Events

Details of upcoming and recent events may be found on this page. If you know of an event that may be of interest to ISAANZ members and supporters please complete this form.

For information on upcoming MISS seminars, and recordings of previous speakers go to the MISS Page or click on the button below.

Melbourne Irish Studies Seminars

UPCOMING EVENTS

Any upcoming events will be listed immediately below. Past events are in the next section.

Prophet of a Coming Time

27 October 2026. The seminar outlines the significance of the career of Daniel O’Connell (1775-1847) as the founding father of Irish democracy. It will describe the set of political principles enunciated by O’Connell which not only permanently shaped early Irish democratic practice but are of universal significance in respect of our democratic future in the twenty-first century. O’Connell was an advanced radical democrat and a humanitarian with a European and world-wide reputation unparalleled by that of any other Irish political figure.

PAST EVENTS

Virginia and the Hitler Youth

29 September 2026. This lecture will explore the life of Virginia Richards-Orpen, who was born in 1916, and grew up at Monksgrange, the family ancestral home in Co. Wexford. Her intellectual qualities saw her going to Oxford where she immersed herself in studies for a language’s degree, the recreational opportunities of college life and a significant involvement in German-related activities.

Great Irish Famine Commemoration 2026

12 September 2026. 11:00am – 1:00pm. Hyde Park Barracks, Sydney. Come together at this free event to remember and honour Ireland and her history of an Gorta Mor, and the arrival of thousands from Ireland to Australia as a consequence. Guest speaker is Dr Anne Casey, with music and song by McMolly and harpist Cliona Molins. Lay flowers as a tribute at the memorial wall during the commemoration. This is a heartfelt gathering to reflect on and celebrate Irish heritage and Australian history. Explore the barracks, first home to many Irish in the early colony including the Irish Orphan Girls…

Winter Lecture Series

4 August – 9 September 2026. Conradh na Gaeilge Aotearoa will be running a free Winter lecture series over the coming weeks, looking at various aspects of Irish. Everyone is welcome. There will be some Irish language content but the talks will be suitable for all, including those with no Irish!

Irish Texts in SLV Rare Books

29 July 2026. State Library Victoria houses a range of important Irish works that document the history of printing in Latin, Irish and English. This viewing will explore a range of unusual historical, linguistic and literary works, the debates they generated, and their representation of continuing literary traditions. Featured will be texts from the seventeenth to the twentieth century by authors such as Roderic O’Flaherty (1629-1718) and Thomas Carve (1590-1672), the Paris works of Hugh MacCurtin (1680-1755) and James Joyce, through to the migrant fiction of Mary Ann Sadlier and literary texts of the Celtic Revival.

Bloomsday in Melbourne

21 June 2026. Bloomsday in Melbourne has been celebrating 16th June for more than thirty years with staged productions of his work. This year they bring a brand new play to the stage, Between The Lines: The James Joyce/Groucho Marx Letters. A young female academic makes the find of a lifetime – and has to negotiate her way through the patriarchal world of academe in the mid-1980s. Bloomsday in Melbourne is also presenting their annual Bloomsday Seminar and Lunch on Sunday 21st June at The Wild Geese in Brunswick, where a panel will discuss, among other things, the repercussions of Helen Garner’s 1995 book The…

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