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.
2014 TALKS
February
After the Annual General Meeting Dr Jeff Kildea, spoke on the Keith Cameron Chair of Australian History at University College Dublin, to which he has recently been appointed.
March
The Society celebrated St Patrick’s Day with its annual dinner. The guest speaker was Professor Jonathan Wooding, who recently succeeded Professor Anders Ahlqvist as the occupant of Sydney University’s Sir Warwick Fairfax Chair of Celtic Studies. Professor Wooding highlighted Patrick’s importance as a unique voice from fifth century Britain and Ireland.
April
Gerard Windsor gave a talk entitled “On Pilgrimage with the Irish: From Bathurst St to Santiago de Compostela” about his book on the Camino de Santiago published late last year, Angels Before Me: The Road to Santiago.
May
Dr Anne Cunningham spoke about her latest book The Price of a Wife – The Priest and the Divorce Trial in a talk entitled “Following the Money Trail and Newspaper reaction to the Coningham-O’Haran Divorce Trials of 1900-1901”.
June
Consul-General Caitriona Ingoldsby, whose term ends in August, spoke to the Society about her time in Sydney. in her last occasion she will . Members expressed their warm gratitude to Caitriona for the support she has given the Society and to the Irish-Australian community and wished her well for the future.
August
Dr Gemma Clark spoke about local community violence associated with the 1922-3 conflict in Ireland over the Treaty, which is the theme of her book Everyday Violence in the Irish Civil War.
September
Barra Boydell gave a talk on “The Politics Of Irish Music in 18th and 19th Century Art”
October
Babette Smith spoke on her new book The Luck of the Irish