Family History Matters 
 The blog of the GSV 

Scottish Ancestry

Scottish Ancestry

Highlands Seminar coming soon

Bill Barlow
Expiry Date

Coming up soon the GSV is privileged to host a Seminar on the culture, traditions and ancestry of the Highland Clans of Scotland presented by an international expert, Graeme Mackenzie of 'Highland Roots', Inverness.

Glen Nevis (photo: Pauline Simpson, 'Highland Roots')

Friday 22 March 2019 10.00 am - 12.30 pm at GSV. 

Graeme's seminar will cover:

'The Culture and Traditions of the Highland Clans' - the social customs, political practices and the often colourful traditions of the clans, and

'Tracing your Ancestors in the Highlands of Scotland' - the sources for genealogical research in Scotland, showing how they are used and issues regarding the use of Gaelic names.

Get in quick to book your place here on the GSV website https://www.gsv.org.au/civicrm/event/info?reset=1&id=1100

***

Clan and Family History in the Highlands

Graeme Mackenzie MA founded 'Highland Roots' (http://www.highlandroots.net/index.html) in Inverness, from where it has been offering personal family history research for over 25 years. Graeme's work as a clan historian and organiser of gatherings - for MacKenzies and MacMillans in particular - has given him a unique insight into the Highland Clans, past and present, about which he has frequently lectured in North America, and also in Australasia.  In recent years he's taken the lead in the creation of the Association of Highland Clans and Societies which brings together over 45 clans and names in the Highlands of Scotland. 

Graeme's genealogical journey is rich and varied.

Graeme Mackenzie

He won a scholarship to study history at Cambridge University, and after graduation taught the subject part-time while working in a number of other jobs, including pulling pints at the historic “Eagle” pub – where he created a cricket team and helped organise the Cambridge Pub and Social Clubs Cricket League. In the early 1980s Graeme created local music magazine “Blue Suede News”, and became a part-time presenter on BBC Radio Cambridgeshire. He was also involved for a number of years with the committee that organised the world famous “Cambridge Folk Festival”. In the mid-1980s Graeme’s BBC work moved into the production and presentation of music and current affairs documentaries, and in 1986-87 he conceived, researched, wrote, and presented a major ten part historical series – “A Power in the Land” – which looked at national history from a regional perspective, and was one of the first such series to be networked on local radio. 

It was whilst researching East Anglian families for this series that Graeme began to take an interest in genealogy; and this was eventually to lead him to return to Scotland to investigate his own ancestry, and to learn all the Scottish history he'd missed whilst studying “British History” at an English university. In 1989 Graeme set up as Highland Roots in Inverness with the intention of specialising in the history and genealogy of Highland clans. Though he’s subsequently had spells living elsewhere in Scotland - particularly in Edinburgh, where his father and grandfather were born - his spiritual home remains the “Capital of the Highlands” where he’s an active member of the Gaelic Society of Inverness.  



In 1993 Graeme was appointed Curator of the Clan MacMillan International Centre in Renfrewshire, with a particular brief to organise the collection and publication of information on the clan’s history and genealogy (a connection stemming from his grandmother Catherine Macmillan who came from Glen Urquhart on the shores of Loch Ness). This involved building the first Clan MacMillan International website and creating Project MAOL (Macmillan Ancestry On Line). Graeme’s also been instrumental in organising a number of successful clan gatherings, with tours, talks, concerts, pageants, and ceilidhs - including significant fund-raising elements for the major charity that was founded in the early twentieth century by a bard of the clan; i.e. Macmillan Cancer Support

Since 1995 Graeme has acted as Seanachaidh for Clan MacKenzie, compiling material on Mackenzie genealogy from published sources and through research commissioned from him by individual clanspeople; and he served for two years as Chairman of the Clan Mackenzie Society of Scotland & the UK. In the course of his work as a professional genealogist he's collected a considerable amount of information on other Scottish families and names, and is pursuing a particular interest in the nature of the Scottish clan, and the evolution of the so-called “clan system”. His involvement with clan gatherings has given Graeme considerable experience attracting overseas visitors to the Highlands, which has led to him being invited to join VisitScotland's "Ancestral Tourism Group". He's also a member of the Clans and Families' Forum set up in 2014 by the Scottish Government. 



Graeme was Chairman of the Highland Family History Society - an organisation with hundreds of members worldwide - from 2007 until 2013, when he was elected Chairman of the Association of Highland Clans and Societies. For many years he's been attending Highland Games and Clan Gatherings in Canada and the USA to meet and talk to MacMillans and MacKenzies, and to give presentations and lectures on Scottish history and genealogy at Celtic Events and to Scottish Interest Groups. In 2014 he undertook a month-long lecture tour in New Zealand and Australia, whence he hopes to return in 2019. Graeme has written extensively on Scottish clan and family history.

***

This Seminar is not to be missed.

Graeme's bio courtesy of Highland Roots website, accessed 28/02/2019.

 

180 years on descendants of immigrants on the ship 'David Clark' are gathering next Sunday

Bill Barlow
Expiry Date

 

 

Many families arrange get-togethers of their descendants, but next Sunday there is a gathering with a difference. 

 

180 years later descendants of immigrants from the ship David Clark are gathering next Sunday October 27 to celebrate this anniversary.

 

Descendants of those passengers are invited to attend a reunion on Sunday, 27 October 2019 at Gulf Station, Yarra Glen, Victoria.

 

The David Clark was the first ship to bring assisted immigrants direct to Port Phillip in October 1839. All were Scots and many settled in the Upper Yarra valley including William Bell, who once owned Gulf Station, an historic National Trust farm.

 

As part of the welcome, a poem will be read that was written by Christine Mawdesley (a McEwin descendant) for the 1939 celebrations of the 100th anniversary, and a bagpiper will play “Lochaber No More” the lament that was played by John Arthur as the ship sailed from Greenock 13 June 1839, then a tree will be planted.

 

You can book by email now to davidclark1839@gmail.com or HERE https://www.trybooking.com/book/event?eid=542336

 

We wish all descendants a great day.

 

***

 

Want to know more about the history?

 

This article was prepared from information provided by Irene Kearsey. Irene is a GSV Member, and a volunteer at PROV and Gulf Station. For more information you can read her article: 

'La Trobe's first Immigrants: Passengers from the David Clark 1839' by Irene Kearsey in Journal of the C J La Trobe Society. vol 17 no. 2 July 2018, pp 16-21 (accessed 20/10/2019 at https://www.latrobesociety.org.au/LaTrobeana/LaTrobeanaV17n2Kearsey.pdf

 

Were your ancestors aboard the David Clark?

You can search the list of passengers on the Public Record Office Victoria(PROV) VPRS 14 Assisted Passenger Lists 1839-1871 at website https://prov.vic.gov.au/explore-collection/explore-topic/passenger-records-and-immigration/assisted-passenger-lists. You may need to do more research to establish your descendancy, and the GSV can help you with that, but maybe not before next Sunday.

***

 

Scottish assistance online 21 May

Bill Barlow
Expiry Date

No need to stop your family history research. We have moved our Scottish Assistance service online for 21 May.

With the GSV education centre being closed during May, the Scottish Assistance in the Library service, which was scheduled for Thursday 21 May, will now be available to members online, free of charge.

To register an interest and book a 30 minute time slot for 21 May, please email the GSV on gsv@gsv.org.au providing a contact phone number and your GSV membership number. The one-on-one consultation will take place on either FaceTime or Skype, and you will be contacted in advance to finalise the arrangements. Bookings are available from 10.00 am to 3.30 pm.

***

 

A case of 'breaking bad'

 

Just after my last post and Clive Luckman's article about the usefulness of Police Gazettes, I had a note yesterday that a cousin had found a long-lost great aunt of ours in a Police Gazettes notice. She had disappeared and had neither married or died in any Australian State (as far as we had found)!

My great grandfather had reported her or had her charged as a vagrant - perhaps hoping to find her.

 

An instance of her 'breaking bad' giving us a good break in our sleuthing.

 

And what is an 'ulster' Off to the internet!

 

***

 

 

 

 

 

 

More assistance with your Scottish ancestry this Thursday 18 June - online

Bill Barlow
Expiry Date

The first online delivery of Scottish Assistance day last month was booked within the day, as was its overflow session.

 

So be quick for this one on Thursday!

 

With the GSV education centre being closed during June, the Scottish Assistance in the Library service, which was scheduled for Thursday 18 June, will now be available to members online, free of charge. To register an interest and book a 30-minute time slot for 18 June, please email the GSV at gsv@gsv.org.au providing a contact phone number and your GSV membership number.

Registrations will close at 3.00 pm on Wednesday 17 June.

The one-on-one consultations will take place on FaceTime, Skype, or Zoom, and you will be contacted in advance to finalise the arrangements. Bookings are available from 10.30 am to 3.30 pm.

 

Using the ScotlandsPeople website

Tuesday 30 June, 11.00 am



With the current restrictions due to the corona virus, this class will be held online for GSV members only, using ZOOM as the medium. This initial online class will be limited to 10 participants, but a follow up class will be arranged if required for additional numbers. To register your interest please email the GSV atgsv@gsv.org.au quoting your membership number and a contact phone number. 

Registration will close at 3.00 pm on Monday 29 June.



Presenter: John Blackwood

The ScotlandsPeople website, https://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/  "is the official Scottish Government site for searching government records and archives. In this site you have access to the statutory registers of births, marriages and deaths; census returns; church records; evaluation rolls; and legal records from Scotland's courts of law".

These include indexes and images.

This one hour class on the ScotlandsPeople website will explore what's on the website, how to register as a user, buy credits, obtain certificates, as well as advice on researching the site.

***

Memorial to the Royal Scots Greys (1905) sculpted by William Birnie Rhind (1853-1933) in Princes Street Gardens, Edinburgh. Sergeant Major Anthony James Hinnigan from Jedburgh and his horse 'Polly' were models for the statue. Photo courtesy of © Ad Meskens / Wikimedia Commons Sept 2010.

Among William Rhind's notable commissions are the statue of Burns at Aberfeldy and statues of King Robert The Bruce and Wallace for the Scottish National Portrait Galleries in 1895, and the Boer War Memorials in Edinburgh, such as the Royal Scots Greys (1905), the Black Watch (1908) and the Kings Own Scottish Borderers (1919). 

 

Scotland during the Enlightenment - Seminar 13 July

Bill Barlow
Expiry Date

If you have Scottish ancestors (I have a Campbell) - and even if you haven't - you may have been watching The Rise of the Clans on SBS presented by that long-haired archaeologist and history-warrior, Neil Oliver, who is often seen from a helicopter standing on the edge of a cliff. 

 

On 13 July the GSV gives you a wonderful opportunity to catch up with what the Scots were doing a few hundred years later. This day-seminar will explore an exciting period of intellectual and scientific accomplishments in Scotland from the mid-18th to mid-19th centuries.

 

 

SCOTTISH ANCESTRY GROUP

of The Genealogical Society of Victoria, Inc.

Scotland: 1730-1830 - during the Enlightenment

13 July 2019 – 10am to 4.30pm

At the RACV City Club, level 2, 501 Bourke St Melbourne

PROGRAM

Alex Tyrrell

Small country, big ideas: The Scottish Enlightenment shows the way

Bruce McLennan

The Highlands during the Enlightenment

Malcolm Horsburgh

The Communications Revolution: from pack tracks to modern roads- Malcolm Horsburgh

Ben Wilkie

Scotland, the Enlightenment, and Australia: Legacies from Macquarie to Menzies

 

You will hear from great speakers.

Alex Tyrrell was born in Scotland, educated at Edinburgh and McMasters Universities. Prior to retirement he was an Associate Professor of History at Latrobe University. His research interests include aspects of national identity in Victorian Scotland.

Bruce McLennan is the coordinator of the Clan MacLennan worldwide project, focussing on Scottish records as well as New Zealand, Canada, Australia and the USA. He is an author and presenter at international events.

Malcolm Horsburgh has been researching his family history and genealogy for 35 years in both Edinburgh and Australia. He is a long-term member of the Scottish Ancestry Group and a current member of the committee.

Ben Wilkie has an honours degree and PhD from Monash University on the history of Scots in Australia. His interests include stories of the Scottish diaspora. He is an author and past lecturer at Deakin University.

 

Be quick to book your place.

Cost: $60 GSV members, $90 all other non-members. Scottish Ancestry Group subscribers who are not members of the GSV should apply to the GSV for a reduction to $60.

Bookings essential, and can be made online, www.gsv.org.au, by email gsv@gsv.org.auor by telephone +61 3 9662 4455 (Mon-Fri 9.00 am-4.00 pm)

 

***