Subtitle from cover: Voices from an Irish Townland 1811-1901 & the great migration to Australia & America. A new book opens the door on one Irish townland, Gurteen in Kings County (now Offaly) in the first half of the 19th century. A packet of diaries written in Ireland were carried to Australia and have survived to become the basis of Tenants No More: Voices from an Irish Townland 1811-1901 and the Great Migration to Australia and America, by P. Frazer Simons.

The letters and diaries are unusual in that they were written by people of modest status and little wealth but whom the National Education of 1830, excellent for the time, had rendered literate. They also record a type of community which no longer exists and whose composition they strove to maintain in new lands long after they had left.

This book details their experiences as emigrants and then pioneer settlers. The collection of original materials gives a more detailed picture of one family's life than we can usually find, especially at this end of the social scale. There are letters written from Ireland to the emigrants as well as far-flung relations sending news back home.

Part one: The diary and early letters.

Part 2: Westport, the constabulary and romance.

Part 3: But now to Australia.
Includes bibliography ( p. 271-274) and index.