‘Shamrock Aborigine’ is the sentimental nickname to denote Aboriginal Australians with Irish descent. I came across this little gem recently in a book I was reading by Stan Grant, himself a proud Wiradjuri, Kamilaroi and Dharawal man with Irish heritage.
Stan talks about the similar colonial histories of the Australian Aboriginal and the Celtic Irish people. Indeed, there are myriad examples of forced British imperialistic land dispossessions, cultural and linguistic annihilations, imprisonments, transportations, settler plantations, murder, and more to both of these peoples from different sides of the world.
Therefore Aboriginal and Irish people would seldom have want of material for a good yarn and a gripe against our common oppressor.
This week we celebrated St. Patrick’s Day at Allwood House, with music and Irish fare and rejoiced in the number of people with Irish heritage that were present. But then everyone is Irish on St. Pat’s Day.
I’m always intrigued at how many First Nations people have Irish surnames: Emma and Casey Donovan, Leah Flanagan and Kev Carmody – celebrated Indigenous singers and songwriters of Aboriginal and Irish descent. Also Pat Dobson – respected Indigenous leader and politician and the Father of Reconciliation. There are also sports stars such as legendary AFL player, Nicky Winmar and media personalities like Stan Grant.
I would love to tell you that the Irish and the Aboriginal people of this land were always connected by a similar love of music, storytelling and sport, but unfortunately the history of these two peoples is as complex, contradictory and dark as that of any of the first Europeans who came uninvited to this vast southern land and its traditional owners.
The oppressed can also become the oppressor. There is a famous quote from Paulo Freire that states, “When education is not liberating, the dream of the oppressed is to become the oppressor,” Freire argues that without education, the oppressed tend to imitate their oppressors rather than redeeming themselves.
In October of 2017, the then President of Ireland, Michael D. Higgins, a much-loved diminutive man of intellect, arts and letters visited Western Australia and gave a speech at the W.A. Parliament that brought both sorrow and joy to those present. He stated: “If we are to be truly unblinking in our gaze, we must acknowledge that while most Irish emigrants experienced some measure, often a large measure, of prejudice and injustice, there were some among the number who inflicted injustice too.”
Among the gathered dignitaries in attendance was Indigenous Labor MP Linda Burney who said: “It was refreshing to hear such honesty from a head of state. To hear the President of Ireland, of another country, acknowledge the colonial history and what that meant for Aboriginal people was incredibly heartwarming and enormously honest.”
Ms Burney said the acknowledgement made her stand taller as an Aboriginal person. “I felt incredibly grateful and touched that the President of Ireland had the understanding, compassion and capacity for truth-telling, to actually say that in this Parliament,” she said. That is what reconciliation truly is.
Ms Burney said the President also made mention of the Myall Creek Massacre, which involved the killing of up to 30 unarmed Aboriginal people by Europeans in 1838 in northern New South Wales. He reminded us that “…the magistrate in the case of the Myall Creek Massacre was actually an Irishman, and that was the first time in Australian history that non-Aboriginal men who carried out the killing were found guilty in a court of law.” Of the seven men hanged, three of them had been born in Ireland.
Researching our shared history can often be difficult, even distressing. However, if we as a people can take pride in the heroic valour of our distant great grandparents for victories won, then by the same token we can share some of the shame for the injustices carried out by our own countrymen. And those injustices were carried out on the often-defenceless native people living on their own country.
So let us celebrate St Patrick’s Day and all that unites us, the family names, the music, the stories, the craic. And in truth-telling let us free ourselves from the worst of our shared history.
Till next week Triganin – see you soon, and Go n-éirí an bóthar leat – May you succeed on your journey.
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