The President unveiled a Famine Memorial in Subiaco Park.
The sculpture, commissioned by the West Australia Irish Famine Commemoration committee, was designed by Charlie Smith and Joan Walsh-Smith, originally from Waterford, and commemorates the Great Irish Famine.
In addition to the sculpture, the Committee sourced and donated Famine Travel Boxes, commemorating the 4,000 women who were sent from workhouses in Ireland to Australia.
Replicas of the Travel Boxes have been made by the Irish Prison Service and one was presented to President Higgins in January 2017.
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Some of the President's key speeches on the Gorta Mór include:
- Speech at the opening of the “Coming Home: Art and the Great Hunger” exhibition (2018)
- President participates in the National Famine Commemoration Ceremony (2018)
- Unveiling of 'Footsteps' (2017)
- 'The economic debate: from the Great Famine to Today' (2017)
- Remarks to representatives of the Choctaw nation (2017)
- Remarks marking UN Day for the Eradication of Poverty (2016)
- 'Recalling, Remembering and Learning from the Great Famine' (2016)
- ‘Feeding the World in 2050′ (2013)
- Remarks at Hunger-Nutrition-Climate Justice Conference (2013)
- Remarks at the Famine Museum (2013)
- 'Reflecting on the Gorta Mór' (2012)
Related events:
- President launches the CCIFV Lumper Schools Project (2019)
- President unveils sculpture by John Behan (2019)
- President officially opens an Irish-Polish Exhibition on the Great Famine (2019)
- President and Sabina visit Famine Museum in Strokestown House (2018)
- President lays a wreath at the Australian Monument to the Great Irish Famine (2017)
- President marks UN International Day for the Eradication of Poverty (2016)
