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Austin McGing Junior as a baby
What is happening in the photo?
Austin McGing Junior sits in a pram in Tourmakeady, County Mayo. In the background stonewalls and rough terrain can be seen, a common idealised image of the West of Ireland in the early-mid 20th century. Shortly after the family moved to County Meath (1960) as part of the Irish Land Commission Resettlement Scheme.
The Irish Land Commission, which was responsible for the McGing family’s move from Mayo to Meath in 1960, was originally created in 1881. For a century it was the controversial body responsible for redistributing farmland in Ireland, also known as the ‘redistribution of the wealth’.