I don’t know if local young woman, Lizzie Mai Hartnett or her Ballymacelligott friend, Abbie Blennerhassett ever listened to or heeded the words of the songs of the late Nanci Griffith.
There’s one line in particular that would seem to have been written just for them.
Lizzie Mai and Abbie left together for Australia earlier this month and they’re living the dream. I know, because Lizzie Mai ‘wrote home’ to me the other day.
I think the opening verse of the Nanci Griffith song – and other lines down along – were written for the two adventurers.
A Light Beyond These Woods
“There’s a light beyond these woods, Mary Margaret. Do you think that we will go there, And see what makes it shine, Mary Margaret? It’s almost morning, and we’ve talked all night.”
Lizzie Mai and Abbie have been talking about and thinking of Australia on and off since last year but Lizzie Mai didn’t make up her mind fully until last August.
“I was working behind in Astellas in Killorglin and I loved it and it was a great opportunity and I was glad to have it. Most of the people I was working with were there for 20 and 25 years and the thought that I would do the same kind of thing scared me,” she said.
Decided to Go in November
“Then, after all our talking about Australia, Abbie decided to go in November and I said I’d join her and we settled on going to Sydney.
“I know that the weather is good and that there are lots of Irish people there and that it’s a safe city to live in,” said Lizzie Mai.
Before she left Hartnett’s Corner and home, Lizzie Mai had an important link of her own to add to a long chain of family history in this most historic of local houses.
Long time local customer and Limerick Road neighbour, Seánie Broderick had a pint of stout filled for him by Lizzie Mai.
Good Wishes and a Hug
She is a member of the sixth generation to occupy the house and the fourth of the Hartnett family to serve Seánie in this impressive house on the corner of Upper Main Street and Limerick Road.
He has had pints filled for him by her great grand parents, Joseph and Nora Hartnett; by her grandparents, Florrie and Marie Hartnett and by her parents, Jerome ‘Fagin’ and Noreen.
Seánie was delighted with his special occasion pint and his good wishes to Lizzie Mai on her travels were accompanied by a hug.
What’s It Like ?
I asked Lizzie Mai to send an account of their arrival and first impressions of their adopted city – and she sent the following:
Nice to be in Summer
“All is very good here and the weather is getting hot so it’s nice to be in summer when we had such a wet summer at home.
“We left home on November 6th and arrived in Sydney two days later. We found the journey fine but the tiredness and jet lag was a struggle for a few days.
We are staying with dad’s friends for a couple of weeks so they made us feel very welcome and that made it easier for us.
I spent the summer working in Astellas in Killorglin but really wanted to travel before I settle down to a full time career.
My friend Abbie is travelling with me and we’re living near Coogee Beach which is just fabulous. We also have visited Bondi Beach where Bondi Rescue is filmed and we used to watch it on TV so it was nice to visit.
Palm Beach Visit
We also went to Palm Beach where they film Home and Away another favourite of ours.
Now we are both in the middle of doing a traffic controller course to go working in that area. It’s a lot different from what we are used to but we are here for new challenges and want to experience everything Sydney has to offer.
We are in constant contact with our families through Snapchat and Whatsapp so that makes the distance much easier.
My granda, Neilie McAuliffe told me when his sister and brothers emigrated from Cordal over 60 years ago to Washington DC they had to wait three weeks for a letter so we are thankful we don’t have that issue. Thank God for technology. Kind regards, Lizzie Mai.
There’s a light beyond these woods, Mary Margaret. Do you think that we will go there, And see what makes it shine.
Emigrants of a Another Generation
I can never think of emigrants or immigration without recalling the stories of two Castleisland men who went to England at different times during the height of ‘The Beet’ campaign in the 1960s.
One of them was no sooner settled in his digs with his companions when he got restless and went off out the door to find the nearest street corner. He returned after an hour or so and voiced his displeasure at the experience.
“I was standing below at the corner for an hour and no one saluted me,” he said.
Another man was feeling the burden of home-sickness and, after a couple of pints, half sobbing, he declared: “I suppose I’ll never again put my back up against Hartnett’s Corner.”
As it happened he did and for many years after. Even England was so very far away at that time.
All the Lovely Young People
Here’s wishing the very best to Lizzie Mai and Abbie and all the lovely young people including Colin McCarthy and Luke King and Amy Long and Eibhlís Teahan and Aaron O’Connor who went to Australia earlier this year.
They have all gone to see just what makes that light beyond these woods shine so brightly.
I hope they find it, and their dreams, and bask in its glow.
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