her lifetime of service to God, they would most likely want to add, “And the Lord has also done great things through her”.

Fred Rea

St Mary Mackillop died on August 8, 1909. Her last words to her sisters were...

“Whatever troubles may be before you, accept them cheerfully, remembering Whom you are trying to follow. Do not be afraid. Love one another, bear with one another, and let charity guide you in all your life.”

new Irish newspapers added recently, bringing the total count of Irish newspapers now online to 65. Access by subscription. www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/ As with all uploads to the British Newspaper Archive database, the new titles and all the additional editions have simultaneously been added to the FindMyPast Irish newspaper collection, available via the Ireland and World packages.

FindMyPast recently added 1.1 million new articles to their Irish newspaper collection, with ten new titles (4 from Dublin, 3 from Munster, 2 from Connaught) and 1 from Ulster). The collection now stands at 5.3 million articles across 60 different titles and spanning 1749 - 1900. Access by subscription. http://search. findmypast.co.uk/search/irish-newspapers Transcriptions of selected issues from a number of old Irish newspapers are freely available at Ireland Old News www. irelandoldnews.com Cork City Libraries website has a number of digitised old newspapers (as well as many other old documents and books). www.corkpastandpresent. ie/ Try other major county libraries for similar local history resources.

Free access to 18th and 19th century British and Irish newspapers Get yourself a (free) National Library of Australia reader’s card and you can use the card number to log in from home to access free licensed e-Resources including searchable old newspapers. Titles such as the Belfast News-Letter, the Cork Examiner and the Freeman’s Journal (Dublin), Dublin Evening Post, Limerick Journal, and more are available. Watch the video about how to do it www.nla.gov.au/app/eresources/ Irish Special Interest Group Meetings Irish born Perth resident and Irish Scene contributor, Sally Desmond will give her Irish Allsorts presentation at the Sunday 19 July meeting of the Irish Special Interest Group. She will cover correct pronunciation of Irish placenames and personal names and describe some common Irish customs, increasing our understanding, aiding our research - and our Irish travel plans. The last meeting for the year will be on Sunday 18 October, a research and project day. Meetings are held from 2-4.30pm at the WA Genealogical Society, 48 May Street, Bayswater. More information on the WAGS webpage> Events. Visitors and new members welcome.

Slainte!

Jenni Ibrahim Convenor, Irish Special Interest Group Email irish@wags.org.au Irish SIG webpage http://membership.wags.org.au/ special-interest-groups-mainmenu-47/irish-sig WAGS website http://membership.wags.org.au Online Forum http://membership.wags.org.au/forum/ irish-sig (open to anyone, free registration)

WAGS Western Australian Genealogical Society Inc. Looking for your Irish ancestors in old newspapers?

Old newspapers, both Irish and otherwise, are terrific places to hunt down your Irish ancestors. Some people feel frustrated because they know only that their ancestor came from Ireland, but not where. This can be a daunting problem if the name was a common one, like Murphy, Kelly or O’Brien.

So start in Australia with Trove - because we always start with our nearest ancestors and work backwards. Try to find out more about the ones in your family who migrated from Ireland. The National Library of Australia is virtually leading the world in a huge digitisation project, making available FOR FREE transcriptions and images of literally hundreds of old Australian newspapers, both big and small, from as early as the Hobart Town Gazette from 1816 and the Sydney Gazette from 1800. In addition to death notices, relatives sometimes placed an obituary in the local paper; this is a great way to look for a birthplace or county of origin of an Irish immigrant.

And remember Trove is absolutely free.

You’ll notice lots of errors in the Trove transcriptions, because the transcription is carried out by a computer

program. That’s how they can bring us so many old papers for free in such a short time. Readers are encouraged to edit the transcription to help others. Just create a log in and enter your corrections. Meanwhile google “Trove” or visit http://trove.nla.gov.au/ newspaper?q= Happy hunting!

The Irish Newspaper Archive has recently added seven new historic newspaper titles from County Kerry in the south west of Ireland, spanning 1828 - 1920.

Access by subscription. https://www.irishnewsarchive. com/wp/7-new-kerry-titles-added-to-archives/ The British Newspaper Archive has reached its 10 millionth historic newspaper page. The website launched in November 2011 with 4 million pages. Since then, it has added major historic newspapers with 58

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A candle loses nothing by lighting another candle

Perth vigil for Irish students in Berkeley balcony disaster

by Lloyd Gorman The Flame of Remembrance in Kings Park became the gathering point for a candle lit vigil this week.

A group of young Irish people came together at the war memorial to remember the six Irish students who died in California when a balcony collapsed beneath them on June 16.

Another seven students – who were all in America on working visas – were badly injured in the incident which saw them plunge 40 ft onto the pavement outside a four storey apartment block in Berkeley.

Vicky O’Donnell, 23, from Tipperary in Ireland who has been living in Perth for two years organised the vigil through the Irish Families in Perth facebook site several days previously.

“I just wanted to do something about it,” she said.

“A lot of people said they liked it” About 20 people turned out for the night time event which was an intimate and friendly gathering which saw people talking and praying together.

As well as holding candles the group created a Shamrock at the scene with tealight candle.

A mass for the victims was held at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church, Savlado Road, Subiaco on Sunday 28 June.

Ireland’s honorary consulate in WA – Subiaco resident Marty Kavanagh – said the deaths sent shocks around the world.

“I think everybody agrees it was a very tragic event, no parent would like to see their children go before them and to see young lives with so much to offer and so much ahead of them is a terrible tragedy,” he said.

“It’s wonderful to see commer-

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omrations here.

“I’m sure I speak for the entire Irish community in WA when I say that our hearts to go out to the family and friends of those young people whose lives were ended so early.”

Sean Daly, President of the Irish Club said: “The Irish community in Western Australia was shocked and saddened to hear of the recent tragedy in Berkeley. As part of the wider Irish community, we are touched by such events, no matter where we are in the world. Spending time abroad as a young student or a traveller is an experience common to many Irish people here, and we can all relate to the pain being felt now by the family and friends of those lost in this tragic accident far from home.

Our sympathies to all concerned.”

Evensong at St George’s Cathedral ST CILLIAN OF CAVAN Bishop & Martyr 6pm Choral Evensong Wednesday 8 July

St George’s Cathedral Perth Music: The Choir of Trinity College Melbourne known internationally as one of the finest choirs in Australia

Drinks Reception

Ernie Hannigan

Evensong with the Choir of Trinity College Melbourne St George’s Cathedral, Perth is delighted to welcome the Choir of Trinity College, University of Melbourne, for a special Evensong service at 6.00pm on Wednesday 8 July. The choir will sing Versicles & Responses (Lachlan McDonald), St Paul’s Service (Herbert Howells), O Lord, support us (David Briggs), and Set me as a seal (Daniel Riley).

The Choir will also be performing in our Concerts at One series that day.

The Choir of Trinity College, University of Melbourne, is the flagship of Trinity’s musical life, whose central role is the singing of choral services in the Chapel of Trinity College. It is equally acclaimed for its excellence in the concert hall and its collaborations with some of the world’s finest musicians. The current Director of Music is Jonathan Grieves-Smith, who succeeded Michael Leighton Jones in May 2014.

St Killian was a 7th century Irish missionary bishop to Franconia (in today’s Bavaria) where he suffered a martyr’s death on 8 July 689.

Born in County Cavan, Killian began his education in County Cork and completed it in County Kerry.

Having travelled to Rome to gain Papal authority for his mission, Killian based himself in Würzburg, where he converted Duke Gozbert and most of his subjects. The Duke married his brother’s widow, Geilana, and when Killian pointed out that this was in violation of Christian ethics, Geilana sent soldiers to Würzburg marketplace and had Killian beheaded.

Würzburg Cathedral was later built over the site of the martyrdom. Kiliani-Volksfest is celebrated in Bavaria annually in July.

Further information: info@perthcathedral.org or (08) 9325 5766

R.I.P.

The Perth celtic community lost a great man on the 21st May 2015, Ernie Hannigan (aged 72). The Glaswegian passed away following a battle with cancer.

Ernie played top-flight football in England and the USA before moving to Perth in 1973, and was inducted into WA soccer’s Hall of Fame.

Ernie has had many tributes spoken and printed about him from all over the world but the Hall of Fame he would be most proud of is from his family. I had contact with Jenni just before and following his passing and I know he was a much loved husband, father and a doting grandfather. A deeply religious man, we regularly met at Mass in Woodvale and his faith was there to be seen.

Our sympathy to Jenni and family on your sad loss of a great man and friend to everyone. Slan Abhaile a Chara!

Fred and Lilly Rea

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Don’t grieve for me, for now I’m free; I took His hand when I heard Him call; I turned my back and left it all.

If my parting has left a void; then fill it with remembered joy.

My life’s been full, I savored much; good friends, good times, a loved one’s touch.

A friendship shared, a laugh, a kiss; ah yes, these things, I too, will miss.

Perhaps my time seemed all too brief; don’t lengthen it now with undue grief.

Lift up your hearts and share with me; God wanted me now, He set me free.

with Marguerite O’Dwyer The Cure Tavern Irish bar & restaurant

Irish Fruit Scones Ingredients (Serves 10 - 12)

600 g flour 110 g granulated sugar 1 tablespoon baking powder Pinch of salt 100 g dry raisins or 100 g cranberries 190 g butter, cold cut up into cubes 2 eggs 350 ml buttermilk

1. Preheat oven to 190°C. 2. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

3. In a large bowl combine the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.

4. Add the butter and work with your fingertips until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.

5. Mix in the dry fruit.

6. In a small bowl whisk buttermilk and eggs together. Add this to the dry mixture.

7. Knead lightly until mixture comes together. Do not over handle as this will cause your scones to be tough and heavy.

8. Place dough on a lightly floured surface.

9. Pat out into 1 1/2 inch thickness.

Sprinkle top lightly with flour.

10. Cut into 3 inch rounds and place on a prepared baking sheet.

11. Bake scones for 30 - 35 minutes until the top and base are golden. If in doubt, stick a skewer into the centre. If the skewer is dry then the scones are baked through. If wet, place scones back into oven for a further 5 minutes.

12. Serve with Jam and lightly whipped cream.

Marguerite O’ Dwyer The Cure Tavern Irish bar & restaurant

GERRY PROUD OF AUSTRALIAN GOALBALL TEAM Youth Goalball International Australia v China in Hangzhou July 7 History will be made when for the first time an Australian Youth team both boys and girls will travel to China to take that country on in an International Goalball friendly in early July. Although China is probably one of the strongest teams right on Australia’s doorstep, this will mark a turning point in the Australian Goalball youth program when we begin to work towards a relationship and cross cultural pathways with our elite Goalball neighbour the “Mighty China”.

This is not only an International friendly but also a “gathering” of over forty elite athletes from right across China at their Goalball Centre of excellence in the city of Hangzhou, where the two countries will share their knowledge/skills and Goalball wisdom together for approximately a week.

Australia will have nine athletes represented at the peak level from Queensland, New South Wales, Western Australia and South Australia. Altogether including the two Australian National Youth coaches, three other assistant coaches will also fly out from four Australian States.

Not only will the Australian youth team learn something different about the Paralympic sport of Goalball, but they will also learn something new about one of the World’s oldest cultures not to mention one of the powerhouses of the game. It is also envisaged that we then build on this relationship by sending an Australian youth team to take part in an International tournament again in China in the very near future and of course we are also looking at running an International Youth tournament ourselves in order for us to reciprocate with this invitation.

The Australian players have been selected after running a series of training camps and testings in Adelaide, Sydney and Melbourne and they have made a strong commitment to train at an elite level since last October 2014.

Of the nine athletes selected four are from New South Wales: Issac Toppo, Tim Rees, Alice Kingstown and Brodie Smith. Three are from Western Australia: Mitchell Smith, Steffan Nero and Genieve Weston and the remaining two are Brendan Young from Queensland and Nikita Grosser from South Australia.

We congratulate these young dedicated athletes on being selected to represent their country in the sport of Goalball and we wish them all the best in the future with their sporting careers and with their final testing and training camp in Brisbane in October 2015.

Gerry Crowley National Goalball Youth Coach

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SHAMROCK With two games to go to mid-season, all teams are going well. State First and Reserves are sitting in the top four. Our State under 18s are in 6th position, five points behind the top team – this is pretty good considering it’s their first year together and they’re in a very competitive league. Our Amateurs First team are in top spot with a game in hand. The Amateurs Reserves are in 5th place. The Socials First team are two points off the top in 3rd position. Social 2 in Division 4

North are in 5th place, and under the guidance of Tom Cummins are improving every week. We’d like to thank all the coaches for their hard work to date.

So on the field things are going very well. Off the field is a different

Rovers

Michael Manning President Shamrock Rovers

end of July. When Gerry decided matter, with a very small group of to do things it happens in a big people trying to keep the show on way. First we had a weekend away the road. This year Derek Boyle came on board and is doing great work coordinating the social end of things, ably assisted by Frank Grimes, Gerry Sweeney, Peter Halpin and Mick O’Brien. But people are still spread very thin so if you have any spare time to help at State, Mick Manning, Tony Sheehan and Pat Moloney at Rovers Amateur in Bunbury to give Gerry his boy’s or Social level we would send off, and a great time was had be very grateful for the by all. Thanks to the guitar men assistance. Contact Marty Burke 0410081386 or Mick Frank Glackin, Carl and Beano and to a lesser extent Derek Boyle ha Manning 0418917050. ha.

Our Junior section run by Alec Robinson of total Foot- There are a few more things in the pipeline. By the time you read this ball Academy are holding Gerry Salinger’s Last Stand football their own in the under 9s. match will have been played, Alec is actively promothosted by Derek Boyle. All of us at ing clinics with a view to Shamrock Rovers Perth would like increasing our team numbers for to extend our best wishes to Gerry next year. If your child wants good and Cariosa and family on their coaching from accredited coaches return to Ireland. give Alec a ring on 0410899819.

Our new website will be up and Well is it really happening? Gerry running soon, thanks to the kind Salinger, affectionately known as sponsorship of Paul McLoughlin Sally, is going back to Ireland at the of Northside Meats. If you would like to use the site to advertise your business please call Marty on 0410081386.

As always thanks to our sponsors for 2015 – Bluescope Distribution, CFMEU, Northside Meats, Killarney Autos, Cellarbrations Duncraig and Tom Hoey. And thanks to Fred Rea and City of Swan for their continued support of the club, we really appreciate this.

C’mon the Hoops.

Marty Burke

www.shamrockrovers.com.au 90

Gaelic Games Junior Academy Update

By Debbie Cashman Well the warning went out in the last update about our exciting event this winter. It’s the launch of our Kellogs Cúl Camps, which is a GAA summer camp at home for kids ages 6 or turning 6 this year and up to 13years old, we at the Junior Academy are doing it over here Aussie style! It goes for 2 weeks during July school holidays under the watchful eyes of Damien Sheridan who is coming out from the Leinster council to lend his expertise. It will compromise of Hurling, Gaelic Football and other fun activities each day for 2 weeks 9am- 3pm in Tapping Primary School Oval. Drop off from 8.30am and pick up no later than 3.30pm so it will convenience parents who juggle family life around those times during the school terms, and especially those who dread the school holidays wondering what they will do with the kids for the 2 weeks! One week bookings also available.

We also will have the use of the indoor sports area for activities (we can’t make the poor kids run around all day long!) which will also come into play if the weather turns sour. Many thanks to Bill Boylan of Tapping Primary school for this facilitation as we would have struggled to make this happen without such a great venue. Numbers are strictly limited as we will have coach per child ratio to adhere to, kits come with registration, which consists of a Jersey, Jacket, and gear bag. Kids do not need to be part of the Junior Academy as this is open to all.

Our usual training is happening every Sunday from 12noon at Kingsway sporting complex just off Hepburn Av. We still have many months left of our own season so if you think your child (ages 4-12) would like to have a go, please come along for a free trial.

As always thanks to our sponsors, Masonmill Café (was Rose Café) in Carmel up in the hills, Sandra from

Realmark, Kilarney Autos, Sheamus the mortgage man from Endeavour Finance, and Visa4you for coming onboard again this year. We could not order gear, plan events etc. without your input so thanks again.

Welcome to our new coaches, it is always great to have mums and dads who have coached in Ireland to offer their experience to our Academy over here, and for the parents who help out on Sundays, always appreciated thank you! We

still have people signing up every week, which is a credit to our ’old’ coaches and committee members for all you work, making this a club people want to belong to! We have sausage sizzles every other Sunday depending on available free hands, so if you are peckish around lunch time join us for a snag!

Handy contacts: Sara Tiernan - Cúl Camps 0427 204 561 Debbie Cashman- Sec. 0406 229 450 John Broderick - V.Pres. 0417 962 911

Visit by Rose of Tralee, Maria Walsh

Football: BGC Grounds, Tom Bateman Reserve Cnr Bannister & Nicholson Rds, Canning Vale Hurling: RA Cook Reserve, Coode St. Morley

gfhwa.com.au 91

Gaelic Football & Hurling Association of WA Inc.

Gaelic Football

Mens Senior League Team Played Won Morley Gaels 5 0 St Finbarrs 4 4 Western Shamrocks 5 2 Southern Districts 5 3 Greenwood 5 2 Ladies League Team Played Won St Finbarrs 6 6 Southern Districts 6 4 Greenwood 6 3 Western Shamrocks 6 3 Morley Gaels 6 1 Coastal Breakers 6 0

Lost Drawn For Against Points 5 0 37 98 0 0 0 68 34 8 2 1 56 55 5 1 1 79 47 7 3 0 66 72 4 Lost Drawn For Against Points 0 0 201 60 153 2 0 105 90 23 2 1 139 85 61 2 1 108 115 0 5 0 77 154 -75 6 0 51 177 -126

All football matches played at Tom Bateman Park, Canningvale Hurling matches played at RA Cooke Reserve, Coode St Bedford

www.thebreakwater.com.au

58 Southside Drive, Hillarys Boat Harbour Ph: 08 9448 5000 Fax: 08 9448 6000

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St Gabriel’s Hurling & CamogieClub

St. Gabriel’s Hurling & Camogie GAA WA Club are currently rolling into our 4th Year in existence. With the clubs continuing growth we would like to welcome all current and past players back for 2015 and welcome all new players to our great club. St Gabriel’s GAA Club caters for players of all levels of ability, including those who have never played the sport before. Joining the club is a fantastic way to get fit, meet new people and be involved in lots of fun social activities.

With the league’s under way, the hurlers sit mid table with a win, two draws and two defeats.

“New Members Welcome” The camogie kicked off their league with a narrow defeat to Swans with the league been a Hurling: Ronan 0439 979 237 best of 3 games, Gab’s have two must win games ahead prior to the championship final in Camogie: Danielle 0405 418 809 August…..BEST OF LUCK to all for 2015……GAB’s Abu……

Facebook: Both the Hurling and Camogie Clubs held their annual fundraising draws over the past St. Gabriels Hurling WA month. For the hurling draw, Damien Ferguson took the major prize with Aoife Redington St. Gabriels CamogieClub and Patrick Gaynor winning the other prizes on offer. Andy Kerins for the second year in www.stgabrielsgaaclub.com a row sold the winning ticket.

Our Major Sponsors: In the Camogie fundraiser held at Cannington Greyhound Track, Gearoid Hoban won the trifecta, with Conan Fitzsimons and Paul Quinn winning the other prizes. Anita Murphy won the Sellers prize sponsored by HAIR By STACEY…..

St. Gabriels GAA Club could like to extend a warm welcome to our new sponsors, An Sibin Irish Bar, Northbridge and Duffy & McGowan. They join the clubs current sponsors Monford, PERI Australia Pty Limited & PTR Financial Asset for 2015. We are looking forward to a great year ahead!

MONFORD

Club Good Luck’s & Congrats: To club hurlers Eoin “Boggie” Coyne, Noel Lawless and Eoin McKeigue who recently got engaged to their partners, Susan, Sarah Louise & Laura. Hurling Club Secretary Ray Coughlan, Camogie players Cliodhna and Mary Quirke who recently got married. Special good luck to Camogie Players Martina Conroy and Christina Fitzpatrick who both get married this July.

Upcoming: St Gabriels Club day in Joondalup July 4 drinks & food on the night. All Welcome.

Hurling Sponsors Monford Group: Declan 0450421859 www.Monfordgroup.com.au PTR Asset Finance: Simon 0423032014 www.ptrasset.com.au PERI Australia Pty Limited John 0418 885 604 www.periaus.com.au Camogie Sponsors: Duffy & McGowan Formwork, Concrete & Steel Fixing: Peter 0497 370 542 or Jimmy 0412 903 947 An Sibin Irish Bar, Northbridge Shane 0404 784 102

MONFORD Construction & Mining Contractors - Earth Moving Contractors Monford Group is a group of three companies, Monford Plant Hire, Monford Labour Hire and Monford Constructions, performing works Australia wide.

Monford Group Pty Ltd has extensive experience and capabilities that include the construction of major mining, industrial and civil infrastructure projects, throughout Australia.

As a group Monford has completed projects involving concrete construction, civil construction, mining infrastructure, tilt-up construction, earthworks, equipment and labour hire. One of the keys to their success is their professional approach to the construction of any project.

Monford has developed and implemented an Integrated Management System with the safety and well-being of their employees,

partners and customers in mind.

Monford Group has proven that its resources and management systems ensure their projects are completed on time and within budget.

Monford Group has worked on some of Australia’s largest projects, namely; Pluto LNG Karratha, Sino Iron Cape Preston, FMG Solomon, Devils Creek Karratha, Perth City Rail Link Alliance Perth, Rapid Growth Project Port Hedland and the Nurrumbidgee to Googong Pipeline, NSW. Monford’s Clients include John Holland, Abi Group, Decmil, Georgiou, Kentz, AGC, Murphy Pipe and Civil and Construction Industries Australia.

McIntosh & Son is proud to be a major supplier of Case Construction Machinery to the Monford Group.

For more information please check out Monford’s website www. monfordgroup.com

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Unfortunately our May fixture scheduled for Gosnells was cancelled by the Gosnells Golf Club due to the stormy weather on the day.

Whaleback Golf Course Sunday 21 June 2015 What a big day this proved to be with 3 trophies up for grabs, the Ambassador’s Trophy, Match Play Cup and Provincial/International Cup. A lot of good golf was played with all the usual craic on the day.

Firstly, the winner of the Ambassador’s trophy was our esteemed handicapper, Brendan Wymbs, who had an amazing score of 44 points in blustery, and at times wet conditions - he must have thought he was back in good old Donegal playing on his home course with Daniel O’Donnell during June! Second and third place on 41 points were Mick Connolly and Jack Ebbs.

Well played lads. Joan Ross won the ladies prize for a fine round of golf.

See the photo of our Club Captain Anthony Gannon presenting the Trophy to Brendan Wymbs.

Of course, Club members look forward to seeing Brendan’s revised handicap at our next outing.

Secondly, Joan Ross won the Match Play Cup for 2015, with Shane Cody runner up. These two players eliminated some good golfers over the past 6 months along the road to the final. Joan showed no mercy to the recently married Shane who clearly found out that the honeymoon was over! Well done Joan.

See the photo of Captain Gannon presenting the Match Play Cup to Joan.

Thirdly, we held our inaugural competition between the provinces of Ireland and an international team of waifs, strays and cobbers from near (Victoria Park) and far (California). The day was won by the Munster Team, with Leinster a close second. (Please note that Leinster had twice the number of players but just weren’t up to the challenge on the day.......maybe next year!) See the photo of a number of the celebrating Munster team Steve O’Sullivan, Dominic Hyde and Anthony Ryan. Our thanks go to Sally Ann and Andy McDonald for donating the trophy for what will become an annual event.

Bragging rights for Munster for the next 12 months!

Other winners on the day: 2 balls: Graham Dorgan, Anthony Gannon Long Drive: Ladies Sally Ann McDonald, Men: Aidan O’Sullivan Long Putt: Anthony Gannon Nearest Pin: #6 Bill Ross, #8 Brendan Wymbs, #13 P J Kenny, #18 Anthony Ryan Low Gross: Andy McDonald Until next time. Mike O’Callaghan (of the Munster O’Callaghans) Secretary www.irish golf.com.au

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Pie & Pint Night Every Thursday All welcome to join in.

Live music from 7pm.

JULY 3rd

4 5 11 17 18 24 25 26 31

Dates for your Diary: Christmas in July Seniors Lunch Served at 12.45pm Police Pipe Band call 9370 7224 for tickets Northern Soul Freo v Brisbane Lions Eagles v Adelaide Crows Motown Freo v Carlton Perth Male Choir Call Dave on 0407380210 for tickets Christmas in July Dinner Dance Call Nick for details Eagles v Sydney Swans Under Cover Band

AUGUST

1 Northern Soul 2 Freo v GWS 5/6/7 Irish Theatre Players One Act Season 7 Seniors Lunch (upstairs) 8 Eagles v Hawthorn 9 Irish Theatre Players One Act Season 13 –15 Irish Theatre Players One Act Season 16 Freo V Eagles 21 Motown 23 Eagles V Western Bulldogs 30 Freo v Melbourne

MONDAY: Bar: 4pm - 10.30pm Irish Language Classes TUESDAY: Bar: 4pm - 10.30pm WEDNESDAY: Bar: 4pm - 10.30pm

SENIOR’S L

Ist Friday

UNCH

of the Mo Bar open nth. $15 per pers on from 12.3 0pm.

Lunch at 1 p m .

Bookings 9381 521 3

** Showing Live GAA Football and Hurling Matches on Big Screen**

Book your function at the Irish Club Contact the club on 9381 5213.

We have 3 function rooms and can cater for up to 200 people.

Full bar and catering options are available.

500 mtrs from Domain Stadium

QUIZ NIGHTS • PARTIES • FUNDRAISERS • STAGE SHOWS AND ANYTHING!

61 Townshend Road, Subiaco WA 6008

Tel: +61 8 9381 5213

irish1@irishclubofwa.com.au

www.irishclubofwa.com.au

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OPENING HOURS & ACTIVITIES

THURSDAY: Bar: 4pm - Midnight Pint and Pie Night Music from 7pm FRIDAY: Bar: 4pm - Midnight Kitchen 5.30-8.30pm Comhaltas Music Lessons Set Dancing 8.00pm followed by the Seisiun SATURDAY: Bar open 4pm - Late SUNDAY: Bar: 4pm - 10pm The Irish Club is a members only club, and we welcome new members. Application forms can be downloaded from the website irishclubofwa.com.au