Culture Night shone a light on the plight of exiled women

​The lives of 34 women convicts from Carrick-on-Suir and the Suir Valley transported to Australia in the 18th and 19th century were honoured at a Culture Night event in Ormond Castle that combined music, history talks and spoken word performances with an exhibition of handmade bonnets symbolising each of the women.

There were full houses in the castle’s beautiful Long Gallery for the two performances of Though They Never Returned, Their Story Has Found Its Way Home last Friday.

The Culture Night event was presented by Carrick-on-Suir’s Tudor Artisan Hub, in association with Waterford’s Transported Convict Women: A Herstory. It was a profound and immersive experience, beautifully choreographed, bringing together history, spoken word, music, voices and the extraordinary symbolism of the handcrafted Roses from the Heart tribute bonnets.

Each bonnet featured in the exhibition, which was displayed in the castle throughout last week, represented a woman who was transported to Australia or Tasmania.

The event opened with powerful and deeply informative talks from Ann Fitzgerald, founder and secretary of Waterford Transported Convict Women: A Herstory; Dr Joan Kavanagh, one of Ireland’s leading historians on the history of transported convict women; and Dr Perry McIntyre, who brought to life the story of the Wives and Families Scheme.

These speakers helped place the lives of these women within the wider history of Irish transportation and convict history.

Following a music interlude, Margaret O’Brien brought the story back to Carrick-on-Suir and the Suir Valley, before introducing the creative response.

Writers from Margaret's Writing Changes Lives community, together with emerging writers, created original pieces honouring the 34 transported convict women, bringing their individual lives, experiences and stories into the heart of the evening.

Mary McGrath, Ethel Power, Jillian Wheaton, Jacqueline Delahunty Wall, Maura Barrett, Rosa Wheaton and Hajir Alibraheemi gave powerful performances, giving these women a new voice and ensuring they were not simply names from the past, but women who were seen, remembered and honoured.

“We were also deeply moved by 13-year-old Clara Walsh, who gave voice to a 14-year-old girl who was transported - a girl just one year older than Clara - creating a poignant connection between two young girls separated by more than 200 years,” said Linda Fahy of the Tudor Artisan Hub.

“We also brought to life the lost letter from Mary Walsh’s husband, James — a letter Mary never received, which was discovered 163 years later.

The voices of Ray Nolan in the first performance and Enda O’Driscoll in the second gave life to this extraordinary piece of her story, creating an intimate and deeply emotional connection to a letter written with love that, after 163 years, finally found its way into her story.

“We were also honoured to have a beautiful solo sean-nós performance by Lorna Hennessy, adding another deeply moving dimension to the evening,” Linda added.

The experience was beautifully shaped by evocative music performed by Marian Ingoldsby, accompanied by flautist Gerard Dower.Linda thanked all involved in organising and participating in the Culture Night project and all who attended the performances.

“This was our collective creative voice - our special way of bringing these 34 women out of the pages of history and into this magnificent heritage space, allowing us to see them not simply as names from the past, but as women with lives, loves, losses, hopes and stories of their own,” she added.

The Waterford Transport Convict Women, A Herstory Committee described the Culture Night event as "extraordinary and deeply moving” and a “very special evening” for its members.

"To experience the stories of the transported women brought to life in such a powerful, creative, and heartfelt way was something we had never experienced before,” said the committee in a thank you message to the organisers.