Australian ambassador set to visit Abbeyleix
Australian Ambassador to Ireland Chantelle Taylor
THE Australian ambassador to Ireland is set to visit Abbeyleix for the heritage town’s Famine Commemoration Day next May.
Her Excellency Chantelle Taylor has accepted an invitation to attend the event, which will include a re-enactment of the departure of 28 orphaned girls from Abbeyleix Workhouse to Australia between 1848 and 1850.
The ambassador’s presence will acknowledge the strong historic connection between Ireland and Australia, particularly during the devastating years of the Great Famine.
Local historian Noel Burke, chairperson of Abbeyleix & District Historical Society, confirmed that the Australian ambassador has accepted an invitation to attend the commemoration on 16 May, 2027.
“The date is in her calendar now and, unless something unforeseen happens, the ambassador will attend the Abbeyleix event,” Noel told the .
The heartbreaking journey taken by 28 girls, aged between 14 and 18, was vividly recounted by Laois Heritage Society chairperson Sinéad Holland at an evening of talks in Abbeyleix Heritage House on 17 August, as part of Heritage Week.
Sinéad delivered a powerful and compassionate account of the young women and girls sent from the Abbeyleix workhouse to Australia between 1848 and 1850, under the Earl Grey Scheme. There was an unforgettable stillness in the audience as the girls’ names were read aloud.
Sinéad was followed by Dolores Dempsey, artist and teacher, whose mastery of Mountmellick embroidery is renowned. Dolores displayed samples of her work, including some of the beautiful bonnets that will be worn by 28 local schoolgirls during next May’s re enactment.
Dolores shared the story of this unique, white-on-white, highly textured embroidery tradition and unveiled her plan to create 28 hand embroidered bonnets for the re-enactment.
The girls will walk behind a replica horse drawn cart, just as they did in 1848 on their way to Maryborough (Portlaoise) Railway Station and, ultimately, to ships bound for Australia.
Volunteers are needed to help embroider the bonnets that will bear the name of each girl, their age and the ship they sailed on. These bonnets will be displayed in libraries throughout the county after next May’s re enactment, a lasting tribute to the Abbeyleix orphan girls and a beautiful community effort.
The Heritage House talks laid the foundation for Abbeyleix’s major commemoration next May, when a re-enactment will feature people in period dress walking or cycling high nelly bicycles from Market Square to Abbeyleix District Hospital/Community Nursing Unit, site of the former workhouse, where a prayer service will be held in memory of those who died from starvation.
The re-enactment will feature an authentic replica of a horse-drawn workhouse cart, which was used to transport people and bodies. The wooden cart is being constructed in conjunction with artist Paddy Carroll and Abbeyleix Men's Shed, led by Johnny Talbot and Michael Moore.
Meanwhile, a powerful Abbeyleix famine documentary , which was filmed earlier this year, premiered to a packed audience at the Dunamaise Arts Centre, Portlaoise on Friday, 21 August, as part of Heritage Week.
The film will also have a free screening at Mountmellick Community Arts Centre at 7pm on Friday, 4 September, as part of the 2026 Lovely Laois Homecoming Festival.
Abbeyleix is campaigning to host the 2027 Irish Famine Commemoration Day, a major national event held annually on the third Sunday in May. A decision on the venue for the national commemoration is expected to be announced early next year.
