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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 07 October 2024
In January 1922, Jessie Mackay represented the Self-Determination for Ireland League of New Zealand (S.D.I.L.N.Z.) at the Irish Race Congress in Paris. Irish people around the world were invited to attend this grand ‘family reunion’, where delegates discussed ways to assist the Irish revival, created an international organisation to connect members of the Irish ‘race’ and enjoyed exhibitions of Irish art, drama, music and dancing. Among those who assembled in Paris were delegates from Australasia who represented the S.D.I.L.N.Z. and the Self-Determination for Ireland League of Australia. These Australasian delegates played a pivotal role in keeping the congress on course. This article interweaves the history of the S.D.I.L.N.Z. with biographical details of Mackay's life in 1921 and 1922. Drawing on new archival research and material from New Zealand newspapers and periodicals, it adds to previous treatments of the congress by offering a distinct Australasian point of view. It investigates the S.D.I.L.N.Z. and why Mackay was chosen to represent it, how she contributed to the congress and what she made of proceedings.
1 Jessie Mackay, diary, 28 Jan. 1922, quoted in Chapman, Margaret, O'Leary, Pauline, Talbot, Ginny, Lyon, Brenda and Goodwin, Jean, Jessie Mackay: a woman before her time (Kakahu, 1997)Google Scholar, n.p. Unless indicated otherwise, references to Chapman et al. are to the chapter entitled ‘Her “wander” year’. All references to Mackay's diary are to the pages transcribed by Chapman et al.
2 Ibid.
3 Davis, Richard, ‘The Self-Determination for Ireland Leagues and the Irish Race Convention in Paris, 1921–22’ in Papers and Proceedings: Tasmanian Historical Research Association, xxiv (1977), p. 95Google Scholar.
4 The Republic, quoted in T. K. Daniel, ‘The scholars and the saboteurs: the wrecking of a South African Irish scheme, Paris 1922’ in South African-Irish Studies, i (1991), pp 162–3.
5 Ibid., p. 164.
6 New Zealand Tablet, 2 Feb. 1922.
7 Ibid.
8 For details of the Aonac, see Brannigan, John, Race in modern Irish literature and culture (Edinburgh, 2009), pp 40, 48Google Scholar.
9 Brannigan, Race, pp 35–48; Daniel, ‘Scholars’, pp 162–75; Davis, ‘Self-Determination’, pp 88–104; Dermot Keogh, ‘The Treaty split and the Paris Irish Race Convention, 1922’ in Études irlandaises, no. 12 (1987), pp 165–70; Gerard Keown, ‘The Irish Race Conference, 1922, reconsidered’ in I.H.S., xxxii, no. 127 (2001), pp 365–76.
10 Davis, ‘Self-Determination’, pp 100–01.
11 Seeing Ireland (https://seeingireland.ie) (6 July 2023).
12 ‘Centenary of the Irish Race Congress, Paris, 21–28 January 1922’ (www.historyireland.com/centenary-of-the-irish-race-congress-paris-21-28-january-1922) (6 July 2023); Darragh Gannon, ‘The Irish Race Congress: global Ireland’ in Darragh Gannon and Fearghal McGarry (eds), Ireland 1922: independence, partition, civil war (Dublin, 2022), pp 27–32.
13 Davis, Richard P., Irish issues in New Zealand politics 1868–1922 (Dunedin, 1974), p. 23Google Scholar.
14 For treatments of these delegations and the ebb and flow of Irish nationalism in this period, see ibid., pp 102–30; Malcolm Campbell, ‘John Redmond and the Irish National League in Australia and New Zealand, 1883’ in History, lxxxvi, no. 283 (2001), pp 357–60; Lyndon Fraser, Castles of gold: a history of New Zealand's West Coast Irish (Dunedin, 2007), pp 145–52.
15 Campbell, ‘John Redmond’, p. 357.
16 Fraser, Castles, pp 133, 145.
17 Marr, Lisa, ‘“It would really … matter tremendously”: New Zealand women and the 1916 Rising’ in Kuch, Peter and Marr, Lisa (eds), New Zealand's responses to the 1916 Rising (Cork, 2020), p. 40Google Scholar.
18 Ibid., pp 40, 182 n. 12.
19 Ibid., pp 37, 48–53. Seán Brosnahan analyses pockets of advanced Irish nationalism in ‘“Shaming the shoneens”: the Green Ray and the Maoriland Irish Society in Dunedin, 1916–22’ in Lyndon Fraser (ed.), A distant shore: Irish migration & New Zealand settlement (Dunedin, 2000), pp 117–34; ‘Rebel hearts: New Zealand's Fenian families and the Easter Rising’ in Kuch & Marr, New Zealand's responses, pp 100–17.
20 Davis, Irish issues, pp 193, 194–5.
21 Ibid., pp 199–202; New Zealand Tablet, 20 Mar. 1919.
22 See, for example, Auckland Star, 14 July 1920; Davis, Irish issues, pp 205–08.
23 Michael Posner, ‘Katherine Hughes: a singular journey’ in Queen's Quarterly, cxxii, no. 1 (2015), p. 33.
24 Ibid., p. 34.
25 Ibid., pp 34, 36, 37; Davis, ‘Self-Determination’, p. 91.
26 Davis, ‘Self-Determination’, pp 88, 91–4.
27 O'Farrell, Patrick, The Irish in Australia: 1788 to the present (Notre Dame, IN, 2000), pp 284–5Google Scholar; Davis, ‘Self-Determination’, pp 92–3.
28 See, for example, New Zealand Herald, 20, 23 May 1921; Waikato Times, 31 May 1921; New Zealand Tablet, 9 June 1921.
29 Davis, ‘Self-Determination’, p. 93.
30 Evening Post, 7 May 1921; Tentative constitution of the Self-Determination for Ireland League of New Zealand (Auckland, [1921]) (Hocken Library Collections, 27,783); ‘The Self-Determination for Ireland League of New Zealand: application for membership’ (Hocken Library Collections, 27,784).
31 Evening Post, 7 May 1921.
32 New Zealand Tablet, 2, 9 June 1921.
33 For example, Waikato Times, 31 May 1921; Hokitika Guardian, 11 June 1921.
34 New Zealand Tablet, 23 June, 12 May 1921.
35 Evening Post, 22 June 1921; Evening Star, 18 June 1921; Manifesto of the Self-Determination for Ireland League of New Zealand (Auckland, [1921]) (Hocken Library Collections, 27,784).
36 See, for example, Self-Determination for Ireland League: why you should join it (Wellington, [1921]) (University of Canterbury Library, Macmillan Brown Collection, 378696).
37 Ward, Margaret, Maud Gonne: a life (London, 1990), p. 122Google Scholar.
38 Evening Post, 9 Aug. 1921.
39 For examples of S.D.I.L.N.Z. cables, see New Zealand Tablet, 29 Sept. 1921.
40 Ibid., 9 June 1921.
41 For example, ibid., 23 June, 20 Oct., 17 Nov. 1921. For a letter of appreciation from the St Patrick's Guild, Dublin, see ibid., 6 July 1922.
42 Evening Post, 18 Aug. 1921; New Zealand Tablet, 18 Aug. 1921.
43 Ward, Maud Gonne, pp 124–5.
44 New Zealand Tablet, 16 Feb. 1922.
45 See Ward, Margaret, Unmanageable revolutionaries: women and Irish nationalism (London, 1995), p. 51.Google Scholar.
46 Evening Post, 10 Oct. 1921.
47 Ibid.; New Zealand Tablet, 4 Aug. 1921.
48 NZ Truth, 22 Oct. 1921. For coverage of Hall-Skelton's speaking engagements earlier in the year, see Waikato Times, 31 May 1921; New Zealand Tablet, 28 July, 4 Aug. 1921.
49 Evening Post, 11 Oct. 1921.
50 Ibid.
51 Ibid., 22 June 1921.
52 For more on these earlier writings, see Marr, ‘It would really’, pp 45–8.
53 The Outlook, 28 Feb. 1921.
54 Ibid., 7 Mar. 1921.
55 Ibid., 14 Mar. 1921.
56 Ibid.
57 Ibid.; ibid., 11, 4 Apr. 1921. For the readers’ letters to the editor, see also ibid., 21, 28 Mar., 18 Apr. 1921. The editor counteracted their letters with articles that appealed to the empathy and consciences of readers: see ibid., 14 Mar., 4, 11, 18 Apr. 1921.
58 Ibid., 18 Apr. 1921.
59 Timaru Herald, 9 Apr. 1921.
60 New Zealand Tablet, 7 Apr. 1921.
61 Timaru Herald, 8 Apr., 8 June 1921.
62 Ibid., 4 May, 8 June 1921. The convenor of the Outlook's Publications Committee had asked the editor to withhold publication of the resolution, but it was later printed along with the editor's explanation: The Outlook, 16 May 1921. The Timaru Herald reprinted this article on 21 May.
63 Timaru Herald, 23 Apr. 1921.
64 Evening Star, 23 Nov. 1921.
65 Lyttelton Times, 2 May 1921.
66 Ibid., 4 May 1921.
67 Ibid., 1 June 1921.
68 Ibid., 4 May, 14 June 1921.
69 Ibid., 20 May 1921.
70 For example, ibid., 4, 2, 11 June 1921.
71 Ibid., 11, 14 June 1921. Thomson wrote several letters during this controversy. He was determined to air the other side of the argument and did not allow the facts to get in the way: see ibid., 5 July, 16 June 1921; and ‘Spectemur Agendo's’ response to the errors in this latter letter in ibid., 24 June 1921.
72 See, for example, the letters of Robert Kelleher: New Zealand Tablet, 19 May 1921; Lyttelton Times, 18 June, 5 July 1921.
73 Lyttelton Times, 27, 28 July 1921.
74 Ibid., 28 July 1921.
75 New Zealand Tablet, 15 Dec. 1921.
76 Ibid.
77 Ibid.; Chapman et al., Jessie Mackay, n.p.; New Zealand Tablet, 28 Sept. 1922.
78 New Zealand Tablet, 15 Dec. 1921.
79 Ibid., 2 Feb. 1922.
80 Otago Witness, 14 Mar. 1922.
81 Macleod, Nellie F. H., A voice on the wind: the story of Jessie Mackay (Wellington, 1955), p. 71Google Scholar.
82 Quoted in Chapman et al., Jessie Mackay, n.p.
83 See, for example, ibid. (chapter entitled ‘Early days’); Macleod, Voice, p. 66.
84 Brosnahan, Seán, ‘Parties or politics: Wellington's IRA 1922–1928’ in Patterson, Brad (ed.), The Irish in New Zealand: historical contexts & perspectives (Wellington, 2002), p. 67Google Scholar.
85 Otago Daily Times, 9 Dec. 1921. See also Auckland Star, 30 Mar. 1922. The Treaty was officially called the Articles of Agreement for a Treaty between Great Britain and Ireland.
86 Evening Post, 10 Dec. 1921.
87 Macleod, Voice, p. 71; Chapman et al., Jessie Mackay, n.p.
88 Chapman et al., Jessie Mackay, n.p.
89 Ibid.
90 Tiernan, Sonja, Irish women's speeches: voices that rocked the system (Dublin, 2021), p. 80Google Scholar.
91 New Zealand Tablet, 23 Mar. 1922.
92 Dáil Éireann deb., vol. T, no. 15 (7 Jan. 1922).
93 Lyttelton Times, 21 Mar. 1922.
94 Chapman et al., Jessie Mackay, n.p. Many delegates failed to appear at the congress. A delegation of sixty North Americans was expected, but only four turned up: Davis, ‘Self-Determination’, p. 97.
95 New Zealand Tablet, 23 Mar. 1922; Lyttelton Times, 21 Mar. 1922.
96 Lyttelton Times, 21 Mar. 1922. For more detail on the Australian delegates, see New Zealand Tablet, 30 Mar. 1922.
97 Lyttelton Times, 21 Mar. 1922.
98 Ibid.
99 Keown, ‘Irish Race Conference’, p. 366; Posner, ‘Katherine Hughes’, p. 38.
100 Mary MacDiarmada, ‘Art O'Brien: London envoy of Dáil Éireann, 1919–1922: a diplomat “in the citadel of the enemy's authority”’ in Irish Studies in International Affairs, xxx (2019), p. 59.
101 Posner, ‘Katherine Hughes’, p. 38; Dáil Éireann deb., vol. S, no. 3 (18 Aug. 1921).
102 Diarmuid Coffey, Michael Hayes, Douglas Hyde and Eoin MacNeill, ‘Report on the Irish Race Conference in Paris’, Documents on Irish Foreign Policy (www.difp.ie/volume-1/1922/irish-race-convention-paris/239/#section-documentpage) (21 May 2022).
103 Ibid.; Mackay, diary, 23–28 Jan.
104 Davis, ‘Self-Determination’, p. 98.
105 Coffey et al., ‘Report’.
106 Ibid.
107 O'Farrell, Irish in Australia, p. 289.
108 Lyttelton Times, 21 Mar. 1922.
109 Eoin MacNeill, ‘Preliminary report on the Irish Race Conference (Paris, January 1922)’, Documents on Irish Foreign Policy (www.difp.ie/volume-1/1922/irish-race-convention-paris/238/#section-documentpage) (21 May 2022); Coffey et al., ‘Report’; Mackay, diary, 25, 27 Jan.; Evening Post, 30 Mar. 1922.
110 O'Farrell, Irish in Australia, p. 285.
111 Lyttelton Times, 30 Jan. 1922.
112 Ibid.
113 Davis, ‘Self-Determination’, p. 99.
114 O'Farrell, Irish in Australia, p. 286; Grey River Argus, 27 Jan. 1922.
115 Keown, ‘Irish Race Conference’, p. 374.
116 Ibid., pp 366, 373–5, 376.
117 Evening Post, 30 Mar. 1922.
118 Davis, ‘Self-Determination’, p. 99.
119 Evening Post, 30 Mar. 1922.
120 Michael MacWhite's phrase, quoted in Keown, ‘Irish Race Conference’, p. 369; Davis, ‘Self-Determination’, p. 98.
121 Mackay, diary, 22, 23, 28, 29 Jan.
122 Evening Post, 30 Mar. 1922; The Press [Christchurch], 2 Sept. 1922.
123 Lyttelton Times, 25 Mar. 1922.
124 Otago Daily Times, 4 July 1922. A similar assessment of the Free State ministers, possibly written by Hall-Skelton, appears in Evening Post, 30 Mar. 1922.
125 New Zealand Tablet, 27 Apr. 1922.
126 Ibid.
127 Lyttelton Times, 25 Mar. 1922.
128 Coffey et al., ‘Report’.
129 Otago Witness, 3, 24, 31 Jan., 7, 14 Feb. 1922.
130 Lyttelton Times, 25 Mar. 1922.
131 New Zealand Tablet, 27 Apr. 1922.
132 Lady Gregory [and W. B. Yeats], ‘Kathleen ni Houlihan’ in eadem, Selected writings (London, 1995), pp 306, 311.
133 Ward, Maud Gonne, p. 74.
134 Mackay ignores the physical force elements in the play and in Gonne's nationalism.
135 Lyttelton Times, 21 Mar. 1922; New Zealand Tablet, 27 Apr. 1922.
136 Brannigan, Race, p. 41.
137 Maud Gonne, The autobiography of Maud Gonne: a servant to the queen, ed. A. Norman Jeffares and Anna MacBride White (1938; Chicago, 1994), p. 173.
138 Ibid.
139 New Zealand Tablet, 15 Dec. 1921, 27 Apr. 1922.
140 Ibid., 27 Apr. 1922.
141 Swan Hennessy, Deuxième quatuor, Op. 49 (Paris, 1920). For more information on Hennessy and his string quartet, see Axel Klein, ‘Music for MacSwiney’ in History Ireland, xxviii, no. 5 (2020), pp 32–4.
142 Lyttelton Times, 25 May 1921.
143 Ibid.; Iain Crawford, ‘Wading through slaughter: John Hampden, Thomas Gray, and Mary Shelley's Frankenstein’ in Studies in the Novel, xx, no. 3 (1988), p. 250.
144 Daniel, ‘Scholars’, p. 171.
145 MacNeill, ‘Preliminary report’. On the election of the central executive and its inaugural meeting, see this report; Coffey et al., ‘Report’; Daniel, ‘Scholars’, pp 171–3; Keown, ‘Irish Race Conference’, pp 370–72.
146 MacNeill, ‘Preliminary report’; Mackay, diary, 28, 29 Jan.
147 Daniel, ‘Scholars’, p. 172. See also MacNeill, ‘Preliminary report’; Coffey et al., ‘Report’.
148 Keown, ‘Irish Race Conference’, p. 372.
149 Macleod, Voice, p. 70.
150 Ibid., p. 71.
151 Otago Witness, 16 May 1922.
152 Ibid.; ibid., 23, 30 May 1922.
153 Chapman et al., Jessie Mackay, n.p.; Macleod, Voice, p. 72; Jessie Mackay, ‘One Dublin night’ in Roísín Dubh, i, no. 1 (1923), pp 9–11; Lyttelton Times, 6 Dec. 1922.
154 New Zealand Tablet, 6 July 1922.
155 Chapman et al., Jessie Mackay, n.p.
156 Mackay wrote a poem mourning the passing of Collins and Arthur Griffith: Jessie Mackay, ‘The keening’ in The bride of the rivers and other verses (Christchurch, 1926), pp 38–9.
157 New Zealand Tablet, 7 Sept. 1922. A more literal translation of the motto is provided in Daniel, ‘Scholars’, p. 175 n. 4.
158 G. J. Griffin to M. J. Kelly, 29 Nov. 1926 (National Library [New Zealand], Gerald John Griffin papers, 86-043-3/15).
159 Constitution (National Library, Griffin papers, 86-043-3/15).
160 Ibid.
161 New Zealand Tablet, 14 Sept. 1922.
162 Macleod, Voice, p. 80. Mackay's response was remarkably similar to O'Reilly's: see O'Farrell, Irish in Australia, p. 286.
163 For example, Mackay, diary, 25 Jan. 1922; New Zealand Tablet, 7 Sept. 1922; Macleod, Voice, p. 81.
164 Mackay, ‘One Dublin night’; Jessie Mackay, ‘The lint of heaven’ in Roísín Dubh, ii, no. 2 (1924), p. 10; Evening Post, 23 June 1923.
165 The Press, 28 Aug. 1928.
166 New Zealand Tablet, 28 Sept. 1922.
167 Ibid.
168 See Brosnahan, ‘Parties’. I am grateful to the readers for their comments and recommendations and to the Hocken and National Library staff for their help in accessing newspapers and other resources.
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