Irish Potato Cakes

My ancestors came from various parts of England, Ireland and Scotland to settle in New Zealand from the mid 1800s onwards. It must have taken a great deal of courage to leave friends and family behind and make the long voyage here by sailing ship.

For some of the Irish ones there possibly wasn't a lot of choice. Ireland was in the grip of a potato famine and maybe a new life on the other side of the world seemed infinitely more hopeful.

A couple of my Irish great-great-great grandfathers had been soldiers and were used to travelling the world. One, John Christie, served in Jamaica, St Helena and Capetown and in various parts of England and Ireland. The other, Roger Jones, was in America, Bermuda, Gibraltar and the West Indies.

Both were destined to travel out here on the Ann as Royal New Zealand Fencibles - retired soldiers recruited to protect the northern city of Auckland from the native Maoris. They departed Belfast on Christmas Day 1857 and arriving in New Zealand around six months later. John's daughter Mary Jane was to marry Roger's son John Edward.

During a recent visit to Auckland I called by the Howick Historical Village which shows what life was like for the Fencibles in the 1850s. Unfortunately it was closed for a public holiday but I did take some pictures over the fence and here is a typical Fencible cottage .

My Irish ancestors must have kept their traditions going because my mother tells me as a child she would come home from school with her brothers and cousin and their Irish granny - who came from Newport, Tipperary and was married to John and Mary Jane's son William - would have a batch of Irish potato cakes ready for them to tuck into.

I can remember Mum's own mother coming to stay with us and I would arrive home to a freshly baked batch of goodies - sultana buns or pikelets or peanut biscuits. My mother always had her day for "filling the cake tins" too. I don't think too many of today's kids arrive home to the wonderful smell of Mum's baking.

I've been promising myself a batch of Irish potato cakes for some time but whenever I try to cook up a big lot of mashed potatoes so I will have leftovers, The Spouse - himself with a fair touch of the Irish - regards it as a personal bonus and scoffs the lot.

Go To Page: 1 2

Articles in this Topic    Discussions in this Topic