Grace O'Malley

Honor Pusenjak tells us of Irelandís great pirate queen from Clew Bay in Co. Mayo who lived, reigned and died in the same era as the English Queen Elizabeth whom Grace is said to have charmed.

Ten great curses and toasts

Useful expressions in Gaelic

Irish Tradition - 400 years a-dying and very much alive.

Carol Coulter describes some of the discussion at the Yeatsí Summer School where the Irish- bardic tradition was said to have been dying for 400 years yet was still very much alive

Letters to the Editor

In letters to the editor we include a copy of a letter from Dr Daniel M. OíConnor who offers some views on whether or not Anzac day should have become the de facto national day of Australia.

Also included is a letter from Mary Elizabeth Calwell, daughter of the Right Hon Arthur Calwell which offers some remarkable information about the Irishness of Australiaís first Minister for Immigration. The letter gives some insights into a man well known in Australia.

Response

We reproduce a speech given by the Ambassador to Ireland, Dr T J Kiernan, when responding to a toast by the Deputy of the Federal Opposition, Arthur Calwell, at the Celtic Club in Melbourne in 1952

South African Correspondent

Mike Brown tells us on the remarkable number of Irish links he finds in the great city of Johannesburg

The Anglo-Boer War

Mike Brown gives us a view of the Boer War in which so many people lost their lives and so many Irish soldiers were among the regiments of each side.

Good Books Lately

• "The Faithful Tribe: An Intimate Portrait Of The Loyal Institutions", written by Ruth Dudley Edwards is reviewed by Stephen King, and gives us some insights into the Orange Order.

• John Montague finds illumination and prurience in the latest addition to the mountain of Yeats biography in reviewing "Georgeís Ghosts: A New Life of W. B. Yeats, written by Brenda Maddox.

• "The Wolfhound Guide to Hurling" by Brendan Fullam is reviewed by Sean Kilfeather and it is described as looking into the very soul of hurling.

• Paul Drury describes, as a fascinating potpourri of medical history, the recent work of Dr George Biro. Dr Jim Leavesley called "How Isaac Newton Lost His Marbles".

• Danny Cusack writes of the resurgence of interest in Celtic spirituality when he reviews the book "Now is the Time: Spiritual Reflections" by Sister Stanislaus Kennedy and a further book on the same subject by Donagh OíShea called "Take Nothing for the Journey: Meditations On Time And Place".

A Poem from the 8^th century Irish voyage of Bran and translated by Seamus Heaney which was published in the New York Times as a tribute to John F Kennedy Jnr.

Mary Durack: Meath Connection

Danny Cusack tells of the correspondence Mary Durack had with Anna Lambe from Meath, whose adoration for John Boyle OíReilly caused her to write to then WA Premier at the time of the Americaís Cup, suggesting the Australian yacht be called the Catalpa.

Not In Front of the Servants

Olive Sharkey presents more of her classic tales, this one about "the Nanny".

Centre For Irish Studies

A report by the Liaison Committee

Claddagh Ring

Elsje O'Rourke-Maassen writes of the symbolism of the Claddagh Ring, particularly as a symbol of love from mother to daughter.

Scotch Corner

Alex Main writes of the Scottish consternation when the present Queen of England took the title of Elizabeth the Second, particularly has Scotland never had an Elizabeth the First.

The Work of an Angel

The text of a talk given in July 1999 by Pat Bourne, from the Irish Embassy, to the Aisling Society in Sydney about the life and times of the great Book of Kells.

Mary Durack Lecture

The OíDoherty family were warmly applauded when they spoke, recited and acted on the life of the feisty Countess Markievcz.

Rebel Rules

A Sunday times article on the Chairman of the Irish Heritage Scholarship Foundation, Maurice Brockwell, who describes himself as socially polite but one who wouldnít walk away from a fight.

The 'Famine Irish' In Australia

Siobhan McHugh describes the history and evocative memories captured by the memorial sculpture of the Hyde Park Barracks, Sydney which commemorate the place where 2000 Irish Famine orphan girls spent their first days in Australia.

Patten Report

Some of the 175 recommendations in the Report of the Independent Commission on Policing for Northern Ireland.

Gaelic

Mary Richardson sets out the Gaelic words associated with family children and household.