MacFarlane’s Lantern No. 156 – December 2023 is now available for download from the Members Area (and back issues). Please click on Membership Info in the main menu if you want to join.
A full list of what is in this issue can be viewed by clicking on page 1 (image on the left).
A summary follows:
- This issue opens with a stunning photo of snow-covered Beinn Bheula, near Lochgoilhead, Argyll and Bute.
- All the usual clan news and reports, including our recent Annual General Meeting at which Ron Marsh was appointed our new President.
- What are you reading? The Life of Mansie Wauch, Tailor in Dalkeith – published in 1828 – is a book which gives an often-amusing glimpse into the daily life of the Scottish working class in the early 1800s.
- A brief update is given on work on Island I Vow (Elanvow/Ellan Vow) to preserve the ruins of the sixteenth-century castle of Andrew Macfarlane, 11th Chief of the Clan MacFarlane.
- Information on a survey of archaeological sites in Arrochar Parish.
- ‘Right of interment, grave & burial rules across Australia’, Part 3 of an article by Peter McFarlane called ‘Hunting for ancestors through burial sites’.
- ‘More on MacFarlane Pioneers in Australia’ provides a brief update on the article ‘Arrochybeg to Australia: The Story of MacFarlane Pioneers’ published over two issues in 2011.
- News of the Clans of Loch Lomond DNA Project.
MacFarlane’s Lantern No. 155 – June 2023 is now available for download from the Members Area along with back issues. Please click on Membership Info in the main menu if you are interested in joining. A full list of what is in this issue can be viewed by clicking on page 1 (image on the left). A brief summary follows:
On the cover of this issue is the new interpretative sign which has been installed on Island I Vow (Elanvow/Ellan Vow) historical, island stronghold of the MacFarlanes.
In his compilation ‘Good Scots, Bad Scots’, Peter McFarlane shares with us the inspirational story of Scottish pioneer James Dawson and his daughter Isabella who ‘championed Aboriginal interests’ in Western Victoria; a story which contrasts strongly with the now notorious exploits of explorer Angus McMillan previously covered in MacFarlane’s Lantern No. 153 – July 2022.
There is more information on the McFarlane family from the Isle of Mull, featured in the July 2022 issue.
The Editor gives a brief overview of a book that guides you on how to reduce your material possessions and ensure that family history items find their rightful place.
Peter McFarlane continues ‘Hunting for Ancestors Through Burial Sites – Part 2: Finding Graves’, as well as leading by example with the dedication of a memorial plaque to his Scottish ancestors buried in the Melbourne General Cemetery.
MacFarlane’s Lantern No. 154 – December 2022 is now available for download from the Members Area along with back issues. Please click on Membership Info in the main menu if you are interested in joining.
• This issue opens with a story about the Macfarlane Brothers & Co., Hobart, Tasmania, established by James and John Macfarlane in the 1870s. Mr W. H. Strutt (who later became a senior partner) wrote the famous message announcing Amundsen’s successful expedition to the South Pole in 1912
• Andrew Macfarlane provides an update on the work he has been doing extracting ‘Find-A-Grave’ MacFarlane and variation entries, including the McFarland/McFarlane connection of Australian actor, Heath Ledger
• We pay special tribute to Malcolm Lobban, Patron, Past President, Newsletter Editor, Historical Researcher and dear friend who passed away in August 2022. Also, we share with you Malcolm’s experience of Christmas 1944 in an Alexandria Tenement and another article of his titled Clabby-Doos at Arrochar
• Peter McFarlane, Somerton Park, South Australia shares with us the news that his McFarlane/MacFarlane ancestry can now be traced back 30 generations to the progenitors of Clan MacFarlane
• In his article, Hunting for Ancestors Through Burial Sites, Part 1: Our Scottish Ancestors and Victorian Descendants, Peter McFarlane embarks on a quest to locate ancestral graves and to honour those with unmarked graves
A full list of what is in this issue can be viewed by clicking on the image of page one (above left)
Sunday 9 October 2022
Begin the day by joining in the Perth Kilt Run – a charity fun run with a difference – everyone wears a kilt! Kilts can be purchased when you register for the fun run.
Then join in the festivities at the Armadale Highland Gathering, a free event held at Minnawarra Park, Armadale, Western Australia. Explore the Scottish market stalls; watch the highland dancing, pipe band and heavy event competitions; taste Haggis and even meet and greet Scottish dogs! Marvel at the Medieval Fair and learn more about the Clans. The kids are sure to love the free mini golf and face painting.
Enjoying live music and Ceilidh dancing is a great way to end the day.
For further information visit: https://perthkiltrun.com.au
MacFarlane’s Lantern No. 153 – July 2022 is now available in the Members Area along with back issues. Please click on Membership Info in the main menu if you are interested in joining.
There are two main articles in this issue:
Migrate or Starve? The Story of a McFarlane family from the Isle of Mull; an abridged version of a story written by Duncan McFarlane in 1984.
In Australian Colonial Frontier Massacres – The Gippsland Experience, Peter McFarlane shares information which paints some of our Gippsland explorers and colonists in an entirely different light.
We also sadly farewell Robert (Rob) Willis, Heather Lesley Scherell (nee McFarlane) and Robin Kay Pawson (nee McDonald) in Flowers of the Forest.
Click on the front page (above) for a full list of contents and a report on the Kirkin’ o’ the Tartan Service held in Melbourne on Sunday 3rd July 2022.
Clan MacFarlane will be represented at the Kirkin’ o’ the Tartan Service at the Scots Church, Collins Street, Melbourne on Sunday 3 July 2022.
Come along and join us there. The service begins at 11 am. Please be seated early to witness the piping into the church of the clan representatives, bearing their tartans.
Please visit the website of the Melbourne Tartan Festival for full details of all events being held.
MacFarlane’s Lantern No. 152-December 2021 is now available in the Members Area along with back issues. Please click on Membership Info in the main menu if you are interested in joining.
This issue features a talk given by South Australian member, Lennox Pawson OAM, The Scottish Influence in South Australia since the founding of the Colony.
Included are reports on the 2021 AGM, the Annual Combined Clans Luncheon in Adelaide and the Tartan Day and Saint Andrew’s Day celebrations.
Sadly, we also farewell Janet Nora Marsh (nee McFarlane) 1938-2021 in Flowers of the Forest. Janet joined us in 1982 and served as Federal Branch and South Australian Councillor for many years. She was awarded an Honorary Life Membership in 2016. Janet’s grandfather was Samuel Tyzack McFarlane (son of Alexander McFarlane, born 1841, Greenock, Scotland). A shipwright and boat builder by trade, Alexander McFarlane set up his own business (A. McFarlane & Sons) in Port Adelaide, after his arrival in 1866.
We introduce a new book about Lesmahagow, ‘the village that changed the world’.
We are also pleased to announce the award of Honorary Life Membership to Ronald Marsh.
The following Members’ stories are also included:
Bob Macfarlane’s Ascot Foundry – Mascot/Botany, New South Wales. This is based on a newspaper article published in 1943 about the entrepreneurial skills and hardworking ethic of Robert Grant (Bob) Macfarlane. Bob arrived in Sydney as a four-year-old with his family on the ship Aberdeen in October 1885. His parents were William McFarlane/Macfarlane (born 1839, Glasgow, Lanarkshire, Scotland) and Agnes McGregor (born about 1842, Kilmarnock, East Ayrshire, Scotland).
McFarlane: The Logan-Goodenough Family Connection by Peter McFarlane links Albert Leslie (Les) McFarlane, a Gallipoli veteran and farmer in East Gippsland with his wife Gertrude’s family. Her parents were Alfred Edward Logan and Ethel Goodenough. Gertrude nursed convalescing troops returning from World War I, as well as patients afflicted by the 1919 Spanish Influenza Pandemic. Gertrude’s grandfather (Ethel Goodenough’s father) was Sergeant Henry Goodenough. As a young police trooper in Ballarat (Victoria), Sergeant Goodenough achieved notoriety acting as ‘an agent provocateur and police spy’ during the Eureka Stockade Rebellion on Sunday 3 December 1854, and subsequently was the colonial authority’s prize witness in the Eureka Treason Trials of 1855.
MacFarlane’s Lantern No. 151-June 2021 is now available in the Members Area along with back issues. Please click on Membership Info in the main menu if you are interested in joining.
There is a Scandinavian theme running through this issue which was sparked by the article written by our new South Australian committee member, Peter McFarlane, titled: Australia is a multi-cultural country: My ancestry is not just Scottish!
To complement this article we have reprinted the article The Stranger Gaels: A look at Norse influence in the northern Highlands and Islands of Scotland by Calum Curamach which appeared in MacFarlane’s Lantern No. 128, December 2013.
Of course, the lochside village of Tarbet had its fair share of Viking visitors so information from The Vale of Leven History Project website is featured on the front page.
We also bring you news of an exhibition which has just opened at the National Museum of Scotland titled: The Galloway Hoard: Viking Age Treasure.
Thank you to Ian Macfarlane in Victoria for sharing a memorial card from 1904 for John James McFarlane which led to the writing of the article Memorial Card Reveals Connection to Northern Ireland by Glenda Dickson.
Peter McFarlane has also shared with us information on his Scottish forebears in A Journey from the Highlands of Scotland to the Gippsland High Country of Australia and Glasgow boy leaves Gippsland legacy.
We also announce the names of the winners of our membership draw on the back page.
MacFarlane’s Lantern No. 150-December 2020 is now available in the Members Area along with back issues. Please click on Membership Info in the main menu if you are interested in joining. This is a great time to sign up because all financial members as of 17 March 2021 will go in the running to win one of two great prizes.
- To celebrate our 150th issue of MacFarlane’s Lantern we announce a new Australian emblem for our Society (kindly devised for us by St Kilda Scotland and St Kilda Australia) and a chance for current and new members to win one of two pewter MacFarlane Clan Crest items crafted in Scotland (see pages 3 and 12).
- Information on the AGM held in November is on page 3 and contact information for the new committee of management is listed on page 12.
- Your comments are invited on a proposal to erect a sign on Island I Vow (home to the ruins of a castle built by Andrew MacFarlane, 11th Chief of the Clan), see page 4.
- Step back in time to the 1950s in South Australia as Anita Renfrey (nee McFarlane) regales us with her memories of a childhood in the seaside suburb of Largs, on the LeFevre Peninsula, Gulf St. Vincent (see pages 5-7).
- Due to the current interest in the TV series ‘Blood of the Clans’ we reprint The Jacobite Years: Where were the MacFarlanes? an article by Malcolm Lobban which was originally published in the newsletter in 1993 (see pages 8-10).
- On page 10 you will also find an overview of the ‘MacFarlane’ Group Project at FamilyTree DNA, which you might like to participate in.
The Scottish Banner seeks our support
The Scottish Banner has been uniting Scots around the world for 44 years; however, this year is proving quite a challenge due to the impact of Covid-19. The Editor, Sean Cairney, explains:
“The publishing industry has been severely impacted, with many titles around the country already folding. Due to cancelled events, travel restrictions and impacts to Scottish businesses, the Scottish Banner has lost a great deal of advertising revenue going forward. In addition, Scottish festivals are currently not taking place causing a further major cut to revenue.”
Readers can help the Scottish Banner to remain viable by purchasing a digital or print copy each month or taking out a subscription.
Please visit: www.scottishbanner.com
