“I feel that there is much to be said for the Celtic belief that the souls of those whom we have lost are held captive in some inferior being, in an animal, in a plant, in some inanimate object, and thus effectively lost to us until the day (which to many never comes) when we happen to pass by the tree or to obtain possession of the object which forms their prison. Then they start and tremble, they call us by our name, and as soon as we have recognised them the spell is broken. Delivered by us, they have overcome death and return to share our life." Marcel Proust, Swann's Way
Patrick Caffery and Anne Clarke had been married just four weeks when they sailed from Dublin on 7 January 1856. Their arrival in Moreton Bay five months later was not an auspicious one - their ship ran aground on a sandbank off Stradbroke Island. Four brothers, Bernard, Philip, John and Owen, and their mother Anne followed over the next ten years. Owen's future wife, Mary, arrived in January 1888. Two new lines of Irish/Australians became established and thrived though, in Patrick's words "…our lot at periods was far from being rosy; still we struggled along, experiencing many ups and downs in the meantime".