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A fine performance – 1919

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The Daily News (Perth, WA) 16th June, 1919 p6.

London June 15th 2.15 pm
Alcock and Brown after flying sixteen hours twelve minutes, arrived at the wireless station at Clifden. They circled around in aerials looking for a landing. Finally they slightly damaged their machine, landing in a bog.
The Marconi staff rushed to their assistance and found Brown dazed and Alcock deaf from shock. The landing staff escorted the aviator triumphantly to the receiving house, where he soon fully recovered.
Brown states they were constantly in a thick fog and mist. Sometimes they found themselves flying at 11,000 feet, and at other times upside down ten feet from the water.

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A smart chap – 1860

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Co. Galway Assizes
The Bathurst Free Press and Mining Journal, 1st February, 1860 p4
Thursday, July 28
Robert W was indicted for stealing €4; the property of WG at Galway, on the 22nd of April last. The prisoner, a most intelligent boy, about fourteen years of age, defended himself.


It appeared he was born in Belfast, and for three weeks, prior to the offence had been a servant boy in the employment of a Mr. G who keeps an inn in Galway; and on the night of the 22nd of April he was sent by his master to fetch the prisoner’s trunk from the place where he had been staying to Mr G’s house. The prosecutor had £7 in it at the time and in the morning he missed £4, which he stated the prisoner admitted, in the presence of Mr. and Mrs. G that he had taken.


Mr. G corroborated the statement as to the prisoner’s admission of his guilt. The prosecutor was cross-examined by the prisoner as to his drunken habits and as to several statements he had made about having only £2 in his trunk, with a tact and ability that astonished everyone in court, and enlisted the sympathy of the members of the Bar present, one of whom (a leading Q.C.) stated his intention of adopting him — provided he was acquitted — and bringing him up to the Bar.

The prisoner having finished the cross-examination of all the witnesses produced, proceeded with all the acuteness and self possession of an Old Bailey advocate, to address the jury, commenting on the evidence and on the non production, by the Crown, of a material witness (Mrs G); and he stated that he had made the confession alluded to, under compulsion. the prosecutor having threatened to lash the brains out of him with a stick, which he held over him if he did not confess.
The jury acquitted the prisoner.

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Budget – 1934

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Advocate (Melbourne) 28th June, 1934 p9,

In the new Budget the large sum of £4,500,000 is provided for housing. Money is being circulated in every city and town and village in Ireland through the Government’s housing schemes. Local labour and, as far as possible, local materials are being used.

From being apathetic at first, the local councils are now seeing social light and are enthusiasticallv co-operating with Mr. Sean T. O’Kelly’s department. So are the medical officers of health. Knowing that facilities are now available to build new houses, the doctors are listing large numbers of cottages and houses as “unfit for habitation,” and these are demolished. The face of the country is literally being changed.


Good housing, it is a commonplace, makes good citizens; and the present Government will be remembered, if for nothing else, for its brave housing policy.


In the Gaeltacht, where there is a centuries old congestion, the problem will take longer to solve than in the less densely populated parts of the country. A special grant of £80,000 is made in the Budget for Gaeltacht housing. At one time there was a notion that the migration, by State suasion(sic.), of the Gaeltacht population to other counties would be the most effective remedy. Anyone who knows the hardship with which the native Irish speakers have built their little homes and the love they bear them, can understand that this policy would prove unworkable.

The present aim is to make the Gaeltacht fit for Gaels to live in; but centuries of bad government cannot be remedied in a day or a decade.

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A Galway Armoury – 1892

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Freemans Journal Sydney 16th April, 1892, P5

The Galway correspondent of the Central News, March 5, telegraphs;
On Saturday evening the naval reserve armoury just outside this town was broken into and its contents, consisting of 23 Martini-Henri rifles and 17 cutlasses, were stolen. For many years these arms were stored in the police barracks but recently they were removed to the armoury. No guard was kept at this place, and the door was fastened by an ordinary padlock which could be picked with little difficulty.
The police have been scouring the countryside since the robbery was discovered, but the thieves have not yet been traced. One of the cutlasses, however, and a ramrod have been found on a road leading to the shore of the bay, and it is conjectured that the robbers crossed in a boat from County Clare and made their escape with their booty in that way. On Monday H.M. cutter Fly conveyed a party of police across the bay to County Clare to join in the search.

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St Brigid

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Advocate (Melbourne) 18th February 1954 p 17.
(abridged)

The 1st February is the feast day of St. Brigid, who with Patrick and Colmcille, is venerated as one of the patron saints of Ireland.
St. Brigid, who flourished in the fifth century, is remembered in tradition for her goodness and charity, and her name is still a common one in Irish families. Many towns have been called after her, such as Kilbride (the Church of Brigid).The great monastery of the saint was at Kildare (Cill Dara—the Church of the Oak Tree), which became known far and wide as a great centre of religion and learning.
St. Brigid enjoys a remarkable popularity through all western Europe due to the work of Irish missionaries on the Continent from the 6th century onwards. Many churches and chapels are dedicated to her, and in Strasbourg, the seat of the Council of Europe, her cult is associated with the collegiate church of Saint Pierre-le-Vieux.
The main significance of the feast of St. Brigid, writes Mr. Sean O’Suilleabhain, of the Irish Folklore Commission, would seem to be that it was a christianization of one of the focal points of the agricultural year, the starting point of preparations for the spring sowing.
Every manifestation of the cult of the saint or of the pagan deity she replaced closely bound up in some way with food production. At the feast of St. Brigid in olden times when people looked forward to the sowing of the crops and to the increased produce of milk and butter, food was exposed for the Saint for her use and to ask her blessing.
The Irish Folklore Commission has accounts from many parts of Ireland of the exposure of a cake(or in some places a sheaf), at the doorstep or near the house on the eve of the feast. In Co. Galway a potato was impaled on the roof of the house on that evening and later used as seed. Shell-fish were brought from the shore and scattered on the floor in the Aran Islands and in some of the fishing districts of Galway.
The custom of making St.Brigid’s crosses is still found in many parts of Ireland. They are made usually from straw or rushes; sometimes straw and rushes are combined in the one cross to give an ornamental effect with contrasting colours. The crosses vary considerably in pattern, in fact, several of the types have no elements of a cross at all and it is likely that they represent a pagan custom christianized by association with a saint.(The adoption of deeply rooted pagan customs by early Christian missionaries has perhaps its best example in the holy wells which are found in every part of Ireland.)
In the Aran Islands on the 1st February the old women get some straw and some clothing and dress up in the image of St. Brigid. They then go from house to house, saying a prayer as they enter. Each person takes some of the straw and makes a St. Brigid cross, which is nailed to the rafter inside the roof in remembrance of the saint. This is the ceremony of the “Brideog.” In other parts of the country the crosses are made on St. Brigid’s Eve. A simple ceremonial meal precedes the introduction of the necessary material, consisting mainly of sowans or flunnery (kinds of porridge). Crosses, as well as being placed in dwelling houses, are also put in byres and stables to bring a blessing on the animals during the year ahead.

Photo: EOD
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Female Fashions for January – 1825

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The Connaught Journal – 10th January, 1825

Head Dress

Bonnet of royal purple terry velvet or velour epingle; the brim broad and flat ,with a corded satin edge; the crown high, and rounded at the top, and partially covered with a (?) of velvet, bound in satin nearly half an inch in breadth, and ornamented with a small twisted silk cord of the same colour; the trimmings in front are large, and finished with a small twisted silk cord of the same colour; the trimmings in front are large, and finished in the same manner; the centre one is long and narrow, and finished in the same manner and placed perpendicularly, concealing the termination of those on each side; bows of pearl-edge satin ribbon are disposed about the crown; long stripes of the same inside the brim.

Black velvet dress hat, bound with gold lace from a small bow in front, the brim forms double and small white marabouts [*] are introduced between – it is closed behind in a similar manner; broad gold band around the crown, and at the top four curved ornaments, bound also with gold lace; marabouts in front and on the right side.

Tartarian turban, formed of a richly shaded stripe silk kerchief.

Cap of pink and white crepe lisse, with double borders, and broad strings of the same; the crown is high; the back part of white crepe lisse, full, and arranged by five flat pink satin bands, placed perpendicularly, and inserted in the pink satin band at the bottom of the caul; the front is formed by bouffants of alternate pink and white and crepe lisse, interspersed with pink satin ornaments of a papillonascous shape, with a profusion of winter cherries or alkekengi, and rosebuds above.

    Evening Dress
    Pinin colour velvet dress; the corsage plain, across the burst, and drawn to shape with a little fullness at the waist; high in front, and falling rather low on the shoulders, and finished with gold embroidered lace round the top; the sleeves are short, with epaulettes formed of heart-shaped leaves, trimmed with blond; attached are long full sleeves of white gauze, regulated in front by ribbon velvet passing from under the area to the lower part of the sleeve, which is confined by three velvet bands round the arm, each fastened by a bow and gold clasp; blonde ruffle at the wrist. At the bottom of the skirt is a broad band of satin of the same colour, with small silk cord laid across, forming squares; gold embroidered ceinture, fastened in front with an antique gem.- African turban of lilac barege, richly embroidered in gold, with a band of gold round the head, and supporting the feids over the right ear. The hair parted from the forehead, and three or four large curls on each side. Necklace of medallions in enamel, united by triple chains of gold ear-rings to correspond. English Thibel square shawl with embroidered corners. Short white kid gloves.- White satin shoes.

    • [marabout n : large African black-and-white carrion-eating stork; downy under-wing feathers are used to trim garments]

    Photo: EOD
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    Christmas Eve Legends – 1927

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    World News Sydney 24th December, 1927 p 27

    There is is a beautiful belief in Ireland that every Christmas Eve the Christ-Child walks once more through the land, so lighted candles are placed in the window of every homestead and cabin throughout Ireland to guide the Holy Child, lest He lose His way in the dark and cold outside.

    In Austria-Hungary this idea is carried still further, for there the doors are opened wide in case the Infant Saviour might wish to come within and rest while on His journey.


    The curious legend of the man-in-the moon comes from Germany, where Christmas has always been so essentially the children’s festival. One moonlit Christmas Eve, it is said, a poor peasant was suddenly seized with an overwhelming desire to have some cabbages for his Christmas dinner, and, as he did not have any in his own garden, he decided to steal some from a neighbour’s under cover of night. He betook himself to a quiet garden, and had just gathered his spoil and was preparing to go when, as he reached the gate, the Christ-Child stood before him, and, with sad, pitying eyes, inquired why the man had committed the theft. The ashamed and angry peasant replied roughly, “I did not steal them; Otto told me I might have them.”. And he would have passed by, but the Christ-Child barred the way. At last the culprit was stung to frenzy by those grief-filled eyes, and cried, ‘If I did steal them, may I be put in the moon.” Immediately he was caught up into the white moon, with the bundle of cabbages at his back, and there one may see him still any moonlit night.

    In many parts of England, especially in Devon and Cornwall, the belief lingered for many a day that if one looked into a stable any Christmas Eve one would find all the oxen upon their knees at midnight, in memory of the kings who were said to have knelt in adoration round the manger of Bethlehem on that first Christmas night.


    In Brittany the peasants believe that this night the cattle receive the gift of speech, and join in praise with all mankind, while in Cornwall the good wives cherish the idea that at this magic hour the water in all wells and fountains is turned into wine, “so holy and gracious is the time.”

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    Litigation – 1852

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    Empire (Sydney, NSW) 19th February 1852 p 4.
    Great Decrease in Litigation
    Further accounts from the country mention that there is an enormous decrease in the civil business at the October Quarter Sessions, now in progress; and this applies to Leinster as well as Munster and Connaught. At the Sessions of Kells, County Meath, before the famine, the ordinary number of civil bill processes had been 800. In October, 1849, the number entered had been 444; in October, 1850, it declined to 289; at the Sessions held this week only 130 processes had been entered, although the jurisdiction of the assistant-barristers, by the Act of last Session, has been extended from £20 to £40.
    This extraordinary falling-off, which has destroyed the business of the attorneys practising at Quarter Sessions, is attributable to the continued decrease of the population and the stoppage of credit in the dealings amongst the country shopkeepers and the peasantry.
    Meantime remittances to a vast extent are received from America, to enable the friends and relatives of settlers to emigrate. In Kelly, whilst the Sessions were in progress, various sums were obtained, in the shape of bank orders, and many of the farmers are preparing to take a winter voyage across the Atlantic.

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    Galway

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    Freeman’s Journal, Sydney, 30th December, 1863 p. 6

    HISTORICAL NOTES OF GALWA¥.
    The collegiate church of St. Nicholas was founded in the year 1320, and to this day, in its extent and architectural beauty attests the piety, wealth, and public spirit of its founders. The office of warden has been filled by many learned and pious divines; but as each warden was elected perennially by the lay patrons of the town, considerable ill-feeling was, at time, excited between the ‘tribes’ and ‘ non tribes,’ in the election of their particular representatives. Much dissatisfaction arose from these disputes, which were not unfrequently carried to Rome. At length, in 1831, the wardenship was abolished by the Pope, and Galway was erected into a Bishopric. Edmund French, a convert to the Catholic church, being the last warden of Galway.
    In 1296, Sir William de Burgh (the grey) founded the Franciscan Monastery, in St. Stephen’s Island without the north gate; he died A.D. 1324, and was interred in the abbey. In 1513, Maurice O’Fihely known as ‘Flosmundi,’ the flower of the world, died and was interred in this monastery. His monument still exists and is pointed out to the visitor.
    In 1857, all the buildings of the abbey were demolished, except the church, in which assizes were held. In 1678, the members of this and the other religious houses of the town were banished, but afterwards gradually returned, and for many years felt the full force of the penal laws, suffering the most severe persecutions, being frequently cast into prison, tried, transported, and frequently in danger of their lives. Galway was one of the chief places in Ireland which afforded refuge to the proscribed ecclesiastics of the religious orders, until the mitigation of the penal laws.
    The Dominican friary is situated on an elevated spot near the sea shore, in the west part of the town, on the site of an ancient convent of St. Mary of the bill,’ a daughter of the Holy Trinity of the Premonstrances of Tuam, which was founded by the O’Hallorans. The inhabitants of the town having petitioned Pope Innocent the VIII., it was granted to the Dominicans of Athenry 1488. It was afterwards richly endowed, and considerable additions were made to the church and monastery.
    James Lynch Fitstephen was mayor of Galway in 1493, and became celebrated for having with his own hands executed his only son, who had taken the life of a young Spaniard, the guest of the mayor, lie erected the choir of this church.
    In 1642, Lord Forbes landed at Galway and took possession of this church, which he converted into a battery with a design of reducing the town. Failing in this, he defaced the church, and in his brutal rage dug up the graves and burned the coffins and, bones of the dead. In 1652, the friars surrendered their church and monastery to the corporation, which were soon after razed to the ground, lest they should be converted into a fortification by the troops. of Cromwell and used against the town.
    The Augustinian friary was situated on an eminence near the sea, in the south suburbs of the town, within a few hundred yards of the walls. It was founded in 1508, by Margaret Ashby, wife of Stephen Lynch. Fitz Dominick, at the instance of Richard Nangle, an Augustinian hermit, who afterwards became Archbishop of Tuam.
    In 1570, Queen Elizabeth granted to the corporation part of the possessions of this monastery there lately dissolved. James I., in 1603, granted all its possessions to Sir George Carew for ever.
    The friars on the suppression of the monastery, removed to a large house within the town which they occupied for many years. The Church remained standing, and on the building of St. Augustine’s fort in 1652, it was destroyed lest it should be fortified against the town. Since then not a vestige of it remains.
    Knights Templars were established beyond the east gate. The order was suppressed in 1312 and its possessions given to the Hospitallers of St. John of Jerusalem. The Franciscan nunnery of St. Clare was established in 1511, by Walter Lynch Fitz Thomas, who was mayor of Galway in 1504. He gave to his daughter a dwelling house near the church of St. Nicholson, which, was afterwards known as the house of the poor nuns of the third order of St. Francis.

    Photo; EO'D
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    Waterways – 1803

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    The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser 26th March, 1803 p2
    DUBLIN – AUGUST
    On Monday, 23d inst. the foundation stone of the last Lock of the Grand Canal, where that work unites with the river Shannon, near Banagher, was laid by Richard Griffith, Esq., one of the Directors of that Company.
    We congratulate our country on the near approach which this great national undertaking makes towards completion We have
    watched it progress with anxious pleasure for many years past, and we have seen the beneficial effects of the progress in the advancement of agriculture into the heart of
    the kingdom. When we look to its junction with the Shannon, and behold that noble river extending its fertile banks, 180 miles in length, through Roscommon, Galway, Mayo, Leitrim, Westmeath, King’s country, Tipperary, Limerick, and Clare, made navigable at public expense, free from toll, and brought by its junction with the Grand Canal, into contact with the market and port of Dublin, we are at a loss how to calculate the extent of public advantage, or to compute the amount of well-earned private gain which will result from the accomplishment of so bold and so well-conducted an undertaking.
    We understand that the works between Tullamore and the Shannon, are proceeding with uncommon vigour, and that there is every reason to expect they will be completed within 12 or 14 months.