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.
2026 TALKS
February
Dr Jeff Kildea, honorary professor in Irish Studies at UNSW and honorary secretary of the Aisling Society, gave a talk entitled ‘Hate Speech: We’ve been down this road before’ in which he discussed how Orange v. Green rivalry in nineteenth-century Australia led to incidents of violence in which shots were fired into crowds with fatal consequences.
March
We celebrated St Patrick’s Day at Rydges Surry Hills Rooftop Function Room. Originally the guest speaker was to be Ireland’s Ambassador to Australia, Fiona Flood, but she was unavailable due to illness. The deputy Consul General for Ireland in Sydney, Ciarán Claffey stepped in a the last minute and gave an interesting and informative address.
April
In a talk entitled, “John Boyle O’Reilly – More than the Catalpa escape”, Aisling member Jim Duffy told us about the extraordinary life and legacy of the famous Irish patriot, writer and humanitarian, who is still remembered and commemorated across two continents.
May
In a first for the Aisling Society, we had a speaker address us from the United States. Live from Kansas, USA, Dr Mike Slattery gave a talk on “Being of Irish Heritage in America and more specifically in Kansas” in which he shared his personal journey regarding the Irish and Australian connections of his family and his travels to Ireland and Australia.
June
Dr Damian Gleeson spoke about the subject of his latest book, Fr John Joseph Therry, the Cork priest who ministered in New South Wales and van Diemen’s Land between 1820 and 1864. In his talk Damian challenged the dominant strand in Catholic historiography about Fr John Joseph Therry.
July
At the Mid-Year Lunch at Ryde-Eastwood Leagues Club, Dr Sharon McArdle (Dublin City University) gave the annual Joan Ward Memorial Address on Dorothy Macardle, a remarkable but often overlooked Gothic Irish writer, historian, humanitarian, and political prisoner during the Irish Civil War. Róisín Ward Morrow, a traditional Irish fiddle player, provided musical entertainment.
