AN ARRAY of colourful headpieces was the focus of much chatter in Kilmallock Library last week.
A new display unveiled in the library is dedicated to the lost girls from the local area who were taken from local workhouses and shipped to Australia without their consent in 1849.
Thirty-two bonnets, one for each of the lost girls, features at the display which was opened by Sheila Quealey on Thursday evening.
Kilmallock native Imelda O’Riordan wrote the book Lost Girls when she made the discovery of what happened to these poor orphaned girls during the height of the Great Famine.
Member of staff at Kilmallock Library, Caoimhe Reidy, commented on the display: "All of the bonnets feature the name of each girl and give a bit of information about them.
"The girls were forgotten about and there never was any real mention of them until Imelda wrote her book."
The bonnets were created by locals including children under the age of 12. The display can be viewed throughout August.
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