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Six days that shook an empire

  • Date recorded: 9 Apr 2016

  • Duration: 49:36

'It’s that shift between the executions and the whole experience of radicalisation that creates a different Ireland within two years from the Easter Rising'

– Fearghal McGarry

About this video

The armed insurrection that began in Dublin on Easter Monday, 1916, had repercussions on the other side of the world in Melbourne, and across the then British Empire.

To commemorate the centenary of the Rising, and to accompany our display The Irish Rising: 'A terrible beauty is born', a panel of international and local speakers chaired by Maxine McKew discuss the Rising's political and social ramifications in both Dublin and Melbourne.

Kevin Molloy discusses the allegiances of the Irish Catholic community in Melbourne in 1920, and the 100,000 Melburnians who turned out on St Patricks Day to affirm their place in Victorian society. 

Fearghal McGarry talks about how public opinion and the political mood shifted during the repression and executions that followed the Easter Rising.

Gillian Russell discusses the 'theatre' of the Uprising and the symbolic power of the Proclamation of the Irish Republic.

John Clarke shares his fascinating personal connection to the events of Dublin 1916.

Speakers

  • Maxine McKew (chair), Honorary Fellow, Melbourne Graduate School of Education, University of Melbourne
  • Dr Fearghal McGarry, Queen's University, Belfast
  • Professor Gillian Russell, Gerry Higgins Chair in Irish Studies, University of Melbourne
  • John Clarke, writer and performer
  • Dr Kevin Molloy, Manager, Australian Manuscripts Collection, State Library Victoria.