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
MacFarlane’s Lantern No. 149–May 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.
- Published amid the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and with memories of the catastrophic bushfires over summer, this issue opens by paying tribute to front-line emergency workers and also those providing essential services in our community.
- We share some ‘MacFarlane Memories’, including photos of Julian Millar, Duncan McFarlane and Ron Robb, (pages 2-3).
- In ‘Flowers of the Forest’ we report on the passing of two members of the Scottish community. We also welcome new members who have joined our society since November 2019, (page 3).
- In ‘Gravestone Transcriptions’, Glenda Dickson reports on an opportunity to volunteer from home with ‘2nd Pass Transcriptions’ at BillionGraves; while Anita Renfrey brings to our notice the book School of the Moon: The Highland Cattle Raiding Tradition; which is followed by some ‘Clishmaclaver’ – a Scottish word for idle talk, gossip, or empty chatter, (page 4).
- ‘Bundaberg’ is a poem published in 1910 about the Scots who attended a gathering in Queensland; ‘Is this your MacFarlane?’ highlights a missing relative message from 1909 for a Robert McFarlane, Stamford, Queensland; ‘The Last Chief’ outlines how our Clan came to have no Chief, and how a claim could be made for the Chiefship, (page 5).
- ‘The MacFarlane Family of Perth, Scotland’, is a follow-up to an article published in the May 2018 issue, (No. 145), ‘MacFarlane Photos Unearthed’; while ‘Soldiers of the Queen’ is a website dedicated to researching British military photographs from the Victorian era, (page 6).
- ‘The Chasin’ O’ the Hat’ is a poem about ‘MacFarlane’, who is joined by others as he tries to retrieve his hat after the wind takes hold of it, (page 7).
- ‘A Topographical Dictionary of Scotland, 1846’ has an extract for the parish of Tulliallan, in the county of Perth, (page 8).
- In ‘McFARLAN/MacFARLAND’ you will find an explanation for these variations in the spelling of the MacFarlane name; we also suggest you try this classic Scottish recipe, ‘Cock-a-Leekie-Soup’, (page 9).
- ‘Anzac Day’ – Our President, Jason Moore is pictured playing the bagpipes, and we highlight Private Leslie William Laurence McFarlane (4113) from South Grafton, New South Wales, who enlisted in 1916 aged 20; which is followed by ‘Grannie Mac’s’ memories of holiday time when she was a wee lassie, (page 10).
- ‘Coming Events’ lists more cancellations and postponements due to the current pandemic, (page 11).
The Adelaide Scottish Fiddle Club will be performing two concerts for the Adelaide Fringe Festival and would be delighted to see you there. These concerts will be a very special celebration of the 2020 Year of Scotland in Australia, with a program exploring traditional music and also how contemporary Australian composers are building on the Scottish tradition.
The concerts are this Friday evening, 21 February at Carlclew, 11 Jeffcott Street, North Adelaide and the following Saturday, 29 February at Anne Jolly Hall, Epiphany Place, Crafers.
For bookings please visit:
https://adelaidefringe.com.au/fringetix/scotland-in-australia-af2020
For further information please see the attached flyer Adelaide Scottish Fiddle Club Fringe Concerts
MacFarlane’s Lantern No. 148–November 2019 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.
In this issue, you will find three main articles:
Private Albert Leslie (Les) McFarlane (1888-1973) and Recollections of my grandfather: Pa McFarlane, both written by his grandson, Peter McFarlane. Les came from Nicholson in Victoria, and during World War One he was wounded during the second major offensive on the Gallipoli Peninsula.
The Macfarlanes of ‘Glensloy’ by Malcolm Lobban is the culmination of research sparked by our mention of Lieutenant Edward Albert Charles Macfarlane M.C. in the last issue. ‘Glensloy’ is the name of a historic house in Turramurra, New South Wales.