THE IRISH FAMINE MEMORIAL
The Irish Famine Memorial
The Irish Famine Memorial
Hyde Park Barracks in Sydney is home to a monument to the young Irish women who arrived in Sydney in 1850. It is also a commemoration of the famine that brought them there. It is fashioned of glass and stone and set into the south wall of the barracks.
The Irish Famine Memorial in Sydney Australia
Photos: John Fairall
The monument was inspired by a call from the then-president of Ireland, Mary Robinson, during a trip to Australia in 1995. She asked that all Irish communities remember the Irish Famine and strive to alleviate poverty in the world today.
The monument was commissioned by the Historic Houses Trust
of New South Wales, which has custody of Hyde Park Barracks. The artists, Hossein and Angela Valamanesh, etched 420 names in the glass panels of the memorial.
The girls are further commemorated in a database
which is managed by the Great Irish Famine Commemoration Committee. Data on the committee's website is based on research by Trevor McClaughlin, an historian at Macquarie University and his book, Barefoot and Pregnant, Genealogical Society of Victoria, 1991.
