Redmond Brothers’ Tour of Australia 1883

For ten months in 1883 John Redmond and his brother William toured Australia and New Zealand promoting the cause of Irish self-government and raising funds for the Irish National League. The Redmond brothers’ tour has received limited coverage in the published literature despite the length of the visit, the public controversy it caused and the significance which some historians have ascribed to it. Biographies of John and William Redmond and general works on the history of the Irish in Australia often mention the tour, but only in a few pages and then usually thematically to illustrate a wider issue or a particular argument. I have prepared a reasonably comprehensive narrative account of the Redmond brothers’ tour based on contemporary reports in metropolitan, provincial and local newspapers as well as the religious press. A copy is available on the Articles page of this website. The article not only tells the story of the tour, which is worthy enough in itself, but also provides information on the visit that may assist researchers who in the course of their research wish to know what happened, where and when during that ten months in 1883.