Irish Pioneer Family, Western Australia c.1900

These are pictures of an Irish Catholic family that has made good out of Australia's gold rush. It is interesting to imagine them if their forebear, Paddy Hannan hadn't gone to Australia looking for gold. They are only a generation removed from dirt poor Irish peasants that lived exclusively off potatoes. They represent the Irish pioneering spirit and doggedness in laying foundations in their new country. They probably also represent stuffy conservatism and anti-British/Protestant paranoia. There was much greater freedom to be had in Australia then at home in Ireland. Indeed Irish Catholics easily became scions of society. There was a competitiveness as well between the Protestant and Catholic elements of the new country, each trying to out do each other in areas of sport and culture.