On August 16th, their story was brought vividly back to life when a powerful bronze sculpture by Carrick artist Donnacha Treacy was unveiled at St Patrick\u2019s Community Hospital \u2014 once the Carrick workhouse itself. The monument was commissioned by the Carrick-on-Shannon Heritage Group, based at St George\u2019s Heritage & Visitor Centre, and funded under the 2025 LEADER Programme. A plaque was also added at the Famine Memorial Garden to honour those who perished in An Gorta M\u00f3r.<\/p>\n
The girls chosen for emigration were poor, orphaned or abandoned \u2014 and deemed healthy enough to survive the journey. They were inspected on arrival in Sydney, housed in immigration depots like Hyde Park Barracks, and quickly sent out as domestic servants, farm hands, or, in time, wives. Some made stable lives and families. Others endured hardship, prejudice, and loneliness in a land they never asked to call home.<\/p>\n
The scheme was the brainchild of Henry George Grey, the 3rd Earl Grey \u2014 a name still familiar today because of the bergamot-infused black tea that bears it. As Britain\u2019s colonial secretary, Grey pushed through the emigration plan to ease Ireland\u2019s overcrowded workhouses while solving Australia\u2019s \u201cwoman shortage.\u201d It was, as contemporary officials saw it, a neat solution: destitute Irish girls would become Australia\u2019s future mothers, at no cost to the British taxpayer.<\/p>\n
John Bredin, chair of the Carrick-on-Shannon Heritage Group, said the new monument is about restoring dignity to those girls:<\/p>\n
\u201cSixty girls from Carrick workhouse and forty-five from Mohill were taken from here to Australia. They were some of the most vulnerable in society, yet they carried incredible courage. This sculpture gives them faces again, reminding us that they are not forgotten.\u201d<\/p>\n
For sculptor Donnacha Treacy, whose work has been shown at the Royal Hibernian Academy and the Royal Dublin Society, the challenge was to capture both sorrow and resilience:<\/p>\n
\u201cThese girls were leaving everything behind. I wanted their faces to show both fear and strength \u2014 the weight of loss, but also the spark of survival.\u201d<\/p>\n
The monument now stands not only as a reminder of Ireland\u2019s darkest years, but as a tribute to the lost daughters of Leitrim \u2014 sent away as famine orphans, remembered now in bronze.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/image2_(2)-1757588087500.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
Joseph Gilhooly, CEO of\u00a0Leitrim County Council<\/a> CEO at the unveiling photo taken by Keith Nolan.<\/p>\n