Clodagh Finn: Bringing home something of the famine orphans who shaped Australia

Between 1848 and 1850, thousands of young Irish girls were sent to struggling colonies in Australia

Translator Máire Nic Mhaoláin, Australia’s Ambassador to Ireland Chantelle Taylor and author Evelyn Conlon at the launch of the Irish translation of ‘Not the Same Sky’, titled ‘Ní hIonann Spéir’, which marks 80 years of diplomatic relations between Ireland and Australia.

Sat, 06 Jun, 2026 - 01:00

Clodagh Finn is a journalist, writer and collector of stories. Her recent book, The Irish in the Resistance, co-authored with John Morgan, shines a light on the forgotten contributions of the Irish who resisted Hitler during WW2.

I wish there was some way of telling the 4,114 so-called famine orphans dismissed as “workhouse scrapings” when they were first sent to Australia that the tide has truly turned.

It was extraordinary to hear the Australian ambassador to Ireland Chantelle Taylor speaking in Irish to honour the young girls who, between 1848 and 1850, were taken from workhouses all over Ireland and sent to a colony in desperate need of labour — and wives.