From prime ministers and premiers to pastoralists and poets, Australia’s history is, in part, Irish history

Heritage: Prime Minister of Australia Scott Morrison will lead his nation in celebrating Australia Day today. Photo: Mark Graham/Bloomberg

Gary Gray

Today will be a significant date for Australians in Ireland – it is Australia Day in a special year. 2021 marks 80 years Robert Gordon Menzies, our longest serving Prime Minister visited Eamon de Valera in Dublin, and 75 years since the establishment of formal relations between the Government of Australia and the then soon-to-be proclaimed Irish Republic.

The creation of diplomatic relations in 1946 was illustrative of the deep and very personal ties between our two island nations which have continued for almost two and a half centuries.