G’day from Gary Gray AUSTRALIA’S AMBASSADOR IN IRELAND Stay up to date with what’s happening in the Australian Embassy, Ireland by following:
HAPPY AUSTRALIA DAY AND ST PATRICK’S DAY 2021 The 26th of January 2021 is a significant date for Australians in Ireland, as much as St Patrick’s Day 2021. 2021 marks 80 years since Robert Gordon Menzies, our longest serving Prime Minister visited Eamon De Valera in Dublin, and 75 years since the establishment of formal relations between the Government of Australia and the then soon-to-be proclaimed Irish Republic. The creation of diplomatic relations in 1946 was illustrative of the deep and very Australian personal ties between our two island nations which have continued for almost two and a half centuries. Embassy, Much has happened in the last 75 years. We have seen the world evolve in an Ireland unprecedented way; witnessing the first missions into outer space, hundreds of millions of people lifted out of poverty, the proliferation of democratic institutions across much of the world, the establishment of the United Nations Security Council, of which Australia was a founding member and onto which Ireland soon takes its rightful place as a member for the next two years. @AusEmbIre Australia Day acts as both a day of celebration and a day of reflection for many Australians: celebrating the modern and open democracy we have become, while acknowledging the pained history of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island peoples of Australia who remain uniquely connected in culture and in history to the land. Indeed, since the First Fleet arrived in Australia in 1788, Ireland has left an indelible mark on Australian society and created one of the most established Irish immigrant communities anywhere in the world. 11% of Australians claimed Irish ancestry in the 2016 census – the second largest grouping on our continent, and the newest wave of Irish immigration has meant that almost 80,000 people who were born in Ireland live in Australia today. These long standing and significant ties have influenced our value system and created an interconnectedness that permeates every aspect of relations between our two nations. From prime ministers and premiers, priests, pastoralists, and poets; medics, winemakers, inventors and musicians - as well as the occasional bushranger - Australian history is in part, Irish history. The Irish have shaped Australia’s public The Australian Rock Show continues with our weekly Aussie rock bonanza life. Former Australian Prime Ministers Bob Hawke hosted by the ‘Thunder from Down Under’, Gaz and Taz and Paul Keating, former New South Wales Premier John Fahey, Minister Susan Ryan and the first female Australian Minister, the Hon Margaret Guilfoyle (born in Belfast) - all celebrated their Irish heritage. The influence of Irish Australians on Aussie culture continues. A number of Australian Football League Premiership players are testament to this enduring connection in addition to a number of other notable influences such as;
@ausembire
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