REMINDER… Famine Orphan Girls’ Memorial at Ballyshannon Co. Donegal where a number of Fermanagh orphan girls are remembered
LAST Saturday, a descendant of a Belleek orphan who was an inmate in Ballyshannon Workhouse and was shipped off, along with her sister and 17 others to Australia at the height of the Potato Famine bridged a 166-year gap.
Pam Barker’s great, great grandmother, Mary Ann McDermott, with her sister, Sarah landed in Sydney in February 1849.
They were among 19 orphan girls from the catchment area of the workhouse in Ballyshannon that stretched across to Churchill, near Derrygonnelly and into north Leitrim.
According to Ballyshannon historian, Anthony Begley – who spent 30 years researching the orphans’ travails – it was no surprise that seven of the girls came from Fermanagh.
“The largest area served by Ballyshannon workhouse was in County Fermanagh, so a number of the girls were from those areas.”
A special event has been arrange this Saturday, 20th September, in Ballyshannon, to mark Pam Barker’s homecoming.
Fittingly, it will take place, starting at 3pm, at the newly opened Famine Orphan Girls’ memorial beside Ballyshannon Workhouse. There will be music, history and floral tributes. Refreshments will be served afterwards in the Rock Hall.
Two of the orphan girls called McDermott from Belleek were part of a group of 19 orphans who were shipped to Australia in 1848 at the height of the Famine.
Anthony Begley will launch a book, “From Ballyshannon to Australia” which marks the culmination of prolonged research into a remarkable, albeit, sad journey for 19 small girls, and how they adapted to their new world.
“I came across them almost 30 years ago in an old record of the workhouse and got curious about it”, he told the Herald. “I wondered if there was any way of tracing them back, all the way to Australia.”
From time to time, genealogists from Down Under came to Ballyshannon and he picked their brains, and little by little the story began to unravel.
“But, it was when the internet came out, it was more accessible talking to people in Australia, and that really speeded up my research.”
The 19 orphan girls all survived the long sea trip journey and made it to Sydney in Australia where they were hired out on their arrival.
Pam Barker’s ancestor, Mary Ann McDermott had 10 children, many of whom, sadly, died young.
But, her sad story will have a happy ending on Saturday, and Anthony is keen that people from Churchill, Garrison and Belleek join with folk from the other catchment areas of the workhouse for a memorable occasion.
Paddy Donagher and Anthony Begley worked together on the construction of a memorial project to the Famine orphans. It was opened in May this year.
It has already been visited by many, including a number of Australians who have shown their appreciation for the memorial which features a Famine pot, individual inscriptions and a flower garden.
Who went Down Under?
The 19 girls who left the workhouse in Ballyshannon were -:
Belleek – Mary Allingham, Mary Ann McDermott and her sister Sarah ‘Sally’, and Sally Lennon
‘County Fermanagh’ – Jane Carleton and Mary McCrea
Ballyshannon – Jane Carberry, Ellen Feely, Margaret and Ann Mc Bride (sisters), Mary McGuire, Ann Rooney, Biddy Smith, and Margaret Sweeney
Mulleek – Ann Muldoon
‘County Donegal’ – Letitia (Letty’) McCrea, sister of Mary, (see above)
Kinlough – Jane McGowan and Mary McGowan, Kinlough
USA – Rose Reel.
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