Past Talks
Since its foundation in 1955 the Society’s principal activity has been the presentation of talks by members or invited guests on topics relating to Ireland and Irish heritage in Australia. In that time several hundred talks have been given. From 1974 many of those talks were audio recorded and we hold copies of those recordings from 1974 to 2008 and from 2014 to 2017, numbering in all 198 talks of variable quality. Since 2020, when during Covid we began to livestream our meetings via Zoom, the talks given to the Society have been video recorded, accumulating at the rate of about seven per year. In addition, we hold copies of manuscripts of some 56 talks, some dating back to the 1950s and 1960s. Access to these recordings is available to members and to researchers upon application to the Honorary Secretary. A list of recorded talks held by the Society is available here.
Summaries of talks and events back to 2011 can be viewed below.
2011 TALKS
February
Our Ordinary Meeting followed on from the Annual General Meeting, and featured a charming talk by Kate Guilfoyle about Irish mythology.
March
Our St Patrick’s Day dinner was held at Parliament House in Macquarie Street, and our after dinner speaker was Dr Richard Reid, Senior Curator at the National Museum of Canberra, and responsible for the magnificnet ‘Not Just Ned’ Exhibition, ‘A True History of the Irish in Australia. Richard spoke to us about some of the exhibits and the ideas and work that had gone into putting the exhibition together.
April
Peter Moore, archivist, legal consultant, mulitcultural publisher and editor, teacher and tour guide, navigated the strange history to the statue of Queen Victoria which now stands outside the QVB building, near Sydney Town Hall. his merticulously researched and illustrated talk was entitled ‘Queen Victoria’s Irish Statue in Sydney: Ireland’s other gift to Australia.’
May
We welcomed the Reverend Edward Vaughan, Rector of St John’s Anglican Church, Darlinghurst, who had recently returned from six years as the Church of Ireland Rector of Crinken, near Bray, south of Dublin. Ed spoke to us on ‘Faith and society in modern Ireland: some personal reflections.’
June
Siobhan McHugh, generous giver of many talks over the years, gave us an enthralling evening with ‘Marrying Out: mixed marriage, family conflict and religious bigotry between Catholics and Protestants in Australia 1920s-1970s’.
July
Our Mid-Year Lunchoen was held at the Sydney Rowing Club. Professor Justin O’Brien, Director of the Centre for Law, Markets and Regulation at UNSW spoke most engagingly about the economic, social and ethical crisis facing Ireland (and other EU countries) in the throes of the current financial crisis.
August
Aisling member, psychoanalyst and writer. Maurice Whelan, read to us from two of his recently puiblished volumes of poetry, The Lilac Bow (2009) and Excalibur’s Return (2011) and reflected on the writing process.
September
Irish-born Ber Carroll writes Irish-Australian novels about modern day women, their relationships, family dynamics and ambitions. Her delightful talk was entitled ‘Writing Irish fiction in Australia.’
October
Aisling member, psychoanalyst and writer. Maurice Whelan, read to us from two of his recently puiblished volumes of poetry, The Lilac Bow (2009) and Excalibur’s Return (2011) and reflected on the writing process.
November
Irish-born Ber Carroll writes Irish-Australian novels about modern day women, their relationships, family dynamics and ambitions. Her delightful talk was entitled ‘Writing Irish fiction in Australia.