PRONI is to host a one-off event this coming Friday (8th) that will be of interest to any family historians keen to learn more about Irish emigration to Australia since the late 18th century. Two of Australia's best known historians and genealogists will be delivering two talks from 1pm, as follows:
Dr Perry McIntyre:
A decent set of girls – the emigration of Irish workhouse orphans to Australia, 1848-1850
During the Great Famine more than 4,100 young Irish womenvolunteered to emigrate from workhouses all over Ireland to thecolonies of New South Wales and South Australia. Many were from the north of Ireland and, indeed, the most notorious of the orphan ships, the Earl Grey in 1848, took girls to Sydney from Belfast, Dungannon, Armagh, Antrim and Banbridge workhouses. Australia’s national Famine Memorial in Sydney commemorates the story of the Famine orphansand this presentation will outline current research on this major emigration story
Dr Richard Reid:
Ned Kelly and all that – the story of the Irish in Australia, 1788-the present
The Irish who went to Australia are among the best documented emigrants in the world and they are the only ones so far to have had a major exhibition in a national museum – the National Museum of Australia – to tell their story. Records brought from Ireland for this exhibition range from a colonial governor’s day uniform to the magnificent gold cup presented to the 1848 rebel leader William Smith O’Brien by his countrymen in the colony of Victoria.
Venue: Public Record Office of Northern Ireland, 2 Titanic Boulevard, Titantic Quarter, Belfast.
Admission is free, and booking is recommended. Please contact PRONI to secure your place. Email: proni@dcalni.gov.uk. Telephone 028 90534800.
