Ireland Will Be Free

Ireland Will Be Free is a silent film of St Patrick’s Day 1920 in Melbourne. It was filmed by the famous Bert Cross and sponsored by Archbishop Daniel Mannix and entrepreneur John Wren. It shows 14 Victoria Cross winners (8 Catholics, 3 Anglicans, 3 Presbyterians), 10,000 returned soldiers and sailors and 30,000 young Australians who marched up Bourke Street, watched by a crowd of 100,000. The march was followed by displays of Irish Dancing and so on in the park at the Exhibition Buildings.