When I originally departed Australia to take up a lecturing gig in Birmingham UK in 2005 my father retold the story of the exploits of my distant relative, The Wicklow Chief, Michael Dwyer.  From his early days as a member of the Society of United Irishmen, his heroic resistance against the British, to his eventual capture and deportation to Australia.  His ongoing struggle with the authorities in Sydney, namely Governor Bligh, and stints at far flung corners of the colonies demonstrated to my father and now me that a healthy mistrust of the British could in fact be genetic …

And so at the end of my British teaching stint I made good on my promise to visit the little cottage in County Wicklow where Dwyer and his accomplices including Samuel McAllister made their last stand against the red coats.  These images trace part of my journey through “Dwyer country” in County Wicklow, December 2007.