Irish Diaspora: Australia

Ye socks of Irish descent really need to check out this web site:

www.nationalarchives.ie

There you will not only find a searchable version of Ireland's 1911 census, but also a database of all the convicts who were deported to Australia.

A quick search for the GLEESON surname (my maternal line) yielded no fewer than 75 hits.

Kinda fun to uncover a black sheep or two in the the annals of our family history.

With a little bit of the proverbial Irish luck, perhaps one or two of ye socks out there will make a kinnection thru one of the databases on this site!

Wizard of Oz?!

Today's feature in the DVD "catch-up" list was filmmaker Baz Luhrmann's "Australia."

I was really prepared to like this movie. I'm kind of a sucker for epic, historic tales. And, I'll watch just about anything with Nicole Kidman in it. (Well, except for Moulin Rouge, which was utter tripe and nonsense despite the critical acclaim.)

Unfortunately, Luhrmann's vision was too narrow.

Then again, it can't be easy to capture the character of an entire nation--nay, an entire continent--even if you do expend three hours of film in the attempt.

Instead, he did a bang-up job of depicting what it was like to live in the northwestern part of Australia (particularly in and around the port of Darwin) during the Second World War.

More annoying, he injected the theme song from "The Wizard of Oz" ad nauseum. ("Somewhere over the rainbow.")

The bottom line is this: The Crocodile Dundee movies have done a better job at characterizing the land down under for the rest of the world than the current offering.

And, that's just sad.

The voyage of the Lady Juliana

The PBS series "Secrets of the Dead" continues to shine in obscurity--though with a decidedly Australian flavor this season.

Tonight's episode described the voyage of the Lady Juliana, a ship of female convicts sent to populate the British penal colony down under.

It was really an interesting account, and the producers are to be credited for tracking down and interviewing a handful of descendants.

Again, I don't know why the "big" networks continue to force-feed tripe like American Idol.

Or, could it be that I'm just "out of step" with the rest of the tv-viewing public.

Sadly, I think the latter is the case.

Oh, well . . .

The Catalpa Rescue

I just watched an excellent documentary on the "Catalpa Rescue."

The rescue got its name from the ship Catalpa pictured here, an old whaler from the port of New Bedford, Massachusetts.

Anyway, it was featured on the PBS series "Secrets of the Dead," which usually includes a lot of forensic detective work in its episodes.

But, that was not the case tonight. There were no bones, no DNA testing, no botanical consultants.

Just the recounting of this fascinating story, one that (despite my lifelong love of history) had completely escaped my usually astute radar.

Anyway, it seems the British imprisoned 6 Irish soldiers for treason back in 1866 and sent them to a remote prison at Fremantle (near Perth) in western Australia.

One of the men, James Wilson, managed to sneak a plea for help to Irish nationalist John DeVoy, who had been exiled to the United States.

DeVoy rallied the American Irish group Clan na Gael to free the "Fremantle Six," as they were called. He soon had thousands of dollars pouring in to his office, enough to buy the Catalpa and finance a bold raid on the British prison.

If your local PBS station airs this episode, I can highly recommend it. True stories are always the best, and this one is full of a lot of drama, adventure, etc. And, it ends with an emotional unfurling of Old Glory by the captain of the Catalpa as a warning to the British navy vessels pursuing them that all those aboard enjoyed the protection of American sovereignty on the high seas.

I like any such reminder of America's long association with the cause of liberty. I only wish examples like this weren't relegated to PBS. The "Big 4" networks should be taking note.