Irish Queenslander is the only news, events, features and sports print publication produced exclusively for the Irish community in Queensland, Australia.

Mary Allen, its dynamic founder, comes from Cork city, Ireland. She worked for nine years as senior sub-editor and columnist at the city’s daily newspaper, Evening Echo. She has lived in Australia for three years, in Sydney and  Brisbane.

Doing freelance reporting and photography on Irish stories in Brisbane, Mary continually heard that organisations needed help and volunteers but found it was difficult to get their information into the community. There was no one central source of news for the community directed solely at Queensland. There were many strong (Irish) communities, and  many interesting events happening, but that they needed a voice in Queensland.

Working part-time as a publications coordinator for a not-for-profit organisation, she had turned their magazine from black and white to colour and tripled its revenue within…