On the union, Dublin, 1799, History of the Book Collection, State Library Victoria

After centuries of tension, in 1800 the Acts of Union legally joined the kingdoms of Ireland and Great Britain (England and Scotland), to the dismay of many. This pamphlet bemoans the union as an unwelcome marriage – Ireland a reluctant bride.

St Patrick’s Day memento, card and green silk ribbon, Melbourne, 1898, Joseph Winter Papers, State Library Victoria

Among the 40,000 Irish convicts transported to Australia between 1791 and 1867 were participants in the 1798 Irish Rebellion, Robert Emmett’s 1803 Rising and the 1848 ‘Young Ireland’ revolt. In 19th-century Melbourne, St Patrick’s Day was inevitably both a political and religious commemoration.

Poster advertising the Grand Gaelic Entertainment on 6 November 1905, Melbourne, Hennessy Papers, State Library Victoria

In 1883, John Redmond and his brother Willie, leaders of Ireland's 'home rule' movement, toured Australia and New Zealand to raise funds for their electoral campaign. Both married Australians while they were here and Willie returned several times, including in 1905, the visit celebrated by this event.

‘Why we celebrate the 12th July’, letter to the editor of The Advocate, Melbourne c 1898, Joseph Winter Papers, State Library Victoria

Immigrants to Australia brought with them the legacy of conflict between Protestants and Catholics in Ireland. This letter to Joseph Winter, editor of the Advocate Catholic newspaper, from ‘a true Ulsterman’ (that is, an Irish Protestant) includes a song commemorating the Battle of the Boyne on 12 July 1690, when Protestant William of Orange prevented Catholic James II from regaining the British crown.

John Redmond, cable to Joseph Winter, 18 September 1914, Joseph Winter Papers, State Library Victoria

John Redmond and his Irish Parliamentary Party campaigned for the peaceful establishment of Irish self-rule within the British state. In September 1914, a home rule bill received royal assent from George V. Redmond cabled the news to his loyal Melburnian supporter, Joseph Winter, editor of The Advocate.

Program for the Home Rule Commemorative Ball, Melbourne, 1914, Hennessy Papers, State Library Victoria

Most Irish Catholics around the world greeted news of the home rule bill’s royal assent with joy, as suggested by the Melbourne Celtic Club’s decision to host a celebratory ball. Hardline republicans and unionists were not left dismayed for long, however; the outbreak of WWI in August 1914 postponed the enactment of the bill.

The British Government’s plan for suppressing the Irish Volunteers ... , Dublin, 1916, History of the Book Collection, State Library Victoria

Since the outbreak of WWI and the postponement of home rule in 1914, Irish republicans worked to organise a rebellion against English rule. This document, circulated just before the Easter Rising by its leaders, purports to be a secret warning from Dublin Castle that martial law is imminent in Ireland. It seems designed to whip up anti-British sentiment.

Proclamation of the Irish Republic, Dublin, 1917, facsimile of 1916 original, Riley and Ephemera Collection, State Library Victoria

Read publicly by Padraig Pearse outside the Dublin General Post Office at the outset of the Rising on 24 April 1916, the Proclamation enshrines the principles of ‘religious and civil liberty, equal rights and equal opportunities to all its citizens’, including (radically) women. Its seven signatories were executed within weeks of their surrender on 28 April.

Padraig Pearse, Irish War News Vol 1, No 1, 25 April 1916, History of the Book Collection, State Library Victoria

This very rare newspaper is the only edition produced of the Irish War News, written and printed during the Rising as a communiqué from rebel leaders to the wider public. The immediacy of print and radio made these crucial technologies for the rebels.

Frontispiece from Esther Roper, The prison letters of Countess Markievicz (Constance Gore-Booth), London, 1934

Constance Markievicz (1868–1927) was a talented artist from an Anglo-Irish family. An ardent republican, she became a lieutenant in the Irish Citizen Army and fought at St Stephen’s Green during the Rising. Markievicz’s death sentence was commuted; she was released from prison in 1917 and went on to become Ireland’s first female minister of parliament (1919–22).

TW Murphy, ‘Rounding up the rebels – a Sinn Fein prisoner being conveyed to the Castle’, from Dublin after the six days’ insurrection, Dublin, 1916

The Rising destroyed the centre of Dublin, with key buildings such as the General Post Office and Liberty Hall in ruins. In the following weeks 3000 men and women suspected of involvement were arrested, and some 1400 were charged and imprisoned.

Weekly Irish Times, Dublin, 29 April, 6 May and 13 May 1916, Newspapers Collection, State Library Victoria

All media was suppressed during the Rising. In this weekly digest (in this case covering a whole month), the unionist Irish Times presented a detailed narrative of the Rising and its aftermath, praising the executions of the leaders pictured here. (Only Constance Markievicz was spared, her death sentence commuted to life in prison.)

G Atkinson, cover illustration for Six days of the Irish republic by LG Redmond-Howard, London, 1916

Firsthand and journalistic accounts of the Rising were published as early as June 1916, while Dublin lay in ruins and the Royal Commission investigated the rebellion. The author of this account, Louis Redmond-Howard, was the nephew and close ally of home rule politicians John and Willie Redmond.

Bust of Archbishop Daniel Mannix, Melrose Ware ceramics produced by Hoffman’s Brickworks of Brunswick, 1934, Pictures Collection, State Library Victoria

Daniel Mannix, Catholic Archbishop of Melbourne for 46 years (1917–63), was one of the most complex and controversial figures in recent Australian history. Born and trained in Ireland, he (like many others) did not support violent republican tactics but was radicalised by the swift executions of the Rising’s leaders in 1916, becoming a fierce advocate of Irish independence.

A Christmas flash from the boys in the trenches, Melbourne, 1917, Riley and Ephemera Collection, State Library Victoria

At the outbreak of WWI in 1914 so many Australians voluntarily enlisted that men were turned away, but by 1916 enlistments for the unpopular war had declined. The Australian government held a plebiscite about conscription on 28 October 1916. Led by Catholic Archbishop of Melbourne Daniel Mannix, the ‘no’ campaign triumphed, a result repeated at the second plebiscite on 20 December 1917.

Australia’s real scab in Australian Statesman and Mining Standard, Melbourne, 1917, Riley and Ephemera Collection, State Library Victoria

Propaganda from the ‘yes’ conscription campaign savagely criticised Archbishop Mannix, depicted here in his familiar biretta (hat) attempting to dissuade a patriotic volunteer from enlisting. The defeat of the plebiscites split the Labor Party along factional and religious lines: Billy Hughes’ new Nationalist Party of Australia was largely Protestant, while Labor became a Catholic party.

Voice of the sainted dead rebukes the Sinn Feiner, Melbourne, c 1916, Riley and Ephemera Collection, State Library Victoria  

The fallout from the two conscription plebiscites at which the ‘no’ vote triumphed (supported by many Catholic Australians) was felt for decades. Australia’s Catholics, almost totally of Irish heritage in this period, were characterised as disloyal citizens of the British Empire and condemned as members of the republican Irish political party, Sinn Féin.

Fourteen Victoria Cross heroes forming guard of honor to Dr Mannix, St Patrick’s Day celebration, 1920, photographic print, Melbourne, 1920, Pictures Collection, State Library Victoria

Archbishop Daniel Mannix used the 1920 St Patrick’s Day celebrations to champion Irish independence. Around 100,000 people lined Bourke Street to watch the procession of 20,000 Catholics, including returned soldiers thanking Mannix for his anti-conscription campaign (1916–17). The parade was led by Mannix, 14 Irish-Australian Victoria Cross winners and 11-year-old Mollie Harrington, pictured here.

Michael Collins, The path to freedom, Dublin, 1922

Michael Collins rose to eminence in the aftermath of the executions of the Rising’s leaders. Sinn Féin won the 1918 general election and declared Ireland a republic, starting the Irish War of Independence (1919–21). Collins helped to negotiate the Anglo-Irish Treaty (1921) which ended partitioned Ireland and started the Irish Civil War (1921–23). He was assassinated in 1922.

Éamon de Valera, letter to the National Gallery of Victoria, Dublin, 1933

With fellow Rising survivor Michael Collins, Éamon de Valera steered republican Ireland through the Irish War of Independence (1919–21). Their paths diverged over the Anglo-Irish Treaty, which de Valera opposed. A three-time leader of the Irish state during his long career (he retired aged 90), he redrafted the constitution in 1937 to emphasise both Irish culture and conservative Catholic social policy.

Edmond McGrath, photographer unknown, c 1920, Maurice McGrath private collection

Sinn Féiner and Irish Volunteer (3rd Tipperary Brigade) Edmond McGrath was active in the complex aftermath of the Rising, when factions struggled for control of Ireland’s destiny. In 1953 he recorded a witness statement for the Bureau of Military History – one of 1773 statements collected to preserve unique memories and experiences of the Rising, the War of Independence and the Civil War.

Handcuffs worn by Edmond McGrath in St James Hospital, London, 1920, Maurice McGrath private collection

Edmond McGrath was arrested in March 1920 during the Irish War of Independence. He was sent to prison in England, where he and others went on a hunger strike that ended in hospitalisation; on his release he requested to keep these handcuffs. Re-arrested in September that year, McGrath was freed in 1922 as a citizen of the newly formed Irish Free State.

View of The Irish Rising: ‘A terrible beauty is born’ display, Blue Rotunda Gallery, State Library Victoria, 17 March–31 July 2016.

The design of The Irish Rising display featured a striking depiction of the Irish cláirseach (harp), which has been used as a symbol of Irish identity since at least the 13th century, and is today the Republic of Ireland’s official coat of arms.