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Keating sworn in as Australia’s Prime Minister

Paul Keating was sworn in as the 24th Prime Minister of Australia On This Day (20 December) in 1991. He defeated Bob Hawke. He served as Prime Minister until 1996, when he was defeated by John Howard.

Keating is the son of Matthew and Minnie Keating. He was born in 1944 near Sydney. In 1975 he married Annita van Iersel. They had four children before separating in November of 1998. They officially divorced in 2008.

A personal note:
I remember reading (here in the American media) when Keating was sworn in as PM. I was so excited to finally see another Keating in the news ... and then I saw he was in Australia. My Keating line is from Ireland. I did not realize/know until that time (1991) that many convicts went to Australia. There were many who simply chose to settle there as well. In fact, while America may have a higher number of Irish descendants, Australia has a higher percentage of Irish descendants!  
Australian Research:
The Museum Victoria offers a brief history of the Irish immigration to Australia.
A site, called CoraWeb, offers more immigration information including ships index.
Immigration and work permit information is available at workpermit.com.
On This Day is a prompt I started this month to further explore historical events. I will make every effort to keep events localized to that of my research or research I am conducting for others. However, from time to time, it will simply be a subject that captured my attention.
Some posts will be brief while others may be more detailed.
Happy hunting ... and if have a Keating up your tree, please feel free to drop me a line!

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