Irish Heritage – Page 2 – Michael Stephen Wills Photography

Blessing of the Bonnets

In 1835, the convict ship Neva, carrying 241 people, wrecked near Australia resulting in massive fatalities, excluding 15 survivors.

April 6, 2021October 13, 2023 MichaelStephenWills2 Comments

January 1, 1835 the “convict” ship “Neva” departed from Cobh harbor for Sydney, Australia. The 241 people on board included 150 female “convicts”, their 33 children, 9 “free” women (probably the wives of convicts) and their 22 children, 27 crew. During the passage three persons died, one child was born. About 5 a.m. on May 13, 1835 the Neva hit a reef northwest of King Island in Bass Strait and broke apart rapidly. Twenty two survivors drifted ashore on two rafts formed by the fore and aft decks of the wrecked ship. Seven women died of exposure the first night ashore. Fifteen, six women and nine crew, were later rescued. No children survived.

Between 1791 and 1853 approximately 26,500 Irish people were forcefully transported to New South Wales. The 25,566 bonnets crafted for this project represent lives of female “convicts”. The slide show are photographs of the exhibit, Cobh Heritage Center, County Cork, Republic of Ireland.

Queenstown personal connection

Cobh Heritage Center

April 5, 2021April 2, 2021 MichaelStephenWills12 Comments

The Irish Free State was four months old when my then 35 year old Grandfather and Grandmother boarded the S.S. Montnairn out of Belfast. My mother, two months short of three years of age, accompanied them on this voyage to a new life as Canadian citizens. This slideshow is a mix of images from the Cobh Heritage center and my personal genealogy materials.

Call for Irish Emigration, this for Idaho. My grandfather answered a similar call, returning in 1926 for his wife and daughter.

Annie Moore and her brothers

A statue of Annie Moore and her brothers quayside, Cóbh, County Cork, The Republic of Ireland

March 15, 2021September 7, 2024 MichaelStephenWills23 Comments

Click the photograph for my online gallery.

Annie, Anthony and Phillip Moore Statue, Cóbh– CLICK ME!!!!

On May 29, 2014, Pam and I had the emotionally moving experience of visiting the Cóbh Heritage Centre. This statue stands outside the centre, on the quay from which thousands of Irish emigrated from what was then Queenstown. My father’s mother, Elizabeth Wills née Duffy, departed from here on April 28, 1898.

These are the words on the plaque:

‘Annie Moore and her brothers, Anthony and Phillip, embarked from this town on December 20, 1891, on the S.S. Nevada. Annie was the first person to be admitted to the United States of America through the new immigration center at Ellis Island, New York, on January 1, 1892. This sculpture was unveiled by the President of Ireland, Mary Robinson, on February 9, 1993. It was erected by Cóbh Heritage Trust Ltd. and is dedicated to all who emigrated from Ireland.
This sculpture won the Zeneca Ireland Ltd. Commemorative Sculpture Award. A statue of Annie Moore was also erected at Ellis Island, New York. The commemoration of Annie Moore at New York and at Cóbh was initiated by the Irish American Cultural Institute. This sculpture is the work of Jeanne Rynhart of Bantry.'”

Click to visit the previous post in this series, “The Old Aghameen School.”