Women’s contributions to be celebrated

THE stories of the lost Irish women of Eureka are the focus of a new project by the Ballarat District Irish Association.

The work, which is funded by the Public Records Office Victoria, aims to highlight the contribution of Irish women to Ballarat’s development and it will culminate with a short film.

To launch the project, a panel discussion is being held at the Eureka Centre Ballarat on May 19 as part of Heritage Festival.

Chairing the discussion will be Sarah Van de Wouw, education and public programs officer at the Eureka Centre Ballarat, and the panellists will be Lucy Bracey, historian from Way Back When, and Erin McCuskey, creative director of Yum Studio.

“This is a talk to speak on some community stories related to Irish women in and around the time of Eureka in Ballarat,” Ms Bracey said.

“The outcome that we are hoping to get from the project is a short report about Irish women on the goldfields, recognising that this is not the first, nor will it be the last time the stories of women on the goldfields are researched.

“We are building on a strong foundation of existing research.”

Ms Bracey said that women’s histories can prove more challenging to discover.

“In my opinion you can never have enough women’s voices in the historical narrative.

“Women’s voices are often harder to find in the historical archive for various reasons.

“For example, when women got married, they’d often be referred to by their married name.”

Anyone in the community who may have a story or image of a female relative from around the time of Eureka is encouraged to contact Ms Bracey.

“We know that there were loads of Irish women in and around the time of Eureka and some of their stories are quite well known like the women who made the flag,” Ms Bracey said. “But just the other day I found an article about the death of a women, Ms Kelly, who died in 1913 and the obituary said she was a child in the stockade.

“There might be those stories in family histories that we are really keen to hear about.”

To book a spot at the free event, head to the Eureka Centre Ballarat Website.

To pass information about Irish women onto Ms Bracey, email [email protected]