Good evening Mayor, councillors and staff.
Thank you for this opportunity to address you tonight about our proposal for an Irish Famine Memorial in Subiaco and to share our vision for this special project.
In your bundle of documents for tonight's meeting you have a detailed presentation about the project, including artists impressions and aspects of what is involved.
My name is Fred Rea, I am the Chair Western Australia Irish Famine Commemoration Committee Inc.
Our aim is to give the people of Western Australia a deeper understanding of the effects of the "Great Famine", both on Ireland and on those emigrants who came here
The Famine of 1845 to 1849 is commonly known in Ireland as The Great Hunger. In those few years more than a million people died of starvation and disease while another million fled Ireland forever.
Western Australia was as you know opened up to Europeans in 1829 as a penal colony and was already an established 'outlet' by the time the Famine struck.
Some 40,000 convicts deported to the fledgling colony were Irish. Most would earn their freedom and chose to stay.
Many other Irish would come as free settlers.
Shiploads of young women left destitute by the Famine also arrived about the same time Subiaco was being founded by Benedictine monks. These girls and women would become mothers and matriarchs to generations of Australian families.
The torch of the religious tradition of the Benedictine Monks in Subiaco would be carried on in the following generations by Irish clergy. St John of God Hospital was built and run by young Irish women in the service of God, and their new found if not distant communities.
Today their sacrifice and contribution is recognised in Subiaco by the naming of several streets around the train station precinct with the names of the places they came from, such as Tipperary Mews and Dublin Close.
The nearby Catholic church - St Joseph's - has always had and even today maintained a long tradition of priests from or connected with Ireland.
When St Mary's Cathedral was closed for redevelopment a few years ago the task of celebrating St Patrick's Day mass was taken up enthusiastically by St. Joseph's.
Subiaco has another close association with the day for Ireland's patron saint. For decades, Subiaco Oval was the central location at which many Perth Catholic schools would congregate to mark and celebrate St. Patrick's Day.
St Joseph's continues to be a spiritual home to the Irish community in modern times.
Unfortunately in recent years there have been quite a few cases of mainly young Irish people who have died in unexpected and terrible circumstances. In each and every one of those instances that I am aware of St. Joseph's was the church at which funeral services and masses were held - and in some cases even streamed live over the web to mourning family and friends back in Ireland, but also other parts of the world.
If Subiaco is the spiritual home of the Irish community in WA, then it is of course also the physical home as well.
The very first meeting of the Irish Club took place in the pool room of an establishment in Shenton Park in 1952 and from the mid 1970's it took up permanent residence in Townshend Road, where it has remained - through good times and bad - ever since.
It was former mayor Tony Costa who proposed Subiaco as the best location in Perth.
Tony has Irish heritage, as a child migrant taken from his family as a young boy and sent to Western Australia.
Ever since he left Bindoon at the age of 16 he has called Subiaco home, while also returning to Ireland occasionally. He is in Melbourne tonight on a pre-arranged trip and regrets not being able to speak to the matter himself.
Because of his life experiences - and those of many like him - Tony would go on to champion the values of social justice and equality. In addition to his Irish heritage, I think Tony recognised the wider symbolic meaning of this memorial – of human triumph over adversity.
We believe this memorial would raise the national and international profile of Subiaco. It would put Subiaco on a par with Melbourne and Sydney which both have Irish Famine Memorials. Subiaco would also become part of a global network of Famine memorial sites, including in New York, Boston, Toronto and around Ireland.
The City of Subiaco has a progressive public arts policy, one that reaches out and embraces the arts and broader community. Murals brighten up public laneways and carparks while a scattering of sculptures and other pieces of public artwork adorn the city's streets and recreation areas. The striking feminine form of this memorial would add to that variety and cultural vibrancy.
Husband and wife sculptor team Charlie and Joan Smith are Irish born Ireland but both made Western Australia their home decades ago and have gone on to become two of Australia's most respected sculptors.
They have created iconic pieces such as the National Memorial to the Australian Army in Canberra, memorials to the HMAS Sydney II in Geraldton and Debham WA. More locally in Perth, the Kangaroos on the Terrace in Perth and the tumbling figure of Percy Buttons in the Hay Street Mall are theirs too.
They are so passionate and committed to this project that they have volunteered their expertise and time which has helped significantly towards the cost of funding this project.
The Famine Memorial will attract visitors from Ireland who travel here to live, work and holiday or to visit family and loved ones.
With about 1 in four Australians claiming Irish heritage or ancestry we believe this memorial would also attract the attention and interest of the wider community.
It could be a place for local people to meet and step outside the daily hustle of life, a landmark for visitors to see and a place of gathering on special occasions.
Subiaco is already a special place with a fascinating history and tradition of welcoming people from all parts of the world. This memorial we believe would add to that sense of uniqueness.
There is much to commemorate and a lot to celebrate.
Go Raibh Math Agat!
Thank you!
Fred Rea, Chair WAIFC
Thank you for this opportunity to address you tonight about our proposal for an Irish Famine Memorial in Subiaco and to share our vision for this special project.
In your bundle of documents for tonight's meeting you have a detailed presentation about the project, including artists impressions and aspects of what is involved.
My name is Fred Rea, I am the Chair Western Australia Irish Famine Commemoration Committee Inc.
Our aim is to give the people of Western Australia a deeper understanding of the effects of the "Great Famine", both on Ireland and on those emigrants who came here
The Famine of 1845 to 1849 is commonly known in Ireland as The Great Hunger. In those few years more than a million people died of starvation and disease while another million fled Ireland forever.
Western Australia was as you know opened up to Europeans in 1829 as a penal colony and was already an established 'outlet' by the time the Famine struck.
Some 40,000 convicts deported to the fledgling colony were Irish. Most would earn their freedom and chose to stay.
Many other Irish would come as free settlers.
Shiploads of young women left destitute by the Famine also arrived about the same time Subiaco was being founded by Benedictine monks. These girls and women would become mothers and matriarchs to generations of Australian families.
The torch of the religious tradition of the Benedictine Monks in Subiaco would be carried on in the following generations by Irish clergy. St John of God Hospital was built and run by young Irish women in the service of God, and their new found if not distant communities.
Today their sacrifice and contribution is recognised in Subiaco by the naming of several streets around the train station precinct with the names of the places they came from, such as Tipperary Mews and Dublin Close.
The nearby Catholic church - St Joseph's - has always had and even today maintained a long tradition of priests from or connected with Ireland.
When St Mary's Cathedral was closed for redevelopment a few years ago the task of celebrating St Patrick's Day mass was taken up enthusiastically by St. Joseph's.
Subiaco has another close association with the day for Ireland's patron saint. For decades, Subiaco Oval was the central location at which many Perth Catholic schools would congregate to mark and celebrate St. Patrick's Day.
St Joseph's continues to be a spiritual home to the Irish community in modern times.
Unfortunately in recent years there have been quite a few cases of mainly young Irish people who have died in unexpected and terrible circumstances. In each and every one of those instances that I am aware of St. Joseph's was the church at which funeral services and masses were held - and in some cases even streamed live over the web to mourning family and friends back in Ireland, but also other parts of the world.
If Subiaco is the spiritual home of the Irish community in WA, then it is of course also the physical home as well.
The very first meeting of the Irish Club took place in the pool room of an establishment in Shenton Park in 1952 and from the mid 1970's it took up permanent residence in Townshend Road, where it has remained - through good times and bad - ever since.
It was former mayor Tony Costa who proposed Subiaco as the best location in Perth.
Tony has Irish heritage, as a child migrant taken from his family as a young boy and sent to Western Australia.
Ever since he left Bindoon at the age of 16 he has called Subiaco home, while also returning to Ireland occasionally. He is in Melbourne tonight on a pre-arranged trip and regrets not being able to speak to the matter himself.
Because of his life experiences - and those of many like him - Tony would go on to champion the values of social justice and equality. In addition to his Irish heritage, I think Tony recognised the wider symbolic meaning of this memorial – of human triumph over adversity.
We believe this memorial would raise the national and international profile of Subiaco. It would put Subiaco on a par with Melbourne and Sydney which both have Irish Famine Memorials. Subiaco would also become part of a global network of Famine memorial sites, including in New York, Boston, Toronto and around Ireland.
The City of Subiaco has a progressive public arts policy, one that reaches out and embraces the arts and broader community. Murals brighten up public laneways and carparks while a scattering of sculptures and other pieces of public artwork adorn the city's streets and recreation areas. The striking feminine form of this memorial would add to that variety and cultural vibrancy.
Husband and wife sculptor team Charlie and Joan Smith are Irish born Ireland but both made Western Australia their home decades ago and have gone on to become two of Australia's most respected sculptors.
They have created iconic pieces such as the National Memorial to the Australian Army in Canberra, memorials to the HMAS Sydney II in Geraldton and Debham WA. More locally in Perth, the Kangaroos on the Terrace in Perth and the tumbling figure of Percy Buttons in the Hay Street Mall are theirs too.
They are so passionate and committed to this project that they have volunteered their expertise and time which has helped significantly towards the cost of funding this project.
The Famine Memorial will attract visitors from Ireland who travel here to live, work and holiday or to visit family and loved ones.
With about 1 in four Australians claiming Irish heritage or ancestry we believe this memorial would also attract the attention and interest of the wider community.
It could be a place for local people to meet and step outside the daily hustle of life, a landmark for visitors to see and a place of gathering on special occasions.
Subiaco is already a special place with a fascinating history and tradition of welcoming people from all parts of the world. This memorial we believe would add to that sense of uniqueness.
There is much to commemorate and a lot to celebrate.
Go Raibh Math Agat!
Thank you!
Fred Rea, Chair WAIFC