The celebrations continued after the launch
As part of the celebrations of the publication of True to Ireland a number of events, apart from the launch, were held. These included a talk by myself, Fr Eamon, Geraldene O’Reilly and Lynette Wharfe at the National Library on Thursday 14 March. A total of 74 people attended this lunchtime talk and a further 20 joined me on a walking tour of the some of the places that were special to the Irishmen. This included Parliament Buildings, the Waterloo Hotel and the AMP building where their appeals were heard.
On Friday the 15th Fr Eamon and myself went to Opunake, Taranaki to see the grave of his uncle, Maurice Aylward. We were hosted by Kevin Bracken and other family members, including Josie Hogan, who knew Maurice. It was a long drive – four hours each way – but really worth it as Kevin took us to the farm where Maurice lived and worked.
On Saturday the 16th we held a talk at Te Takaretanga o Kura-hau-po (Levin Public Library) – similar to the National Library event. Again a good attendance and book sales were also pretty good.
Sunday saw Fr Eamon say a special Mass at St Mary’s Church, Pukekaraka, Otaki (the old beautiful church) especially dedicated to all the 155 Irishmen who were ‘True to Ireland’. The names of all were read out, as well two books – one destined to be presented to Ireland’s President, Michael D Higgins - were blessed by Fr Eamon at the Mass. It was a very moving occasion. Many of those present were old boys of St Patricks College Wellington or connected to the Sons of Eire.
After Mass Fr Eamon blessed the headstone of Paddy Sullivan at Otaki Cemetery. Paddy came from Moycullen, Co Galway and was one of the six ‘Sons of Eire’ who were part of the test case. Until about three years ago his grave had been unmarked when I put a small headstone on it and this was blessed by Fr Eamon.
A lunchtime BBQ was the way we celebrated St Patricks day at Lynette Wharfe’s residence in the town of Waikanae, about 60kms north of Wellington. It was a great craic with many of the people who had contributed to the book present.
Over the next three days Fr Eamon and I drove to Auckland via Hastings and Tauranga to meet with the Carr and Nally families. Again it was nice to have quality time with them and their friends.
The final major event was a talk at the NZ Society Genealogists Family Research Centre at Panmure in Auckland. This was organised by Geraldene O’Reilly – the researcher on the book -and we got about 42 people along, which was excellent. It was a similar format as the National Library presentation and it was great to see some sons and daughters of the ‘Sons of Eire’ present that night.
