What a Tartan Month it’s been! It began with the annual Kirkin’ ‘O The Tartan service at The Scots’ Church on 30th June with the Parade of Clans piped into The Scots’ Church by Presbyterian Ladies College pipers. Clans were announced and welcomed in both Scottish Gaelic and English as they laid their tartans in front of the communion table. The following Sunday, in the lead up to the Melbourne Tartan Day Parade, morning pop-up performances by Old Scotch Pipes & Drums in The Block Arcade and The City of Melbourne Highland Pipe Band outside Melbourne Town Hall attracted crowds of City shoppers. There were Highland Dancing displays on the terrace of the Old Treasury Building by Victorian Scottish Highland Dance Inc. and the Glenbrae Celtic Dancers, while The Robert Burns Club of Melbourne held a poetry reading in the Treasury Gardens beside Robert Burns’ statue. The plaintive sound of the pipes called as pipers played on the balconies of the Old Treasury Building, signalling it was time for the Melbourne Tartan Day Parade.
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The Hon.Ted Baillieu, Chieftain of Pipe Bands Victoria (and former Premier of Victoria) led the Official Party of John Jeffreys, Chairman, Victorian Scottish Heritage Cultural Foundation, Carol Davis, CEO, Victorian Scottish Heritage Cultural Foundation & Clan MacLennan Chief’s Commissioner Australasia and Frank McGregor, Clan Gregor Chief’s High Commissioner Australia & Honorary Consul of the United Kingdom, Tasmania. The official party was followed by representatives of Scottish Clans and Societies, a massed pipe band led by Pipe Major Ben Casey, highland dancers, and members of the Scottish Terrier Club with their wee Scotties. After parading down Collins Street, a pipe band recital and mass Highland Fling finale was held under the portico in the forecourt of The Westin Hotel Melbourne, to the delight of hotel guests, staff and spectators. The acoustics were spine tingling!
But it didn’t end with the Tartan Day Parade. During Melbourne Tartan Festival month there were two sold out Burns Suppers at Il Duca Restaurant in East Melbourne, featuring acclaimed tenor John Carlo Bellotti, a high energy cèilidh dance, community outreach with visits to two nursing homes by the Glenbrae Celtic Dancers, Poetry in the Pub hosted by the Robert Burns Club of Melbourne, the Victorian Pipe Band Association Recital and Solo Piping Championships, Family Research in person sessions and online lecture with the GSV, Scottish Enlightenment lecture at the Menzies Institute, Melbourne University, an exhibition and exclusive behind the scenes tour of Old Treasury Building, online lectures and a CBD Scottish Connections walk with social historian and curator Kenneth Park, Scottish Gaelic language and culture immersion class hosted by the Scottish Gaelic Society of Victora and two concerts at the Kew Court House Theatre, the first featuring traditional singer of Scots’ song, Fiona Ross and the second, The Scotsman, Graeme McColgan.
The Lord Lyon
Just when we thought it couldn’t get any better, the premier event of the month-long festival the Melbourne Tartan Festival Gala Dinner & Concert on the 20th July was made all the more special with the presence of Guest of Honour, Dr Joseph Morrow CVO CBE KStJ KC LLD DL FRSE, the Right Honourable the Lord Lyon King of Arms. Lord Lyon had accepted an invitation extended by the Victorian Scottish Heritage Cultural Foundation to spend 10 days in Melbourne during the final week of the Festival. After ascending the red carpeted grand staircase of Melbourne Town Hall, guests enjoyed drinks and canapés in the foyer before entering the glittering Main Hall. A grand and ceremonial welcome followed, as the official party, led by Lord Lyon, was piped in. A sumptuous gourmet dinner accompanied by fine wines and concert style entertainment followed. Alan Beck, immediate past President of the Robert Burns World Federation delivered a memorable Address to a Haggis. Later in the evening Alan gave a stellar vocal performance before an enthusiastic audience.
Lord Lyon was treated to some of Australia’s best Scottish/Australia’s talent, with this year’s feature band, Old Scotch Pipes & Drums, Melbourne Scottish Fiddle Club with guest singer Fiona Ross and a superb Highland dancing set from the Royal Scottish Official Board of Highland Dancing. The City of Melbourne Highland Pipe Band accompanied the Glenbrae Celtic Dancers, before Glenbrae dancers joined Celtic rock band Claymore onstage to close out the night while guests danced the night out.
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During the evening Dr Joseph John Morrow CVO CBE QC LLD DL FRSE The Right Honourable the Lord Lyon, King of Arms presented the Victorian Scottish Heritage Cultural Foundation Chairman John Jeffreys and Chief Executive Officer Carol Davis with the Foundation’s recently granted Coat of Arms, hand painted on velum by the Court of the Lord Lyon Heraldic Artist. It was a fitting conclusion to what had been a wonderful celebration of Scottish culture and heritage by the Scottish/Australian community during an action packed July.
During his visit, Lord Lyon met with Her Excellency Professor the Honourable Margaret Gardner AC, The Governor of Victoria, presented the Sugden Oration, ‘A Right Royal Year’, at Melbourne University, attended a reception in his honour at the Consulate Residence honour hosted by Mr. Stephan Lysaght, Consul-General of the United Kingdom, Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania, A Scottish Celebration Dinner at The Melbourne Club, dropped in on the VPA Solo Piping Championships, addressed the assembly at Scotch College Melbourne, had a guided tour of The Scots’ Church Melbourne and attended several welcome lunches and dinners where he met many local Scots. There were also less formal visits to an AFL game at the MCG, a Bellarine Peninsula Winery for lunch and Healesville Wildlife Sanctuary where Lord Lyon had his first up close encounter with a kangaroo. As we farewelled Lord Lyon, who was a most gracious and engaging guest, we urged him to ‘haste ye back’!
Text by: Carol Davis
All images courtesy of Melbourne Tartan Festival/Adam Purcell – Melbourne Ceili Camera.