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‘A HUNDRED THOUSAND WELCOMES’

MEMBERSHIP RENEWALS due July 1st
Please visit the Membership page and download the Membership Form.

The GIFCC is pleased to advise that preparation for the 2022 Commemoration is currently underway. We look forward to seeing you at this event! 

Welcome
Irish
Famine Memorial

The monument was inspired by the arrival in Australia of over 4,000 single young women, most of whom were teenagers. They arrived under a special emigration scheme designed to resettle destitute girls from the workhouses of Ireland during the Great Famine. The Great Irish Famine Commemoration Committee (GIFCC) have broadened their activities to commemorate all who left their homes seeking a new life in the colonies and States of Australia but these workhouse orphan girls, and the historical links back to Ireland, remain the focus of this project and only young women from the workhouses under Earl Grey’s Orphans scheme appear in the database. The three images above the website link were supplied to Trevor McClaughlin in the 1990s and are Mary Ann Ryan per Elgin to Adelaide (left) and one of her children (right) with Ann Brady per Tippoo Saib in the centre.

This website introduces you to the monument itself, to this particular emigration scheme which operated between 1848 & 1850, to the women themselves and the ships on which they travelled. It is designed to be an motivating and rewarding experience for anyone interested in Irish history and genealogy or the broader issues related to famine, displacement and immigration no matter where in the Irish ‘diaspora’ you may reside. The website was initially set up by Dr Trevor McClaughlin and we are grateful for him allowing us to use the information contained in his two volumes of Barefoot & Pregnant? Irish Famine orphans in Australia, Genealogical Society of Victoria, Melbourne, 1991 and 2001 and for the work he and Jennifer Bainbridge did on the first version of this website.

We acknowlege funding assistance from the Irish Government’s Emigrant Support Programme in 2011, 2013 2017 and 2020

The Australian Monument to the Great Irish Famine (1845-1852) is located at the Hyde Park Barracks, on Macquarie Street, Sydney,

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Recent news

  • Invitation to attend Commemoration Ceremony

    20/07/2022
    The GIFCC look forward to seeing you all in person at our Annual Commemoration on 28 August at the Hyde Park Barracks. If you are attending on the day, please RSVP here. For anyone that cannot attend, we will live stream the event on the day.
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  • Memberships – renewals are now due!

    20/07/2022
    Have you renewed your GIFCC Membership? Or would you like to become a member? The Committee would like to thank all those who have renewed their membership this year and very special thanks to those who have added a donation. Memberships are essential for GIFCC Inc’s Department of Fair Trading compliance, participation and...
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  • GIFCC AGM Update

    23/05/2022
    It is with pleasure that we advise a new Committee has been elected with details to be communicated in due course. We would like to express our appreciation to our retiring Board members for their contribution to the GIFCC and thank them most sincerely for serving on the Committee. Their willingness to donate their time and talent has contributed greatly to the success of our group. ...
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