Fáilte
Fáilte romhat go suíomh gréasáin Chumann Gaeilge na hAstráile. Tugaimid aitheantas do na pobail Bhundúchasacha is pobail an Chaolais Torres mar úinéiri agus mar chaomhnóirí traidisiúnta na talún ar fud na hAstráile, go háirithe anseo i Melbourne, do na pobail Wurundjeri agus Bunurong, cuid de na náisiúin Kulin. Níor géilleadh a ndúichí riamh. Tugaimid ómós dá seanóirí a bhí agus atá ann fós.
Is í príomhaidhm an chumainn ná teagasc (agus foghlaim) na Gaeilge. Bíonn ranganna ar siúl oíche Dé Máirt (Dé Céadaoin ar Zúm) le linn na dtéarmaí scoile Victoria agus reáchtáilimid scoil samhraidh i mí Eanáir freisin. Más comhrá atá uait, tagann ciorcail chomhrá le chéile ar an chéad Aoine agus an dara Domhnach den mhí. Bíonn ócáidí sóisialta eile ann i rith na bliana agus foilsímid nuachtlitir gach ráithe.
Anseo is féidir leat teagmháil a dhéanamh linn, clárú leis an suíomh seo agus páirt a ghlacadh san fhóram, ach más maith leat teacht chuig na ranganna is riachtanach ballraíocht den chumann a ghlacadh. Mar bhall den chumann, beidh réimsí eile den suíomh ar fáil duit freisin.
Welcome to the website of the Irish Language Association of Australia. We acknowledge the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities as owners and traditional custodians of the land of Australia, particularly, here in Melbourne, the Wurundjeri and Bunurong peoples, part of the Kulin nations. Their homelands were never ceded. We pay our respects to their elders, past and present.
The association’s primary aim is the teaching (and learning) of Irish. Classes are run on Tuesday nights (Wednesday on Zoom) during the Victorian school terms and we also have a summer school in January. If it’s conversation you’re after, conversation circles meet on the first Friday and second Sunday of the month. There are other social events during the year and we publish a newsletter each quarter.
Here you can get in contact with us, register with the website and participate in the forum, but if you want to come to classes you will need to become a member. As a member of the association, you will also gain access to other parts of the website.
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Ranganna · Classes
Our classes are held on Tuesday & Wednesday nights during the Victorian school terms (except public holidays). Tuesday classes start at 7:30 pm and finishing between 8:30 & 9 pm, depending on the class. Wednesday classes start at 7:00 pm and generally finish at 8:00 pm.
In-person classes are held on Tuesday nights at the Kathleen Syme Library & Community Centre, 251 Faraday Street, Carlton.
Our other classes are held on Zoom. The Wednesday Zoom classes are primarily for people who live outside Melbourne or have trouble getting to a class.
| Tuesday | Beginners Intermediate |
Carlton |
| Advanced | Zoom | |
| Wednesday | Beginners Intermediate |
Zoom |
You’re welcome to try a class before committing, but get in touch first. All continuing students are expected to become members of the Cumann ($45 per year). In addition, we offer our teachers an honorarium for their hard work and to help finance that and room bookings we charge students $40 per term. This is roughly equivalent to the money that was collected at physical classes at the Celtic Club.
Terms
We follow school terms, but finish a bit earlier in December. The only public holiday that falls on Tuesday in 2025 is Melbourne Cup Day (4 November) and the library will not available that day.
| Term 1: | 28 January – 2 April |
| Term 2: | 22 April – 2 July |
| Term 3: | 22 July – 17 September |
| Term 4: | 7 October – 10 December (16 December — Christmas party) |
Textbooks
Books are sold at cost price, which varies with exchange rates. Prices aren’t settled for 2025 yet, but in 2024, Gaeilge gan Stró (Beginners Level) was $65 and Lower Intermediate Level was $70. Buntús na Gaeilge was $35–37.
Zoom
Although you can join a Zoom meeting using only a web browser, it is recommended that you get the Zoom app (Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, iOS). If you can manage it, headphones with a microphone will make it much easier to hear and be heard. Classes starts at the same time (7:30 pm), but run for about an hour and a quarter.
Payment options
Irish Language Association of Australia
Great Southern Bank
If you have any questions about classes please contact us, giving an indication of your level of Irish (beginner, intermediate, advanced). If you’re interested in helping with teaching, you’d be very welcome too.
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- Written by: Riarthóir
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From Roscrea to Beagle Bay
A new book by historian (and long-term member of the Cumann) Dr. Val Noone is to be launched on St. Patrick’s Day. From Roscrea to Beagle Bay: Dan O’Donovan, priest and hermit is a tribute to a remarkable Irish monk who has lived much of his life in Australia.
An unusual Irish monk. Born in Berlin in 1934 where his father was chargé d’affaires for the Irish government, Father Dan O’Donovan joined the Cistercian order of monks at Roscrea, County Tipperary, and came to Tarrawarra Abbey, Victoria, Australia, in the 1960s, and in 1972 answered a call from the Benedictines of New Norcia to work in the Kimberleys.
Dan has spent the past 47 years in northwestern Australia, first as a Cistercian monk with approval to live outside his monastery, and later as a priest of the Broome diocese. Dan is exceptional for his stints as a hermit, living adjacent to and in friendship with Indigenous communities – six years at Lombadina and twenty at Beagle Bay.
This booklet is a tribute to Dan as he begins his third year of retirement at Germanus Kent House in Broome. In April 2019, urged on by friends of Dan, Val Noone of Melbourne travelled to Broome, interviewed Dan and spent some days researching his papers. This is the result: an introduction to Dan’s story.
University of Divinity, and Margaret Hill, cousin
contact
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- Written by: Riarthóir
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Dangerous diacritic in the hands of a child!
After a long period of cases and appeals in the courts, Fañch Bernard, two and a half years old now, was allowed to use his Breton name with a tilde (~) as it is spelled in that language.
When the young boy was born in May 2017, a government official refused to register his name with the ñ because the tilde wasn’t part of the French language and he wrote “Fanch” on the birth certificate. A more senior official reversed the decision, but prosecutors took the case to the Kemper (Quimper) local court and they confirmed the original decision again i September 2017. According to the local court, it would be a breach of “the will of our state of law to maintain the unity of the country and equality for all regardless of origin” to allow the little mark to be written officially.
By that time though, little Fañch already had a I.D. card and passport with the troublesome ñ on them.
In the end, the case came before the Appeals Court of Roazhon (Rennes) last October and they allowed the sign. They found that the tilde was not unknown in the history of the French language and in addition the name Fañch had already been accepted by a prosecutor in Roazhon in 2002 and a registrar in Paris in 2009.
There are a couple of well-known Breton writers with the name — Fañch Peru and Fañch Broudig. Also, the tilde can be regularly seen in the surname of the junior Minister for the Interior — Laurent Nuñez.
Fañch’s parents are happy of course — they only wanted to name their child after his grandfather — and the French Republic hasn’t falled apart.
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- Written by: Riarthóir
- Category: Nuacht
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Aisteoirí ar aistear ~ Visiting actors
Le déanaí, thug beirt aisteoir Éireannach cuairt ar Chomhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann anseo i Melbourne. Thug Edwin Mullane léiriú ar “The Little Cloud” ó Dubliners le James Joyce, chun aitheantas a thabhairt do Bloomsday. Is comhbhunaitheoir The Corps Ensemble é Edwin agus tá sé ina stiúrthóir ealaíne don chompántas sin faoi láthair.
Is fearr aithne ar John Connors as an dráma RTÉ Love/Hate. Léirigh sé dráma aonair, Ireland’s Call, in St. Kilda agus Bondi le linn a thurais, cé nach raibh an bheirt acu san Astráil ach cúig lá!
I láthair freisin, bhí Éadaoin O’Reilly (Irish Film Festival Australia) agus iar-Uachtarán an Chumainn, Karolyne McDermott Paron. Bhain an lucht féachana an-sult as an seó.
Recently, two Irish actors visited Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann here in Melbourne. Edwin Mullane gave a rendition of “The Little Cloud” from Dubliners by James Joyce, as an acknowledgement of Bloomsday. Edwin is co-founder of The Corps Ensemble and the company’s current artistic director.
John Connors is best know for the RTÉ drama Love/Hate. He staged a one-man play, Ireland’s Call, in St. Kilda and Bondi, even though the two actors were only in Australia five days!
Also present were Éadaoin O’Reilly (Irish Film Festival Australia) and ex-President of the Cumann, Karolyne McDermott Paron. The audience enjoyed the show very much.
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Focail i mbarr a mblátha ~ In full Bloomsday
Performers celebrating Bloomsday at The Quiet Man
16 Meitheamh 2019
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Would you like a Cuppa with Van…and Yer Man, Ann, Nan, Jan and Dan?
On Tuesday evening, celebrating Seachtain na Gaeilge in honour of Barney Devlin, the Cumann’s classes put on one of his comedies, Cupán le Van (“A Cuppa with Van”). To the joy (irritation?) of the participants, it’s now available on the Internet!
Barney was a great friend to the Cumann as a teacher and writer and he is sorely missed.
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- Written by: Riarthóir
- Category: Nuacht
- Also available: ga-IE Gaeilge
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