The Clan MacLeod Society of Australia (NSW) Inc. Newsletter June

The Clan MacLeod Society of Australia (NSW) Inc.
Newsletter June 2010
Chief: Hugh MacLeod of MacLeod
Chief of Lewes: Torquil Donald Macleod of Lewes
Chief of Raasay: Roderick John Macleod of Raasay
President: Peter Macleod, 19 Viewpoint Drive, Toukley 2263. Phone (02) 4397 3161
Email: peter.macleod@exemail.com.au
Secretary: Mrs Wendy Macleod, 19 Viewpoint Drive, Toukley 2263. Phone (02) 4397 3161
Treasurer: Mr Rod McLeod, 62 Menzies Rd, Eastwood 2122. Ph (02) 9869 2659 email: roderickmcleod@optusnet.com.au
Annual Subscription $28 ($10 for each additional person in IMPORTANT DATES
the one home receiving one Clan Magazine & Newsletter, Sat. 3rd July - Aberdeen Highland Games.
i.e. One person $28, Two people $38, Three people $48, Sat. 29th August - Toukley Gathering of the Clans.
etc.). Subscriptions are due on 30th June each year.
Sat. 11th Sept - Annual Luncheon & AGM.
Dear Clansfolk,
Australian Celtic Festival at Glen Innes Friday,
We have been able to hold the membership fees at the 30th April to Sunday, 2nd May. Stunning weather prevailed
same level for our 8th year making your Clan MacLeod the whole weekend, early mornings around 14°C, midday
Society Membership one of the greatest bargains around.
maybe 23°C. The breeze was light but an occasional puff
A renewal form is enclosed and I know our Treasurer combined with a little cloud confirmed what the tree colours
would appreciate your early attention to this important part were telling us, autumn is here. We drove up on the Friday
of keeping our Society going.
arriving about 3.20pm, nice and early. So, I decide to put up
Peter
AGM Saturday 11th Sept
our stall this afternoon to save
The meeting is to start bethe rush on Saturday after the
tween 1.30 & 2pm. Venue is
Street Parade. Just as well,
Forestville RSL Club, Melwood
because the organisers had
Ave, Forestville. We will releft us off the official list. This
serve tables in the Bistro for a
was not a problem on the Frisit down lunch from 12 noon.
day but was on the Saturday
You can attend the lunch or the
as without the paperwork we
meeting, or both. Bistro prices
were denied car access. After
are reasonable and afternoon
some pleading, thankfully, the
timing means no night travelofficials allowed us in.
ling. We would like to know apBut, back to Friday. Tonight
proximate numbers, so if you
we attend a Haggis Dinner
are coming could you please
at the Glen Innes Services
phone one of the office bearers
Club. The haggis is piped in
at the head of this page. We
with all due ceremony and the
should see some good Paraddresser tells us that Robliament pictures from those Maclean Highland Gathering Wendy Macleod, Leonard bie Burns wrote ‘The Ode to
McLeod from South Africa, Charles Cooke & George Cooke
just back from Skye.
a Haggis’ in Old Scots and a
Aberdeen Highland Games Saturday 3rd July in Jef- Professor had translated it into English so it could be underferson Park, Aberdeen. Last year was an excellent event, stood by non Scots speakers and this was the version he
have a look at our September 2009 Newsletter. The day would be reciting. It fell absolutely flat, so when finished he
will start with a parade of massed bands and clan represent- threw the piece of paper away exclaiming ‘Enough of that
atives then progress to individual band displays, dancing, Rubbish’ and delivered one of the best addresses I have
and heavy events. There will be lots of stalls selling Scot- ever heard, the way Burns intended, to rousing cheers and
tish & other items and clan stalls (including Clan MacLeod). applause. Entertainment for the night was by ‘Murphy’s
Wendy & I won’t be there as this is the day we fly out for Pigs’, a ten piece Celtic band from Brisbane. This was their
some European sightseeing before the Clan MacLeod Par- second year and even better than last.
liament. Vice President, Neil McLeod will be supervising our Sat. 1st. About 15 MacLeods assemble for the 9.30 Street
stand, Neil is also our Society Genealogy expert. Entry to Parade. Then the mad rush to finish our stall. Straight away
the grounds is $15 for adults, $10 for children or concession. we’re busy, we didn’t have time to completely set up before
There is an evening Ceilidh but you need to book. More info we were answering questions and handing out information
from the website www.aberdeenhighlandgames.com or packs. The rush didn’t last so we took turns to look around
other stalls. Tonight, we dine at
phone Charles Cooke on (02) 6545 8141.
Clan MacLeod at
New
Tattersalls
Hotel
&
stay
for
Glen Innes
Toukley Gathering of the Clans Sat. 28th August at
the same location, Harry Moore Oval in Crossingham St., the entertainment, Pine Rivers
Toukley. Entrance is FREE! A street parade from the Touk- Celtic Rock Outfit, excellent.
ley CBD starts the festivities. We usually manage to get a Sunday 2nd. No stall today but
small group of MacLeods together for the march but would Charles & I are in the Banner
welcome some extras to make our clan more impressive. Parade for the Kirking of the
Entertainment runs from 10.30am to 4pm including massed Tartan & a later Parade to introbands, individual band displays, Highland dancing, lots of duce Commissioners for other
stalls - including the Clan MacLeod. In the evening there is Clans. Evening saw us again
a ceilidh and on Sunday 29th, a Kirkin’ of the Tartan. For fur- at the Services Club to hear a
wind down musical session.
ther details contact Andrea Konemann phone 4397 2226.
MacLeod Centenary Gathering in Edmonton
Descendants of John MacLeod (1856 - 1920) will be a major
part of a “Back to Edmonton” Centenary Celebration in North
Queensland over the 16th to 18th July 2010. John left his
ancestral home at Bernera, Isle of Lewis c.1872 and in 1886
John married Sarah Anne Ryan in Cairns. Their 10 children
were born on the Atherton Tableland, which will be visited by attendees at the reunion. In 1909, the
family with their 6 surviving children
moved to Edmonton where they
built and opened a hotel in 1910 100 years ago. A Scottish theme will
be embodied in the reunion.
For more information contact Rob
Spencer, phone (02) 9484 1393 or
email rob.eil@optusnet.com.au
At left is John MacLeod, photographed c.1886.
Ancestral home of John MacLeod
photographed in 2009
Canadian MacLeods at Winter Olympics The
2010 Vancouver Olympics saw major involvement of our
British Columbia clansfolk helping as volunteers in many
capacities. A great thrill was the winning of a GOLD medal
by Carla MacLeod of Alberta playing in Jersey No. 3 in the
women’s hockey. More honours to the clan!
MacLeod of Raasay Wedding Hannah, daughter of
John & Liz Macleod of Raasay, married James Roberts just
before last Christmas. Hannah had been living and working
in England where she met James. The wedding was held in
Hobart with the couple flying back to England shortly after
Christmas. They plan another celebration in Devon for those
family and friends who could not come to Hobart, this is to
be just before Parliament so Chief John & Liz will be able
to attend this as well. Hannah & James have been living in
Basel, Switzerland, where James was working for a major
pharmaceutical company. Recently while packing to return
to the UK they attended the three day Fasnacht carnival,
Switzerland’s main festival. They were surprised to see a
pipe band marching with the other bands and were even
more astonished to see they wore MacLeod of Lewis yellow
kilts. Hannah introduced herself, made known to the bands
folk her connection to the Raasay/MacLeod family and she
& James were made most welcome & joined the festivities.
Vale Jessie Katherine Tepper
June 16th, 1917 to February 26th, 2010
Long standing member Jessie Tepper of Geelong, Victoria, passed away late February. She had good health and
bright spirits right to the end. At 92 she was still enjoying
crosswords and watching favourite shows on TV.
Her MacLeod grandfather came to Australia from Inverness and was a train driver, her father was a shearer. She
was second child of nine and grew up around Rocky Point,
near Ararat in Victoria. For the past 60 years she lived at
Geelong. Jessie was mother to four children, son Kevin
and daughters Lois, Verna and Carolyn. She had numerous grandchildren. During the eighties Jessie travelled to
Scotland where she very much enjoyed a visit to Dunvegan
Castle. Another highlight for her was her attendance at the
Clan MacLeod Bendigo Gathering in 1999.
Gundy BBQ - Sat. 6th March Perfect weather saw
Wendy & I arrive around 4pm soon followed by Neil McLeod.
Next came Colin & Marie McLeod and with all Council members who were coming now present we held our brief Council
meeting. At 6.30pm George Cooke was elected chef and on
went the goodies. Shortly after dark some 14 of us sat down
to dinner followed by lovely deserts and fine wines. The
night chill never arrived, we enjoyed a beautiful starry night
and happy chatter. And, great Scottish music by our own
mini Pipe Band, Helen Macpherson of Scone Pipe Band as
piper, Charles Cooke on bass drum and George Cooke with
side drum. Thank you to Charles, Kerry & George Cooke as
hosts for another wonderful Clan MacLeod evening.
Three piece band
Gundy BBQ
plus one
Welcome to New Members
Mr. Jonathan (Jon) MacLeod Smyth of Figtree Pocket Qld
joined at the Maclean Highland Gathering. Jon’s MacLeod
forebears came from the beautiful Isle of Raasay.
Mrs. Sheila MacLeod Forbes Green of Forster NSW, Sheila
was born in Edinburgh and joined our Society at the Celtic
Festival, Glen Innes.
Bundanoon Highland Gathering Report by Southern VP, Paul Anforth. The 33rd Bundanoon Gathering was
probably the best ever. There were 23 pipe bands making
the massed bands hugely impressive. Visitor number were
said to exceed 20,000 making Bundanoon the biggest Scottish Gathering in Australia. The parade took a full 40 minutes
to pass. The day was blessed with perfect weather and this
would have helped visitor numbers. Paul enjoyed himself so
much he has already booked accommodation for 2011.
Clan MacLeod North American Gathering 2012
It’s a long way off, in time and distance, but over a dozen
Australians were at the 2008 NAG in Ottawa, so no doubt
some will be going to the next one. Venue is Alexandria,
Virginia USA which is close to Washington DC. Exact date is
yet to be announced but possibly July/August. Will publish
more details as they become available.
Clan Parliament 2010 Last chance to
go - see www.clanmacleod.org
106th Maclean Highland Gathering Friday 26th &
Sat. 27th March. A change in dates from Easter to the week
preceeding enabled Wendy & I to attend this Gathering for
the first time. A seven hour drive from Toukley on Thursday
25th saw us arrive at 4pm giving some evening time to look
around town. Maclean prides itself as ‘The Scottish Town
of Australia’ but we didn’t realise
how much the locals had taken this
theme on board. The town telegraph
poles are painted with different tartans for the lower two metres, not
just one or two poles but possibly a
hundred or more. The main street is
lined with Scottish decorated banners, one displays the Selkirk Grace by Robbie Burns, others have Scottish Arms or crests. School uniforms are Hunting MacLean and MacLean of Duart tartan. Maclean High
School song is an adaptation of ‘Scotland the Brave’. Shops
have Scottish themed displays, a
local fish shop has the staff in Polo
shirts with a bagpipe playing fish
on the back. It’s all good fun!
Friday 26th is bright, hot and
sunny, so Wendy & I decide to do
some sightseeing. First stop is the
Scottish Cairn. The Cairn was built
in 1988 when Maclean lobbied for,
but missed out on, the Scottish
Australian Cairn now in Rawson
Park, Mosman. They decided to
go ahead and build one anyway.
Scottish stonemason, George Kerridge, was asked to supervise the construction. A position in Stanford Park overlooking
the town was chosen. The Rev’d Kenneth MacLeod, Chief of
the Lower Clarence Scottish Association (LCSA) at the time
dedicated the Cairn on 3rd December 1988. In 2004 five
poles were erected near the Cairn with the names and tartans of the 14 Chiefs of the LCSA and the dates they took up
the position dating back to 1893. The Rev’d Kenneth MacLeod is there, having been the Chief from 1984 to 1996.
From the Cairn we continued up the hill to the Pinnacles rock
formation and the town lookout with wide views
acrossthe Lower Clarence River & farmlands. Then
into town for a closer look at the street banners
and into the Scottish shop. The rest of the morning
saw us drive out to Yamba, Angourie & Brooms
Head, neighbouring seaside villages. Straight after lunch we were off to the Showground where
we erected our Clan MacLeod Stand ready for
Saturday. Right - Rev’d Kenneth MacLeod’s Pole.
Chiefs’ Poles
& Cairn
Tamworth Pipe Band at
The Clarence
Friday evening and we report to The Clarence Hotel to meet
Charles & George Cooke. Also staying at there are Tamworth Pipe Band who start up a jam session, naturally our
Charles joins in. A pleasant night and more great fun.
Tamworth Pipe Band under the Judges’ eyes
Saturday 27th, 8am, we assemble outside The Clarence for
the street parade. We have 8 or 10 marching under the Clan
MacLeod Banner, notably we are joined by Leonard McLeod
and his daughter Gabby and her two daughters. Leonard
is a Past President of The Clan MacLeod Society of South
Africa and current VP of the Associated Clan MacLeod Societies. Leonard is visiting Australia to see three of his four
daughters and to celebrate his birthday. Leonard still lives
near Cape Town but is saddened that all four
of his daughters now live overseas.
Wendy misses the march to go onto the
Showground and start to dress up our stall,
so, shortly we are in action. As usual business
is brisk to start but by lunchtime has quietened
somewhat. We had one new member join and
several inquiries. One non member lady has
been looking into her MacLeod background
and discovered a connection with the MacLeods of Gesto, hopefully she will join soon. MacLeod of
Wendy & I took turns to prowl around the variLewis
ous Scottish stalls. They had good turnouts Street Pole
from commercial stalls such as St. Kilda Retail, White Heather and The Scottish Banner but Clan MacLeod were once
again the only Clan Society. Pipe Bands were well represented, 16 in all. There was competition for individual pipers
and drummers as well as the
Maclean’s
bands. A Highland Dancing
Cairn
competition and heavy events
featured although we didn’t see
these. Individual Pipe Band
displays were very popular
with the grandstand packed.
Massed bands performed at
4.45pm to bring the day to a
close. Met up with Charles for
dinner at The Clarence where
Tamworth Pipe Band again put
on a special show for us.
Australian Standing Stones at Glen Innes The Some of the Sponsors -
first array of Standing Stones erected in around 3,000 years
and first ever outside Europe were erected to mark the contribution made to Australia by peoples of Celtic origin. This
year marks 20 years since Glen Innes was selected as site
for the Australian Standing Stones. Originator of the idea
was Sydney based Peter Alexander, of the Celtic Council of
Australia. Peter approached the Scottish Australian Heritage
Council and the two bodies contacted Municipalities with access to sources of granite stone needed for construction.
From these local authorities, Glen Innes was selected on
26th August 1990 and responded with a weekend of excitement, ceremony & celebration. The first stone was placed
on Sat. 7th Sept. 1991. The completed array was officially
opened by the Governor-General, Rear Admiral Peter Sinclair on 1st Feb. 1992. The ceremony was attended by a
number of members of the Clan MacLeod Society who decided our Society should
Diagram shows the
be one of the initial
array layout. Picture
sponsors. Funds were raised
below is the Clan
and our stone dedicated
MacLeod Stone
by the Society’s
- No. 20
founder, the late
Bruce D.
MacLeod,
the next
year, 1993.
3 Central Stones
No. 31, the Australis
Stone, for all Australians &
symbolises the link between
the old and new worlds.
No. 35, Gaelic Stone for Scotland, Ireland & Isle of Man.
No. 28, the Brythonic Stone
for Wales, Cornwall & Brittany.
The Southern Cross from
above, is formed by
Stones 1, 22, 13, 30 & 17.
The Celtic Cross is formed by 1, 22, 13
& 30 and the circle of 24 stones.
The Solstices - From the centre of the array look:Nth East through 7, 6, 5, 8, 9 & 10 for winter solstice dawn.
South East to the right of 17 for dawn of summer solstice.
West immediately right of No. 35 for winter solstice sunset.
South West to No. 27 for summer solstice sunset.
Building the Array - Expert local bushmen spent 3 months
scouring the bush within 50kms for suitable stones. These
had to stand 3.7m above ground which meant an overall
length of 5.5m. They found only 3 suitable, so the rest had
to be split from larger rocks. Utilising more local skills in
rock drilling & splitting and another six months of effort, the
stones were made. Transportation was another challenge,
fortunately another local businessman came forth with heavy
equipment, including a 12 tonne forklift, to load and then carry the stones on a timber loader. Average stone weight was
17 tonnes, but the heaviest was a massive 38 tonnes.
The Site - Centenial Parklands overlooks the township. Frequently, early morning mist creates a magical effect. A good
sealed road allows easy access even for tourist coaches
who often visit and bring welcome revenue to Glen Innes.
No. 4 Clan Fergusson
No. 7 Knox Grammar
No. 8 Clan Cameron
No. 12 Clan MacAlister
No. 14 Manx Society
No. 16 Clan Johnston(e)
No. 19 City of Tamworth
No. 21 Clan Davidson
No. 25 Highland Society
No. 30 Burns Societies
No. 33 Cornish Association
No. 36 British Airways
No. 37 Clan MacKenzie
Other sponsors include families with a Celtic background. All
are named on a bronze plaque overlooking the array.
Ongoing - Some additional features added since opening.
Crofter’s Cottage, a refreshment & gift shop, open 7 days.
Excalibur, a stainless sword embedded in granite.
Wall of History with stones from all over the Celtic World.
An Irish Stone with an inscription in the old Celtic Ogham
language, one of the first written languages.
Significant Local Contribution - The Stones are a great asset to Glen Innes. As well as the huge annual festival, travellers between Sydney & Brisbane often stop off or stay overnight to visit the Stones, and thus help the local economy.
Was King Arthur a Scot? Condensed from Cruachan,
Clan Campbell’s Magazine, Autumn 2010. Archaeologists of
the Camelot Research Committee have identified the ruins
of Cadbury Castle near Glastonbury as Camelot.
This has been rejected by American scholar Norma Lorre
Goodrich who proposed King Arthur ruled not in England
but in Scotland. Her exhaustive literary research pointed to
Stirling rather than Cadbury Castle as the site of Camelot.
Stirling is close to Argyll and Goodrich quotes from papers
referred to as ‘Argyll Papers’ - Constantine I (Arthur’s grandfather) came from France in 404AD and died 420AD. Arthur
inherited the throne in 520AD. His first wife died childless.
The second, a daughter of a king of Franks, presented him
with a son called ‘Smervimore’, who inherited later. Arthur
was quoted in the papers as Arthur IV, of the round table.
If King Arthur is of Scottish descent, then the Cruachan’s
article postulates Clan Campbell can be even more proud of
their heritage as history records in early times the Campbells
married into the Scottish Royal Line. Maybe a future article
will claim King Arthur was a Campbell!
Charles
Ruth
Ian
Peter
Wendy
Western Australian MacLeod Visitors In mid May
we had the pleasure of hosting Dr. Ian MacLeod (WA CMS
President) and wife Ruth (WA CMS Treasurer) for a couple
of days. During this time we fitted in a boat trip on Tuggerah
Lake, until the clouds burst, and a drive up the coast to Newcastle. Another day saw us tour some wineries of the Hunter
Valley under the guidance of Charles Cooke. Picture above
shows us enjoying lunch and planning to meet again at Parliament. Ian was in Sydney to deliver a lecture at the Australian Maritime Museum then on to Melbourne for another.
Ruth decided to accompany him to catch up with MacLeods
in NSW and their daughter, Kirsteen, in Melbourne.
Next Newsletter will carry a report of
our doings at Clan Parliament and
travels around Scotland. For those
others going - Happy Travels.
Peter