CDU students find their Irish heritage 

 
 

The Darwin Rose Pageant was officially launched last week with three Charles Darwin University (CDU) students all hoping to take top spot to represent Darwin at the International Rose of Tralee Festival in Ireland later this year.

The students, Lani Florance, Brigid Killen and Sheena Dunne, were interviewed by the Honorable Lord Mayor of Darwin, Mr Peter Adamson at the launch and spoke about what motivated them to enter.

The Darwin Rose Pageant is hosted annually by the Northern Territory Irish Association and runs over a seven-week period from April to the end of May.

At the end of the pageant one entrant will be selected to represent the NT at the international festival for the Rose of Tralee during the Festival of Kerry in Ireland in August.

The Rose Pageant is not a beauty pageant but a series of functions each aimed at developing the entrants social skills, interpersonal skills, confidence to speak in public, organise functions, as well as encouraging the entrants to discover more about their Irish ancestry.