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rich
03-Nov-08, 16:32
Given the interest and participation shown in the Maple Soup thread we cannot neglect the great Southern Continent. I know rather next to nothing about Australia but here's a site that will intrigue all Caithnessians:

http://www.tasmanianwhisky.com.au/

trinkie
03-Nov-08, 17:12
I look forward to this thread unfolding, good thinking Rich.

I expect you all know about Donald Sutherland, a native of Wick who discovered the Sutherland Falls in N.Z.

I have asked for a picture to be sent in.

Trinkie

rich
03-Nov-08, 17:34
Sounds like you are on the right track, Trinkie!

percy toboggan
03-Nov-08, 18:02
We studied Australia for Geography 'O' level c.1966. It's changed a lot. They had a 'white Australia policy' back then...they'd never get away with it now...quite rightly, especially when the indiginants aren't. Even back then I sensed the injustice of such blatant thievery of a continent.

Incredibly, the population has increased by about sixty per cent since the sixties...it's a beggar when the world changes so much in the space of ones own lifetime.

From the Gulf of Carpentaria, to the Bass Straits, much of the geography of Australia is still etched into my brain. It has little appeal though ,given water shortages and the heat...not to mention bite yer bum creepy crawly things. We could have emigrated c.1970 for a tenner but decided to buy a moped instead.

rich
03-Nov-08, 18:34
I wonder if there were any Caithnessians on the First Fleet? I have a distant ancestor by the name of Gunn who emigrated with his family to Australia in the early 19th century. I have a few crumpled missives from him telling a harrowing tale. His neighbors were Catholics and passed the Sabbath drinking, playing music and dancing instead of reading the bible and praying. He stuck it out however and was joined there by various relative and I am sure the neighbourhood sobered up as a result. Apparently I have a substantial number of Australian second or third or fourth cousins.
Which is why I live in Canada....

http://firstfleet.uow.edu.au/index.html

percy toboggan
03-Nov-08, 18:40
I envy your 'crumpled missives' from the 19th century.
I have letters from a long-lost cousin in Shropshire, but they're all
from last year!

Lavenderblue2
03-Nov-08, 19:34
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e322/maggie1947/DonaldSutherland.jpg

This photo is on behalf of Trinkie

rich
03-Nov-08, 22:03
Here are the Sutherland Falls. I should note that in another picture J MacKay and J. Malcolm are mentioned which makes this waterfall a triple Scotch

.Note that the falls are on the South Island which is really rugged country. It's where the Lord of the Rings was largely filmed.

My current wife and I spent a (somewhat belated) honeymoon cycling from Chistchurch to Dunedin. Two things they do brilliantly in New Zealand - pies and beer. Just the thing for lunch when you are rounding up mobs of sheep. Yes, that's what they call them MOBS.

New Zealand looks like Scotland on steroids.

George Brims
03-Nov-08, 22:18
There are definitely some Caithness connections in Oz. See
http://www.spec-net.com.au/company/brims.htm

rich
03-Nov-08, 22:21
Here's the pic

http://www.teara.govt.nz/TheBush/Landscapes/Waterfalls/1/ENZ-Resources/Standard/1/en

TBH
03-Nov-08, 22:43
Here's some interesting info about a former president of the New South Wales Boys Brigade and his association with Lord Thurso:

http://www.gordonmoyes.com/2008/07/04/crystal/

And, a bed and breakfast called Caithness Manor:

http://www.caithness.com.au/location.html

rich
03-Nov-08, 22:50
EVACUATE AUSTRALIA!!!!!

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,21686551-2,00.html

Anne x
03-Nov-08, 22:59
I have a Niece who lives in Cairns and Sis in law in Tazmania I love hearing all the stories they have kept there roots very much alive in Scotland
a nephew goes over to Sydney in Jan to work for a year on a hosp exchange he is a registrar in UK
I very much enjoyed the recent documentary on Dr Mary from Brora aired on BBC 2

rich
03-Nov-08, 23:01
I think I like Australia. I enjoy their newspapers.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200502/s1308868.htm

This story is classic tabloid. You take a nugget of truth, a kernel of fact, find an eye-witness, buy him a few beers....

Love it!

rich
03-Nov-08, 23:24
Australia - the BOLLYWOOD version.

Fantasic!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0uMqEMcwQYI&feature=related

rich
04-Nov-08, 00:19
The national anthem of Australia is NOT Waltzing Matilda.

Maybe it should be but its a tune that is a tad dangerous to the ruling classes everywhere.

That's because because of the procession of chords right at the beginning that create this massive tension and up and up it goes - it's like a really great cabaret song - maybe Edith Piaf should have sung it until it resolves so the singer is in a sort of plateau where he or she can basically improvise their own lyrics.

And the words to the tune of Waltzing Matilda are usually highly personalized and not suitable really for solemn occasions. I mean to say, that Jolly Swagman who gets hanged might be a little hard for the visiting royals to take. But maybe not. Perhaps the Australian government has a history of being tone deaf.

I like Eric Bogle doing it, and the Poques. I have a sneaking relish for the Rod Stewart version. But we couldn't do this thread without Tom Waits. Even if he's not Australian.

Take it away, Tom!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CBdo4DL2cBM&feature=related

Tilter
04-Nov-08, 00:43
We studied Australia for Geography 'O' level c.1966. It's changed a lot.

Tee hee Percy. I did New Zealand for Geog. O level in 1964. All I can remember is it had a lot of sheep. I think NZ probably hasn't changed at all.

sandyr
04-Nov-08, 03:13
Check out badbeafamilies.com...
Amazing site..........

jock leith
04-Nov-08, 09:04
http://tramper.co.nz/files/objectversions/663/renditions/large/163.jpg (http://tramper.co.nz/files/objectversions/663/163.jpg)

A picture of Sutherland Falls Milford Sound NZ.In Blenheim NZ we have a cluster of three streets .Keiss,Dunbeath,Lybster all named by early settlers who came to NZ from Caithness

Errogie
04-Nov-08, 11:01
Perhaps you can measure the status and health of a clan by the number of names it has goven to locations throughout the world or is it just an indicator that they couldn't get on with anyone at home or got kicked out. Having just found a Sutherland River and Sutherlands Lane in Nova Scotia I am now delighted to see that we have made our mark on the other side of the globe and may have outdone other clans in the name bestowal league table. N.B. Macdonald's burger joints don't count!

I sense the birth of an anorak type obsession and even connections to a whole new worldwide tourist trail experience possibly linked into the clan homecoming year. Have to have a word with our man Salmond and the ministry of bright ideas promptly and "sans peur".

jings00
04-Nov-08, 14:34
sadly i don't have anything to contribute, other than i find these threads really interesting...keep em coming :-)

rich
04-Nov-08, 15:49
The Waipu museum in New Zealand has a fascinating account of the Highland settlers who went to Nova Scotia and then to New Zealand. Quite a tale!

http://www.waipumuseum.com/html/migration.htm

rich
04-Nov-08, 16:02
This is the nearest you will get to the old Highland charge with broadswords. Actually it is scarier.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4LNjNXt1yM

rich
04-Nov-08, 22:28
Mackenzie and his dog.

http://www.geocities.com/Petsburgh/Farm/3275/jmackenzie.html

rich
05-Nov-08, 15:21
I listened to a recent talk on the traditional aboriginal diet and their predilection to eat things that crawl and slither. It was pointed out that if Adam and Eve were aborigines Adam would have little interest in the apple and would almost certainly have eaten the serpent. A thought for religious folk to contemplate!

rich
05-Nov-08, 18:19
Where have all the ex-pat Caithnessians gone? Are we to conclude there is no Caithness life Down Under. To soothe my troubled head and keep this thread alive here is a wonderful Maori song!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6boOXEuDYI

rich
05-Nov-08, 22:25
There's something in the water!!!!!

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24572253-28737,00.html

Aussiewicker
06-Nov-08, 09:53
bla, blah, blah..... We could have emigrated c.1970 for a tenner but decided to buy a moped instead.

Big mistake there PT

robynaus
06-Nov-08, 10:05
Thanks to Granddad who left Keiss in abt 1913, I was born in the luckiest, most beautiful country in the world. And thanks to the wonderful people on this notice board I have found out about his family and lots abbout where he came from. I still have the Caithness badge he bought me at the Highland Games in Sydney when I was 6.
I think people who travel this far to settle, no matter from where or when, are truly amazing. They are the backbone of this country.
I have been as far as Inverness but at that time I had no idea of his very large family except for his nephew who went to NZ in abt 1953.
Now I have also found a large Shetland heritage from the other grandfather. thanks to people I met here.
So keep up the good work this site helps to unite two very different part of the world
regards robyn

rich
06-Nov-08, 16:10
Here's interesting things you can do with a sheep and a hat and a dog. How does this compare with Caithness collies?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-TAjXZQEec

golach
06-Nov-08, 16:27
Big mistake there PT
Of the many £10 Pome's as they were affectionately referred to by the locals, carried out on the Orient Line vessels, I served on the Orontes, and the Oronsay in the 1960's, so I saw the queues at the shipping offices in Melbourne and Sydney, waiting to pay for their voyages back to the UK.
It was not always the land on milk and honey as the authorities made it out to be. I saw the Camps where the migrants were settled in, I knew of German POW's who lived in better conditions in the UK in 1946.
I have always maintained, that if there were a bridge for the UK to Oz, there would be more folks hitching a lift back to the UK than in the other direction.
Dont get me wrong, what I saw of places like Freemantle, Adelade, Melbourne and Sydney, I thought they were wonderful places....to visit, not to stay.
And we affectionately referred to them as £10 Stowaways [lol]