18/01/2019
Here's a great read for the many Irish among us, or for anyone who's curious about anything that gives us a glimpse into Balmain's history.
The book's about a story of a young musician originally from Ireland who settled in Balmain shortly after world war II at the age of 18.
“Maureen was a cellist in the Sydney Symphony and was named one of the top 100 Irish Australians by the Irish Echo Newspaper", Leora O’Carroll.
Here's an excerpt from the book:
"Further up Darling Street, opposite the park and set in a terrace of small shops, was a tattoo parlor. While it was one of the many places we were instructed to avoid because it attracted “rough types”, this directive never stopped me from walking past it and gazing in the window with fascination. Displayed on the walls were the many examples and designs that for a few shillings could become permanent artwork on an adventurous man’s chest or arms. And sometimes when it was very hot, the tattoo artist, shirtless and dripping with perspiration, would sit on a high stool in the doorway with his pots of ink and fine needles, meticulously decorating a weathered seaman."
Best of all it's free to d/l from amazon.com.au for the next few days.
Maureen O’Carroll is the entertaining story of growing up in a large Irish immigrant family during hard times as seen through the eyes of mischievous middle child Maureen, who went on to become an acclaimed cellist. After years of periodic imprisonment in Ireland for their fight for indepe...
