Van Diemen’s Land was the original name for the island of Tasmania, located 400 miles south of Melbourne, and notorious during the 1800s for its British-administered penal colonies. A significant Irish presence there consisted of convicts as well as forcibly deported political prisoners.
Previously: Euro Pilgrimage ’85, Ch. 9: Lizard King in the City of Light — and on to Ireland.
Almost any discussion about Ireland is likely to focus the attention of beer lovers on Guinness Stout. There are other Irish stouts (Murphy’s, Beamish, etc.), and they’re excellent, but Guinness functions almost as a beloved synonym for Ireland itself.
So it was in 1985 that after two evenings in Dublin, my temporary travel mate Paul moved on to Galway. Reverting to the solitude of my own company (which always has been suitable for me), I made the trek to the sprawling Guinness brewery complex on the right bank of the Liffey for the daily tour.
Admittedly the tour wasn’t much of an “interactive experience” in those days, involving a short film in a small auditorium, viewing the contents of adjacent display cases, and proceeding to the bar for a couple pints of the black gold. There was a (required) voluntary contribution of a couple...
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