
Dungannon Workhouse: Orphans sent to Australia remembered
Each pebble represented 1,000 people who passed through its doors between 1842 and 1948.The names belong to a group of young women from County Tyrone who were sent from the workhouse to Australia between 1848 and 1850.They were part of a group that would become known as the Irish Famine Orphan Girls.
A place of last resort
In 1845, as poverty and starvation increased during the famine in Ireland, workhouses began to open.Their purpose was to offer succour and survival, but there was a saying that "the road to the workhouse was the road to death" - and for thousands it was.For more than 100 years Dungannon workhouse was a place of last resort for thousands of men, women, and children who faced famine, poverty and illness.Those who died in Dungannon workhouse are buried in a large-scale paupers' grave on the site close to what is now South Tyrone Hospital.
On the hospital grounds there is a memorial garden in tribute to those who lived and died in the workhouse.The Southern Trust, which owns the land, recently refurbished the garden in preparation for a memorial event at the end of June to honour the history of the site.Members of Donaghmore Historical Society helped organise the event.Mary MacGinty is chair of the society.She said: "It is about honouring the lives of those who passed through the doors of Dungannon Workhouse and it's important to remember this is still very recent history, the workhouse only closed in 1948."
'I remember the workhouse children'
Frank Shields is a member of the historical society who has memories of seeing children from Dungannon Workhouse at his school.Born in 1939 he said he remembers the young girls from the workhouse "vividly"."They wore these laced up black boots, like soldiers' boots, a grey skirts and dark coloured cardigans - they were dressed differently than everyone else."I also remember the young boys from the workhouse, they all wore these cut down grey trousers and often they had this brown paper bag with just a piece of bread in it, God help them."
The Donaghmore Historical Society has also been working closely with another historical group in Australia.Together they have traced a number of girls who were sent from Dungannon Workhouse to Melbourne.They were sent as part of the Earl Grey Scheme.Under the scheme between 1848 and 1850, more than 4,000 young Irish female orphans left workhouses and were transported to Australia.
The Earl Grey Scheme
Earl Grey was secretary of state for the colonies and the aim of the scheme was to reduce overcrowding in workhouses and provide labour for Australia while reducing a big gender imbalance there.Of the 4,114 Irish Famine orphan girls sent to Australia, 94 were from County Tyrone and 21 of those girls came from Dungannon Workhouse.Siobhan O'Neill lives in Melbourne and is part of the Famine Orphan Girls Commemoration Committee."The girls from Dungannon left in January during an Irish winter, spent three months on a boat and they would have arrived during an Australian summer, so it must have felt so alien to them," she said."It was a new colony so it would have been quite the frontier, many were treated with shame, but they were also very resilient and ended up raising large families and prospering."A tribute was paid to the girls during the recent memorial service on the site of the former Dungannon Workhouse.While a traditional Irish ballad was played, the names of the young women were read out loud.This included the name of Eliza Addy.
'I'm humbly proud'
Eliza Addy was born in 1834 in Dungannon and had worked as a domestic servant before entering the workhouse. When she was 16 years old she was chosen for the Earl Grey Scheme.She arrived in Melbourne on 10 January 1850 and would go onto work on a farm in Melbourne.In 1854 she married and had nine children. She died in the western Victorian town of Stawell in 1910.Descendants of Eliza Addy regularly attend the annual Irish Famine Orphan Girls Commemoration in Australia.
Her great, great, great granddaughter Leanne Seignior still lives in Australia.She says her family have been very touched by Eliza's inclusion in the Dungannon workhouse ceremony.She added: "It blows my mind to think about how much she went through and survived, from the famine, to the trauma of the workhouse, then the boat trip and to arrive across the world at that age."To find the strength and resilience to keep goingm raise her family and now all these generations later to be remembered in her home country makes me incredibly humbly proud."
There has also been ongoing work to uncover more information about other workhouses in mid ulster.The old building of Magherafelt Workhouse still exists in the form of Mid Ulster Hospital.Seamus O'Brien from the Loup Historical Society was at the memorial event for Dungannon Workhouse.
Seamus is asking people to come forward with any information on the workhouse, including relics such as records books."We're particularly interested in trying to find the old bell - it's about documenting this for future generations."A new memorial stone and information board at the main entrance to the former site of Magherafelt Workhouse is due to be unveiled at a launch event on 31 July.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


BreakingNews.ie
a day ago
- BreakingNews.ie
Fire at Co Mayo site set for major social housing development
A fire has caused extensive damage at a derelict building in Ballina, Co Mayo, on Monday night. The incident occurred on Kevin Barry Street at the property opposite the bus station, with the fire breaking out shortly after 9 pm. Advertisement Emergency services were alerted after the alarm was raised and the blaze was brought under control. The Western People reports Councillors had last week granted Part 8 planning permission for 31 social housing units at this site. The street remains closed off to traffic this morning, and diversions are in place. Gardaí have said no injuries have been reported at this time.


BreakingNews.ie
a day ago
- BreakingNews.ie
People living in disadvantaged areas ‘less positive' about immigration
People who live in communities with higher levels of socio-economic disadvantage are 'less positive' about immigration, research has found. A new Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) research paper examines the role that community context plays in understanding people's attitudes towards immigration in Ireland. Advertisement The research found that the share of migrants in a community and recent increases in migrants between 2011 and 2022 were not associated with attitudes towards immigration in Ireland overall. However, people living in more disadvantaged communities had more negative attitudes towards immigration, in particular, disadvantaged communities where there was an increase in migrants since 2011. The study is based on a large, representative survey of adults in Ireland looking at views on immigration, conducted in April 2023, matched with Census 2022 and additional data on the communities they live in. It follows a report published earlier in the year that analysed individual and household-level factors associated with attitudes to immigration, which found that education, financial strain, and optimism about the future were factors related to attitudes towards immigration. Advertisement The latest research found that migrants are not more likely to live in disadvantaged communities, however, it also found that people in communities with higher levels of socio-economic disadvantage are less positive about immigration, even after accounting for their own financial situation. Disadvantage is captured by proportions of households headed by lone parents, unemployed, with low education, or semi or unskilled. The report found that an increase in the number of migrants living in the area since 2011 had a more negative effect on attitudes in disadvantaged communities. Living in a rural area was associated with more negative attitudes towards immigration, compared with living in an urban area. However, rural areas with high percentages of migrants had attitudes towards immigration that were very similar to those in urban areas. Advertisement The report stated that this may reflect the importance of social contact with migrants for fostering more positive attitudes. The research also found that more segregated areas, where migrants live in clusters rather than evenly spread across the area, show more negative attitudes towards immigration. This also suggests that positive social contact with migrants in communities may facilitate understanding. The research investigated whether people living in areas with greater pressure on services such as health, housing and education held more negative attitudes towards immigration. Using indicators such as the number of GPs per household and housing affordability, high rents and high house prices, the ESRI said it found no evidence of a link. Advertisement It also found that attitudes to immigration are not related to the proportion of Ukrainian refugees in people's local area. Surprisingly, the proportion of asylum seekers in the community is linked to more positive attitudes to immigration overall, though only a small number of respondents had asylum seekers living in their local area. The research shows that community-level factors can give important insights into attitudes towards immigration. While some communities perceive immigration more negatively than others, positive social contact can play a key role in improving attitudes and therefore social cohesion. Advertisement 'This has important implications for policies aimed at improving migrant integration, but also indicates that broader economic and social policies and factors, such as disadvantage, segregation, urban/rural settlement, play a key role in social cohesion and attitudes towards immigration,' the report said. 'The findings about pressure on services indicate that it may not be direct local experiences that impact attitudes, but may instead be concern about pressure on services in Ireland as a whole.' Report author Fran McGinnity said: 'This research shows that local communities can generate both obstacles to, but also opportunities for, social integration between non-migrants and migrants. 'Communities are spaces where migrants and non-migrants not only encounter each other but can also form lasting social ties. 'This could be as next-door neighbours, as parents of children going to the same school, or in community groups. 'This kind of positive social contact between migrants and non-migrants can go a long way to generating positive relations between groups as well as building stronger, more cohesive communities in the long run.' Report co-author Keire Murphy said: 'This report gives important insight into what makes anti-immigrant sentiment more likely. 'Echoing international findings, socio-economic factors like community-level disadvantage seem to matter, implying that the broader social and economic context is important for attitudes towards immigration.'


Daily Mail
a day ago
- Daily Mail
I feared my baby was dead and wanting to end my life - while I was pregnant: Doctors reveal the disturbing rise of prenatal depression, why thousands of women are affected - and the red flags to watch out for
Pregnant with a longed-for child, Kerry Clifford expected to feel a sense of elation. She had endured three miscarriages and an ovarian ectopic pregnancy, where the fertilised egg develops outside the uterus, and so Kerry was initially relieved when her fourth pregnancy 'stuck'. But that relief was soon replaced by wretched feelings of despair.