Arigna project tracks history of every household in the former mining valley

On April 11th, 1838, Patrick William Cullen, a farmer from the Arigna valley in Co Roscommon, set foot on Sydney soil in leg irons, having been sentenced to seven years' transportation for stealing a cow.

Patrick's most famous descendant is Clover Moore, the current lord mayor of Sydney, and while she wasn't at the Miners' Bar in Arigna village last night for a hooley to mark the beginning of the community's Gathering festivities, she will get an invitation to their next bash.

"We didn't know about the connection until a few days ago," explained Patsy Daly of the Arigna Heritage Group, which is tracking the history of every household in the valley, an area synonymous with mining for more than 400 years .

“But we definitely intend to have another gathering in the next year or two, and we will be inviting her and others who didn’t make it this time.”

Historical records suggest that Patrick Cullen, a native of Glen, Arigna, was innocent, and while five of his 10 children followed him to Australia, he never saw his wife or his other children again.

Known locally as "white horse Cullen", his tragedy is just one of the stories uncovered as the Finding the Homeplace project continues in Arigna.

Derelict houses
The coal mines closed in 1990, and the mountainside is dotted with the ruins of derelict houses, but the community is determined that the stories behind those crumbling walls will not be forgotten. Using numerous sources, including census records, Griffiths Valuation – a record of all Irish land and property in the mid-1800s – and the memories of older residents, the group is slowly reclaiming the history of up to 400 local households.

Many remain in Arigna and others are long gone, many to Australia, the US and Britain.

“As you’d expect the family name usually continues on the same plot for generations but when it changes we discover there is usually a story, maybe eviction or emigration, or maybe someone married into the place,” explained Brenda Cull, a local woman and one of the researchers.

For the next week their findings will be on display in the Miners’ Bar in the village, and while described as “very much a work in progress” the exhibition is generating huge excitement, not least among those who left the valley a lifetime ago.

Brothers Paddy (84) and John (78) Houlihan were at the launch last night, having made the trip from Australia. Cousins of racehorse owner JP McManus, whose father John James was also a native of the valley, they started working in the pits as teenagers.

Paddy left the docks in London on April 17th, 1955, and arrived in Melbourne on May 25th after a five-week voyage. He has been home just three times since.

“I spent eight years in the mines. I started when I was 14,” he recalled. “It was slave labour but you were considered a weakling if you didn’t go into the mines.”

John followed him a year later. "I think about 20 people from Arigna and the Drumshanbo area came after me," said Paddy, who spent a lifetime working in construction in Australia.

First Christmas
"I spent 10 years working on the Snowy mountain where we were building a dam. I remember my first Christmas in Australia. I could not get over the weather. Everyone was going to the beach. It was very different to Christmas in Arigna."

John, who also went down the pits as a teenager, says he then went to the other extreme, spending 40 years driving cranes in Sydney.

“It must have been hard on our parents as they knew they would not see us again,” he agreed.

“My first trip home was for my mother’s funeral in 1968.”

Their cousin JP McManus has over the years been a frequent visitor to his relatives in Arigna, and regularly brought his 80-something uncle Owen, another former Arigna miner who died in 2010, for a spin over the valley in his helicopter.

The stories of the valley came tumbling out at last night's launch of the Finding the Homeplace project during the "mining experience", where local resident, writer and Irish Times columnist Michael Harding did the honours.

Sadness
There was some sadness that the man who initiated the project, landscape gardener and historian Sean Daly, was not there to see the returned emigrants and the locals swapping memories. Daly, who moved into Arigna just 10 years ago, died last March.

Among those who will enjoy the fruits of his labour in the coming week is retired US army brigadier general James P Cullen, an influential figure who has campaigned forcefully for the closure of Guantánamo Bay detention camp.

The Wall Street lawyer whose father emigrated from the valley will arrive in Arigna next weekend.

Another famous Cullen with stories to tell.