The Irish Scene July/August 2023

In A Crazy World Christy Dignam might have called Australia – even Perth – home

BY LLOYD GORMAN

As a young bloke starting out on what would prove to be an incredible life Christy Dignam – who died on June 13 aged just 63 – had a big choice to make, to choose between Aslan and Australia. He ultimately committed to being the frontman for the Dublin band and one of Ireland’s best loved rock groups was born in 1982. But just before all that came to pass Christy opened the door to the other life he imagined possible. He always loved Ireland – and Ireland loved him – and was fiercely proud of being a Finglas boy but that hankering for another existence appears to have resurfaced in the latter years of his life here in Perth, Western Australia.

“At the start of Aslan we went over to Australia and we loved it over there,” Christy told Ryan Turbidy in an interview recorded at Christy and Kathryn’s Finglas home in April. Kathryn, then his girlfriend, had a sister who lived in Sydney. “We were only about 21 and we said we’d go back to Ireland and do Aslan for a year, then come back here and get married and rear our kids etc and that was thirty years ago, you know what I mean? When we got back Kathryn said she’d take care of the bills, she’s a hairdresser, and said you go full time with the band and see

joked that Kathryn still had her cases upstairs and was ready to make the move.

Singing came easily for Christy and in 1982 he formed Aslan as a five piece act, with Joe Jewell (guitar), Tony McGuinness (bass), Billy McGuinness (keyboards) and Alan Downey (drums), all Finglas and Ballymun locals. They first came to national prominence in 1986 with their demo single “This Is” which got a lot of airplay on RTÉ 2fm. A year later they were the support act for David Bowie at Slane Castle. Their debut Album Feel No Shame landed in 1988 and went straight to number one in the Irish charts. But just as they had a deal for a second album and the world at their finger tips the band imploded and split up, a consequence of Christy’s deepening heroin addiction. The band members agreed to come together for a once off charity concert in Finglas in July 1993. But the reunion proved to be the foundation for the band to rebuild and they announced their comeback with the single “Crazy World”, one of their biggest ever hits. Aslan was reborn. Six number one songs would follow and countless numbers of concerts and guest appearances at other events, in the media and in the community.

It was at the point when they got back together

But of course they were relaxed and friendly and it felt just like I was talking with my Dublin uncles, full of Dublin banter and good natured messing. From that day on I remained a die-hard Aslan fan and lucky that I had had the chance to meet them and my wife and I would see them play several times together, including in 2010, each time an amazing experience. Interestingly the editor of In Dublin who I have to thank for the encounter was one Damian Corless, who co-authored Christy’s autobiography ‘My Crazy World’ in 2019. Australia beckoned for the first time in the same year Sydney hosted the Olympic Games. In his autobiography Dignam said it proved they could still draw big crowds. “In Sydney we’d be playing to 2,000 people,” he said. “We were drawing big crowds in Brisbane, Perth, Canberra, everywhere we went. The first time we toured Australia the audiences would have been mainly first generation Irish emigrants. That was the case whenever we went to any country for the first time – America, Britain, France, Germany. But the Irish would bring along a mate from the host country, and then the next time we’d play there the mate would bring along five of their mates. It built up over the return visits so that we were playing to cosmopolitan Australian audiences.”

Aslan next toured Australia in 2010, with promoter Troubadour Music. But it almost didn’t happen. Just two days before they were

50, was rushed to hospital after he blacked Blanchardstown Hospital and discharged the next day. Aslan had been due to give a going away gig on that Sunday before they left the country. The concert was cancelled because of the health scare and rumours of his death mushroomed, with more than one Dublin radio station mistakingly reporting the singer had a heart attack on stage!

On the Perth leg of the 2010 they put on three shows between Friday 24th September and Sunday 26th at Rosie O’Grady’s in Northbridge. Having attended on of those nights I can tell you they gave one of their trademark performances with Christy in flamboyant form as ever. A big group from Shamrock Rovers were at the Saturday night concert and the next day Christy – who loved football – and the crew returned the compliment by visiting them at Flinders Park in Hillarys. Marty from Shamrocks remembers the day and how a Vets game was on, with lots of families and kids turned out for the occasion, something Christy revelled in. The museos had great craic with the players and their supporters, so much so that nearly the whole lot of them trooped back into Rosie’s to catch the Sunday night session! Days like that are the stuff of legend!

Larger than life the touring rockers were also eager tourists and sightseers. As well as their day trip to Hillarys, they were also taken around by Irish Scene founder Fred Rea

to Pinaroo Cemetery where they got to see a mob of kangaroos (and other wildlife, including birds – which Christy had always enjoyed since he was a young boy). Plenty more craic and culture was had by the visitors at Fremantle Prison. Fellow Dub and musician, the late Brendan Woods, was a tour guide at the historic centre and well known for his entertaining and unique style of presenting history.

As he was taking the band around the Perth’s top tourist spots Jon got to spend a lot of time with Christy and shares publicly for the first time just how enamoured the ‘This Is’ singer was with what he saw here in the west.

“I brought him up to Kings Park one night to see the city lights and when we returned he informed the band he had found the cover for their next album!,” said Jon.

“Christy spoke to me in great detail about Perth one evening while we were having dinner in my home and he very seriously considered moving to Perth to eventually retire. Unfortunately that

one final time in 2011 when they played two gigs at Rosie’s, the last gigs they would perform together in Australia!

Christy was diagnosed with amyloidosis – a rare cancer that causes the amyloid protein build up in organs and can shut them down –in 2013 and was told at first that he might die within months. Ten years later in January 2023 his family announced he was at home since December receiving palliative care.

When the popular Irish pub in Northbridge closed its doors in late 2020 tributes flowed for the place but even more so for the people who helped to make the venue so popular. Musicians like Gary Og and Damien Dempsey who had close links with Rosie’s paid tribute through online messages, as did Aslan stalwart Billy McGuinness. Speaking from his home studio Billy described Rosie’s as “one of our

great memories of the nights we played there, especially one night when we did an after party show for the staff, it was amazing and we still talk about it to this day. Listen Jon and Scott, from everyone in Aslan, the crew and the band, we wish you all the best.. If you are opening up another venue please consider bringing us over because we had a great time over there with you, nothing was a problem for you, you really really looked after us big time. I’ve been thinking of a farewell to sing you as a farewell so I hope you enjoy this, its a killer,” he laughed and then strummed and sang ‘Skippy the Bush Kangaroo’. Billy signed off: “Cheers Jon and Scott!”.

As fate would have it the Milligan Street venue reopened a few months later as Irish pub called Johnny Fox’s, under new management, with another Dubliner at the helm, managing director, Paul Moloney.

Paul was not lucky enough to catch Aslan at Rosie’s back in the day but he is immensely proud of the fact they did. When Paul took over he put his own stamp on the pubs credentials as a live music venue when he named the stage and performance area Lynotts Lounge after another Dub and the lead singer with Thin Lizzy.

“Philip Lynott has been an inspirational musician to many, including James Hetfield of Metallica, AC/DC, The Darkness, and Christy Dignam,” said Paul. “I was born and raised in Dublin and ‘Philo’ and Christy were always played in bars and over the radio. As a young lad my mother would listen to Lizzy albums while she was cooking or ironing. The first time I heard Lizzy on the radio I had to stop my mother to find out what the hell I was listening to... I’d never been blown away so much by a song, it was dynamic, patriotic, rock and roll at its best. Over the years Christy often told of his love of Lizzy in interviews and that for him starting out Lynott was the epitome of a rock

musicians. Before Johnny Foxs, there was Rosie O’Gradys and the people that were around at the time of Christys gig at the venue would’ve been very lucky people to have experienced his dynamic performance to such an intimate audience of only 300 people. What we have tried to achieve at Lynotts Lounge is to carry forward inspired musicians and give them a platform to live audiences who want to hear original music. Trying to get ahead in the industry is extremely hard but having a venue like ours to play at and show your musical wares can sometimes help you get discovered. Aslan and Lizzy started the same way, playing local pubs and clubs. Christy’s passing has affected many people around Ireland and the world… but what’s great about legends like Christy and Philo is that they’ve left us the gift in their music which will live on forever and I myself am eternally grateful for this. R.I.P Christy”. In one of their last shows on Radio Fremantle after something like 25 years on the air Frank Murphy and Gerry Gannon of Celtic Rambles (formerly A Song for Ireland) marked Christy’s passing by playing the music of Aslan. Over on VCA 88.5fm community radio in Ellenbrook

Oliver McInerney spun ‘This Is’ for his listeners. Frank – who was previously with RTE – and Gerry’s final Celtic Rambles was July 8. Through the programme and in many other ways they have made an enormous contribution to the social and cultural life of the Irish community in Western Australia and beyond and will be missed. Thank you guys! Enjoy what’s next and may you never have to worry about getting up at the crack of dawn! Meanwhile, Oliver – who hails from Longford – will celebrated five years on the air as a volunteer DJ on July 4. Music lovers like Frank, Gerry and Oliver help share, spread and remember the joy of great acts and artists like Aslan and many others!

‘Now I know’ is a poweful swansong written by Christy in about 2018 and encapsulates everything that was great and special about his life. Aslan’s Australian tours were organised

by Troubadour Presents, an independent entertainment company in Sydney that has been bringing Irish and international acts into the country for nearly two decades. In his farewell message for Rosie’s Billy McGuinness also gave a bit shout out to Fran Daly and all the crew at Troubadour for supporting them and other visiting Irish bands.

“We had the pleasure of working with Aslan and Christy on several occasions during tours of Australia and those shows will go down as legendary ones,” said Fran.”What struck us most was how his mind never stopped running. He knew a lot about Australian history, indigenous issues and most of all about Australian wildlife. On days off, he could be found in a koala sanctuary or somewhere where there was lorikeets and Galahs. Not quite the rock ‘n’ roll craziness that many people imagined was happening. When you were lucky enough to have a one on one with him, you got a sense of how he was able to write those amazing lyrics. Most of all, he was a humble Dubliner. From all who worked at Troubadour down through the years, our condolences to his family and band mates. RIP Christy Dignam.”

The website RIP.ie was inundated with hundreds if not thousands of messages from fans who wanted to pay their respects to Christy. The deluge of love and condolences included at least two from this part of the world that the singer knew and liked so much.

“Was lucky enough to see Aslan 3 times in concert and the most memorable was when you played here in Perth, Western Australia about 10 years ago for all your Irish fans living in Perth. You have most certainly earned your wings Christy, sleep well xxxx,” wrote Sandra O’Neill, Perth, Western Australia. Also from WA Nuala & Davy Carolan said “Thank you for your lyrics, songs & music. Rest in Eternal Peace Christy, Sincere condolences to family & friends, his legend lives on”. This article is our tribute to Christy Dignam and Aslan and we hope it speaks for the many people who were touched by his passing, but even more so by his life. We would like to thank everyone who shared their photos and memories of Christy and the band for this story, including Fred Rea, Jon Smyth, Ray Nolan, Shirley Fullam, Adam Walsh, Marty Burke, Leigh Doherty and Brandon O’Neill.

Australia beckoned for another Aslan member

Aslan won the award for Best Irish Band in the 2008 Meteor Awards, a fact they proudly publicised on the posters for their Perth and Australian concerts. But not long after they claimed their rightful place at the top of the Irish music industry one of their bass player Tony McGuinness left the band. A founding member of the band the English born McGuinness announced he would be moving to Australia with his wife Margaret and daughter Georgia. His place in the band was taken by Rodney O’Brien.

The McGuinness family moved to Brisbane, which they called home until 2017 when they returned to Dublin. McGuinness co-wrote songs

From Brehons to Brewers

The remarkable story of an Irish Australian brewing dynasty

BY LLOYD GORMAN

Aonce well known range of classic Australian beers with an undiluted Irish pedigree is today staging an historic comeback a hundred years later in WA and across the country.

Around the turn of the last century the Breheny name was one of the most respected and recognised in the brewing industry in Australia. That reputation as the most influential family in Australian brewing is being proudly restored by today’s generation of family, using the same recipes and attention to quality as their forebears

The story of the Breheny Bros Breweries can be traced directly back to the West of Ireland and ancient times. The Breheny name is at least hundreds of years old and associated with the Brehon Laws of the Celts. Their name in Irish Mac an Bhreitheamhnaigh (which literally means the son of the Judge) has been anglicised in different forms and has also evolved to become the surname Judge.

John Breheny was born around 1799 in Tynagh, Co. Galway and in 1827 he married 23 year old Bridget Lyons, another native of Tynagh. The couple lived in Tynagh and raised their family there. Their first child Michael Breheny was born in 1828 at home, like his siblings John, Thomas, Mary, Martin, Bridget and Catherine. Patrick, the second child, was

“Old people say that people died on the road sides and everywhere during the famine. It was fever caused by hunger. Most of them had no coffins. Before this the country was very thickly populated. In our fields there are many ruins and places that mark out houses that were occupied by people before the famine. Even yet are seen the ridges that were made to sow the potatoes in but the people died before that could sow them. The potatoes rotted in the pits. This is the first time blight came on the potatoes. It is said the year before the potatoes were very big and the bog was worth more than the potatoes. The famine was in 1846-1847. The people are able to know houses that are in ruin now. In the parish before the famine the were Keons, and Tierneys in Gurrane, Brennans in Carrew, Bannons in Lecarrow, Bohans in Gurrane. Headds in Tynagh and Egans in Tynagh. When the people would be coming from Loughrea and the doors shut they would often open them and get the people dead.

The famine swept a great deal of the people.”

This account of the Famine in Tynagh is from Dochas.ie

born just down the road in Portumna. The children all grew up in the area and the family even endured the Great Irish Famine (An Gorta Mor circa 1845 to 1852) there.

But perhaps as a result of that harrowing episode the family of

five sons and two daughters emigrated and travelled to Australia on the “City of Manchester” and arrived at Port Henry, Geelong, Victoria in July 1854. From there they moved to Black River, Tasmania.

Coming from a farming background the Breheny’s returned to working the land but some of the new arrivals sought to make a living away from the plough. Their third born son, John started the Marine Stockade Brewery (Williamstown Brewery) in 1864, becoming the first generation of brewers in the family. It was a big year for John as he was also married Eliza Ellen Adams in Geelong on January 10 (and again eight days later at the instance of her father) and they had two children, Charlotte Breheny and Eliza Margarey Breheny.

John trained his nephew John James Breheny at Burton Brewery in Collingwood and from this point on John, his brothers and cousins, their sons and grandsons became recognised brewers in various

breweries across Australia in the last 1880’s and through the 1900s.

From Williamstown and Collingwood their influence spread to Ballarat, Abbotsford, Geelong, Sale (Gippsland) Bendigo, Toowoomba, Cairns and Hobart and Launceston in Tasmania.

Western Australia too knew the scope of the ambition of these industrious drink makers. Thomas Carroll Breheny was the last brewer at Avon Brewing & Ice Co. Ltd in Fitzgerald Street, Northam (1896 to c. 1935) which produced the Breheny’s Pilsner Lager.

From 1897 to 1929 the Castlemaine Brewing Company was located at Canning Road and Riverside Road, East Fremantle. Their range of “Absolutely Pure” Castlemaine Ales &

Stouts – including Penguin Pale Ale – were brewed and bottled here. They confidently pitched their products against their well known competitors. It advertised its Redcastle Stout as being ‘Equal to the best imported’ and proclaimed it was ‘Brewed by one of Guinness’s Brewers’. Another stout drink –Elephant Brand Extra– was produced at the Globe Brewery in what is now Cunningham Street, Geraldton (1908-1949). Globe also manufactured its own brand Pale Ale, Bitter and Lager.

In Perth the Redcastle Brewery in Ascot Road, Victoria Park produced its own branded Pale Ale and Extra Stout.

Well respected in the West

It is clear from newspaper articles from their era that the Breheny’s were highly regarded as business people and esteemed members of their local communities. The March 21 edition of the Northam Advertiser in 1934 carried an article about an ‘Irish National Concert’ that was held in the town hall to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day. The concert saw singing, dancing by local school children, as well as music by an “efficient orchestra” and singing by local performers. “Mr. T. C. Breheny, who comes to Northam with a reputation established in the Eastern States, more than fulfilled expectations, and he must have indeed felt flattered at his reception; repeated recalls were given, and in one of his added numbers, ‘Danny Boy’ he achieved the success of the evening.”

A few years later Thomas Breheny was based in Geraldton.

“The Globe Brewery Ltd., of Geraldton, has developed a very nice business through the quality beer and stout produced,” said an article from the Australian Brew and Wine Journal that was reprinted in the Geraldton Guardian and Express on 7 October 1939.

“The brewing is in the charge of Mr. Thomas Breheny, one of the well-known family of brewers who have for so long been associated with the industry in Australia. The name of Breheny is synonymous with good beer and in the various parts of the Commonwealth where a member of the family has been located, the result has always been shown in the high standard of brewing that has followed. The Globe Brewery has a capacity of 150 hogsheads per week and has a storage capacity of 23,000 gallons with a bottling capacity of 600 dozen per day. All water used

is condensed, and the stout is naturally matured.

The accompanying photographs, of Mr. Thomas’ Breheny standing beside one of the large glass enamelled storage tanks, which are one of the features of this brewery, although the whole plant is of the most modern design. The second photograph shows a section of the bottling works and gives some idea of the extent of the plant. The main distribution is in Geraldton and the surrounding districts, the North-West Coast and the Murchison Goldfields line which extends some three or four hundred miles inland to Wiluna.”

The comings and goings of Thomas Breheny were regularly reported by the local paper. In October 1944 the Geraldton Guardian reported: “Mr. T. Breheny, manager of the, Globe Brewery Limited, who was married in Perth about a fortnight ago, returned to Geraldton yesterday in company with his wife” and again in December 1947 noted: “T. Breheny, manager of the Globe Brewery Limited, returned by air this morning from a brief visit to the city”. A trip he made in April 1944 was picked up by the

Gippsland Times in Victoria. “Mr. Tom Breheny is home on a brief visit to Sale. Mr. Breheny is brewer at the Globe Brewery, at Geraldton, Western Australia. He will visit Sydney on business before returning to the West.”

But in May 1949 there was only a one way journey to report. “Mr. T. H. Breheny, who has occupied the position of managing brewer for the Globe Brewery Limited for the past ten-and-a-half years, left Geraldton by road yesterday morning in company with his wife and baby son to reside in the metropolis. Mr. Breheny’s departure was occasioned by the recent closure of the brewery at Geraldton, and it is understood, that he has accepted a similar

position in Perth,” the local paper reported. In 1920 the departure of another Breheny – Morris – from Fremantle to return home to Tasmania was of such interest that at least two going away parties held for him were reported by the WA Record newspaper. On July 13 1920 the paper carried a story on its front page with the headline ‘Hibernian Farewell’. The Hotel Orient was the venue for the Hibernian Society send off for Bro (Brother) Morris Breheny who “recently severed his connection with the

Modern day Brehenys toast their ambitious ancestors achievements

Castlemaine Brewery at East Fremantle”. “Bro, Breheny had always taken a keen interest in matters appertain ing to the society, Catholicity, Ireland, and Australia,” the article said. “The Hibernian Society could ill-afford to lose such strong members in West Australia; but...whatever branch Bro. Breheny would owe allegiance to in Eastern Australia, would learn to appreciate his true Hibernian spirit. He worked quietly but earnestly in promoting Hibernianism, and within him pulsed a strong pride in the society and all that it stood for. Several speakers made similar comments about him but when it came time for Morris himself to address the gathering he “was accorded an ovation”.

“He thanked the members for their kind remarks, most of which he considered undeserved. He had realised during the last week of his sojourn in W.A. that he had made hosts of friends — more than he had most sanguinely imagined, and he felt his leaving them very keenly. He would always carry with him most happy recollections of his association with the Hibernian Australian Catholic Benefit Society. in W.A.”

Morris Breheny was also involved with the Celtic Club in Perth and was a founding member of the local branch of the Irish National Association, which threw their own bash (at the Orient) to bid the Castlemaine Brewer bon voyage. He was described as “a gentleman whose sublime qualities of heart and mind had made for him a host of friends in Western Australia. (Cheers.)”

INA President Walter Dwyer said he had watched Mr Breheny’s career and ‘sojourn’ with them over the last seven years and that “it was one of which any Irishman might feel proud. A familiar face at their Irish National Association meetings, an occasional visitor to the Celtic Club, in the throng at every gathering to advance the

freedom of the Old Land, and on all occasions generous to her appeals. Mr. Breton would be a distinct loss to the Irish people of the West. (Applause.)….He (the speaker) understood that Mr. Breheny hailed from the Island State, and although with him above and beyond all was loyalty to his homeland, as typified in that new-born expression, “Australia first,” yet no one but must realise that his fidelity to their motherland is an example to each and all, for was he not “more Irish than the Irish themselves?” (Cheers.) He wished Mr. Breheny on the eve of his departure every prosperity and happiness, and hoped he would one day return to Western Australia. (Applause.)”

A Father Lynch praised his “interests of their down-trodden country. (Cheers). And, indeed, he (Father Lynch) would consider himself a poor Irishman were he not with them that night to pay his tribute to a worthy son of Australia who was true to the best traditions of Ireland and her people. (Applause.)

Another speaker echoed that sentiment. Even though his kind friend would soon be separated from them and whatever the future held in store for them they had: “registered a mutual promise that when Ireland had won

national independence they would come together to toast her memory. (Cheers.)….(and that there was) no finer type of Irish-Australian manhood lived under the Southern Cross. (Applause.)”

Of his status as a brewer the same speaker said the: “Breheny family for a generation have acquired throughout Australia, considerable fame as brewers, until to-day every State in the Commonwealth. could claim a member who has climbed to the topmost rung of the ladder in his profession. (Applause.)”

His dear kind friend Morris would in a few days be separated from him, but wherever fortune found them in the years to be, the Breheny family had: “for a generation have acquired throughout Australia, considerable fame as brewers, until to-day every State in the Commonwealth. could claim a member who has climbed to the topmost rung of the ladder in his profession. (Applause.)”

Morris thanked his Irish National Association friends for the magnificent send off. “Following in the footsteps of his dearly departed father, who always had a great love for the Old Land, [Morris] joined the United Irish League in Tasmania some five and twenty years ago, and ever since that day he endeavoured to live true to the tradition handed down to him. (Cheers.) Had he acted otherwise, so far from being worthy to cherish his father s memory, he would have proved unworthy of his name and race.”

Old is new again!

Over the years the various breweries the Breheny’s were involved with either shut down or were absorbed by manufacturers, such as Carlton & United Breweries in Victoria and Swan Brewery in WA. Stories such as theirs can become fascinating historical footnotes but history also has an interesting way of not letting some things be forgotten. A couple of years ago the original hand written

notebooks used by Thomas Breheny were rediscovered intact. The well preserved collection contained every recipe, ingredient, quantity, flavour and location where the family had brewed. If the Breheny’s represented brewing royalty, then these notebooks are their Crown Jewel’s. The idea of restoring the family tradition to its rightful place quickly took root and in 2021 Breheny Bros Breweries was formed. “A hundred years ago there were Brehenys in breweries all around the country,” managing director James Breheny told Irish Scene. “And they took these same recipe books around everywhere they went. The Breheny Bros have a rich brewing history across WA and we are proud to bring these easy drinking beers for the first time in 100 years. After uncovering Thomas’ original recipe books, we revived three classic local favourites from over 100 years ago, including the Avon Lager, Redcastle Bitter, and Redcastle Extra Stout.”

The next generation were only too willing and able to take up the challenge. For Geraldton publican Bill Breheny it was a deeply personal duty. The same Thomas Carroll Breheny from the Globe, Avon and Redcastle breweries in WA was his father and he has memories of spending time with him watching his dad at work, and taking home fresh yeast for mum. Earlier this year the historically authentic and accurate brews began appearing in bottle shops and bars across Perth and WA as part of a national rollout of the Breheny Bros Brewing resurgence

TINY TYNAGHS TITANS

It might be a tiny Irish parish but Tynagh has had a tectonic impact on Australian society. Located in southeast Co. Galway, about halfway between Loughrea and Portumna, this traditionally rural community can legitimately make a unique claim. Eight Australian PM’s –including Anthony Albanese – claim Irish heritage but only one place in Ireland can claim more than one of them. No less than two Australian Prime Minister’s have traced their Irish roots to this little pocket of Ireland and almost exactly thirty years ago that special connection was celebrated by one of them. “[As well as] having the opportunity of speaking at the Dáil [Éireann], I’m also having the opportunity to see rural Ireland and Tynagh in Galway, from whence my family came,” visiting Australian PM Paul Keating told guests at a state dinner in his honour at Dublin Castle in September 1993. “And I was deeply moved and very honoured tonight that so many members of the Keating family from Galway have come tonight. I’m looking forward to seeing them and to meeting them in Tynagh in the next day or so.”

Some details not mentioned in the Canberra Times coverage was that Mr Keating (1991 to 1996) who was PM was given a tour of Tynagh and visited the villages old (former) Catholic church where he viewed the marriage certificate of his greatgrandparents (Keatings and Larkins). At the old school he was greeted by local children who put on a performance for him and also presented him with a charcoal drawing of the building where his grandparents went to school. He laid a wreath at the Keating headstone in the local graveyard. He also planted a eucalyptus tree in a park and unveiled a limestone monument commissioned to mark his visit. All this was

followed by a reception for the VIP visitor in the community centre, organised by Galway County Council. Guests at this function included the then Australian Ambassador Terry McCarthy and his wife and “all the local politicians and practically every parishioner”. After the speeches and formalities were concluded and no doubt a crush of admirers and well wishers Mr Keating and his companions left the area by helicopter. Mr Keating recognised the warm reception and welcome by the community with a hand-written letter of appreciation to the organising committee. But it is unclear if Mr Keating referred too or was even aware of one of his predecessors links to the same place.

Some 58 years earlier Tynagh welcomed home another Australian PM, Joseph (Joe) Aloysius Lyons, nicknamed ‘Honest Joe’. A devout Catholic proud of his Irish heritage Lyons – who led the country between 1932 and 1939 –and his wife Enid* visited Ireland briefly as part of a six month diplomatic and trade mission to Europe. Irish Scene was not able to find much of any detail about this homecoming and no doubt was a much more modest affair, but still no less significant. Chronologically speaking this PM was one step closer to his Tynagh forebears who were his grandparents Michael Lyons and Bridget Bourke. It is believed that the young Michael Lyons (23) and his bride landed in Tasmania on July 17, 1841, as assisted migrants on the “Royal Saxon” and raised their family in Stanley, where they spent the rest of their lives. Following in the footsteps of Keating and Lyons James Breheny, Managing Director Breheny Bros Breweries, visited Tynagh in 2018 for a Clan gathering from all over the world. The Breheny line is strong in Australia and America and has maintained its local hold on the village where they all originate from, a chance to dip body and soul back into the spring of life. James is pictured here left of Tom Breheny (middle) who still operates the

family’s dairy farm.

Paul Keatings signature in the local visitors book

James, second left with his cousin Tom, right, at the pub in Tynagh.

James at the original Breheny homestead in Tynagh

This stone marks Keatings visit to Tynagh

The Canberra Times

‘Irish eyes smile at local descendant made good’

From ROSS PEAKE, Political Correspondent

DUBLIN: The Irish Government television network is predicting 10,000 visitors will flood into the tiny village of Tynagh in county Galway early today (Canberra time). The hype has been caused by Paul Keating’s recent discovery that his ancestors lived there.

Tynagh’s newly discovered status comes after intensive investigation by Australian bureaucrats.

It is understood that Mr Keating believed his ancestors came from Gare but a rushed study of his fore bears, made as his visit to

September 22 1993

Ireland was being arranged, came up with Tynagh (pronounced Tina).

The village, the birthplace of Mr Keating’s great-great-grandfather, John Keating, has only about 300 people. The Prime. Minister is due to have a private meeting with a distant relative, 82 year old Jim Keating, whose great-grandfather is believed to have been a brother of the Prime Minister’s great-great grandfather. The original Keating family home, a thatched-roof cottage, has been destroyed, but the ruins of the house of another branch of the family have been found about 5km outside the village.

Villagers hope to show Mr Keating the old brick school built in the 1840s where his great-grandfather attended classes. A Keating headstone has been found in the local graveyard but villagers report they have not been able to read the inscription. Before arriving in Tynagh, Mr Keating is to unveil a plague in Thurles,

Dames have their day

Mr Lyons was one of only two premiers ever to become PM and as the saying goes behind every great man is a great woman. Enid (née Burnell) was just 17 when she married her 35 year old husband in April 1915 and they would have twelve children, one of who died as an infant. But she also supported his political career and became an active force in her own right. She made an impact as a branch delegate at the 1918 Labor Party state conference and as the wife of the opposition leader in the 1922 state election started making public appearances on his behalf. Within a year he was thrust into the position of Premier but also suffered a number of personal and family tragedies. Despite everything Enid, 27, ran as an ALP candidate – one of the first females in Tasmania to do so – for the Hobart based seat of Denison. Labor formed government in that election but she was just 60 votes shy of election on this occasion. When her husband became PM in 1932 she became a very active and capable first lady who frequently wrote newspaper articles, made radio broadcasts and open-air speeches. When her husband died suddenly in 1939 he became the first PM to die in office and she withdrew from public life. But in the federal election of 1943 she stood for the Division of Darwin and together with Senator (Dame) Dorothy Tangney*, became the first two women ever elected to the federal parliament, with Lyons going on to become the first female in cabinet and serve for three terms in Canberra. *Dorothy was

Tipperary,’ in memory of former Prime Minister Ben Chifley.

Mr Chifley’s grandfather migrated from the area in 1858.

Paul Keating’s great-great grand parents, John and Mary Keating, were small tenant farmers. Parish records show the couple married in 1834 and had eight children. Mr Keating will visit St Lawrence’s Church where they were married, although the building is used now as a hayshed.

In 1855, after the potato famine, the Keatings emigrated to Australia, travelling for six months, their son Mathew lived 56 years in the colony of NSW.

born North Perth, one of nine children of Irish born train driver Eugene Tangeny. Their ground breaking achievement was commemorated with the unveiling of a statue for International Women’s Day on March 8 in Canberra. The full body sculpture portrayal of Dorothy Tangney and Enid Lyons alongside each other is intended to be reminiscent of the iconic photo of the pair entering Parliament House together for the first time on 24 September 1943. Dorothy Tangney and Enid Lyons are depicted walking on approach from King George Terrace to the front door of Old Parliament House. “I have done lots and lots of statues of men, but there are not as many of women,” said artist Lis Johnson who sculpted the figures. “Hopefully, we would be able to balance that imbalance soon. These full-scale sculptures of Dame Dorothy Tangney and Dame Enid Lyons are the first of women in the Parliamentary Zone. This is an opportune time to put the spotlight on the two dames as high-achieving women who did a lot of important work to improve education and public health. I think it is befitting that the sculptures of Dame Dorothy Tangney and Dame Enid Lyons will be unveiled at a time when there are now many women making a mark in Parliament.” An interesting aside is that the Breheny family tree includes a Lyons bloodline. The wife of John Breheny who left Tynagh for Australia, was a Bridget Lyons, also born in Tynagh in 1804.

BY LLOYD GORMAN

Aclip on tik tok of Irish electro-pop band Le Boom (featuring Andy Leech) performing their new track ‘Australia’ live at a rave in Dublin in April has gone viral – clocking up 500,000 views on its first day – and sparked a fierce debate on social media about its description of Australia and emigration.

Le Boom duo Christy Leech and Aimie Mallon are both young up and coming musicians who hail from ‘just outside’ Dublin. They have legions of fans including none other than President Michael D Higgins and his wife Sabina. Their sound has been described as “effervescent electronic music” that taps into the ‘craic’ of being Irish that they have been bringing to festival goers across Europe.

In an interview with Metal Magazine Aimie described their act. “Our live show is really high energy,” she said. “We have said before that the connection between us and the crowd is sort of like a team feeling. It’s like we are in this together. The shows are pure adrenaline really.”

Christy thinks there is a good reason why their blend of electronic boom, dance music and club culture is so popular, especially at home in Ireland.

“I think Irish people are just amazing at having the craic,” he told Metal Magazine. “There’s no doubt about it. For some reason, we seemed to be a wire-y, giddy nation that just loves having a bop. I’ve heard so many international artists and DJs say that they love playing to Irish crowds because we just go for it. It was inevitable that there was going to be a club culture in Ireland. For such a small country, there is so much talent and there always was. I think the only difference is that people overseas are paying attention now.”

Their latest EP ‘All My Highs’ – which includes Australia – dropped on May 3rd and has certainly attracted a lot of attention online, but not as yet in any mainstream media.

“Its about all my mates f**king off to Australia,” tweeted Christy about the number. “Grá Mór.”

The rapped lyrics are provocative and poignant and speak of a new generation wrestling with an age old phenomenon in Irish society.

There were rave reviews for his punchy performance and while the meaning of the song struck a chord with a lot of people it hit a nerve for many others.

“Finally someone being vulnerable in the dance music scene,” one person posted. “But didn’t agree with the generalisations about Australia.”

Ben Doble

messaged: “As a man who works on the mines in WA I feel attacked hahah”. Someone else said: “Literally moving to Australia because of rent here and lifestyle is far better over there. Not all about staying up in someone’s kitchen till half 7.”

An Aine O’Neill said: “Ireland tuck everything I worked for away from me. But you were still a kid when

Australia

(Starts as a phone message)

Hey man, what’s the craic?

Come here, look! Sorry, I didn’t get into your going away last night

I was actually just at another fella’s going away

I know you’re heading off on Monday but here look we can definitely get a pint and if not, best of luck, but I’ll get to you before you go!

And so I suppose I choose those goodbyes tonight because I probably can’t look you in the eyes and say bye without crying

And of course I know why, there’s not a whole pile keeping you here

You’ve had the pleasure of 23 long years of me in your ear

There’s going aways every few days and they come in waves, like 18 and 21sts back in the day and its grand

But lately it feels like I’ve been going through my phone and tearing lads out of my What’s app groups

Before time sheets we lined streets and cars beeped

It was me and you and a game of kerbs and the world at our feet

Those never ending days barely stirred by light sleep

You’ll be home at Christmas sure we’ll grab a pint then or something

When you told me and the lads the news first it all made perfect sense

All of our heads, a wet tent festival

Go out and see that world man

Come back with no regrets are words I should have said but the words got stuck in my chest

And I actually got as far as the pub door and saw the balloons and heard the laughter of the lads on the dance floor belting out those tunes

But I couldn’t go in

This couldn’t be the last night, and I couldn’t say goodbye

And maybe we should all just f**k off to Australia’s coastline, and we work in mines and get racist and sunburned and rotten inside and leave our mams heartbroken at home telling ourselves we left because of the rent or the cost of diesel or whatever but its really because we miss that part of ourselves that never existed, those stories you tell at half 7 on a Sunday morning that you hope no one remembers, listening to songs that no one likes, being versions of ourselves that no-ones really proud of, but its fucking brilliant at the same time and we’re not going to bed cause we know these are the nights we’ll smile about in 10 years time when we’ve wives and kids to mind and the weight of actual responsibility on our minds, blind to the sting of two long nights on our eyes we took sides in fights but we switched all the time and I swore I’d die by your side down the 5 a-side

I was so alive inside and yous took off your tops so I took off mine and we let our harmless lies escape into the brightening sky.

I sat back and hid my smile under the rim of my wine and I pray this wouldn’t be the last time

Will we go back to yours or mine?

We can get a taxi in five

God I’ll miss those times

How I idolised your minds

I’ll miss those times!

that happened. I had a choice in 2008, the dole or immigration”. Goldink80 tweeted: “I moved over here because it’s a better country. Zero craic all the same but F**k living in that depressing kip. Proud to be Irish but I had to leave.” Betz moved to Australia ten years ago and she said she was never coming back.

Someone else said: “Australian coastline didn’t ask you to come, take our jobs and our racism away from us! Stay where you are, draw the blinds and dry those eyes”. Maxim tweeted: “Hey, what’s wrong with Australia” while someone else wrote: “I swear this generation thinks it’s the first one to emigrate from Ireland”. Maxinium nickel mused:

“Bros gonna have a shock when he sees the rent and the cost of diesel in Australia.”

Another message could not understand why “bro (is) crying about people living their lives, home will always be one flight away, don’t understand the negative energy about enjoying Aus 4 abit”.

Someone else tweeted: “Yikes! Sounds like someone is jealous of people in Australia. Have fun in your boring, freezing ass s**thole island” with another warning: “Australia is taking another 1 million migrants, so be prepared to lose more mates.”

Saturdays 3-5pm

Brianna Parkins, an Australian journalist living and working in Ireland wrote: “Lord you’re gonna lose it when you find out how historically the Irish have been involved in racism in Australia. It’s always been there.” But the song was “unbelievably good”, “epic”, “phenomenal poetry” and “mindblowingly incredible” in the opinion of others.. Some even agreed wholeheartedly with his confronting lyrics. “As an Aussie this is bang on – we are racist, rotten, land rapists,” said one. Toomuchtiktokohno messaged: “haha as a first generation Australian from an Irish dad, I agree”. Someone with the handle END-S wrote: “This hit me honestly, being young in Ireland is such an odd thing”. Kahil Phillips said the Irish dream was to become an Aussie coal miner. Naoise said that Australians can be “so racist”.

‘Australia’ is now available on Spotify or snippets can be found online. Listen and judge for yourself!

An eclectic mix of some of the all time great singers, past and present. Featuring Irish & Australian artists, country music, songs from stage & Hollywood musicals, and great Irish Showbands from years gone by Call

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Where to go to support the Republic Of Irelands Womens Football team during the FIFA Women’s World Cup™ In Perth/Boorloo?

By Karen Hennessy, Founder Women in Sport WA, Community Participation Officer Football West

For the first time in history the Republic of Ireland Women’s Football team have qualified for a major tournament and it’s the biggest female sporting event in the world, the FIFA Women’s World Cup™

The Girls in Green will open their campaign and the World Cup itself to a sold-out crowd of 81,500 in Sydney where they take on the Matildas on July 20. The best place to watch this game will be in Forrest Place, Perth CBD, for the FIFA Fan Festival™, set to be the heart of the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 TM in Perth/ Boorloo. Head there not only for the match, but also for entertainment and food that celebrates Irish culture. Enjoy the sounds of Brick Lane Trio and a bespoke menu, including Guinness Beef Shepherd’d Pie. The Republic of Ireland Team then travel to Perth/ Boorloo, WA to take on another top tier team Canada in their group B game on July 26th at Perth Rectangular Stadium. The only place to watch this game surrounded more than 15,000 Irish fans in green is at the Perth Rectangular Stadium. With limited tickets remaining, join the Green army and get your tickets to the Canada v Republic of Ireland match via www.FIFA.com/Tickets. You can also head to the FIFA Fan Festival™ before the match and see interviews with Olivia O’ Toole, Ireland’s leading female goal scorer of all time, and watch the Kavanagh School of Irish dancers perform. The match

will also be broadcast live on the mega screen.

If you are lucky to have a ticket to the game you can enjoy the atmosphere of what is know as “the Last Mile” to the stadium where you will experience vibrant entertainment, culture and colour. The last group game for the Girls in Green will be against Nigeria in Brisbane. Head to the FIFA Fan Festival™ where the match will be broadcast live on the mega screen surrounded by music and many cheering Irish fans! See you there, Come On You Girls In Green! To find out more information on the FIFA Fan Festival™ visit: www. WesternAustralia.com/ FIFAFanFestival

Goalkeepers: Courtney Brosnan (Everton), Grace Moloney (Reading), Megan Walsh (Brighton & Hove Albion)

Defenders: Heather Payne (Florida State University), Áine O’Gorman (Shamrock Rovers), Niamh Fahey (Liverpool), Louise Quinn (Birmingham City), Diane Caldwell (Reading), Claire O’Riordan (Celtic), Megan Connolly (Brighton & Hove Albion), Chloe Mustaki (Bristol City), Izzy Atkinson (West Ham United)

Midfielders: Katie McCabe (Arsenal), Denise O’Sullivan (North Carolina Courage), Lily Agg (London City Lionesses), Ruesha Littlejohn (Aston Villa), Ciara Grant (Hearts), Sinead Farrelly (NJ/NY Gotham), Lucy Quinn (Birmingham City)

Forwards: Kyra Carusa (London City Lionesses), Amber Barrett (Standard Liege), Marissa Sheva (Washington Spirit), Abbie Larkin (Shamrock Rovers)

There was standing room only recently at Gosnells City FC when women’s and girls coach Ann Gourley won the National Female Football Week Commbank Coach of the Year Award. “I’m very honoured to receive this award, but I’m also ‘scundered’ – which means ‘embarrassed’ back in Belfast,” said Ann, a native of the Titanic city.

A new exhibition ‘Game Changers: Trailblazing Stories from WA Women in Soccer’ at the State Library of Western Australia, launches on July 13 with a panel conversation, Q&A and podcast on July 13.

Ireland WNT Squad

East Perth FC ladies kick it up a gear

“With FIFA Women’s World Cup Australia & New Zealand 2023 in Perth we felt it was very important to promote the womans game and give Irish women a place to play and meet new people when they come to Perth”, said Chris Lynch, President East Perth FC and coach of the women’s team. “It’s paid off as the women were the main event in the Women’s Cup Quarter Final on July 2. With a final result of 1-0 Rachel Hein scored the winning goal for East Perth FC against Perth Saints. We started the Club – East Perth FC Irish Heritage Club – in 2013 to give the Irish community a home away from home and we have won six first team trophies along the way to playing

BY LLOYD GORMAN

Sunday Premier. As one of two Irish Clubs in perth, along with Emerald we pride ourselves on helping the Irish in Perth. The Club has grown from having only a first and ressies men’s teams to having four teams with a new men’s metro team and woman’s team. We are also starting a Kids Camp for boys and girls aged between three and eight years of age. “We recently moved into our new home ground at Cabrini Park, Marangaroo, which has helped the Club double in size to over 120 members. If anyone wants to get in contact with the Club please reach out at Facebook – East Perth FC and Instagram –East Perth FC 2023.

Upcoming Events

July

Sat 1st - Irish Choir & Friends Concert

Fri 7th - Seniors Lunch

Sun 9th - Music Open Session

Wed 12th to Sun 16th - ITP: One Acts Season

Thurs 20th - Women WC Australia vs Ireland

Sat 22nd & 29th - Christmas in July Dinner

Sun 23rd & 30th - Christmas in July Lunch

Wed 26th - Women WC Ireland vs Canada

August

Fri 4th - Seniors Lunch

Sun 6th, 13th, 20th - WAZouk Winter Dancing

Sat 12th - An Evening of John Denver

Fri 25th & Sat 26th - Ciaran O'Sullivan Concert

THE CHIEFTAINS

The Chieftains of ancient Ireland were not so different from the Chief Executive Officers of today. Now as then they lead a tribe or group, must exercise authority wisely and make important – and often difficult – decisions and have a significant amount of resources at their disposal. Their decisions can directly dictate the livelihoods of hundreds, even thousands of people, and influence the daily lives of millions more. While their long-gone predecessors may have pursued power, the chieftain of today must concern themselves with the performance and prestige of the body for which they are

the head. They might not have thought about themselves quite in these terms but as it happens there are more than a few Australian organisations and corporations – including some of the countries biggest brands and businesses – with a modern day Irish chieftain at the helm. Here we introduce the first crop of these career chiefs but there are many more of these professionals operating in the boardrooms and corporations of Australia. If you know of someone who fits this bill and that you think should be featured just drop us a line irishsceneperth@gmail.com.

ALAN JOYCE

CEO QANTAS

Born and bred in Tallaght, Alan Joyce cut his teeth in the aviation industry with Ireland’s national airline. The 22 year old Trinity College Dublin graduate (a double major in physics and maths) joined Aer Lingus at its head offices in Dublin Airport and worked in a wide variety of positions, ranging from sales and marketing to information technology and operations research, revenue management and fleet planning and even apparently applied for a job as a pilot. He moved on from Aer Lingus in 1996 and there was an opening for him at Ryan Air but he wanted to work internationally and moved to Australia to join airline Ansett. Ansett collapsed in September 2001 and he became the CEO of Jetstar – Qantas’ discount subsidiary – in 2003, a move he considers as his biggest break.

Two years later his former employer came calling with an offer of the top job at Aer Lingus. The answer was a polite no. The better climate and weather conditions here were a factor in his thinking and by this time (2005) he was just three short years away from heading up the Spirit of Australia, when he become Qantas CEO (28 November 2008), a job has held ever since, an eventual and often controversial 15 years. Opinions about him and his reign depend entirely on who you ask and can vary from hero to villain. These views and perceptions are already well covered in the media and community so there is no need to address them here.

But there are other sides to him that are now well known or reported in the media. He is, for example, an Ambassador of the Australian Indigenous Education Foundation and a Member of the Australian Republican Movement who accepted a Companion of the Order of Australia, the country’s

highest civil honour, in 2017 in Queen Elizabeth’s birthday honours list. Irish Scene has interviewed Mr Joyce several times over the last two decades, including most recently as the cover story of the January/February 2022 edition, pictured here, thanks in no small part to our correspondent in Melbourne, Mike Bowen who has known him for many years. On June 6 The Australian spoke with him at an aviation conference in Turkey and asked him what his plans for the future are.

“I’m going to take six months off, decompress, not make any decisions, go for a cruise around the Antarctic believe it or not, go well away from any aircraft and then make my mind up about what I want to do after that,” he told the newspaper.

No matter what comes next one thing will never change about Alan Joyce. He will continue to be proclaim his Irishness. This was evident from a press conference held at the massive construction site for the new Western Sydney Airport on June 8. A hard hat and high-viz jacket wearing Prime Minister Anthony Albanese hailed it as a “transformational infrastructural project” with “a long history”. “Today we are half way there, half way to achieving the milestone of planes landing here, carrying passengers and carrying freight and is on track to open in late 2026.”

Alan Joyce was there to announce that many of those flights would be Qantas planes. At the end of the press conference on what was a somewhat dreary day, Joyce thanked the PM and the other VIPs present, including the chairman for the new airport and fellow Irishman Paul O’Sullivan.

“Paul, I feel like we’re back in Ireland,” Joyce said. “I believe this is an Irish airport, we’ve got the fog and we’ve got the cold weather. We’re probably the only two that can cope with this. But it’s absolutely great this facility that they’re building.”

Alan Joyce far right with Paul O’Sullivan to his left at the GWI press conference with Anthony Albanese.

STEPHEN RUE

CEO NBN

At a cost of $51 billion the construction of the NBN (National Broadband Network) is said to be Australia’s biggest ever infrastructure project. The ‘nation’s digital backbone’ was started in 2009 and the job of completing it and future proofing it falls to Irish man Stephen Rue. Rue was born in Dublin and went to Wesley College in Ballinteer, Dublin – a day and boarding school run by the Methodist Church in Ireland – from 1977 until 1983. After Wesley, he went to Trinity College Dublin to study business (BBS, Business) until 1987. In October 1988 he joined the Irish tax and accountancy firm Arthur Anderson in Dublin but it appears he was able to move to Australia in 1991, while continuing to work with them, until he left the firm in May 1996. From mid 2003 until late 2012 he was the director and chairman for Community Newspapers Perth with Newscorp.

The chartered accountant joined NBN CO in July 2014 as the organisation’s Chief Financial Officer and ascended to the ultimate leadership position four years later. There was some political heat around his appointment when it was announced on 1st September 2018. Jim Chalmers, who was shadow minister for finance and his college Michelle Rowland, Labor’s spokesperson on communications, responded with a joint statement about his appointment.

“Between now and the next federal election, whenever that may be, NBN Co should focus on the following,” their statement said. “Minimise the amount of fibre-to-the-node deployment wherever feasible, and at a minimum take fibre to the kerb; Implement Labor’s NBN Service Guarantee to establish effective wholesale service standards for consumers; Bring an end to the spin which has undermined internal decision-making; and improve transparency over the risks in the business case caused by the multi-technology mix.”

The ALP argued the five year contract on which Mr Rue was appointed by the Turnbull government was “not appropriate” and should have been made on an ‘interim basis’ instead.

Under Rue’s watch the Morrison government was able to declare in 2020 that the NBN rollout nationwide was completed on time and on budget. The most up to date available figures show there are now 8.5m NBN customers across Australia, three quarters of them connected on high speed services. While the completion of the network was good news for customers wanting to get quality access to the internet and digital services it meant that some 800 staff would lose their jobs.

“As we transform for the future, NBN will become a smaller organisation,” Mr Rue told the Australian Financial Review.

If you happen to be in Adelaide on 29th August – just before his contract expires – you could catch Mr Rue speak at a business lunch at the InterContinental Adelaide. Tickets $190.

Endgame for Dub Club

For a brief window in time the two highest paid CEO’s in Australia – in both the public and private sectors – were from Dublin and both educated at Trinity College, in the heart of the Irish capital. One of them is literally a high flyer with a public recognition factor most politicians would kill for while the other probably flies under the radar of the vast majority of Australians. It is an interesting juxtaposition for two people with so much in common. For the want of a better title let’s call them the Dub Club!

For quite a few years Alan Joyce – thanks to the most generous remuneration package around –earned a salary and bonuses that pushed him from the business pages of the broadsheet press into the mainstream news media as Australia’s best paid figure. Talking of figures, plenty of eye watering numbers get pitched around by the media. According to one estimate he raked in an estimated $75 million between 2012 and 2020 and he was named as the country’s highest paid chief executive in 2018, with a pay-packet of $23.9 million.

It just so happens that on September 1 2018 another ‘Dub’ ascended to the summit of the public sector to become the nation’s best paid professional, funded by the taxpayer. Born in Dublin Stephen Rue had already been 2IC at the National Broadband Network (NBN) as Chief Financial Officer since 2014 when he was tasked with leading the federal owned operation four years later. About a year after becoming CEO he earned more than $3 million, thanks in part to a bonus of $1.2 million. This meant his take home pay eclipsed that of every other CEO of a public sector body or agency, by as much as double to his next nearest counterpart: Christina Holgate, CEO of Australia Post, who earned $1.6 million.

Between 2018 and 2020 Joyce and Rue were unequalled in their respective fields for the size of their pay packet. Both earned the equivalent of dozens if not hundreds of times the take home pay of the average worker and even dwarfed the amount earned by the country’s top elected

cease to exist and become a curiosity of the Australian business world.

Because of the crippling effects of the COVID pandemic on the airline industry (and others) and ridiculously tough trading conditions for Qantas (in which a lot of people lost their jobs) Joyce agreed to a pay-cut for the 2019/20 financial year, a financial haircut that saw his take home pay dramatically drop from about $10m in 2018/19 to $1.7m. His pay-packet never recovered from this hit and Joyce has lost his footing on the list of Australia’s best paid CEO’s but he may yet leave the Flying Kangaroo with a an almighty windfall. The Daily Mail Australia has reported that he is in line to get a $24m golden parachute when he says goodbye to the carrier in November. In June the outgoing Irish CEO was reported as having cashed in the bulk of his Qantas shares he had built up over the last 15 years as CEO, a transaction that netted him a whopping $17 million. He still has 13% of his shares in the company, a tasty nest egg for whenever or whatever he chooses to do with them.

Meanwhile, his NBN counterpart might also be considering life beyond and outside the organisation he has headed up for the last five years. Mr Rue’s appointment as CEO began on 1 September 2018 and is due to expire at the end of August this year. Basically, one of two options will happen. Either he will continue with the NBN as boss, or there will be a parting of the ways. Such machinations are closely monitored by industry observers and the markets. An official announcement confirming the status quo, or a change of leadership will no doubt be made in the near future.

Mr Joyce still has five months or so left before he retires from Qantas and we have known for a while now who his replacement will be, Vanessa Hudson. Quite what he will do next remains to be seen and he will not be short of options or offers. Neither man will. And even if they both depart the stage and the Dub Club dies there is – as this edition of Irish Scene proves – no shortage of

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THE CHIEFTAINS

PAUL GRAHAM

CEO AUSTRALIA POST

Australia Post is the nation’s original corporation. The first Postmaster in the fledgling New South Wales colony was appointed in June 1810 and his house became the first post office in the country. Each state operated its own postal service until Federation in 1901 when all postal and telecommunications services were placed under the authority of the Postmaster General’s Department.

In 1975 the Postmaster was split into two companies Telecom Australia and Australia Post. In 1989 the postal company was established as a Government Business Enterprise, which meant it remained in the hands of the federal government but had to run as a profitable business. Any institution that can survive more than 200 years is going to have a lot of highs and lows and twists and turns along the way. One of those low points played out quite recently in the very public and ugly episode leading up to resignation of former CEO Christine Matthews over the controversy that erupted after she gifted expensive Cartier watches as a bonus to four senior staff members who negotiated a lucrative deal with three of the big banks. While she did nothing wrong, the idea of already well paid executives getting luxury watches was not exactly popular with the public but the prime minister of the day Scott Morrison (who probably saw a soft target and a readymade opportunity to deflect attention away from his own growing unpopularity) disgracefully piled on the criticism. The political pressure meant her position was no longer tenable and about halfway through her contract she resigned in October 2020. Ms Holgate later told a Senate Committee she was “humiliated in parliament” and “bullied” out of the job and in August 2021 she received a $1 million payout from her former employer for the loss of her job.

On April 12 2021 – which was just 24 hours before she was due to appear before a Senate inquiry into her departure from the taxpayer funded company – Australia Post announced the appointment of her replacement as CEO and

Managing Director Paul Graham, a native of Belfast.

“Migrating from Northern Ireland, Paul knows the value of Australia Post as an essential service; trusted to connect Australians to each other and to friends and family around the world,” the company said at the time of his announcement. His career in customer service in the international cargo industry started when he was 18 and has seen him hold several senior roles across logistics in the UK, Taiwan, Singapore and Germany, including as global Chief Operating Officer and CEO for Europe, Middle East and Africa with DHL. Before Australia Post he was Chief Supply Chain Officer and Managing Director of Primary Connect with Woolworths, a role which saw him led a strategic rebuild of the supermarket giant’s supply chain, including over $2billion of infrastructure investment.

Passionate about mental health and wellbeing, Mr Graham is also the Chair of the Healthy Heads in Trucks and Sheds Foundation, with a goal to improve mental wellbeing within the transport and logistics industry.

Radical action will be needed to save the mail company from a bleak prediction.

“It’s a stark message but the Australian community must understand that without change to their national postal service, its long-term viability is at risk,” Mr Graham told the American Chamber of Commerce in Australia in Melbourne in April.

“The imperative for change is clear. We are governed by the 1989 Australian Postal Corporation Act – an instrument legislated before the internet boom and the creation of smart phones when letters were the dominant form of communication, online shopping was yet to take hold and digital service provision largely did not exist. Australia Post is one of the last of Australia’s great, publicly owned commercial endeavours. Qantas is no longer owned by Australian taxpayers, neither is Telstra. Australia Post is.”

CIARAN CARRUTHERS

CEO CROWN RESORTS

Crown Resorts has not had a good time of things in the last couple of years – but the Casino giant now has cause to hope the future will be better.

Crown – which is owned by the US investment management powerhouse Blackstone – as a group reported a loss of $945.4m for 2022 according to the Sydney Morning Herald.

In the same year the Perth Casino Royal Commission presented its final report to Parliament in March and found the company was “not suitable to either hold the State’s casino licence or to be involved in casino gaming operations”. The royal commission made 59 recommendations and proposed a ‘remediation process’ to deal with the issues around “Crown’s suitability”, including that it should be independently monitored.

The McGowan government responded to the inquiry in March this year and accepted the vast majority of the recommendations put forward while also setting up the ‘Office of the Independent Monitor’, headed up by a former Assistant Commissioner with WA Police. The fine that can be imposed on Crown under the Casino Control Act 1984 (WA) has been beefed up to $100 million while other ‘mitigation measures’ are also put in place.

“The Government will be progressing new gaming legislation to address the broader legislative reforms recommended by the Royal Commission,” the McGowan government stated. “The Government is committed to restoring the community’s confidence that the State’s only casino is managed in a responsible and accountable way, providing a safe, well-regulated environment for patrons and the 5,000 people who work there.” Set against these and other problems this was the context in which Crown’s new CEO was recruited. As the Australian Financial Review put it the new CEO (and a new chairman) who were “casino big guns” faced a mammoth task of putting the troubled operator back on the straight and narrow. September 6, 2022, was Ciarán Carruthers first day as Crown CEO and he hit the ground running. (Coincidentally, that was exactly the same time when the newly formed NSW casino regulator, the NSW Independent Casino Commission, came into effect). One of the first things Mr Carruthers did was to address: “thousands of our team members across the country, sharing his experiences from 30 years in the industry and his vision for Crown.” In December a CEO for Crown Perth was also appointed (David Tsai) to help win back its licence. “I am originally from Dublin, Ireland but I was working in the UK in casinos in Luton and London when an Adelaide-based casino management company

was over there in the early 90s hiring people to work on casino ships sailing out of Singapore,”

Mr Carruthers told Inside Asian Gaming not long after he started as CEO. “So, I took a six-month gig at 22 years of age to come out and do that. I ended up staying with that company for 10 years and the last consultancy gig I did for them was to help a new start-up out of Hong Kong called Galaxy [Entertainment Group] which had won a concession in Macau. I was then offered the opportunity to join Galaxy full-time in 2002, which is what I did.”

Nearly all of his 30 years in the industry have been spent in Asia – including 20 in Macau – running some of the biggest casinos and complexes in the world. He saw the timing of his appointment with Crown as an ‘opportunity’. “This is a company that has been challenged over the last couple of years, the brand has been damaged very publicly, but it still has fantastic assets and lovely people,” he told IAG. “I’ve really been blown away by the passion and the commitment and the longevity of some of the team. I’ve met people here who have got 20-year pins, 25-year pins. In that respect, it is fantastic coming in and realising the potential this property has over the next couple of years. But clearly there is a mountain of work to be done on the remediation and transformation. That really is the main focus now.”

Adelaide has been home to the Carruthers clan for the last 20 years. “[Galaxy Group] was built by some former senior executives of the Adelaide casino so when they were building their operations in Asia a lot of the people they brought out – pit managers, casino managers and cage managers – were also from the Adelaide casino or had passed through the Adelaide casino,” he told the Asian publisher.

“I just built a very strong connection with Adelaide as a result and the first time I was able to visit, which wasn’t until about 2000 or 2001 with my wife Tess and our two very young kids at the time, we fell in love with the place. We had temporary residency so when the opportunity came for Tess and the kids to get permanent residency, Adelaide was just the obvious place for us to move. My son has served in the Army Reserves down there since completing university and my daughter has competed for South Australia in Irish dancing competitions on the world stage. So we’re very proud Irish-Filipinos with a very strong Australian connection. We’re very much part of the culture here.”

GERALDINE SLATTERY

PRESIDENT BHP

As President Australia, Geraldine Slattery leads BHP’s Australia operations comprising worldclass nickel, copper, iron ore, metallurgical and energy coal operations in Western Australia, South Australia, Queensland and New South Wales. She joined BHP in 1994 and according to The Australian newspaper on April 22 2023 Ms Slattery has risen through the ranks of the corporation and now has 36,000 employees under her watch. The story also contained another interesting detail, that she grew up on a dairy farm in Ireland. The day before the West Australian also carried a piece about the Irish executive and how she “was raised on a dairy farm on the picturesque Dingle Peninsula”.

Growing up in such a rural spot meant that as a primary school student she had to travel to a different school just so she could complete her science studies another article in the Australian Financial Review last August said. Between 1987 and 1990 she studied Physics at Cork Institute of Technology and graduated with a BSc Science before embarking on the rest of her educational and corporate journey through life. The AFR story also said that as President Slattery was BHP’s “main conduit to Canberra” and oversaw the company’s operations that “generated more than 80 per cent of BHP’s earnings over the past year.”

Hardly surprising then that the papers resources editor wrote about her as a ‘contender for BHP’s top job’ as CEO. A year before that BoillingCold.com.au speculated that “the Ireland raised holder of a physics degree” was a front runner to replace Woodside CEO Peter Coleman. Based at BHPs Melbourne head offices she maintains close links with the west.

“It’s always great to be in Western Australia, a place I’ve called home on two occasions, and the weekend was no exception,” she posted on social media in early June. On that trip Geraldine attended the Western Australian of the Year Awards and even presented Madison Heady “a hugely 21-year-old disability advocate and para-athlete” with her youth award. She also met some young footy fans from Leinster at Optus Stadium, to help celebrate the company’s partnership with the West Coast Eagles. “Together, we have been partnering to create positive social outcomes for local communities, using football as a connector in regional towns,” she said. “Today we confirmed our partnership renewal, which will see us maintain our focus on youth engagement and strengthening communities in the Pilbara and Goldfields regions, as well as increasing female engagement and participation. At BHP, we’re incredibly proud to be supporting, celebrating and improving the lives of the next generation of West Australians.”

MEG O’NEILL

CEO WOODSIDE ENERGY

As President Australia, Geraldine Slattery leads BHP’s Australia operations comprising worldclass nickel, copper, iron ore, metallurgical and energy coal operations in Western Australia, South Australia, Queensland and New South Wales. She joined BHP in 1994 and according to The Australian newspaper on April 22 2023 Ms Slattery has risen through the ranks of the corporation and now has 36,000 employees under her watch. The story also contained another interesting detail, that she grew up on a dairy farm in Ireland. The day before the West Australian also carried a piece about the Irish executive and how she “was raised on a dairy farm on the picturesque Dingle Peninsula”.

Growing up in such a rural spot meant that as a primary school student she had to travel to a

CHRISTMAS INJULY

different school just so she could complete her science studies another article in the Australian Financial Review last August said. Between 1987 and 1990 she studied Physics at Cork Institute of Technology and graduated with a BSc Science before embarking on the rest of her educational and corporate journey through life. The AFR story also said that as President Slattery was BHP’s “main conduit to Canberra” and oversaw the company’s operations that “generated more than 80 per cent of BHP’s earnings over the past year.”

Hardly surprising then that the papers resources editor wrote about her as a ‘contender for BHP’s top job’ as CEO.

A year before that BoillingCold.com.au speculated that “the Ireland raised holder of a physics degree” was a front runner to replace Woodside CEO Peter Coleman. Based at BHPs Melbourne head offices she maintains close links with the west.

“It’s always great to be in Western Australia, a place I’ve called home on two occasions, and the weekend was no exception,” she posted on social media in early June. On that trip Geraldine attended the Western Australian of the Year Awards and even presented Madison Heady “a hugely 21-year-old disability advocate and para-athlete” with her youth award.

She also met some young footy fans from Leinster at Optus Stadium, to help celebrate the company’s partnership with the West Coast Eagles. “Together, we have been partnering to create positive social outcomes for local communities, using football as a connector in regional towns,” she said. “Today we confirmed our partnership renewal, which will see us maintain our focus on youth engagement and strengthening communities in the Pilbara and Goldfields regions, as well as increasing female engagement and participation. At BHP, we’re incredibly proud to be supporting, celebrating and improving the lives of the next generation of West Australians.”

PAT DONLON CEO WATER

CORPORATION

Pat Donlon’s introduction to Western Australia was a brief stopover in Kalgoorlie before he and his girlfriend now wife arrived in Perth on Christmas Eve 2001 as they travelled around Australia. “I remember then being both curious and impressed by the significant contribution of Irishmen to the Gold Rush, including Paddy Hannon and of course the engineering achievements of CY O’Connor,” Mr Donlon – a native of Co. Offaly – told Irish Scene in March 2020. As an engineer himself (he graduated from Trinity College Dublin in the early 1990’s with a Mechanical Engineering Degree) Pat, who was Maintenance Manager for the greater Dublin area and east coast of Ireland with Bord Gáis at the time, could fully appreciate the complexity and scale of the historic and operational Goldfields water supply scheme. But he could not have known that within less than 20 years he would have overall responsibility for the life-giving pipeline, and indeed for making sure

BRIAN

BRENNAN

CEO TRANSDEV

Transdev is one of WA’s biggest transport operators which runs bus routes in Rockingham, Mandurah, Fremantle and Perth, including the free Central Area Transit (CAT) service. Locally the company has 1,100 employees in WA alone and moves more than 30 million customers a year but its operations around the Perth metropolitan area are just one of the six locations it services with buses, rail and light-rail and ferry services across Australia and New Zealand. All up some 145 million trips are made on more than 2,000 vehicles and vessels, operated by 5,800 employees. Calling the shots at the head of the transportation organisation is freshly minted CEO Brian Brennan, who was appointed in April. Brian will lead Transdev’s teams in Australia and New Zealand towards sustained growth in public transportation, responding in particular to the energy transition across modes the company said. “Brian brings an in-depth understanding and experience to his new CEO role. Brian has a wealth of light rail experience, including leading the team that delivered Dublin’s, then Sydney’s light rail network

that homes and businesses, farms and factories and urban and rural communities across WA get the water they need. Mr Donlon’s appointment as the new Chief Executive Officer for Water Corporation was announced in November 2018 by the then minister for water (Dave Kelly), with a start date of January 1, 2019. It was an internal selection as Pat was already General Manager Operations. It was also a rapid rise to the top of the organisation as this was a position he had only taken up in August 2018. At that stage, he already had more than 25 experience in the gas utility sector in Australia and Ireland. Before he joined Water Corporation he was President of ATCO Gas Australia. His five-year contract runs out next year but that may not necessarily be the end of the matter. Sue Murphy – his predecessor as CEO – did the job for ten years. Time will tell if the Irish engineer stays on at the helm or moves on to fresh pastures.

and overseeing the building of the new Parramatta light rail line which is currently under construction.” Indeed, Brian had a lot to do with the rollout of the LUAS in Dublin in 2004. A year earlier he came back to Ireland from London (where he started his transportation career with Connex Transport) to be general manager of Veolia Transport Ireland. As the MD of Transdev Dublin he oversaw the launch and deployment of the light rail system from day 1. Originally a graduate of the Dublin College of Catering he went on to get a BSc. Degree in Management from Trinity College Dublin. Following his successful introduction and development of the LUAS Brian was made MD for Transdev Sydney Light Rail. “Running safe and reliable public transport around the clock each day, involves overcoming many hurdles and obstacles,” Brian said. “I enjoy those challenges and love being part of our great Transdev team who deliver every day. It is deeply satisfying that I am constantly challenged, motivated, and delighted by the people I work with.”

FORMER CEO PORT

Irish Scene readers first met Claire Boyce in the 2022 November/December edition (The pull of the Pilbara) following a big shout out to her in the WA Parliament by Dublin born and raised minister Stephen Dawson MLC. “The Port Hedland Chamber of Commerce and Industry is an all-female team led by the CEO, Claire Boyce. She is an amazing compatriot of mine from Ireland,” Mr Dawson told the Upper House of parliament during a discussion about rural women in WA. A native of Limerick she landed in Port Hedland in 2013 with the intention of extending her working holiday visa by doing a stint there. Together with a friend she drove up from Perth in an old beat up Subaru Lancer that just about made the long road trip for what was meant to be a temporary stint.

“It was night-time when we arrived,” she told Humans of Hedland in an interview. “We continued to drive towards the port as it was quite lit up, expecting the lights to signal a bustling CBD. Little did we realise it

was the largest bulk export port that was lighting the way,” Claire said. While it might have felt like a long way from anywhere, she quickly fitted in. “It was a pleasant change meeting people in the shops who would say hello.” Nearly nine years later she has settled down there and calls it home with her partner Roger and their two small children Tadgh and Eabha.

In 2019 Claire was appointed as CEO of the local Chamber of Commerce, a role she performed until April of this year. She remains a board member of the chamber but is now general manager for Everything Earth, a Pilbara based civil construction company. Claire is a graduate of the University of Limerick (MBS International Entrepreneurship Management), University College Cork (BA Economics (major)) and Cork Institute of Technology (Diploma Multimedia & Marketing Studies).

FRANKIE CARROLL

CEO SUBURBAN RAIL LOOP AUTHORITY

Frankie Carroll started his career as an accountant with Permanent TSB in Dublin, from 1989 until 1996. Having qualified through the Association of Institute of Taxation in Ireland he was and still is a member of the professional body. He then spent nearly four years with Barclays Investment Bank in London before moving to Australia in 2000 to take up the position of business intelligence project manager with IBM in Sydney. He held that job for 19 months before London and Barclays beckoned again, this time from June 2002 to November 2003 after which he came back to Sydney to work as a senior business analyst for Deutsche Bank.

In April 2008 he joined Queensland Water Infrastructure as Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and in August 2010 became CEO for just over a year. From there he went on to become the Deputy Chief Executive and CFO with the Queensland Reconstruction Authority and after nearly four years in that capacity he was appointed CEO of the organisation which coordinated the $14 billion bid to help the state recover from the “unprecedented natural disasters” that struck over the summer months of 2010/11. Other top-level appointments followed, including as Under Treasurer (CEO) for Queensland Treasury (Feb 2019 to June 2020). In

PAULA ROGERS

CEO COMMITTEE FOR PERTH

Being a Dubliner has informed Paula Rogers outlook on life, including as the CEO of the Committee for Perth.

She arrived in Perth twenty years ago, fell in love with it and has called the city home ever since. Already convinced Perth is best place in the world to live her job now is to convince others and promote it as a top international hub.

In early June she penned an opinion piece for the West Australian with under heading ‘It’s time

January 2021 he was installed in his current role as CEO for the Suburban Rail Loop Authority.

The SLRA was founded in September 2019 to build a 90km orbital rail loop through Melbourne’s middle suburbs from Cheltenham to Werribee. Described as a ‘multi-generational project’ the scheme is the largest infrastructure project in Victoria’s history. It is predicted to generate nearly $59 billion in economic, social and environmental benefits and create up to 24,000 jobs across Victoria.

He was keynote speaker at a sold out Irish Australian Chamber of Commerce’s Leaders Lunch in Melbourne on June 8.

“Frankie was inspired by the once-in-a-generation opportunity that Suburban Rail Loop presents to make fundamental improvements to the way people live in and move around Melbourne, and provide better connections to jobs, retail, education and health services,” the IACC’s website said about him.

“With experience as Chair and Director of Brisbane’s Cross River Rail Delivery Authority, he has a deep understanding of city-shaping infrastructure and mega-project delivery.”

‘country town’ Perth stopped talking itself down’. In it she wrote that she doesn’t understand why more people aren’t “shouting about what a truly incredible place it is”. Despite having a lot going for it she said a lot of people still talk it down. “Perth’s just a big country town,” people grumble to me. To that I say, Perth is a city of more than two million people. I come from Dublin, home to 1.2 million people. But do you hear Dubliners talking down their city as just a small town?. Dublin is like my Jack Russell terrier strutting

his stuff around the park thinking he is a big dog, never a small one.”

In a 2017 interview with Business News Paula revealed more about her upbringing and approach to life.

“I think, when I look back, where I’ve come from and what has driven me, I think graduation and leaving school [Muckross Park College] and going to university [UCD] and graduating in a very severe depression, or recession, it was a big driver going forward,” she said.

“It’s always that fear of, where’s your next job, will you have a job? . You’re so grateful for getting work and you never take anything for granted. And I think that has driven me forward for most of my career, about working really hard and taking nothing for granted and being your best and delivering your best”.

DR MARTIN FAHY

CEO ASFA (FMR)

Australia’s superannuation sector was worth $3.5 trillion at the end of March 2023, making it one of the biggest retirement savings pools in the world. The Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia (ASFA) is the peak policy, research and advocacy body for the country’s superannuation industry and works with government bodies and superannuation funds to achieve both good public policy and industry best practice.

ASFA states it is a not-for-profit organisation that exists to ensure the best outcome for fund members. ASFA was established in 1962 and for the last seven years of its operations the Association was headed by Galwayman Dr Martin Fahy. He has a PhD from University College Cork and postgraduate degrees in information systems and accounting from NUI Galway. He qualified as a chartered accountant and was admitted as a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland in 2001. He was a consultant in KPMG’s Dublin Office.

In a 2010 interview with the Sydney Morning Herald Dr Fahy (who was the CEO for the Financial Services Institute of Australasia (Finsia) considered his

She added: “I fell in love with this special place when I arrived in 2002 to live with my young family. The iridescent, never-ending blue sky, the climate, our indigenous heritage, the industry, and economic opportunity all have me hooked and this is my forever home. Now I have a role that allows me to put my passion into practice. I am now looking forward to exploring even more ways to engage with our members and the Board for the future advancement and promotion of Perth and Western Australia’s place on the global stage. ”

With a successful background in the private and public sectors Paula was appointed CEO in January this year. The Committee for Perth was founded a few years after Paula arrived in the WA capital, and there has only been one CEO of the organisation before her (Marion Fulker) so there is the potential for it to be a long-term gig.

biggest achievement was “living and working on four continents”. He and his family came to Australia in 2005. “We loved the west of Ireland for the light, loved the sky in Montana and loved the colours of Provence,’’ Fahy told the newspaper. “‘We found all those things in Australia; I’m still mesmerised.”

On May 26, 2023 Mr Fahy resigned.

“Under Martin’s direction ASFA has pursued a sophisticated, articulate and evidenced-based approach to advocacy and has driven capability uplift across the sector through its research, thought leadership, professional development, and related activities,” said AFSA Chair Gary Dransfield who will act as interim CEO until a permanent replacement can be found.

Dr Fahy himself said; “Australia’s superannuation retirement system is the envy of our OECD peers. It allows Australians to face into retirement with confidence and makes the fiscal burden of an ageing population affordable.”

TAKE A 'DRY SPELL' & Help MATES Save Lives

When two Perth workmates challenged each other to go alcohol-free for 100 days, little did they know it would spark a massive fundraising drive helping to save lives in the construction industry.

Dylan Ogilvie, one half of the duo who founded Dry Spell, is the General Manager for Melchor Contracting - current sponsors of Western Shamrocks Gaelic Football Club and proud Industry Partner of MATES in Construction WA.

Also pictured above, and eager to throw his support behind the Dry Spell initiative for another year is Damien McVeigh, a proud Irishman and Program Manager for MATES in Construction WA (MATES). Known across the industry as “Damo”, Damien is heavily involved in the Irish Scene in WA, previously coaching the Western Shamrock Ladies team and currently sitting on the committee of Darkness Into Light.

The Dry Spell for MATES challenge encourages construction workers across WA to take a spell from a bad habit for 100 or 50 days, to raise funds and awareness for suicide prevention charity, MATES in Construction WA.

This challenge can include giving up booze, gambling, junk food, scrolling on your phone after 8pm… or anything else that you think you might need a Dry Spell from.

All funds raised during Dry Spell are donated to MATES WA. Established 11 years ago, MATES are an independent not-for-profit organisation delivering critical support for workers in an industry that loses 190 Australians to suicide every year. Working across the whole of Western Australia, funds from Dry Spell go towards community development programs on sites, case management, and a 24/7 helpline. With a mission to reduce the rate of suicide and remove the stigma associated with asking for support, MATES upskills workers to look out for signs that a mate might need help, and encourages “mates helping mates” through their training.

Although the 100 Day Challenge has already started, now is the time to rally up your mates and register for the 50 Day Challenge!

You will thank yourself - nothing beats the sense of accomplishment at the end.

The 50 day “Mid-Strength” Challenge kicks off on 1st August 2023.

Participants can choose a habit they would like to take a break from, the challenge isn't limited to just alcohol!

Not quite ready to commit to the challenge?

We'd love if you spread the message, or considered making a donation to support MATES in Construction WA.

Good mates and Dry Spell 2023 participants, Dylan Ogilvie and Damien McVeigh.

CEO’S STEP UP TO FIGHT HOMELESSNESS

At least two of the business leaders who spent a cold winters night outdoors at Optus Stadium on June 22 for the Vinnies CEO Sleepout, an event which was repeated across Australia, hail from Ireland. The annual fundraising event this year raised $760,000 which will fund the charity’s badly needed homelessness services for affected people across Western Australia.

CivMec founder and CEO Pat Tallon,

originally from Dublin, raised just over $96,0000, which was the single biggest amount collected by any participant at the WA event and made him one of the top nationwide. Even more impressive is the fact that this is Pat’s fifth CEO Sleepout and he has raised similar amounts in the past. Meanwhile, he was accompanied this year by his work colleagues, marketing manager Patrick Connell and HSE manager Danielle Pukeroa, who also raised another $15,000

and $8,000 respectively, helping to bring total donations for Team Civmec to a very respectable $119,000. Meanwhile, Declan White, the Irish born founder of Monford Group, also raised something like $13,000 for the cause, which will be enough to provide at least 26 individual support programs, 68 beds and 274 meals.

Temperatures dipped to around 8 degrees for the participants who were armed with only a sleeping bag, a pillow, and two pieces of cardboard to sleep on and make a shelter. As part of the event the CEO’s learned more about the work the charity does and how the money they raised would make a difference to those in need of help. Every year, Vinnies assists more than 61,000 Western Australians by providing

D.J. Gordon & Associates

emergency relief such as food, furniture, clothing as well as help with bills and rent. Vinnies also runs a range of specialised services and programs in the areas housing and homelessness, mental health, youth services, financial counselling.

Vinnies CEO Susan Rooney –who Irish Scene understands has deep Irish roots herself – bunkered down with her colleagues and counteparts for the sleepout.

“People are finding it incredibly hard to keep food on the table and a roof over their head, so a lot more people are on the edge of homelessness,” Ms Rooney said.

“The slide into homelessness can come suddenly – in the form of an increase in rent, the loss of a job or a family breakdown. Homelessness is an issue not just for those experiencing it – it’s an issue that concerns all of us. The funds raised by Vinnies CEO Sleepout participants will help us support people experiencing homelessness, and get them access to the services they need to get back on track. The advocacy business and community leaders can do beyond this event can have a lasting impact on the way we respond to the homelessness as a society,” she said.

Civmec was established in Perth in 1990 by Pat Tallon and fellow Irishman James Fitzgerald. Today the company is involved in the construction, engineering and shipbuilding industries – on projects worth up to $1 billion – and employs about 2,000 people.

987 Wellington Street, West Perth WA 6005

Correspondence to: PO Box 480, West Perth WA 6872

E: djgordon@djgordon.net.au

T: 08 9321 2266

Monford Group is a leader in the construction industry, specialising in the Infrastructure, Resources, and Energy sectors across Australia. Declan White – who came to WA as a backpacker taking a year out from the GFC crippled Irish economy – started the company in 2010 with 37 employees, specialising in civil construction services and labor hire. Declan – who recently won a Business News 40 under 40 award winner – built the business “from the ground up” and today has about 200 employees.

My wife and I, along with friends Janett and Peter Osborn flew to Perth on the 6th of May to connect on the 8th for a ten day a cruise from Fremantle up the west coast visiting Geraldton, Coral Bay. Broome, then returning, with short stops at Exmouth, Coral Bay and finally back to Fremantle for another two days sight-seeing. Before boarding the ship, we spent two days in Perth. One of my first calls was to catch up with the owner and editor of this magazine, Lloyd Gorman and the previous owner Fred Rea. I hadn’t met Lloyd before, and I was looking forward to our meeting. What better place to catch up than the Irish pub in Scarborough Beach, just a stone throw from where we were staying. Yes, pints of Guinness were ordered and quickly washed down as Lloyd handed me a generous bundle of the previous months magazine for me to pass out while on the cruise ship.

After our meeting Fred insisted that he show my wife and I the local surrounding sights. To prove I am not one eyed about my home state I had to admit I was very surprised how much Perth had changed since my last visit, which was about ten years ago. I saw Perth with new eyes , all credit to Fred Rea who was most generous in giving my wife and I a lot of his time to show us most of the new estates on the coastline. Later that evening our friends joined us to have dinner with Fred and his wife Lily at Durty Nelly’s and to listen to the amazing voice of their daughter Fiona sing that brilliant emotional song ‘Walking Me Home’ that she wrote and recorded some years ago. I will state that if there is a God in heaven, he certainly gave one of the best voices I have ever heard to this very talented lady. Boy O Boy, she knows, how to deliver a song with heart and soul. I could not have wished for a better

introduction to Perth , Fred gave us a huge welcome to his home state.

We boarded the P&O Pacific Explorer the next day and my first impression was this is no Cunard standard. This ship should have been scrapped at least twenty years ago. Once we arrived at our cabin, I looked everywhere to find a shoehorn to get into the shower/ toilet. The storage room wasn’t big enough to store my wallet with my holy communion money. I then stood outside to what I will call a ledge rather than a balcony. OK I will concede that you could fit two people out there but if one just happens to be a mother in-law, then I would imagine that it would be very risky for her out there. I could tell that the cruse was always going to be second rate but we met some fabulous WA people onboard, true fun people to spend time with. Considering my wife called them The Fab four, I think it only fair to mention who they are, Kerry and Mark Olsen and Carol and Steve Rowson. I won’t be recommending P&O to anyone wishing to take a cruise because, as I reported back to them when asked for feedback, my response was that the ship was a rust bucket, the staff and room service was OK, not great by any means, cabins were too small for adults but might suit children. The entertainment was substandard, and the quiz sessions were amateurish. I imagine

with my comments so far you get the gist that I won’t be cruising again with P&O anytime soon. I will however say that when you meet up with people like our new best friends you make excuses for all the faults of the ship.

The best thing about Geraldton that we saw was the museum and the waterfront, as we didn’t have enough time there to see much else. I was informed by the locals that the fishing was excellent, unfortunately there wasn’t enough time in our stopover to test the locals claim. Sadly, the short

the Cappuccino strip, on our way to the Fremantle Dockers old footy ground. Then on to visit the Fremantle prison to see if there were any of my family registered there, at any time. The answer was, no convict, by the name of Bowen ever interned there. We visited the Little Creatures Brewery to check out their mega list of beers and ciders. When in Fremantle it is compulsory to dine at any of the great fish restaurants and for that reason, we dined at two of them just to compare, there are no second-best restaurants in Fremantle. While there we said hello to Bon Scott at the Boat Harbour.

stopover in Broome, wasn’t enough either to see what Broome had to offer. The highlight of the cruse was taking pictures of the amazing sunsets and meeting new friends like the fab four (see all attached pictures). Ten days on a cruse and only three opportunities to put a foot on land for very short times was not what we expected and found it very frustrating.

When we docked in Fremantle, we didn’t miss much in the two days that we had there as we did all the tourist things. We visited the market, took a stroll down

We spent hours at the WA Shipwreck Museum, on recommendation from Fred Rea who insisted that we not leave Fremantle without visiting. Thank you, Fred, for all your recommendations. Fred was, as always, the perfect host. He had a surprise up his sleeve for us also while we were there. He organised for us to join Sean Roach for his birthday on our last night. Thank you, Fred and Sean, for allowing us to share that magic night with you, your friends and our friends. To top of the night Sean sang my requested Durty old Town.

Until next time be good to those who love you.

Slainte from Melbourne.

Irish Ambassador to Australia

Greetings from Canberra, where as I write we are approaching the winter solstice and the temperatures reflect that hingepoint point in the calendar. It is probably a better time for looking ahead than a time for looking back.

Nevertheless, it has been a busy year so far that included a visit to Western Australia by our Minister for Enterprise Trade and Employment, Simon Coveney. In terms of political engagement and Saint Patrick’s day celebrations, it was great to see normal service resumed post-COVID and to engage with the vibrant Irish community in and around Perth. One element of the Minister’s programme was to visit the HPF or Rectangular Stadium which will very soon host the FIFA Women’s World Cup game between Ireland and Canada. Coming hot on the heels of their game against the Matilda’s in Sydney, the pressure will no doubt be on by the time 26 July comes around.

I looked just now at the official FIFA Ticket portal and was mildly surprised to see that some tickets are still available. The stadium isn’t that big, and tickets are not so expensive – maximum $40 - so I’d hope the ground can be filled on the day, primarily by people wearing green.

I plan to be there myself and there are plans underway to have a number of fun activities around the game that will be of interest to many. More details locally and on-line as those plans evolve.

I also plan to be in Perth earlier in July to pay an official visit to the government of Western Australia. I see this as an important occasion to engage with the leadership of the state and to discuss issues of mutual interest and concern. Undoubtedly, a recurring topic in

the programme of meetings will be the long-standing and on-going people to people connections between Ireland and Western Australia.

Tim Mawe

I will be proud to speak in those meetings of the contributions to the development of WA being made all across the state by Irish people and I will be happy to speak of the many opportunities that the state has offered Irish people down the years to make their lives here or to spend some time here.

As a prelude to that visit, I will join the Claddagh Association and the Australia Irish Heritage Association in Fremantle on 10 July to launch the second volume in their “From Home to Home” series, which captures so elegantly the oral histories of Irish seniors in Western Australia. This project is making a valuable contribution to Ireland’s connection with Western Australia and the books are important records in documenting the history of both places.

So all in all, plenty going on out West in the time ahead. I’m looking forward to my forthcoming visits and I hope that when the full-time whistle is blown on 26th, that the Irish team will have cheers ringing in their ears as they leave a fanfilled stadium and that they are facing into their final group game in the WWC with renewed momentum.

Vale Peter Tanham ‘King of the Channel’

The Rottnest Channel Swim – arguably one of Perth’s most iconic sporting and community events – came about in no small way due to the example and enthusiasm for swimming of Peter Tanham. Renowned for his ability in the water (and out of it) as an inspirational athlete, Peter, 63, died taking part in the SunSmart Busselton 100 triathlon event at the start of May. He died doing what he loved in life. Peter first swam across to Rottnest in the 1980’s with childhood friend, Shane McGurk, when very few people had attempted the feat.

“I think he was number seven to ever do the crossing and he went on to do 31 crossings,” Mr McGurk told ABC News following his death. According to Mr McGurk Peter became a part of the group that helped set up the Rottnest Channel Swim. “I wonder sometimes if Peter wasn’t there, would this event be now the biggest open-water swimming event in the world?. I’m not sure it would be if Peter Tanham hadn’t been around and had that vision.”

An Awesome Swimmer Peter Tanham was a member of the Australian Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame. His swimming nickname was “Mighty Marlin” and his record was staggering.

“Peter did his first open water swimming in 1983 at the age of 23 when he completed an 18 km ocean swim from Rottnest Island

back to the Australian mainland in Perth,” a tribute from the Scarboro Surf Life Saving Club – where Peter, an accountant by profession, was also the club’s book keeper, said. He completed 31 Rottnest Solo crossings, until just recently that was more Rottnest Channel swims than any other person. He completed the first Male double crossing of the Rottnest Channel in 1991 in 14 hours 8 minutes 5 seconds. Not satisfied with the local channel he completed the 33.8 km crossing of the English Channel on 15 August 2005 in 9 hours 4 minutes. Then, at the age of 54, recognising there are other challenges around the world, he also crossed the 32.3 km Catalina Channel from the Santa Catalina Island to the Southern California mainland on 1 September 2014 in 10 hours 7 minutes, and on 1 August 2015,

completed the 45.9 km Manhattan Island Marathon Swim in 7 hours 35 minutes. This meant he had completed the Triple Crown of Open Water Swimming. As of August 2022, only 269 swimmers had earned this distinction globally.” He was a member of the Half Century Club as he was 50.74 years old when he crossed the Rottnest Channel in 5 hours 44 minutes in 2010, and a Life Members of the Rottnest Channel Swim Association. Peter coached over 100 people who have

TUESDAYS at the Woody

swum the Rottnest Channel, the English Channel, competed in Manhattan Island Marathon Swim, the Catalina Channel, and numerous other swims in Australia and around the world. Peter was an Honouree in the Class of 2020/2021 of the Australian Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame. He was an inspiration to many local swimmers and was very much involved in the founding of the ‘Newman Churchlands Swimming Club’, where he was also a very keen competitor for many years. Another of his many sporting achievements was the Sydney Marathon which he ran with his son-in-law Brendan McBride in 2018.

“Scarboro Surf Life Saving Club and all of its members express their love and deepest sympathy to Christine; Angela and Brendan, Luke (dec), Emma and Michal; Paul and all of Peter’s extended family. What a man, what a member of all in which he participated. Gone far too soon.”

If Peter was a solid Aussie legend then he also came from proud Irish stock. His parents – Paul and Sonia (dec) were both from Dublin. He was born in Perth on May 25, 1959, the third of six siblings all born in Australia. His father Paul is a past President of the Irish Club and was awarded the prestigious Brendan Award – presented by the Australia Irish Heritage Association –in 2020 for his involvement with the Irish Club and the Rose of Tralee. Paul said Peter travelled to Ireland on at least three times and that his favourite place in the country was Doolin, Co. Clare. On one trip both Paul and Peter, with four other golfers from Lake Karrinyup Country Club, went on a golf tour of Ireland and Scotland in 2013, playing 18 games in 21 days.

Peter’s funeral mass was celebrated at Our Lady of the Rosary Catholic Church in Woodlands, which recently marked its 50th anniversary after it was designed and built by Dublin priest Father Bonaventure Leahy (Irish priests towering achievement in Perth, Irish Scene, May/June 2023). The service can be viewed at www.bowraodea.com.au, go to “Live Streaming” “Watch Recorded Funeral” and search Tanham. RIP.

Peter (pictured middle) in 1985. Photograph courtesy of Geoff Fisher.

SOCIAL SCENE

Saturday mornings will never be the same again. Frank Murphy and Gerry Gannon – who have presented Celtic Rambles (previously A Song for Ireland) on Radio Fremantle are making the long due and very well deserved move into retirement. The guys have been on the air in Perth for about 25 years and before that Frank had a career in RTE, working closely with some of the broadcasters biggest names such as Gay Byrne and Mike Murphy. Irish Scene will focus on their amazing contribution to the Irish community in an upcoming edition. Bon voyage and thank you gentleman!

Perth vigils for Aisling

by every Irish group as well businesses the event called day for the women all

Maureen Cuddy, from Sandford Road, Ranelagh, who lived in Geraldton for many years and lives in Perth recently turned 85 and celebrated with friends.

Irish Club stalwart Paddy Cannon celebrated his 86th birthday at the seniors lunch recently.

Perth’s Irish community – like many others in Australia and across he world – came together to hold a vigil in the wake of the shocking murder of 23 year old Tullamore teacher Aisling Murphy while she was jogging in broad daylight in her home town of Tullamore, Co. Offaly in January.

Wearing his Dublin 1988 jumper John Flood ran into fellow Dubs Louise and Billy McCarthy at the Claddagh table quiz on June 30. John – one of many people and companies to donate generously to the cause – gave a limited edition Quiet Man print as a prize, and met some Viking mauraders along the way.

& START BOOKING!

Hundreds of Irish people – including families with young children, took part in an evening time vigil and walk at the Flame of Remembrance in Kings Park on January 19, organised by the Claddagh Association and supported

A group of traditional and fiddle county’s colours tributes laid woman who promising also heavily GAA club and right. Elaine the vigil tweeted: of the kookaburra to the stunning traditional music at the vigil tonight #AshlingMurphy in Perth,”. Similar events were staged across Australia, including one the Amphitheatre at Kangaroo Point, Brisbane and all who based violence”, Irish Australian Queensland.

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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

Summer kicks into high gear in Ireland

Summer has arrived in Ireland and since mid-May the whole country has been bathed in sunshine with very little rain.

@AusEmbIre

Summer is a busy time for the Australian Embassy in Ireland with many of our annual social gatherings locked in to take advantage of the long summer nights. We are looking forward to hosting the annual Irish Australian Chamber of Commerce summer garden party at Abbey Lea, where business leaders from both Australia and Ireland enjoy the chance to engage in the beautiful social surroundings of the Ambassador’s Residence in Killiney. There’s also been a very successful summer wine tasting event, showcasing Australia’s fabulous new-world wines, and the upcoming Women’s Summer Cricket Tour is one for Australians in Ireland to look out for.

We have visitors coming almost every week now to visit Ireland, and we look forward to welcoming Australian Government Ministers, trade delegations and other Department for Foreign Affairs colleagues over the summer period. Their work ranges from disabilities matters, trade, gender, justice, human rights, climate change and good governance. It is a testament to Australia’s foreign policy when you meet and see the work that is done behind the scenes to support the defence of democratic and liberal values which are under threat around the world, and especially in Europe.

Just this week we were host to the Irish Parliamentary Friends of Australia Group at Abbey Lea, residence of the Australian Ambassador in Killiney, where members of the Oireachtas heard first hand of the important history of the residence from both a cultural and artistic perspective, as well as a political perspective. This presentation was well received by all Senators and TDs who attended, and we look forward to sharing the history of the property with other visitors and guests over the summer. The night itself was fantastic. As host, I had to make sure my guests were fed and so,

Kids from across Dublin enjoy football in the sun as Australia and new Zealand prepare for Women’s World Cup.

without hesitation, the apron was round the waist and the barbie was on! We ate Irish lamb chops served alongside locally grown salads to great reception in Abbey Lea’s historic and beautiful glasshouse. No meal would be complete of course without some wine and here, I insisted - only Australian!

One of the main events this summer will of course be Australia’s hosting of the Women’s FIFA World Cup, which kicks off on July 20th. The excitement around Australia’s opening fixture in Sydney against Ireland is building and we’ve enjoyed the light-hearted competitiveness around the office as our Australian and Irish staff make clear who they’ll be cheering for. In preparation for the competition’s start, we held a World Cup Football Blitz in Dublin for girls aged 8-12. The event was held in partnership with the New Zealand Embassy, Football Association of Ireland and Dublin District Soccer League Grassroots Football; and was a roaring success. You can see from the photos just how much fun we all had.

Of course we have our more formal work ongoingthe EU and the Australian Governments have been negotiating what we hope to be an ambitious Free Trade Agreement. There is already remarkable levels of trade in some sectors between our two islands - Ireland, for example exports over one million euros worth of pig meat to Australia every week! We want to springboard from this kind of significant trade and expand into other sectors and we’ve been advocating hard in Dublin to support Australia’s position.

The Embassy has also been promoting Australia’s new climate goals and framework for achieving them. These goals are important developments in reaching net-zero by 2050 and showcase how seriously Australia takes responsibility in what will be a global, collective effort. To highlight Australia’s commitment further, the country hopes to host COP31 alongside Pacific partners. The gathering is due to meet in 2026 with “small island nations” high on the agenda, which is why Ireland has a particular interest in COP26. We’ve been working with our colleagues globally to strengthen the case for the conference to be held in the Pacific and will continue to do so.

It’s great to be spending another summer in Ireland, showcasing, supporting and advocating for Australian interests across the country.

The Hon Gary Gray AO

Australian Ambassador to Ireland

From top:

Gary joins New Zealand Ambassador, Trevor Mallard with some of the children involved in the Summer World Cup Blitz.

Members of the Parliamentary Friends Group and some neighbourhood friends gather for a BBQ at the historic Australian residence at Abbey Lea, Killiney: [L-R] Paul Kehoe TD, Brian McBryan, Senator Ronan Mullen, Pippa McIntosh, Senator Martin Conway, Aengus O’ Snodaigh TD and Jennifer Carol-McNeil

Pippa McIntosh presents a history of the Australian official residence at Abbey Lea to local historians and members of the Parliamentary Friends Group of Australia

THE FOURTH TUESDAY BOOK CLUB

THE FOURTH TUESDAY BOOK CLUB

Meets fourth Tuesday of the month, with exception of December. At 7.30pm

May 24 ‘Phosphorescence’ by Julia Baird, to be presented by Trish Dooey

Meets fourth Tuesday of the month, with exception of December (Christmas Gathering). At 7.30pm

July 25 To be Confirmed in June

June 28 TBA to be presented by Cecilia Bray

Venue Irish Club Committee Room, 61 Townshend Road, Subiaco

Aug 22 To be Confirmed in June

Admission Free. All welcome. Light refreshments provided. Tea and coffee from the Bar $2 Contact Convener Mary Purcell, m.purcell@telstra.com

Venue Irish Club Committee Room, 61 Townshend Road, Subiaco Admission Free. All welcome. Light refreshments provided. Tea and coffee from the Bar $2

Contact Convener Mary Purcell, m.purcell@telstra.com

BLOOMSDAY - James Joyce Literary Competition presentations

Afternoon Reflections with John O’Donohue, Sunday August 27

A Celtic Tapestry of Poetry, Music, Storytelling, Imagery

Afternoon Reflections with John O’Donohue, Irish Mystic and Poet Spend an afternoon being introduced to John O’Donohue’s sense of being and engagement with life in the real world, its joys, beauty, pain, and sorrow. John O’ Donohue reflects reality through a Celtic prism/lens.

To mark the 100th anniversary of the publication of Ulysses, the AIHA will hold a celebratory event on June 16th , officially known world-wide as Bloomsday, after Leopold Bloom in Ulysses. At the event, the shortlisted entries from our competition will be staged as readings, drama, music and visual presentations by solo or groups The overall winner will be chosen by popular vote on the night and will receive a cash prize.

We thank our adjudicators Frank Murphy and Frances Devlin-Glass

John O’Donohue was born in 1956 and raised into a Gaelic speaking family in the Burren region of County Clare Ireland. His love of nature and the wild landscape was nurtured in his childhood framed by an “ethereal view of a limestone valley and the beckoning waters of Galway Bay.” Ordained into priesthood and completing a M.A. (Ireland) in 1982, he was awarded his PHD in Philosophical Theology at University of Tubingen, Germany in 1990.

Date

Thursday June 16 at 7.30pm

Venue Irish Club Theatre, 61 Townshend Road, Subiaco (to be confirmed)

A notable work by John O’ Donohue ‘Anam Cara’ - Spiritual Wisdom from the Celtic World was critiqued as “a rare synthesis of philosophy, poetry and spirituality” … and as “a lively companion to all Celts or to those who are Celtic in their hearts.”

Admission AIHA members $20, Non-members $25, includes light refreshments

John O Donohue died in Avignon, France in 2008 at the early age of fifty-two.

Prizes Best Edwardian dressed male or female. Plus special Irish raffle Bookings

https://www.trybooking.com/BZAVU

Meet Heather Deighan, Geraldine Taylor, Colleen Wallace, and others; to pause and enjoy companionship and friendship over an Irish Afternoon Tea with Irish Music and the Celtic Harp with professional harpist Eliza Bourgault du Coudray.

AIHA Website

Experience John O’ Donohue’s approach and way of thinking; offering a sense of inner harmony, peace, encouragement, and hope in a changing world.

Date Sunday August 27, 3.00pm to 5.00pm

Venue Irish Club Theatre, 61 Townshend Road, Subiaco

Admission AIHA members $15, Non-members $20, includes Irish afternoon tea Bookings Will be available on Trybooking.com Enquiries to Colleen Wallace 6153 1081

Check our website https://irishheritage.com.au/news-blog/ for a selection of exclusive interviews conducted by committee member Gill Kenny and other articles of note. If you click on the interview with Aine Tyrrell you will arrive at our YouTube channel. Aine is really interesting - victim of domestic violence, successful singer, living in a bus and rearing 3 children. She has great perspectives on life and had a real Irish chat with Gill. Easter Monday Annual Catalpa Commemoration was professionally videod this year. The link will be on our website as soon as available.

We thank Gill and Patricia Bratton for this new member feature.

The JOURNAL

Of Interest

The Journal is our quarterly book publication edited by Teresa O’Brien. Correspondence may be emailed to journal@irishheritage.com.au

Members of AIHA receive 4 editions of the Journal each year. Latest edition for March 2022, Vol 31, No 1 is available. We now have a library of 30 years of Journal and are compiling an index of every article title, author and subject detail to be made available on our website from May this year. We anticipate almost 2,000 titles in the index.

Contributors can email editor Julie Breathnach-Banwait on journal@irishheritage.com.au

Non-members can purchase copies at $10

Youth Ambassador – we are seeking to appoint a young adult to help broaden our activities to appeal to younger generations of Irish Australians. Please contact our secretary Tony Bray for information. IT website and Facebook assistance - if you know of someone who can assist with Wordpress for an hour a month we would love to hear from you.

Coming Up

Annual Mary Durack lecture to be delivered by Patsy Millet, daughter of Dame Mary Durack, AC DBE Australian author and historian, (1913 - 1994) Date is subject to confirmation by Irish Club in July or August

Family membership $65

MEMBERSHIP RENEWAL Due 1 January, 2023

Concession (Centrelink and unwaged students with ID) $55

Distant (200 kms from Perth) $45 Membership fee includes tax deductible donation of $20 AIHA was founded in 1993 to encourage and promote an awareness of Australia’s Irish Heritage. Members enjoy discounted rates to dinners and functions, exclusive events, quarterly Journal, voting rights, and opportunities to participate in activities which promote an awareness of this distinctive Heritage.

Supported by a tier of volunteers. Please talk to us if you are interested in being involved in some way!

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 Web Page: https://irishheritage.com.au/. Look us up on Facebook

Chairperson – Heather Deighan Treasurer/ Membership – Patricia Bratton Secretary – Tony Bray Committee – Gayle Lannon, Peter Conole

AIHA Committee

Something about Mary...

BY NOEL O’NEILL

It was a beautiful Autumn day. I looked around the house and decided it needed cleaning. So, I cleaned the windows, dusted, sprayed and mopped throughout. I pulled the sheets off the bed and threw them in the washing machine then I hung them out in the wind to dry. Cups, saucers, plates and silverware were removed from the cupboards and placed in the dishwasher.

This would be a monumental clean out. Old clothes were placed in a bag for St Vincent De Paul and to my amazement I was left with so much room in the closets. But then it came to the altar which every self -respecting Catholic has somewhere in their house. As a matter of fact, in our house in Cork we had an altar on the stairway with a picture of Blessed Martin over it, which we blessed ourselves every time we ascended into bed. I got so used to the habit that later in New York I would bless myself as I ascended into bed to a poster of Steve McQueen. So, when it came to the altar. I took down the crucifix, gave Jesus a little spray of windex under the arms and wiped Him off. As much as He looked like He was in agony, He looked grateful enough. A song came to my head ‘Keep smiling keep shining knowing you can always count on me for sure. That’s what friends are for’ I mean, when you’re someone like Jesus who spent most of His time cleaning our souls, you don’t want to be gathering dust on a cross. Then there were the Rosary beads that were blessed by Father Mahoney who spent most of his time blessing everything you brought into the church. (If you walked a donkey up the centre aisle of the church he would douse it with holy water. He dropped in to bless our house one time because he was in the neighbourhood and ‘felt the need’. He also felt the need for a feed of a few ham sandwiches a cup of tea and a couple of biscuits.) But, I digress. On the altar was

another crucifix of Waterford crystal which was on sale for half price when I bought it. Can you imagine the manager saying, ‘The crucifix isn’t moving, so put a half price sticker on it!’. So, I dusted that off but the statue of the Virgin Mary who has been in the family for over seventy- five years, looked a little more than dusty. I gave her the once over and thought, ‘I don’t mean to get personal Mary but the years have not been kind’ As I looked closer, there was an expression on her face that said ‘I may look like I’ve been done but I’ve not been not dusted’. But there were so many curvatures running down her veil, the dusting and the Windex didn’t seem to do her justice so I thought ‘Right, dishwasher! So, I placed Mary gently in a compromising position between the cups, plates and beer mugs. Okay God forgive me, but I switched it on… and an hour or so later I opened it up. To my shock, from the hot water and steam all the paint, lacquer and colour were gone from her whole body! Mary, who once was appealing to Joseph and was now peeling like an Irish tourist after a day on the beach in Australia with no sunscreen. Panic set in! A trip to Red Dot would do the trick! Grab the paint tubes! Blue for the eyes and veil, I had leftover paint in the shed. Cheap set of brushes! I scraped the peeling varnish off her limbs and applied the paint with a tiny cheap brush. She seemed to come alive but as I placed her back on the altar I knew she would never be the woman she once was…and I think somehow, she knew it too. There must have been a splash of blue left over on the brush when I went to paint her face. I think I should have consulted a make up artist, not that Mary was into all that but I just thought I didn’t do her justice. Soon the paint dried and I placed her gently back on the altar and I actually apologised to her for putting her through such an ordeal. When I find the time, I will apply a little blush to her cheeks and she will look like her old self again… she might even forgive me.

The Claddagh thanked volunteers and supporters with a slap up breakfast at JB O’Reilly’s on Sunday June 25, with special guests minister Stephen Dawson MLC and Alanna Clohessy MLC.

LINK CONFERENCE

The Claddagh Association were honoured to attend the annual Link Conference in Brisbane at the end of May, where we joined our sister support organisations, the Embassy and Consulates from across Australia.

This annual conference is an opportunity for Irish Associations who assist those in emergency or difficult situations in Australia, to come together and discuss the current challenges that impact our communities.

Our team had the chance to share their insights, learn from others, and collaborate on ways to further assist the Irish communities in which we live in. Thank you to Brisbane for welcoming us! We look forward to hosting the conference here in Perth in 2024!

DARKNESS INTO LIGHT

The annual Darkness into Light 5km walk was held at Sir James Mitchell Park in South Perth on Saturday, 6 May 2023, aimed at raising awareness and funds to combat suicide and self-harm. The event attracted a huge turnout, with almost 1000 participants, including many accompanied by their furry four-legged friends.

Organized in support of Pieta House and the Claddagh Association, the 2023 Darkness into Light walk was a resounding success, with participants collectively raising thousands of dollars. The funds raised will be used to provide assistance and vital resources to volunteers, individuals, and families in need. The proceeds will go towards various initiatives, including Mental Health First Aid Training, Suicide Prevention training and other essential programs aimed at supporting the Irish community in WA. We congratulate the Darkness Into Light committee for the wonderful event – it really was an amazing way to start the day – if you didn’t make this year – make sure to look out for next year’s event!

We would like to echo our previous comments and express deep appreciation to the Perth Darkness Into Light committee for their support – for being chosen as the charity partner for this year’s walk. This support and the support of all the participants is greatly appreciated and will make a huge difference to the work of the Claddagh and many in the community.

Together, through collective action, we can make a difference, providing hope and support to those who need it most.

VOLUNTEERS SHAPE A BETTER WORLD WITH THEIR DEDICATION.

The world is better today than it was yesterday, thanks to the efforts of volunteers. Volunteering has the power to change the lives of both volunteers and those they help. It offers opportunities for social, economic, and cultural inclusion, and improves our health and wellbeing.

Whether you can spare an hour or two, or commit to an ongoing programme, we can’t wait to have you involved. We provide full training and support!

Please contact us at the office to enquire.

Thank you to our current Claddagh volunteers for everything you do in our community. We are so grateful for your support – and the people who benefit from the work of our Volunteers are too.

CLADDAGH ASSOCIATION EMPOWERS COMMUNITY WITH MENTAL HEALTH FIRST AID TRAINING

The Claddagh Association has utilised funds from the Darkness Into Light event to organize training for community groups byPartnering with several providers including Mates in Construction and Lifeline, to deliver Mental Health First Aid Training. The training aims to empower participants with essential skills to assist individuals in mental health crises. The fantastic feedback from participants highlights the value of these life skills. If you are interested in hearing more or want to participate in future programs, contact the Claddagh Association’s office. Mental Health Matters!

TOUR OF PARLIAMENT

The Claddagh Seniors were delighted to have a tour of Parliament House, thanks to the Hon. Alanna Clohesy MLC, a great supporter of Claddagh and the parliamentary education team. We had a very informative tour which was ably led by David who tailored the information to suit our group. We were also treated to lunch, courtesy of the Minister and staff. A big thank you to everyone involved for an enjoyable day.

CLADDAGH SENIORS ENJOY SOME GREAT DAYS OUT!

Claddagh Seniors Create Unforgettable Memories at Galway Hooker

Claddagh Seniors had an incredible time at Scarborough’s Galway Hooker, forging some great memories while enjoying delicious food. The event was filled with laughter and camaraderie, as one of the Seniors Committee serenaded everyone, and others eagerly joined in the fun! Our appreciation goes to the entire team at The Galway Hooker for graciously hosting the event. For those seeking a delightful mid-week dining experience in Scarbs, remember that $1 from every Chicken Parmigiana sold on Wednesdays contributes to the Claddagh Association as a fundraiser. Our thanks to the Galway Hooker for this support.

Successful Annual Picnic Delights Attendees at Moore River

The Claddagh Association’s annual picnic at Moore River proved to be a resounding success! Attendees revelled in beautiful sunshine, delightful company, and the opportunity to escape the city and immerse themselves in nature’s embrace. The day’s highlight was the camaraderie shared among all attendees, complemented by the views of the Indian Ocean and the stunning sandbar at Moore River. Looking ahead, the Claddagh Association has exciting events lined up for July and August, providing more opportunities for community engagement. If you have visitors from Ireland or family members seeking a fun day out, why not encourage them to join our upcoming events? Stay connected with us on social media or contact our office for further details.

Claddagh Seniors Christmas in July Event: Book Now for a Festive Feast!

Get ready to experience our annually “Claddagh Seniors Christmas in July” event! Mark your calendars for Wednesday, July 19th, 2023, and join us at The Mighty Quinn in Yokine for a mouthwatering Christmas menu that includes turkey, ham, roast potatoes, fresh vegetables, and a delicious finale of Christmas pudding served with custard and cream. In addition to the feast, be prepared to be entertained by the talented Broken Pokers, who will provide an enjoyable musical background throughout the event. This festive gathering promises to be a delightful celebration filled with good food, great company, and the spirit of Christmas. The Claddagh Seniors Christmas in July event is known for its warm ambiance, great food and lively entertainment. Don’t miss your chance to be part of this memorable celebration. To secure your seat to this event, make sure to book by July 14th. Call 0417 099 801 to reserve your spot or contact the office.

SENIORS EMBRACE DIGITAL TRAINING, BECOMING TECH SAVVY AND CYBER SAFE

In the past six months, a group of our seniors have taken the opportunity to enhance their skills and embrace technology, thanks to the Seniors Digital Training Project. These monthly Digital Training Workshops have not only provided valuable knowledge but have also been a source of enjoyment and new-found friendships. Recent workshops focused on teaching the group about cybersecurity so they could recognize and protect against scammers, and on a lighter note - participants had a great time learning how to research and book travel online, utilise travel apps, and avoid costly data roaming charges while traveling abroad. Their favourite sessions were on new technology such as ChatGPT and learning about artificial intelligence! The Seniors Digital Training Project is made possible by the sponsorship of the Emigrant Support Program Grant. This generous support enables seniors to access these valuable training opportunities and stay connected in the digital age. A big thanks to two of our volunteers, Niamh Bratton-Palmer and Rachel Rafferty who have assisted our committee members in delivering these classes. The success of these workshops has paved the way for the continuation of these Digital Training Workshops in 2024. Stay tuned to our social media channels for updates on the upcoming sessions.

CLADDAGH ASSOCIATION OFFERS FREE VISA CLINICS WITH EXPERIENCED MIGRATION AGENT

The Claddagh Association is proud to host FREE Visa Clinics on a two-monthly basis, providing valuable guidance to the Irish community. Patricia Halley (MARA 1383611) from Visa4You, a registered and experienced Migration Agent, is available for face-to-face and telephone appointments.

If you require assistance with visas or citizenship, don’t miss the opportunity to schedule an appointment with our office for the next clinic. Simply contact The Claddagh Association at 08 9249 9213 or email our Co-Ordinator, Geraldine, at admin@claddagh.org.au.

These appointments are open to anyone in the Irish community and offer a chance to receive professional advice. In the future, the association aims to enhance these sessions, making them more interactive by exploring options such as group face-to-face sessions or webinars. This will enable those working remotely or during evenings/weekends to participate as well.

THE CLADDAGH ASSOCIATION - THERE WHEN YOU NEED US

The mission of the Claddagh Association is to provide help and support to members of the Irish community who find themselves in difficult circumstances.

To support these needs of both individuals and families Claddagh must fundraise throughout the year.

If you would like to support Claddagh’s work in 2023 you can donate at our website: claddagh.org.au or contact the office or come to one of our events mentioned above.

If you or someone you know needs Claddagh’s support, please contact the Claddagh office via admin@claddagh.org.au/08 9249 9213. If your need is urgent, you can call Claddagh’s Crisis Line on 0403 972 265.

13/15 Bonner Drive, Malaga WA 6090.

Enquiries: 08 9249 9213 admin@claddagh.org.au

Is Irish unity closer now than ever?

BY DAVID MACCONNELL

If you read my article in the last edition you would know that I asked the question about the possibility of a United Ireland by 2050? I only chose that year as the number had a mathematical, (well I was a mathematics teacher for a number of years) rounded nature to it. I imagine it may well come to fruition long before that date or maybe not. Time will tell.

What would be some of the consequences of this alteration of the political and indeed geographical map? Some sports have already led the way, so I won’t go into that aspect in any detail. What about the day-to-day events? Would we all have to pass an Irish examination to proceed or advance with our careers? The monetary system would have to change along with the banks. The measurement systems would change. The ‘Northerners’ would have to get used to going the extra kilometre! That does not really roll of the tongue now does it. What television system would we follow?

addition to traditional transmitters, overspill occurs when the footprint of a satellite is greater than that needed to serve its target audience. Transmitters located near to international borders may overspill into a large part of a neighbouring country, for example the signal from Republic of Ireland broadcaster 2RN’s Clermont Carn site can be picked up in a large area of N. Ireland, and vice versa BBC broadcasts can be picked up in the Republic.

Overspill is usually welcomed by listeners and viewers as it gives them additional choices, when for example the Republic of Ireland began to migrate to a digital platform, measures were put in place so that viewers in Northern Ireland could continue to receive the channels they had become used to. However, legally, and often politically overspill can be unwelcome. Broadcast rights are sold on a per territory basis, and overspill can be seen as harmful to the commercial and intellectual property rights of creators. I am thinking

redefined, especially in the area around history. When I lived in Spain, I was always fascinated by the different facts of who discovered what and by whom and on what date. Hopefully most of the other major educational subjects would remain the same. No pints or gallons I am afraid to say. ‘Seamus, could you give me three litres of Guinness please? Sláinte!’

‘How much is a gallon of aaaaah sorry a litre of petrol?’

‘I used to get 28 miles to the gallon! But now I just get some kilometres to a litre whatever that is!’

Going to the real extreme, we could be asked to change our driving on the left to driving on the right. All right, I know this is a bit far out, but Sweden did it in the 1960’s! Yeah, apologies again as I actually remember that time. I will refrain from reminding you why the two different preferences came about. (It has to do with horses and Napoleon). Sweden swapped in the early ‘60’s, simply because the vast majority of cars were Left Hand Drive imports. Driving on the left (intended for RHD vehicles) in LHD vehicles is considered less safe. So, Sweden changed the driving side to coincide with the reality of most Swedish cars and to match their neighbours, who all drove on the right.

Ok, I haven’t completely lost my head (yet). It’s very unlikely that this would occur in Ireland. The cost would be astronomical, existing vehicles would either be redundant (in the case of buses) or at a disadvantage, putting it mildly. Plus, the change-over period could see a drastic increase in accidents. ‘Sorry ossifer, I forgot what side of the road I was on!’ More importantly, no-one in any RHD or

LHD country would actually want a change. (Burma’s change was incredibly unpopular, but there was little the population could do against a crazed dictator! Even Sweden’s change was contrary to a referendum result. The people voted to stick with driving on the left, but the government changed to the other side anyway!). It was September 3,1967—This day in history: Swedish “Road traffic” switches sides.(Only road traffic because metro, railways didn’t switch to new rules and continued driving on the left.) The final change took place during 10 minutes between 4:50 am and 5:00 am on a Sunday morning. Private (non-emergency) car traffic was banned for a full 6 hours, from midnight to 6 am while prepared, but covered, new traffic signs were unwrapped. Large cities had extended bans; Stockholm and Gothemburg extended the bans to 24 hours or more. Now the big question. How much would a united Ireland cost, and who would pay?

When it comes to the economics behind a united Ireland, they tell me that it’s difficult to find an accurate cost (no kidding!) with numbers ranging from €4bn ($3.9bn) to €30bn ($29.2bn) per year. I am using Euros and American dollars here so add a little more (quite a lot these days) for Aussie dollars. A report by Trinity College Dublin in 2019 claims that reunification in the next five to ten years would cost the Republic of Ireland as much as €30bn per year. Based on the €10bn ($9.7bn) subsidy that Northern Ireland receives from the UK, the report states that more would have to be done in order to raise taxes

to fund this amount, particularly if some of this figure comes from spending cuts. Conversely, a report by Ireland’s Future estimates the cost to be much lower at around €4bn annually. This group claim that Northern Ireland’s contribution to the UK’s defence spending, debt servicing costs and international services would not continue in a united Ireland – and that the true cost of Northern Ireland’s €10bn ($9.7bn) subvention payment is 25% less. They also trust that the UK government would continue to make state pension payments in Northern Ireland for a period, reducing annual costs by a further €3.6bn ($3.5bn). Moreover, the group believes that Northern Ireland would receive financial aid from the EU and the US in the event of a united Ireland, as well as some support from the outgoing UK government. Personally, I can’t see all three wanting to contribute very much but who am I to say. We will believe that when we see it. In addition, nationalists argue that these figures overlook the economic growth potential of the north in a united Ireland. I was once asked would a united Ireland be more attractive for investors. A good question which I am quite incapable at this stage of giving any kind of answer. Further questions involve the tax systems and the point that the UK is Northern Ireland’s greatest trading partner at present by quite a

the National Health Service (NHS) in Northern Ireland, which employs approximately 73,000 staff as of June 2022. The Northern Irish health service was already in crisis pre-Covid-19, with the longest wait times in the UK. This problem has been exacerbated in the wake of the pandemic, with significant concern over severe staff shortages. However, despite its faults, there are reservations over how NHS access would differ to Ireland’s Health Service Executive (HSE) – a publicly funded healthcare system that requires fees for some services, including up to €65 ($64) for a GP appointment. It also raises the question of how the Republic of Ireland would deal with an additional 1.9 million people to care for, tens of thousands of healthcare staff and an evergrowing waiting list of patients. In the wake of Brexit, disputes over the Northern Irish Protocol and declining support for unionist parties, it seems like a border poll on Irish unity is closer now than ever. For hardliners on both sides of the community, economics will always come second to political aspirations, but for those unsure – there are still vast economic and social complexities around a united Ireland that leaders in Belfast, London and Dublin will need to address before a vote is announced. In any event, it won’t be

The Dublin lawyer who became Advocate-General for the Swan Colony

Ayoung Dublin lawyer George Fletcher Moore featured in a new show about the Swan Colony’s first settlers. Written and produced by Sarah McNeill through her storytelling company Lit Live Swan Valley Stories brought together extracts from letters and diaries of those first settlers in the new colony that Captain James Stirling prosaically proclaimed was a “rich and romantic country”.

Educated at Foyle College, Derry and at Trinity College, Dublin, Moore practised law for six years before applying for a new legal post in the newly established Swan colony in Western Australia. He arrived in 1830 to find that the legal position was already taken, but with his perennially positive outlook, he decided to stay and try his hand at farming. While many newcomers miserably languished on the beaches along Fremantle, waiting to be allocated land, Moore successfully obtained a small grant in Upper Swan and called his farm Millendon, the Aboriginal name for the region. He revelled in colonial life and was a prolific letter writer and diarist often accompanying his diary entries with illustrations and cartoons of his animals. He quickly became one of the best farmers in the region, developing his own best practise: “Autumn 1831: I have just finished dinner and everything at table was the produce of the farm: corned mutton, green peas, new potatoes, sugarloaf cabbage, radishes and lettuce.” He extensively explored the upper reaches of the Swan, opening a route from Guildford to the Avon Valley and later discovering the river that now bears his name. “I have seen emus, wild

turkeys, cockatoos, parrots, quails, magpies, hawks, black swans and pelicans. There are many other varieties but I have not time to enumerate them.”

Like every Irishman he loved a good party and for the first ball held at Government House in 1831, he wrote a celebratory song, Western Australia For Me: “Most enthusiastically was it received with uproarious huzzahing”. He established a good relationship with the local Noongars, learned the language and often negotiated between local indigenous groups and antagonised farmers. Moore was the first to record a meeting with the tribal leader Yagan. “I have had a long, angry and wholly unexpected conference today with the notorious Yagan. On seeing several natives approach the house I approached thinking they were my old friends. I saw Yagan standing a little aloof scrutinising my countenance narrowly and my manner of receiving them. He came forward, avowed himself and entered into a long argument and defence of his conduct. He used bold and emphatic language and graceful gesture with abundant action. I regret that I did not understand him but I conjectured from the tone and manner that the purport was this: ‘You come to our country; you have driven us from our haunts and disturbed us in our occupations. As we walk in our own country, we are fired upon by white men. Why should they treat us so?’ He scowled a look of daring defiance and turned on his heel with an air of ineffable contempt.”

In 1834, Moore became Advocate-General, a position that gave him considerable influence

over the affairs of the struggling colony.

“Prices have risen to a very serious height just now and there is a great outcry in the colony. Some of our friends appear to think that we are so well off that we cannot want for anything and others imagine we are so far gone that it is hopeless to send us anything; so we fall between the two.”

Moore’s natural Irish

charm, his success as a farmer and as an administrator and his continual fight for the indigenous people won him much respect and affection in the colony.

Moore went to England in 1841 and published his book on Noongar language and culture, ‘A Descriptive Vocabulary of the Language in Common Use Amongst the Aborigines of Western Australia’. In 1834, edited extracts from his letters were published by his family in England, later re-edited and serialised in the West Australian, and eventually published as ‘Ten Years in the Eventful Life of an Early Settler in Western Australia’. Moore’s success in the new Swan colony is featured along with other newcomers including the Hardeys of Peninsula Farm, Jane Dodds who ran the Cleikum Inn in Guildford and Ann Whately who farmed around present-day Bayswater. Swan Valley Stories was performed as part of the Heritage Festival at Enderslea Farm in Chittering Vallery, in early May.

Welcome to JB Forever 27 Gala Ball in aid of The Kevin Bell Repatriation Trust and The Claddagh Association WA fundraising website!

On 22nd of January 2023 the wonderfully talented and very much loved Jeremy Burke aged 27 yrs old died suddenly in his sleep whilst in Toronto Canada. Jeremy originally from Kilcullen Co Kildare was the eldest son of Louise and Jerry. A wonderful musician, singer songwriter and pupil of BIMM Dublin. Jeremy was repatriated back to his beloved Kilcullen through the wonderful Kevin Bell Repatriation Trust. For anyone who has not yet heard of this trust, the Burke family can attest to how amazing and uniquely Irish it is. Through the loss of their beloved son Kevin in 2013, the Bell family established the trust to ensure that any Irish person who dies abroad in sudden and/or tragic circumstances is repatriated back to their home land of Ireland. To date over 1,500 Irish people have been brought home thanks to these wonderful people. The trust asks for nothing in return, but is reliant on peoples’ goodwill and donations, which will often be made in memory of a loved one lost. The Burke family have

established a foundation in Jeremy’s memory, it’s main aim is to promote and support charities such as The KBRT. They also plan to launch a scholarship for young musicians in the new year. On November 11th 2023, the “JBFOREVER27 Gala Ball” will take place in The Hyatt Regency Perth, Western Australia with all proceeds going directly to The KBRT and local Perth charity The Claddagh Association. The event will include, a live auction, which will allow people from not only Australia, but around the world to bid on and be part of the event. It will be interactive and exciting and it is hoped to generate much needed funds for these deserving charities.

https://aus.givergy.com/JBForever27GalaBall2023/?controller=home

Sarah O’Neil and cast perform “Swan Valley Stories”

To everyone – my brilliant staff and loyal customers –who made JB’s such a special place over the thirty years I had as publican, I want to say a big heartfelt Irish THANK YOU, one and all. Your friend Paul and family.

Book Reviews

Books reviewed by John Hagan

THE DEATH OF JOHN LACEY

BY BEN HOBSON / ALLEN & UNWIN $32.99

Hobson’s novel, set in the Australian goldfields during the period 1847-1870, centres on two sets of brothers, Ernst and Joe Montague and Gray and John Lacey. The Montagues are halfbrothers, same white father, two different race mothers (Scottish and aboriginal). It is Joe’s aboriginal heritage and skin colour which make them ‘outcasts’ as they are forced into robbery while wandering through the mining towns of Australia’s wild, brutal frontier. Their nomadic crime spree eventually leads them to the settlement of Lacey, founded and ruled by the fearsome John Lacey who, in the distant past, has committed a terrible transgression in order to acquire his present status and influence. A further indiscretion by the brothers leads them in to conflict while John Lacey vows retribution. ‘This town is my legacy. You understand? This town is what I leave behind when I’m dead and buried’, Lacey declares as he plots vengeance. But not all the townspeople support Lacey in his evil intent as the inhabitants of the town are forced to take sides. Despite all Hobson’s extensive period research and evocative descriptions of the pain, misery and day to day frontier goldfield struggles he fails to make any of the principal characters endearing, with the possible exception of the gentle Gilbert Delaney, the new minister at Lacey Church. I found the book’s title puzzling since John Lacey features so sketchily in the narrative. The tale would have proved more interesting had Hobson revealed more about Lacey’s rise to power from his initial status as a young, grubbing miner and wannabe store owner during the mid 1800s.I also had difficulty with aspects of the language used. Is it likely that the word ‘dissuade’ would feature in the vocabulary of goldfield miners or that the aboriginals would be so fluent in the English language? Nonetheless, Hobson has produced a rich, gritty, colonial tale featuring

frontier violence, greed, criminality, dispossession and ambition. However, at its core, this is an unfolding fable of morality, justice, belief and forgiveness.

CINEMA SPECULATION

BY QUENTIN TARANTINO / HACHETTE $34.99

While he has won two Academy Awards (‘Django Unchained’ and ‘Pulp Fiction’), Tarantino’s films are not to everyone’s liking. His movies (ten to date) are frequently criticized for being too violent – ‘gratuitously violent’ has often been the censure. However, there is no dispute about his knowledge of movie making and the film industry in which he has been involved, as director, scriptwriter, producer and actor for over forty years. ‘When people ask me if I went to film school I tell them, no I went to films’, declares Tarantino. This book begins with an account of how he became addicted to film when he was taken, as a seven year old, to see a double feature at his local theatre. ‘To one degree or another I’ve spent my entire life since both attending movies and making them, trying to recreate the experience’, he writes. CINEMA SPECULATION is a personal joyride through his film education and experiences ranging from the recognized Hollywood heavyweights of 1970s (‘Deliverance’, ‘Dirty Harry’ and ‘Bullitt’) to unheralded and long forgotten B-features including ‘The Funhouse’ and ‘Hardcore’. His encyclopedic knowledge of the industry is front and centre of this hefty 400 page volume which often blurs the lines between analysis and autobiography. There is no doubt Tarantino is fascinated by the mechanics of how movies are made, and more importantly, by how they work on us, as he romps through their history and treats us to juicy behind-the-scenes gossip and vignettes to illustrate his points. As with his pictures, this book is a trifle self- indulgent, in desperate need of an edit and an index, while being liberally sprinkled with (unnecessary) swearing. It’s almost as if the whole contents of the book were delivered off the top of his head and dictated in to a tape recorder for later transposition to print. This is gonzo journalism at

its most extreme, Hunter S Thompson on steroids, as Tarantino energetically regales us with his extensive knowledge of cinema as he invites us to appreciate and better understand the joys of sitting in the dark, surrounded by a bunch of strangers, as the magic plays out on the silver screen.

THE MILLIONAIRES’ FACTORY

BY JOYCE MOULLAKIS & CHRIS WRIGHT / ALLEN & UNWIN $36.99

I suspect there are few Australians whose lives are, to a greater or lesser degree, not impacted by the workings of Macquarie Bank – colloquially dubbed ‘The Millionaires Factory’. Every time you turn a tap, drive a car on a toll road, catch a flight, go online, have a parcel delivered, or source energy, you’re enriching Macquarie, in one of its many guises. The bank started life 35 years ago as a tiny Australian outpost of the London merchant bank, Hill Samuel before morphing into the global leviathan it has become, now operating in 33 countries with over 18,000 employees. Macquarie represents the story of a home grown, self-made powerhouse which has become ‘an Aussie champion abroad’, with the Americas accounting for 48% of its total incomes. While all four of our big banks (Westpac, ANZ, Commonwealth, NAB) failed in their offshore expansion strategies, Macquarie succeeded. Macquarie is the world’s largest infrastructure manager with more than A$737 billion in assets under management. This success is built on a culture of encouraging employees to take investment risks, and the ability of the bank to spot a lucrative niche which few others can see, such as recently buying up gas pipelines in the United States. Moullakis and Wright, based on extensive research and interviews with over 200 current and former staff, reveal the strategy, important decisions and the development of the unique in-house culture contributing to the bank’s successes. The architects of the best schemes are well rewarded, with one of the advisors on the US gas line purchase (above) earning himself a tidy A$26.3 million, nearly A$5 million more than the bank’s chief executive. At Macquarie, ‘you get rewarded for what you deliver, not your title or reputation’. The bank is not often on the wrong side of a deal. Of course there have been dramas, failures, scandals and criminal prosecutions along the way, all of which are revealed in this well

researched, often breezy, conversational account of an Australian financial success story.

WHY WE SING

BY JULIA HOLLANDER /

ALLEN & UNWIN

$34.99

During the 2020 covid lockdown in the UK, while Boris Johnson and his acolyte misanthropes were clandestinely partying in Downing Street, the nation’s some 20,000 choirs were shut down. As Hollander points out, ‘Every live music venue, every church and hall and threatre and pub stood silent as singers ….turned their skills to shelf stacking and street sweeping’. It was during this period of lock-down that Hollander questioned herself as to why people sing, and why is singing so important to our quality of our life? From the stance of vocalist, writer and conductor, Hollander synthesizes and distills volumes of research on how (and why) exercising our vocal chords enhances mental, social and cultural life as she uncovers the reasons why singing contributes to our sense of well-being and community involvement. Drawing on her own personal experience, as well as recent neurological research, Hollander explores the value of song during life’s journey from cradle (lullaby) to grave (swan song). She discusses how song is important in other cultures, how singing is an integral part of both faith and political activism, and how it has the power to enhance the lives of those with dementia and disability. ‘I know all about its magic: how it manages to express emotions for which there are no satisfactory words, how it can move us to tears without knowing why, and how powerfully it defines cultural or historical boundaries’, Hollander confesses. Chapters in the book focus on community singing, pub choirs, singing in the shower, ‘learning’ to sing and the value and impact of anthems. Personally, when standing on the north terrace of (the old) Cardiff Arms Park listening to 50,000 passionate Welshmen (and a few women) singing ‘Land of my Fathers’ made the hairs on my neck rose, and I reckon the emotion generated from this ‘national hymn’ must have greatly energized and motivated the Welsh rugby team. For each chapter, Hollander has provided a QR code which links to a specific playlist to further illustrate her thesis. WHY WE SING is a book for all those who love to sing and all for those interested in listening to song.

Paula from Tasmania

BY PAULA XIBERRAS

Not so cosy Nights

BY PAULA XIBERRAS

I recently chatted to Fleur Macdonald about her latest novel ‘Into the Night’. There is a certain darkness to this novel as it tells the story of the mysterious disappearance and possible murder of farmer Leo Perry and his beloved dog Coffee, following an accident at his farm. With popular hero Dave Burrows having a hard time, with his former father in law imposing restrictions on visitation rights to his children the fact that Leo has left his family including his own young children behind is a case that Dave is highly sensitive of. Fleur said she was happy to be called a crime writer and shared with me some opinions on why she thinks crime books are so popular. Fleur says most people have ‘a morbid fascination with crime and forensic science’ the testimony being the plethora of books on the topic but Fleur also says there are many variations of the genre, from the lady detective and cosy crime to the grizzly, bloody and gory crime tales. Fleur tells me she sits somewhere in the middle. Her books aren’t cosy crime but at the same time they are not gory. Fleur says its best when there is just enough detail of crime but not too much. As for fan favourite Dave, readers will be glad to hear that she intends to continue the story of Dave in future books. Into the Night by Fleur Macdonald is out now published by Allen and Unwin.

Sewing or Time Machine

BY PAULA XIBERRAS

Time after Time is the latest book by prolific author Karly Lane. The story is about Alice Croydon, a girl that seems to have the perfect life. An extended family that adore her and a fiancé that feels the same way. Living in a small country town with her wedding imminent she seems content, but bubbling under the surface for a young woman looking forward to settling down with the love of her life, is another Alice, one like her namesake, looking for her adventures in wonderland. Alice has a dream, a desire to be a fashion designer but she can’t hope to pursue such a career in her small town. One day her dream does have the potential to come true, but it brings with it a whole lot of baggage and that is not the baggage required to accompany her to join a fashion designing firm in London. For Alice it means

postponing her wedding. Can she expect her boyfriend to wait for her? Advice or inspiration comes from the unlikely source of her grandmother. Unlikely, because her gran is turning her back on half a century of marriage to fulfill her own dreams. Separating from her husband who doesn’t support her desires she doesn’t go the conventional way of jumping with a parachute but instead learns to fly a plane. A metaphor for finally being in the driver seat. In spite of her protagonist being a fashion designer, Karly is not great with needle and thread herself. Karly jokes with me that she had no patience with sewing but one of the joys of being an author is you can write yourself whatever abilities you desire! Will Alice find her life mapped out for her, like older generations, or will it be not a case of Time after Time. Time after Time by Karly Lane is out now published by Allen and Unwin.

The Grand Kyiv Ballet of Ukraine

BY PAULA XIBERRAS

I had the opportunity to speak to Oleksandr Stoianov, the Grand Kyiv Ballet of Ukraine’s premier dancer as well as artistic director and producer of the present production Don Quixote and the Ukranian Forest Song. On this tour the first act will be The Forest Song. In Ukraine this ballet for over 75 years has been a cultural phenomenon, little known outside its homeland. The Forest Song’s story is about love, looking at the relations of humans and nature. It is the love story of a human, Lukash and the forest creature Myka Mayvka that he loves. Lukash wants a world full of peace for his love, a wish that resounds with us all. The second part of the show will be the ballet of Don Quixote. I talked to Oleksandr through his bubbly interpreter Maria and posed the question that with all his duties in the ballet principal dancer, director and producer what does he prefer. He notes ‘dancing obviously’ but has loved his past time as producer which gives him ‘many things to do’. I could not talk to Oleksandr without mentioning his famous high jumps, a technique he learnt very early on and can still do, he laughs as he tells me when he travels to the provinces they also know of his famous jumps and comment on his technique while ‘some women comment’ giggles Maria ‘on the very nice body!’ Not all of the company had been to Australia before and following the new experience they are now in love with the country, the friendly people and thank Australians for their warmth, they are enjoying it and glad to be here. You can see Oleksandr and his body of work with The Grand Kyiv Ballet of Ukraine on the following dates and venues:

Sunday 25th June, 2023 - PRINCESS THEATRE, LAUNCESTON TAS - Bookings: (03) 6331 0052

Monday 26th and Tuesday 27th June, 2023 - THEATRE

ROYAL, HOBART TAS - Bookings: (03) 6146 3300

During Bertie Ahern’s period as Taoiseach, it was mentioned that he might, as history unfolded, become our greatest Taoiseach. His tenure would not, in my opinion, equal that of my choice, Sean Lemass.

was an Irish politician who served as the Taoiseach (Prime Minister) of Ireland from 1959 to 1966. He was born on July 15th 1899 in Dublin. Lemass joined the Irish Republican Army (IRA) at the age of 17 and fought in the War of Independence against British rule.

After the establishment of the Irish Free State in 1922, Lemass joined the ruling Fianna Fáil party and was first elected to Dáil Eireann (Irish Parliament) in 1924. He served in a variety of government positions over the next few decades, including Minister for Industry and Commerce, Minister for Supplies, and Tánaiste (Deputy Prime Minister)

The tragedy for Lemass was that his period as Taoiseach was all too short. De Valera did not hand over the reins of power until 1959 and he was replaced, upon retirement, by Jack Lynch in 1965. De Valera stayed on far too long and he should have handed the Country over to Lemass as early as 1950

After thirty years of freedom, the Country was almost going out of business by the mid 1950’s. De Valera’s vision of a self-sufficient Ireland, frugal and with comely maidens dancing at the crossroads was extremely flawed and very out of touch with reality. We were obsessed with putting people back on the land and this was never going to solve our bigger economic problem. The people were being suffocated by Irish Nationalism and the winds of change were beginning to blow strongly.

As a Senior Government Minister from the 1940’s onwards, Lemass was becoming increasingly worried about the way things were going. As a pragmatist, he knew that we would have to look externally in order to bring us in line with the social and economic conditions of the other European countries. He started to strengthen Bord Failte and he figured that the more people that saw the Country the greater the publicity we would get. We may not have had the best facilities at the time, but the people were generally very warm and friendly. Our tourist industry was built on the quality of our people. Lemass also encouraged a young Economist at the Department of Finance, Ken Whittaker, to see what was needed to give the country a kick start. Out of this strategy came the now famous ‘Programme for Economic Development’, published in 1958. Even though De Valera’s policies and beliefs lay in more insular solutions, he was practical enough not to stand in

Bill Daly

the way of progress. The new policies were also supported by the Opposition Parties. Any plan was certainly better than no plan at all. After this, there was no looking back. The Multinationals were encouraged to invest in the Country, and this, along with the emergence of free Secondary education in the mid 1960’s, kick-started the beginnings of an economy that we are bearing the fruits of Today.

None of this would have happened without a visionary like Sean Lemass. He was certainly ahead of his time, any by his astute social and economic policies, brought Ireland out of a terminal decline and gave us hope and confidence as we headed towards the 21st century. Good ideas are not adopted automatically. They must be driven into practice with courageous impatience. Sean Lemass asked if we had the confidence and belief in ourselves, and that we would have to take the future on board.

Lemass also played a key role in improving relations between Ireland, and our Neighbour, the United Kingdom. He was instrumental in negotiating the Anglo-Irish Free Trade Agreement in 1965, which reduced trade barriers between the two countries.

Sean Lemass retired from politics in 1966, and passed away on May 11th 1971 at the age of 71. He is widely regarded as one of the most important and influential political figures in modern Irish history.

Australian Irish Dancing Association Inc.

AIDA WA hosted the Sweets of May feis recently and would like to congratulate all of the dancers for a beautiful weekend of sportsmanship and friendship.

At this competition we introduced a Blind Treble Reel Charity dance with entry proceeds to be donated. AIDA WA successfully raised $390 for the Leukaemia Foundation. We would like to thank all those who entered and supported this cause.

We would also like to congratulate our 2022 Aggregate Winners:

Under 10 – Sephora Donelan, The Academy

Under 12 – Charlotte Langford, The Academy

Under 14 – Georgia Western, Trinity Studio

Under 16 – Zoe Cahoon, Kavanagh Studio

Under 18 – Vaughan Cooper, WA Academy

Over 18 – Isobel Ashley, Trinity Studio

Some of our dancers recently completed their Grade Exams. These exams are a wonderful opportunity for students to receive feedback about their technique and performances from an examiner. Congratulations to all the students who participated from Grade 1 through to Grade 12.e would also like to congratulate dancers that competed in the McAleer Championship in Melbourne recently:

Erin Dowie, WA Academy - 1st in Under 6 Championship

1st in Under 6 Bun Premiership

Maya Walsh, WA Academy - 10th in Under 7 Championship 2nd in Tus Premiership Winner of the Encouragement and Potential Award

Matilda McClelland - 8th in Under 9 Championship 5th in Under 9 Premiership

Tess Dickson, WA Academy - 8th in Under 13 Championship

Sasha Brown, Kavanagh Studio - 4th in Under 13yrs Championship 1st in 12yrs Blackout Premiership 3rd in Leap for Lucy charity dance

Zoe Cahoon, Kavanagh Studio - 5th in Under 16yrs Championship 1st in 14-15yrs Blackout Premiership

Lily Dickson, WA Academy - 15th in Under 16yrs Championship 3rd in Preliminary Championship

AIDA WA would like to also wish all of the dancers and teachers travelling to Sydney in July for the Australian International Oireachtas the very best of luck.

Sephora Donelan - Under 10 Aggregate Winner

Charlotte LangfordUnder 12 Aggregate Winner

Georgia Western - Under 14 Aggregate Winner

Zoe Cahoon - Under 16 Aggregate Winner

Vaughan Cooper - Under 18 Aggregate Winner

Isobel AshleyOver 18 Aggregate Winner

Minister for Emergency Services; Innovation and ICT; Medical Research; 12th Floor, Dumas House

2 Havelock Street, WEST PERTH WA 6005

Email: Minister.Dawson@dpc.wa.gov.au

Telephone: (08) 6552-5800

Irish Dancing

AIDA WA EXECUTIVE 2023

President: Teresa Fenton TCRG

Vice Presidents: Katherine Travers TCRG & Eileen Ashley ADCRG

Secretary: Shannen Krupa TCRG

Treasurer: Martina O’Brien TCRG

Registrar: Jenny O’Hare TCRG

WA Delegate: Caitriona Slane TCRG

SCHOOL CONTACTS:

CELTIC ACADEMY

East Victoria Park

www.celticacadmeyperth.com

Siobhan Collis TCRG 0403 211 941

KAVANAGH STUDIO OF IRISH DANCE

Mt Hawthorn

www.kavanaghirishdance.com.au

Teresa Fenton TCRG 0412 155 318

Deirdre McGorry TCRG

Avril Grealish TCRG

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

744

Caitriona Slane TCRG

TRINITY STUDIO OF IRISH DANCING Morley, Midland & South Lake trinitystudiowa@gmail.com

Eileen Ashley ADCRG 0413 511 595

Katherine Travers TCRG

Nell Taylor TCRG

Siân Fitzgerald-Cain TCRG

Taryn Owen TCRG

WA ACADEMY OF IRISH DANCING

Malaga www.waacademyofirishdancing.com

Shannen Krupa TCRG

Stephanie Leeder TCRG

Glenalee Bromilow ADCRG

Sue Hayes TMRF

Stephen Dawson MLC

Dancers from O’Brien Studio completing their Grade exams

Grade 11 and 12 Dancers

Kavanagh Studio dancers

Lily from WA Academy

Scoil Rince Ni Bhaird dancers

WA dancers raising funds for Leukaemia Foundation

Celtic Academy dancers

Erin, Maya and Matilda from WA Academy

O’Brien Academy dancers

Zoe and Sasha from Kavanagh Studio

Trinity Studio dancers

Erin from WA Academy Tess from WA Academy

SHAMROCK ROVERS FC

Our State League First team is back to winning ways with a 6-1 victory over Canning City on 18th June. 17-year old Sam Lawless, who made his first team debut a few weeks ago, scored his first goal at this level. Sam is the son of the legendary Christy Lawless, who played many years ago with Shamrock Rovers.

Our girls team has had a very positive start to their senior football debut with 2 impressive results under their belt. Stepping up from the junior leagues, they dominated their first game against Ballajura AFC running out 9-0 winners. The following game was more closely matched against local rivals Perth Redstar. Despite losing by the narrowest margin at 3-2, the girls impressed, controlling parts of the game and playing some impressive football against a strong and well organised side from Redstar in the Central League grading rounds. We’re also delighted to announce that the club has been awarded 1 Star Game Changer Status. This status demonstrates our commitment and dedication to the development of Women’s and Girl’s Football within our club. We would like to thank all of those involved across our female program, in particular Lee Blackwell for his work in creating our club’s Action Plan as part of our submission.

Things are looking bright for the girls in green and white

Follow us on Facebook for lots more information, news and photos!

A massive thank you to our major sponsors for the current season:

• Gay Collins, Pipeline Technics

• Declan McDermott, Integrity Property solutions

• Dave Madman Muir, Madman Motors

• Chris Williams, Muscleworx group, and

• Frankie Atkinson, Muntz partners

Again, special thanks to Nicky Edwards for his ongoing work in getting sponsors on board. Thanks also to our loyal banner sponsors and various teamwear sponsors, several of whom have been with us for a number of years now. And always remembering the hardworking volunteers and committee members.

If you are interested in getting involved with your local club in any capacity – coach, volunteer, committee member – please contact us at CSRFC2020@gmail.com

GAAWA

Hurling/Camogie & Football Clubs

April saw the beginning of our games with the annually held Tim Hickey Sevens and the WA sevens tournament this year at Tom Bateman Reserve. Well done to Sarsfields Hurling Club who were the winners of the Tim Hickey Memorial Cup with Eoin Guinan winning hurler of the tournament. The St. Patrick’s seven aside for the camogie was won by St. Gabriels GAA club with Aine Cunningham winning Camogie Player of the tournament. In the Gaelic, it was a double win for Southern Districts GAC Perth who won the Neil McCague Perpetual Trophy and the Magennis Perpetual Trophy for both the ladies and the men’s. A big well done to Aisling McCarthy and Emmet McNabb for winning the footballers of the tournament.

GAAWA

Western Australia travels to the Australasian Feile 2023

The first ever Australasian Feile was held in Adelaide, South Australia in March 2023. Western Australia had over 60 children and youth representing with a total of over 120 people travelling over to play/support. We had 5 teams, U12 & U14 girls, two U14 boys and an U10 mixed team. Before making the journey to Adelaide we held a golf fundraiser to support players getting to Adelaide. We’d like to thank all our sponsors, participants, performers and volunteers for making a fantastic effort for our junior Gaelic players. We had a great weekend seeing so many young players playing their hearts out, making new friends and having fun all whilst playing Gaelic football. All our teams played exceptional football with 3 finals played on the Sunday. The U14 girls came runners up, with the U12 girls taking home the win. Alongside the U12 girls, the U14 boys amber team also took the win. Celebrations were had for all our WA teams, coaches, volunteers and supporters. We are extremely proud of each and everyone of the player representing their state. We are looking forward to the next Feile already!

GAAWA CLUB DETAILS

FOOTBALL CLUBS

GREENWOOD

Mens & Ladies Senior Football greenwoodgfc@hotmail.com

MORLEY GAELS

Mens & Ladies Senior Football morleygaelsgfc@hotmail.com

SOUTHERN DISTRICTS

Mens & Ladies Senior Football southerndistrictsgaa@gmail.com

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

GAA GROUNDS Tom Bateman Reserve Corner Bannister & Nicholson Rds (entrance off Wilfred Rd)

Canning Vale