I was relieved when nobody died

IRISH ACTOR COLIN FARRELL IS PROBABLY ONE OF THE FEW PEOPLE ALIVE TODAY WITH A GENUINE IDEA AND INSIGHT INTO WHAT LIFE MIGHT HAVE BEEN LIKE FOR THE MEN WHO MADE THEIR LIVING BY HUNTING WHALES.

Farrell (45) plays the lead role of Henry Dax in a brutal five-part 2021 mini-series about a whaling ship that sets out from Hull in the UK in the 1850s. Dax’s murderous tendencies extend beyond harpooning whales.

The hard-to-watch series opens with a murder and more and then goes into bloody and gruesome scenes of seals being butchered and whales being slaughtered.

“I was sent the book and my agents thought it wouldn’t necessarily be in my wheelhouse,” Farrell, who is from Dublin, told a newspaper reporter, “but within 50 pages I knew I wanted to make it.

“To some people it’s bleak and violent, but I love that about it. It seems to say something very important about what drives us as human beings, so it made sense for me, somehow. It tuned into everything else I’ve done. “I’ve never played a character with so little compunction or apology, or who does things this despicable. The day they said: ‘we’re heading back to open water’, I’ll never forget the relief I felt that nobody died.” The production went 81 degrees north to film and create the Arctic wasteland in which the barbaric story is set. Apparently, this is further north than any film crew – outside of documentary makers – has filmed before. The actors and crew spent weeks living in close quarters in the icy conditions. One way Farrell prepared for the role was by not wearing gloves, no matter how cold temperatures dropped, so that his hands would bleed in the same way they did for the whalers back then. The fact that he could not change out of his period appropriate costume for up to six weeks helped him become one with the character and experience of Dax.

“We were right on the top of the planet, about 500 miles from the North Pole,” Farrell said. “Five weeks on the boats without being on dry land, about 500 miles from the nearest town. It felt dangerous, it felt very dangerous. It was really cold and, even though you were well covered and clothed, you could feel the body kicking into a sense of survival. But it was beautiful.” ☘

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Perth vigils for Aisling

Perth’s Irish community – like many others in Australia and across he world – came together to hold a vigil in the wake of the shocking murder of 23 year old Tullamore teacher Aisling Murphy while she was jogging in broad daylight in her home town of Tullamore, Co. Offaly in January. Hundreds of Irish people – including families with young children, took part in an evening time vigil and walk at the Flame of Remembrance in Kings Park on January 19, organised by the Claddagh Association and supported by every Irish cultural and sporting group as well as several Irish run businesses in Perth. Organisers of the event called her murder, “a dark day for the Irish community and women all over the world”. A group of musicians played traditional Irish airs and a flute and fiddle as well as a top with her county’s colours were amongst the tributes laid out for the young Irish woman who was in adition to being a promising and popular educator was also heavily involved with her local GAA club and a musician in her own right. Elaine O’ Grady who attended the vigil tweeted: “The beautiful song of the kookaburra who sang along to the stunning traditional Irish music at the vigil tonight for #AshlingMurphy in Perth,”. Similar events were staged across Australia, including one at the Amphitheatre at Kangaroo Point, Brisbane “to remember her and all who have died by genderbased violence”, organised by the Irish Australian Support Association Queensland. A piece written for her.ie by Anna Rourke described a sunrise vigil in Sydney attended by dozens of people on the hill above Bronte Beach and spoke to the emotions felt by all who were touched by her death. “In front of the crowd on the grass, a row of candles illuminates a framed photo of smiling young woman,” she wrote. Sunrise-watching at beaches across the city is a staple social activity for lots of Sydney’s Irish expats. It became more popular than ever during last year’s lockdown, when outdoor meetups were the only opportunity for many of us, living thousands of miles from our families, to see friends. But Saturday’s clifftop gathering is by far the biggest I’ve ever seen at Bronte... The primary school teacher’s murder has deeply shaken many of us in Sydney. The mood among those gathered with their candles on the hill this morning is of sadness – and utter disbelief.”

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WAIFC Annual An Gorta Mor Famine Commemoration

Sunday 15th May 2022 @ 3pm

At An Gorta Mor Memorial, Market Square, Subiaco Will include the handing over of a Travel Box to The Geraldton Historical Society.

ENQUIRIES: Jim Egan 0413 866 320 or Fred Rea 0418 943 832

From Left: Fred Rea, Chair WAIFC, Heather Henderson, Mayor Subiaco, President Michael D Higgins and Sabina Coyne at unveiling of memorial.

The event is dedicated to the young women who came to Western Australia on the Travancore and the Palestine following the Famine years of 1845 to 1848. They came from workhouses in Ireland. All were destitute and some had lost their parents and families. Many were 'orphans' and others were simply unable to support themselves within the family.

'I am an orphan girl, in Westport I was found, The workhouse is my world, since the praties took us down, What time in life is left to me, if I don't leave Westport town, But the crown is sending girls to sea, for far Australia bound. Sail, sail, sail me away, Sail to Australia, Sail, sail, sail me I pray, sail me away to Australia. Brendan Graham

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