Settlers move back as they move forward: Susan Arthure, ‘Australia’s first clachan: Identifying a traditional Irish settlement system in Nineteenth century South Australia’, Journal of the Historical Society of South Australia, 45, 2017, pp. 19-30 | settler colonial studies blog

Settlers move back as they move forward: Susan Arthure, ‘Australia’s first clachan: Identifying a traditional Irish settlement system in Nineteenth century South Australia’, Journal of the Historical Society of South Australia, 45, 2017, pp. 19-30

20Dec17

Abstract: In the mid-nineteenth century, the Great Famine altered the Irish landscape forever, triggering mass migration and the creation of the Irish diaspora. Many Irish migrated to Australia, some to the new colony of South Australia. Here, historically, the Irish have tended to be invisible in the landscape, the predominant view being that, with the exception of religion, they were mainly indistinguishable from their British counterparts. Recent research, however, focusing on an Irish settlement near Kapunda known as Baker’s Flat, indicates that this particular community was distinctively Irish and operated as a clachan, a traditional Irish settlement system characterised by clusters of houses and co-operative farming methods. This article examines the history and archaeology of this Irish community, the first clachan settlement to be recognised so far in Australia.

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