Rory Sweetman - Anzacs and the Irish Easter Rising

Historian Rory Sweetman has uncovered a connection between New Zealand soldiers and the Easter Week Irish Rising, an incident that he says threatened Ireland's oldest university, Trinity College Dublin.

The Central Otago based writer says five New Zealanders, acting as the core of a small squad of colonial troops, shielded Trinity from capture after rebels launched a surprise attack.

In his book Defending Trinity College Dublin, Easter 1916: Anzacs and the Rising, Rory quotes from letters the Kiwi soldiers wrote home. 

Anzacs leaving Trinity College after the uprising.

Irish ambassador Peter Ryan with Dr Rory Sweetman at the Dublin launch of Defending Trinity College Dublin, Easter 1916: Anzacs and the Rising

Author Dr Rory Sweetman and the Proclamation of the Irish Republic.