| From Ireland to America by way of Australia The 19th Century Saga of a Fenian A slide show & lecture for libraries, community groups & schools. This is a one hour multimedia production. The true story of an Irish Rebel who survived the Great Famine, joined the Fenian movement and was transported to Australia on the last prison ship dispatched by the British. Eventually pardoned, he came to America and settled in New York. His descendants present this one hour show. Penal practices of the day, human rights issues, nationalism, convict transportation and the American immigration experience are discussed. Other areas include the Great Famine, the “Fighting 69th Regiment” in the American Civil War, prison life on board ship and on land and the Catalpa escape. This presentation is based on the recently published memoirs of Thomas McCarthy Fennell, Voyage of the Hougoumont and Life at Fremantle (Xlibris 2000) and other books including Keneally’s The Great Shame, Evans’ Fanatic Heart, the secret diaries of John Sarsfield Casey and Denis Cashman (the latter just published under the title Fenian Diary) and Hughes’ Fatal Shore. Various original source material will be exhibited at the presentation including copies of the diaries. |
 |
| Where we've been: Irish Cultural Society of Garden City (NY) Patterson Library (NY) New York University Grinnell Library (NY) American-Irish Historical Society Albany Public Library (NY) Poughkeepsie Public Library (NY) Beardsley & Memorial Library (CT) Catskill Public Library (NY) Mohegan Colony (NY) Pearl River Public Library (NY) Irish American Heritage Museum (Albany, NY) Siena College Lecture Series Beekman Library (NY) Catholic Daughters of America, Pawling, NY Pawling Free Library (NY) Somers Manor Nursing Home (NY) St. Jean Baptiste Church (Manhattan) Church of the Resurrection (NY) Dundee Library (NY) Alcoholism Council of NY The Plaza at Clover Lake |
| the National Endowment for the Humanities and the New York Council for the Humanities has recognized the Hougoumont lecture by funding its presentation at New York libraries. |
| Contact us for details: |
A slide show and talk on the great Catalpa Rescue. Life at Fremantle, the whaling culture, the prisoners and what happen to them in the U.S. will be discussed along with newly found material on the escape and the prinicpals involved. Contact us for details |
|
|
|
| Fr. Kevin Mackin, President of Siena College introducing Philip Fennell and Marie King |
 |
| Exhibits, including photos and copies of original material, accompany the presentations. |
Special guests have attended presentations. At the Irish American Heritage Museum, members of the Sheehy family (picured above right), descendants of Fenian Denis Cashman came. On the left is Thomas Wyckoff Fennell a grandchild of Fenian Thomas McCarthy Fennell, who attended the Hougoumont presentation in Dundee. |
 |
 |
 |
| Photo Credits: Fr. Mackin, et al, exhibit table and the Sheehys: M. K. Cusack; Fennells, C.N. Fennell |