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New exhibition tells the story of Y Wladfa - the Welsh Colony in Patagonia

Visitors to the National Waterfront Museum in Swansea will have the chance to delve into the remarkable story of the first Welsh settlers in Patagonia.

© Marcelo Roberts

To celebrate this year’s 150th anniversary of Y Wladfa - the Welsh Colony in Patagonia, a new exhibition titled Patagonia 150: Our Journey to the New World, has been curated to tell the story of what it was really like to be on-board the ship Mimosa and what inspired the passengers to leave their home in Wales for a new land across the Atlantic Ocean.

The story is told through four environments, ‘rooms’ with connecting doors visitors can pass through. The journey includes a Welsh cottage, a shipping office in Liverpool, a cabin on-board the Mimosa before arriving in a cottage in dusty Patagonia. Each ‘room’ is filled with quotes and pictures from real people who made the journey.

The people featured in the exhibition came from many places across Wales and the cities of north-west England. All of them could speak Welsh, many of them could speak no other language. Many of the passengers had migrated once before, to English cities such as Manchester and Liverpool. The exhibition also includes information about Patagonia’s geography and wildlife as well as about the Welsh speakers who still live there.

The Patagonian Welsh have never completely lost their identity and today around 50,000 people in the Chubut region of northern Patagonia claim Welsh descent. Around 5000 of them still speak the language. Towns with strong Welsh heritage, such as Gaiman, Trelew and Dolavon in the east and Trevelin in the west, have many chapels and Welsh tea rooms.

Speaking about the display, Andrew Deathe, Exhibitions Officer said: “This is a fascinating episode in Welsh history and we are delighted to have the opportunity to tell some of the stories of those people who experienced the voyage.

“In this exhibition we have tried to give visitors an idea of how it must have felt to leave everything behind and move to an unknown land on the other side of the world. We want to celebrate the brave people who made this journey and visitors are encouraged to explore the exhibits to find out more.” 

Supporting the exhibition is a range of Patagonia-themed events taking place throughout September

Sat 19 Sept, 12-4pm: Patagonia Day, featuring activities, talks and music.

Sat 19 Sept, 12pm: Off to Patagonia in the Morning, Museum Historian Gerallt Nash tells the fascinating story of the attempts to establish a Welsh colony in South Argentina.

Sat 19 Sept, 12.30pm-3.30pm: Art at Sea, Argentinean artist Carlos Pinatti will help visitors to create an imaginative sea crossing, celebrating travel and journeys into the unknown.

Sat 19 Sept, 2pm: Celebrating 150 Years of Y Wladfa - the Welsh Settlement in Patagonia, a talk with Dr Walter Ariel Brookes, lecturer at Cardiff University and himself a Patagonian of Welsh descent.

Sat 19 Sept, 3.30pm: The Nations’ Knot: stories to unite Pontiets and the Prairie, a talk with Rhiannon Williams as she celebrates Patagonia 150 and the Mimosa’s voyage from Liverpool to Puerto Madryn. 

Patagonia 150: Our Journey to the New World will be on display at the National Waterfront Museum until Sunday 11 October 2015.