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.
2023 TALKS
February
The Annual General Meeting was held as a hybrid in-person/Zoom meeting. It was followed by a talk by Professor Peter Kuch, who spoke about his research for his latest book on Irish theatre in early colonial Australia.
March
The Aisling St Patrick’s Day dinner was held at the Sir Stamford Hotel, Macquarie Street Sydney. The guest speaker was Fr Frank Brennan SJ who spoke on the Voice to Parliament.
April
Aisling member Geoff Barker gave a talk entitled ‘The Design and Construction of Castletown House, County Kildare’ in which he discussed the controversy over the architect who designed the building.
May
In a talk entitled, ‘The Romans and Ireland’, John Coombs discussed the influence the Romans had on Ireland. Although Ireland was never part of the Roman Empire, it was right next door to that empire and was influenced by it in many different ways.
June
In a talk entitled, ‘The Easter Rising and Six Degrees of Separation: Grace Gifford Plunkett’, Mary Barthelemy told the meeting what she has discovered about this remarkable woman after coming across a postcard painted by Grace Gifford in her family’s possession.
July
The guest speaker was Dr Neville Potter who spoke about his latest book, The Lass from Loch Léin: Ellen Powell — an Irish Orphan in the Victorian Gold Rushes.
August
The mid-year lunch was held at the Sir Stamford Hotel, Macquarie Street, Sydney. The guest speaker was Teresa Keating, Executive Director of the Ireland Funds Australia, who spoke about the work of the Ireland Funds.
September
Instead of the usual ordinary meeting, we combined our meeting with the 10th Australian Conference of Celtic Studies at the University of Sydney, where the keynote speaker was Dr Elizabeth Boyle of Maynooth University.
October
Aisling member Hugh Myers gave a fascinating talk on Richard Madden, an Irish surgeon who served as colonial secretary to Western Australia (Swan River colony) in 1848-49. Madden was an Irish patriot, an historian of the 1798 rebellion, and an advocate for Australian Aborigines.
November
The Aisling Christmas Party was held at Sancta Sophia College, Missenden Road, Camperdown, with the guest speaker, Judi Toms, Chair of the Australian Standing Stones Management Committee at Glen Innes speaking aboutGlen Innes, the Celtic capital of Australia, and its monument of standing stones.