At the 2021 census, 9.5 percent of Australians reported Irish ancestry, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, making it the third most common ancestry in the country.
Canada tells a similar story, with millions of residents tracing family roots back to Ireland’s counties and townlands. For many of these descendants, that connection eventually turns into a question: where exactly did our family come from?
At Royal Historical Tours, we help travelers turn that question into a real trip, walking the ground their ancestors once left behind. Here, we look at why so many people left Ireland for Australia and Canada, where they settled, and how their descendants can start tracing Ireland’s rich heritage today.
The Major Waves of Emigration
Irish emigration didn’t happen all at once. It came in distinct waves, each shaped by different pressures.
1. The Famine Years (1845 to 1852)
The Great Famine pushed over a million people to leave Ireland within a few years.
Many boarded ships bound for North America, while others were sent to Australia under assisted passage schemes.
Entire townlands lost large portions of their population within a single generation.
2. Assisted and Convict Passage to Australia (Late 1700s to 1800s)
Ireland’s earliest large-scale connection to Australia came through convict transportation, beginning in the late eighteenth century.
Later in the nineteenth century, assisted emigration schemes offered subsidized passage, particularly to young women seeking work.
By the late 1800s, people of Irish background made up a significant share of the Australian population.
3. Post-Famine and Early 20th Century Migration to Canada
Economic hardship and limited land access kept emigration steady well after the Famine ended.
Canada’s growing need for agricultural and railway labor drew large numbers of Irish families, especially to Ontario and the Maritime provinces.
Chain migration, where one family member’s success encouraged others to follow, kept these patterns going for decades.
Where Communities Settled
Australia: Sydney, Melbourne, and regional Victoria and Queensland saw significant Irish settlement, often tied to gold rush-era opportunities.
Canada: Ontario, New Brunswick, and Newfoundland absorbed large Irish populations, with some rural communities remaining distinctly Irish in character for generations.
Naming patterns: Many towns across both countries still carry names borrowed directly from Irish counties and parishes.
How Descendants Can Begin Researching Their Roots
Tracing an Irish family line takes patience, but a few starting points make it manageable.
Start with what you already have. Family letters, passenger lists, and old photographs often name a county or parish, even indirectly.
Check civil and church records. Irish civil registration began in the 1860s (earlier for some marriages), while church records can stretch back further.
Use land and property records. These can pinpoint exactly where a family lived before emigrating.
Visit in person. Walking the actual parish, church, or townland tends to reveal details that documents alone cannot.
This is where ancestral research tours in Ireland become genuinely useful, pairing archival digging with a physical visit to the place your family once called home.
Bringing the Research to Life
So what would it feel like to stand in the exact townland your great-great-grandparents left behind? For many of our clients, that moment is the entire point of the trip.
Royal Historical Tours designs genealogy tours of Ireland and genealogy and family history trips in Ireland around each traveler’s own research, combining archive visits with time in the parishes and counties connected to their family name. We also arrange historical tours of Derry for those with roots in the north.
Contact us to start planning a trip that turns your family history into a place you can actually stand in.