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Mark highlights some of the comical differences in the British and Australian vernacular
Recipe for Cawl (pronounced "cowl") from Burry Port, S Wales To serve 5-6 people. Buy 2 lbs of neck of lamb or similar cheap cuts of lamb – make sure it is as tender as you can get. Boil and simmer for 2-3 hrs minimum, drain off fat and scum (cool if necessary to do so). Add 3 decent sized chopped onions and simmer for up to an hour. Add 3 to 4 potatoes, less than half a swede and even less parsnip, all cut into coarse chunks and simmer for 20 mins. Add 3 sliced leeks and simmer gently on top until cooked. Add salt to taste. Serve. Alternatively: The liquor can be strained and served as soup first and the meat and veg served as a main course with a white parsley sauce)
"An icon of the left, he was a true working class hero," said Mr
Hancock....."The scourge of the right, he took on Conservative British
establishment and changed Britain for every....."To Nye it was the
ordinary people who mattered and he was their champion...."Wales and
the rest of Britain owe him a great deal, a great socialist and a
great man - a true Welsh hero." NHS founder Aneurin Bevan beat off icons from
the ancient and modern world in an online poll to find the
greatest-ever Welsh person. The competition was stiff - he beat
the 15th Century rebel prince of Wales Owain Glyndwr by just 117
votes. Singer Tom Jones was third, Plaid's first MP Gwynfor Evans
fourth and actor Richard Burton fifth. Zeta Jones was the first woman on the list
The psychology of the Welsh ...
not wholly bad or good?
... the Welsh people
themselves-- a people that Dylan Thomas, in the 20th century, praised
as "not wholly bad or good."
.... (Welsh literature)
tells the story of a
people who have managed to retain much of their fullness of spirit
despite a very early loss of most of their territory and political
independence.
....It tells the story
of a people who are still struggling to avert the loss of their ancient
culture and language upon which much of that culture depends.
This is the story of
that struggle: the theme is constant: it is a struggle for survival
against almost impossible odds......
Read more; Chapter 1 The
Beginning
from `The Long Struggle for Identity: The Story of Wales and its People'
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by Peter
N. Williams, Ph.D. |
Australian Story - the Welsh in Australia by Elisa James Elisa James is the pen name of Liz Corbett Liz, a Melbourne based writer, is working on a novel in which two of the main characters are Welsh. Set in 1841, the novel traces the journey of a group of emigrants travelling from St Katherine’s Wharf, London to the Port Phillip District in New South Wales. It is a story about losing a father, and of leaving home. It is about decisions we make that take us to the edge........
Incorporating elements from several different sports indigenous to the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland & the Province of Brittany in France we have created a unique fusion style that we call Pan-Celtic Wrestling. These sports were practiced in colonial Australia & the styles considered ancestral to Pan-Celtic wrestling. They include Cornish, Breton, Devonshire, Scottish, Irish and the Welsh: Ymaflyd Codwn Cefn or the back fall style of wrestling in the Cymraeg (Welsh) language, is known from the 1420AD poem `Robert ap Meredydd` by Rhys Goch Eyyri. It was practiced as part of the `y pedwar camp ar hugain` or `four & twenty accomplishments1 which included singing, hunting & weapons training in addition to yamavael or unarmed combat, used as the training regime for warriors. It was the same style as practiced in Cornwall that used a jacket for dynamic throws but also borrowed elements from the Devon style of outplay. It survived until the 1940s as a rural sport known as `purring` that according to accounts was similar to the `shin kicking` event mentioned above. The historian Darren Lewis has written several articles about this sport, actively bringing awareness of it back to Welsh national consciousness. |
LINKS:
Some well known Welsh
Australians:
Rolf Harris, born of Welsh emigrants to
Australia
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| Cricket Flash: And the latest news from the Glamorgan county cricket ground at St. Helen's in Swansea: Two and a half inches of rain have fallen for seven runs. |
was an interactive internet communication project that links upper primary/secondary students in Wales and New South Wales.
From Glyn to Gulgong was a joint project between the Welsh Education Ministry, the NSW Department of Education and Training, the British Council and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
You might be interested to browse some of the findings
A visit to the 2005 Welsh National Eisteddfod
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Humour Spot: A customer who had ordered some Welsh lamb from her butcher, suspected that the meat she had been given was not the genuine article. "Are you sure this is real Welsh lamb?" she demanded, angrily. "Well, Mrs. Jenkins", confessed the butcher, "That lamb was really born in Australia but I can assure you it had Welsh parents." |
Letter from Gail Wright, January 2011
How wonderful to look through your pages on Wales. I have recently begun
to research my family history and as my father came to Australia from
Wales as a child, this research has brought back many memories of my
grandmother and my childhood.
My welsh grandmother played a huge part in my “growing up” years. As I had
three sisters, I used to consider it a huge reward to be able to spend
some of my school holidays with my “Nain”. Mind you, my sisters loved
spending time with her as well, so my mother had three very well behaved
daughters in the lead up to the school holidays, as we all made sure we
were on our best behaviour and would be chosen to spend a week or so with
Nain. Although we probably didn’t realise it at the time, we did all take
turns, but let’s face it, when you are only 7, 8, 9 or 10 years old, you
didn’t remember much about the last lot of holidays!!!
My Nain would take us to the movies (a huge treat in the fifties),
sometimes to the Zoo and ALWAYS to the Cymmrodorion every Saturday
night!!! If I remember correctly, at that time (1950’s) the Cymmrodorian
met in the main shop of David Jones in the city. It was such an adventure
to go into a shop after hours and walk among the counters and then out the
back to the meeting room.
Another time that is firmly etched into my memory is that of the St
David’s Day Dinner. In those days, it was considered a great honour to
have the current Governor General and his wife accept an invitation to
attend. That meant, that some child was required to dress up in the Welsh
National Costume and present a bouquet of flowers to the GG’s wife. Both
my sisters and I had this honour, but I think I did this around three
times as I was a few years older than my sisters!! This dinner was again
held in the David Jones building, but this time, it was the staff canteen
which was decorated within an inch of its life for the big night!! I can
even remember the entree as Prawn Cocktail and a Fruit Cocktail for anyone
who did not like seafood!
I also remember the Christmas parties (again held in the David Jones
building) and being asked to play the piano –something I loved to do, but
also something that made me quite sick with nerves for weeks beforehand.
There are many other memories floating around, but they have dimmed
considerably as I have grown older. Even after 30 odd years I still miss
my grandmother enormously, so I thank your website for stirring my
memories and bringing her back to me.
Yours sincerely,
Gail Wright
| Photographs of some of the Bonnell clan in fashionable dress of the day in Llanelli, West Wales, probably in the late 1800s | |
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A personal history |
 Ebbw Vale Steel Mill |
Wales - a Culture of Mining and Steel as
well as of Natural Beauty
The abundance of accessible coal and iron ore deposits in Wales eventually led to coal and steel industries developing and growing in those areas. Particularly from the Industrial Revolution onwards.
COAL - South Wales had long been admired for its natural beauty but exploitation in the cause of Britain's industrial revolution (traditionally dated 1730 - 1850) was to change all this for ever.
Steam was replacing hand labour and factories were replacing homes as centres for manufacturing processes. Britons were building great iron ships and railways around the world. Welsh steam coal became the fuel of choice for boilers everywhere and new techniques enabled the use of coal (as coke) in iron smelting. Smoking chimneys joined colliery winding gear to dominate the rows of terraced housing built in the Welsh valleys for immigrant workers from all around Britain.
An old view of Clydach Vale, the Rhondda
Valley
Go to `The
industrialisation of the South Wales Valleys'
source: Data Wales
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Humour Spot: "I hear Evan Morgan broke the world 100 metre record wearing his mining boots." "How did he manage that?" "He fell down the shaft." |
Great Ports
One outstanding feature of the commercial economy of Great Britain during the second half of the 1800s was the uninterrupted development of South Wales as the greatest steam coal-exporting centre.
With the onset of steam ships and extensive new railways the steam coals of South Wales were sent in ever-increasing quantities to all continents. By 1914, Cardiff and Barry became the greatest coal-exporting ports and thus the biggest ports (by tonnage) in the world.
The excellence of South Wales team coal made it a standard for comparative purposes. Sailing ships powered by South Wales steam coal broke all records and demand from European navies and steamship lines soared.
..and yes, youngsters still dream of playing rugby for Wales
Click here to hear the National Anthem; Mae Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau (Land of My Fathers)
ONE cannot talk about culture in Wales without including references to rygbi (rugby) - or generally when Welsh people are speaking English it is referred to as football. The Welsh have always boasted some of the finest rugby footballers in the world and in the past they have attained world status. The Cardiff Arms Park, or Millennium Stadium. with its removable roof and huge capacity it is one of the great stadiums in the world. Sitting within metres of the shopping centre of Cardiff it guarantees that International day is an event that will stay in one's memory, as shoppers, tourists and spectators mingle and the pubs are filled with the strains of Calon Lan and Bread of Heaven.
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Humour Spot: Question: What do call an Englishman with a bottle of champagne after a Six Nations game? Answer: A waiter |
Welsh Jinkers
Alas in today's modern game of super-sized backs the agile, jinking classic Welsh footballer seems not able to compete physically (though Shane Williams, once considered too small to play rugby at a senior level, was voted world's best player in 2008). Similarly with the forwards, the Welsh are not a big race, and recent lack of success is possibly a symptom of a lack of hard, physically fit men following the closure of the coal mines and steel mills. The game has become professional of course, so the days of `boot money' is a thing of the past for the top players at least. It has had a huge effect on the game leading to the `cheque book rugby' of the English players and clubs. In a small and economically less well-off country like Wales this will be an ongoing challenge. There is also a different attitude towards winning it seems, particularly between the Northern and Southern hemisphere sides. Australia, along with New Zealand and South Africa hate to lose, maybe it's a new country, colonial thing.
Still, Welsh supporters are passionate, knowledgeable and appreciative of good, skilful, flowing football. The Welsh do not need an excuse to sing at the game, and yes, youngsters still dream of playing rugby for Wales.
If soccer is the world game then rugby is the game they play in heaven. The Welsh rugby bard of the 70s and 80s, Max Boyce, coined the expression and it has stuck. His account of the Fly Half (Second five-eighths in Australia) Factory where the `assembly line' for such greats as Cliff Morgan, Barry John, Phil Bennet and Johnathon Davies (to name but a few) were built ("Aye, and the rejects, stamp them second class and send them to England") is memorable. So to his poem - `9-3' when the little town of Llanelli beat the mighty All Blacks ("When the scoreboard read, Llanelli - naw {nine}, Zeland Newydd - tri {New Zealand - three}"). As mentioned singing and passion was, and still is, a part of the fun. `Oggy, Oggy Oggy, OI! OI! OI!' was a call I remember 40 years ago in Cardiff, and of course Australian sports supporters have adopted the idea as their own now with the chant `Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, OI! OI! OI!'.
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Humour Spot:
Dai, a fervent
rugby supporter is on his way home from the local pub after the
Grand Slam win when unfortunately he is killed in a road traffic
accident.
He gets up to the pearly gates where St. Peter looks him over and enquires of his name - ' Dai Jones' is the reply. St. Peter gets out his book and opens it under J for Jones. "Dear me Dai", he says, "it would seem you spent most of your money on beer and what was left on loose women, and to make matters worse when your mam advised you to get on the straight and narrow you turned that advice down. I'm afraid there's only one place you're going", pointing to the down escalator. So down Dai goes, with a heavy heart looking at the flames of purgatory and listening to the cries of the damned. At the bottom there's a set of double doors which he pushes open and steps into a blinding light. When he gets his bearings he is overcome by disbelief and sheer joy when he realises he is in the Cardiff Millennium Stadium surrounded by tens of thousands of Welsh Rugby supporters. At the other end of the stadium there is a huge television screen with the words "Repeat Performance starts in 4 minutes." He staggers to the nearest seat with tears on his cheeks saying “Joy, Joy, Joy”, whereupon the chap sat next to him leans over - " Don't get carried away Dai, we are in hell, for all eternity, but the really bad news is they've only got the one DVD and it's England winning the World Cup in 2003." |
From the 1760s iron began being produced along the entire Heads of the Valleys area. This is where the South Wales coal field came to the surface producing all the raw materials needed for making iron - limestone, wood (charcoal), coal and iron ore.
The industrial revolution forged towns such as Ebbw Vale, Newport and Merthyr Tydfil and thousands flocked from all over Europe to prosperity in these thriving industrial heartlands of south Wales.
Over the years Welsh steel towns became the biggest and most modern steel producers in the world. Steel and tinplate was produced in the valleys, Cardiff, Newport and west through Port Talbot, Llanelli and beyond.
Times have changed both for Coal and for Steel...
Even More Steel Closures
BBC News 26/01/09
Wales Remembers the bitter conflict, which caused the devastation of the minefields of South Wales (and Northern England) in 1984
Wales Online 03/02/09
The Celts: "Each object or aspect of life
impressed them vividly and stirred them profoundly..... They were, and are,
an indispensable and never-failing assertor of humanity as against the
tyranny of principles, the coldness and barrenness of
institutions..........the Celt has always been a rebel against anything that
has not in it the breath of life, against any un-spiritual and purely
external form of domination." --- Thomas Rolleston, 1911.
The Welsh
have been involved in the development of Australia from the earliest
days of European settlement. Their impact has been notable in a number
of key areas of Australian life -- especially in the mining industry - but
has always been limited by their relatively small numbers. It has also
been obscured by the long-held but misleading view that, with the
exception of the Irish, all British people who have settled in Australia
have been culturally homogeneous. Although overwhelmingly Protestant
and, since the sixteenth century, politically and economically
integrated with England, the Welsh have brought to Australia a
distinctive cultural identity....
from information by A Ffestin Hughes
