| S.A.G.
Irish Tours |
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Monday
15 September 2003
Wednesday
17 September 2003 Saturday
20 September 2003 Sunday
21 September 2003 Monday
22 September 2003 Friday
26 September 2003
Saturday
27 September 2003
Monday
29 September 2003
Transfers to airport or own devices in Ireland Pricing and travel details COST of the tour is $A8219 which includes:
A non-refundable deposit of $300 is required to secure you reservation and the balance is payable on 5 July 2003. Note that the airfare is a current [August 2002] quoted price by Singapore Airlines. You may prefer to travel with another airline and do only the land content of the tour. Our travel agent, Kate Sullivan, is happy to investigate any other travel needs you may have. Please
contact our travel agent: NOTE: Further details can also be obtained from Mrs Perry McIntyre, C/- Society of Australian Genealogists, 'Richmond Villa', 120 Kent Street, Sydney NSW 2000 or by contacting Kate Sullivan listed above. Once you have indicated your intention to join the tour by paying a deposit you will receive a questionnaire regarding your Irish ancestors which will help the tour leaders to assist you with research before you go to Ireland. Please note that neither Richard Reid or Perry McIntyre work at the Society of Australian Genealogists but both are happy to answer questions written care of the Society regarding the tour. While every attempt will be made to satisfy your genealogical needs we cannot guarantee to find all of your elusive ancestors but we do promise you will find the tour well worth while. The co-operation of Abbey Tours in Ireland and our coach driver-guide are also a vital aspect of our successful tours. Please also note that even if family history is not your chosen passion, we promise you will also enjoy this tour enormously. It is far more than a search for lost ancestors. |
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As
the song goes - I'll not forget old Ireland were it fifty times
as fair. 
Today
we travel to Cobh (Cove), Cork, to see that great harbour which
for many was the last of Ireland. The Queenstown Story emigration
museum features the experience of Irish emigration to all parts
of the world, including Australia. Later we visit Cork Gaol where
we will be have an afternoon of presentations hosted by Cork Genealogical
Society on the theme of records in Cork for family historians and
emigration through Cobh.
So
you want to kiss the Blarney Stone? You can do so today as we make
our way through the countryside of Cork and Kerry to Killarney.
Our route takes us over the Boggerah Mountains and via Millstreet
to Killarney.
The
Blasket Islands off the Dingle Peninsula are the end of Ireland
- next parish America! Today the islands lie deserted of their traditional
population but the island story is compassionately told in the Blasket
Centre. On our way there we will stop awhile at the stunning sand
and seascape of Inch Beach before investigating the ancient beehive
huts lived in by Irish monks. Our driver-guide will also add some
of his secrets to our tour today.
We
make our way across the broad Shannon estuary to the west coast
of Clare where we travel through a landscape alive with Australian
emigrant associations - Kilrush, Kilkee, Doonbeg, Kilmurry, Quilty,
the Sea's Field, Milltown Malbay and Lahinch. From the mighty Cliffs
of Moher the view is across the sea to Aran of the Saints. On the
way to Ennistymon we encounter one of Ireland's saddest Famine memorials
with its story of little Michael Rice of Lahinch. [Overnight:
Ennistymon, County Clare]
Ennis,
the county town of Clare, is the home of the Leabharlann Chontae
an Chlair - Clare County Library. This institution has one of the
finest websites in Ireland and this morning we will hear how it
was all put together for family and local historians. After lunch
we travel on to Stradbally, burial place of Governor Bourke of New
South Wales and then on to Thurles, County Tipperary.
Today
we are the guests of the Tipperary Historical Society, one of Ireland's
premier local history associations. They will host SAG Irish Tour
participants to a morning of presentations dealing with family history
and local history in Tipperary and the collections of the Local
Studies Department of Leabharlanna Thiobraid Arann, Tipperary Libraries.
After lunch visits will be made to places of Tipperary-Australian
associations in the district including a visit to the Rock of Cashel.
[Overnight:
Thurles, County Tipperary]
Where
can you see the 'Umbilicus Hiberniae' - the 'Navel of Ireland'.
At Birr, County Offaly, of course, on a walk around this beautiful
town. The 'Navel' is an ancient stone that, it is said, marked the
geographic centre of Ireland. After Birr, we proceed to Tullamore
to investigate the riches of the collections of the Offaly Historical
& Archaeological Society.
It
is said of the ancient settlement of Clonmacnoise on the Shannon
that persons interred here pass immediately from earth to heaven.
This is one of the most atmospheric and fascinating monastic ruins
in Ireland. Tour organisers will not, however, guarantee heavenly
entry simply from a visit! From Clonmacnoise we make our way through
the County Galway to Rossaveel to take the ferry for Inishmore,
Aran Islands.
From
the tall limestone cliffs of Inishmore, the largest of the Aran
Islands, one gazes out upon one of the greatest oceanic vistas of
the world, where the Atlantic swell hits Ireland. Today, in a landscape
of rock, we visit the stones of Aran from St Enda's little sand
buried church of Cill Einne to the walls of the mighty fort of Dun
Aengus. As we look around we see the far coasts of Connemara, Clare
and, in the distance, Kerry.
Today
we make our way through the mountains and boglands of west Galway
and Mayo passing the site of the Doolough Tragedy of 1849, a place
with the sinister title in Irish - 'The Bottom of the Darkness'.
Here perished over 200 people who had walked out of the Doolough
Valley to beg for food and died on their return home. We proceed
on to Ireland's sacred mountain - Croagh Patrick - at whose foot
today is the National Famine Memorial.
According
to those keen observers of the Achill scene, Mr and Mrs H C Hall,
in 1844 the island was famous for its illicit stills! In the second
half of the 19th century the island was also famous, or infamous,
for the work of the Achill Mission, an evangelical Protestant attempt
to convert the islanders from Catholicism. On Achill we will the
visit the mission church at Dugort, ramble the ruins of Achill's
'Deserted Village' and see the splendours of the Atlantic Drive.
This is just part of the wonders of this part of western Ireland.
[Overnight:
Achill Island, County Galway]
A
day of scenic touring to Enniskillen, County Fermanagh through Counties
Mayo, Sligo and Leitrim with convict, famine and emigrant stories
enroute. We have stories and things to reveal here that you can
only know about as the days progress!!
Today
we take a tour to the ancient Island of Devenish on Lough Erne with
its monastic ruins and explore the parishes north of the lough from
which so many emigrated to Australia. Famine is our theme and with
the help of a local historian we will hear of its terrible impact
on this part of Ireland.
We
spend the day at the Ulster American Folk Park outside Omagh. Since
the 1960s the Park has been telling the story of Irish emigration.
Farm houses, labourers cottages, a meeting house, a Catholic chapel,
a National School - all original buildings re-erected here in the
Park - help take the overseas visitor back to the environment from
which their ancestors left for Boston or Sydney. [Overnight:
Enniskillen, County Fermanagh]
Our
route today takes us to Derry where we tour the city's ancient walls
and learn of the great siege of 1688, so much part of the Ulster
Protestant legend. Then we move on to Letterkenny, Donegal to arrive
with plenty of time at Dunfanaghy for you to enjoy the scenic delights
of Sheep Haven Bay.
Northwest
Donegal and the local parishes of Gweedore and Cloghaneely sent
thousands of emigrants to Australia in the 19th century. The largest
single exodus occurred in 1859 when 800 people, over a short period,
departed for Sydney. Even earlier, Famine orphan girls left local
workhouses for Australia. Today we visit Dunfanaghy Workhouse and
tour this starkly beautiful area with its Australian emigrant connections.
After
making as speedy a transfer as we can between Dunfanaghy and Belfast,
we take a tour of the North of Ireland's premier city. From this
urban environment departed one of the most famous boatloads of Famine
orphans - the Belfast Workhouse girls of the Earl Grey who
arrived in Sydney in 1848. Later we will meet with members of the
Northern Ireland Family History Society.
After
a morning presentation on the holdings of the Public Record Office
of Northern Ireland, we make our way to Dublin with a stop at Monasterboice
to see two magnificent Celtic high crosses. The Celtic high cross
became a familiar sight in Australian graveyards in the second half
of the 19th century.
Anyone
doing family history research in Ireland will, at some time, need
to tackle the major repositories of Dublin - the National Library,
the National Archives of Ireland etc. Today, at an all day seminar
at the National Library, we will hear presentations about all these
institutions and how best to use them. There will also be a local
panel of Irish genealogical experts on hand to field your own family
history questions.
Glendalough
in County Wicklow was one of the great monastic cities of Ireland
and its ruins transport the visitor back to an Ireland of monks,
saints, scribes and pilgrims. Glendalough's Celtic round tower is
one of the best preserved of its kind in Ireland. Where are there
two such towers in Australia? For lunch we visit Avondale House,
home of Charles Stuart Parnell, leader of the Irish Home Rule movement
which made such an impact on the Irish community in Australia between
1870 and 1914.
This
morning we take a specially prepared heritage walk from our hotel
through Dublin's fair city taking in the many monuments in Merrion
Square Gardens, Daniel O'Connell's house, the Grand Canal, the site
of Boland's Mill of 1916 Rising fame, the Malone Memorial on Mount
Street and much more. Later we visit Kilmainham Gaol with its grim
associations with transportation to Australia and the Irish nationalist
movements of period 1798 to 1921. [Overnight:
Dublin, County Dublin]