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‘A HUNDRED THOUSAND WELCOMES’
2020 AGM of the Great Irish Famine Commemoration Committee Inc
The 2020 AGM will take place on November 21st at 2pm. Please find details here.
FAMINE COMMEMORATION 2020
The GIFCC Famine Commemoration 2020 took place on Sunday August 30th at the Australian Monument to the Great Irish Famine at Hyde Park Barracks, Macquarie Street, Sydney. Due to Covis-19 restrictions the event was limited to 20 people but was LiveStreamed to audiences around the world.
Watch now at LiveStream
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 and 2017
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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AGM – Notice of Meeting
28/10/2020The GIFCC Inc Annual General Meeting 2020 will take place on SATURDAY, November 21st at 2 pm via Zoom. All positions are open for nominations as follows:- Chairperson, Vice-Chair, Treasurer, Secretary, Committee member (5 positions), ie., a total of nine (9) on the Committee. The Attendee Registration**, Nomination, and Proxy... -
Memberships
11/10/2020Many of you have renewed your Membership for the year to June 30th, 2021, and quite a few have added a donation to your renewal fee – the Committee appreciates your generosity in doing so. Membership remains open and we encourage you to join as a new member or renew... -
The Australian Monument to the Great Irish Famine [aka “The Memorial”]
11/10/2020From time to time there has been a need to carry out repairs or maintenance on The Memorial. This work is the responsibility of Sydney Living Museums on whose property The Memorial is located; repair costs are covered by their insurance. On several occasions, damage occurred to the glass panels...
