Corkonians Abroad: Life in Perth - we’ve an Irish pub 10 minutes’ walk away

This, week, I caught up with Barry Cotter, from Knocknaheeny, who now calls Perth in Australia home. He lives in the suburb of Joondalup.

How did you end up in Perth?

I moved to Joondalup in 2018, but it wasn’t my first stop in Australia. I had lived in the country towns of Narrogin and Bunbury before that.

I moved to Western Australia because I got sponsored to come out and be a maths teacher in 2009.

I managed to wrangle a promotion a few years ago and now I work in a branch of the Department of Education, which is why I moved to Joondalup.

What is life like in your new home Down Under?

We have a Mediterranean climate here, which is fantastic, but it does get seriously hot in summer.

This does mean you can do a lot more when you have time off or on weekends. (Also, there are 10 months of the year with great drying).

There is a good standard of living and we have a decent work/life balance. It is a clean and safe place to live and Perth is a pretty city with lots to do.

Traffic can be an issue, with the freeways looking like the M50 on steroids at times.

What has been the biggest challenge for you since your move?

Missing family and friends, and being so far away from home when dad was ill ten years ago.

My partner, Trish, is a traditional musician and we have built up a solid friendship base amongst the Irish music community here in Perth. We get together regularly for the craic. 

Having a strong support structure helps. They are sound people who would drop everything to help you.

How might you spend your weekends?

It depends on whether Trish is working - she is a nurse, but typically we have a nice breakfast out and then go from there.

We live next to a shopping centre that has more than 300 shops and a few pubs and cafés, so we might spend a few hours there.

We’ve been here for a good few years now, so we don’t feel the need to be all touristy and go sightseeing, but we do live only five minutes from the beach so we might go for a walk if it’s not too hot.

Tell us a bit about the culture of where you live?

Joondalup is very English in culture, even the street names. There’s a street sign outside our home for Charing Cross Road and Notting Hill is on the corner. I walk through Piccadilly to get to the bus stop.

You don’t get much diversity in this suburb, although my neighbour is from Monaghan so there’s that.

We do have an Irish pub about a 10 minutes walk away, but the city itself looks and feels very Anglo.

The main topic of conversation at neighbourhood gatherings seems to be house prices, so I don’t tend to stay long.

What are the main differences from Ireland?

Australia is a melting pot of so many nationalities that it’s hard to define a culture like you could in Ireland.

A big difference for me, which I like, is the absence of church influence in public schools and public life.

Any culture shock type moments for you over the years?

My first time going to the pub in Narrogin - they were putting the chairs up on the tables at 6pm because it was quiet and they decided it was time for last call.

Aussies get up at 5am to go swimming and running because it’s too hot during the day, but then there’s no craic late at night unless you’re in the big city.

When the Queen died and the whole country stopped, it was obvious that Australians still see themselves as very much living in a colony. It was unsettling seeing all the digital bus-stop billboards showing pictures of the Queen surrounded by a black border on the way to work.

Tell us about your line of career in Australia.

I used to be a maths and physics teacher. I did my H. Dip at UCC and my training placement was in my old school, Terence MacSwiney Community College.

Now I work at the Department of Education for Western Australia as a consultant for secondary schools. 

I do a lot of things under that title, none of which your readers would find interesting!

I’m a desk jockey now. I used to have a job as a Regional learning Specialist, where I had to travel all over Western Australia to deliver one-on-one tuition to students who were studying Maths Specialist for ATAR (the equivalent of the Leaving Cert honours maths).

I could be in Kununurra on Monday, which is 2,200km north of Perth, and be in Esperance on Wednesday, which is 700km in the opposite direction.

It was an amazing job and I saw nearly the whole state of Western Australia in the three years I held that role. I have seen far more of the state than most West Australians.

In 2019 alone, I took 60 flights to visit students.

Tell us your thoughts on opportunity - and how a different part of the world might offer more opportunities?

This is a funny one because the opportunity came to me in Ireland.

In my case, the Department of Education in Western Australia had a massive teacher shortage and they came to Ireland to recruit. I answered an ad and was sponsored to go work in a country town in the state. It’s not so easy now, I was really lucky.

There are lots of opportunities here, but the problem is Perth has a rental and a housing crisis and often people can’t move here because they would have nowhere to live.

I meet a lot of young Irish migrants in Perth who are in construction and mining who make good money, but the fly-in, fly-out lifestyle it demands can be hard on young families.

What has been your most memorable moment in your new location so far?

Any time a visitor comes out to visit from home is special.

Watching Cork win the Sam Maguire in 2010 is a great memory.

Any special mentions to friends or family back in Cork?

I know that my mother, Anne, will read this so I’ll say hello to her. Love you, Mam.

Hi to Anthony, Leila, Michelle, Tommy and all my five fabulous nieces.

Mark Evans - stay in by the wall.

If you were back in Cork for one day, what would be the ideal day for you?

I’ve done this a few times: Up in the morning and drive to Kinsale for breakfast, then a walk around the town and a visit to the Speckled Door for lunch with a view.

After that, we drive to Cobh, have a 99 cone walking along the waterfront opposite the Commodore and pop in to Kelly’s Bar for a quick pint.

We finish the day back in my brother Anthony’s house with a family get together.

What are you looking forward to in the coming months?

I turn 50 in January and Trish has organised a mystery trip in honour of the occasion. I don’t know where, but I’ll have a week away somewhere nice.

Is there anything that you especially miss about Cork?

Obviously family, but outside of that I love being in Cork and hearing Cork people talk, and there’s just that Cork way of being that you don’t get anywhere else. It’s hard to describe.

I miss walking down Pana and Oliver Plunkett Street, and I miss seeing boys and girls playing hurling, camogie and football in the green spaces around their locality