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.
2021 TALKS
February
After the Annual General Meeting award-winning Irish-Australian poet Anne Casey gave a talk entitled ‘An emigrant’s story’, a mix of humour, tugging at heartstrings and visits to the misty landscapes of Anne’s native west coast of Ireland, illustrated by readings from her poetry.
March
The guest speaker, Professor Francis Campbell, Vice-Chancellor, The University of Notre Dame, gave a talk entitled, ‘Is the Legacy of Partition Preventing the Future and the Common Good?’ in which he discussed the legacy of the partition of Ireland and the possible course leading to the reunification of Ireland.
April
At our first hybrid meeting (in person and via Zoom), the guest speaker was cultural historian, Dr Robert Lindsey, who gave a talk entitled, ‘”An example some of us in Ireland might advantageously copy”: Vincent Hearnes and the cultural landscape of Irish Australia’.
May
The guest speaker, Elisabeth Edwards, spoke about her book Wearing the Green: The Daltons and the Irish Cause, an amazing ‘rags to riches’ story of the Dalton family of Orange which began with a transported Irish convict and became one of the colony’s wealthiest dynasties
June
Dr Jeff Kildea gave a talk entitled, ‘A Victory Comparable to Jutland: the Royal Navy’s Hijacking of Archbishop Daniel Mannix in 1920’.
July
Thomas Cafe, the 2020 Aisling Prize winner from the University of Sydney, gave a talk on ‘Clerical Fascism in the Interwar Irish Free State. Eoin O’Duffy and the Irish Brigade’.
August
Aisling members, Dr Julian Neylan and Dr Greg Stewart, spoke on the celebration of Bloomsday in Sydney, with some observations on the history of the publication of Ulysses and their experiences in putting on events in Sydney to mark the day.
September
Aisling member, Hugh Myers, Special Collections Advisor, Australian Catholic University, spoke about the Catholic mission to the Irish convicts and how this was perceived by the colonial government of the time.
October
Gregory Byrnes (MPhil in Celtic Studies at Sydney University) gave a talk entitled ‘Wandering around Innisfree’ in which he analysed Yeat’s poem ‘The Lake Isle of innisfree’ and drew allusions to earlier Irish poetry.
November
In place of the usual Christmas Party, the society celebrated the festive season with a virtual Christmas party at which members entertained each other with poetry, stories, and talks on their research activities.