'Bridie's Fire is the tale of a fiery Irish girl who leaves Ireland to find a home for herself in goldrush Australia.
'Bridie's world is torn apart when her parents and baby brother die in the Great Hunger. She leaves Ireland, and strikes out alone to claim a life for herself in Australia, on the other side of the ocean.
'Bridie's Fire is heart-warming story of courage and resilience. It affirms Kirsty Murray's keen understanding of the human spirit. Starting in the 1840s and ending in present-day Australia, The Children of the Wind quartet tells the stories of four courageous young people, Bridie, Billy, Colm and Maeve, born fifty years apart. The central character from each book becomes a mentor to the child in the next.' (Publication summary)
'Paddy secretly boards a ship bound for Australia, only to be shipwrecked at the end of the voyage. Once rescued, he faces the big question: how is he to make his way in this strange new land? On the road with a travelling circus, on the run with a wild child, sleeping rough on the mean streets of Melbourne, Paddy finds help and friendship with Bridie, and learns to live by his wits. Each adventure brings him closer to discovering his true gift.'
Source: Publisher's blurb.
'Australia is a multicultural nation, having different ethnic groups and communities with different origins, languages and traditions. The process of immigration to Australia began with colonialism and later different immigration policies continued it. It began around eighteen hundred when settlers from the United Kingdom including Ireland came to Australia, as it is put in some of the records, 'A number of European explorers sailed the coast of Australia, then known as New Holland, in the seventeenth century. However, it was not until 1770 that captain James Cook charted the east coast and claimed it for Britain. The new outpost was put to use as penal colony transportation ended in 1868,,,' (Australian history of multiculturalism web) (93)
'Australia is a multicultural nation, having different ethnic groups and communities with different origins, languages and traditions. The process of immigration to Australia began with colonialism and later different immigration policies continued it. It began around eighteen hundred when settlers from the United Kingdom including Ireland came to Australia, as it is put in some of the records, 'A number of European explorers sailed the coast of Australia, then known as New Holland, in the seventeenth century. However, it was not until 1770 that captain James Cook charted the east coast and claimed it for Britain. The new outpost was put to use as penal colony transportation ended in 1868,,,' (Australian history of multiculturalism web) (93)