Report on Conference Proceedings

From Youghal Harbour to Moreton Bay: Remembered Nations, Imagined Republics
Centre for Irish Studies, NUI, Galway. 19-22 June 2002

Report by Val Noone

During June, a hundred people from six countries attended a major conference on Irish Australian affairs at the National University of Ireland in Galway (NUIG). Held over four days from 19 June, this was the tenth (some would say eleventh) in a series that holds meetings every two years, sometimes in Ireland but most frequently in Australia.

Most discussions focused on Irish and Irish-Australian and Aboriginal history, literature, art, economics and medicine. There were 50 half-hour presentations, 13 from Ireland, 29 from Australia and, reflecting the growing sense of the global Irish diaspora, a handful from each of New Zealand, England, North America and South Africa.

Each night was set aside for a special event. Leading Irish novelists and poets John McGahern, Evelyn Conlon, Louis de Paor and Vincent Woods read from their work, and singer Seán Tyrell gave a concert. In a keynote public address at the Millenium Arts Centre of the National University Galway, Germaine Greer spoke about Ned Kelly.

New developments included a specialist paper on haemochromatosis (iron overload) among people of Irish descent and two studies comparing industrial relations in Ireland and Australia.

The title of the conference was "From Youghal harbour to Moreton Bay: Remembered nations, imagined republics". Only two presenters tackled the opening words of the title head on. A couple talked about the imagined republics of the sub-title and some 38 papers took up the "remembered nation" theme. While each of the papers had contemporary relevance, 12 papers looked explicitly at contemporary links between Ireland and Australia .

The two who put the spotlight on Youghal Harbour and Moreton Bay, (the name for today’s Brisbane when it was part of New South Wales), were Jennifer Harrison and Seán Tyrell. Harrison listed a range of Irish convicts and officials at Moreton Bay who had links to Youghal Harbour and surrounding parts of Cork in Ireland's southeast. She spoke, for example, of escaper John Finnegan of Wicklow and Cork-born John James Fitzgerald Uniacke, son of a Youghal MP and governor of Moreton Bay 1823-59.

Singer song-writer Tyrell of County Clare made a special feature of singing Youghal Harbour. This old song supplied the tune for both the great Australian folk song, Moreton Bay, and for Boulavogue, a famous ballad about 1798. Youghal Harbour which is a song about a boy who goes off with another girl, opens with a line about "one Sunday morning as I went walking", words that are applied to convict life in the opening of Moreton Bay .

Bob Reece, head of Irish Studies at Murdoch University in Western Australian, opened the conference with a lengthy discussion of the work in the Caribbean and WA of that prolific nineteenth-century Anglo-Irish writer and anti-slavery colonial administrator, Richard Robert Madden. Next Eugene Duggan reported succinctly on his Irish ancestor, Sir Winston Joseph Duggan (1876-1951), who rose high in the British Army and became governor of South Australia from 1934-1939, Victoria 1939-1949 and acting governor-general from 1947-1949.

Aboriginal Australians had their first impact on the conference in a paper by Rebecca Pelan about plays concerned with the complexities of race, religious and class differences. Pelan, formerly of Northern Ireland and then Brisbane, has recently been appointed lecturer in women’s studies at NUIG. She compared Christina Reid’s The Belle of Belfast City about three girls in a Protestant family with Louis Nowra’s Radiance about three Aboriginal half-sisters.

Half a dozen papers took up aspects of Irish-Aboriginal relations. Pat Jacobs, novelist and historian from Western Australia, spoke about Antonia O’Brien and the "Irish brigade" of sisters of St John of God from County Wexford who founded Beagle Bay mission in northwest Australia in 1907 and made a profound positive contribution to building the lively multicultural society of the Kimberley.

Frances Devlin Glass, Deakin university lecturer and leading figure in Melbourne’s Bloomsday, analysed Joseph Furphy’s attempts in The Buln-buln and the Brolga to write about alleged Aboriginal cannibalism and white racism. Glass argued that Furphy was "an important early Australian experimental metafictionist who uses heteroglossia to open up the race issue".

Reporting on his research into the ways Aboriginal beliefs have been collected and remembered in northwest Kulin country and the Riverina, and highlighting the role of Phillip Popper, Ted Ryan spoke about the diverse parts of the body associated with spiritual power in Irish and Aboriginal culture. For Kulin people, the back of the neck is a key source of life and the belly the site of the soul.

Drawing on court records, Trevor McClaughlin of Macquarie University, expounded at length on the way that Irish Australian women like Maggie Heffernan and Aboriginal people like Dundali made heroic efforts, along with their supporters, to obtain justice from a legal system that regularly treated them unfairly.

Rosemary Beaumont, Greens’ politician and scholar of University of Western Sydney, outlined some possibilities for linking the spiritual bonds to the land in Irish heritage with the living relationship of Indigenous Australians to this place. From the floor, Philip Moore spoke in favour of devoting more time at the next conference to discussion of Irish-Aboriginal relations.

Ned Kelly and Eureka proved again to have central roles in Irish Australian studies. Lou Livesay of St Peter’s College, New Jersey, USA, argued that Peter Carey’s novel about Ned evoked fundamental human experiences of compassion, anger and endurance.

Endorsing Shane Howard’s remark that Eureka is "part of whitefella dreaming", Siobháin McHugh played and discussed tape-recorded insights from Eureka descendants such as Howard, Anne Hall, Paul Murphy, Jan Withers and Peter Lalor. Peter’s ancestor, Peter Lalor, the miners’ leader, was the subject of Anne Beggs Sunter’s talk in which she discussed his life and the Ballarat statue which shows him as a conservative politician. John Ireland, descendant of Richard Ireland, Trinity College lawyer who defended the Eureka men, presented a strong argument for seeing the Chartist influence at Eureka by looking not just at the stockade but also at the Ballarat Reform League. The rebels were democrats by inclination and republicans by circumstance, he suggested.

Including those on Madden, Duggan, Uniacke and Kelly already mentioned, a dozen papers were about individual Irish Australians. New Zealander May O’Connell of University of NSW gave a dramatic presentation about Sydney visionary and religious founder Eileen O’Connor (1892-1921). O’Connell discussed O’Connor’s achievements, physical disabilities, conflicts with the hierarchy and her friendship with Father Edward McGrath. The last-named she described as "a Catholic romance" but not all agreed with her choice of words.

Another O’Connor, Roderic (1784-1860) of Connorville, County Cork, who became a prosperous free settler at Connerville [sic], Tasmania, was the subject of a colourful presentation by Larry Geary of NUI Cork. Geary also spoke of the doings of Roderic’s unconventional kinsfolk.

Donald McCracken from University of Durban, South Africa,  gave a paper on the Australia-South Africa-Ireland triangle, focusing on Arthur Lynch, an Irish Australian (the only one?) who fought for the Boers against the English but later became a recruiting sergeant for England in World War I.

Speaking from memory and drawing on her work at the Wicklow family history centre, Joan Kavanagh told the exceptional tale of Eliza Davis from a Dublin foundling home, her epilepsy, infanticide, transportation, two marriages and death in Burnie, Tasmania, in 1898 as a respected member of the community. Kavanagh was honoured to speak in Burnie at a recent reunion of Davis ’ descendents.

Merril Hammer’s story of intrigue concerned a psychology lecturer at Sydney university in 1940 who was accused by a Catholic priest of violating students’ rights and grossly misleading them in regard to free will and communism. In her last sentence, she revealed that the lecturer was her late father and that her mother who was in the audience was one of his students.

Kieran Sheedy, an historian from Limerick , traced the rise to large pastoralist at Cootamundra and membership of the colonial parliament of John Hurley, a transported rebel from Limerick. In NSW, Hurley married the daughter of 1798 rebel Hugh Byrne.

Anne Partlon of Murdoch University presented fresh material about federation. As editor of the Kalgoorlie Miner and a convenor of mass meetings, John Waters Kirwan (1869-1949) of a Galway family, threatened to lead the goldfields out of Western Australia unless WA went into the Australian federation.

James Kelly from Wexford, Catholic priest, fiery Irish nationalist and editor of the New Zealand Tablet 1917-1931, made an "explosive contribution" to public life over conscription for World War I and other matters, Rory Sweetman argued.

My own paper also concerned a Catholic newspaper. From 1940 to 1969, Thomas Culhane, a migrant from Glin, County Limerick, wrote high-level popularisations of learned works on Irish history and literature in the Melbourne Catholic Advocate while working in the offices of the Munitions Department and later Standard Motors. He thereby made an unusual contribution to the transmission of Irish culture in Australia.

A dozen papers concentrated on contemporary matters. One of the most original was that by Chris Whittington of British Columbia University, Canada, on hereditary haemochromotosis (HHC - an iron overload disorder). She explained the symptoms and said that HHC has the highest incidence among the Irish. Research of which she is part has already helped thousands and can help millions worldwide, she claimed.

Margaret O hOgartaigh gave a strong talk about the achievements of women’s hospitals in early twentieth century Ireland while making some comparisons with Melbourne’s Queen Victoria Hospital. Christine Caleidin and Michael Bentley of Adelaide who are currently studying the language in Ireland reflected on working with the Department of Health in South Australia and suggested new models for gender equality. There is scope for more treatment of medical topics in future conferences.

There were no papers about the Troubles in the North. As if to make up for this major gap in the program, the chair person of the opening session, Gearóid Denvir mentioned the rebel song, the Wild Colonial Boy, which recalls the time-honoured links between Ireland and Australia. He remarked that in the 1970s and 1980s the Dublin government had banned the playing of it on national radio.

Six scholars discussed contemporary Ireland. In an important step forward, Roy Green and John Burgess gave papers on industrial development  in Ireland and Australia. Green who gave a nuanced assessment of the Celtic Tiger contrasted the two countries in information technology: Ireland a heavy direct investor, Australia an importer. Burgess gave a timely exposé of the dramatic increase in part-time and casual jobs in both countries, a change which benefits a few and harms many.

Philomena Murray of Melbourne University ’s European studies centre spoke about trade and Ireland-Australia-European Union relations. When replying to a question, she described leading US government ideologue Samuel Huntington as "a disgrace to political science".

John Duff analysed statistics about post-secondary education in Ireland and Australia and suggested that, contrary to appearances in both cases, rural upbringing is not a barrier to success so much as class background. On prisons, Rosemary Sheehan of Monash University, in a paper read by her friend Anne McLoughlin, drew attention to the reforms by Governor Lonergan at Mountjoy Gaol. Chris Eipper offered some sarcastic theoretical points about visions and virgin births.

Tony Griffiths, scholar of Scandinavia at Flinders University and former research assistant to Oliver MacDonagh, switched to contemporary Australia   with an entertaining romp through the republic debate. His point was that if the Australian Republican Movement had heeded James Connolly and Constance Markiewicz they  might have won the vote.

There were three further history papers. Ruan O’Donnell of the University of Limerick gave a masterly presentation on Australian aspects of the 1803 Robert Emmett-led rebellion. He included some of his recent findings, for example, that a rebel called Beggs was executed instead of one called Begley who got away to Australia .

In discussing the history of the language, David Lucy, an Australian-born mathematician and fluent Irish speaker, challenged the views of Roy Foster, Patrick O’Farrell and Reg Hindley.

St Patrick’s day celebrations in Melbourne around 1914-1922 were analysed by Michael Cronin, co-author of a recent book about St Pat’s day events around the world. Looking at a similar time span, Jeff Kildea, queen’s counsel and social critic from Sydney, discussed the effect of the Irish war of independence on Australian identity. His argument that many Irish Australians were Redmondites long after their Irish contemporaries had stopped being that drew half-page coverage in Sunday Business Post.

In addition to papers by Pelan and Glass, Peter Kuch and Frank Molloy investigated literary topics. Kuch looked at who gave financial help to writers in Ireland between 1902 and 1914 and pointed out the problems caused by W B Yeats’ ill-tempered approach to young writers. Molloy compared the diverse Irish Australian characters in the novels of Ruth Park, Criena Rohan and Ann Clancy.

All the conference papers were about the Irish diaspora but eight looked directly at migration. Sydney genealogist Perry McIntyre reported on her extensive study of some 3000 heart-rending petitions by Irish wives (and families) to join their convict husbands in Australia. She offered a tip for family historians of that era: a considerable number of free women settlers are hidden from the passenger lists of the ships they came on.

Also looking at nineteenth century migration was Charles Fahey of La Trobe University’s Bendigo campus. From his study of births, deaths, marriages, rate books and probate records for north central Victoria and Wimmera, he argues that "the Irish did very well". Family and local historians such as those who gathered at Muskerry (see Táin no 15) will welcome his study.

Deirdre Bryan of Boston College reported on Australian aspects of her study of Irish women religious in the diaspora. Early on, Vatican figures listed only priests and bishops, but she is finding ways around that and looking at the high growth rates of the religious orders in the second half of the 1800s. Tracey Connolly of NUI Cork is also grappling with deficient statistics, this time in regard to Irish migration to Australia 1922-1970. An innovative study of post 1980s migrants to Australia was outlined by Trish O’Connor who, though working with University of NSW, is based in Geelong , Victoria .

Child migration received two contrasting treatments. John Crean, born in Manchester and a Galway graduate, surveyed one hundred years of British export of children and estimated that some 25,000 Irish children were sent out. Anne McVeigh of the Public Records Office of Northern Ireland quoted official sources in an attempt to take the sting out of criticisms of the twentieth-century English schemes. Question time indicated that she did not succeed.

Lyman Tower Sargent of the University of Missouri-St Louis showed that new light can be thrown on the history of Ireland and Australia by exploring what has been said and written about Utopia, that is, the hopes for a better world. Anne O’Connor from the University of Ulster reflected on some folklore collecting which she did in Australia  in the 1980s.

During the conference there was an exhibition of paintings about Australia by Mary Donnelly of Clifden. Art, however, drew just two papers. Tessa Morrison of the school of fine art at Newcastle, NSW, has been studyiing the mathematics underlying the Celtic knot decorations and argued that there are basically two paths processes, translation and rotation.

Bill Taylor of University of WA suggested that George Wilkinson’s benchmark 1845 treatise on the stones of Ireland may have extolled the virtues of ancient landscapes while disregarding the present-day occupants. Australian explorers faced similar dangers, he said.

One evening the conference adjourned from the university to Kennys’ legendary bookshop for a few drinks courtesy of the owners and two speeches in honour of Oliver MacDonagh (1924-2002), a key person in founding the Irish Australian conference series. (Needless to say, people adjourned elsewhere on other occasions.)

Irish historian Nicholas Canny outlined MacDonagh’s publications which ranged from analysis of Irish and English government bureaucracies to a two-volume biography of Daniel O’Connell. Philip Bull, a former student of MacDonagh’s, said that "without Oliver I would not be here". When Bull was a student at Flinders University, MacDonagh, who was history professor, interested him in the study of Irish politics. Bull praised MacDonagh’s work on the Irish in Victoria, celebrated MacDonagh’s appointment to the Hancock chair of history at Australian National University and, among other things, reminded the audience that when founding the conference series MacDonagh wanted them to alternate between the two countries.

Bull was convenor of the two La Trobe University Irish Australian conferences and, under an informal arrangement, is presently contact person for arranging future conferences. Bull contributed an exceptional feature to this year’s conference with a presentation on Englishness in Australia. Bull, who describes himself as "an Australian of entirely English ancestry", sees new confidence about Australia’s Irish heritage but finds uncertainty about identity among Australians of English heritage. His rejection of the term "Anglo-Celtic" sparked off a lively exchange at question time.

At present, there is a growth of interest in Irish Australian studies but it is also a time of cutbacks to historical and literary studies in the universities. For example, there were no young academics from Australian universities in attendance.

The conference might have been improved by setting aside time for a forum on where we are up to. In this regard, it was a pity that there was no conference dinner. The conference series relies on an informal network which has achieved much in the past two decades. However, it is time for those involved in this conference series to set up a formal organisation of Australian Irish Studies.

In summary, this conference, which brought together academics, family historians and the general public, was remarkably good. Talks were of high standard, organisation was smooth, sociability excellent.

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Galway univesity upgrades Australia link

Val Noone

The Irish Studies Centre at National University of Ireland’s Galway campus has taken a major step to improve its links with Australia. The director of the centre, Dr Louis de Paor, poet and academic, said that the centre is preparing to take a key role in Australian Irish studies.

De Paor who lived for ten years in Melbourne did an enormous amount of work as coordinator of the Tenth Irish Australian Conference. He was assisted by Brían O Conchuir, Susan Ní Chéide and others. The centre has undertaken to publish the conference proceedings, and to do so within the year.

NUIG, and in its Irish Studies Centre, were good hosts. Dr Iognáid O Muircheartaigh, president of the university, opened the conference with enthusiasm and wit, speaking partly in Irish, partly in English. Professors and lecturers from NUIG chaired every session, taking care to comment thoughtfully on each speaker and their work.

Any Australian thinking of doing further studies in Ireland will find the Irish Studies Centre at NUIG a logical place to apply. Courses at diploma and postgraduate level can be taken either by personal attendance or on line. Academics on sabbatical leave or other researchers are being offered good conditions at the centre.

NUIG’s Irish Studies Centre works in conjunction with Regis College, Colorado, in providing state-of-the-art online courses. During the conference, staff gave demonstrations of the centre’s online materials which are normally only available to enrolled students. In my opinion, the content of the courses is as good as any in the world and the user interface is excellent.

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