Irish Women in the Antipodes

Stories in history habitually relate the deeds of men but less frequently speak of the equally important contribution of women. When Irish immigrants began arriving in the new colonies of Australia and New Zealand they energetically contributed to the development of a new culture. This was especially true in the area of social progress.

Irish Women in the Antipodes: Foregrounded is a collection of Irish women's contributions to life in the Antipodes, stories that have been neglected or insufficiently acknowledged. The contributors have used all available tools to find these women in the archives, public records, newspapers, and family histories, taking them from the proverbial footnotes of history to the foreground.

The first seven chapters focus on Irish women in South Australia, an under-researched group among the Irish diaspora regardless of gender, and while there are new accounts of women that readers may know of such as Mary Lee and Bee Walshe, this volume introduces us to many more of these pioneering women whose hidden lives have now been brought to the fore.