The Flitting of the Highlanders

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 590, 16 February 1929, Page 18

The Flitting of the Highlanders

Fifty Years of Wandering . . . The McLeods and the McKays . . . Romantic Story of Waipu . . .

(Written for THE SUH t>.y T. Walsh)

HE history of Europe is I1?VW 'SI largely based on the adventuring of the Celts I ' and Gaels, but centuries of tradition and record give us no more picturesque and purposeful movement of peoples than that which ended at Waipu, in a land wrested from another race of wanderers —the Polynesians. It has vividness, too, for it happened in our own day and the facts are not obscured by the embroidering of a hundred historians. The settling of 800 Highland folk in Waipu in 1854 and the succeeding years was a direct consequence of the failure of the 1745 rebellion in Scotland. When the men from the "North” arrived in New Zealand many of them would not speak English nor abandon their tribal customs for those of the former enemies, though half a world and many years were between them and the old-time struggles. When the Stuarts failed, their clansmen supporters paid dearly for their assertion of political opinions. Revolting penalties were exacted and the pipes and plaids were prohibited. The lands were seized and distributed to royal favourites —title deed landlords to distinguish them from the old chiefs. The new owners of the soil lost no time in exerting their powers and hundreds of peasants were driven from tjieir hereditary lands, many of them being shipped to America. Thousands died of broken hearts, bequeathing a legacy of bitterness. In 1810 began the “Sutherland clearances” - evictions that cleared practically 1.000,000 acres of land and forced thousands to seaside villages to eke out existences fishing and toiling. The resultant bitterness was accentuated by the fact that many of the young men were then fighting England's battles, under Wellington. on the Continent. Early in 181 S the ship Frances Ann sailed from I.oclvbroom for Nova Scotia, with 400 defiant clansmen seeking a home in other lands. As they cleared the Jetty they chanted McCrimmon's lament, standing bareheaded and with clenched fists. The song-leader was a man who was to play an important part in the subsequent migrations. His name was Norman McLeod. The words of the lament.

Cha teill. cha trill, c~.a teill , me tuilleadh ; Return , return , return ice never

were in truth a farewell. Tltis Norman McLeod had already made himself known. As an ambitious youth he seems to have decided to "get on” in the world. The occupations of parson, or meenister, and schoolmaster were the most desirable in the village communities. Norman made his way to Edinburgh University. After two years, however, he found himself in conflict with the authorities from his temerity in explaining to them how they ought to conduct a Christian church. Returning to his native village he was still more determined to correct the parsons and it wa£t not long: before he was at loggerheads with constituted authority. He tried school-teaching, but as the schools were under the Church his zeal for reform led him into trouble. On one occasion half his meagre salarv was stopped as a punishment for his frowardness” in doctrinal issues. He and his girl wife tramped 40 miles to hare their first child baptised by a minister whom they admired rather than by the parish ope, whom they detested. When they completed the journey they found the parish minister , ad *L ot . ah * ad ot them and forbidden the christening ceremony. It was an

angry and disappointed couple that trudged wearily home taking turns to carry the baby. Hence Norman was in no mood to stay in Scotland. When the Frances Ann arrived at Pictou, Nova Scotia, the crofters settled along the Middle River. Norman set up as a working man parson and denounced the landlords, the Church and the Government with rare vituperation. In the circumstances it is easy to see why an embittered folk rallied round him. His wife and family followed him out. The fame of his hold over the people had spread and he was invited to preach in the ministry of the Presbyterian Church in Ohio and offered a minister’s appointment which he finally declined. He was then invited to bring his own folk and settle in the warmer lands of Ohio. Norman returned to Nova Scotia full of enthusiasm for the idea. With others he built a ship to transport such of the Nova Scotians who would go with him down the Atlantic seaboard, across the Gulf of Mexico and up the River Mississippi—a distance of 2.000 miles. Scoffers dubbed the ship “The Ark” and the 200 adventurers who were to depart on this unique migration were termed “Normanites.” The voyage met disaster and to avoid wreck the “Ark” ran for shelter into St. Ann's Harbour, at the mouth of the Big Bras d’Or on Cape Breton. The migrants had had enough of the perils of the deep and declined to go farther than the haven that they had reached which, in the sun, looked inviting. The land was mostly empty and the waters teemed with fish. The “Ark” returned to Pictou for another batch of settlers for Ohio, but was lost at sea. Norman, as parson-leader, was judge and administrator and lawmaker. Rigid enforcement of the Ten Commandments was natural, hut with a community hard-pressed in winning food the temptations to err were not infrequent. Curiously enough the Norman who had denounced the landlords iu Scotland took possession of two square miles of land for himself. The people had no money to give him a stipend as a parson, so he insisted that they work for him. A two-storeyed house was built, together

with the necessary farm buildings. Unpaid labour tilled his farm. A kirk and school were erected and Norman, after five or six years, went to New Y’ork to seek a licence from the Presbytery. This was granted. After 12 months in New York he returned to St. Ann’s. Finding that the then established village had need of some I trade he planned to build a ship to \ trade with Glasgow and Liverpool. In ■ I 12 months, a 400-ton ship had been | built and the command was given to • j Norman’s second son, Donald. He j sailed for Glasgow in 1839. Later the j St Ann’s community received the proj ceeds of the sale of the ship and . j Donald dropped out of sight. | In the meantime Norman had bei come involved in a wordy warfare with j a Mr. Fraser, who had been a fellow i student at Edinburgh, and who made | insinuations about Norman’s fanati- ! cism. It ended in court proceedings j in which Norman was cast in damages which he declined to pay even under legal pressure. In the midst of these | worries there came in 1847 a letter from the son Donald who had travelled as far as Adelaide, which he described as a paradise on eai'th. Stories from sailors who had been to sea in the New Bedford wlialing-ships verified Donald’s story and after much prayer Norman announced that the Lord had beckoned him to Australia. The project was regarded as simple lunacy by the people. They had made homes from the wilderness and were as comfortable as ever they had hoped. Norman, with Duncan and Murdo McKenzie, persisted with the project and built a ship, the Margaret, which was ready for sea in the summer of 1850. For lack of money sails could not be I bought, but at; last Norman sold his land for 3,000 dollars and others parted | with theirs. In the next spring j anchors were again lifted for a fresh j migration, to a land of sun on the | other side of the world. Tearful fare- | wells, open scoffing and plaintive j chanting of “Lochaber” marked the j departure. Norman (who was then | 71 years old), his wife, two daughters, j three sons and 136 followers marched I on bohrd and in due course reached

Adelaide after a voyage of 164 days and 12,000 miles’ sailing. Adelaide was a disappointment. Donald McLeod, on whom much reliance had been placed, had sailed for Melbourne en route to New Zealand. Some of the partystayed at Adelaide and the rest sailed to Melbourne, where they camped by the Yarra. The gold rush was then beginning and the young men got out of hand. Norman, with some of the biblical fear of gold, urged his folk to stick to the peasant life. They had to sell their ship to raise funds, but a party from the camp searched the country for suitable lands. They came back with stories of snakes, of black men, and men of evil character, and the sorely-distressed campers prayed for guidance. Norman, in a dream, saw a ship coming to help them. The dream was true, for Captain Murdo McKenzie had follow-ed with a ship he and others had built —the Highland Lass. After calling at Adelaide and finding that Norman had gone to Melbourne, he sailed for the Victorian capital. In the meantime news of another land across the Tasman had come, and with it offers from Governor Grey to settle the party in New Zealand. Land in Hawke’s Bay and elsewhere was promised. Once again anchors were lifted and on board the Highland Lass the journey was continued to New Zealand. The Waitedata looked its best when they arrived. One party was sent to examine the land to the south of the city; another to the north. The north, with hs timber for boat building and its fisheries, was voted the most attracdye. The ship was sold and the money divided—not by arithmetical Process, but by an actual distribution sovereign by sovereign. Then those who "anted to go south went; the rest "ent north to Waipu, where the Government gave them thousands of acres °t land.

At Waipu there was the weary “reaping in of new lands and there >ere hard times. Norman set up his Patriarchal government again. Many id not like him and kept outside his Jurisdiction though in touch with their °*u kin. In all, six ships were built 1 u and in the adjoining bays (r. . e Mar «aret, Highland Lass. Gerfuue, Breadlebane, Ellen Lewis and 10 Spray. Eight hundred and sev-t>-six adults arrived in them. Their rnvaia are commemorated in the fiipu monument with its six faces, u each of which is a representation of ne of the ships of this Highland fliting, which brought to an end 40 years Panderings and planted a Gaelic colony in this “new land of the sea,” “nder the Southern Cross.