Speaking with self-appointed authority on behalf of the Irish in Newcastle, let me wish you all a happy St Patrick's Day.
The Irish have celebrated this day for more than 1000 years, so there's no encouragement needed among our own.
But for Australians and all other nationalities who have made Newcastle their home, I hope you get an opportunity to raise a toast today to St Patrick - an Englishman who lived in Ireland in the 5th century.
Yes, St Patrick was born in England, Google it.
History and culture are complicated, despite our natural desire to choose an uncomplicated version of both.
We Irish in the Hunter and Newcastle have a long and complicated history.
Didn't the Irish create Newcastle?
Wait, what?
Yes, while British settlers had tapped into the resources of the Hunter before the official settlement, the Newcastle settlement was created after a group of rowdy Irish "convicts" were sent from Sydney to work and be isolated in the Hunter, and with this decision the official permanent settlement was created.
OK, I may have exaggerated a little when I said the Irish created Newcastle.
Moreover, there are many millennia of Aboriginal culture in this area and a recorded history of Aboriginal people (such as the Worimi in Port Stephens), taking in and protecting convicts who escaped from Sydney, before Newcastle was an official settlement.
I told you it was complicated.
The bottom line is that, in this part of the world, you can't celebrate St Patrick's Day without celebrating Newcastle, and vice versa.
The bottom line is that, in this part of the world, you can't celebrate St Patrick's Day without celebrating Newcastle, and vice versa.
Unlike many of the millions of people around the world who celebrate St Patrick's Day, and claim a loose association with Ireland, the people of the Hunter and Newcastle are inextricably linked to the Irish, and we Irish to this region.
The list of countries that celebrate St Patrick's Day is long.
To give you a sense of scale, there is, on average, 13 million pints of a certain black beverage is consumed on St Patrick's Day (mostly in the United States) and more than 300 historic sites in 40 countries take part in the celebrations, including a "Global Greening".
The Greening is a Tourism Ireland initiative in which iconic landmarks are illuminated in green on March 17.
Incidentally, the Greening started in Australia in 2010 on the sails of the Sydney Opera House.
More importantly, since a visit to Newcastle in 2020 by the Consul-General of Ireland, the city hall clock tower has joined in the fun, as have the GrainCorp silos in Carrington.
Not convinced to celebrate St Patrick's Day yet? Why would you want to celebrate if you're not connected to Ireland?
Because everyone else does? Well, yes.
We are lucky to live in a country where cultural diversity is celebrated. We shouldn't take that for granted.
St Patrick's Day is just one opportunity. In Newcastle we have many other identities and cultures to celebrate, let's embrace them all and share in each other's pride, after all, it's been a very tough year.
Australia has been called the "the lucky country", and while many of us are perpetually conscious of how lucky we are here, the past 12 months have really raised that consciousness.
In Newcastle we can, and do, sympathise with the rest of the world during this pandemic. But it's actually hard to fully empathise, having had such a different experience with COVID-19.
In Ireland, a country of fewer than 5million people, there's been more than 4500 COVID-19 related deaths, while in NSW, a state of 8 million, 56 people have died.
Every life lost is one too many. But, in relative terms, we truly are fortunate here and we should recognise that.
So Irish or not, let's celebrate that we're here in this diverse, lucky and beautiful place.
If you're born and bred in Newcastle, bear in mind that for your Irish friends (and friends of other nationalities), international border closures have meant they've never been further from home.
"Cheers" in the Irish language is Slainte mhaith. A toast never more apt than for St Patrick's Day 2021, as it simply means "good health".
Slainte mhaith Newcastle!
