Sir, – I am one of those pesky tourists that flooded your country this summer.
I first visited in 1978 when I rode a bicycle across Ireland. How much has changed since then! The motorways. The cities. The shopping. The changing face of Ireland.
As an old man now, perhaps wiser, what was Ireland to me? Why am I here? I quickly found great joy in simply talking to people. I’d often say “G’day mate” to someone that got a reply “And where are you from?” This led to long discussions of the weather , with so many apologies for the cooler summer.
Everyone had an Australian connection.
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My home town of Castlemaine in Australia brought great interest. A man sang me the song The Wild Colonial Boy, about an outlaw “born in Castlemaine”. An Australian-Irish creation. Cultural intermixing everywhere. The faces. The words. The timbre of the Irish voice. Familiarity everywhere.
Most of all, it was my connection to you that I rejoiced in. To stand on the Famine pits and to imagine what my ancestors witnessed. To stand on the wharves my ancestors left from in Cobh. To pray in their churches.
I read so much about what diminished Ireland. Yet I left with a rekindled sense I felt as a child, that I was linked to, and should have pride, in “Irishness”. The sense of celebration of being Irish. The Irish survived and flourished. They shaped other countries. They brought changes and growth to other shores.
Something strong still survives. This is what I told people on my Ireland travel journey. They were happy to hear it. – Yours, etc,
JOHN KILNER,
Castlemaine,
Victoria,
Australia.