Skeleton in the cupboard

Sunday, 2^nd of January, 1870

We all went to church this morning.  We go to St Matthias, Church of England, up the hill from the Barracks. All of us children have been christened there. 

I have a secret ....which I can’t tell anyone, except you Dear Dairy; it is our “skeleton in the closet”.....  Mamma is really an Irish Catholic, at least she was christened a Catholic because, she says, her Ma and Da were Catholic.  And she’s Irish, because her Da is Irish; but mamma says she decided to become Church of England when she married dad - which was after she’d buried her Ma at the new St Mary’s Cathedral many years ago. 

The Steels don’t go to our church.  Mr Steel is Scottish and they are Presbyterian and they go to a different church.  Mamma says we must never tell any of the Steels that she was born a Catholic, or that her Da is Irish, because the Steels don’t like Catholics, or the Irish, and Mr and Mrs Steel would not allow us to play with their children any more if they knew, and we would lose our friends. 

Dad says Mr Steel is strongly anti-Fenian and anti-Irish; ever since O’Farrell tried to assassinate Prince Alfred at Clontarf two years ago. So, we must never mention our Irish Catholic connections, because there are many people in Sydney who feel the same way as Mr Steel, and we don’t want to endanger our family’s reputation.  I asked dad “What are Fenians?”  and he explained that they are Irish rebels who object to England’s and the Queen’s rule over Ireland.

And I said, “But why?  Isn’t Ireland part of the British Islands and therefore part of Great Britain and the United Kingdom, just as New South Wales is part of the British Empire?  Why should the Irish object to the Queen’s rule?  Does mamma’s Da object to the Queen’s rule?”

Dad said it was all very complicated and involved politics, but basically, Ireland had been a separate country a couple of hundred years ago, the same way Wales and Scotland had been separate countries, nevertheless there were many Irish who still thought they should be a separate country and wanted the English landowners to leave.  Dad said many of the convicts he used to guard were Irish; some of them were disloyal rebels and criminals, who deserved what they got, but others were victims of circumstances and really decent people.  Dad told me mamma’s Da was not a rebel, if he was, he would never have joined the 50th Regiment of Foot.

So I asked, “Why can’t we tell the Steels that mamma’s Da was a loyal Irish Catholic?”  Dad  replied, “Because ever since O’Farrell tried to shoot Prince Alfred, most  people don’t believe there are any loyal Irishmen.  The words loyal and Irish Catholic are an oxymoron.”  Dad likes to use big words, and he encourages us to use them also, to “extend our vocabulary”.  An oxymoron is when words with opposite meanings are used together, and therefore seemingly contradict each other.

http://www.dictionaryofsydney.org/entry/assassination_attempt_on_prince_alfred_1868