Céad míle fáilte
‘A HUNDRED THOUSAND WELCOMES’
MEMBERSHIP RENEWALS due July 1st
Please visit the Membership page and download the Membership Form.
Due to the Sydney lockdown, the GIFCC regrets to advise the 2021 Commemoration will not take place on August 29th. This is the first time in 20 years that the Commemoration has not been held.
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,
View Orphan Database
History
Events
Newsletters
Membership
Make a Donation
Recent news
-
How to research and write the life stories of Irish famine orphans
04/03/2022By Amanda Midlam DEDICATED TO THE REMARKABLE YOUNG WOMEN WHO CHANGED THEIR LIVES FOREVER – AND SOME OF OURS – BY EMIGRATING FROM IRELAND WHILE STILL IN THEIR TEENS IN 1848 – 1859. This work was completed by Amanda Midlam as part of the course requirement for FOAR7004: Arts Internship for... -
Annual General Meeting – (postponed from Nov 2021)
04/03/2022The GIFCC will hold the 2021 Annual General Meeting on MARCH 26 TH 2022. The meeting will take place on Zoom to allow Covid-safe and accessible attendance for all. Please note, all attendees will be required to register to participate in the meeting. Financial members are entitled to vote. CommitteeCurrently... -
Earl Grey Orphan Project
04/03/2022This project was funded by an Irish Government Emigrant Support Programme Grant which paid for an historian to supervise six students at Macquarie University doing a Professional and Community Engagement (PACE) unit as part of their degree during Semester 1, 2021. The aim of the project was to research and...
