The Irish Scene September/October 2021 Edition

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Contents

ACCOUNTANTS & TAX AGENTS 9 DJ Gordon & Associates................... 9321 2266 BEAUTICIAN 71 Sharon Nolan Brows & Beauty....... 0498 980 987 BUTCHERS 96 McLoughlin’s Meats........................... 9249 8039 24 Meat Connoisseur............................... 9309 9992 ENTERTAINMENT & RADIO 56 Frank Murphy Celtic Rambles......... 107.9fm 50 Fiddlestick ................................David 0413 259 547 47 Torc Ceili Club FUNERALS 39 McKee Funerals.................................. 9401 1900 HOMEWARES 63 Naturally Sheepskins IMMIGRATION & TOURISM 7 EasiVisa ............... Carol-Ann Lynch 9429 8860 IRISH COMMUNITY GROUPS 69 Aust Irish Heritage Assoc................ 9345 3530 59 Australian Friends of Irish Unity 62 The Claddagh Assoc.......................... 9249 9213 25 Halloween Ball IRISH FOOD & CAFES 43 Clonakilty MECHANICS 1 Killarney Autos .......................... Neil 0439 996 764 MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT 87 Stephen Dawson................................. 9172 2648 PROPERTY MAINTENANCE 13 Housemaster Building Inspections. 0405 632 391 85 Integrity Property Solutions............. 0423 618 506 PUBS, CLUBS & RESTAURANTS 19 Durty Nelly’s, Perth............................ 9226 0233 19 Galway Hooker, Scarborough 31 Irish Club of WA, Subiaco................ 9381 5213 37 JB O’Reillys, West Leederville........ 9382 4555 2 Paddy Malone’s, Joondalup............. 9300 9966 45 Ric O’Shea’s @ The Beaconsfield 6226 9240 51 The National Hotel, Fremantle........ 9335 6688 27 Woodbridge Hotel, Guildford.......... 9377 1199 SOLICITORS & LEGAL 43 Kavanagh Lawyers............................. 9218 8422 23 Vibe Legal............................................ 6111 4890 SPORT & SPORTING CLUBS 11 Ascot Racing Carnival 92 GAA ..................................................... 0458 954 052 90 Shamrock Rovers................................ 0410 081 386 TRANSPORT & FREIGHT 50 AI Express............................................ 9243 0808 TRAVEL & TOURISM 55 British Travel........................................ 9433 3288 TYRES, BATTERIES, BRAKES ETC 13 Tyrepower Perth City ...............Fiona 9322 2214

An Bealach Caol.....................................58 Are You Ready To Roll Up And Chance Your Arm?.................................. 26 Around The Irish Scene......................... 42 Australian Irish Heritage Assoc.......... 69 Australian Irish Dancing Association WA......................................86 Bill Daly - The Lough Corrib Boatmen.................................................. 70 Christmas In July.................................... 32 Claddagh Report....................................60 Comhaltas Perth.....................................46 Family History WA..................................72 From Home To Home: Oral Histories Of Irish Seniors In Western Australia.............................64 GAAWA...................................................90 GAA Junior Academy............................ 94 G’day From Gary Gray...........................28 G’day From Melbourne.......................... 52 Irish Theatre Players..............................84 Isteach Sa Teach.....................................20 Konnichiwa From Tokyo........................54 Love In The Time Of COVID..................16 Luck Of The Irish Strikes In The Lucky Country.................................. 12 Mary Durack Lecture............................33 Matters Of Public Interest....................40 Na Fianna Catalpa GAA Club..............88 Paula From Tasmania.............................80 Reviews.....................................................76 Shamrock Rovers...................................85 Sorry To Keep Droning On About It But!........................................................15 The House That Jack Built....................34 The Voyages Of Brendan......................66 The WA Story Behind Ireland’s Olympic Glory!..........................................4 Ulster Rambles.......................................48 Win The Cover Photo Competition.......57

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Disclaimer: Opinions expressed by contributors in articles, reproduced articles, advertisements or any other printed material contained in Irish Scene magazine or on www.irishscene.com.au are those of the individual contributors or authors and as such are not necessarily those of Canal Walk Media. The publisher and editor reserve the right to accept, reject, edit or amend submitted material in order to make it appropriate or suitable for publication. Irish Scene welcomes submissions, ideas and suggestions for articles and features as well as photographs of events happening around and within the Irish community in Western Australia.

The WA story behind Ireland’s Olympic glory!

AS UNLIKELY AS IT MIGHT SOUND, TEAM IRELAND WAS LEAD INTO AND THROUGH THE TOKYO OLYMPICS BY A WEST AUSTRALIAN WITH AN OUTSTANDING SPORTS CAREER. ALBANY NATIVE PATRICIA HEBERLE WAS NAMED CHEF DE MISSION FOR THE IRISH NATIONAL TEAM IN 2018, AND WHILE THE RECENT END OF THE GAMES WILL SEE THAT ROLE WIND DOWN, HER RELATIONSHIP WITH THE OLYMPIC FEDERATION OF IRELAND AND THE COUNTRY ITSELF IS SET TO DEEPEN.

BY LLOYD GORMAN Above: Grand Finale – From left, Chef de Mission (CdM) Patricia Heberle from Western Australia with Team Ireland staff Linda O’Reilly Operations Manager and Alex Bocsi Team Support Manager and Gavin Noble Deputy CdM get ready for the closing ceremony with Modern Pentathlon athlete Natalya Coyle who was the Irish flag bearer for the event.

4 | THE IRISH SCENE

“A lot of people would say to me you’re an Australian, how did you get that job and sometimes you have to pinch yourself and say yeah, how did I?,” Patricia told Irish Scene in August during a much deserved and badly needed two week holiday. “Sometimes you are in the right place at the right time and maybe there was a little bit of fate involved, but it’s been a fantastic job to have and working in Irish sport is probably only second to working in Australian sport. There is incredible potential, a lot of excitement and a lot of motivated, passionate people and it’s been an honour to have had that role to take Team Ireland to the Olympics, a highlight of my career.”

THE WA STORY BEHIND IRELAND’S OLYMPIC GLORY!

Right: WA native Patricia Herberle was appointed Chef de Mission for Team Ireland and walked with the team at the 2020 Tokyo opening ceremony (above)

With a professional background in hockey and high performance sport, she had just relocated to the UK in July 2016 when she was invited to do some consultancy work for Swim Ireland by the CEO Sarah Keane. In February 2017 Keane became the first female president of the Olympic Federation of Ireland. “She must have thought I did a good job because she asked if I would like to come and do some work with the Olympic Federation of Ireland.” It was a period of major change and renewal for the organisation. “So I came in to do some initial work to support them through that period of transition and to assist with some of the early planning for Tokyo, and I haven’t left.

When the Chef de Mission role came up, I applied for it and I got the job.

It was one of those situations where I was in the right place at the right time. If I reflect, I think they were quite open to having someone who had different ideas and who came from a different background because they were looking for that refreshment.” Her appointment as Chef de Mission was announced in December 2018 and as well as the Olympics Heberle was also in charge of Team Ireland for the 2019 European Games in Minsk. During this time while living in England she would travel each week to Dublin to work there. I put it to her that there is nothing more typical for a WA worker to be a FIFO (Fly-in Fly-out). “I know, it’s almost in my genes,” she laughed.

After a successful European Games the Olympic Federation and key support staff focused their attentions on Tokyo. The dramatic onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020 and lockdowns in March stifled training and preparations for the big event and cast a dark shadow over the Games themselves. Like practically everyone else Patricia found herself working from home and having to find new and different ways to operate. “It’s an interesting fact that much of our planning was

done with people in their home offices and at the kitchen table connecting through Zoom and other platforms,” she said. “It wasn’t really until April/May this year that we were able to work with people face to face again, but within very restricted protocols, with no more than six people in a room, 2m social distancing and all that, so not an ideal situation to be honestly.”

As the crisis continued and deepened around the world it seemed increasingly likely the 2020 Summer Olympics – due to open on July 24 – were on a collision course with the virus. On March 24 2020 the International Olympic Committee (IOC) declared the games would still go ahead “no later than summer 2021”.

Patricia clearly recalls the period when there was significant speculation, mixed messages and mounting pressure on the event from all sides. “So we weren’t necessarily surprised when they made the call, but speaking for myself only it was an interesting experience to live through. A few weeks passed before we knew the Games would be held one year THE IRISH SCENE | 5

Above: Hockey Ireland signs MOU with Iwate delegates for pre-Games camp Image: hockey.ie

later than planned, but it was a period when there was a lot of speculation being driven by the media and so it was a relief to have the decision made. Athletes who had spent years preparing for the Games suddenly felt like their life long dream was going to be taken away from them, while all the flights, accommodation and other arrangements made by the organisation were thrown into disarray.

“We were well advanced in our planning in March so it was almost a grieving process and it was a couple of months before we all recalibrated because we were in phase 1 of the pandemic and in lockdown. We relied on emails and on-line meetings to connect with the athletes and staff as there was a lot of uncertainty at the time. With our office closing down, just like pretty much every other sporting business, including Sport Ireland we had a month or so where we were forced to stop and recalibrate before we moved forward in planning for 2021.

One of the biggest things was that around 50% of our team had qualified, so the sports had some certainty around participating in the Games. But we had another group of seven or eight sports who were scheduled to attend Olympic qualification events, but most of those events had been postponed, cancelled or qualification requirements had been changed. So while there was a lot of responsibility on the Olympic Federation and my staff team around the logistics, Village operations because everything is completely aligned to how big a team we had, how many sports we had and the needs of those groups, there was still a lot of uncertainty. We had some sports and athletes who had qualified – such as Women’s Hockey, the Equestrian team, Rowing, Canoe Slalom, Cycling and Taekwondo – we were still guessing in respect of swimming, athletics – which was always going to be a big delegation – and a whole range of other sports that were trying to get to qualification.

It was a highly stressful time for the whole Irish sport system and there was great uncertainty around access to 6 | THE IRISH SCENE

training facilities, many of which had to close due to Covid and travel to overseas competition, so there was a lot of uncertainty for everyone”.

To the relief of everyone involved the postponed Games eventually came to be and the first of two Team Ireland staff delegations arrived in Japan on July 5th to set up the Irish pre-Games training camp in Fukuroi City where around 9 sports were going to be based to train and acclimatise to the local conditions. “Then on July 8 the main staff group – including myself – arrived in Tokyo and we moved straight into the Olympic Village. Our role was to set up the village accommodation, our HQ office, our own independent Medical clinic, decorate all the rooms and prepare for the first lot of athletes to arrive. You are there from day one and it’s absolutely full on and every day is a long day.”

On top of supporting 116 competing athletes and 10 reserves, there was a backroom team of about eighty officials including a dedicated Covid Liaison Officer, team managers, sport specific coaches, 5 doctors, physios and psychologists. All of these were charged with implementing the COVID guidelines and requirements for both Team Ireland, the International Olympic Committee and of the host country. Like everyone else participating in the Games, every member of Team Ireland had

THE WA STORY BEHIND IRELAND’S OLYMPIC GLORY!

saliva testing carried out every day. “There were a lot of things you had to do which had nothing to do with sport but that had a lot to do with keeping people safe and healthy and that was a big responsibility. One of the things I am most proud of is that we did not have one positive test in Japan. We had a few people who were inconvenienced by named as close contacts on a couple of flights into Tokyo before the Games began, but there were a lot of countries that had positive tests in the Games and in the village and it was a relief that we wren toe of those. We had managed to get almost everyone vaccinated before we left Ireland and it was a very professional and disciplined group. Keeping people safe and healthy was probably one of the biggest pieces of work that myself and my team had to do to ensure that people could compete or fulfil their particular support role.”

Patricia is no stranger to the Olympic arena. As a member of the Hockeyroos - Australia’s national women’s hockey team – she played in the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles and was a member of the coaching staff for both the 1996 and 2000 Summer Olympics in Atlanta and Sydney. She has also been involved in more World Cups, Commonwealth Games or Championships than you can count on two hands.

She knew these Games would be unlike anything she – or her colleagues – had experienced before but she found the challenging environment actually brought the members of Team Ireland closer than might happen normally. She did everything she could to support the athletes and tried to get to as many events as possible, as much as to have an ‘Irish’ face cheering them on. “I probably got out to see sport on about ten occasions and we had big flat screen TV set

THE IRISH SCENE | 7

up in the office so anytime there were Irish athletes everything stopped and everyone watched those athletes or watched the Rugby 7s or Hockey teams. The build up to anyone performing is always exciting and before any of the medal racing or boxing bouts it was huge and then they actually win the gold medal and there’s a lot of celebration amongst the team. Whatever time the athletes arrived back in the Village we would assemble as many of the team as possible outside to create a socially distanced guard of honour for our medallists to walk through”.

There were a lot of rules and requirements every day that were about keeping the Japanese community safe, about keeping the athletes safe, keeping the village safe and viable and allowing the competition to go on. Our group and particularly the athletes were very diligent and well organised and that meant that they weren’t hindered as I said by being close contacts or any of the group testing positive and allowed them to focus on their event and the competition. I think the thing that was really different for the athletes was there was no social context to the games, a lot of the socialising you would have with other countries and the ability to move freely around the village was reduced and also each group had a reduced period to stay at the Games so basically you could only arrive five or six days before you competed and then you had to leave one to two days after you finished the competition. That was very different, normally people would stay on to party, do sight sighting or shopping and none of that was really allowed. So it made for a more controlled and serious Games rather than the fun and light hearted moments you would traditionally have with some of the mixing between the countries and sports.”

There was however at least one amusing and entertaining episode involving a Team Ireland member which went viral on social media and in news outlets around the world. While the Games were still in their early days for a few days audiences around the world were fed repeated sensationalised stories about the ‘anti-sex’ beds - made from cardboard – in the rooms of athletes and others in the Olympic village, designed apparently to stop the athletes from enjoying frisky romps. The much less ‘sexy’ truth was that it was a bid by the Japanese authorities to be environmentally friendly with the 18,000 beds able to be recycled into 8 | THE IRISH SCENE

paper products after the event was over. A prime example of not letting the facts get in the way of a good story. Single handedly Irish gymnast Rhys McClenaghan was able to put the story to bed so to speak. In a 14 second long video clip he was able to disprove the theory by jumping up and down on one of the beds like it was a trampoline. “The beds are meant to be anti-sex, and yes they are made out of cardboard and apparently they are meant to break at any sudden movements, its fake news.”

That clip got more than four million views (and counting) and even attracted a message from the official Olympic Twitter account: “Thanks for debunking the myth!”. Patricia said McClenaghan already had a large following but

THE WA STORY BEHIND IRELAND’S OLYMPIC GLORY!

Opposite left: Heberle at her appointment as Chef de Mission in 2018. Left: Team Ireland Leadership Group – Liam Harbison, Deputy Chef de Mission; Nancy Chillingworth, Pre Games Training Camp Manager; Phil Moore, Head of Performance Support; Patricia Heberle; and Gavin Noble, Deputy Chef de Mission. his post achieved maximum impact and was a nice distraction. “He created a light hearted moment that sent the media into a bit of frenzy on one particular angle and it did go viral all over the world,” she said. “I think he’s still getting attention from that, but people have to make their own fun and it was a nice way to start the games to have some attention on one of our Irish athletes.”

She is proud of what she and her team were able to accomplish in Japan. “We came home with two gold medals and two bronze and in the previous Rio Games Ireland won a silver and bronze, so we doubled our medal count,” she said.

“But I think outside of the medals, what was really significant was that we had more athletes getting into finals, we had a lot of Irish records broken and we had a lot of personal bests and season bests. This is really positive for Irish sport as the Olympics is such a tough competition and we are a small country and who can’t compete around the funding that some countries invest into high performance sport.

So they did really well and to win Gold medals and Bronze medals in both rowing and in boxing, well we are pretty happy with that. You would always like more, but you have to be realistic and to be honest one of the most important things about these Games was that we could travel to Japan, safely compete and keep our athletes healthy and get them home.

Trying to make the Games experience positive for the athletes was important, but we all knew it was going to be different from any previous Olympics, so as Chef de Mission I was just as pleased about having no positive tests, no breaches of the rules and managing to deal with a lot of real challenges, as I was to have had the four medals to bring back to Ireland.”

The Olympics might be over and a new Chef de Mission (Gavin Noble) named for the Paris 2024 Games, but Patricia’s association with Ireland is only getting deeper. “I’m actually continuing in a different role with the Olympic Federation and then in early 2022 I’m moving to Ireland to live there, for the next three years. I’ll be house hunting from October and the prospect of living in Ireland is very exciting because it will allow me the chance to build on some of the relationships and friendships I’ve already developed and help to explore the country a bit more. Going from FIFO and being a visitor to being able to immerse myself fully in Irish culture and Irish life, that will be great.” During lockdown with more time on her hands than normal Patricia did some research into her family tree and discovered she had some Irish ancestry she wasn’t previously aware of.

“My great grandfather on my father’s side was born in Ireland in 1865, he grew up in Manchester and emigrated to Australia with his family in 1877,” she said. There are big gaps in what she knows about him but she hopes to find out more in the coming years.”

Her past encounters with the Irish have always been positive. “I played Hockey against Ireland a long time ago and I coached against Ireland with the England women’s hockey teams and I was on the Australian staff team for the World Cup in Dublin in 1994,” she said. “There’s always been an affinity with the country, I’ve always loved going to Ireland and we have always been very well hosted, people were friendly and we always had a good game, it didn’t matter if it was Australia ranked number 1 playing Ireland or England ranked 6 playing Ireland, it was

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THE IRISH SCENE | 9

THE WA STORY BEHIND IRELAND’S OLYMPIC GLORY!

Right: A tweet from Irish insurance company FBD Insurance: “What an amazing couple of weeks in Tokyo. Congrats to all @TeamIreland athletes who represented Ireland with such distinction on the world stage.

A special shout out to our ambassador @kelly64kg as she returns home this week with Gold. #SoundSupport #TeamIreland 🇮 ”

🇨

always a tough encounter. I’ve been lucky enough through sport to travel all around the world but there are places you go that you just feel really comfortable and Ireland is one of those places. I think the Irish and Australians in particular, we’ve got certain attitudes to life that we share. The Irish can have a good laugh and like to have a drink and are really good fun socially, I’d like to think Australians are pretty similar.

While she has always felt a connection with Ireland Patricia is fiercely proud of being an Australian and her upbringing in WA. “I come from Albany, down the coast from Perth,” she said. “When I was growing up in Albany the population was about 10,000 people and my father was a professional fisherman, so I come from pretty humble country beginnings. But I always had ambition and my first dream was that I would go to an Olympic Games and compete in hockey. That motivated me all through my teens and as I progressed and made a few State representative teams I also got a real bug around travel and developed a sense of confidence and set goals and knew that if I put my mind to it and I worked hard I could achieve things. That has really been the foundation for finding myself in a place like Ireland, that I’m not scared to step outside my comfort zone and I’m not scared to take on challenges and I think that attitude and mindset has been shaped by my family, living in the country and life and sport experiences from a young age.

I had a rich sporting life in Albany and as kids in country towns often do I played lots of different sports, but I started my hockey and I learned my hockey in Albany and I will never forget that.

10 | THE IRISH SCENE

The other thing is I come from a family background that kept me humble and that helps to ensure that you don’t take yourself too seriously and you’ve got people around you who know what’s important in life, and maybe that’s not always yourself or sport.

So sport is great and sport can take you different places but there are a lot of other things in life and coming from a small country town where people work hard and just get on with things, you learn to take the good with the bad. A lot of people say to me did you feel disadvantaged growing up in the country and that you must have missed a lot of things and opportunities that you would have in the city, but no the opposite. I’m grateful I grew up in a beautiful part of WA and Albany is such a brilliant town that gave me a lot of my first opportunities to grow as a person and certainly in sport.”

During the normal course of things Patricia would travel twice a year to see family and friends at home, but her last trip home was at the end of 2019.

“Whenever I get back one of the first things I want to do is get down to Albany and then get out to a special place an hour out of Bremer Bay where we have a family beach shack. Those are the first things I want to do and when I get the opportunity to go home I’ll take it. I’ve contemplated that I might be able to get home for Christmas but with each week that passes it seems that’s not going to be possible and obviously with your borders still in lock down and quotas on how many people are being let in, I’ve decided I’ll have a go at maybe getting back for Easter 2022. I’m fully vaccinated and I’m hoping by 2022 borders may reopen and it’ll be easier to come back to Perth. It’s still such a volatile situation across the world and in Australia. I don’t know when I’ll get back, but I’ve got my fingers and toes crossed.”

☘

Enjoy a lively day of frivolity at the annual Irish Raceday at Ascot Racecourse. May the leprechauns be with you as we celebrate the colour, smiles and fun of the glorious Emerald Isle with plenty of Guinness and Kilkenny on tap. Bring your friends and make new ones amid traditional Irish treats, live music and a full raceday schedule with Lucky Horseplay.

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THE IRISH SCENE | 11

Luck of the Irish strikes in the Lucky Country

Image: Table Tennis Australia Facebook

BY LLOYD GORMAN

NATURALLY ENOUGH WHILE SHE WAS IN TOKYO, IRELAND’S CHEF DE MISSION PATRICIA HEBERLE CAST AN INTERESTED EYE IN THE DIRECTION OF HER FELLOW COUNTRYMEN AND WOMEN ON TEAMAUS. SHE SAW A REFLECTION OF HER OWN SITUATION AS AN AUSSIE IN THE SERVICE OF IRELAND. “I was able to catch up with some of the Australian team and people I knew and some of the athletes I’ve worked with at different times,” she said. “But what was interesting was that the Australian team had a couple of Irish guys. One of them was there at the beginning who set up the internet, IT and communications for the Australians, and he came over and said hello. Then there was John Murphy, the coach of the Australian Table Tennis Team, which I found absolutely amazing. He came up to me and wanted to swap a pin, he had an Australian pin and he wanted an Irish pin. “They were amazed that I was working with the Irish and I said, how come you’ve got jobs with the Australians, its no different really but that’s the world we live in. There are wonderful opportunities in sport, everything is multicultural 12 | THE IRISH SCENE

and you’ve got Irish guys working for Australia and you’ve got an Australian Chef de Mission for Ireland.”

About the same time that she was made Chef de Mission for Ireland, the Irishman had news of his own. “John Murphy very recently informed Table Tennis Ireland (ITT) that he has accepted the position of National Coach of Australia from October 1st,” ITT said in a press release, dated August 2018.

Murphy had just accepted a revised contract as national coach for Ireland when the Australian offer (National Head Coach Able Bodied) came up and was “an opportunity that he could not realistically refuse”.

Conn Higgins, TTI Performance Director described him as a very talented and expert coach and that the organisation was very disappointed to lose him.

“Over the past seven years he has brought great vision and passion to the job of national coach and raised our international profile,” Mr Higgins said.

“While we regret John’s decision, we understand this is a great opportunity for him and wish him the very best as head coach of table tennis Australia and thank him for his wonderful contribution to Irish table tennis.”

While they parted ways, the links were not broken and in January of this year Murphy was one of “two of

LUCK OF THE IRISH STRIKES IN THE LUCKY COUNTRY

Above: Irishman John Murphy is the National Head Coach for the Australian Table Tennis Team Ireland’s greatest TT ambassadors” to take part in an online coaching webinar for TTI. In an interview piece in October 2020, the Dubliner told Table Table Australia (TTA) how he got started in a sport that has to compete for attention with GAA, rugby and soccer.

“We had 10 tables at our primary school and in third class, which is when you’re between 9 and 10, our whole class got an opportunity to play table tennis,” said Murphy, who went to school in Ballygall, Dublin 11 and showed a natural flair for the sport.

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“From there, I kind of just continued to play on school teams and then joined a club and before I knew it, [by the age of 12] I was on my first Irish team,” he said.

“I made the Under 12 National Team in Ireland for the Six Nations, which is Ireland, England, Scotland, Wales, Isle of Man and Guernsey. That was the first major thing in table tennis for me. But it probably wasn’t really until I was 15 that I took a step up and started to take table tennis seriously.”

With five National Champion titles and having represented Ireland at 10 world championships, he became its most successful domestic player.

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LUCK OF THE IRISH STRIKES IN THE LUCKY COUNTRY

His first coaching gig was for the Irish Under 15 team in 2011. “At that stage I was still playing but having realised I had gone as far as I was going to in Ireland, I started coaching full time,” he added. “From 2012 onwards, I had the lead for the whole program.

I started to be pretty much Head Coach from the Seniors down. It happened quite quickly.”

“Obviously I played for Ireland for 15 years and then being coach for seven years. So I made the decision that I was a young coach and I wanted to explore opportunity in another environment. Post Commonwealth Games, I had some opportunities in different places, and obviously I’d seen that Table Tennis Australia was looking for a Head Coach.”

Between 2012 and 2018 Murphy coached the Irish team and led the Northern Ireland team at the 2018 Commonwealth Games on Australia’s Gold Coast.

“Probably the year leading up to the Commonwealth Games, I made a decision that I would look to work outside Ireland,” he explained.

Murphy saw the job ad while he was still in Australia which meant he was able to introduce himself to TTA Chief Executive Scott Houston. “I had some conversations with him, applied for the job that was advertised and thankfully I was lucky enough to get it.”

THE GREATEST OF DAYS Sky News journalist Enda Brady is a daily – twice daily, in fact – chatty contributor to early morning and evening programmes 6PR, as well as to its sister stations in other parts of Australia.

His slot on 6PR might be called the ‘UK Report’ but given half a chance, the Wexford born reporter will chuck in an Irish story for good measure. Sports are another of his great passions and interests, it seems soccer and running in particular.

Earlier this year he caught COVID and got a bad dose of it which knocked him for six. The hardworking and irrepressible media man was laid out for some time by the virus but even when his body was banjaxed, Enda’s mind was working overtime. He revealed on the morning show on 6PR on August 24 that during that horrible time he dreamed up his next project, to interview some of the world’s top sports people about the greatest episodes and inspirational achievements in their careers.

One of those he hoped to interview was Australian Aboriginal runner Cathy Freeman on her remarkable 14 | THE IRISH SCENE

Enda Brady and Irish boxer Katie Taylor at the London Olympics 2012 400m gold at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney – one of the greatest moments in Australian sporting history. Enda appealed to listeners who might have a way of contacting Freeman to pass the information along so he could interview her. Meanwhile, the gregarious Irishman – who has run many marathons – is fighting hard to overcome the effects of Covid.

“I couldn’t walk that far in early July because of what the virus had done to me,” he tweeted on August 22. “On Oct 3rd I will finish @LondonMarathon for @eveappeal and it will feel like the most beautiful of victories ️.”

❤ ☘

Sorry to keep droning on about it but!

Regular Irish Scene readers The next time the world might recall an article in saw the drones do their the May/June edition with thing was for the opening the headline ‘Sky’s the limit ceremony of the Olympic for future generations’.

Games in Tokyo. The In part that feature was Japanese are of course about the use – for the well known for their love first time – of hundreds of of gadgets and gizmos, so drones flying together in you would have to imagine programmed patterns to they rushed at the idea of using it when they first create spectacular aerial became aware of it. That displays over the night sky may have been some time of Dublin for St. Patricks ago and long before its Day. The drone show was colourful appearance as able to merge and form into Top: Just one moment in the spectacular air show for the opening ceremony in July. Source: Twitter part of the St. Patrick’s Day several different images – celebrations in Dublin, but even moving images – and that demonstration must have caught the eye of the messages written high in the sky. For a city still in Japanese organisers as a working example of what lockdown, it would have been visible to thousands they were planning. Certainly there seemed to be of people from their homes and millions on their some similarities in style. In any case the display for TV screens and given watchers a lift. That article predicted this type of technology would wipe the floor the Olympics created a stir in the media in Japan and even here in Australia where it was well received. with traditional fireworks displays (which can be environmentally damaging and drive household pets So as the media like to say, watch this space and crazy) and would become the new standard by which don’t be alarmed if you see a swarm of flying robots big public events would be celebrated and something dancing in the sky for your entertainment in the near we would be seeing a lot more of in the future. future.

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THE IRISH SCENE | 15

Love

in the time of Covid

BY SANDRA BAHBAH

LIAM AND I HAVE KNOWN EACH OTHER SINCE 2015. WE CONNECTED IMMEDIATELY, HAVING BOTH STUDIED JOURNALISM AND WITH A SHARED LOVE OF TRAVEL. However, I had just started a food truck business in Perth and Liam was facing a messy divorce in Ireland - the timing wasn’t right. I was also going through my own terrible breakup and was very resistant to making any grand gestures for a relationship, no matter how wonderful the man. We put aside our mutual attraction and became each other’s longdistance confidantes over the years, sharing dating disasters, relationship woes and general chit chat about the rollercoaster of life. Liam was dating someone on and off for some of those years and I had (mostly) pushed aside any hope we would ever be anything other than friends.

Fast forward to 2019 and as serendipity would have it, I was making a pit stop to Galway as part of a round-the-world trip I was embarking on. I contacted Liam to catch up, and as he was still in a relationship at that time, I invited his then-girlfriend along. We shared brunch and coffee together, my mind still 16 | THE IRISH SCENE

convinced we would always be platonic friends. His girlfriend excused herself and Liam became my tour guide around Galway city. It was a lovely day, spent chatting about anything and everything. When the time came to part ways - a wave of sadness swept over me. Liam hugged me goodbye, chatted to me for a few more minutes, and then hugged me again. It was that second hug that gave me momentary pause – “maybe he still did have feelings for me?” I dared not dwell on it and continued my trip.

Life continued as normal back in Perth, I was working non-stop running myself to the ground mentally and physically. I was starting to question if working this hard was worth it. Was I somehow using my business as an avoidance tactic for other areas of my life that had been neglected over the years? My answer came in March 2020 as the PM announced lockdown due to Covid-19. I was forced to stop and it was the best thing that ever happened to me. I had to sit with myself and

LOVE IN THE TIME OF COVID

It was that second hug that gave me momentary pause – “maybe he still did have feelings for me?”

ask what I really wanted out of life. I decided would give dating in Perth one more go, as I was becoming more open to the idea of being in a relationship again.

Thankfully that idea didn’t work out and I know deep down it’s because Liam was always in the back of my mind. I recall one conversation with a friend, discussing having children. I told her it hadn’t been on my mind for years, but if I was looking to raise a child with someone it would be Liam.

I pottered along for a few months, having sold my food trailer, doing less work and focusing on my

Clockwise from top left: Sandra and Liam, the happy couple. Facing lockdown and quarantine in Ireland. A lovely day spent touring Galway city together mental health. One day in May I posted a silly photo on Facebook and Liam commented on it. From then on, our communication became more frequent. He had broken up with his girlfriend not long after I left Galway and we were constantly joking about me coming to Ireland to help with his garden. I had a dream one night in July where we were together and I sent Liam a message telling him about it. He said, “it’s funny how the mind works”. Something inside me told me the time was now right for us to be together. I asked him if all the jokes he made about me coming to Ireland had some truth to them. He said yes. We had a four hour long chat and decided it was about time we stopped fighting our feelings and give a relationship a red hot go.

THE IRISH SCENE | 17

LOVE IN THE TIME OF COVID

I had made the decision to move to Ireland as my work was more flexible and I enjoyed living in other countries, having previously lived in London and Singapore. I was keeping an eye on travel restrictions to see if I could get an exemption for December. We were both set on being together so while the distance was difficult, we knew we would be uniting eventually. I managed to get the exemption but there was the other hurdle of how would I be allowed to stay in Ireland for a year. I managed to find a visa called Stamp 0 and after much paperwork and nail biting, it came through on my arrival to Ireland. I flew over on Boxing Day 2020 and as I landed, Ireland had gone into the highest level of lockdown. Liam had to wait outside the airport to pick me up and we couldn’t even hug when we first locked eyes on each other.

I had to isolate for two weeks at Liam’s house and I was unable to meet his family for a few weeks after that. New Year’s Eve was spent on the couch on Zoom with his family. I had no complaints though - we were finally together after all these years of uncertainty.

I said yes!

ons ti a br e l e c t n e Engagem

Liam was still working and I was finding myself home organising drawers, cupboards, you name it. We spent the time renovating the rooms and after four months, we were finally able to travel outside County Galway. It was only then I got to see the magnificent sights Ireland had to offer. We realised if we could get through lockdown together we could get through anything. In June, Liam proposed at Dún Aonghasa ruins atop a cliff on Inishmore, Aran Islands. While we knew we wanted to get married, I had no idea when he was going to propose.

Due to Covid restrictions, we’ll be having a small wedding in Ireland with Liam’s family and, if we can 18 | THE IRISH SCENE

get back into Australia permanently in December, a big party with my family in Perth. We won’t know if everything can go ahead until the last minute or if Australia will allow us back in. There’s also the potential huge expense of hotel quarantine. Long distance love is not an easy or inexpensive feat.

I wouldn’t change anything for the world. When they say everything in its time, our relationship is a prime example of that. Liam has always felt like my person, he makes me feel safe and cared for like no one else.

I don’t need to pretend to be happy all the time and he loves me even on my bad days. It was absolutely worth moving to Ireland in the middle of a pandemic.

I came from a state that at the time had no Covid cases to a country in full lockdown. Those who don’t know me as intimately as my family thought I had a few screws loose. However, my mum knew about Liam back in 2015 and when she saw a photo of us together in 2019 she commented he had kind eyes and I should be with someone like him. I told her we were friends, and at that point I truly believed it.

Little did any of us know what the future would hold.

Love is a funny thing.

☘

THE IRISH SCENE | 19

isteach sa teach

BY LLOYD GORMAN

STATE DADDY FOR A DAY (OR FOUR) You might not have realised it but for a brief stint recently an Irish man was in charge of Western Australia.

From the 12th to the 16th of July, Dublin born Stephen Dawson, a minister in the McGowan government, was acting premier for the state while the premier himself – known increasingly as ‘State Daddy’ for his handling of the pandemic crisis – was having some downtime.

It is not the first time an Irish born politician has stepped in to assume the reigns of the state but it has been some time since it last happened, possibly 120 years!

Stephen Dawson (left) with Premier Mark McGowan

The second premier of WA was one George Throssell, a native of Fermoy, Co. Cork. Throssell was was ten years old when his father, a Pensioner Guard, came to the Swan Colony in 1850 with his family in tow. The family settled in Northam where George became a successful merchant and mayor, and later was elected unopposed to the represent the town and district in the newly formed Legislative Assembly in 1890.

Seven years later Throssell – who was known as The Lion of Northam – was appointed as the Commissioner of Crown Lands in the government of Sir John Forrest. It was a senior and significant role for the fledgling colony that was just about to go into a gold rush era. He got his chance at premier when Forrest dumped state politics to become an MP in the Canberra parliament of the newly Federated Australia. [Interestingly Forrest had been appointed as WA’s first premier by Governor William Robinson, born in Co. Westmeath]. Throssell succeeded Forrest as premier on 15 February 1901, but his term in office would be short lived.

20 | THE IRISH SCENE

He was a very competent and capable administrator but he was quite deaf and not a natural political leader. But because of internal fighting between factions in the party and an election, Throssell lost his majority and resigned on 27 May to return to the backbench, just three months later. A few years later he retired to his stately home – called Fermoy after his birthplace– on the hill overlooking Northam.

A DIPLOMATIC DESPATCH Career diplomat Breandán Ó Caollaí made what must have been a flurry of apologies and farewells at the end of July. “My term as Ambassador of Ireland to Australia has come to an end and Carmel and I will be returning to Ireland on August 1st,” Mr Ó Caollaí told Irish Scene by email.

“Unfortunately, this leaves us no time to organise a farewell event to thank and recognise all those like yourself who were so kind and supportive of us in our work here in Australia on behalf of Ireland.

“I want to thank you most sincerely for the huge contribution you have made to recording and celebrating the activities and news

ISTEACH SA TEACH

of the Irish community in Western Australia.”

He said he appreciated the opportunities to send messages through the magazine to the Irish community. He added some kind words for the magazine itself. “I sincerely commend your publication in style, layout and content. I marvel that you can produce such a high quality publication on what I presume are limited resources. I know you will offer the same level of support and advice to my successor, Tim Mawe, when he takes up his appointment as you’ve offered me. Continued success in your enterprise.”

Left: Ambassador Breandan O’ Caollai virtual trip in Freo for Hand in Hand Festival. Above: Incoming Ambassador Tim Mawe (right)

The outgoing and incoming ambassadors will be trading places in a sense. Mr Ó Caollaí – a fluent Irish speaker – returns to the Dublin HQ of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, where his successor was the director of the Asia Pacific unit.

IRELAND AND AUSTRALIA’S TIFFS AND TENSIONS Ireland and Australia have had diplomatic ties since the end of World War 2, making this year officially the 75th anniversary of that relationship between the two states. While it is a formal arrangement it is also generally a cordial and friendly affair, but it hasn’t always been cosy. In fact, it went through a bad patch for about 20 years in the early days.

In 1945, then Taoiseach Eamon de Valera visited Australia and held talks with Prime Minister Ben Chifley about the strong historical and cultural connections between the countries. As a result of that Ireland sent its first envoy – Thomas J. Kiernan – to Canberra. In return Australia appointed William Dignam as High Commissioner.

But things soured when Ireland became a Republic and withdrew its membership from the Commonwealth of Nations, which have the English

From left: T.J. Kiernan, William Wynes

THE IRISH SCENE | 21

monarch as their head of state. The move did not sit well with the Australian authorities – whose natural affinity would be with the Brits – and when Kiernan was elevated from envoy to a full blown ambassador, his status was not properly recognised and reciprocated with an equivalent. Instead, Australia installed William A. Wynes as Chargé d’affaires (an ambassadors deputy) in Dublin in 1951. This was at a time when much of the world was still trying to find its way out of WWII hardships and grappled with the rise of the Cold War between the West and East. Indeed, it would not be until 1965 that Australia was prepared to forgive Ireland’s slight against the Commonwealth by appointing its first Ambassador to Ireland in the form of one Scottish born farmer turned politician Hugh Roberton, whose stint in the role would last between 1965 and 1967 only to be followed by a series of short lived replacements over the next decade.

The issue of selecting the ambassador to Ireland in 1974 plunged Australia into a constitutional crisis, resulting in a dramatic double dissolution of both houses of national parliament. The so called “Gair Affair” deserves a story in its own right and is a fascinating episode that we will return to in another edition. In short, Labor Prime Minister Gough Whitlam offered the post of ambassador to Ireland to a nongovernment senator from Queensland, Vince Gair, in a Irish Taoiseach Liam Cosgrave and Australian bid to increase Prime Minister Gough Whitlam his party’s influence in the Senate at an upcoming general election. The contentious deal was shrouded in secrecy and all hell broke loose when the Sun News-Pictorial broke the story of Gair’s appointment on April 2. As a direct result of the revelation, the House of Representatives and Senate were staring into an early election which saw Whitlam’s Labor Party remain in office, but with a much weaker hold on power than it had before the crisis election.

Despite all this, Gair – who had solid Irish credentials and heritage – took up his post in Dublin in May 22 | THE IRISH SCENE

1974 but “his behaviour there was often considered inappropriate and he was recalled by the Liberal-National Coalition government of Malcolm Fraser in early 1976”.

Perhaps the whole sorry mess was the basis for an episode of the Australian political satire The Hollowmen. “The Ambassador” was the second programme in the first season of The Hollowmen in 2008. The plot revolves around a very grumpy government Senator who believes he should be rewarded for his loyalty to the party, and who could cause a lot of damage his own administration if he chose too. In return for his exit from politics and silence, the Senator demands compensation in the form the prestigious overseas diplomatic posting as High Commissioner to the UK just as the Prime Minister is about to announce that ambassadorships will only go to qualified and eligible career diplomats. Instead of the UK posting, the aides to the PM – the so-called Hollow Men – wrangle it that he is given the ambassadorship to Ireland instead, and a crisis is averted. The political satire is sometimes repeated on ABC television but you can easily find it – and this episode – on YouTube if you want to watch it.

MATTERS OF GRAVE CONCERN It might have a very dull name but a debate about the Administration Amendment Bill 2021 in the Legislative Assembly on August 19 revealed it is actually a question of life and death.

During the debate on the matter, Kingsley MLA, Jessica Stojkovski (née O’Gorman) talked about the importance of wills, and was able to draw on some personal experiences and knowledge to show why.

“It is really comforting to know that we now have those things written down, even to the point of what happens with our organs,” she said. “Do you want to be buried or would you like to be cremated? People have differences of opinion on that. I note that when one of my cousins in Ireland passed away, he had a requirement in his will for his partner to take his ashes to four different corners of the world, because travelling was one of the things they loved doing

ISTEACH SA TEACH

together, so he felt that by putting that in his will, he would ensure her need to travel, even without him.

Obviously she is not travelling anywhere right now, but she did make it to Australia, which was one of the places where he wanted his ashes spread.”

While she said it might sound “a bit morbid” she urged her colleagues and everyone who doesn’t already have a will to get one as a “lasting legacy” for their loved ones. Research showed that nearly one third of people say they do not have anything of value to leave when in fact they often have superannuation and linked life insurance, both of which can be included in wills.

“Many people do not turn their minds to how their superannuation and life insurance will be dealt with after their death,” she added. “This issue was highlighted by another of my lawyer friends, Lindsay, who also works at Vibe Legal. She gave me a really practical example. Lindsay, her husband, Leo, and I are all of Irish descent. They were born there and I was born here, but we are all in the Irish community

Jessica Stojkovski (second from left) with Education Minister Sue Ellery, Premier Mark McGowan, Warwick Senior High School principal Lesley Wintle and students Holly Dalliston and Alana Dooley. and we have a great association called the Claddagh Association. We were talking about the fact that the Claddagh Association often assists in tragic circumstances in which young Irish expats are killed here in Western Australia, and about what happens when that occurs. Claddagh often steps into the breach and helps to repatriate the remains of those people back to Ireland.

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THE IRISH SCENE | 23

ISTEACH SA TEACH

“Lindsay said that a lot of Irish expats who work here are working in the mining and construction industries and receive good wages and, consequently, good superannuation. That superannuation can be used to help in the process of repatriation so that the parents can bring their deceased children back to Ireland if they are killed in Western Australia.

Under the current legislation, if a young Irish person is tragically killed and they do not have a partner or children, the parents will receive only $6,000, which is not enough to undertake both repatriation and a funeral; the rest is split between siblings and other family members.

“Under the changes proposed in this amending legislation, that amount will increase to $56,500, which should, we hope, help to cover the costs of repatriation and a funeral. When you think about it, a lot of Irish expats who die in Western Australia are young people in their 20s, so their parents have to deal with both the loss of a child and the financial impact of bringing them back to Ireland,” she said.

A VETERAN OF IRELAND The passage of the Veterinary Practice Bill 2021 through the Legislative Council gave one member of the Legislative Council an opportunity to fondly remember a trip he made to Ireland, although it was not quite clear when the visit happened.

During the debate, Dr Steve Thomas, a Liberal Member for the South West Region – who was a working vet before entering politics – spoke about how the value of animals is much higher in some other parts of the world. “I went to have a look,” he said. “A friend of mine from Boyup Brook and I did a gentleman’s drinking tour of England and Ireland.

It was one of my few holidays when I was vetting. It

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was absolutely great. We did the classics.

We kissed the Blarney Stone.

I think it broke in half when I kissed it; it was one of those things!

“We stayed on farms. We saw the prices that people got for cattle and sheep.

At that point, Dr Steve Thomas an Australian prime steer was potentially selling for, let us say, $A800. A steer in Ireland, because of subsidies, was selling for £1 a kilo. An $A800 steer was probably 400 kilograms.

Therefore, at £1 a kilo, with an exchange of three to one—so, $A3 a kilo—that was $A1 200. They got a nearly £800 additional subsidy on top of that in three tranches. The animal was worth an enormous amount of money. Guess what happened? I could not believe it. We stayed on a dairy farm for something like a week and visited the local Irish haunts — where the locals go, not where the tourists go. It was brilliant.

“But they called out the vet to vaccinate their stock and to treat all the things that farmers in Australia would treat themselves. If a dairy cow had mastitis, they would call out the vet. We would have made a fortune if the same rules applied here!”.

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THE IRISH SCENE | 25

Are you ready to

roll up and chance your arm?

BY LLOYD GORMAN At the end of July, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced lockdowns as a way to deal with COVID outbreaks could largely be phased out if 70% of the Australian population was vaccinated. If 80% of people had all their shots he dangled the prospect of borders reopening and international travel for those who were protected against the virus.

This was “absolutely achievable” the PM said, but he would not commit to a time frame for it to happen.

Pretty much around the same time, his Irish counterpart was able to announce that more than 72% of Irish adults had been fully vaccinated, slightly more than the figure in the UK – considered to have one of the best vaccine roll outs in the world. By mid August, over 80% of adults in Ireland were fully vaccinated while more than 90% had gotten at least one dose. After numerous setbacks, Ireland is now expected to fully reopen in September.

If Irish authorities and society had never managed to get on top of the pandemic in the same way that Australia did then at least the country has made amends by putting up a good fight against the virus.

With over half the population of Australia confined to stay at home orders during August, the nation’s once gold plated status as a prime example of how to battle the virus has slipped. Its vaccination scheme has been slow to get off the ground and one of the lowest in the developed world, but now at least we showing some signs of improvement.

26 | THE IRISH SCENE

Rolling up for WA – Above: Vaccine Commander Chris Dawson. Left: Health Minister Roger Cook and Premier Mark McGowan If many Australians have been slow to understand the benefits of the jab to date, then West Australians have been the slowest of all, occupying last place by a country mile when compared with all the other states and territories. This jars with the personal experience of my wife and I, when both times we went for our jabs in the large vax centres in Claremont and Joondalup, both hubs were very busy each time we had an appointment.

With such a sluggish uptake of vaccinations across Australia, there has been a lot of talk about the need to get ‘jabs into arms’ as the only way out of the pandemic. There is also some chatter about the risks associated with getting immunised against the virus. Ask any expert or mainstream politician and they will tell you the benefits and protection offered by the vaccines easily outweigh any unlikely and improbable – but not impossible – risks a vaccine might pose in some cases.

There are various public health campaigns across Australia and around the world to encourage populations to get the shot(s) and build up a ‘herd

ARE YOU READY TO ROLL UP AND CHANCE YOUR ARM?

immunity’ to COVID-19, and the very catchy Delta variant.

“Roll Up for WA” is our local campaign and with the lowest vaccination rate in Australia it will be interesting to see if it convinces the majority of people to do just that. Certainly “State Daddy” Premier Mark McGowan and Deputy Premier and Health Minister Roger Cook have done their bit to get the message across.

The sight of these and other figures with their sleeves pulled up and arms proudly exposed looks a bit funny, as if they are limbering up for a serious bit of arm wrestling or members of some bizarre boy band.

But it also reminded me of the great expression commonly used in Ireland, ‘to chance your arm’. There would appear to be a good reason why the Irish are fond of this saying. It is a part of our history and character and dates back to exactly the same year Columbus discovered North America and a power struggle between two powerful Irish dynasties.

The story is a part of the history and legacy of Saint Patrick’s Cathedral in Dublin.

“In 1492 two Irish families, the Butlers of Ormonde and the FitzGeralds of Kildare, were involved in a bitter feud,” St. Patrick’s website states.

“This disagreement centred around the position of Lord Deputy. Both families wanted one of their own to hold the position. In 1492 this tension broke into outright warfare and a small skirmish occurred between the two families just outside the city walls.

The Butlers, realising that the fighting was getting out of control, took refuge in the Chapter House of Saint Patrick’s Cathedral. The FitzGeralds followed them into the Cathedral and asked them to come out and make peace. The Butlers, afraid that if they did so they would be slaughtered, refused.

“As a gesture of good faith the head of the Kildare family, Gerald FitzGerald, ordered that a hole be cut in the door. He then thrust his arm through the door and offered his hand in peace to those on the other side. Upon seeing that FitzGerald was willing to risk his arm by putting it through the door the Butlers reasoned that he was serious in his intention. They shook hands through the door, the Butlers emerged from the Chapter House and the two families made peace.”

The historic door is on display in St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Dublin.

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Left: St Patricks Cathedral Dublin where the Door of Reconciliation (above) is located

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THE IRISH SCENE | 27

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:

@ausembire

Australian Embassy, Ireland

Australia will always promote free trade IN RECENT WEEKS AUSTRALIA AND THE UK HAVE ARRIVED AT A HISTORIC MOMENT IN OUR 250-YEAR RELATIONSHIP. WE SET THE FRAMEWORK FOR WHAT WILL BE AUSTRALIA’S MOST AMBITIOUS FREE TRADE AGREEMENT (FTA) WITH ANY COUNTRY, OTHER THAN THE FTA WE HAVE WITH OUR CLOSEST NEIGHBOUR, NEW ZEALAND.

@AusEmbIre

As always there will be ongoing negotiations over the coming months to finalise the legal text of the FTA but it will be a modern agreement, with both sides committing to maximise opportunities for physical and digital trade across all sectors of the economy.

This we hope, can act as a blueprint for ongoing free trade negotiations between Australia and the EU. Australian tariff removal will result in significant gains for UK exporters in the Australian market and Australian consumers will benefit from the 28 | THE IRISH SCENE

elimination of tariffs on cars, whiskey and all other UK exports.

There is even more to this agreement in areas as diverse as the financial and digital economy and the protection of intellectual property, cyber security, people movements and artificial intelligence, including strong rules on data flows and localisation to create a more certain and secure online environment. Both Australia and the UK have

G’DAY FROM GARY GRAY

Right: In May this year Ambassador Gray travelled to Tipperary and visited Coolmore's horse training facility, Ballydoyle where many horses are raised before travelling to Coolmore Australia to progress their racing career.

Here, trainer Aidan O'Brien, Gary Gray and Coolmore's MV Magnier are on the training track and ahead of the morning's trackwork session. made commercially significant commitments that will strengthen personal consumer choice, economic diversification, environmental sustainability, worker protections and export-led recovery from the Global Covid 19 recession. It’s a great achievement. Australia and the UK are trading nations that believe in open markets, high standards and the rules-based global trading system. That is what has made our agreement so important. And much like the proposed Australia-EU FTA currently under negotiation, it is about creating new opportunities and jobs for families, communities and businesses. Agriculture is of course part of this and it should be clear that Australia’s agricultural exports do not pose a threat to the significant and valuable UK - Ireland agricultural trade. Australia has established major markets in our own Asia-Pacific region.

Australia’s exports to the UK and EU are driven by niche customer import requirements accounting for less than 1 per cent of the UK’s total imports of agricultural goods in 2019, and less than 1 per cent of the UK’s total beef imports. Additionally, concerns about Australian food production standards and what this might mean for animal welfare and price points are simply unfounded. Australia’s biosecurity and welfare standards have been awarded the highest competency (level five) by the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE). Indeed, the Australian standard for the hygienic production and transportation of meat products specifies supply chain security and traceability, explicitly, how animals in the supply chain must be cared for and managed.

Supply chain integrity requirements are mandatory under Australian law. Veterinarians employed by the Australian Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment closely oversee practices in dedicated exporting abattoirs licensed under the Export Control Act 1982 to ensure that animal welfare is reliably achieved. The Australian Government does not tolerate cruelty towards animals and will not compromise on animal welfare standards. Farmers, whether Australian, European, British or Irish, care for their herds and flocks; that is a universal bond and responsibility which farmers share. At home, Australian farmers are known for their high environmental protection, animal welfare and food standards. My family operate a wheat and sheep farm

in Western Australia and we have lived this reality.

The farm was opened by Irish settlers originally from Tipperary and Clonmel. Their Irish roots, Irish perspective and Irish ingenuity allowed them to see opportunity in broad acre cropping even as the Great Depression of the 1930s bit deep into the Australian economy. Today the family still farms that land.

Australian exporters are accustomed to meeting the requirements of a range of different global customers, with our robust export controls providing the flexibility and assurance to meet importing country requirements. Australia is a reliable exporter of high-quality hormonal growth promotant (HGP) -free beef to the UK and EU. While the ink dries on our UK agreement, our negotiations with the EU continue. The truth is that Australia can’t conclude our future European FTA without new, commercially meaningful market access, but it is worth noting both that the balance of food and agricultural trade with Australia remains strongly in Ireland and the EU’s favour, and that the EU ensures that Irish agricultural sensitivities are recognised in the negotiations. Australia is working with Ireland and the EU to provide opportunities for increased two-way investment and cooperation in the agri-food sector and all other sectors too.

The high degree of complementarity between our respective economies means both sides stand to benefit from significant new opportunities, contributing to our goal of long-term sustainable economic recovery and trade diversification. Ireland will gain from further reduction to Australian industrial and agricultural tariffs, further access to our services, investment and procurement markets, and promotion of higher standards. Australia’s market is 5 times bigger than that of Ireland.

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G’DAY FROM GARY GRAY

Australia is attractive to Irish investors especially in the agriculture sector and, with one of the largest diasporas living in Australia, Irish businesses who would seek to export into our country would find an already established and receptive market.

We have already seen the great Irish Agri business Kerry Group expand its operations in Australia with the intention of delivering quality product into the

Australian market. This is to be welcomed as the ties between our nations continue to strengthen. We look forward to concluding a comprehensive and ambitious free trade agreement with the EU as soon as both sides are ready, and in the meantime the UK agreement stands as a great achievement.

HON. GARY GRAY AO

AUSTRALIAN AND IRISH AMBASSADORS CONNECT IN DUBLIN Australia’s Ambassador to Ireland Gary Gray and his partner Pippa McIntosh were pleased to welcome both the incoming and the outgoing Irish Ambassadors to Australia to the residence; Abbey Lea, when all were in Dublin in August.

Tim Mawe and his wife Patricia will shortly depart Ireland for Canberra to take up the role of Ireland’s Ambassador to Australia.

Tim has most recently been based in Dublin working as the Regional Director of the Asia Pacific Unit in the Department of Foreign Affairs. With the role in Canberra also including accreditation to Fiji, Nauru, Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands; Tim’s previous Asia Pacific role will stand him in good stead for his new position. Previously, Tim has held postings in Tokyo and at the UN in New York, and was Ireland’s Ambassador to Latvia for four years.

Tim remarked that he is delighted with the opportunity to build on the great work being done by Team Ireland all across Australia.

“COVID is providing a major challenge to us all. But, our enduring connections and shared values will ensure that we come through this. Ultimately, we will 30 | THE IRISH SCENE

From left to right: Patricia and Tim Mawe, Breandán Ó Caollaí, Gary Gray, Pippa McIntosh and Carmel Callan in the glasshouse at Abbey Lea, residence of the Australian Ambassador to Ireland. have a deeper understanding of what binds us together and how we can help each other” Tim said.

His Excellency Breandán Ó Caollaí and his wife Mrs Carmel Callan recently departed Australia following the conclusion of nearly five years in the role, including a visit to Australia by Ireland’s President, Michael D. Higgins, numerous Irish Ministers visits, and seeing many Irish and Australians safely home to Ireland, both before and during the continuing COVID crisis. Breandán and Carmel were in Dublin and available to join the farewell to Tim, along with other Irish Department of Foreign Affairs representatives.

Breandán and Carmel have returned to Ireland, having spent five very enjoyable years in Australia. Breandán is looking forward to new challenges in DFA’s Development Co-operation and Africa Division, and both he and Carmel are busily catching up on lost time with their oneyear old grandson, AJ. The opportunity to catch up at the Australian residence Abbey Lea in Dublin enabled the group to mark the 75th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Australia and Ireland and to discuss matters of importance to both countries – including current affairs, business, the ongoing impact COVID, sport and the arts.

Gary also took the opportunity to congratulate Breandán on the conclusion of his term and a job well done in difficult circumstances, as well as giving a big Aussie farewell to Tim and Patricia before they head off on their new posting in Canberra.

☘

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Christmas in July THE IRISH CLUB, SUBIACO

32 | THE IRISH SCENE

Mary Durack Lecture

AUGUST 15, THE IRISH CLUB, SUBIACO Alannah MacTiernan, MLC and Minister for Regional Development; Agriculture and Food; Hydrogen Industry in the McGowan government delivered the 2021 annual Mary Durack Memorial Lecture in the Irish Club on August 15. Her talk touched on the Durack involvement in history of horticulture in WA’s North. Alannah is of Irish descent and has a long career of public service in local, state and federal government.

THE IRISH SCENE | 33

The house that Jack built

BY LLOYD GORMAN

AT ABOUT 108 YEARS OLD, THE SMALL COTTAGE THAT IS DUFFY HOUSE IN WOODVALE IS THOUGHT TO BE THE OLDEST SURVIVING BUILDING IN THE CITY OF JOONDALUP. IT CERTAINLY HAS A LONG AND SIGNIFICANT HISTORY IN THE LOCALITY AND STRONG IRISH HERITAGE AS THE FOLLOWING STORY (‘DUFFY HOUSE BROUGHT BACK FROM THE BRINK’) – WHICH WAS FIRST PUBLISHED TWO YEARS AGO IN THE SEPTEMBER EDITION OF IRISH SCENE – REVEALS. AT THAT TIME THE STATE GOVERNMENT STUMPED UP MONEY TO RESTORE AND RENOVATE THE LIMESTONE STRUCTURE THAT HAD FALLEN ON HARD TIMES AND WAS IN DANGER OF BEING LOST ENTIRELY. Between 2019 and 2020 Joondalup council used this grant to carry out ‘stage one’ of restoration. These works included putting in a security fencing (to help prevent anti-social behaviour happening in the house), partial demolition and remedial works of the ‘Old Dairy’ and the installation of power, water and communications services. The roof was also replaced and other structural repairs were carried out while new window were fitted. An access road, car park and bollards also went in.

Now the council is moving ahead with stage 2 having carried out community consultation between July and August of this year. Amongst those given a say are residents and landowners within 500 metres of Duffy House, Wanneroo Historical Society and members of the Duffy family. That feedback will go 34 | THE IRISH SCENE

into the council’s deliberations for what will happen there. But the kinds of things being mooted range from a long tree lined entry corridor, Noongar ‘six season’ garden, tree decking around an existing feature tree, shared pedestrian/cycle paths, heritage interpretation of the ‘Old Diary’ and a pop up event space close to the house.

Options for Duffy House itself include turning it into a commercial café, restaurant or wine bar or an art gallery/studio space or even as a museum. The area around the house could be used to host weddings, cultural activities and events or seasonal markets and bush tucker tours.

All these developments are seen as essential to giving the Irish built homestead a long term future.

THE HOUSE THAT JACK BUILT

Main: The restored Duffy House in Woodvale.

Left: The house prior to restoration in 2019

A limestone house he built on the property was demolished in 1977.

DUFFY HOUSE BROUGHT BACK FROM THE BRINK First published in Irish Scene, Sept/Oct 2019 edition Restoration work on what is thought to be Joondalup’s original - and oldest - house got underway at the end of July. Duffy House near Woodvale [in Yellagonga Regional Park, and adjacent to Beenup Swamp] is a simple but sturdy stone cottage built between 1911 and 1913. The unassuming looking structure has strong Irish ancestry.

Bernard and Sarah (née Campbell) Duffy, emigrated from Ireland to Western Australia on the Hamilla Mitchell in April 1859.

Tragedy struck the family early into their new life in WA when Bernard died in 1861 after he fell from a cart and broke his neck.

The Irish couple had five children, including their only son Bernard James - aka Barney - who was born in 1849 in Ireland. Barney was one of the first European settlers in the Wanneroo district and became a farmer with 100 acres near Lake Goollelal.

Barney married a Catherine Hughes in July 1873 and they had six children, including a son in 1875 Frederick John. After being schooled in Fremantle and the Christian Brothers College in Perth Jack returned to the family estate in Wanneroo and later took up his own farm in the district, on which part of which Jack Duffy was built. He farmed a market garden and kept horses on the holding. Francis got married to an Eva Matilda Cockman, a daughter of another Wanneroo pioneering family James and Mary Cockman who settled in the area in 1852. [Their homestead Cockman House has been maintained and is a popular local attraction and heritage site].

Frederick and Eva had eight children and in 1911 they commissioned local builder George Dawson to build their home which would become known as Jack Duffy House. One of their children – John ‘Jack’ Duffy – was born 17 May 1913 around the same time the house had been finished. A heritage council assessment of the place includes two recollections of it by two of their sons. Bill Duffy recalled: “My parent’s house was four rooms with a front verandah. [My father] never had time to put a back [room] on it and he never had time to get it plastered or sealed inside. But it was never finished. It was built of limestone from the quarry out there in Perry’s Paddock...where the school is.”

Jack recalled that the property was ‘one of the most modern homes in the district...The house stood on 10ha of rich land with a swamp in the front garden and natural bush all around’. He said: “Dr Haines, who lived in East Wanneroo, told Dad it would be healthier not to put a ceiling in the house. So he didn’t.

We certainly had plenty of fresh air through the place.

Visitors sometimes said it was a bit cold in winter, but I never felt cold there in 80 odd years and there isn’t anywhere cooler in summer.

All the walls and floorboards are original and still in good condition. Under the lino the jarrah floorboards are all clean and strong. We held dances on those floorboards, when we had birthdays or surprise parties. We’d roll everything up out of the way and have a good dance.”

The property originally consisted of 25 acres of which Frederick Duffy used the swampland as a vegetable garden until his death in 1924. His widow did not continue the veggie garden but did start a small THE IRISH SCENE | 35

THE HOUSE THAT JACK BUILT

dairy. Jack Duffy recalled: ‘We started with one cow the community and Joondalup council championed and built up from there. Although we boys ran the and advocated for Duffy House. The other two places dairy, it was still a hard time for Mum.” At its peak mentioned above – Cockman House and Perry’s the family run dairy milked as many as 70 cows, with Paddock, Cottage and Stables – both on Ocean Reef their milk sent to a Brownes depot in North Perth.

Road have been saved and restored as examples of Brothers Jack and Bob ran the dairy until 1962 when early local settlement. it moved off the homestead, and finally closed in With so few of them left it would have been almost 1976. The remnants of the dairy are found about 100 criminal to allow Duffy House to disappear. In metres to the south-west of Duffy House. Jack Duffy 2018 Joondalup council agreed to accept the future never married and life his entire life at the house that management of the building. bears his name, until his death in 2009, when he was “The Woodvale area continues to grow, however, almost 96. there are now fewer historical sites that remain, so A heritage assessment of the property was carried out it was vital for our community to keep Duffy House in July of 2009 and while it found several abandoned and our heritage link to the Joondalup-Wanneroo vehicles there the place still held most of its original suburbs,” The Kingsley MLA said. “The State charm and character.

Government funding will enable the local council “Jack Duffy House may be the oldest surviving to restore and retain the building – having overall building in the City of Joondalup. management to take it into the future. I’m looking It found: “Jack Duffy forward to seeing it take House is a fine example shape. The people power of a simple vernacular behind this campaign has building influenced been extraordinary and

by English Georgian this is truly a win for our architecture, built of local community.”

Jack Duffy House may be the oldest local limestone, and In February of this year adapted to suit local surviving building in the City of the state government gave conditions through the the council the permit it Joondalup. addition of a verandah. needed to occupy Duffy The setting of Jack Duffy House and restore it. The House has landscape qualities within relatively government also contributed $300,000 towards the cleared parkland, with picturesque views. Jack Duffy initial repairs, maintenance and conservation works.

House has a close relationship with its surroundings.

On July 25 Joondalup announced stage one works The house, together with the setting, is important had commenced. These included fencing off the evidence of the history of occupation of Woodvale area, carrying out repair works on the house itself, and demonstrates the original development of the by reusing brickwork from the dilapidated dairy – site as a farm. which may feature in future restoration works – and The association of the place with the former dairy installing power and water to the building. is important evidence of the occupation and development of Woodvale.

Joondalup Mayor Albert Jacob said he was pleased the property would be refurbished to a condition Jack Duffy House is associated with the prominent that will allow it to be appreciated for generations to Duffy family – early Wanneroo settlers and long time come.

Wanneroo residents.”

The House was found to be intact, but it was also abandoned and allowed to fall into a state of disrepair. The isolated house attracted disturbing anti-social behaviour and vandalism and was slated for demolition.

Then in 2015, the Western Australian Planning Commission bought the site with a view to finding a “long term solution” for the historic building. Jessica Stojkovski, the member for Kingsley, and others in 36 | THE IRISH SCENE

“Duffy House is one of our last surviving links to the pastoral land use in the Wanneroo and Joondalup area many decades ago, and I look forward to seeing what awaits for this significant historical landmark in the future,” Mayor Jacob said.

According to Joondalup council, future uses for the site are currently under consideration and further information will be made publicly available in due course.

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THE IRISH SCENE | 37

COTTAGE INDUSTRY The sight of an old abandoned cottage is nothing unusual in Ireland. In fact, almost everywhere you look the Irish countryside is populated by derelict houses, thatchless cottages, broken big houses and even conquered castles melting back into the landscape around them. A great number of them are scars from the famine when the people who once lived there either died out, emigrated or were evicted from their homes. Sometimes even whole villages stand silent and empty just a short distance from modern day main roads that sweep past. Many stand in picturesque spots with sweeping views.

For a relatively small amount (sometimes) you can pick up one of these properties. There are real estate agents who specialise in these ancient and ageing abodes.

But restoring these relics is not a task for the faint hearted but in the right hands they can produce spectacular new homes while also saving a little piece of social history.

38 | THE IRISH SCENE

THE HOUSE THAT JACK BUILT

STUCCO SHAMROCK REVEALS A TOUCH OF THE IRISH When newlyweds Norman and Monica Power built their house in 1951, they wanted a reminder of Norman’s Irish heritage. Their plasterer, a fellow Irishman, didn’t need to be convinced.

“In recognition of their joint heritage, the plasterer left a mark in the house,” agent Stephanie Taylor, of Centro Estates, said. “As you walk into the hall, you will see a shamrock etched into the top of the arch Despite 70 years of paint, it’s still there and it’s best seen with the hall light off.”

After World War II, timber was in short supply, but Norman managed to get his hands on some quality jarrah for the floors,

Image: realestate.com / Centro Estates

window frames and other joinery. Most of the timber has been retained – even after a renovation of the three bed two bath home at 208 Daglish Street, Wembley.

“The home really showcases the workmanship of the time,” Ms Taylor said. “Back then, it was common to have hideaways in houses to keep valuables and secrets. Go into the main bedroom robe and you find one plank in the floor is easily removed to reveal a small, two-chambered hiding spot.”

The Powers had six children who all lived at home until they were young adults. The home stayed in the family when son Tom took over ownership, only relinquishing title in 2019 for the block to be subdivided and the original home extensively renovated.

The home, on a 456sqm site, is packed with character features, such as the Australian grass-trees etched on the front door. “These reflect the landscape surrounding the house in the 1950s when many of the trees were found around Lake Monger and Herdsman Lake,” Ms Taylor said.

Special thanks to the real estate editor of the POST newspaper for this story.

☘

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info@mckeefamilyfunerals.com.au www.mckeefamilyfunerals.com.au THE IRISH SCENE | 39

Matters Of PUB-Lic Interest

BY LLOYD GORMAN

JB’S GETS A FACELIFT Now that’s what you call a facing wall! JB O’Reilly’s owner Paul North is about to put a face to the name that his pub bears.

As this edition of Irish Scene was going to press, JB O’Reilly’s in West Leederville was about to get some cosmetic work done.

The Cambridge Street facade of the pub will be the canvas for a rather quirky mural set to go up in early September.

The work hadn’t started when we were on our way to the printers, but the artist behind the unusual artwork provided us with an image of how it should look and use the existing windows for eyes.

“When Paul approached me for the mural, his idea to put 40 | THE IRISH SCENE

Concept artwork of the new ‘facelift’ mural at JB O’Reilly’s in West Leederville eyebrows and a moustache on the front of the pub made me laugh,” said Sam Knox.

“I love when clients have brave and bold ideas with a sense of humour. The notion of this mural is to put a smile on people’s faces and draw them into the pub, where everyone can feel welcome.”

Paul said he hoped it would give people a laugh and that that was what his place was all about.

A freelance ‘creative’ based in Perth, Sam is a scenic artist, set designer and prop maker for the likes of the Black Swan Theatre, West Australian Opera, Yirra Yaakin Theatre and The West Australian Ballet Company and also dabbles in outdoor murals and public art.

MATTERS OF PUB-LIC INTEREST

CELTS RECLAIM THEIR HEARTLAND After a bit of a hiatus, Perth Celtic Supporters Club are back where they belong. With the closure of Rosie O’Grady’s Irish pub in Northbridge at the end of last year, the Club was displaced from its customised lodgings upstairs at the James Street watering hole.

Perth CSC found shelter at the Irish Club in Subiaco and were grateful for it but also when the time came at the end of June they said it was “great to be ‘back’ at Johnny Fox’s”, which opened early this year in the same premises.

CHEERS TONY, MANY HAPPY RETURNS!

Tony Synnott (right) with friends celebrating his 87th birthday

FREEDOM IS A FRAGILE THING No sooner had Western Australia returned to pre-COVID conditions (phase 5 of the goverments roadmap) than we got a sharp reminder of just how fragile that lifestyle can be. At the end of June a small outbreak was linked to cases from the Indian Ocean Brewery in Whitfords and as a result Perth and Peel were plunged into a four short sharp ‘circuit breaker’ lockdown. Some two million people in the metropolitan region – and every pub and other buisness – were forced to shut down. Fortunately, a mixture of probably luck and the tough measure worked and most venues were able to reopen.

☘

Mr Tony Synnott – of a Minute with Synnott fame – was in his element recently for a special occasion. He turned 87 in July and celebrated the milestone in the way he has for many years now, in a pub with friends having a drink, this time in Fibbers in Leederville, a haunt well known to Tony and pals down through the years. Tony’s good friend and guardian angel Mick Murray organised the birthday bash for the octogenarian Irishman.

Tony is still on the mend after a prolonged stint in hospital earlier this year and we and many others wish him well and good health.

Fun and friends at the Jarrah

THE IRISH SCENE | 41

AROUND THE IRISH SCENE A golden moment Left: Congratulations to Paddy Malones venue manager and all round nice guy Jason Cox and his "beautiful fiance" Sammy McDermott after he recently got down on one knee and popped the question!

Gold town and good times Above: Galway couple Ian and Tamar Jordon enjoyed a peaceful weekend trip to the historic (and picturesque) town of York, WA’s first inland town, and a major pit stop for prospectors making their way to Kalgoorlie and the goldfields.

Golden anniversary Above: Liz and Aidan McDonald (centre) celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary in Scarborough recently. The couple were married in Dublin on the 31st July 1971 and had a lovely night to mark the occasion, with daughter Eilish (top right) and close friends.

More top brass than gold Left: Robert (Bob) O’Connor is originally from Limerick but has proudly called Perth home more than 50 years. A former member of the American Air Force and detective with WA Police Bob is an active member of the North Beach Sub-Branch of the Returned and Service League of Western Australia and enjoys the comradeship it offers him, and all its members.

As well as comradery and support for its members the sub-branch – founded in 1945 – has plenty to keep its members busy and engaged if they want.

Some of the activities if offers include walking, kayaking and cycling groups on Wednesdays and Fridays at Hillarys Marina, followed by coffee.

They often go on day tours to sites of military and social importance around Perth as well as ‘tours of duty’ such as a recent visit to Darwin, which has a rich military history.

The North Beach RSL also work in the community, support schools with Anzac Day and Remembrance Day events and provide welfare and help members through home and hospital visits and many other ways.

Sub-Branch President John Rolfe said “serving or ex serving services personnel are always welcome to make enquiries or attend our meetings”.

The North Beach RSL meet at the North Beach Bowling Club, 7 Kitchener St, North Beach on the second Monday of each month, except January, with meeting commencing at 16:00, followed by a meal. For more info go to https://northbeach-rsl.asn.au/

If you would like to be featured in the next issue, please email irishsceneperth@gmail.com 42 | THE IRISH SCENE

Another gold win!

Left: Young Fionnan Fenlon takes after his sports mad Irish dad Emmett. Fionnan and family (mum Genevieve and sister Marie) here at the end of season trophy ceremony and fun day for the players of the Whitfords Junior Football Club, based in Padbury. But as well as storming the footy field, a little bird tells Irish Scene that Fionnan also won the Athletics West U7 cross country state championship. Good man Fionnan, no doubt we’ll be hearing more of your sporting ability in the future. Well done!

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Jonny be good!

Left: When the sad news filtered through of the death of Nanci Griffith, it was felt very keenly in Ireland where her music was hugely popular. One Irishman in Perth had particular reason to reflect on her passing.

Jonny Reid saw her perform live and then just 12 months later he had the honour of playing support for the country music legend at a concert in Belfast about six and a half years ago, not long before the Portaferry native set sail for Western Australia.

“It was very sad news, Nanci was the first artist I ever opened up for,” Jonny said. Only a year earlier he watched her play as a fan at another concert. “She was an amazing writer and singer who also offered some amazing encouragement and advice to me, just keep writing and keep singing. One of the true great female songwriters is gone.”

The encouragement of a world class singer-songwriter would have meant much to the young and upcoming musician trying to carve out a place for himself in the highly competitive world of country music. He certainly persisted with his dream and worked to make it happen. On July 23 he released his debut single ‘Another Life’ which has stormed the Australian charts, reaching number 3 in the Country singles chart.

With two singles and an album number 19 in Australian iTunes singles chart, more recently his follow up number ‘Katie’ made its world debut on August 27. His debut album ‘Another Life’ was released on September 3 with a full scale launch event set for Lynott’s Lounge in Johnny Fox’s on September 25.

“There’s songs about travel and experiences from Ireland to Australia,” he said about the new album.

“Songs about falling in love, wicked ex’s and world war romance based on a true story. There’s even a song about killing a barman.”

Jonny started playing music around the age of 15 and over the next fifteen years or so could be found playing around the pubs and clubs of his home town in Co. Down and was doing okay for himself. A mate of his who had been backpacking around Australia told him all about his travels and adventures

😂😂😂

HISTORIANS IN IRELAND HAVE DISCOVERED WHAT THEY BELIEVE TO BE THE HEADSTONE OF THE WORLD’S OLDEST EVER LIVING MAN. HE WAS 193 AND HIS NAME WAS ‘MILES FROM DUBLIN’.

44 | THE IRISH SCENE

and recommended it to him to try out. “I fancied the holiday, seeing it for a year and signing a few songs.”

He came to Perth and within two weeks had already established himself on the local gigging circuit of pubs like Durty Nellys, the Mighty Quinn and Woodvale Tavern. For about ten years now he has been working full time as a musician.

He is appreciative of the support he has got from the Irish community, but also from English, Scottish and Australian establishments as well.

Now there is even a whisper that Jonny is about to break the festival scene, extending his reach into a wider audience. Look out for his music on Spotify, iTunes or similar formats or on his website www.jonnyreidmusic.com.

☘

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THE IRISH SCENE | 45

Comhaltas Perth SEÁN DOHERTY BRANCH

facebook.com/perthcomhaltas • perthcomhaltas@gmail.com

Lessons session every Monday at 7pm at the Irish Club of WA

40 YEARS IN PERTH, AUSTRALIA WHERE THE TRADITION OF IRISH MUSIC, DANCE, AND LANGUAGE IS ALIVE AND WELL. It was 1 December 1980 when the first Comhaltas Annual General Meeting took place at the Stirling Hall on Bradford Street in Mount Lawley, Perth, Western Australia.

Among the attendees were the late Fr. PJ Kelly (RIP), Cecil Cathal (chairman) and his wife Trish (club secretary). Also in attendance were Ray Deely and Russel Johnsen (music officer). Ray Deely still regularly attends the Monday night Comhaltas classes and Perth Irish sessions.

In 1982, Ormonde ‘Mór’ Waters acted in the role of treasurer with his son Ormonde ‘Óg’ as training officer.

In 1984 Sean Doherty, then chairman, brought Comhaltas

46 | THE IRISH SCENE

to the Irish Club on Townshend Street in Subiaco. The year prior Comhaltas was located at Murdoch University. Since 1984, Comhaltas has established itself at the Irish Club of WA. Sean has been actively teaching Irish traditional music since 1984 to all ages and levels with weekly and monthly lessons and slow sessions which take place both at the Irish Club (every Monday night from 7pm) and The Victoria Park Centre for the Arts (the third Sunday of every month from 2pm to 4pm). Irish language classes also take place each Monday night in the upstairs meeting room of the Irish Club. The Irish language classes are run by Bridie Higgins and Máirtín Ó Dhubhlaigh.

Comhaltas Perth Sean Doherty Branch has been the cornerstone for the promotion of Irish culture though music, song, dancing and language in Perth, Australia for over 40 years. Students from years gone by can still be seen performing at the regular Irish sessions and music events throughout Perth. Current members of Comhaltas who have been part of the club since its inception in Perth include traditional sean-nós singer Tommie Kearns and his wife Kathleen, Rita Fallon and Ray Deely.

COMHALTAS PERTH

SEAN DOHERTY AND ROBERT ZIELINSKI – ‘THE ROUND HOUSE’ ALBUM CD RELEASE Accomplished Irish fiddle players Sean Doherty and Robert Zielinski have recently come together to release their first CD collaboration in this wonderful collection of Irish jigs / slip jigs, reels and airs on the fiddle. Sean and Rob are also joined on tracks 5, 6 and 13 by Sean’s son Brendan Doherty on guitar.

The Round House is a selection of 15 tracks all recorded in one at Electric Badge Recordings Studios in Glen Forrest, Perth in January 2019. The album was mastered by Sam Jones with the CD photography and layout by Brendan Doherty.

The album artwork brings together a wonderful selection of photos captured over the many years of Sean’s playing. The album cover photo was taken at The Round House in Fremantle, Western Australia which was built in late 1830. The port of Fremantle is where Sean and his family first arrived in Australia having emigrated from Ireland via the UK in 1968.

The album CD is available to buy for $25 (or concession $20) and can be purchased by getting in touch with Sean Doherty, Brendan Doherty or by getting in touch with Comhaltas via email at perthcomhaltas@gmail.com or Comhaltas’ Facebook page at facebook.com/perthcomhaltas/ . The CD will also be available for purchase at the Monday night lessons at the Irish Club.

COMHALTAS PERTH, SEAN DOHERTY BRANCH 40-YEAR ANNIVERSARY – BICKLEY CAMP OPEN DAY As part of Comhaltas’ 40-year anniversary and Sean Doherty’s and Robert Zielinski’s CD album release, Comhaltas will be hosting a music camp at Bickley Outdoor Recreation Camp (Hardinge Rd, Orange Grove) on the weekend of 29-30 October 2021. The camp starts on Friday evening and goes through to Sunday morning. Activities include Friday night session, Saturday workshops, a family bush night walk and evening dinner followed by dancing and an open session. Details of the music workshops can be found on our Comhaltas Facebook page.

All past and present members, family and friends are invited to join in the celebration of 40 years!

Comhaltas welcome and encourage aspiring musicians of all ages and levels to get in touch. Members of our committee will be able to assist in the many areas of Irish music, song, dance and language, whether that be learning the bodhran, to gain an understanding of sheet music and common tunes played at the Irish

sessions, the basics of Irish language and set dancing, amongst many more.

Please get in touch either via email at perthcomhaltas@gmail.com or the branch’s Facebook page at facebook.com/perthcomhaltas/. We would love to hear from you. Details of our membership prices are included below.

From the committee at Comhaltas we would like to thank our all our members and musicians and the Irish Club committee and staff for your continued support.

We also look forward to welcoming new members in the future.

COMHALTAS MEMBERSHIP DETAILS Monday night lessons (non member): $5

YEARLY MEMBERSHIP Pensioner: Child: Family: Adult (single): Adult (couple):

$20 $20 $65 $40 $55

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Sean Nós - 5.30pm Set Dancing & Céilí - 6.00-7.00pm $15 pay as you go • Teacher: Caroline McCarthy facebook.com/TorcCeiliClub torcceiliclub@gmail.com

THE IRISH SCENE | 47

Ulster Rambles

BY DAVID MACCONNELL

IT IS NORMAL AT THIS TIME OF YEAR THAT I RAVE ON ABOUT THE MANY BRAVE, COURAGEOUS, HEROIC, EMOTIONAL, PASSIONATE STORIES OF SPORT AT THE OLYMPICS. I DIVED INTO THIS PROJECT WITH MUCHO GUSTO AND ENTHUSIASM BUT SUCH IS THE NATURE OF ULSTER THAT I WAS UNABLE TO FATHOM THE INTRICACIES OF HOW AND WHY SOME ATHLETES REPRESENTED GREAT BRITAIN AND SOME REPRESENTED IRELAND. PERHAPS I WILL LEAVE THAT ASPECT ALONE... FOR THE PRESENT... BUT I WILL GET BACK TO IT. 48 | THE IRISH SCENE

A total of 31 athletes from Northern Ireland made their way to Tokyo for the highly anticipated 2020 Olympic Games which of course were held in August 2021. Ireland’s women’s hockey team - captained by Coleraine’s Katie Mullan - started with a 2-0 win over South Africa. The squad – which had more Northern Ireland players than any other event at the Tokyo Games – broke barriers by becoming the first Irish hockey team to qualify for the Olympics. Representing N.I. on the 16-player panel were Ayeisha McFerran, Shirley McCay and Lizzie Holden, with Zara Malseed travelling as a reserve. Meanwhile, David Ames and Ian Sloan bowed out at the quarter-final stage of the men’s hockey with the G.B. team, losing 3-1 to India and missing out on a medal place.

Banbridge’s Russell White finished 48th in the men’s triathlon while Craigavon’s Kirsty Hegarty finished 16th in the women’s trap shooting: whatever that was. Obviously Channel 7 did not show it or maybe I just managed to miss it! Belfast archer Patrick Huston finished 25th in the round of 64 in the men’s individual event and placed eighth in the mixed team event with Sarah Bettles.

Four-time major winner Rory McIlroy just missed out on a bronze medal at the third sudden-death hole of a seven-way play-off for third place. The Holywood golfer began the final round tied for fifth on 11-under, three shots behind Zander Schauffele – who ended up winning gold – and only one stroke outside the medals. Jordanstown’s Stephanie Meadow ended four shots outside of the medal places after firing a five-under-par final round of 66 to finish seventh in the women’s golf.

Team Ireland’s Olympic reputation is built on boxing success and four Northern Ireland boxers were selected for the squad. Despite Aidan Walsh’s despair at having to withdraw with an ankle injury he sustained celebrating victory in his bronze medal fight, he returns to Belfast as the city’s ninth Olympic medallist.

ULSTER RAMBLES

The 23-year-old welterweight also paid tribute to his sister Michaela Walsh, who had her own Olympic dream ended with a loss to Italy’s Irma Testa. He said he would “cut the medal in half and give her half of it”. Very sporting of him! Belfast flyweight and Team Ireland boxing captain Brendan Irvine also suffered defeat on day three. Lisburn featherweight Kurt Walker missed out on a bronze medal by a razor-thin split decision to the USA’s Duke Ragan, who has been fighting in the professional ranks for much of the last year. Newtownards gymnast Rhys McClenaghan missed out on a medal with a seventh place finish in the final of the men’s pommel horse.

In 2018, McClenaghan won Commonwealth and European gold, as well as a World Championship bronze medal in 2019 (I did cover his story at the time

Sprinter Leon Reid made his Olympic debut in the 200m and the Commonwealth bronze medallist progressed to the semi-finals, where he finished seventh with a time of 20.54 after a strong run to qualify from his heat. Northern Ireland’s final competitors in action were Paul Pollock, Kevin Seaward and Stephen Scullion in the men’s marathon. Seaward finished 58th in a time of 2:21:45 with Pollock 71st after running 2:27:48 while Scullion dropped out around the 20km mark as he and a number of runners struggled in the hot conditions.

In rowing, Rebecca Shorten competed for Team GB in the women’s four. She missed out on bronze by just over a second and came a full five seconds behind the Australian boat, who won gold in 6:15.37 – an Olympic best time. Coleraine-born Hannah Scott was part of G.B.’s women quadruple sculls crew which placed seventh overall and Aughnacloy’s Rebecca Edwards came fifth with the G.B. women’s eight in the repechage.

There would be many heroic, passionate and emotional stories with all these competitors, just like the Australian stories that were covered so well by Channel 7. They can all now look forward to Paris in three years with hope and anticipation.

Top left: Boxers Kellie Harrington and Brendan Irvine fly the flag for Ireland at the opening ceremony. Image: www.independent.ie Above: A delighted Aidan Walsh displays his bronze medal with sister Michaela in this column of our great little mag). He was seeking to become the first Irish gymnast to earn Olympic gold. In swimming, Daniel Wiffen broke his own Irish record with a 1500m freestyle win, finishing in a time of 15:07:69 and coming 20th overall. It wasn’t enough to qualify the 20-year-old for the final, but it was another impressive result for the Magheralin man, who also broke the Irish national record for the 800m freestyle, clocking a personal best time of 7:51:65 which placed him 14th. Bangor’s Jack McMillan led the Ireland men’s 4x200m freestyle relay team to eighth place in their semi-final. They finished 14th overall in the event, and are the first Irish men’s team to race at the Olympics, as well as the first Irish swimming relay team to compete at the Games since 1972.

Rugby sevens was of course part of the games this time around. It reminded me of someone from my old school who attended Queens University and played for Ulster and Ireland while still being the scrum half for the University second team. His name was and still is Roger Young. The reason for this incongruous selection was the fact that the first scrum half (Billy White) was also the place kicker for the team and presumably they had no other reliable kicker. Roger won 26 caps for Ireland between 1965 and 1971 and it is 53 years since he was called into the British and Irish Lions side for a series deciding third Test against South Africa in Cape Town. It was a star-studded side for the third of four Tests – Mike Gibson at flyhalf, (called out half in those days) Gerald Davies at outside centre, Tom Kiernan, Maurice Richards and Keith Savage in the back three while up front, the pack included John Pullin, Willie John McBride and Jim Telfer.

It may be a different era in so many ways from today’s Lions tour, but Young, who was a 25-year-old dental student at Queen’s University in Belfast at the time, shared the same anxious moments as Warren Gatland’s side no doubt felt, ahead of the recent decider which by the way they lost 19 – 16, with a THE IRISH SCENE | 49

ULSTER RAMBLES

penalty in the last 5 minutes deciding the outcome of the series.

I was on the executive committee of the Students Union at this time and the team was heavily criticised for the tour where apartheid was prevalent. The final deciding factor was quote ‘how could we condemn it if we had not been over there to appreciate and understand the problem.’ Thankfully, that comment ended the discussion. At the time we were all involved with the Civil Rights Marches which encouraged plenty of discussions!

Roger had fallen in love with Cape Town and decided to return two years later with the intention of working as a dentist for two years. He never left the place and has now been a South African citizen for the last 50 years. He did give up rugby however as he found the amount asked to insure his hands (to practice dentistry) was more than he could comfortably afford.

Of course the problems in Northern Ireland had an influence on his decision to stay in South Africa – the grocery shop of his wife’s father was blown up by an IRA bomb intended for a police station. As for living in the apartheid regime, when he set up his dental practice in the suburbs of Cape Town, he says he became the first dentist in South Africa to employ a black receptionist. “You did what you could. I lost a few patients, but not many. Thankfully we are all together now.”

He now runs a guesthouse in the beautiful West Cape coastal resort of Langebaan, but apparently he returned to Cape Town recently, where his adventure began, to watch the third Test with his extended

Musical Entertainer / Teacher

Above: Roger Young in his heyday. Image: www.telegraph.co.uk/ family.

Most of them will be cheering for the Springboks, but not Young. His Lion heart still beats strong. “I would love the Lions to win,’ he was quoted as saying, “but we need to run more with the ball. It is what the Lions have always done.”

If you are interested in rugby well you know how close it was. They did manage quite a few runs but as the aficionados all know the game has changed a lot since Roger sent out those beautiful long passes.

Lastly, returning to the Olympics, after twenty seconds thought, who would play for G.B. and who would play for Ireland. Let’s leave that and roll on to Paris in three year; much closer than Tokyo. I hope we perform well.

May your God go with them and you.

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G’Day

from Melbourne

BY MIKE BOWEN

AS A WRITER IN THIS COVID-19 ENVIRONMENT, IT HAS BEEN VERY DIFFICULT TO ASSESS WHAT YOU THE READER WOULD LIKE TO READ ABOUT THESE DAYS. THERE APPEARS TO BE ONLY ONE SUBJECT OF CONVERSATION ON EVERYONE’S LIPS AND THAT IS COVID-19, EVEN THOUGH WE’RE LIVING IN A WORLD OF MULTI HIGHWAYS OF TECHNOLOGY AND CONSTANT NEWS UPDATES.

52 | THE IRISH SCENE

Image: independent.ie

In normal times (if anyone still remembers those days) a writer had so much more to write about that would hold your attention and interest. Now there is fear among us writers as to what to write about. Do I write about Covid-19 and add more fuel to the depression that has already imprisoned your mind, or do I write about other matters. If I go with the flow of more comparison stories of Covid-19 – of which you are already overdosed in – I might be accused of boring you to death.

So today I thought, I’d give you some good news and somethings to laugh about for a change. Let’s start with the joy of seeing Ireland’s Olympic medal winners on the front page of all the papers in Ireland and also on this paper.

They did amazingly well for such a small nation with a budget that wouldn’t cover a night out at a pub for myself and a few friends. OK so Ireland didn’t reach the top ten in the medal count but all those who wore green on their backs and pride in their heart brought pride and joy to us all.

I was receiving constant update phone calls of excitement from this magazine’s correspondent in Tokyo, who just happens to be my son Emmett.

Had we in Australia not been locked down with this horrible virus, I would have been at Emmett’s side, cheering on our Irish team.

As a true Corkonian, it was great to see the Cork Under 20’s and the minors win their All Ireland. Their win should give hope for the future, knowing that there is great talent waiting in the wings to step up over the next few years. I was waiting with baited breath for Sunday’s Seniors All Ireland Hurling Final against Limerick. I was prepared to be up all night to watch it with the time difference, I was wrapped in my red pajamas with my Cork jersey and had a few cold beers to keep my temperature down, instead of having a couple of warm pints of Guinness in Pa Johnsons, my first place of call every time I land in Cork. To add a bit of atmosphere before the ball was thrown in, I thought I should put on a few CD’s of my good mates the Furey’s to cheer myself up.

It’s heart wrenching at times like this when one is so far away in lockdown and not being able to be there to share in the excitement with lifelong friends.

I had no doubt the game was going to be a cracker and if Cork won, the city

G’DAY FROM MELBOURNE

would be more exciting than being in Rio for the Mardi Gras. To make matters worse on occasions like this, the Irish on this side of the world can only look on with envy at the joy of the Irish with their freedom. Unlike us misfortunates who have to live with the harsh restrictions that we’re shackled with. So there I was, all cuddled up and waiting in anticipation with my phone on, ready to share in all the excitement with friends in the red city. Well only minutes after the ball was thrown in, I began to see red and it wasn’t the Cork red. Soon the screen began to look more like a river of green, flowing faster than a tsunami. As Limericks scores began to soar, my heart began to sink. By half time I saw no sign of a miracle recovery by Cork. My dream night turned into a nightmare and the only consolation for me was seeing a Limerick team at its very best, winning by 3-32 to 1-22. The fact that every one of the Limerick players scored just shows the depth of talent. Sadly the Cork party turned into a wake but that was still good enough reason to celebrate into the early hours.

No doubt Cork team will be licking their wounds after the shellacking they received and will come back next year to make amends (I hope). So like a good little boy I folded up my red pajamas and jersey and stored them for next year.

Another sad occasion but none the less a reason to celebrate a passing. I well remember landing in Dublin only an hour before the 9-11 disaster. My wife and I had just dropped our bags at the hotel and watched in horror and disbelief at what was unfolding in front of our eyes. The following Friday Ireland closed for a day of respect for those who died and all others affected by the tragic event. All businesses closed except the back door of the local pubs, where wakes proceeded. The Irish have a healthy disrespect for orders and rules, especially when it comes to wakes and celebrations. In this case, the Irish public decided without government approval to hold a wake of their own which is part of the Irish tradition, and Mrs. Brown’s famous line of “we’re all going down to the pub and no one gives a #uck” was thrown into the ring just to snub the authorities.

I love stories like this following one, as I can only imagine the joy it has brought to the fans and local community who waited so long for this day to be able to smile and shout out ‘you can’t keep a good team down’. Ever since I could kick a football I was fascinated with the English soccer league teams.

When in school I was constantly being punished for drawing and colouring the jerseys of all the football clubs’ jerseys, it didn’t matter if they were in the

Image: Twitter @BrentfordFC

fourth or the first division, the colours fascinated me.

Maybe me being dyslexic had something to do with it?

Why am I telling you this, you are probably asking yourself. Well don’t bother thinking why, as I will shine a light on it for you now. One of the teams I used to colour in was a team called Brentford, also nicknamed the Bees. I liked their colors of red and white stripes because it reminded me of the candy rock that was one of my favourite sweets. As history revealed, Brentford was last in the top flight in 1947, 74 years ago. In their very last match in the top flight in May of that year, they were beaten 1-0 by Arsenal.

Sometimes it takes a long time to get back to the top.

In this case it took 74 years for the Bees, who were promoted to the premier league this year, to get their revenge. Last week they played Arsenal in their first game of the season, at Arsenals home ground, and defeated them 2-0, to cherish sweet revenge after 74 years. The little boy in me also had a smile for the underdog Bees with the news of their arrival back in the big league and taking a major scalp on their first outing.

Until next time, be good to those who love you and sláinte from Melbourne

THE IRISH SCENE | 53

Konnichiwa from Tokyo

BY EMMETT BOWEN

AS A FAMOUS IRISH BAND THIN LIZZY SANG: “THE BOYS ARE BACK IN TOWN”.

YES, I’M TALKING ABOUT THE TWO CORK BOYS. IRISH OLYMPIC GOLD MEDALISTS PAUL O’DONOVAN AND FINTAN McCARTY IN MEN’S LIGHTWEIGHT DOUBLE SCULLS JUST TOUCHED DOWN BACK HOME IN IRELAND.

The two lads have not had it easy in rowing but have a long-proven record of not giving up, ever. Both of the lads grew up in Ireland in the south west part of County Cork. Fintan is from the small town of Skibbereen and Paul is from the town of Lisheen near Skibbereen.

Paul O’Donovan’s records are: • Bronze medal in the men’s lightweight single sculls in the under 23 world champions; • Silver medals in the men’s lightweight double sculls in 2017 and 2018 in European championships with a silver medal in Rio 2016 Olympics; • Gold medals in lightweight double scull at the European Championships in 2016 and 2021, World Championships in 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019, and his newest achievement of Gold at the Tokyo 2020 games.

Fintan McCarty’s records are: • Bronze medal at the2020 European Championships in lightweight single sculls; • Gold medals at the 2019 World Championships in lightweight single scull, European championships 2021 lightweight double sculls and now the Tokyo 2020 Olympics lightweight double scull.

Fintan McCarty and Paul O’Donovan started their winning partnership in 2019 winning gold in the lightweight double scull at the World Rowing championships. Then in 2021, they again won gold in the lightweight double scull at the European Rowing championships. Their greatest achievement to date however, is winning gold at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics in the men’s lightweight double scull. They also broke the world record time of 6:05:22 in their semifinals, prior to winning the gold medal in Tokyo.

54 | THE IRISH SCENE

KONNICHIWA FROM TOKYO

Opposite left: Ireland rowers Fintan McCarthy and Paul O'Donovan celebrate after winning the men’s lightweight double sculls at the Sea Forest Waterway during the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. Image: Brendan Moran/Sportsfile via Getty Images Left: The cartoony Miraitowa is the official mascot of the Tokyo Olympics of 226 medals. The only time Ireland has not won any medals at the games is here in Tokyo back in 1964. With this year’s Team Ireland Paralympians, I’m sure they will reflect on history and expect to perform much better.

I was privileged to be given the opportunity to speak with the men and to congratulate them on their historic achievement. My takeaway moment was their advice for those who may wish to follow them in dreams of winning Olympic gold. “You have to have a strong belief that anything is possible with a lot of hard work. Enjoy the journey and don’t be in a hurry to do amazing things straight away”.

They also expressed how grateful they are for the support they received from all those back home and the Irish community from all corners of the world.

Another highlight of the Paralympics I was honored to be a part of, was welcoming Team Ireland to Japan.

As you are watching the Paralympics which are currently on television, some of you may be thinking, “Did Team Ireland get a warm welcome from their host city of Narita in Chiba prefecture and the Irish Community in Japan?” and the answers is yes, they did. If the city name sounds familiar to some of the readers, it’s because it is also home to Narita International Airport, which I sure some of you have flown into or departed from, and is located about one hour from central Tokyo.

Ireland has had athletes at every Summer Paralympics since it started in 1960. They have won 66 gold, 66 silver and 94 bronze medals which is a total

It has been a long journey for the Irish Paralympic team on the road to Tokyo Paralympics 2020, with many ups and downs including the pandemic to contend with along the way. Sunday August 15th I was honored as the chairperson of Irish Network Japan and Irish NPO (I will do an article about our organization and the great work that we do in the near future) to give an official welcome speech to the Irish athletes at the Welcoming Ireland’s Paralympic Team and Irish Japan Chamber of Commerce (IJCC) and Narita City zoom event.

The special guest speakers at the zoom event were as follows: • Neasa Russell (Chef de mission for Paralympics Ireland) • Team Ireland Paralympians • Irish Ambassador Paul Kavanagh • Narita City Mayor and Vice Mayor of Narita City • INJ chairperson Emmett Bowen • IJCC President Yoshihiro Tsuchiya as well as the President of

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THE IRISH SCENE | 55

KONNICHIWA FROM TOKYO

Japan Gaelic Athletic Association (Japan GAA) and the chairperson of Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Eireann Japan (CCÉ).

In my speech I said: “It’s with great honor as the chairperson of the Irish Network Japan to say to the athletes Fáilte go Tóiceo! In Gaelic it means welcome to Tokyo.

“You have all worked incredibly hard and sacrificed so much to be here. Enjoy the moment and know that the Irish community here in Japan and around the world are cheering you all on! Wishing you all a very successful game and go Ireland!”

There was also a great live Irish music session with a mix of Japanese and Irish musicians.

The event finished with the Irish Paralympians thanking everyone for welcoming them to Japan and their fundraising efforts. The IJCC and Narita City put on a fabulous event and what a great way to kick off run up to the Paralympics.

Team Ireland still need your help. If you can, please follow Team Ireland at paralympics.ie and donate what you can. Enjoy the games and GO Ireland!

That’s all for now here in Tokyo Japan. Sayonara till next time. Believe in yourself and anything is possible.

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An Bealach Caol An Bealach Caol an t-ainm a bhí ar an sráidbhaile.

Bhí sé furasta a fheiceáil cad chuige ar tugadh an t-ainm sin air. Idir na sléibhte a bhí an baile lonnaithe agus gan ach an t-aon phríomhbhóthar ann, bóthar a chuaigh siar agus soir. Bhí mionbhóthar eile ann a thriall ó thuaidh agus ó dheas. Ba dheacair ‘bóthar’ a thabhairt air.

Cuireadh tarmac air fadó fadó ach bhí sé lán le poill faoin am seo. D’imigh an bóthar isteach sna sléibhte. Bhí fógra amháin ann ar a raibh: ‘Páirc an Aoibhnis: Láthair Charabhán agus Champála’. Ar an sráidbhaile féin, ní raibh le feiceáil ach séipéal, eaglais, sraith bheag tithe agus siopaí ar dhá thaobh an bhealaigh – tithe beaga a tógadh d’oibrithe feirme os cionn céad bliain ó shin agus siopaí: búistéir; bacús; nuachtánaí agus dhá theach tábhairne.

Ní raibh aon ollmhargadh nó cógaslann san áit, rud a chuir iontas ar Phaloma. ‘Beidh orm dul go hÁth na hAbhann má bhíonn béaldath de dhíth orm’, a dúirt sí léi féin go gruama.

Agus bhí gruaim uirthi. Níorbh fhada i ndiaidh na heachtra cois Life gur iarr an ceannfort uirthi teacht chuige. ‘Tá brón orm’, a dúirt sé, ‘ach beidh ort aistriú siar. Ceann de na rudaí sin. Ná caill do mhisneach. Beidh lá eile ag an bPaorach’. Chroith sé lámh léi agus thug ainm a stáisiúin nua di: An Bealach Caol. B’éigean do Phaloma léarscáil a fháil le teacht ar an áit.

Ní raibh ann ach fostáisiún beag sna sléibhte. Bhí sí freagrach as limistéar mór uaigneach tuaithe ina raibh roinnt bailte a bhí níos lú ná an Bealach Caol féin. Bhí uirthi scairt a chur ar sháirsint in Áth na hAbhann gach lá agus tuairisc a thabhairt. Bhí uirthi dul suas go hÁth na hAbhann uair amháin sa tseachtain le bualadh leis an sáirsint agus leis an bheirt ghardaí eile a bhí ar diúité sa stáisiún.

Ba léir go raibh trua an domhain ag an sáirsint di. An chéad lá a bhuail sí isteach chucu, rinne sé comhbhrón ó chroí léi. ‘Ná bíodh imní ort. Ní tharlaíonn mórán ansin ach tá na daoine deas cairdiúil – don chuid is mó’, a dúirt an Sáirsint Ó Ceallaigh. Fear toirtiúil a bhí in Ó Ceallaigh.

58 | THE IRISH SCENE

SEANFHOCAL

Is fada an bóthar nach mbíonn casadh ann.

Sárimreoir peile a bhí ann lá den saol ach bhí sé tite chun feola faoi seo. Bhí a bholg rómhór dá bhríste. Beirt gardaí óga a bhí sa phéire eile – Labhrás Ó Múineacháin agus Peadar Mac Ádhaimh.

‘Tá an chuma orthu go bhfuil siad direach i ndiaidh teacht amach as an choláiste traenála’, a smaoinigh Paloma léi féin. Ní dúirt siad rud ar bith léi. Ní raibh fonn comhrá orthu. Chuala siad an drochscéal faoin óinseach seo de bhleachtaire, gan amhras. Bhí siad ag iarraidh í a sheachaint.

Bhí díomá ar Phaloma. An amhlaidh nach mbeadh cairde aici san fhórsa níos mó? Ní dúirt sí rud ar bith os ard. D’éist sí go múinte le caint an tsáirsint. Chuir sé síos ar a dualgais, ar an cheantar agus ar na daoine a thógfadh tríoblóid.

Cur síos gruama a bhí ann. Bhí an áit beagnach bánaithe. Bhí ar na daoine óga triall ar Áth na hAbhann don scoláiocht dara leibhéal. An méid acu a lean den oideachas, chuaigh siad ar na hollscoileanna sna cathracha. Is chun na gcathracha fosta a chuaigh lucht na gceard. Ní raibh go leor oibre sa chontae leis an dé a choinneáil iontu.

(PALOMA, AN BEALACH CÓIR, PÓL Ó MUIRÍ, LEABHAIRCOMHAR, BÁC, 2012)

BRÍD

AUSTRALIAN FRIENDS OF IRISH UNITY LAUNCHED:

Community leaders call for Referendum on United Ireland To mark 100-years since the Partition of Ireland, leading members of Australia’s Irish community and supporters have launched a new group to campaign in support of the right of all the Irish people, on both sides of the border, to democratically decide their future through a Referendum on a United Ireland.

Australian Friends of Irish Unity (AFIU) have released an It’s Time statement endorsed by Federal and State MPs (including former State Government Ministers), leaders of the Australian Trade Union Movement, Irish community group representatives, a Bishop, an Aboriginal Elder and other prominent public figures.

AFIU National Co-ordinator Paddy Gorman said the launch was just the beginning of an Australia-wide campaign to protect the Good Friday Agreement and the right of the Irish people to democratically decide their own future as a united nation, particularly in the wake of Brexit.

An online petition can be accessed by the public at

change.org/AustralianFriendsForIrishUnity For further details contact Paddy Gorman Email pgorman.afiu32@gmail.com Mobile 0418 116 426 Facebook Australian Friends of Irish Unity

AFIU has established branches throughout Australia in the States of NSW, Victoria, Western Australia, Queensland, the Australian Capital Territory and Tasmania.

THE IRISH SCENE | 59

Claddagh Report CLADDAGH SENIORS It was the most wonderful time of the year when the Claddagh Seniors group gathered for their traditional Christmas in July meal at the Mighty Quinn. Everyone enjoyed the Irish music from guest performers, the Broken Pokers, and Santa even paid a visit to all the good boys and girls!

In August the Claddagh Seniors met twice for cultural events. On the 22nd August, the Irish Theatre Players hosted the Seniors group at the matinee of their latest play, “Little Gem”

by Elaine Murphy.

The all-female cast impressed with their fabulous performances in an emotional story that captivated the audience. After the performance, the Irish Theatre Players President, Claire Wynne, presented Claddagh with a generous donation (see details on next page) which we were so pleased to accept for our work.

The following week the Seniors subcommittee hosted a private film screening so the Seniors could safely and comfortably view the film ‘Buckley’s Chance’. All enjoyed this touching film set in the Australian outback, highlighting the bond between a grandfather and grandson.

60 | THE IRISH SCENE

THE CLADDAGH SENIORS GROUP ARE ALWAYS OPEN TO NEW MEMBERS. THEY ARE A FRIENDLY, FUN-LOVING BUNCH AND WOULD LOVE TO WELCOME YOU TO THEIR EVENTS. If you would like to join them, or if you know a senior from the Irish community who would like to attend the group’s events, you can register by calling Patricia Bratton of the Seniors Subcommittee on 0417 099 801 or 08 9345 3530, or by contacting Claddagh Coordinator Anne Wayne on admin@claddagh.org.au / 08 9249 9213.

13/15 Bonner Drive Malaga. Enquiries: 08 9249 9213 / admin@claddagh.org.au

CLADDAGH VISA CLINICS

CLADDAGH DIGITAL TRAINING FOR SENIORS Our seniors have also been busy attending the first two of our monthly online training workshops for Seniors in the Irish community in WA. Participants have so far learnt about email and Facebook. The next monthly workshops will be held on Saturday the 28th August, 25th September, 30th October and 27th November.

Participants will continue to learn about popular messaging apps, social media and video conferencing apps so they can stay in touch with family and friends wherever they are in the world.

These training workshops are very informal and cater for any abilities - from those who have never used technology to those who want to learn tips and tricks to help them get more from their devices and apps. Volunteers are also on hand to give one on one guidance with the teacher’s instructions so that everyone has someone to help them. A yummy Irish morning tea is offered at each workshop and great craic is had by all!

All senior members of the Irish community in WA are invited to attend these training workshops. Contact Claddagh Coordinator Anne Wayne on admin@claddagh.org.au / 08 9249 9213 for more information and to register for a workshop.

Our three free visa clinics for members of the Irish community, which were held in May and June this year, were a booked-out success and we hosted an extra clinic in July to cater for the demand. So many members of the Irish community in WA need advice on visas, travel exemptions and citizenship that Claddagh have now made a commitment to hosting a free visa clinic each quarter for the next year.

At these clinics, Patricia Halley, registered migration agent from Visa4You, will base herself in the Claddagh office, offering 30 minute in-person or phone consultations and giving valuable advice on visas, citizenship and travel exemptions. The next Claddagh visa clinics are scheduled for Tues 21st Sept 2021 and Tues 16th Nov 2021. If you or someone you know in the Irish community in WA needs advice on visas, travel exemptions and citizenship please contact Claddagh Coordinator Anne Wayne via admin@ claddagh.org.au / 08 9249 9213 to book an appointment.

JOIN AND CONNECT WITH CLADDAGH Claddagh welcomes new members. Now, more than ever, a strong membership is important to us, because it allows us to attract government and non-government funding for more projects that support our community. Our membership fee is priced affordably at $10 annually and entitles you to voting rights at our Annual General meeting and any Special General Meetings. You will receive our bi-monthly newsletter, gain access to all our information and events, become eligible to volunteer with Claddagh and receive a discount for our Seniors events. You can join online here: claddagh.org.au/membership/join-our-community/ Don’t forget that you can: check out our events, work and latest news on the new Claddagh website - claddagh.org. au; contact us via Facebook - facebook.com/claddaghwa; and email or ring the Claddagh coordinator Anne Wayne via admin@claddagh.org.au / 08 9249 9213.

If your Irish community group is planning an event, contact Claddagh Coordinator Anne Wayne on admin@claddagh.org. au / 08 9249 9213 to list it on the community calendar section of our new website: claddagh.org.au/events/

Crisis Support: 0403 | 61 THE IRISH972 SCENE265

www.claddagh.org.au CONTINUED FROM PAGE 61

IRISH THEATRE PLAYERS DONATION You may have seen that the Irish Theatre Players recently won $3000 in the Irish Club of WA’s Super Draw Fundraiser.

This was a shock to the group who had only intended to support the Irish Club! The Irish Theatre Players committee decided to donate their winnings to Claddagh to be used in our work supporting the Irish community in WA. We are very grateful as we are experiencing more demand than ever for our services. As always, if you or someone you know in the Irish community in WA needs urgent assistance you can contact Claddagh on our crisis line: 0403 972 265.

CLADDAGH ORAL HISTORY PROJECT We continue to share highlights from the Claddagh Oral History Project 2020 with readers of the Irish Scene. In this issue you can read the story of Sr Regina O’Neill of Co. Dublin. She was interviewed by Claddagh Coordinator Anne Wayne, who is from Fremantle but lived for many years near New Ross in Co. Wexford. The interviews from the Oral History Project were edited and collated as a book, From Home to Home: Oral Histories of Irish Seniors in Western Australia. The full book is available as a digital download at the Claddagh website here: claddagh.org.au/claddaghoral-history-project/

SAVE THE DATE FOR CLADDAGH’S ANNUAL REMEMBRANCE SERVICE 3PM, SUNDAY 7 NOVEMBER Claddagh will host our annual Remembrance Service for members of the Irish community in WA at St Joseph’s Church, Subiaco to remember our loved ones who have died here in Australia, in Ireland or elsewhere in the past year.

All are most welcome but due to attendance limits at St Joseph’s Church we need to monitor numbers. Please register your attendance at claddaghremembranceservice2021. eventbrite.com 62 | THE IRISH SCENE

FUNDRAISING FOR CLADDAGH IN MEMORY OF EIREANN Claddagh are privileged to have worked with the O’Riordan family whose hearts were broken when they lost their little angel Eireann in February 2021. They have recently spoken about the family’s experience saying: “On the 4th of February 2021 we lost our newborn baby girl Eireann. Life went to a standstill while we as a family tried to come to terms with what was happening and what was ahead of us.

That’s where we were introduced to the Claddagh foundation. They provided so much financial assistance and emotional support for our family. They assisted with everything and anything that would help lift some burden from us. They also went above and beyond to get our family over from Ireland, in the midst of the pandemic so that we could be together for 6 months. We are now in a position to try and say thank you in raising as much funds and awareness as we can, to support their wonderful foundation so other families like ours continue to get the same support.”

In memory of Eireann, her mum Grainne, and her dad Darren, are organising a number of fundraisers for Claddagh between now and the end of the year. We are in awe of the O’Riordan’s commitment and so grateful to them for their kindness in paying it forward so that Claddagh can support other members of the Irish community in WA when they face their darkest hour.

The first fundraiser is a gofundme appeal by Grainne’s workmate, Vivian, who will shave her head in memory of Eireann. If you’d like to make it worth Vivian’s while to go bald you can donate here: au.gofundme.com/f/inmemory-of-eireann Shortly we’ll be announcing details of a Quiz Night and a Bunnings Sausage Sizzle in memory of Eireann. If you’d like to donate prizes, help with the organising or volunteer at the events get in touch with Claddagh Coordinator, Anne Wayne via admin@claddagh.org. au / 08 9249 9213.

☘

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Sr Regina O’Neill Sr Regina O’Neill was born in 1934.

She is from Rush, Co. Dublin.

My name that I was given when I was born was Anna.

But in religion, I’m known as Sister Regina. That was the name I was given when I was professed. It was supposed to be that you were giving yourself to God and you forgot your other name. I was happy with Regina. Some of them got names that were dreadful. One sister got Benvenuta, I’d never heard of Benvenuta. I liked the name [Regina] because it was Our Lady’s name. When I was a child at home, I was never called Anna, I was always called Nancy.

So when I go to Ireland, they don’t call me Anna, or Regina. It’s always Nancy.

[My] place of birth was a very tiny place, no one’s ever heard of it - Newcastle, County Tipperary. I was only there until I was about four or five. My father was a Guard and he was transferred to Rush, in County Dublin. That was my home really. It was a small seaside place. Market gardens of vegetables and potatoes. We had a great time in Rush. There was a big park, Kenure Park, and we had a great time playing there. I don’t think we were supposed to be in there but we climbed trees and there was a river and there was a huge house in the middle of it. It was owned by the Palmers and we filled our days with that and then down on the strand, we’d go on the rocks and see what we could find on the rocks. And so we had great freedom.

My mother was very religious and my two older brothers. Well, we were all very much involved in the church, and Sean [my younger brother] was an altar boy. I went to school to the Dominicans in Eccles Street in Dublin. [In 1950] the Dominicans from here [Australia], went to Ireland, looking for young people to come out here. You see, they couldn’t get young Australians to enter and that’s why they were looking for young Irish people to come, because they weren’t getting any postulants. They came to the school, and they inspired us to come to Australia, because it was considered a missionary country at the time. We put our hands up if we wanted to go. So about three of us from the same class, actually, decided we’d come to Australia. But the parents, I think all said, ‘No’ to begin with.

[My family] thought I shouldn’t go, of course. My older brothers, they told my mother that they shouldn’t let

64 | THE IRISH SCENE

me go. I can remember eventually, one of them [my parents] went into the convent to see the nuns, and coming back to say, they’ve given permission. And my mother’s response was, ‘Well, God gave her to me for 16 years, and now he wants her back’. That was her response. And that was how they looked at it.

I can remember one of my aunts saying not to let me go because I wouldn’t stay, that I’d come back. One of the priests in Rush spoke to me and said, ‘Now, if you ever want to come home, let me know, and I’ll fix it up with your parents’. Because at that time, if anyone left the convent, it was a disgrace, and people looked down on them. I remember that. He was a lovely man.

It didn’t take long, only a couple of months, and then we were off. I had to go from Rush into Dún Laoghaire.

Some great friend of ours drove us to the boat in Dún Laoghaire. Oh, they were devastated, especially my father, because I was an only girl. And because we came with the understanding that we’d never go home so they’d never see us again, of course. Everyone remembers my father’s voice above everybody else saying, ‘Goodbye, Nance. Goodbye, Nance’. And they could all hear his voice as the boat pulled out from Dun Laoghaire. It was heart-breaking.

We travelled all night on the train to Tilbury Docks and then we got the ship. We had good fun on the boat. There were 12 of us and we were young, we were only 16 and we all knew each other. We wandered around the boat, those of us who didn’t get sick. And then this priest decided that we were having too good a time, and he went to Mother Laurence and said that didn’t look good. We’re supposed to be entering the convent. And he told Mother Laurence we should

FROM HOME TO HOME: ORAL HISTORIES OF IRISH SENIORS IN WESTERN AUSTRALIA

do some study. We were wild, of course. We weren’t very happy with this priest. And so we had to knuckle down.

When I arrived at Fremantle Harbour, two men had come out from Rush earlier and their family had given me a cake and some whiskey to give to them. They met me at the port and their greeting was, ‘What on earth brought you to this godforsaken country?’ I just wondered what was ahead of us after that.

We got on a bus up to Dongara [to the convent]. Dreadful shock.

Imagine coming from beautiful Ireland, up to Dongara, there was nothing there really. The land looked so flat after coming from Ireland where it was all hills, and it was so lovely and green. And of course we were going up in the summer, and it was so hot. Luckily, we had each other, and that was the saving grace really. If we’d only just been one or two of us, I don’t think we’d have survived. But with 12 of us, it made such a difference.

Oh, we looked forward to our mail because we lived in silence most of the time so you only had recreation at night time and we shared all our news together. So everybody knew everybody’s family. My mother was just so wonderful. She kept sending me parcels all the time, such practical things. She’d think that I might need safety pins or all kinds of odd things like that.

And everybody loved my mother’s parcels and I’d always open them up and share them all around to everybody.

We stayed in Dongara until we were professed, which was for three years. And then we came down to Scarborough, and I went to uni from there. 1955, I think it was, I studied for my BA [with] Sister Assumpta. She and I were dressed in the full habit, we still had the headdress because

Vatican II hadn’t happened. As Dominicans, we wear cream habits. But we had a cloak on us as well, the black cloak you had to wear when you were out. And here were the two of us, dressed in these long habits, with these young people, and we’d have to go to the psychology lectures and experiments. I mean, it must’ve been so funny, really, to see us.

And then I did a teacher certificate externally. [After that] I taught secondary school all the time, except I went on the motor mission. On the motor mission we travelled about a thousand miles every week, going from place to place. One of the first places I was sent to was North Beach, a very, very poor place at the time. We had to charge fees, so they paid very little. And if they couldn’t pay, they paid in kind. They brought vegetables in. We had to do everything in the school and clean the school and we had to cook.

And to make ends meet, we had to give music lessons. When we had a break at, say at lunchtime, we’d have to give music lessons. And then, we gave music lessons after school, as well. So, life was very, very tough in the very beginning.

One of the places where I had to teach was St. John’s, in Scarborough. It was growing and we had no places for a year eight class. And so, they hired a hall in Doubleview and I was the teacher.

Then the parents decided that we were paying money out for this hiring of the hall and a parent had a sort of shed in Scarborough and said, ‘Why don’t we use this place and bring the students down there?’ So I taught a year eight class in this kind of shed and the desks were all squashed in together. The first day, I had turned my back to the class and I remember looking up at the crucifix on the wall and saying, ‘How am I going to teach this class

in this room?’ and I was nearly in tears. There were oily things all around the walls, all kinds of animals in the next field and the horse came along one day and put its head in the door while I was teaching. And the pig had piglets outside. I was teaching biology and I was thinking to myself, ‘Well, they’re learning everything there’.

That was my hardest year. I’ll never ever forget it, but not one family ever took their children away.

I was prioress at Bedford Park in the ‘60s. It was very hard when my mother was dying in ‘69. She had a stroke and my brother sent me a telegram. Each time something happened, I’d get a telegram to say what happened.

And then he rang to say she had died. The parish priest at the time at Bedford Park was an Irishman.

He was a lovely man. I went over and I was sitting in the back of the church by myself, and the priest came along and he said, ‘What’s happened?’ I said, ‘I just got word that my mother has died’. And he was so lovely, and he said, ‘Now, if you want to make a phone call’.

Because it would have, then, cost a lot of money to ring Ireland. So, he said, ‘You come over to the presbytery and you make a phone call from here, in case that it’s going to cost a lot of money from the convent’. And I thought that was so lovely. That was one of the hardest times, coping with that.

But I wouldn’t go back to Ireland to live, I would never do that. I’m Australian enough to want to live in Australia. I feel Irish but my roots are here in Australia. And I think that’s what you have to do.

You can’t long to go back, you have to become part of Australia.

☘

Sr Regina was interviewed by Claddagh Coordinator, Anne Wayne. Anne is from Fremantle but lived near New Ross, Co. Wexford for many years.

THE IRISH SCENE | 65

IN MEMORIAM

The voyages of

Brendan

BRENDAN WOODS GAVE THE PERFORMANCE OF A LIFETIME AT HIS OWN FUNERAL. THE DUBLIN BORN (JANUARY 11, 1947) ENTERTAINER PROVIDED MOST OF THE ENTERTAINMENT AND SOUNDTRACK FOR HIS OWN SEND-OFF AT KARRAKATTA CEMETERY ON JULY 12.

A poignant video rendition of ‘Never Too Old To Be Young’ sung by Brendan set the tone for the occasion, which saw many of his friends and family gather to pay their respects. Marian Byrne was celebrant and old friends Frank Murphy and Mick Murray gave touching and fond tributes to their deceased mate.

Fr Greg Donovan led a prayer and blessing for him.

Brendan appeared in sound and vision again with lovely versions of ‘My Blue Eyed Galway Girl’ and ‘The Cry of the Dreamer’.

“Brendan was definitely a Character with a capital C,” said Marion, who has known him since she and her husband Niall came to Perth. “Actually I don’t think any Irish person living in Perth for the last 30 odd years could not have known Brendan Woods. He was 66 | THE IRISH SCENE

a showman and loved an audience, which accounts for the fact that he welcomed you in here today himself on screen. He will entertain you during this service and he will also sing himself out of here at the end of this service. So how lucky are we! Brendan loved to make other people laugh and even though he went through ups and downs in life, a smile was never far from his face. With Brendan you got what you saw, there was no pretence.”

Marion read the aptly named poem ‘When I Come To The End Of My Journey’ from the John Boyle O’Reilly Memorial in New York.

With brother Ken by his side, son Alan Woods gave their father’s eulogy.

“Let me start by saying that my Dad was no saint, he had his demons which he fought every day and sometimes he won the battle; and sometimes he didn’t - which didn’t make life easy for him or for the people that loved him. He inherited his love of music from his parents Rose and Robert (Bob) Woods – Rose played the violin (she was from Ougterard in County Galway). Bob was from County Wicklow and played the drums and the piano accordion; he was also part of a marching band. So Dad grew up in a house full of music and of course there were many sessions to be enjoyed by all. Bob was also a professional footballer and Dad inherited his love of football and all things sport from him. Before leaving Ireland he had a couple of businesses - music shops selling musical instruments and all things music. He was

THE VOYAGES OF BRENDAN

also involved in ‘The Show Band Scene’. Then we all moved to Perth in 1988 and Dad was a professional musician for many years. He toured extensively throughout Australia, sometimes with Sean Roche.”

[Brendan and Sean also toured America and were about to leave to return when September 11 hit and their stay in the states was extended longer than they had bargained for.]

“As a young boy he attended North Brunswick St. School in Smithfield Dublin and then St Vincent’s Christian Brothers secondary school in Glasnevin. He then went on to nursing school at St Brendan’s Training Hospital and qualified as a psychiatric nurse. All this time he was playing music and played in The Hospital Band with his Dad, and they both enjoyed playing at the patient’s dances in the hospital. I might add that both his parents were also senior psychiatric nurses.”

Proud of his Irish heritage, the true blue Dub made a massive contribution to celebrating that history in WA. “He wrote plays including ‘Cashman’s Diary’. He also wrote poetry and stories. He was a historian and an expert on John Boyle O’Reilly, The Catalpa, ‘The Fenian Break Out’ and Fremantle Prison. He was heavily involved in the JB O’Reilly Association*. He gave freely of his time and energy and helped with fund raising for various charities around Perth.

His plays were performed in The Irish Club, The Blarney Castle and Fremantle Prison, where he became a tour guide and story teller. While doing this job he met all the Irish dignitaries from The Wolf Tones to The Fureys and basically anyone of importance that passed through Fremantle. He loved history, music, acting, poetry, Irish literature, arts

*A FENIAN FRIEND TO THE END Brendan’s passion for history and in particular the Western Australian Irish story of John Boyle O’Reilly was infectious and unrelenting. Every so often Brendan would call me up and convince me to publish another story or article about O’Reilly, the Fenians or the Catalpa or some other aspect of that remarkable story. The last time I saw Brendan was on Easter Monday in Rockingham at the Fenian memorial to mark the dramatic escape of O’Reilly’s fellow Fenians. I gave Brendan a lift back home to Perth and the journey home was full of banter, laughter and stories and shenanigans between two ould Dublin codgers, most of which could not be repeated here. Travel well Brendan!

– Lloyd Gorman

THE IRISH SCENE | 67

THE VOYAGES OF BRENDAN

and crafts and watching football and sport of any sort. He was obsessional and always had a project of some sort happening.

Basically he was a creative genius!

I will miss the chats and banter I had with him and especially the long answers to the short questions. I would like to think that Dad will be remembered as a Loveable Larrikin, a gentle soul and mostly a kind man.”

TWITTER TRIBUTE AND TWITS On August 10 the Dictionary of Irish Biography tweeted the following message: “After a daring escape from an Australian prison, John Boyle O’Reilly, journalist, poet & political activist, made his way to Boston where he became a passionate advocate for all victims of racial, class & religious oppression. He died #OTD 1890. https:// dib.ie/biography/oreilly-john-boyle-a6990… #DIBlives”.

This set off a bit of a bit of an exchange on the social media platform, including this comment from one Caroline Kennedy in Dublin that alluded to Brendan: “I saw his death mask on display in Fremantle Prison, Perth, some years ago. An incredible visit to the museum, we were guided by a

68 | THE IRISH SCENE

Dubliner who had emigrated decades earlier.

Fascinating.”

The next day another Twitter user rowed in with a comment that they were pretty sure she was confusing O’Reilly with Ned Kelly!

If he was still alive the ever witty Brendan would have been well able to put this person in their place. In any case, Kennedy – an experienced media worker and broadcaster who heads up her own PR firm – did what any journalist worth their salt would do and did some more homework. She found another online message by Peter Murphy – a fellow Dub and friend of Brendan’s – from the John Boyle O’Reilly Association. Peter had written that on a recent visit to Fremantle Prison he was fascinated to see how many exhibits were on display and paid homage to the 62 Fenians (Irish political prisoners) who arrived on the last prison ship to Australia, the Hougoumont. Peter also wrote: “There was however one particular exhibit that stopped me in my tracks; the death mask of Fenian John Boyle O’Reilly (1844-1890). O’Reilly is best known for his literature, poetry and advocacy for human rights. He was also one of the organisers of the Catalpa Rescue” (image left).

Armed with this info Kennedy was able to confidently respond to her doubter: “Just checked. I seem to be correct.”

THE SEAN O’CASEY CONNECTION Frank and Gerry from Celtic Rambles on Radio Fremantle memoralised Brendan across two excellent shows. Amongst the many great stories and memories about him emerged a classic yarn about his mother and Sean O’Casey. The story goes that Rose Woods wrote to O’Casey – who was then in the UK – in the 1950’s in protest at his play The Shadow of a Gunman. She was unhappy about the use of the name Donal Davoren, the “shadow” of the play, the same name as her late brother, and the cowardly portrayal of his character. The playwright responded with a cordial handwritten letter in which he said he had known Donal in Dublin in the 1920s and had asked him for his permission to use his name for the main character he was writing at the time. Donal was selling “insurance” and had visited O’Casey, then a struggling playwright, in his tenement in North Circular Road. The strongly socialist O’Casey – despite not believing in private insurance – took a policy out with him out of solidarity for the TB sufferer who was trying to make a living. O’Casey recalled him as a “handsome lad’ and remembered much about him.

In her reply Rose told the writer that her brother had died from “consumption” in 1927. “I’ve seen many in Dublin go down with tuberculosis, so many, so many, because of the rotten life they had to live,” she wrote.

The pair developed a friendship of their own and exchanged Christmas cards for several years.

☘

COMING UP BUIOCHAS (THANKSGIVING) CELEBRATION – CONCEPT IN DEVELOPMENT Proposed new version of our former Australia Day Thanksgiving service – this time an Exhibition of your Irish artefacts and memorabilia on public display, formal representation of Irish Organisations, digital and live entertainment, running Irish afternoon tea. A homely and welcoming event celebrating the Irish contribution to Australia and a thanksgiving for this lucky country. This is a project in development to be confirmed.

Australian-Irish Heritage Association Be proud of your Irish heritage

ANNUAL BRENDAN AWARD SUNDAY 26 SEPTEMBER, 7.30PM The prestigious Brendan award has been presented since 1997 in recognition of an outstanding contribution to Australia’s Irish Heritage which clearly reflects favourably on Ireland and the Irish. Come along for 7.30pm evening presentation to discover this year’s winner (unknown to even the Board members of AIHA) who will join the ranks of eminent recipients from National, International and local communities. For past winners see the Honour Board in Irish Club, AIHA website and our quarterly Journal.

VENUE: COST:

Irish Club Theatre, Townshend Road Subiaco Free. Previous recipients of the Brendan Award, members and friends of AIHA are invited Bar and Kitchen facilities available.

VENUE:

Irish Club Theatre, Townshend Road Subiaco DATE: To be confirmed INVITATION: Please advise secretary@irishheritage.com.au if you have items to display THE JOURNAL Members of AIHA receive a free quarterly book bound publication. Current edition is coedited by new editor Julie BreathnachBanwait, who as an Irish language poet brings a Gaelic current through the content, and outgoing editor Denis Bratton. This edition has articles on subjects of psychology, local and immigrant history, Irish politics, sentiment, poetry and poets, Irish literature, and quirky Irishisms that inform and entertain. For sale at $10 ANNUAL WRITERS COMPETITIONS have been deferred pending a full review of the concept with some changes to prizes, rules and deadline.

PARLOUR CONCERT SUNDAY 17 OCTOBER, 3PM An afternoon of Irish music, song and story interspersed with literary vignettes co-ordinated by Gayle Lannon and Diana MacTiernan. This event has evolved from our innovative ‘The Verse’ in 2018 to ‘Sunday Miscellany’ in 2019 to our inaugural ‘Parlour Concert’ in 2020. A family entertainment for all ages.

VENUE: Irish Club Theatre, Townshend Road Subiaco DURATION: 1 hour 45 minutes COST: $15. Pay at the door. Includes Cabaret seating, Irish afternoon tea CONTACT: Enquiries & bookings (for catering numbers) 9367 6026 or secretary@irishheritage.com.au

THE FOURTH TUESDAY BOOK CLUB MEETS FOURTH TUESDAY OF THE MONTH, WITH EXCEPTION OF DECEMBER, 7.30PM September 28 ‘The Dictionary of Lost Words’ by Pip Williams, presented by Anna Targowska October 26

To be presented by Mary Purcell

VENUE: Irish Club Committee Room, 61 Townshend Road Subiaco COST: Free entry. All welcome. Light refreshments provided. Tea and coffee from the Bar $2 CONTACT: Convener Mary Purcell, m.purcell@telstra.com

WELSH AFTERNOON planned for late November featuring Male Choir, afternoon tea and Welsh movie.

If you know of someone interested in receiving our monthly ‘Noticeboard’ two-page newsletter just email our secretary to be added to our growing data base: secretary@irishheritage.com.au

Non Political - Non Sectarian Emphatically Australian PO Box 1583, Subiaco 6904 Tel: 08 9345 3530 Secretary: 08 9367 6026 Email: secretary@irishheritage.com.au or admin@irishheritage.com.au

MEMBERSHIP DUE 1st JANUARY – Membership fee includes tax deductible donation of $20

Look us up on Facebook @australianirishheritage or check out our website irishheritage.com.au

Members enjoy discounted rates to dinners and functions, exclusive events, quarterly Journal, voting rights, and opportunities to participate in activities which promote an awareness ofTHE Australia’s Irish Heritage | 69 IRISH SCENE

Family $65 • Concession $55 • Distant (200kms from Perth) $45

The Lough Corrib Boatmen Lough Corrib is the second largest sheet of inland freshwater in Ireland. Because of the Bann Flakes (small stone tools) which were found in 1975 and again in 1984 at River Island, where the Owenriff River flows into Lough Corrib, Oughterard can claim a pedigree to be amongst a very small number of places in Ireland where the first settlers to this country came to live and build their homes, almost 7,000 years ago.

I will now move forward over 7,000 years to Oughterard of the 1930’s and take a look at the Corrib Boatmen. They became celebrated in 1960 after the publication of T.C. Kingsmill Moore’s book ‘A Man May Fish’, which is still held in high renown across the world. Kingsmill Moore was a most distinguished judge of the Irish High Court and of the Supreme Court and he had played a part in Irish political life as a member of the Senate.

When he came to Oughterard to fish Lough Corrib in 1926, Jamesie Donnellan and Jimmy McDonagh from Billamore would be his Boatmen for the next 10 years.

In the early years, Jimmy was in charge of the rowing and Jamesie dispensed the technical information.

After Jamesie had passed away, Jimmy combined both of these positions.

Kingsmill Moore fished many of the lakes across Ireland, and it would be unusual for the Boatmen to get more than a couple of

John Oliver Molloy and his grandson Kai making memories on the Lough Corrib lines of reference. However, TC was so enamored at the skill and knowledge of Jamesie and Jimmy that he devoted two full chapters to them – Lough Corrib and Jamesie (Chapter 11) and the Wisdom of Jamesie (Chapter 12). It is a wonderful testament to two local Boatmen from Oughterard and we should be very proud of them.

I will now ask the question – was there a continuity of tradition between the Mesolithic fishermen and The Corrib Boatmen? Did that original skill make its way down through all the millennia to the present day?

Baurisheen is the most northerly of the Oughterard townlands and its eastern side is a window that overlooks Lough Corrib. Baurisheen became the epicenter of professional fishing in the area with the advent of the famed Corrib Bell Fishermen. The Corrib Bell fishermen used a smaller single boat called a punt or bricin, and was usually about 14 feet in length. This was essentially a single boat and a much smaller craft than the subsequent Lake Boat of 18 to 19 feet when the tourist economy came along.

There hazel poles with thirty foot lines were trolled at the back of the boat, and a bell rang at the top of the hazel rod when a fish struck the line. The punt was

JAMESIE DONNELLAN, BILLAMORE

“All the corrib boatmen were good. They knew the lake as a landowner knows his own demesne. But Jamesie knew it as a blind man knows the house he lives in, with absolute certainty.

Though he could not see the bottom he could sense it, and in a shallow a mile long could smell his way to the few square yards which constituted a pet spot.”

70 | THE IRISH SCENE

THE CAPPOQUIN SIGHTING

very popular and every house in Baurisheen probably had a couple.

A look at the census records show that there were on average a couple of fisherman in every house. I also came across some data from 1905 that showed 50 people in the area working as fisherman, and they would have to catch an average of 10 lbs (4.5kg) per day to make it economical. I am told that the Baurisheen fishermen never feared the weather as they knew every inch of the lake and were also very knowledgeable to changing weather conditions. As a precaution they would always take some wrapped up cake out with them and some paraffin to light a fire if they had to stay on one of the islands overnight due to inclement weather. Nobody in Baurisheen worried if they didn’t come back at night as they had the reputation of being skillful and fearless fishermen.

I am deeply indebted to John Oliver Molloy. John Oliver, from Bauriseen, has been working as a Boatman on Lough Corrib over many decades out of Currarevagh House. He is one of nature’s gentlemen, and his insightful knowledge, wisdom and experience has helped me enormously.

I asked John Oliver recently why the Corrib Boatmen were always held in high esteem, and he told me that all the good Boatmen came from the ranks of the original Bell Fishermen, who knew the Lake like the back of their hand. He also remarked that the Corrib Boatmen have never had a fatality when they take people out fishing. Then we spoke about the tragedy of the Famine in Oughterard in that the river and lake were full of fish, but because people became dependant on the potato, nobody knew how to fish anymore. Interestingly, there are no records of anybody dying in Baurisheen of hunger during the Famine and they may have fished their way out of this tragic time, using fishing skills acquired over many thousands of years.

☘

BILL DALY Originally from Tallow in West Waterford, Bill spent 30 years in Cork as a Senior Manager in the Electronics Manufacturing industry with such companies as Apple, EMC and Logitech.

He has been working on his own as a Consultant/Contractor in Manufacturing Operations and Materials for the past 18 years.

He also attended UCC and has a BA Degree in Archaeology and Geography. Bill resides in Connemara, Co. Galway since 2009.

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THE IRISH SCENE | 71

In August 2013, Frances Schifferli exhibited a diptych, Silent Witness, in the Shark Bay Art Exhibition. In this quilt Frances, a founding committee member of the Writers Group and newcomer to the Irish SIG at Family History WA, combines her interests in family history and textile art into a uniquely creative storytelling medium.

One half of the wall hanging illustrates the journey of almost a thousand kilometres, from Roebourne to Shark Bay, made in 1884 by Thomas Carmody and his wife Emily.

At Hamelin Pool their child, eight months old Onslow Thomas Carmody, succumbed and was buried behind the Telegraph Station. The second image on the quilt depicts the family greeting Thomas Carmody’s sister, Ann Barnard and husband John, who were pearling at Denham (Freshwater Bay). The manager of the Hamelin Pool Caravan Park and Café was very taken with the art work.

A Brief Life:

The story of Onslow Thomas Carmody

BY FRANCES SCHIFFERLI Thomas Carmody, the second youngest child of six, was born to Patrick and Mary Carmody shortly after the family arrived in the colony aboard the Palestine in 1853. They had migrated to the Swan River, from St Lukes, a poverty ridden suburb of London, having previously escaped Limerick and the devastation that accompanied the potato blight of the 1840s. Patrick took up farming in York and son Thomas went on to acquire his own property after he married Emily Snow in 1882.

What then inspired this young couple to sell up lock stock and barrel – stripper, reaper and mower, chaff cutter, ploughs, horse, cart and

Frances subsequently exhibited the diptych at the QuiltWest Exhibition in May 2014, where it was awarded the President’s Choice.

She then donated it to the manager of the Hamelin Pool Caravan Park, because she thought visitors to the park would like to know the history behind the little grave that is still preserved onsite. You can view the quilt where it hangs in the park’s café, which is the former Telegraph Station.

Onslow Thomas Carmody was Frances Schifferli’s first cousin, three times removed.

Following is the narrative of the Carmodys’ epic journey in 1884.

“Silent Witness” by Frances Schifferli 72 | THE IRISH SCENE

FAMILY HISTORY WA

dray – in May 1883 and set sail for Roebourne? Was it the rumour of possible gold waiting to be discovered in the North-West that lured them there? Perhaps Thomas planned to be first to reap the reward of a new discovery. He had family already in the area.

Thomas sailed on 24 July 1883 for the port of Cossack, a thriving pearling town and travelled the short distance to Roebourne, a prosperous sheep raising area.

He found accommodation in his sister Jane and her husband William Noonan’s small hotel and boarding house. Thomas most probably just missed the birth of his first child on 22 July.

Baby Onslow Thomas and Emily followed a couple of months later, in company with Thomas’ sister Ann Barnard.

Today we can marvel at the courage of early settlers like Thomas and Emily who risked all for such a venture. Not only were they travelling into the unknown, far from any real semblance of comfort and security, with a new born child, but there was also the real fear of Krakatoa. The Indonesian volcano had been rumbling for months and erupted with catastrophic consequences in August, not long before Emily was due to sail. The eruption was detected as far as Perth. Reports came through of rafts of floating pumice and tidal waves reaching the North-West coast; weather was affected and skies were coloured unusual shades of green for months afterwards.

Emily determined to join her family despite her fears but it was not long before a measles epidemic became a very real threat. News of an outbreak in the colony caused much anxiety.

Would their isolation protect them, many wondered in Roebourne?

A high mortality rate could be expected if it came, especially amongst the natives.

Cossack came under threat however, when the Planet arrived late in December 1883, with two measles cases on board. The ship was immediately quarantined and much consternation was caused when Mr McKay, one of the passengers, broke the quarantine and came ashore.

He was summoned by the local magistrate. Everyone was at risk and it was feared the mortality amongst the natives could be so great as to cripple the pearling industry.

Thomas and Emily were greatly disturbed by the threat to baby Onslow, as Margaret Noonan, the two-year-old daughter of Jane and William, was already ill. It is reasonable to imagine that Emily panicked. The Carmodys decided to leave immediately. Their fears were later justified because by June, measles was rampant in the district. Several people died and by the end of June there were forty cases at Roebourne amongst both white and black populations.

It was 560 miles (880km) to Hamelin Pool, and then another eighty miles to Shark Bay and relative safety with Thomas’s sister Ann and John Barnard. With an embargo in place, sailing was out of the question, making road travel their only option. Long journeys in the North-West were often undertaken by intrepid explorers, drovers and travellers, despite the isolation and nonexistence of adequate roads.

Covering about twenty miles a day, the horse and cart would have taken at least twenty-seven days

to make the journey to the nearest settlement. The Carmodys planned to follow the track which ran along the newly erected telegraph poles that linked Champion Bay (Geraldton) with Roebourne.

They could camp along the way at government wells dug for the surveyors and linesmen, and travel through the evenings and early mornings, sheltering where ever they could during the heat of the day. It would be a horrendous trip for anyone to make during February, the hottest month of the year.

When Thomas and Emily finally struggled into the tiny settlement of Hamelin Pool, they were assisted by the family who lived in the newly opened Telegraph Station. The hardships, heat and deprivation during their flight must have been unimaginable and their survival a tribute to Thomas’ bushman skills. Sadly, they suffered the bitter loss of eight months old Onslow, who died either of measles or the rigors of the journey. He was buried on 18 March, 1884 in a little grave behind the Station Master’s house.

Because of the isolation, no death certificate was ever issued for Onslow and but for the headboard that marks his grave, his loss would be long forgotten today.

Recovering sufficient strength, Thomas and Emily continued their journey and eventually found succour in the arms of the Barnards at Freshwater Bay (Denham) in Shark Bay. Remarkably Thomas and Emily eventually returned to Cossack by ship, to make up their losses and be reunited with Jane and William Noonan, whose little daughter, Margaret, had sadly died a week after Onslow.

THE IRISH SCENE | 73

Truly the threat of measles was taken extremely seriously in the early colony and drove people to desperate measures to protect the lives of loved ones, often without success. Their resilience in adversity was remarkable. The Carmody family finally returned to Fremantle on the Otway, in March 1885, together with their newborn baby, Alfred Patrick, to take up farming life again in York.

(An account of the Carmody lonely graves can be viewed in Y. and K. Coate, More Lonely Graves of Western Australia, Hesperian Press, Perth, 2000, p.62.)

If you visit the Stromatolites in the World Heritage Area at Hamelin Pool, you may like to view the dyptich quilt commemorating the epic ride of Thomas and Emily Carmody from Roebourne to Denham in 1884, which hangs inside the Hamelin Pool Café, and visit Onslow Thomas Carmody’s historic grave, situated behind the café.

The tiny grave was eventually fenced with white pickets, and a small wooden headboard was installed. It read, In Loving Memory of Onslow Thomas Carmody, who departed this life, March 18th 1883. Aged 7 months. The date has proved to be incorrect. Research has shown he died in 1884.

The original headboard deteriorated through the effects of time and termites and its damaged date was misinterpreted in a replacement, made by the manager of the Caravan Park at that time. The replacement states the baby died on 18th March, 1898!

A new interpretive sign was commissioned, with much effort, in 2015, through the Shire of Shark Bay. It reads, A Brief Life. Onslow Thomas Carmody, the son of Thomas and Emily was buried here in March 1884… The present headboard is an inaccurate copy of the original one (image right).

Little Onslow lies near a pathway to the Hamelin Pool stromatolites. His grave has a Local Heritage number and is preserved as a site of cultural significance in the settlement of Europeans in Shark Bay. It is one of the earliest European graves in the area and is perhaps a memorial to a little Irish-Australian measles victim.

THE NAMING OF ONSLOW THOMAS CARMODY. A PARTLY FICTIONAL ACCOUNT… Background: Thomas Carmody setting out from York with his brother-in-law, John Barnard, to sail to Shark Bay and on to Cossack in July 1883…

The horse snorted and tossed his head impatiently as John held the reins steady. “Say your goodbyes, Tom. We need to be off,” he called.

Tom reached out once again, clasping Emily to himself in one last emotional embrace. He could feel the unborn child wriggling in protest in its mother’s cramped womb. “I am so regretting we 74 | THE IRISH SCENE

Top: Photo of original headboard. Copy of a photo held by Lawrence Carmody. Middle: 1967 photo of replacement headboard. Photo credit John Warman. Bottom: The gravesite, May 2015. Source: personal collection of Frances Schifferli

THE IRISH SIG IN 2021 can’t stay a moment longer. Our ship sails in four days and I can’t risk missing it. I need to pick up last minute supplies in Fremantle. I so fear for you with me not being here to support you.”

Emily tried to put on a brave face, to allay Tom’s concern.

“It will be fine,” she assured him. “I have faith in the Good Lord. You know I’m in town, close to our fine doctor and with dear Ann’s help, we will be sure to all join you as soon as I and the baby are strong enough. ‘Tis you I am fearful for,” she protested. “At least it is not willy-willy season, but I tremble at the thought of the dangers you will face without me… what if Krakatoa erupts? There are reports of volcanic activity, hissing steam vents and rumblings…

Think of the tidal waves, the diseases, the isolation…”

Tom laughingly kissed away her concerns. “For goodness sake, Darling. Do you realise how far Sumatra is from Cossack? Em, Dear, we have been through all of this before.

You know the benefits out-weigh the risks. Just imagine if we are amongst the first to find gold there.

“Now, remember if it is a little girl, she is to be called Hilda and if a boy, he’s to be named Onslow Thomas,” he stressed firmly giving her a final kiss.

“Oh Tom, surely he is to be named for you!’ she protested weakly.

“You have my final word on the subject, Dear. It’s important to me,” he insisted.

Onslow Thomas Carmody was born on the 22nd July 1883, only two days before Rob Roy sailed. It is reassuring to think that perhaps Tom’s brother Patrick, made a flying dash to Fremantle to deliver the happy news, before the ship sailed.

Why did Thomas Carmody defy convention and choose the unusual name of “Onslow” for his son, ahead of his own or his father’s name? Thomas and Emily were the first of eight Western Australian couples, six of them from Beverley or York, to choose the distinctive name “Onslow” between 1883 and 1911. It is likely they all named their sons after Sir Alexander Campbell Onslow, controversially interdicted from the office of Chief Justice by Governor Broome, and later reappointed in 1891.

The naming of these children after Sir Alexander Campbell Onslow paid him the highest compliment and indicated strongly in which political camp many in the York area fell and where their loyalties lay. In this Thomas Carmody had started a trend.

☘

As we move into the later months of 2021 the Irish Special Interest Group (Irish SIG) at Family History WA (FHWA) is making the transition back to face-to face meetings, though the option to meet online via Google Meet can be exercised at short notice if the Covid-19 situation changes and restrictions are placed on the number of people permitted in our meeting room.

Next meeting will be on 17 October when we will meet at May Street to celebrate forty years of the Irish SIG! In future meetings we plan to provide a forum for informal exchanges of members’ Irish research successes and challenges, while continuing to keep members informed and updated about useful resources for finding Irish ancestors.

New members and visitors are always welcome to our meetings - simply book your place using the online booking site TryBooking, details below. At this stage you can book for the October meeting. Immediately after each quarterly meeting, bookings for the next meeting will open.

FHWA also hosts lots of other exciting face-to-face and online events - some for beginners, and others for experienced researchers, so check out the full suite of presentations, workshops and meetings. Nonmembers and new members are welcome to attend, though bookings are essential. See the link below to FHWA homepage and choose the ‘Events’ tab. A small payment may be required for some events.

We invite you to visit FHWA’s extensive library and resource centre at 6/48 May Street Bayswater, but it is wise to phone ahead to check whether there is a capacity allowance on the building, as this may vary with the ebb and flow of the pandemic. Opening hours are given on the FHWA homepage.

Happy and successful researching!

CHRISTINE TIMONEY ON BEHALF OF THE IRISH SPECIAL INTEREST GROUP

MORE INFO ROBYN O’BRIEN Convenor Irish Special Interest Group E irish.sig@fhwa.org.au Book a place at the next IRISH GROUP MEETING at TryBooking: trybooking.com/BLPZM Book for FUTURE FHWA EVENTS at trybooking.com/eventlist/genealogy?embed=1 Go digging for resources at FamilyHistoryWA’s IRISH SIG WEBPAGE Join FAMILYHISTORYWA FACEBOOK GROUP FamilyHistoryWA (FHWA): membership.wags.org.au T 08 9271 4311

THE IRISH SCENE | 75

Reviews

SNOWFLAKE

BY LOUISE NEALON / ALLEN & UNWIN $29.99

This is a gem of a book. It’s an exhilarating, enchanting, witty, raucous, touching and humorous observation about coming of age in rural (and urban) Ireland. Debbie White, our narrator, is an eighteen year old who lives on a small County Kildare dairy farm with her uncle Billy and mother Maeve. Billy, an eccentric devotee of the classics, inhabits a ramshackle caravan on the property and, when not tending the cows, whiles away his time on its roof watching the stars.

Billy likes to drink but as Debbie remarks “it is socially acceptable to be an alcoholic …. as long as you don’t get treatment for it”. Maeve, who is carrying on an affair with the young farm hand, sleeps too much, collects shells, records her dreams and occasionally dances naked amongst nettles to benefit from their healing powers. Urged by Barry, Debbie is accepted to study English at Trinity College, Dublin, and daily swaps early mornings as a milk maid for city chic and the pretentious trials, and joys, of academia.

Shy, nervous, disorganised and somewhat naïve, Debbie is shunned by her fellow students with the 76 | THE IRISH SCENE

exception of the outgoing and confident Xanthe, who takes Debbie under her wing helping her to negotiate the tribulations of Fresher’s Week and university life both in and out of College. On the farm, Billy’s drinking gets worse, Maeve has an accident as her mental state deteriorates while she derives comfort and contentment from her dreams . Despite all these impending perils plus the social and academic frustrations of Trinity, Debbie discovers, as she grows up, that even the oddest of families are havens of safety as she clings to the fierce family bonds which hold them all together. The Trinity College setting and exploration of maturation harps back to Sally Rooney’s Normal People, but Debbie’s is an original and distinctive voice with every sentence a delight to read. This is Nealon’s debut novel – reputedly sold last year for a “six figure sum”. Given the book’s ending, hopefully a sequel is in the offing. – Reviewed

by John Hagan

SHE COME BY IT NATURAL

BY SARAH SMARCH / ONE PUBLISHING $22.99

Dolly Parton and Sarah Smarsh began life as two of a kind - both born in poverty on struggling family farms in the American backblocks. Smarsh now scratches out a living in journalism, while Parton is a towering presence in country music and presiding over a multi-million dollar business empire. On the journey, Parton has broken ground “for female artists, for poor girls with dreams, for women who would like to be bosses without hiding their breasts”.

Smarsh examines the genesis of some of Parton’s hit songs such as ‘Jolene’ (a real life female bank teller

REVIEWS

who used to flirt with her husband Carl while the pair came to town do business), and ‘Coat of Many Colors’, based on Parton’s school apparel sewn together by her mother from pieces of burlap sack. Since telling her classmates in 1964 that she planned to go to Nashville and become a star, the ‘dumb blonde’ has come a long way.

She has penned over 3000 songs, released 43 solo albums (with sales of 100 million), become a member of the Songwriters Hall of Fame, initiated a ‘Dollywood’ theme park, established a Library literacy programme and built a vast real estate empire. Smarsh traces Parton’s 50 year professional career during which she mixed with all the luminaries of country music including Porter Wagoner, Kenny Rogers and Willie Nelson. In this warm, sharp and insightful book, Smarsh pays tribute to Parton, revealing another side of the buxom, hair-piled-high, country singer whose songs of unrequited love, struggling mothers, deadbeat boyfriends and rural life have elevated her to the status of “universally beloved icon” and a champion for feminism. – Reviewed by John Hagan

BLACKFACE

BY AYANNA THOMPSON / BOOMSBURY $19.99

“Look for the golly, the golly on the jar”. Such, as I recall, was the UK jingle for Robertson’s marmalade (Silver Shred and Golden Shred) during the late 1960s and early 1970s. We all collected paper tokens which were then exchanged for a metal golly pin badge.

No racial prejudice was either intended or taken.

Ah - innocent days. How times have changed.

The launching pad for this slim publication was Thompson’s horror on discovering that a white pupil in her son’s primary school ‘blacked up’ as Martin Luther King Jr., in order to

pay homage to his hero. Motivated by this incident Thompson tracks the application of black makeup by white people from the medieval mystery play cycles of York and Coventry, through Shakespearean drama, and on to the present day. She explores the popularity of minstrel shows (including the BBC ‘s popular ‘Black and White Minstrels’), and investigates why eminent actors such as Sir Laurence Olivier and Anthony Hopkins donned black make up to play Othello, while contrasting the rather uneven accomplishments of black actors taking on whiteface parts. Amongst those Thompson singles out for examination and criticism are fashion designers Gucci and Moncler, and current Canadian Premier, Justin Trudeau’s student flirtation with blackface and plus his blacking-up for an ‘Arabian Nights’ school fundraiser in 2001. Blackface is a somewhat unbalanced and at times slanted commentary, which nonetheless provides illuminating insights about the rise of the ‘black lives matter’ as Thompson follows the “filthy and vile thread” linking the initial stage and screen performances of blackness, with the death of George Floyd under the knee of a Minneapolis police officer. – Reviewed by John Hagan

ACTRESS

BY ANNE ENRIGHT / W.W. NORTON COMPANY $19.99 AVAILABLE IN AUDIO BOOK, NARRATED BY ANNE ENRIGHT

(Longlisted for the 2020 Women’s Prize for Fiction) Norah, the narrator, is a successful novelist and is now the age her mother was when she died. She sets out to tell the backstory of her mother’s life from her point of view and to unravel some of the remaining mysteries of her life.

Her mother, Katherine O’Dell had some success in the 1940s in the United States but returned to Dublin with her baby daughter.

As a child, Norah had to share her mother with the theatre, her audience, friends and theatre colleagues. As an adult Norah lost her mother to the mother’s worsening mental instability, aided by the ageing process, alcoholism and inability to cope with the fading of her star status.

THE IRISH SCENE | 77

Norah recognises her mother as a fake - Katherine O’Dell was not real. She was fictional in more ways than one. She was English born, not Irish. The apostrophe in her name was adopted and she sported bottle-red hair. Katherine’s life is full of mystery to which she provided no hint to assist resolving them: who was Norah’s father? Why did Katherine return to Ireland as an unmarried mother? Why did she shoot the film maker? This irrational, violent act resulted in her institutionalisation and rapid descent into insanity, which was as swift as the fading of her star status which was swept away by the sexism and ageism of the theatre world. Norah describes the lifestyle of theatre people, the relationships and goings-on behind the scenes and provides character analyses of Dublin’s industry operatives in the 1970s.

It is a book about a mother-daughter relationship as the daughter grows and develops. However, the book is also about a coming-of-age in 1970s Dublin, negotiating the quickly evolving social mores and behaviours and dealing with sexual violence, gender, sexual orientation, mental illness and the nature of relationships. Norah examines another important relationship to her as she provides an insight into her own marital relationship - a relationship based on realism and truth and the acceptance by the partners of the inevitability of ageing and the maturing of the relationship. Being a theatre type, I loved the description.

Dublin born Enright has previously written about dysfunctional families. In her novels, Enright depicts difficult mothers. She writes in an economical way which often leaves the reader reading between the lines and interpreting pithy observations. She adopts a ‘stream of consciousness’ style. The story line is not linear and jumps not only timelines but also jumps topics which requires concentration and mental agility.

It is not light reading. However, it is a good read. I felt the book lost the plot towards the end and there were many loose ends left hanging. Perhaps this was Enright’s intent. – Reviewed by Speranza

DEATH OF A LADIES’ MAN (2021) DIRECTED BY MATTHEW BISSONNETTE

I did not choose to see this film because of the two Irish heart throbs. No! I wanted to see this film because the accompanying music was Leonard Cohen. The film name alone screamed Cohen! A 78 | THE IRISH SCENE

Canadian-Irish collaboration, the main part of the movie is set in Cohen’s Montreal and his music provides the backdrop to the more bizarre scenes. But it is all fun!

An ageing English and poetry professor, Samuel O’Shea (Gabriel Byrne) who is a womanising alcoholic and whose second marriage is falling apart, is diagnosed with a stage 4, inoperable brain tumour.

The result is hallucinations – hilarious and weird!

Cue: Cohen’s music. Time is running out fast and what about his legacy? That book he never wrote? Of which he is reminded by the appearance of his long dead, chain smoking, adored father (Brian Gleeson).

Life goes on. In addition to his diagnosis he has to deal with his academic position, the break-up of his second marriage, the looming marriage of his still loved first wife, and the coming of age of his adored children – sexuality issues and drug addiction.

The film is geared to a Canadian audience with some low-key jokes about the state of Canadian literature and the claim that the Canadian National Anthem is Cohen’s ‘Bird on a Wire’. When Sam retires to the wilds of Ireland to write his long-planned novel and where he meets yet another love interest, the film changes gear and mood. I am unsure if this is a contrivance to bring in the Irish collaboration.

However, interviews with the ghost of his father provides the history of the family and the rationale for some of the life choices made by Sam. It could be a bleak film but Sam’s ability to retain his sense of humour and his self-deprecation saves the film from becoming maudlin. The interjection of musical interludes into what is essentially a drama, may be off-putting for some and towards the end it is hard to decipher hallucination for reality. Although the music helps.

In summary, a film full of Cohen songs, sprinkled with humour and driven through with pathos. And great casting. Karelle Tremblay and Jessica Paré are excellent. Byrne and Gleeson are perfect foils for each other. – Reviewed by Speranza

REVIEWS

MEAT DIRECTED BY RENATO FABRETTI / FREMANTLE THEATRE CO

Dublin playwright Gillian Greer set her new play, Meat, in a restaurant where the two protagonists eat, drink and fight – and food, wine glasses and bottles go flying.

As Fremantle Theatre Company director Renato Fabretti says: “All the fun stuff in life – and theatre - is dangerous!”

But it wasn’t until he met Gillian on Zoom, that he found out that her partner is a chef and she has an acute understanding of the male-dominated, hierarchal nature of a commercial kitchen and how a smart business woman needs to rely on a “noisy, rockstar chef” for a restaurant’s success.

Meat is the story of Maxine and Ronan, an ex-couple who left the bogs of Ireland for the bright lights of Dublin. Maxine is a now a writer about to publish her memoir. Ronan is a hotshot “happy to offend” chef with his own new concept restaurant. Maxine is visiting her ex-boyfriend to tell him she will be including a particularly disturbing experience in their relationship in her memoir. She wants to explain to the brash and explosive Ronan why she needs to record the abuse and why she needs him to acknowledge it.

Acting as a buffer between the two is the capable, straight-forward restaurant co-owner and manager Jo. She is the one who gets straight to the heart of the matter; why is Maxine bringing up this trauma now?

Are her memoires tainted by the need to add drama in her memoir?

As old wounds and memories are shaken up, it becomes an explosive situation and wine and food go flying along with tempers and truth.

Fremantle Theatre Company staged the international premiere of Meat, after its brief run in London in February last year.

Gillian’s debut play Petals was nominated for the Irish Times Theatre Award for Best New Play in 2015, and has since had plays performed in The Abbey in Dublin, The Traverse in Edinburgh and many London fringe venues. She was recently appointed literary manager of The Soho Theatre in London. Meat was a finalist in Theatre503’s International Playwriting Award in 2018, and it opened in the London fringe venue early last year before being quickly shut down by the COVID pandemic.

Renato Fabretti said: “Gillian was over the moon when we asked her permission to stage it in Perth.

“It is a play that speaks to the here and now, and in these quickly changing times may be dated, even in two years’ time.”

Renato made the decision straight away that the play should remain in its Dublin setting.

“If it was a museum piece, I would have adapted the hell out of it,” he said. “But it’s a new play and Gillian’s first international production and it deserved to be honoured for its lyricism and poetry. Her writing is so true and honest. I don’t know better storytellers than the Irish.

Renato’s cast were all Australian-born with Aussie accents, but their Irish accents were utterly convincing.

Declan Brown as the boisterous chef Ronan kept his country brogue. Renato described his accent as “rough, dirty and robust”. As Maxine, Georgia Wilkinson-Derums refined her accent to one who had lived in London and Dublin since leaving home. As Jo, Ally Harris adopted a city girl’s flirtatious trill.

In a play that required the actors to eat, drink, throw food and smash glasses, Renato created, and nightly made his own menu that the actors ccould tolerate – handmade pasta, and carefully shaped and tinted cheese in the shape and shade of freshly shucked oysters – and used expensive, delicate wine glasses tested to make sure they shatter instantly and won’t bounce and fly into the audience.

At the core of Gillian’s smart, funny and unsettling work, is an abiding question: how do we remember trauma, and do we remember it accurately? It deals with this complex issue with empathy and humour and those clear-cut lines that we’ve all started to draw as part of #metoo accusations, begin to blur. – Reviewed by Sarah McNeill

☘

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Paula from Tasmania

BY PAULA XIBERRAS

NO VANITIES WITH THIS TOM WOLFE Tom Wolfe, of the Wolfe Brothers, shares his name with US author Tom Wolfe, famous for his novel ‘Bonfire of The Vanities’. Well Tassie’s own Tom Wolfe has no vanities. In fact Tom and his brother Nick, even though they tour the world, still maintain their homes on the farm here in Tassie.

When we catch up for a chat, Tom says to me as he looks out of his farm window, the guys have remained authentic. He adds many country artists no longer live in a rural environment but in the suburbs. He talks about his group the Wolfe Brothers, although now international artists, have remained on their Tassie farms. This latest album is one of nostalgia, a trip back to the early days on the farm, the long days of summer as they rode their BMX bikes listening to 80’s music on their Walkmans, including Metallica.

It’s been nearly a decade in the music industry for the guys, and the latest album, their fifth, was recorded in Nashville and some via zoom, and marks their first international release through BMG. The album titled ‘Kids on Cassette’ has achieved six in the overall charts and stands as the number one country album.

As the name suggests, the album is a nostalgic look back at the Wolfe Brothers’ early life on the family farm.

What the guys wanted to do with this album, says Tom, was create songs that could be heard anywhere at anytime but also songs that were part of their childhood memories.

Something that makes this album a little different is that Tom says the guys have decided to explore duets and the list is pretty impressive, including LoCash. This, says Tom, was a great experience. The Wolfe Brothers supported LoCash on their tour in the American Midwest. Tom says they loved LoCash’s energy and they were nice guys to boot! Another duet 80 | THE IRISH SCENE

is with Amy Shepherd, and also one with Jack Jones, someone the guys have always wanted to work with.

Tom tells me while COVID has impacted the band in the performance and gig situation, it has also allowed them the time to concentrate on their creativity and being immersed in the music making process and remote recording.

And when the boys are remote from and missing Tassie they get nostalgic just as much as the new album, craving cooking and that’s when they find themselves at the southern hospitality of US dining at Cracker Barrel indulging in country food and biscuits called ‘scones’.

‘KIDS ON CASSETTE’ BY THE WOLFE BROTHERS IS OUT NOW, AND THEY WILL BE PERFORMING SATURDAY 9 OCTOBER 2021 AT WREST POINT ENTERTAINMENT CENTRE, HOBART, TASMANIA. CHECK THEIR WEBSITE FOR MORE DATES.

PAULA PAULA FROM FROM TASMANIA TASMANIA

BRYAN BROWN: LIFE IS SWEET FOR THIS IRISH LAD Bryan Brown is quarantining in Queensland when we catch up for a chat.

He’s looking out the window and remarks how everyone is going on about their daily lives. We are talking about Bryan’s first book ‘Sweet Jimmy’.

Bryan tells me he has been writing down short stories whenever he had the time for 35 years. It happened that his friend Jenn Byrne read some and said to him they were so good they should be published. The stories were picked up by Allen and Unwin and so ‘Sweet Jimmy’ came into being.

The catalyst for the stories, says Bryan, were ideas popping into his mind like “what would happen if Sam Neill was a thief?” This particular collection of stories look at the probable consequences of making the wrong choices and of crime.

While he may have been penning stories for 35 years, Bryan has actually been a storyteller for the 45 years of his work in movies. Instead of writing those words in a book, it has been bringing into life in his acting words from a script.

The stories are also reminiscences on what happened to the boys of the suburbs he grew up with.

The image of the orchid on the cover continues the motif of flowers in the book. The title ‘Sweet Jimmy’ is also the name of a flower. I ask Bryan if he consciously or subconsciously utilised flowers in the book because they have a short life span, paralleling some of the characters due to their chosen careers. He tells me the flower theme was not intended for that purpose but rather a nod to his childhood fascination with the man who lived down the road and grew orchids. Nevertheless he welcomes readers drawing their own meanings from his writing.

Bryan will be bringing one of the stories to life by his own production company and hopes that others may be optioned. He reiterates the importance of the arts to sustain people in the present COVID environment.

Although Bryan tells me he has no interest in doing a biography, luckily for us this great storyteller in word and action, will continue to give glimpses of his life in the wonderful short stories he writes.

SWEET JIMMY IS OUT NOW, PUBLISHED BY ALLEN AND UNWIN.

DUE FOR SOME GOODLUCK Tassie is due for some good luck, Matt Goodluck that is. Matt is from Pink Floyd tribute band Echoes of Pink Floyd, and for him, like many of us, 2020 was a difficult year.

Like countless other performers, many shows were written off and even this year saw a Mildura show cancelled in July. Matt is hoping he will have some good luck with his upcoming show in Tasmania.

Matt has family in Launceston so catching up with them would be a highlight of the tour.

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PAULA FROM TASMANIA

I recently spoke to Matt about the upcoming tour. Matt tells me the band previously toured with The Wall 40th anniversary show. Echoes of Pink Floyd was formed in 2009 by lead guitarist Danny Hunter, a big Pink Floyd fan. Over that time the band has had some changes in line up. All the guys are massive fans and put a lot into recreating the band with great detail.

While a lot of tribute bands authentically adopt the look of the act they are paying tribute to, Matt says that Pink Floyd ‘doesn’t have a strong physical presence’ to replicate. What can be replicated is the use of lighting and creating a great spectacle. This of course depends on the venue capacity.

One of the exciting things about this show is that local performers get to join in as part of the ‘another brick in the wall’ chorus. In this case it will be some young people from local dance and theatre groups.

Matt says he has never been good at being in front of an audience with the usual warm up greetings of ‘how are you tonight’ etc, so instead he uses his vast knowledge of Pink Floyd to inform the audience of interesting facts and trivia. For example, Matt shares with me that when Pink Floyd recorded their first song in Abbey Road recording studio in 1967, they were right next door to the Beatles who were recording Sergeant Pepper at the time.

YOU CAN SEE MATT AND ECHOES OF PINK FLOYD:

ACC principal, David Noble enjoying some fun with students Image: independentschools.tas.edu.au/

A NOBLE LESSON In the modern world of media and the crisis of COVID 19, school can be a challenge for today’s students. ‘The Global Shadow Student Challenge’ aims to view the world from the students’ point of view, by sending a former student back into the modern day classroom. On Wednesday June 2, Tassie’s own Australian Christian College principal, David Noble, took on that very challenge.

Mr Noble put on his school uniform, was driven to the bus stop by his mum and met up with his student/chum Lennon Jones to help him find his way through the experience of today’s high school classroom, including coping with being picked on as ‘the new boy’. He hoped to get some strong insights into the school experience for today’s young people so hopefully when he returned to the principals desk, he would be able to implement some improvements in the student experience.

Principal Noble said he wanted to experience what it was like for students as they worked through the experience of a lesson well supported by materials and real life examples – in this case a lesson on the food chain.

Lennon says having Principal Noble as a contemporary helped him out in science class.

SATURDAY 9 APRIL 2022 AT WREST POINT ENTERTAINMENT CENTRE, HOBART, TASMANIA

The school is progressive not only in taking on this initiative, but also the fact the school teaches Australian Sign Language or Auslan.

This came about, says Principal Noble, because the school had a deaf student.

SATURDY 21ST MAY 2022 AT ASTOR THEATRE, PERTH.

All in all, Principal Noble had a great time and even shared he might consider being a student again at some stage!

82 | THE IRISH SCENE

PAULA FROM TASMANIA

ANGELIC ANSWERS The book is the story of Angelica and her husband Bill but reaches past their physical life to their spiritual one.

We are introduced to Angelica when she is waiting in ICU to hear news of her husband who has been in a motorcycle accident. The mood is bleak and eventually Bill’s injuries are deemed too bad for recovery. The loss of her husband leads Angelica in a downward spiral of grief as she seeks to make sense of her young husband's death.

When a butcher bird starts singing in her garden Angelica remembers Bill's desire to describe its music to her. She takes this coincidence of its sudden appearance as the sign she has been looking for.

A change of lifestyle comes about when Anglica leaves the city for some housesitting to live a simple valley existence. Angelica revists her interest in painting and by doing so connects with her spiritual self. Bill visits Angelica in her dreams which also helps her healing.

While the new lifestyle goes some way in calming her she continues her spiritual quest. Angelica visits a psychic who comforts her by accurately describing Bill and his continued spiritual presence with Angelica.

Angelica’s spiritual quest goes on as she encounters Meditation, Reiki and other spiritual pursuits and so begins to move on with

her life, including a romantic entanglement. A chat with local man Clyde, after a natural disaster in the valley perhaps sums up best one of the novel's main messages.

He tells Angelica that we can't control everything in our lives and need to just go along with the flow. This comment reminds us that we can't find all the answers but must just have faith in life's meaning.

There are many refreshing aspects to this book, it gives voice to LGBT relationships and also to First Nation people in a way that is quite natural and not tokenistic.

It also asks deep questions about the nature of life both physical and spiritual, a topic not many novels address.

TRANSIT OF ANGELS IS AVAILABLE NOW THROUGH PILYARA PRESS.

☘

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In August we had a very successful production of ‘Little Gem’ by Elaine Murphy, directed

by Suzannah Churchman. It was a great story that resonated with much of our audience and was well received by the critics.

We were also able to welcome the Claddagh Association Seniors to our Matinee Performance, where we made a donation of $3,000 to their fantastic cause.

Our focus has shifted now to preparations for our much awaited 40th Anniversary celebrations on Friday 22nd of October. This promises to be a night of nostalgia as we take a look back at the many, many shows produced by the Irish Theatre Players over the years and the wonderful people who made it all happen.

The Irish Theatre Players were formed in late 1981. The first production was Sean O’Casey’s ‘Juno and the Paycock’, directed by one of the founding members, and first president, Bill Motherway. Since then the Irish Theatre Players has grown into a fully-fledged community theatre group averaging three major productions a year and a One Act season of usually three or four One Act plays.

The Irish Theatre Players have presented many of the Irish Classics over the years, including John B Keane’s ‘Big Maggie and Sive’, Brian Friel’s ‘Translations and Lovers’ and Sean O’Casey’s ‘The Plough and the Stars’.

They have also presented more contempory plays like ‘The Factory Girls’ and ‘Someone Who’ll Watch Over Me’ by Frank McGuinness, both of which collected Robert Finlay Awards for production and acting.

While the promotion of Irish culture and Irish playwrights always remains a premium goal, the Irish Theatre Players has adapted to changing times, changing audience demographics and changing tastes, and sometimes perform “non Irish”plays. What hasn’t changed however is that we nearly always play to full houses.

Also on the same night we will hold The Irish Theatre Players Annual Awards Night where we celebrate our productions from the previous year and acknowledge the people who made them happen.

Don’t miss this double celebration on Friday 22nd of October.

All are welcome and entry is free, but for catering purposes, tickets are essential.

Check out our Facebook page facebook.com/irishtheatreplayers and website www.irishtheatreplayers.com.au for updates.

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IrishTheatrePlayers

CARRAMAR

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It was a sea of Green and White at the recent Australind Girls Soccer carnival with representation from all 4 of our Junior Girls Teams. The U10s, U12s and two U14s teams made the trip down South to represent the club and really stole the show with every participant in every team returning home with either a winner or runner up medal.

Competing for the first time in a tournament, our U10 girls were runners up in their category. A fantastic achievement for a team who are playing their first season of football.

Young Eden Samuel was also recognised for her efforts being awarded the runner up Most Valuable Player.

It was also the first time at a tournament for our U12s. Rylee Superville was the worthy recipient of runner up Most Valuable Player, and to top if off, with 3 wins and 2 draws, the girls were overall winners in their category.

There was lots to celebrate for our Carnival veterans over in the U14s section. Both teams, who have participated in the Carnival for the last 3 years, made it to the finals where they had to play each other. The final was tense and with nothing separating the teams in regulation time, it ended in a penalty shoot out. The Blue Div 1 team won the penalty shoot out, with the Red Div 1 girls extremely worthy runners up.

Building on their success in Australind, after a good run in the Junior Girls cup, both U14 teams made it to the semi-finals. Our Blue Div 1 girls bowed out after a defeat by a strong side from Redbacks however it was better news for the Red Div 1 girls who beat Rockingham United and will now progress to the Finals where they will face Redbacks.

Girls football is shaping up nicely at the club and we couldn’t be more excited. Big thanks to all of those involved in developing this area. As the season draws to a close, the committee are busy organising the end of season celebrations. Our Senior Presentation evening will take place on 15 October, followed by Junior Trophy day on 17 October. Both events will be an opportunity to recognise our players and coaches and celebrate our successes across the season. It will also be an opportunity for the committee to have a well deserved break after what has been a jam packed 6 months of football!!

As always, thank you to our major sponsors, and also to Nicky Edwards for his continued support:

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Australian Irish Dancing Association Western Australia

AIDA WA DANCERS PREPARED THEIR VIDEOS TO SEND OFF FOR THE AUSTRALIAN INTERNATIONAL OIREACHTAS ONLINE CHAMPIONSHIP! Unfortunately, due to COVID the championship event was cancelled! However, dancers then had the opportunity to submit their dances online.

Best of luck to all taking part

🤞

AIDA WA are hoping as of August that our State Championship will go ahead as usual this year on the following dates:

STATE SOLO: 11th & 12th SEPTEMBER STATE CEILI & PERTH CHAMPIONSHIP: 23rd & 24th OCTOBER We will be hosting this year’s event at Allan Shaw Centre, located at Peter Moyes College in Quinns Rock.

(Please be advised championships may change pending Covid circumstances.)

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AIDA WA EXECUTIVE 2020

We are currently seeking sponsorship!

If you are in the position to support us this year by sponsoring a championship section or purchasing an ad for your business in our program, it would be greatly appreciated!

Prices start at $100 and further information can be found at www.aidawa.com.au/sponsorship

President: Caroline McCarthy TCRG Vice Presidents: Melissa Kennedy TCRG and Samantha McAleer TCRG Secretary: Caitriona Slane TCRG Treasurer: Martina O’Brien TCRG Registrar: Jenny O’Hare TCRG National Delegate: Siobhan Collis TCRG

SCHOOL CONTACTS: CELTIC ACADEMY East Victoria Park & Karragullen www.celticacademyperth.com Siobhan Collis TCRG 0403 211 941 LYONS IRISH DANCE Butler & Clarkson lyonsirishdancecompany@gmail.com Facebook: @LyonsIrishDance Roisin Lyons TCRG KAVANAGH STUDIO OF IRISH DANCE Maylands www.kavanaghirishdance.com.au Teresa Fenton TCRG 0412 155 318 Deirdre McGorry TCRG Melissa Kennedy TCRG Avril Grealish TCRG THE ACADEMY MID AMERICA & WESTERN AUSTRALIA Subiaco, Wangara & Pearsall Samantha McAleer TCRG Dhana Pitman TCRG Kalamunda Lara Upton ADCRG 0409 474 557 O’BRIEN ACADEMY Joondalup www.obrienacademy.com Rose O’Brien ADCRG 0437 002 355 Martina O’Brien TCRG 0423 932 866 O’HARE SCHOOL OF IRISH DANCING Doubleview, Wembley Downs & Craigie Jenny O’Hare TCRG 0422 273 596 SCOIL RINCE NA HEIREANN Rockingham irishdance@iinet.net.au Megan Cousins TCRG 0411 452 370 SCOIL RINCE NI BHAIRD Fremantle & Lynwood Tony Ward TCRG 0427 273 596 THREE CROWNS SCHOOL OF IRISH DANCE Wangara & Padbury www.threecrownsirishdancing.com Eleanor Rooney TCRG 0449 961 669

Stephen Dawson MLC Minister for Mental Health; Aboriginal Affairs; Industrial Relations 12th Floor, Dumas House​ ​​​​2 Havelock Street, WEST PERTH WA 6005​​​ Email: Minister.Dawson@dpc.wa.gov.au Telephone: (08) 6552-5800

TRINITY STUDIO OF IRISH DANCING Morley, Midland, Bayswater & Singleton trinitystudiowa@gmail.com Eileen Ashley ADCRG 0413 511 595 Katherine Travers TCRG Nell Taylor TCRG WA ACADEMY OF IRISH DANCING Malaga Glenalee Bromilow ADCRG 0410 584 051 Sue Hayes TMRF 0412 040 719

THE IRISH SCENE | 87

NA FIANNA CATALPA GAA CLUB

NA FIANNA CATALPA GAA CLUB ARE A BRAND NEW GAA CLUB BASED SOUTH OF THE RIVER SERVING THE COCKBURN, KWINANA, ROCKINGHAM, MANDURAH AND PEEL REGION.

QUERIES & QUESTIONS: Please don’t hesitate to contact the club Email: nafiannacatalpagaa@gmail.com Instagram: @na_fianna_catalpa_gaa Facebook: Na Fianna Catalpa GAA

Sponsorship packages are also available.

88 | THE IRISH SCENE

Na Fianna Catalpa was formed in March 2021, when former Morley Gaels Padraig Collins and former Minor coach Trevor Dunne planned to set up a club to service the Peel area and surrounds. This was made easier as the groundwork was already done for them in 2013 by a few that were involved in trying to set up a club in Mandurah. This included Marty Corney, Andrew Boyle and Keith Fitzpatrick, and it’s great to see these come on board along with others to develop Na Fianna Catalpa. In March 2021 they all got together and decided to try again and promote GAA in the area.

The name of Na Fianna Catalpa was an idea that came from Trevor Dunne; he felt that the story of the Catalpa bore significant Irish history to the local area. The Catalpa was a whaling ship from the USA that was funded by the support of Clan Na Gael. It was commissioned to travel to Fremantle, Western Australia, on a secret mission that even the ship’s crew didn’t know about. The mission was to free six Irish Fenians from the world’s most unescapable prison. In 1876 the Catalpa docked on Rockingham beach for three days while the escape took place from Fremantle Prison. The Fenians got into a rowing boat to make it to international waters and safely onto the Catalpa, which ultimately brought the six prisoners to their freedom.

NFC WOULD LIKE TO THANK: The WA GAA board, the City of Rockingham, the City of Mandurah, PK Tavern, Harbour Family Chiropractic, O’Neills AU and all our committed sponsors.

The support that we have received from all the GAA clubs has been outstanding and hopefully we will be fielding a team in next year’s competitions.

NFC (Na Fianna Catalpa GAA) started training with four people anywhere they could get public lighting: in the Mandurah Rugby clubs, Aqua Jetty pitches, even just some grass area at the side of Mandurah Skate Park.

However, numbers started to grow and the club could show the City of Rockingham the plans to join GAA WA Football League and grow the club even further. The City of Rockingham gratefully helped in finding a facility that the club could grow into. We have been placed in Lark Hill Sports Complex, which is a multi-purpose sporting and recreation reserve at Lark Hill in Port Kennedy, Western Australia. It is located on 270 hectares of land approximately 60km south of Perth. Stage one of the $24 million development was officially opened in 2008 which provides for a multitude of sports including rugby league, rugby union, touch football, softball, cricket, soccer, football and more, as well as a synthetic hockey pitch and extensive outdoor multi-use playing areas and social facilities for the Rockingham-Mandurah-Peel region. There are discussions in place to have a full size GAA Field set out. Na Fianna Catalpa GAA have found their home.

NFC now train every Monday at Lark Hill Sports Complex and have recently started a Walking Club for those who don’t necessarily wish to play football but still want to keep fit and exercise. NFC runs both clubs simultaneously on Monday nights at 7pm. NFC are also hoping to start up a junior academy in conjunction the WA Junior Academy, with great interest shown already.

THE IRISH SCENE | 89

90 | THE IRISH SCENE

THE FOUNDING OF G.A.A. IN WESTERN AUSTRALIA

The founding of G.A.A. in Western Australia

BY TOM KEARNS

NAMES OF GAELIC FOOTBALLERS IN PERTH IN 1970/71 Fr Padraic Kelly (Galway) 1st Perth President 1970

Paddy Gorman (Laois) Tom Daly (Louth)

Martin McHale (Mayo) 1st Secretary/Treasurer 1970

The Church was in Brentwood and on our way, a lady pulled up and we told her we were going to Mass. She told us to hop in – she already had four children of her own in the car, so it was a full load, but we were pleased with the lift. It was a very pleasant introduction to Australia.

John Doherty (Derry) RIP John Corrigan (Tyrone) RIP

Mick Dennehy (Kerry)

We arrived in Fremantle on Saturday May 22nd 1970, on the Fairstar which took four weeks at sea. A bus was organised to take us to Noelimba Hostel for new migrants. The next day, being Sunday, we asked about where the nearest Catholic Church was, we were told only a 20 minute walk. We set off with three small children, four years, two and a half years and a one year old, and it started to rain.

Con Sullivan (Cork)

Dennis Bratton (Armagh)

Tony Doyle (Kildare)

Noel Colgan (Westmeath)

Pat O’Malley (Clare)

Tony Halpin (Kerry)

Bertie Houlihan (Kerry) RIP

Owen Grant

Neil McCague (Antrim) RIP

Peter McKenna (Belfast)

Mal McCague (Antrim)

Pat Mulry (Galway)

Peter McGorry (Armagh)

Pat Piggot (Kerry)

The Mass was celebrated by Fr. Padraig Kelly, a young priest from the shores of Lough Corrib in Co. Galway. After Mass, we met with Fr. Kelly and he told us the G.A.A. had just been formed in WA and he would pick us up from the hostel and take us to the game that afternoon. It was played at Langley Park and we met several other Irish families there. Fr. Kelly encouraged me to get my football gear together and I played the following Sunday and till the end of the season.

Tom Kearns (Sligo)

Gerry Cowman (Wexford) RIP

Kevin Rooney (Antrim)

Damian Egan

John Rooney (Leitrim)

J. Hickey (Tipperary)

Roy McCabe (Cavan)

Roy Savage (Dublin)

Joe Mulry (Galway)

Bill O’Connor (Kerry)

Mick Bolger (Dublin) RIP

J. Kelly

Fr. Kelly was elected the first President. Being an S.M.A. Father, he was ordained for African Missions, but because of war there, all the Missionaries were sent to Australia. After three years, I was elected as the President of G.A.A. of WA and travelled to Sydney for the All Australian G.A.A. games.

Brendan Graham (Dublin)

The Presidents of the different states decided to form the G.A.A. of Australia. I was elected the first President for the duration of one year. The all Australian G.A.A games were held in Perth in 1975. The following year it was Melbourne for the All Australian G.A.A and Andy White was elected the next President, as the President was always elected from the host state.

Br. Kevin McCabe (Cavan) RIP

☘

Liam McSherry (Down) Felix McKnight (Armagh)

Paddy Kelly (Kerry)

Mick Healy (Cork)

Fr Brendan Conway (Westmeath)

John Kinahan (Kildare) P. O’Donovan (Cork)

Br. Hannick (Mayo) RIP Bill Ward (Louth)

Sean Johnson Bill Motherway (Cork)

Mick Morgan (Down)

Oliver McCourtney (Kerry)

Tony Ryan (Mayo) John Murphy (Tipperary)

Tom Varden (Galway) Jim McGuinness (Leitrim)

Colm Quinn (Offaly) Paddy Cleary (Tipperary)

F. Lynch

Gerry Clarke (Antrim) RIP

Peter McGorry (Armagh)

Mick Callan

Mick Kennedy (Cork)

Tom Clancy (Galway)

Paddy McClure (Donegal)

Sean Flaherty (Galway) Dermot Rafferty (Meath)

Tom Kearns and his wife

Danny Duggan (Galway) RIP

M. Andrews (Perth) Tony Reilly (Mayo) RIP

Greg Hartnett (Kerry)

Brian Binstead (Perth)

Peader McSharry (Leitrim) RIP

Primo Chiarri (Perth)

Paddy Quirke (Dublin)

George Chiarri (Perth) M.T.Higgins (Perth)

THE IRISH SCENE | 91

@GAAINWA

FOOTBALL LEAGUE FINALS Southern Districts managed to record a historic double league victory for their club with both the men and women claiming their respective league titles.

The much anticipated women’s league final did not disappoint the crowd who gathered to roar on the girls at Tom Bateman Reserve in Thornlie. While Southerns opened proceedings to go three up, their opponents, St Finbarrs, then took a stranglehold on the first half after a looping ball ended up in the back of the Southern Districts’ net. Finbarrs used this as a launchpad to dominate the remainder of the half with a second goal helping them to go 9 up before Southerns finally reacted with a fisted goal at the death of the half.

This was apparently the momentum Districts needed to claw their way back into the game. After scoring another major and a series of unanswered points, they managed to bring the full-time score to 2:06 each.

Both teams had several, agonising, missed opportunities in the closing minutes to claim victory but stakes were high and the pressure on ball carriers was simply immense from both sides.

Extra time saw Southerns register an early point but Finbarrs struck back to even it up before the break and a quick turnaround was starting to show in the legs during the second half. The old adage proved true once again as Southerns hit the onion bag for a third time and hung on for a hard-earned victory in the last few minutes, 3:07 to 2:07.

The men’s league final was another exciting affair, this time under lights, when Greenwoood and 92 | THE IRISH SCENE

Southern Districts faced off. Both teams started tentatively, swapping points regularly for most of the opening half. They could barely be separated; Greenwood just edging it at the break with the smallest of margins between them.

Scores were hard to come by in the third quarter as both teams kept up the intensity in tackling and pressing the ball. Southerns then managed to close the gap with a point before then quickly also raising the green flag to go three up. If this allowed a moment of relief, it was to be very short lived, as Greenwood replied almost immediately with a goal of their own. However, while it didn’t give them a lead for long, the goal seemed to shake Districts into action as they swiftly kicked on to go two points ahead. Sitting on this dangerous lead for a long period of play and under fierce fire from the boys in blue, it looked like they might struggle to close the game. The comeback never materialised though, and Districts hit the last point to leave it 1:11 to 1:08 for this year’s League champions.

Well done to all squads/management involved on two fine displays of football. Congratulations to the Best and Fairest awardees, Amy Langan and Stephen Casey. Our gratitude, as always, goes to Tom Bateman manager, Sean O’Casey, his bar and shop staff as well as the referees and their match officials.

GAAWA

CLUB DETAILS FOOTBALL CLUBS GREENWOOD Mens Senior Football greenwoodgfc@hotmail.com

MORLEY GAELS Mens & Ladies Senior Football morleygaelsgfc@hotmail.com

SOUTHERN DISTRICTS Mens & Ladies Senior Football

HURLING AND CAMOGIE WRAP UP The hurling season finished up with an impressive victory for Sarsfields Hurling Club to make them Western Australian champions six years in a row!

This one proved to be extra special after a well-deserved victory over a tenacious Western Swans side who pushed them right to the end. Eoin Guinan put over an impressive 13 points to help steer his side to the win allowing his team to lift the inaugural Dermot Kenny Cup. The Western Swans club were to fare better in the camogie, coming out on top of the St Gabriel’s women in the final. It was another busy finals day at RA Cook Reserve in Bedford. All squads, referees, officials and volunteers are to be congratulated on making it a success.

☘

ST. FINBARR’S Mens & Ladies Senior Football stfinbarrsgfc@outlook.com

WESTERN SHAMROCKS Mens & Ladies Senior Football westernshamrocks@hotmail.com

HURLING CLUBS ST. GABRIEL’S Mens & Ladies Senior Hurling & Camogie stgabrielsperth@gmail.com

WESTERN SWANS Mens & Ladies Senior Hurling & Camogie westernswansgaa@gmail.com

PERTH SHAMROCKS Mens Senior Hurling perthshamrocks@gmail.com

SARSFIELDS Mens Senior Hurling

sarshurlingperth@gmail.com

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The finals were followed shortly by the WA Hurling and Camogie Ball at Beaumonde on The Point. This stunning venue played host to hundreds of our gaels to celebrate the 2021 season. Again, Western Swans had plenty to celebrate when Suzi Dunphy and Mary O’Callaghan shared the Camogie Player of the Year award while fellow Swan Johnny Cody also picked up the Hurler of the year title. The HSC and in particular Charlotte Geoghegen, are to be commended on putting together an event of this scale. It was a wonderful night for all.

southerndistrictsgaa@gmail.com

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GAA GROUNDS

Tom Bateman Reserve Corner Bannister & Nicholson Rds (entrance off Wilfred Rd) Canning Vale

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GAAWA JUNIOR ACADEMY

What’s the Scór?

Scór - a GAA competition combining all the colour and rivalry of Gaelic Games with the social and fun element of Ireland's traditional past-times – is being held in Perth, on December 5th and members of the community are welcome to attend and to help make it a success.

Scór was established by the GAA in 1969 with the aim of promoting these past-times and culture while offering club members the chance to meet up, have fun and represent their club during the winter months while Football and Hurling had ceased.

There are eight events/disciplines in the Scór competition covering all aspects of Irish culture: Figure/Céilí Dancing, Solo Singing, Ballad Group, Recitation/Scéalaíocht, Nuachleas/Novelty Act, Instrumental Music, Set Dancing and Table Quiz. The Perth Scór will feature all of these categories with the exception of the novelty act.

Organiser David Dillon said the December 5 fixture will be also be a Christmas party for the families of participants and players across the GAA community.

“We are interested in inviting participation of young singers, dancers and musicians from the wider community to take part and help make the event a success. The quiz in the evening depends on senior club involvement.”

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GAAWA

Christmas scÓR 5th December For more information, contact David on 0418 918 160 or davidadillon@hotmail.com and check out the latest updates on the Scór facebook page

Academy Supporters: We would like to extend a special thanks to Gay Collins and the team at Pipeline Technics for their generous donation to the Academy.

Upcoming event: The Jim Styne’s Combined Rules competition for under 11s will take place on Sunday 10 October.

This event involves the Academy and AFL Junior Football Clubs in a competition for the Cup. Marist Football Club will be back to defend the Title and it looks to be a great day out for all.

facebook.com/ggjawa Call/text: 0415 048 425 Email: infoggjunioracademy@gmail.com ggjunioracademy@gmail.com Web: ggjaofwa.teamapp.com SPONSORED BY

Sunday 25 July saw 25 families join us at Masonmill Gardens in the hills for a social event. We were lucky the rain stayed away and everyone got to play some mini golf before tucking in to the delicious food provided. Sally and Carl made sure everything went to plan and families mentioned that perhaps more social activities could be put in the Academy Calendar. This is-something we will consider, particularly between the end and beginning of our Season.

The Committee has been kept busy preparing for our Season which commenced on Sunday 29 August at our new venue at John XXlll College Mount Claremont. The Sunday morning program provides an opportunity for children of all abilities aged between 4 and 14 to learn and practise new skills and take part in games in a fun, supportive atmosphere.

On Saturday 21 August our coaches (wonderful to have some new faces too) participated in a coaching course which required completion of both theory and practical demonstration of how best to work with young children. It was great to have Charlie and Glen (both past players with the Academy) attend. Feedback was positive with coaches sharing their knowledge, having a bit of fun and all enjoying the food provided by Sean O’Casey at the conclusion. Our coaches are all volunteers, without whom we would not be able to offer the Sunday program. Thank you to Gerry Crowley for planning and running the session and to our coaches for all the time and effort they put into weekly session planning and delivery.

Unfortunately, mid preparation for our Season, our Facebook platform “crashed” but you can still keep in touch with us at facebook.com/ ggjawa/

LOIS CROWLEY SECRETARY

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Spring has sprung so why not spring into McLoughlin Butchers for all your favourite BBQ meats and family treats Products available at our Malaga address and selected IGA, Farmer Jacks and Coles

58 Westchester Rd, Malaga WA 6090 Phone: 08 9249 8039

Visit our website: McLoughlinButchers.com.au

PROUD SUPPORTERS OF THE IRISH COMMUNITY OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA