Media: BOOK - paperback, 256 pages
Author: S. Arthure, F. Breen, S. James & D. Lonergan
Year: 2019
ISBN: 9781743056196
Other: b&w photos, map, bibliog, index
Publisher: Wakefield Press

Its capital is named after German-born Queen Adelaide, its main street after her English husband, King William IV, so it is not surprising that little is known about South Australia's Irish background.

However, the first European to discover Adelaide's River Torrens in 1836 was Cork-born and educated George Kingston, who was deputy surveyor to Colonel Light; the river was named in turn for Derryman Colonel Torrens, Chairman of the South Australian Colonisation Commission. Adelaide's first judge and first police commissioner were immigrants from Kerry and Limerick.

'Irish South Australia' charts Irish settlement from as far north as Pekina, to the state's south-east and Mount Gambier. It follows the diverse fortunes of the Irish-born elite such as George Kingston and Charles Harvey Bagot, as well as doctors, farmers, lawyers, orphans, parliamentarians, pastoralists and publicans who made South Australia their home, with various shades of political and religious beliefs: Anglicans, Catholics, Dissenters, Federationalists, Freemasons, Home Rulers, nationalists, and Orangemen.

Irish markers can be found in South Australian archaeology, architecture, geography and history. Some of these are visible in the hundreds of Irish place names that dot the South Australian landscape, such as Clare, Donnybrook, Dublin, Kilkenny, Navan, Rostrevor, Tipperary, and Tralee (as Tarlee).

The book's editors are twentieth-century Irish immigrants from Dublin (Dymphna Lonergan), Portadown (Fidelma Breen), Trim (Susan Arthure), and by descent from eight Irish-born (Stephanie James).

Contents:
Foreword
Map
Preface
Timeline of the Irish in South Australia Before Federation
G.S. Kingston and other pioneer Irish in South Australia
Irish settlement in the Mount Barker region, 1836-1891
Fortune ans misfortune: Early Irish colonists in the Clare Valley
The unexpected Irishmen: How David Power and Anthony Sutton established an Irish colonial presence in the South East of South Australia
Kapunda's Irish connections
Irish graves in Mid North South Australia 1850-1899: An examination of cultural significance
'The most thoroughly Irish centre in South Australia: Pekina from the 1870s to the 1940s'
Irish women in early South Australia
The 'wrong king of immigrant': How exciting prejudice on class, gender and ethically affected the reception of female Irish Famine orphans in South Australia under the Earl Grey Scheme
Irish lawyers and judges in South Australia 1836-1914
South Australia's Irish colonial surgeons: The first 30 years 1836-1866
St Patrick's Day in South Australia 1836-1945
Varieties of Irish nationalism in South Australia 1839-1850
Ireland, Home Rule and the Orange Order in South Australia
Cultural capital and Irish place names
Notes
Author biographies
Acknowledgements
Index

Reviews:
'Until very recently, the impact of the Irish in South Australia has been underestimated and under-researched. This sparkling collection of essays at last does justice to the Irish in South Australia, and will appeal to all who seek to understand more of the state's unfolding history.' - Emeritus Professor Philip Payton

'Ranging across a broad field of interests from history to archaeology, these detailed vignettes are as rich and diverse as the Irish who populate them.' - Associate Professor Heather Burke

'There is something in this book for everybody; the scholar, the family historian, no less the casual browser. The editors must be congratulated on their initiative.' - Dr Brad Patterson