ANZAC COMMANDER

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 5, Issue 31, 20 March 1942, Page 5

ANZAC COMMANDER

ILLUSTRIOUS FOREBEARS

GENERAL MacARTHUR IN

AUSTRALIA

SCION OF FAMOUS CLAN The thrill of re-awakening ■ confidence which greeted the arrival of General MiacAr thur, hero of the Batan Peninsula battle in the Phillipines, and newly appointed Commander-in-Chief of the vital Anzac war theatre, wil be re-echoed in the theatre, will be re-echoed in the out the world. General Mac Arthur, has proved himself a worthy son of Caledonia, and though his parents migrated less than a century ago to the U.S.A., they never forgot the ancient traditions of their clan. General Douglas Mac Arthur carries the fighting spirit of Scotland into the great struggle for freedom and emancipation. "This man will never give in," said a contemporary writing of him recently in an American, magazine. "I happen to know him personally and can vouch for his courage, tenacity and genius." Such a tribute could only have been paid to a man of constant action, energy and resource. His arrival in Australia", could not have been a better stimulant to morale and fighting temper. The whole civilised world has acclaimed the appointment and it might very well mark the turning point in the expansion of Japanese arms in the South Pacific. Whakatane Caledonians in common with brother-Scots in all lands will feel the pride of race over the fact that a soldier with such truly Scottish anticedents has been selected for the command of such a vita! sector, lying, as it does right in the path of the Japanese southward drive. The clan Mac Arthur, is of very ancient origin. Highlanders in the west of Scotland, when speaking of olden times, used a proverb, which said: 'There is nothing older than the hills, Mac Arthur and the De'il.' The clan was the older branch of the Campbells, and held the chiefship of that clan until the loth century. The Mac Arthurs supported King Rubert the Bruce, in the struggle for the idependence of Scotland, and were rewarded by grants of the extensive islands of Argyll, including those of the McDougals, who had opposed the king. The Chief was appointed Captain of the Castle of Dunstassnage and the clan remained powerful till the year 1427, when John the Chief was executed by order of James Ist of Scotland. Thereafter the Campbells of Argyll rose to power. The Mac Arthurs of Strachur remained as the principle family of the clan and it was a member of this family that became the father of New South Wales. He accompanied the 102 nd Regt 'to Sydnej r in 1790. He was Commander at Paramatta from 1793 to 1804, and became extremely interested in the development of the Colony. He established sheep and improved them in breed. In 1817 he planted the : first vinyard, and thus became the founder of two great Australian industries wool- and wine. To-day Australia . boasts the arrival of an •even greater member of the clan, who this time will take charge, of her defences and direct the progress of the war against an invader whose objective is to crush the life and culture out of her people and her constiution. In passing, another historical fact about the Mac Arthurs is noteworthy. In the inland of Skye, the family of Mac Arthurs held land as hereditary pipers to the Mac Donalds of the Isles. The Mac Arthur tartan is green checks, offset with pale yellow.