The Lost Irish Women of Eureka
Background:BDIA’s aims include creating social interaction; fostering involvement of Australian/Irish music, dance, literature, and poetry; special events; workshops/seminars; development of a permanent record of the Australian/Irish contribution to our region; and more.
One of our “special events” is Brigid Fest, held early in February. Our inaugural Brigid Fest was held at Kirks Reservoir in 2023. Our brilliant VP, Mary Darcy, collated all the women with any variation of “Brigid” from Dot Wickham’s “Women of the Goldfields.”
These names were inscribed on two banners shown in the picture below.
Our second Brigid Fest encouraged people to tell their “Brigid” stories.
From this idea, Erin McCuskey, Heather Horrocks, and Mary Darcy developed the “stories,” “Brigid,” “Irish,” and “goldfields” for an application for a grant from the Public Record Office Victoria—Local History Grants program round 21. The grant was supported by the Eureka Centre and Sovereign Hill.
The application was successful.
On Friday 15th November 2024. Way Back When historian Lucy Bracey presented her research gathered from archival and image research, including collation of material supplied by many present on the night. This event was hosted by the Eureka Centre (The Found Irish Women of Eureka - Eureka Centre)
This work added to what we already know, such as:
- Laurel Johnson’s “Women of Eureka” - 1995
- Dot Wickham’s “Ballarat – Eureka’s Women”
- Dot Wickham’s “Women of the Diggings 1854”
- Clare Wright’s “The Forgotten Rebels of Eureka” - 2014
The Lost Irish Women of Eureka Report is available to view online here.
We are grateful for the support from many sources to get to this point, including the recent article in the Ballarat Times by Miriam Litman
We once again give thanks to the Eureka Centre for hosting the Ballarat Heritage Festival event, and our sponsor, the Public Record Office Victoria.
Click here to download the Lost Irish Women of Eureka Report
Helen Bath
President
Mary Darcy
Vice President
