The Irish Workhouse Centre in Portumna is holding a conference – Far and Away: The Great Hunger and the Emigrant Experience – this coming Saturday (5 May).Sponsored by Waterways Ireland, the conference will also explore the part played by Ireland's waterways in the Famine and emigration of so many Irish people.
The programme will run as follows:
| 9:30 | Registration, tea/coffee and biscuits |
| 9:45 | Special welcome, with Dolores O'Shea |
| 10:00 | Escape on the water: Portumna's Maritime Superhighway, with Donal Boland |
| 10:40 | Ireland and Australia: the career of Captain Arthur Edward Kennedy, with Dr Ciaran O Murchadha |
| 11:20 | Tea/coffee |
| 11:40 | The ship 'Palatine' – Mountbellow girls sent to Austalia, with Paula Kennedy |
| 12:20 | One Woman's Story: Mary-Ann Taylor, with William Marwick |
| 13:00 | Snack lunch, visit Dark Shadows exhibition, and tours of the Workhouse |
| 14:00 | The Irish in C19th Australia, with Aron Donnelly |
| 15:00 | Tea/coffee |
| 15:30 | Path across the ocean: Songs/poems of the Great Hunger and the exiled Irish, with Johnny Johnson |
The conference is free to attend with donations to the workhouse museum.
To see the full brochure, click the image.