Description

Nicholas O’Donnell’s Autobiography is a gem of family and social history.

This is an attractively illustrated volume of 344 pages.

Born in 1862 at Bullengarook in central Victoria, O’Donnell graduated in medicine, married New Zealand-born Molly Bruen and for many years, based in West Melbourne, they were community leaders and prominent campaigners for Irish Home Rule. Nicholas was was a Gaelic scholar and one of the founders of the Celtic Club.

Before the arrival of the internet, O’Donnell researched his and his wife’s parents and scores of others who migrated from Ireland, especially Limerick. Although O’Donnell died in 1920 before publishing his findings, his descendants cared for his manuscript. Val Noone has edited O’Donnell’s hand-written pages, adding an Introduction and an Epilogue.