Hello Cara At the time that the 'Australasia' convicts were transported, the predominant language of commerce and education, particularly in the eastern counties, was English, even though Gaelic was still the 'first language' of the Irish. Regards Trudy Dr Trudy Cowley List Administrator TAS Convicts Rootsweb List tcowley@bigpond.net.au AUS-TAS-CONVICTS-L@rootsweb.com -----Original Message----- From: Cara_Links [mailto:cracker@hotkey.net.au] Sent: Monday, 12 December 2005 7:32 PM To: tcowley@bigpond.net.au Subject: Re: [TAS-CON] Drift of Derwent Ducks also I dont often step in with corrections here but as irish research is my passion I have to say that the Gaelic language was in fact the first language of 90% of the Irish so it wasnt just a west of Ireland language---- but today it is in fact it is spoken in the West of Ireland more often than you would find it anywhere else Cara ----- Original Message ----- From: "Trudy Cowley" <tcowley@bigpond.net.au> To: <AUS-TAS-CONVICTS-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Saturday, December 10, 2005 6:02 PM Subject: RE: [TAS-CON] Drift of Derwent Ducks also > Hello All > > I believe that it was mainly the Irish convicts from the western counties > of > Ireland that were Gaelic-speaking - many of the 'Australasia' convicts > were > from these counties - as they were the most severely affected by the > famine. > > Regards > Trudy > > Dr Trudy Cowley > List Administrator > TAS Convicts Rootsweb List > tcowley@bigpond.net.au > AUS-TAS-CONVICTS-L@rootsweb.com > > -----Original Message----- > From: Judy and Peter [mailto:petjud52@bigpond.net.au] > Sent: Saturday, 10 December 2005 3:18 PM > To: AUS-TAS-CONVICTS-L@rootsweb.com > Subject: Re: [TAS-CON] Drift of Derwent Ducks also > > The point Chris makes about many of these convicts being non English > speaking has probably been overlooked by most of us. My guess is this > would > be determined on the original locality of the individual and an > opportunity > for further research by a budding historian. > > cheers > > Peter Page > > > > ==== AUS-TAS-CONVICTS Mailing List ==== > Visit the Campbell Town Convict Trail website at > http://www.convictbricktrail.com/ > > ============================== > Search Family and Local Histories for stories about your family and the > areas they lived. Over 85 million names added in the last 12 months. > Learn more: http://www.ancestry.com/s13966/rd.ashx > >