Each November several hundred people gather at a standing stone memorial in Williamstown – the first settlement of colonial Melbourne, Australia.
They are remembering the Irish Famine orphan girls sent here with the Earl Grey Scheme (1848-1850) – so called after the then secretary of state for the colonies, at the height of the Great Hunger in Ireland (1845-1852).
Some 4,114 orphan girls, aged 14-19, were sent to Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide. The aim was to provide domestic servants for European settlers, potential wives for convicts, to help populate the new colony and to lessen numbers in Irish workhouses.
Today, approximately two million Australians are descended from an Irish Famine orphan girl.
From an Irish workhouse to Australia – the story of the Famine orphan girls
Australia offers me a more dignified life than the one I had in Ireland. It’s not unpatriotic to say so
‘Trades are very well paid here compared to anywhere else in the world I have been’
‘I know nothing about running a kitchen . . . it looks like absolute hell – tiring, time consuming and extremely risky’
Most gathered at Famine Rock are descendants of more than 1,200 orphan girls sent to Melbourne. Others are not. But all pay tribute to the resilience of those brave teenagers journeying from hunger to hope so long ago.
[ Great Famine and Irish independence struggle linked by geography and historyOpens in new window ]
Who were the Irish Famine Orphan Girls? Surprisingly, many people – in Australia and Ireland – do not know. And that is the challenge.
Recently, Irish singer-songwriter Ryan Kelly (best known for being a part of Celtic Thunder) did an interview, hosted by the Irish Famine Orphan Girls Commemoration Melbourne, to speak of sharing our stories in song.
For their Famine-emigration song, Land of a Thousand Dreams, bandmates Kelly and Neil Byrne filmed at the Cliffs of Moher, Co Clare.
“Learning about the Famine and this tragic, tragic time in Ireland, when we lost millions to starvation and emigration – people just had to leave because there was no food, there was no life here and they had to go – I thought about the people watching from the clifftops as their family members boarded these ships. And they were gone,” said Kelly.
“But, as the song goes on, it’s more echoing the pride that we have in these people and in our forefathers who made these journeys.”
It’s a miracle to me that Lucy and the other Earl Grey girls remained healthy enough to be chosen to come to Australia in the first place
— Sue Jacques
The determination of the Irish to integrate and contribute in their new lives, while keeping alive pride in their native ground – that is the story of the diaspora.
The 2016 song still inspires people to learn more about the Famine. “That’s the beauty of music, as a connection it can make with people across the world,” said Kelly.
Some 94 girls were sent from Co Tyrone, including one Eliza Greenwood from her home village of Moy.
“The whole story of the Great Famine and that emigration story is not told enough,” said Kelly. “It’s not taught in our schools. And it’s something that we should know more about growing up, because it’s a massive, massive part of our history.”
Even in Australia, awareness of this remarkable story is still only slowly building. Many descendants didn’t know the story, until an orphan girl ancestor stepped from the shadows of family history research. Sue Jacques, of Queensland, is a great-great-granddaughter of Lucy Ellis, one of 35 orphan girls sent from the Newry Workhouse, Co Down. Sixteen year-old Lucy arrived in Melbourne on board the Derwent in 1850.
Sue first learned Lucy’s story from family research. And she wasted no time in visiting Newry to retrace Lucy’s steps.
“Through this journey, I met a lot of wonderful people and I really found out what the conditions were like in the workhouses then,” she said. “You can read all you like but it’s when you visit there and see for yourself, you truly appreciate what it was like.
“The cold, stone buildings, long dormitories with one very tiny fire at the end of two long rooms, high windows that you couldn’t see out of, families separated, overcrowded – and the list goes on. It’s a miracle to me that Lucy and the other Earl Grey girls remained healthy enough to be chosen to come to Australia in the first place.”
For a long time the orphan girls’ story has been largely unknown. “When we’ve got these platforms I think it’s important for us to use them and undo this,” said Kelly.
It remains for us to tell their story.
The 2024 Irish Famine Orphan Girls Commemoration event was held on Sunday, November 24th at Famine Rock in Burgoyne Reserve, Williamstown, Melbourne.
Siobhán O’Neill is a consulting media, communications and event manager who lives in Melbourne. She emigrated to Australia with her Irish parents when she was a baby.
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