On 21 July 2023 the annual international commemoration of the Great Irish Famine was held in Sydney at the monument to the Great Irish Famine at Hyde Park Barracks. I had the privilege of giving the address to the assembled crowd, which included Irish Minister of State, Thomas Byrne, the Irish ambassador to Australia, Tim Mawe, and the Irish consul general in Sydney, Rosie Keane. My address entitled ‘Perilous Voyage: Irish Famine Orphans’ Journey to Australia’ explores the dangers inherent in sailing to 20,000 kilometres to Australia in the days of sail and describes some of the ship wrecks that occurred, particularly on King Island in Bass Strait, where hundreds of immigrants hoping for a new life perished. Fortunately, none of the more than 4000 Irish famine orphans who came to Australia between 1848 and 1850 suffered that fate, though many famine refugees to North America did. As I note in the address, we can only ‘imagine how those young women whom we remember today, must have felt when they set out on that long and perilous journey, their heads no doubt filled with horror stories of the many ships that had been wrecked making the same journey’.