Tom Gilmore on walkabout – Going home from Australia for Christmas

CHRISTMAS in Australia is beneath a sweltering sun while the Ireland that some of the emigrants are going back to this week in Galway is a total contrast with frost, ice and all the traditional trappings that make Christmas white (or off white) in the Northern hemisphere but red hot here in Australia. However many will be leaving the heat for a while and it will be a merry Christmas for them in Tuam and other areas of the  West of Ireland, far from West Australia, this year. Others are staying put here in Perth and waiting until the Galway Races next July to return home. There we met the three Kitt brothers from Kilkerrin. They have come out here to work at different times and they say that it has been a rewarding experience working in West Australia. Their mother posts them out The Tuam Herald regularly and it keeps them up with all that is happening at home. Their neighbour, Aidan Raftery, recently joined them from Kilkerrin; his family have been involved in operating the popular Ward's Restaurant and Lounge at Lerhin near Clonberne for many years. From Tuam we met Paul Flaherty from Forty Acres and from nearby Gardenfield his friend and work colleague, Paul McHugh. A good life 'It's a good life out here and many of us from North Galway have forged new friendships working in the mines and with various construction companies,' says Paul Flaherty. Two Dunmore men were also among the group, Dermot Ryan from Shanballymore, who was celebrating his birthday that evening, and Alan Melia from Garrafrauns. 'It's a long way from the White House, be it the one in Garrafrauns or in Washington DC,' concluded Alan with a grin.