Public Record Office Victoria

Published: 13 May 2008

Currach Folk: Photographs by Bill Doyle

An Australian National Maritime Museum Travelling Exhibition.

Walking boat Inis Oírr (Inisheer) 1964

This exhibition celebrates the work of award-winning photographer Bill Doyle and his ‘timeless’ images of the magic and mystery of rural Ireland.

Doyle travelled to the Aran Islands and Dingle Peninsula on Ireland’s remote west coast in 1964 and 1965 visiting Gaelic-speaking communities who still followed a traditional lifestyle of subsistence farming and fishing.

Central to their livelihood was their distinctive currach, a light-weight canvas or hide covered boat used for fishing and transport.

A travelling exhibition from the Australian National Maritime Museum, this selection of 31 photographs captures the hardship, dignity and humanity of the ‘currach folk’ whose lives were shaped by the sea.

Black and white photographs focus on the fishermen and their boats while colour photographs poignantly record a funeral procession and ceremony which Doyle chanced upon at Inis Oírr (Inisheer) in 1964.

From hand-made clothing and footwear to the limestone walls and thatched roofs of the houses, Doyle’s photographs detail the unique traditional customs and way of life of this remote Irish community at a time when less remote areas of Ireland were undergoing social and technological change.

Interestingly, Doyle’s images also capture the first hints of change…in the power lines running to the cottages and the more contemporary clothes and hair styles of local youths.

Only one year after these photographs were taken the Aran fishing industry began to modernise with new fishing trawlers joining the fleet….today, these once remote islands can be reached daily by aeroplane or ferry from the mainland.

Doyle’s documentary work has won international awards in Japan, Germany, the UK and USA. He was born in Dublin in 1925 where he still lives.

Australian National Maritime Museum

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