Valley Irish "history" sought for major exhibition
1 Nov 10
Kangaroo Valley has an opportunity to be part of a major exhibition at the National Museum of Australia (NMA) in Canberra, commencing next March.
The Museum will be launching, appropriately on 17 March - Ireland's national day - a history of the Irish people in Australia since European settlement began.
The exhibition will be based on the storyline `One Hundred Great Stories of the Irish'.
It will cover the entire period of European settlement of this continent, 1788 to 2011.
Senior Curator for the exhibition from the NMA, Dr Richard Reid, visited the Pioneer Museum Park and spoke to members of the KV Historical Society about why he and his assistants have been touring the country.
The Museum would like to gather any interesting artefacts connected with Irish families who settled in different parts of Australia
Regarding the Valley, some connections are well known, families such as the Maguires, Kings, Nelsons, and of course, Chittick, for example.
But there may be Irish connections going back further - perhaps to the days of the cedar getters, before agriculture, including dairy farming, was established.
Perhaps you have items with an Irish connection that may be of interest and could form part of this exhibition.
If so, please contact KVHS President, Garth Chittick on 4465 1367.
The artefacts could be personal items, farm implements, or anything unusual connected with Irish settlers.
Dr Reid and his team have travelled far and wide around the country to places where there were major Irish settlements- from the Clare Valley in SA to Koroit in western Victoria, to nearby Kiama to see a collection of newspaper records.
Richard Reid has also produced a book, Sinners, Saints and Settlers: A Journey Through Irish Australia, which will be a companion to the exhibition.
Garth Chittick