Australia Day 2017
All around Australia people will be celebrating Australia Day in their own way. Melbourne, however, will be the only capital city to hold a parade on the morning of the 26th January, 2017.
Between 11.00 am and 12 noon, a colourful procession of community and cultural groups will make their way down Swanston Street to be cheered on by spectators lining the street. Members of the Scottish community participating in the parade have been asked to meet at 9.30am on the corner of Bourke and Swanston Streets, Melbourne.
Others will celebrate with family or friends at home or perhaps at one of the many local community events, such as those listed on the Victorian government website www.australiaday.vic.gov.au
How will you spend Australia Day?
Robert Burns’ Celebrations – Victoria
The Scots of Victoria website lists Scottish events in Victoria and amongst these are several Robert Burns celebrations.
- The Mornington Peninsula Caledonian Society are holding a Burns Supper on Saturday, 28th January at the Mornington Golf Club.
- Whilst the Robert Burns Club of Melbourne held a picnic at the Burns statue in the Treasury Gardens on Sunday (22 January), they also have a Burns Supper scheduled for Saturday, 4th February at the Glenroy RSL.
- On Saturday, 18th February, the Brunswick Scottish Society will be holding their Annual Robert Burns Night at the Fleming Park Hall in Brunswick East.
For further information on these events, please visit www.scotsofaus.org.au
Scots Day Out – Bendigo, Victoria
Visit https://www.scotsdayout.com for further information on the events planned for Bendigo’s, Scot’s Day Out, a free family event to be held on Saturday 11 February. Also, on the night before, highlights of the Edinburgh Short Film Festival will be shown at the Latrobe Visual Arts Centre (bookings required). On Sunday 12 February, visitors might like to join a heritage tour at the Bendigo Cemetery, to explore the graves of early Scottish settlers on the Bendigo goldfields.
What a wonderful way to start the New Year. Maryborough Highland Gathering has been held on New Years Day every year since 1859 in the Victorian town of the same name. This year is no exception, with the event commencing at 11 am with a street parade. The parade leads to the main activity at Princes Park where Pipe Bands will put on displays (including Massed Pipe Bands), Highland Dancers will compete, and Highland Games will take place.
For more information contact the Maryborough Highland Society: events@highlandsociety.com.au
The December issue of the Australian “MacFarlane’s Lantern” is now available in the Members Area, along with back issues.
In the well-researched article “Two McFarlane Tragedies” by Dr. Tony Stimson, we learn the fate of Alexander Dampier McFarlane and son Bruce, in South Australia.
In “Scotland and the Slave Trade”, Malcolm Lobban reveals that one of our own Clan (Andrew MacFarlane, son of John MacFarlane, 8th Laird of Gartartan and Auchantroig) is listed among “the many slave masters and merchants that became multi-millionaires.”
Giving us some background information on his own family name, Lobban, Malcolm tells us that “The greatest concentration of the name Lobban (or Loban) is in the north-east counties of Scotland, particularly Banffshire and in upper Aberdeenshire.” Many families of that name also settled in Australia.
Ron Marsh reports on the Annual Joint Clan Luncheon held on October 23rd in Adelaide in which three clans participated – Clan MacFarlane, Clan Donald and Clan MacNeil. We also have details of our Annual General Meeting held on November 27th at which Jason Moore was elected our new President.
The Scottish Assocations of South Australia Inc. welcome all to attend the annual Kirkin’ of the Tartan service to be celebrated at St Andrew’s Anglican Church (Cnr. Church Terrace and Fuller Streets, Walkerville) on Sunday 13th November, 2016 commencing at 9.30am. For further details please click on the link below.
kirkin-of-the-tartan-church-service-general-invitation-2016
3ZZZ 92.3FM, Melbourne’s only full time ethnic community radio station, has a Scottish Program which is prepared and presented by dedicated volunteers every Monday at 11pm for the benefit of the local Scottish community. Bev Tait, Convenor of the Scottish Program gives an indication of what listeners can expect:
“We present news and current affairs from home, broadcast the latest music, interview local and international performers, and promote local events, community organisations and services for Melbourne’s Scottish community. In addition to our local audience, we also have listeners tuning in through the website from all around the world.”
If the late hour of 11.00pm is not convenient, you can also access the program at 3zzz.com.au for up to seven days following the broadcast.
