14 Facts About Irish Australian

At the time the Irish Australian made up about 27 percent of the immigrants from the British Isles.

Over four thousand young female orphans from Irish workhouses were shipped to the Australian colonies at the time of the Great Famine to meet a demand for domestic servants.

An Irish Australian-speaking priest, Fr Stack, was appointed to minister to Irish Australian miners in the gold-rush locality of Bendigo.

Irish Australian immigration was at its height in the 1860s, the main counties of origin being Clare, Tipperary, Limerick and Kilkenny, all of them areas where the language was still strong.

Irish continued to be spoken in Australian country districts where the Irish had settled, and there is some evidence of its being transmitted to the next generation.

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The 1970s saw a renewal of interest in the language, chiefly among Australians of Irish descent, and there is a network of Irish speakers in the major cities.

Irish Australian Catholics comprised a quarter of Australia's population in the early 20th century.

Immediately after the War, Mannix's outspoken support for the cause of Irish Australian independence caused further division, culminating in his arrest on the high seas by the Royal Navy in 1920 to prevent his landing in Ireland.

The first priests were Irish Australian, beginning with Fr James Dixon who was permitted to minister in 1803.

The leadership of the Australian Church was almost entirely Irish from 1883 to 1940, prominent Irish-born bishops including Cardinal Moran and Archbishop Kelly in Sydney, Archbishops Carr and Mannix in Melbourne and Archbishop Duhig in Brisbane.

Irish Australian Catholics have been the nation's largest minority throughout most of Australia's history.

Mostly working class, the Irish played sports such as rugby league and Australian Rules football, while the Protestant majority often preferred cricket, soccer, rugby union and boxing.

Cities with the largest Irish Australian-born populations were Sydney, Melbourne and Perth .

Irish Australian settlement patterns are not significantly different from those of the Australian population as a whole – that is, a third live in New South Wales and a quarter live in Victoria – except that around 22 per cent live in Queensland .