Prof Peter Gray (QUB): 'Charles Gavan Duffy and the Land Question in Ireland and Colonial Victoria, 1850-80'

This paper will consider the impact of Irish land politics on the Australian colony of Victoria in the 1850s-70s, principally through the activities of Charles Gavan Duffy. A former Young Irelander and a leader of the Irish Tenant League (1850-5), Duffy arrived in Melbourne in 1856 and sought to rebuild his political career there. It will address Duffy’s attempts to develop a land policy appropriate to Australian conditions and balancing political affiliation to the Irish-Australian 'party' led by John O’Shanassy with a desire to harness the political energies of the radical Victorian Land Convention, as manifested during his periods as Minister for Public Lands (1857, 1858-9, 1861-3) and Premier (1871-2). Through this the paper aims to offer reflections on the transnational dimensions of Irish agrarian politics, and the tensions and compromises this involved in a settler colonial society marked by ethnic, religious and class differences and debates over treatment of the expropriated indigenous population.

Peter Gray is Professor of Modern Irish History and Director of the Institute of Irish Studies at Queen’s University Belfast. He has published widely on the history of the Great Irish Famine, and on Irish welfare and political history, and has recently completed a major study of the Irish agrarian radical William Sharman Crawford.

This is a hybrid event, taking place in-person in 27 University Square, 01/003 and online via MS Teams. Please indicate your preferred mode of joining when registering.

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