Scottish Ethnicity and the Making of New Zealand Society, 1850-1930 9780748646364

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SCOTTISH ETHNICITY AND THE MAKING OF NEW ZEALAND SOCIETY, 1850–1930

SCOTTISH HISTORICAL REVIEW MONOGRAPHS SERIES No. 19

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Scottish Historical Review Monographs are major works of scholarly research covering all aspects of Scottish history. They are selected and sponsored by the Scottish Historical Review Trust Editorial Board. The trustees of the SHR Trust are: Mr Alex Woolf (convenor), Dr David Caldwell, Dr Alison Cathcart (secretary), Dr Karen J. Cullen, Dr David Ditchburn, Dr James Fraser, Professor Catriona M. M. Macdonald, Dr Martin MacGregor, Dr Andrew Mackillop, Dr E. V. Macleod and Mrs Patricia Whatley. CURRENT AND FORTHCOMING VOLUMES 1 Helen M. Dingwall 2 Ewen A. Cameron 3 Richard Anthony 4 R. Andrew McDonald 5 John R. McIntosh 6 Graeme Morton 7 Catriona M. M. Macdonald 8 James L. MacLeod 9 John Finlay 10 William Kenefick 11 J. J. Smyth 12 Roland Tanner 13 Ginny Gardner 14 Allan W. MacColl 15 Andrew G. Newby 16 Karen J. Cullen 17 Annemarie Hughes 18 Annie Tindley 19 Tanja Bueltmann

Physicians, Surgeons and Apothecaries: Medicine in Seventeenth-Century Edinburgh Land for the People? The British Government and the Scottish Highlands, c. 1880–1923 Herds and Hinds: Farm Labour in Lowland Scotland, 1900–1939 The Kingdom of the Isles: Scotland’s Western Seaboard, c. 1100–1336 Church and Theology in Enlightenment Scotland: The Evangelical Party, 1740–1800 Unionist-Nationalism: Governing Urban Scotland, 1830–1860 The Radical Thread: Political Change in Scotland. Paisley Politics, 1885–1924 The Second Disruption: The Free Church in Victorian Scotland and the Origins of the Free Presbyterian Church Men of Law in Pre-Reformation Scotland ‘Rebellious and Contrary’: The Glasgow Dockers, c. 1853–1932 Labour in Glasgow, 1896–1936, Socialism, Suffrage, Sectarianism The Late Medieval Scottish Parliament: Politics and the Three Estates, 1424–1488 ‘Shaken Together in the Bag of Affliction’: Scottish Exiles in the Netherlands, 1660–1690 Land, Faith and the Crofting Community: Christianity and Social Criticism in the Highlands of Scotland, 1843–1893 Ireland, Radicalism and the Scottish Highlands, c. 1870–1912 Famine in Scotland: The ‘Ill Years’ of the 1690s Gender and Political Identities in Scotland, 1919–1939 The Sutherland Estate, 1850–1920: Aristocratic Decline, Estate Management and Land Reform Scottish Ethnicity and the Making of New Zealand Society, 1850–1930

www.euppublishing.com/series/shrm

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SCOTTISH ETHNICITY AND THE MAKING OF NEW ZEALAND SOCIETY, 1850–1930

TANJA BUELTMANN

EDINBURGH UNIVERSITY PRESS

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For my grandmother, Ilse Bueltmann

© Tanja Bueltmann, 2011 Edinburgh University Press Ltd 22 George Square, Edinburgh www.euppublishing.com Typeset in 10/12 ITC New Baskerville by Servis Filmsetting Ltd, Stockport, Cheshire, and printed and bound in Great Britain by CPI Antony Rowe, Chippenham and Eastbourne A CIP Record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN 978 0 7486 4155 0 (hardback) The right of Tanja Bueltmann to be identified as author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. SHR Trust postgraduate bursary scheme The Scottish Historical Review Trust aims to promote research and publication in the field of Scottish History. Besides responsibility for the scholarly journal, The Scottish Historical Review, and the Scottish Historical Review Monograph Series, the Trust seeks to support postgraduate research on any subject relating to Scottish History undertaken at a university in Scotland by means of an annual bursary of £1,000/£500. Applicants should submit a 1,000-word synopsis of the research to be supported by the Trust, outlining its significance and contribution to the field. The summary should be accompanied by a supporting reference from a supervisor or appropriate member of academic staff. The Trustees will offer a single award or series of smaller awards, to be announced annually in mid-May. Submissions are to be lodged with the Secretary of the Trust at the following address no later than 31 March each year. Dr Alison Cathcart School of Humanities, University of Strathclyde, McCance Building, 16 Richmond Street, Glasgow G1 1XQ E-mail: [email protected]

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Contents Figures and Maps Abbreviations Acknowledgements

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

vi vii viii

Introduction ‘Proverbially Inclined to Roam Abroad’: Empire, Identity, and Scottish Emigration to New Zealand ‘Feeble Pen and Paper’? The Personal Correspondence and Epistolary Practices of Scottish Migrants ‘Brither Scots Shoulder tae Shoulder’: An Evolutionary Perspective on Scottish Associationalism Ethnic Identity, Networks and Social Capital: The Anatomy and Function of Scottish Associationalism ‘The Lusty Sports of “Caledonia, Stern and Wild” ’: Caledonian Games in New Zealand Collective Rememberings of Home: Robert Burns as a Site of Memory ‘Far Distant from their Native Land’: Locating New Zealand in the Scottish Diaspora Conclusion

180 203

Bibliography Index

213 236

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1 19 41 64 94 124 155

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Figures and Maps Figures I.1 I.2 3.1 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 6.1 6.2 6.3

‘Presumptive evidence of nationality’ The three circles of belonging Periodisation of Scottish associationalism in New Zealand Caledonian Society and Gaelic Society organisation chart Procter, Christie, and Sinclair network Oamaru Caledonian Society members’ connections Typology of Scottish associationalism I Scottish associationalism and New Zealand civil society Overlooking Oamaru, 1880s Attendance at Dunedin and Oamaru Caledonian Games to 1900 Robert Scott, champion wrestler Dunedin Caledonian Games procession The three circles of memory Typology of Scottish associationalism II Unveiling of the Timaru Burns statue, 1913

8 11 93 110 117 118 121 122 129 130 137 143 158 166 171

Maps I.1 1.1 3.1 4.1 4.2 4.3 5.1 5.2

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Case study locations Origins of New Zealand’s Scottish immigrants New Zealand’s main Scottish associations Origins of Oamaru and Wairarapa Caledonian Society members Origins of Oamaru and Wairarapa Scots Origins of Dunedin Burns Club and Gaelic Society members Development of New Zealand’s Caledonian Games Waitaki District Caledonian Games circuit

13 37 67 101 102 103 133 136

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Abbreviations ACLSC ATL DNZB Hocken MoD NOMA NZAU NZSG OSM PA PNZ SCMA WA

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Auckland City Library Special Collection Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington Dictionary of New Zealand Biography (online) Hocken Library, Dunedin Meeting of Directors (Caledonian societies) North Otago Museum Archive, Oamaru New Zealand Athletic Union New Zealand Society of Genealogists Scottish Interest Group Otago Settlers Museum, Dunedin Puke Ariki Museum Heritage Collection, New Plymouth Peopling of New Zealand project South Canterbury Museum Archive, Timaru Wairarapa Archive, Masterton

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Acknowledgements I have accrued a number of debts during the preparation of this book. First and foremost, I would like to extend my deep appreciation to my Ph.D. supervisors, Don MacRaild, Brad Patterson, and Melanie Nolan. Your challenges, guidance and friendship have been invaluable; learning from you, and working with you, has been my sincere privilege. Don in particular deserves my warmest thanks for his support, good humour and encouragement from (what was then) half-way around the world. The thesis on which this book is based could not have been written without the financial assistance provided by the New Zealand Government through the New Zealand International Doctoral Research Scholarship; special thanks to Camilla Swan, Scholarships Manager at Education New Zealand, for her support. I am also grateful to the Royal Society of New Zealand, having received funding for research travel through the Scottish Migration Project (Marsden Fund). Beyond this assistance, I have benefited from the help of the archivists at the Hocken Library and the Otago Settlers Museum in Dunedin; the North Otago Museum Archive in Oamaru; the Alexander Turnbull Library and Archives New Zealand in Wellington; the Wairarapa Archive in Masterton; and the Auckland City Library Archive. I wish to particularly acknowledge Séan Brosnahan of the Otago Settlers Museum, and Rowan Carroll of the North Otago Museum Archive. Furthermore, my gratitude goes to all the people of New Zealand’s Scottish community, but especially those who have shared their personal stories and material, and many a cup of tea, with me. I have also been privileged to meet many scholars over the past few years with whom I could discuss my research. Special thanks go to Ewen Cameron; Graeme Morton; T. M. Devine; John Burnett; Enda Delaney; R. J. Morris; Cairns Craig; Marjory Harper; Angela McCarthy; Richard Hill; Charlotte Macdonald; Jim McAloon; Lydia Wevers; Brigitte Boenisch-Brednich; Lyndon Fraser; and Vincent O’Sullivan. My appreciation also goes to the examiners of my Ph.D. thesis, Donald H. Akenson, Tom Brooking, and Jock Phillips, for their thoughtful comments, which have aided the preparation of this book. I would also like to thank the trustees of the SHR Trust, the anonymous reviewers of this book’s proposal, Andrew MacKillop, Edinburgh University Press, particularly Sarah Edwards and Eddie Clark, and Ian Brooke. Many colleagues and friends have provided support and fellowship. First, I wish to warmly thank Rebecca Lenihan and Gerard Horn for sharing the Ph.D. experience with me: it would not have been the same

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Acknowledgements

ix

without you! Thanks also go to Susann Liebich, Hayley Brown, and Andrew Francis, as well as to fellow ‘Scotophiles’ Andrew Hinson, Kyle Hughes, Shannon O’Conner, Kim Sullivan, and Jill Harland. I also thank Neasa Hogan, Kathryn Patterson, Megan Simpson and Maureen West for making New Zealand home. Back in the northern hemisphere, at Northumbria University, Dean Lynn Dobbs and Head of the Department of Humanities, David Walker have given me the time and support to finish this book. New colleagues have provided helpful commentary on aspects of this work at staff seminars and in discussions, and my thanks go to them. I am especially grateful to James McConnel and Sylvia Ellis for the many encouraging conversations, and to David Gleeson for his comments on the final draft. All of the errors contained in this book are, of course, my own. My deep appreciation goes to my friends and family: Vicky and Andy Syme who have made Scotland my second home; Christian Wocken; Raphaela Heihoff; my ‘Hamburg family’, Elke and Bernd Schuett-Lange; my ‘second family’, Kerstin, Kalli, Odi, and Mareike Schwirtz-Grube. Finally, I owe immeasurable debt to my parents, Angelika and Udo Bueltmann, for their continued love and support; also to my brother Marc; and finally to my grandmother Ilse Bueltmann, an indispensable and unwavering source of encouragement. It is to her that this book is dedicated.

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Introduction The Scots in New Zealand, observed Staunch Englishman, were ‘mean, close, bigoted . . . and in every way far below the standard of any Englishman . . . porridge-eating and minding the “sixpences” ’. Part of a heated exchange through the letter pages of Dunedin’s Otago Daily Times, these remarks were a response to Cosmopolitan’s earlier declaration that the English in the colony were ‘overbearing, self-asserting, obtrusive and aggressive’. While Briton maintained that ‘the boast of an enlightened Britisher should be that he carries a heart large enough to love and live beside any countryman in the British dominions’,1 national stereotypes continued to feed strongly into ensuing contributions. Underlying the debate were questions concerning national identity. With Scots and English thus lampooning one another in faraway climes, the stereotypes drawn upon fuelled an increasingly bitter exchange that continued for several weeks. Accurately reflecting the prevailing sentiments of the inhabitants of Dunedin or not, letters to the editor from one newspaper are suggestive only of patterns of migrant identity. But the way in which national stereotypes took centre stage is notable: both Scottish and English contributors held strong sympathies for their respective old homes, drawing upon them for the purpose of positioning themselves in their new home, New Zealand. The examples attest to the ubiquity and persistence of such sympathies and hint at the type of ‘cultural baggage’ that many migrants arrived with abroad, never fully abandoning the life and country they had left. Yet, while migration neither necessarily nor automatically marks a clear-cut break with the old life,2 migrants did not inevitably fall back into prescribed cultural continuities either. Continuities and the persistence of ethnic ties, however, are often assumed,3 easily masking more than they might reveal about immigrant life. 1

2

3

This and the previous quotes were found in the University of Otago Medical Library Newspaper Clippings Book, n.d., Hocken Library, Dunedin [Hocken], MS-1653. Migration was not, as John Bodnar has argued, primarily an uprooting experience, see The Transplanted: A History of Immigrants in Urban America (Bloomington, 1985), where Bodnar takes  on the idea of ‘uprooting’ as first stipulated by Oscar Handlin in The Uprooted: The Epic Story of the Great Migrations that Made the American People (Boston, 1951); see also L. Fraser, To Tara via Holyhead: Irish Catholic Immigrants in Nineteenth-Century Christchurch (Auckland, 1997), 4. This has been a particular problem with respect to Irish communities abroad, for example A. O’Day, ‘Imagined Irish Communities: Networks of Social Communication of the Irish

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In the case of the Scots, the dominant fixation on tartanry and Highland culture tends to obscure the migrants’ lives in the new worlds in which they settled. At the outset, these types of Scottish ethnic expression echo the romanticised images found on the shortbread tin, suggesting that many Scottish migrants attempted to seek sanctuary in what Marinell Ash described as ‘the emotional trappings of the past’.4 To many émigré Scots, however, these apparent trappings were, and remain, more important than that: a fundamental part of a larger culture integral to their identity in diasporic communities. Thus understood, it is the aim of this book to uncover Scottish ethnicity in New Zealand from the verges of nostalgia. Drawing upon traditional, hitherto neglected, historical archives, this book moves beyond the highly visible components of that ethnicity, asking: why did some Scots choose to actively maintain their ethnic identity, keeping ties with the old world or creating a celebratory and social Scottishness by drawing on familiar cultural traditions, while others did not? The story that unfolds tells of Scottish immigrant community life, culture, and identity in New Zealand, an underexplored part of the Scottish Diaspora. The book examines the endurance of Scottish ethnicity over time, offering a novel way of thinking about the Scots abroad that is located at the intersection of social and cultural history. The study recognises the subjects at its heart as historical agents, transcending contribution history to probe how Scots shaped New Zealand society more broadly. The aim is to explore how Scottish ethnicity interlocked with wider social and civic developments in what was a quickly evolving settler society. In so doing, the book investigates the types and ranges of Scottish ethnic expression and their function within and outside of the Scottish immigrant community. Though focused on New Zealand, the study provides comparative context in which to understand the story of the Scots who settled there, revisiting the ground covered by historians elsewhere in the Scottish Diaspora. Locating the Scots in New Zealand The Scots accounted for at least one-fifth of the late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century migrants to New Zealand, and around a quarter of all UK-born migrants between 1861 and 1945.5 The scant attention they have been accorded in New Zealand histories, specialist immigration histories,

4 5

Diaspora in the United States and Britain in the Late Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries’, Immigrants & Minorities, 23, 2–3 (2005), 400. M. Ash, The Strange Death of Scottish History (Edinburgh, 1980), 10. For details on the national composition of migrants from the British Isles, see J. Phillips and T. Hearn, Settlers: New Zealand Immigrants from England, Ireland and Scotland, 1800–1945 (Auckland, 2008), 53, table 4. By comparison, Scots were the third-largest ethnic group in Canada, cf. J. M. Bumsted, The Scots in Canada (Ottawa, 1982), 3.

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Introduction

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and Scottish Diaspora studies thus seems peculiar.6 Trends in New Zealand historiography provide reasons for the Scots’ neglect, much of the early historical writing ignoring the ethnic distinctiveness of the country’s European settler culture. The fact that actors, structures, and institutions of colonial New Zealand were essentially British offers one explanation. Oriented towards Britain and London as the metropole of Empire, New Zealand was positioned firmly in the British imperial world. In this set-up, acknowledgement of the ethnic background of the country’s pioneers in terms other than ‘British’ was not required. The foundation stone for this perspective was laid by the promoters of organised colonisation. Edward Gibbon Wakefield’s vision of the ideal settlement and society rested on the transplantation of English values and social norms; with the establishment of a better England in the South Seas in mind, Wakefield hoped to recreate ‘a vertical section of English society, excluding the lowest stratum’.7 English, in this case, was synonymous with British, New Zealand being ‘English but better’.8 This antipodean ideal did not require recognition of the Scots, Welsh, and Irish in their national distinctiveness; their experiences were written out ‘in favour of an allembracing “Britishness” ’.9 William Pember Reeves championed this interpretation in what is widely regarded as New Zealand’s first general history five decades after the commencement of organised settlement. Reeves, a journalist and politician writing from London, accorded a central role to ‘Scottish endurance and toughness’ in the development of Otago,10 but gave the Scots no voice as a distinct migrant group.11 6

7

8 9

10

11

The only serious scholarly work is an edited collection, T. Brooking and J. Coleman (eds), The Heather and the Fern: Scottish Migration and New Zealand Settlement (Dunedin, 2003). K. Sinclair, A History of New Zealand (revised edn, Auckland, 1988), 60; see also J. Belich, Making Peoples: A History of the New Zealanders from Polynesian Settlement to the End of the Nineteenth Century (Auckland, 1996), 303. For details on Wakefield, see M. Fairburn, ‘Wakefield, Edward Gibbon 1796–1862’, Dictionary of New Zealand Biography [DNZB], www. dnzb.govt.nz, last visited 9 Aug. 2010; also M. King, The Penguin History of New Zealand (Auckland, 2003), 171–2; and E. G. Wakefield, A View of the Art of Colonisation with Present Reference to the British Empire (London, 1849). Belich, Making Peoples, 303. M. Campbell, ‘Marginal Micks or Mainstream Men and Women? Irishness and Britishness in Nineteenth and Early-Twentieth Century New Zealand’, Humanities Research, 8, 1 (2006), 28. W. Pember Reeves, The Long White Cloud (4th edn, London, 1950), 178; also J. Belich, ‘Colonisation and History in New Zealand’, in R. W. Winks (ed.), The Oxford History of the British Empire: Historiography (vol. 5, Historiography, Oxford, 1999), 183–5. This perspective was further consolidated because New Zealand had not yet developed a strong academic tradition in history. Many of the early writers were not trained historians, and had often been educated in the United Kingdom. Together with the state’s involvement in the publication of historical works in the first half of the twentieth century, this would have contributed further to the anglo-centric viewpoint and imperial reading of New Zealand history. This is evident, for instance, in the government-sponsored historical surveys marking the country’s centenary, including J. C. Beaglehole, The Discovery of New Zealand (Wellington, 1939); also P. Gibbons, ‘New Zealand’, in K. Boyd (ed.), Encyclopedia of Historians and Historical Writing (vol. 2, London, 1999), 870–1.

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Keith Sinclair and W. H. Oliver’s histories, published in 1959 and 1960 respectively, mark a key caesura, denoting the recognition of New Zealand history in its own right.12 Nevertheless, in terms of European New Zealand, the two accounts again offer only limited appreciation of ethnic distinctiveness. Sinclair’s History of New Zealand, the long-standing standard short history, is heavily biased towards the experiences of the North Island settlers, characterising New Zealand’s European immigrants by their commonalities and shared histories. Oliver made more of the shaping power of the frontier and encounters with Maori than of migrant origins. Throughout the 1970s historical writing branched out further, extending to fields of cultural and social history. New interest in Maori history, indigenous culture, and race relations, spurred by the Maori renaissance, heralded a series of revisionist histories.13 These writings challenged established traditions, contributing to the gradual breakdown of the monolithic interpretations that had prevailed since the late nineteenth century. Importantly, a new awareness of Maori genealogy, whakapapa,14 also drew attention to the background of European settlers. As a result, a number of works pushed forward the boundaries in seeking to explain the development of New Zealand society, among them Miles Fairburn’s seminal The Ideal Society and Its Enemies.15 Offering a path into the anatomy of colonial New Zealand, Fairburn defies the narratives of utopia that, for decades, underpinned the country’s historiography. Instead, he identifies transience, atomisation, individualism, hence the absence of community ties, as key to understanding the country’s colonial period. This analysis is challenged by the Scots examples of networks, both formal and informal, and associationalism this study presents, not only in their sheer number, but also by their early timing. The new diversity in New Zealand historical scholarship aside, the focus, though no longer monolithic, had become narrowly bicultural. In general terms, this marks a positive development. It did not, however, help scrutinise the diverse experiences of European migrant groups in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. In fact, with respect to migrants hailing from the British Isles, New Zealand historians were slow to answer J. G. A. Pocock’s famous plea for the new subject of British History.16 Historians

12 13

14

15

16

Sinclair, A History of New Zealand; W. H. Oliver, The Story of New Zealand (London, 1960). See M. King, Being Pakeha: An Encounter with New Zealand and the Maori Renaissance (Auckland, 1988). Whakapapa is often referred to as Maori genealogy, but it encompasses a more diverse and complex range of characteristics that define relationships to ancestors, cf. M. Roberts et al., ‘Whakapapa as a Maori Mental Construct: Some Implications for the Debate over Genetic Modification of Organisms’, The Contemporary Pacific, 16, 1 (2004), 1–28. M. Fairburn, The Ideal Society and Its Enemies: The Foundations of Modern New Zealand Society, 1850–1900 (Auckland, 1989). This new history was meant to denote ‘the historiography of no single nation but of a problematic and uncompleted experiment in the creation and interaction of several nations’, see J. G. A. Pocock, ‘British History: A Plea for a New Subject’, New Zealand Journal

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failed, for a long time, to recover, in all their diversity, ‘the white settler communities of the former British Empire from the distant verges of the globe’.17 Or in the words of Donald H. Akenson, there existed ‘a lumping of all white settlers into a spurious unity’.18 Akenson’s study of the Irish in New Zealand was, in fact, the crucial catalyst for a novel way of thinking, revealing new questions about the country’s immigrant communities that could not be usefully approached within the existing mono- and bicultural traditions. Situated within this wider historiographical context, it is the aim of this book to shed light on the Scottish experience in New Zealand. This has largely been hidden from view, obscured by popular and anecdotal histories,19 as well as the concentration of research efforts on the Otago and Waipu settlements. The latter settlement in the North Island in particular represents an intrinsically atypical story. With its migrants famously led by the Revd Norman McLeod from Scotland to Nova Scotia, and then on to Australia and eventually Waipu, its story entrenched misunderstandings of the character and settlement of Scottish migrants in New Zealand, forsaking broader insight.20 Another problem has been that, on the surface, Scots in New Zealand adapted and integrated relatively more quickly than other ethnic migrant groups. This helped mask their presence as they generally blended in well and did not develop, for example, a separate education system like the Catholic Irish.21 Yet, adaptability should not be advanced as a reason for the Scots’ neglect. As John MacKenzie has noted, marginalisation is no requirement for being ethnic: migrants do not simply become invisible because of assimilative forces.22 Indeed, in education, where differences with other ethnic groups existed, the Scottish contributions were

17

18

19

20

21 22

of History, 8, 1 (1974), 3–21. Recent conceptualisations that address similar issues with respect to the spread of British people around the world and their impact on the new host societies include that of the British World, for instance in C. Bridge and K. Fedorowich (eds), The British World: Diaspora, Culture and Identity (London, 2003); also the more recent Anglo-World James Belich has focused on in Replenishing the Earth: The Settler Revolution and the Rise of the Anglo-World, 1783–1939 (Oxford, 2009). D. Armitage, ‘Greater Britain: A Useful Category of Historical Analysis?’, American Historical Review, 104, 2 (1999), 431. D. H. Akenson, Half the World from Home: Perspectives on the Irish in New Zealand, 1860–1950 (Wellington, 1990), 6. Popular histories include J. Hewitson, Far Off in Sunlit Places: Stories of the Scots in Australia and New Zealand (Melbourne, 1998); D. Offwood, Oatcakes to Otago: A Chronicle of Dunedin Scottish Heritage (Christchurch, 2003); G. L. Pearce, The Scots of New Zealand (Auckland, 1976). For a detailed study of the Waipu settlement, see M. Molloy, Those Who Speak to the Heart: The Nova Scotians at Waipu, 1854–1920 (Palmerston North, 1991). Cf. Akenson, Half the World from Home, 190. J. M. MacKenzie, ‘The British World and the Complexities of Anglicisation: The Scots in Southern Africa in the Nineteenth Century’, in K. Darian-Smith et al. (eds), Britishness Abroad: Transnational Movements and Imperial Cultures (Melbourne, 2007), 113.

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significant, praised also by contemporaries in Scotland.23 Scots were instrumental in setting up New Zealand’s first university in Dunedin and introduced the Scottish honours system. Following the democratic ideals common to the Scottish education tradition, they also facilitated the provision of education for girls.24 An important point of difference with other places of Scottish settlement has been the weak influence of Scottish missionary culture in New Zealand. In South Africa, missionary history has been the context in which Scottish contributions have been most discussed.25 This qualification aside, the Scots’ part in New Zealand religious life has been substantial: with Dunedin a Free Church settlement, it should not surprise that their role in advancing Presbyterianism was significant.26 New Zealand’s political life, both in the distant and the more recent past, has also been strongly influenced by people of Scottish descent; the pervasiveness of homeland origins and experiences is reflected, for example, in the biographies of John McKenzie, Minister for Lands, and Labour Prime Minister Peter Fraser.27 Furthermore, studies of New Zealand business communities offer ample evidence of the Scots’ contributions to the economic development of the country.28 Scotsmen owned many of the large runs and stations in the South Island, and were at the vanguard of commercial and business life.29 John Logan Campbell, John Ross, and Robert Glendining are only three of the many examples of how successfully colonial Scots could advance. The first and best known of the Auckland merchants, and one of New Zealand’s leading nineteenthcentury entrepreneurs, Campbell arrived in the North Island in 1840, setting up one of the country’s first warehouses with fellow Scot William

23 24

25

26

27

28

29

The Scotsman, 20 Dec. 1921, 4. See G. E. Thompson, A History of the University of Otago, 1869–1919 (Dunedin, 1919); E. Wallis, A Most Rare Vision: Otago Girls’ High School, The First One Hundred Years (Dunedin, 1972). MacKenzie, ‘British World and the Complexities of Anglicisation’, 112; see also E.  Breitenbach, Empire and Scottish Society: The Impact of Foreign Missions at Home, c. 1790 to c. 1914 (Edinburgh, 2009), which focuses on the mediation of Empire by the foreign mission movement. Cf. J. Collie, The Story of the Otago Free Church Settlement 1848 to 1948: A Century’s Growth by a Southern Sea (Dunedin, 1948); I. Breward, ‘Religion and New Zealand Society’, New Zealand Journal of History, 13, 2 (1979), 138–48; A. Clarke, ‘“Days of Heaven on Earth”: Presbyterian Communion Seasons in Nineteenth-Century Otago’, Journal of Religious History, 26, 3 (2002), 274–97. T. Brooking, Lands for the People? The Highland Clearances and the Colonisation of New Zealand: A Biography of John McKenzie (Dunedin, 1996); M. Bassett, with M. King, Tomorrow Comes the Song: A Life of Peter Fraser (Auckland, 2000). See for example J. McAloon, No Idle Rich: The Wealthy of Canterbury and Otago, 1840–1914 (Dunedin, 1997); also J. McAloon, ‘The New Zealand Economy, 1792–1914’, in G. Byrnes (ed.), The New Oxford History of New Zealand (Melbourne, 2009), 212. T. Brooking, ‘Tam McCanny and Kitty Clydeside: The Scots in New Zealand’, in R. A. Cage (ed.), The Scots Abroad: Labour, Capital, Enterprise, 1750–1914 (London, 1985), 178.

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Brown. A similar Scottish business connection was initiated by Ross and Glendining when they embarked on their joint venture in Dunedin, establishing what became New Zealand’s largest manufacturing enterprise, Ross & Glendining.30 These contributions emphasise why the study of the Scots in New Zealand is important. First, it fills a central gap in the historiography of European New Zealand, as well as Scottish Diaspora history. Secondly, it complements and adds to revisionist streams in New Zealand’s historiography, providing a critical corrective to the mono- and bicultural interpretations of the country’s European settler culture. Framing the study In seeking to shed light on Scottish ethnicity in New Zealand, it is important to engage critically with the underlying concepts of ethnicity and ethnic identity. In the first instance, both serve as organising principles in a study concerned with migration, ethnicity being asserted by migrants through a shared culture and history, or by means of common cultural markers such as dress and customs. Specific identification processes are crucial: based on perceived commonalities or differences, these processes help to classify groups and individuals in terms of ‘us’ and ‘them’. Delimitations are put in place, setting individuals and groups apart from others. This can be achieved either by outside categorisation or by the conscious choice to put in place boundaries by the migrants themselves. Ethnic identity, however, is not the only type of identity migrants can draw on. In the words of Linda Colley, identities ‘are not like hats. Human beings can and do put on several at a time.’31 This characteristic of identity has perhaps contributed to the often unreflected use of the term. As Peter Mandler cautions, historians have ‘somewhat casually borrowed [the term identity] from the social sciences’,32 employing it as a loose label for a variety of phenomena. In the case of Scottish migrants, for instance, the mere fact that many of them went to their local Caledonian Games neither automatically, nor necessarily, made them ardent champions of Scottishness. Neither did a beer from the ‘Caledonian’, although some may have considered it a sufficient signifier (Figure I.1). The cartoon draws attention to the elusiveness of identity, as well as the term’s susceptibility to different interpretations of its meaning. It equally illustrates a central dichotomy that prevails in discussions on ethnic identity: while some, like ‘Big Black Mac’, attached particular importance

30

31 32

R. C. Stone, Young Logan Campbell (Auckland, 1982); S. H. R. Jones, Doing Well and Doing Good: Ross and Glendining, Scottish Enterprise in New Zealand (Dunedin, 2010). L. Colley, Britons: Forging the Nation 1707–1837 (New Haven, 1992), 6. P. Mandler, ‘What is National Identity? Definitions and Applications in Modern British Historiography’, Modern Intellectual History, 3, 2 (2006), 271; see also P. Gleason, ‘Identifying Identity: A Semantic History’, Journal of American History, 69, 4 (1983), 910–31.

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Figure I.1: Presumptive evidence of nationality (source: New Zealand Free Lance, 14 January 1905, 12).

to identity’s primordial base, others, like the figure on the left, adopted Scottishness circumstantially. Primordial conceptions were popular in the nineteenth century, featuring prominently in national discourses across Europe in which nationalists adopted the position that ‘ethnic communities and nations are “natural” ’.33 By setting the focus on what Clifford Geertz describes as the ‘givens’ of birth,34 primordialists view ethnic identity as the result of specific ascribed

33

34

A. D. Smith, Myths and Memories of the Nation (Oxford, 2002), 98; see also S. Jones, The Archaeology of Ethnicity: Constructing Identities in the Past and Present (London, 1997). C. Geertz, ‘The Integrative Revolution: Primordial Sentiments and Civil Politics in the New States’, in C. Geertz (ed.), Old Societies and New States (New York, 1963), 109.

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fixtures. Primordialism assigns involuntariness by default, neither paying attention to the context in which ethnic identity develops, nor to agency.35 Another common approach has been that following a circumstantial (instrumental) perspective, thereby emphasising the fluidity of identity. This concept moves beyond the idea that ethnic ties were the result of the passive assignment of difference. Frederick Barth thus describes ethnic identity in terms of the boundaries that take shape between groups as a form of social organisation. Emphasising the ‘categories of ascription and identification’ used by the agents themselves, boundaries develop because of interactions based on divergent group interests.36 These are the primary motivators behind the maintenance of ethnic identity, making it a useful strategy for individuals and groups in their quest to position themselves in new environments – as much was perhaps the motivation for those engaged in the newspaper debate quoted at the outset. Beyond these established schools of thought, constructivist perspectives gained momentum from the mid-1980s, especially in nationalism studies.37 The underlying argument is that ethnic identity is constantly constructed and reconstructed; people actively choose their identity, change it according to their needs.38 Elements of constructivism are important indeed. Ethnic identity can be permeable, multiple, and is interconnected with other identities, carrying a whole range of meanings that are influenced by different contexts. Moreover, ethnic identity is situational and processual, and can shift, for instance in respect of other boundary markers, such as gender. Organised collectively along ethnic lines, the emerging group solidarity potentially has the power to transcend other allegiances, such as religion or class. Time and space are two other crucial factors, there being occasions when people feel more strongly about their ethnic identity, for instance on national holidays, or, as the opening quotes have shown, when they are being challenged. This emphasises that ethnic identity is not monolithic: 35 36

37

38

Jones, The Archaeology of Ethnicity, 68–72. F. Barth, Ethnic Groups and Boundaries: The Social Organisation of Cultural Difference (Bergen, 1969), 10; also R. Jenkins, Rethinking Ethnicity: Arguments and Explorations (London, 1997), 12–13. For instance B. Anderson, Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism (London, 1991). Constructivists draw attention to the inventedness of common ancestral myths relating to ethnic identity, implying a degree of artificiality, perhaps falsity. In the Scottish case, the role of invented traditions in the making of the nation and ethnic identity has attracted particular attention, especially since the publication of E. Hobsbawm and T. Ranger (eds), The Invention of Tradition (Cambridge, 1983); see also H. Trevor-Roper, The Invention of Scotland (New Haven, 2008). The line of thought pursued here, however, is that it is less the question of authenticity that should concern us, but rather the purpose traditions served, invented or not. Those transferred through migration and maintained by Scottish migrants around the world, for example, deserve recognition as a cultural strategy, fulfilling a meaning-giving function. See also C. Ray, Highland Heritage: Scottish Americans in the American South (Chapel Hill, 2001), 102; and A. D. Smith, The Ethnic Origins of Nations (Oxford, 1986).

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there was a wide spectrum of possibilities for being a Scot in New Zealand. While some Scottish migrants readily embraced the opportunities of their new home, integrating quickly into their new life, others more or less openly practised and maintained aspects of their Scottishness. The complex set of factors that shape ethnic identity give substance to the notion of an identity-compound.39 This serves as a useful indicator of identity’s multifaceted nature, while the growing international literature on migration, identity development, and existing scholarship in Scottish migration history offers suggestions on how that compound can be examined.40 A problem common to many research frameworks is the definition of the relationship between personal and collective identities; this adds to the complexities, particularly because individual and collective experiences of migrants are potentially ‘at cross purposes’.41 The boundaries between the two blur; it would be problematic to try to establish a clear-cut division. An integrated approach that recognises the migrants as individual historical agents, who also engaged collectively with each other within particular structures, is necessary. This offers access to both the individual and group level, as well as the interface between the two, thereby providing a subtler and more refined analysis. The themes of this study in mind, the framework adopted in this book can be narrowed to the three ‘circles of belonging’ (Figure I.2).42 The model takes agency as the point of departure, locating the migrant at the centre. The surrounding circles show three structures that are likely determinants of migrant experiences. These served as reference points for the purpose of establishing a sense of belonging and identity in the new world. Family and kinship ties, as well as wider ethnic networks, could be means of entry to new circles of friends or patronage.43 The family is the 39

40

41

42

43

Cf. J. M. MacKenzie, with N. R. Dalziel, The Scots in South Africa. Ethnicity, Identity, Gender and Race, 1772–1914 (Studies in Imperialism, Manchester, 2007), esp. cp. 1. Margaret Bennett investigates the history and folk culture of the Gaelic settlers who arrived in Quebec from the Hebrides in Oatmeal and the Catechism: Scottish Gaelic Settlers in Quebec (Edinburgh, 2003); Marjory Harper’s thematic history of nineteenth-century Scottish emigration includes chapters on the emigrant experience and identity, Adventurers and Exiles: The Great Scottish Exodus (London, 2003), as does the valuable collection of essays on the role of myth and memory among Scots in Nova Scotia, M. Harper, and M. E. Vance (eds), Myth, Migration and the Making of Memory: Scotia and Nova Scotia, c. 1700–1990 (Edinburgh, 1999); Elizabeth Buettner’s excellent article on private and public celebrations of Scottishness in late-imperial India looks into whether Scottishness was reinvented in imperial arenas and concludes that public expressions of Scottishness, such as St Andrew’s festivals, had both social and political implications beyond the celebration of nostalgia among expatriate Scots, ‘Haggis in the Raj: Private and Public Celebrations of Scottishness in Late Imperial India’, Scottish Historical Review, 81, 2 (2002), 212–39. O’Day, ‘Imagined Irish Communities’, 403; O’Day draws upon J. M. Yinger, ‘Towards a Theory of Assimilation and Dissimilation’, Ethnic and Racial Studies, 4, 3 (1981), 249–64. The model was inspired by Christopher Smout’s model of concentric loyalties, see T. C. Smout, ‘Perspectives on the Scottish Identity’, Scottish Affairs, 6 (1994), 101–13. Bodnar, The Transplanted, 71.

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Figure I.2: The three circles of belonging (source: the author).

primary point of contact, especially for those migrants who had emigrated in family groups. Yet even for those who came on their own, the family still was crucial, helping to maintain effective ties by offering sanctuary across vast geographical space. Personal correspondence, for instance, provides a means to sustain contact, establishing continuity. This emphasises that circles of belonging have to do with proximity: the family was of more immediate relevance than many other agents and structures, for example those offered through ethnic associations. While the latter played a crucial role for many migrants, associations are further removed as they are located at the juncture of Habermas’s private and public spheres.44 The key is that circles of belonging are permeable. Sites of memory, for example, can take many different forms and operate well close to migrants, through personal memory practices, as well as more remotely from them in the form of public commemorations. The circles are not exclusive and a ranking is not intended. The three areas included here are the ones most pertinent to this study, but many others can intersect throughout. Moreover, individuals

44

Cf. J. Habermas, The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere: An Inquiry into a Category of Bourgeois Society, trans. T. Burger with F. Lawrence (Cambridge, MA, 1991).

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and groups still have the power to act independently within the structures outlined. A point worth pausing over is that the model best captures the more ethnically conscious Scots, those who did set store by using, promoting, and celebrating their ethnicity. This is a general concern as any study of an ethnic group, even a group as highly integrated as the Scots in New Zealand, risks privileging those who maintained their ethnicity actively over the transients who rejected, ignored, or lost their sense of Scottishness. What the model adopted here nonetheless provides is a tool that facilitates a survey of the range of identities expressed in the three circles. The model offers a novel and focused analytical framework for the questions at the heart of this study, propounding a window to explore the function of ethnicity for the Scots in New Zealand. Themes and sources On first consideration, the timeframe chosen for this study may appear too extended and its attempt to cover New Zealand as a whole overly ambitious. However, the frame adopted has the merit of helping identify patterns across time and space to facilitate comparisons. The start date of c. 1850 was chosen because it marks the beginning of organised Scottish migration to New Zealand; settling on 1930 as the end date allows appreciation of developments after the First World War, this being a crucial watershed in terms of both migratory trends and the emergence of a stronger New Zealand identity.45 There is nonetheless concentrated focus on the latter half of the nineteenth century and the early twentieth century; these may be termed the formative period of New Zealand society, and are also the time period for which the most substantial manuscript sources have survived. In terms of geographical focus, a series of places provides the arena for this study. Oamaru in the South Island, and Masterton (the Wairarapa) in the North Island act as reference localities (Map I.1). The localities are not random choices. Neither has previously been systematically studied, although substantial records from Scottish migrants and their activities, as well as Scottish associations, offer unique insights into the respective local world of the Scots. Furthermore, Oamaru and Masterton, the Wairarapa’s centre, serve as suitable contrasting South and North Island case studies: both were the commercial centres of their respective wider districts, and both were located in close proximity to urban centres, Dunedin and Wellington respectively. As rural settings with strong farming communities, the localities exhibit commonalities as well as important differences, not least in terms of the particular Scottish migrants who settled in the areas in clusters. 45

Cf. J. Belich, Paradise Reforged: A History of New Zealanders from the 1880s to the Year 2000 (Auckland, 2001), 80, 116ff.

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Map I.1: Case study locations (source: the author).

Particular attention is also devoted to Dunedin, New Zealand’s principal Free Church settlement, because of the high concentration of Scots and Scottish activities in the city. As the country’s Scottish centre, Dunedin serves as a useful test-bed. Combined with the primary and secondary localities marked on map I.1, which offer further comparative insights, the case study approach allows conclusions to be drawn from the reference localities, while equally permitting developments from across the country to be taken into account. Chapter one revisits the question of identity. If identity patterns in New Zealand’s Scottish community are to be understood, it is necessary first to step back and consider the Scottish migration tradition and mindset in the country of origin. The aim is to explore the relationship between Scottish identity at home and abroad, identity as expressed in relation to the British empire, which Scots helped to shape after the Union of 1707. The discussion acknowledges the marked mobility of the Scottish people, one ‘proverbially inclined to roam abroad’.46 The majority of the estimated two million Scots who left Scotland between 1830 and 1914 went to England or

46

Chambers’s Edinburgh Journal, 13 Oct. 1849, 225.

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the United States; Canada was in third place.47 The transfer of Scots to New Zealand was relatively unimportant to Scotland. However, it accounted for an average of 22% of migrants leaving the United Kingdom for New Zealand between 1800 and 1945,48 thus constituting a sizable element to the country’s much smaller population. While not purporting to offer a deep demographic analysis of New Zealand’s Scots migrants, the chapter sketches their origins as well as broad settlement patterns in New Zealand, thereby providing the necessary contextualisation to the analyses in the following chapters. The second chapter offers a bridge to the remainder of the book, analysing experiences and strategies of adjustment among Scottish immigrants through personal testimonies. These merit early discussion because it was within the interior world of settlers, the self as well as family and informal kinship networks, that impressions of the new home were initially negotiated. As is emphasised in the three circles of belonging, proximity to the migrant was central, making family and kinship groups the primary loci of identity and socialisation. Personal correspondence is a unique source for migration historians, opening a window into the migrants’ inner world. By exploring the diverse epistolary practices employed by members of New Zealand’s Scottish community, the chapter focuses on the multifaceted roles of letters in the context of emigration. The emerging patterns of informal networks and kinship connections challenge the characterisation of colonial New Zealand in terms of ‘extreme individualism’.49 The importance of community ties thus identified provides an opportune moment to shift the focus from individuals to the collectives in which many Scottish migrants were engaged. Chapter three hence explores fraternal organisations and, by extension, the group processes that developed ethnic associational structures. Historians have identified the diverse roles, forms, and functions of urban voluntary societies in nineteenth-century Britain, as well as the underlying ethnic networks in the wider British world.50 In pursuit of common goals, associations provided the organisational framework for camaraderie and sociability, often bringing together the local urban elite. Advancing a periodisation of Scottish associationalism, chapter three first focuses on New Zealand’s Caledonian societies. These were the first Scottish associations to develop enduring formalised structures successfully, growing to the largest in terms of both membership 47

48 49 50

T. M. Devine, The Scottish Nation, 1700–2000 (London, 2000), 468; E. Richards, Britannia’s Children: Emigration from England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland since 1600 (London, 2004), 213. The average percentage is based on estimates by Phillips and Hearn, Settlers, 52, table 2. Fairburn, Ideal Society, 13. For instance P. Clark, British Clubs and Societies, 1580–1850: The Origins of an Associational World (Oxford, 2000); E. Delaney and D. M. MacRaild (eds), Irish Migration, Networks and Ethnic Identities since 1750 (London, 2007); A. McCarthy (ed.), A Global Clan: Scottish Migrant Networks and Identities Since the Eighteenth Century (London, 2006).

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and geographical spread. They covered urban areas as well as sub-regional centres and rural settlements. Consequently, Caledonian societies, as the most common associational form in New Zealand’s Scottish community, are employed to facilitate comparison with other associations, such as Gaelic societies or Burns clubs. The former had a localised rather than national homeland referent and, like Burns clubs, followed more specialised objectives. The chapter concludes with an analysis of Scottish societies, a distinctly twentieth-century phenomenon and associational expression of changing needs within New Zealand’s Scottish community. While chapter three is concerned with the development of associational structures over time, the fourth chapter explores how these fostered cohesion in a fast-developing settler society, potentially serving as a vehicle of both identity and integration for those involved. By moving beyond the written aims and objectives of the bodies, an array of wider functions that are pivotal to explaining the role of associationalism for Scots can be identified. Many Scottish clubs and societies were much more than outposts of romantic nostalgia: associations provided a safe means to assert difference, while potentially affording a platform for self-organisation outside the political domain that linked them directly into civil society. Many associations served as network and patronage hubs, facilitating the development of social capital. The chapter ends by advancing a typology of Scottish associational culture that takes its relationship to civil society into account. Both chapters five and six continue the focus on fraternal organisations, but move from agency and structure to activity, providing an in-depth account of the two main ethnic practices promoted by Scottish associations in New Zealand. Chapter five explores Caledonian Games, the most visible face of the country’s Scottish community. The aim is to assess the Games’ role within and outside of the tighter circle of Scots who organised and attended the events. A popular holiday pastime throughout New Zealand, many Games began to place increasing emphasis on the athletic components in their programmes from the 1880s. While this explains how they became a significant force in the development of amateur and professional sports, it is also indicative of the tensions between Scottish traditionalists interested in maintaining the Games’ authentic character and those seeking to promote them as athletic gatherings. When mounted successfully, Caledonian Games attracted large numbers of spectators and served those involved in their organisation well as a means to claim respectability in their respective local community. It is this function that explains the perseverance and success of Caledonian societies, their development being intrinsically connected to that of Caledonian Games. By contrast to the large-scale Games, chapter six focuses on Robert Burns anniversary celebrations. Utilised as a Scottish national-day proxy in the annual events calendar of many communities, the celebrations offered a key means to promote Scottishness. Given their generally smaller and more

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intimate nature, compared to Caledonian Games, the celebrations were a potent site of memory for Scots, offering a space in which memory, familiar cultural plots, and myths could be asserted. As an easily comprehensible symbol, Burns was a universal vehicle of identity. Still, Burns anniversaries were not merely celebrations of a past long gone. They also provided a central meeting place for the colonial elite, reflecting the broad appeal of Scottish ethnic activities – events seldom viewed in a negative light. In New Zealand as elsewhere, Burns was celebrated with dinners and balls, but he also became ‘the monumental poet’, part of the growing late nineteenthcentury culture of monumentalisation, four Burns statues being erected in New Zealand in the period studied. Their histories are explored to examine the different ways in which collective rememberings of home served as markers of identity in the Scottish community, and one that was recognisably part of the wider Scottish Diaspora. An enduring celebration throughout Scottish places of settlement, Burns anniversaries are suggestive of the existence of a wider Scottish world. With that in mind, chapter seven offers a focused exploration of that world. The chapter recognises the existence of a Scottish Diaspora, framing it through active agency rather than in terms of migration patterns generally or the transfer of sentiments across borders. By locating New Zealand in the Scottish Diaspora, the chapter documents the different ways in which it was made tangible. Associational culture and fraternal networks that span large distances hold the key to the active maintenance and experience of that diaspora, offering a window into the nature of the relationship between homeland and diaspora. This relationship was never a one-way enterprise: as was stressed at the outset, migration neither automatically nor necessarily meant that ties with the old homeland were severed. New Zealand Scots provided funds for educational purposes, for instance for the establishment of the first Celtic Chair at Edinburgh University, and supported numerous benevolent initiatives in Scotland. These included relief funds for Highlanders in distress, but also the active promotion of special emigration schemes to New Zealand. Importantly, benevolent activities were contemporaneous with increased crofter agitation in the Highlands. Hence, while the Scottish Diaspora, compared to that of the Irish, was cultural rather than political, homeland politics were important nonetheless, connecting Scots in their benevolent pursuits from around the world. Reflecting the layered themes explored in this book, and the aim to bring together individual and collective experiences of the study’s subjects, the analyses are based on a range of primary sources. These include society records, newspaper reports, and personal testimonies, such as letters and diaries. In an age that lacked fast modes of communication, the letter was the common means of contact. Letters could give detailed accounts of life, being described by one letter-writer as reading like ‘newspapers’.51 51

George Cousins to his sister Jessie, Dunedin, 4 Aug. 1872, Hocken, Misc-MS-1522.

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Personal testimonies are important evidential material because they offer penetrating and undiluted insights into the everyday details of migrant life. The private world to which they give access defines important alternatives to that of the public sphere in which many group processes are, at least partly, located.52 The central sources for the analyses of fraternal structures are association minute books, including annual reports, balance sheets, and ephemera. The handwritten minute books cover meetings, whether business meetings or get-togethers of a more social nature, their existence evidencing the associations’ formal character and structured procedures. These formed part of associational self-organisation, likewise documenting the varied mechanisms put in place to record decisions and discussions at meetings. The richness of the records notwithstanding, societies were not always diligent in keeping material. Other documents, such as the early records of the Gaelic Society (Dunedin), have been partly destroyed.53 While it has been possible to show developmental patterns and organisational procedures, these losses hint at the limitations of the extant material. No complete run of records has survived for the main case study localities, and cultural activities do not normally feature in great detail in manuscript sources. These problems, however, are more than levelled out by newspaper material, this having proven especially valuable in filling lacunae.54 Newspapers reported extensively on the social activities of associations, often featuring verbatim reports of speeches and detailed event descriptions. They also provided additional commentary that adds colour and life to the bare bones recorded by the associations themselves. Newspapers are an equally valuable means of tracing business meetings and the life of Scottish individuals; cross-referencing with the newspaper evidence collected has added an invaluable depth to the analysis. ‘No colonists are more imbued with their national sympathies than Scotchmen’, observed a reporter of the Southland Times in 1864, ‘the remembrance of home is ever with them.’55 What specific role that ‘remembrance of home’ played in the context of the Scots’ settlement 52

53

54

55

D. A. Gerber, ‘The Immigrant Letter between Positivism and Populism: The Uses of Immigrant Personal Correspondence in Twentieth-Century American Scholarship’, Journal of American Ethnic History, 16, 4 (1997), 32. The only surviving records available for the period prior to 1930, for instance, are a number of photographs, a scrapbook, and a relief fund subscription book. Cf. Hocken, AG-542/007; AG-542/005; AG-542/004. The archival holdings of newspapers aside, Papers Past, New Zealand’s digitised newspaper repository, contains more than one million pages of digitised New Zealand newspapers and periodicals, covering the period 1839 to 1945. It includes sixty-one publications from throughout New Zealand, including small-town newspapers as wells as city papers from Auckland, Wellington, Dunedin, and Christchurch. While not all papers are searchable, nor cover the full time period, Papers Past has proven to be an indispensable resource. Cf. http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz. Southland Times, 4 Jan. 1864, 2.

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Scottish Ethnicity and the Making of New Zealand Society

and life in New Zealand is the subject of this study. The primary aim is not simply to attest to the existence of Scottish ethnicity, but to illuminate its nature and function within and outside of the Scottish community. The stories told and conclusions drawn thus become of larger significance, uncovering the role of Scottish ethnicity for the making of New Zealand society.

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CHAPTER ONE

‘Proverbially Inclined to Roam Abroad’: Empire, Identity, and Scottish Emigration to New Zealand There has been an unprecedented upsurge in scholarly interest in migration from various source countries to many different destinations throughout the last two decades. Demographers, sociologists, and historians have explored the causes and consequences of migration, as well as the impact particular migrant groups and population flows have had on both the sending and receiving countries. Museum exhibitions, and television and radio programmes further reflect that there is also an increased interest in the subject by wider audiences.1 Among those keen on learning more about the Scots, popular associations with Scottish emigration are often based on ideas of exile and involuntary relocation, conjuring up ‘romantic images of melancholic clansmen . . . of tragic scenes of the ultimate uprooting’.2 Perhaps with Thomas Faed’s well-known The Last of the Clan in mind, the collective consciousness of many émigré Scots and their descendants seems to echo John Prebble’s voice.3 Or in the more recent words of Michael Fry, ‘the fact that the greater part of Scottish emigration was voluntary has to be airbrushed out of the picture’. This was necessary to preserve a ‘myth of the victim-nation’.4 Highland Clearances and periods of famine supply a suitable argumentative framework for this myth to be upheld. By drawing attention to overpopulation in the Highlands, landlordism, and the distress of the Highland population, emigration did not emerge as a voluntary act, rather as a means ‘to relieve the present state of destitution,

1

2

3 4

Exhibitions at the National Museum of New Zealand, Te Papa Tongarewa, and the Otago Settlers Museum document this interest. Opened in Aug. 2007, the last community exhibition at Te Papa featured the Scots and ‘tells the stories of the Scots in New Zealand through a selection of intriguing objects, images, and short films . . . The Scots in New Zealand celebrates one of this country’s most widespread migrant groups.’ (http://collections. tepapa.govt.nz/exhibitions/thescots, last visited 10 Aug. 2010). Moreover, TVNZ recently screened a series of six programmes called Here to Stay, each covering a different migrant group, including the Scots (http://tvnz.co.nz/content/1160701/865399.html, last visited 16 Jun. 2010). E. Richards, ‘The Last of the Clan and other Highland Emigrants’, in Brooking and Coleman (eds), The Heather and the Fern, 33; also MacKenzie, The Scots in South Africa, 6. J. Prebble, The Highland Clearances (Harmondsworth, 1969). The Scotsman, 10 Jul. 2010.

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and as a preparatory measure calculated to prevent a recurrence of similar distress’.5 The Clearances, no doubt, had a significant impact on post-Culloden Scotland, at times accelerating population movements. Moreover, new modes of farming and land use left visible imprints not only in the landscape, but also on local communities. These imprints and consequent changes to Highland life are well documented in the New Statistical Account of Scotland. As the Revd Duncan Maclean described for the county of Glenurchy and Inishail in Argyleshire, the introduction of sheep effected, everywhere in the Highlands, a complete revolution in the condition of the population . . . Vast tracts of our straths and valleys, of our moors and mountains, exchanged stock and occupants . . . One or other of three alternatives was adopted by the unfortunate mountaineer, – that of removing to some of the manufacturing towns of the south, – of emigrating to America, – or of contenting himself with a small patch of land, with the keep of a few cows, in some assigned locality in his native strath or valley.6 The comment emphasises that the Clearances and changing practices in the ways land in the Highlands was occupied and worked reflects not only a process of dislocation, but also one of ‘disculturation’.7 Emigration, identified by the Revd Maclean as one of the three common actions taken by the people in Glenurchy and Inishail who were affected by the introduction of sheep, was a clearly recognisable factor in both. Yet, despite the plight of many crofters and the displacement of parts of the Highland population, the connection between emigration and Highland Scotland is not straightforward. Though woven into many an emigration story, sentimentalised images of exile and destitution, enforced by writers like Lewis Grassic Gibbon who wrote of the vanishing crofter in Sunset Song,8 are misleading: Scottish emigration was much more complex than that.9 First, across time and destination countries, the majority of Scots who emigrated were from the Lowlands.10 Some of the Lowlanders leaving for foreign shores may previously have come from the Highlands as

5

6

7

8 9 10

Parliamentary Papers, 1841 Session 1 (182), First Report from the Select Committee on Emigration, Scotland: Together with the Minutes of Evidence, and Appendix, iii. New Statistical Account of Scotland, vol. 7, County of Glenurchy and Inishail, 93; accessed via EDINA, StAS.2.7.1.M.Argyle.Contents_and_Misc Argyle (1834–45), http://stat-acc-scot. edina.ac.uk, last visited 20 Mar. 2008. Cf. C. Withers, Urban Highlanders: Highland–Lowland Migration and Urban Gaelic Culture, 1700–1900 (East Linton, 1998), esp. cp. 2; also C. Withers, Gaelic Scotland: The Transformation of a Culture Region (London, 1988). L. Grassic Gibbon, Sunset Song (Edinburgh, 2006). This was first recognised by Gordon Donaldson in his The Scots Overseas (London, 1966). M. Harper, Emigration from Scotland Between the Wars: Opportunity or Exile? (Manchester, 1998), 20; Devine, Scottish Nation, 469.

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a result of chain migration patterns at the end of the eighteenth century, these having contributed to the reshaping of population patterns within Scotland itself. Still, the large majority of emigrants were from the densely populated Lowland counties. A second important point is that while famine, land congestion, cyclic economic depression, and social upheaval were important ‘push-factors’, a great number of the Scots who emigrated chose to do so. The notion of an ‘enforced diaspora’ is at odds with contemporary evidence.11 Consequently, emigration from Scotland can more appropriately be characterised as a combination of both involuntary relocation and elective emigration, a transfer of what Marjory Harper fittingly describes as adventurers and exiles.12 Emigration was a Europe-wide phenomenon not peculiar to Scotland. Ireland out-ranked Scotland in the proportion of population which left, but the Scots often came second, pushed into third place on occasions by Norway.13 In this highly mobile environment, Scots did, however, stand out for at least two reasons. First, they had long exhibited a strong sense of wanderlust, migrating within the United Kingdom, as well as an increasingly diverse range of other destinations, over several centuries. Patterns of Scottish migration, though localised at first and reflecting systems of ‘circular mobility’,14 soon extended, with Scots relocating to other European countries. They were mercenary soldiers in Scandinavia between the fifteenth and seventeenth centuries, also working as merchants in the Low Countries.15 The tradition of migration thus established was consolidated after the Union of 1707, when destination countries diversified further as Scots began to seize the new imperial opportunities to which the Union had given them access. The Glasgow tobacco trade brought Scottish sojourners and settlers to the Chesapeake; Highland settlements were established in New York and Cape Fear in the late 1730s; and the Caribbean was explored from the early 1760s.16 In terms of overall patterns, Scottish emigration, as that of other groups elsewhere in Europe, reached its peak throughout the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Estimates suggest that around two million individuals left Scotland for foreign shores between 1815 and 1914.17 In fact, when compared to the other leading central and western European countries 11 12 13 14 15

16

17

Harper, Emigration from Scotland Between the Wars, 1. Harper, Adventurers and Exiles. Devine, Scottish Nation, 468. Withers, Urban Highlanders, 3. Cf. S. Murdoch and A. Grosjean (eds), Scottish Communities Abroad in the Early Modern Period (Leiden, 2005); also D. Armitage, ‘Making the Empire British: Scotland in the Atlantic World, 1542–1707’, Past & Present, 155 (1997), 34–63. D. Hamilton, Scotland, the Caribbean and the Atlantic World, 1750–1820 (Manchester, 2005), 4. Devine, Scottish Nation, 468; also M. Flinn (ed.), Scottish Population History from the Seventeenth Century to the 1930s (Cambridge, 1977), 448.

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from where migrants transferred beyond Europe, Scotland, per head of population, featured regularly among the top three ‘exporters’ between 1851 and 1930.18 These sheer numbers reveal the second reason for the Scots standing out: the major paradox of Scottish emigration.19 While other leading source countries throughout the peak emigration period tended still to be largely agricultural economies struggling to reconcile these with the new demands of industrialisation and capitalism, Scotland was already heavily industrialised. It could boast one of the fastest rates of urban growth in Europe between 1650 and 1850, second only to that of England.20 The textile industry in particular had propelled the economy forward, nine out of ten Scottish manufacturing workers being employed in the textile industry by the mid-1820s.21 It was the growing demand for labourers in this sector that brought migrants from across Scotland to the mushrooming centres of Glasgow or Dundee. Estimates suggest that by 1851 well over fifty thousand Highlanders had resettled in the west of Scotland, the area of highest industrial concentration.22 These figures underscore the varied faces of migration, and the strong culture of mobility in Scotland itself, one most clearly measurable from the mid-nineteenth century onwards. An analysis of the 1851 Census shows, for instance, that ‘a third of the population had crossed a county boundary or moved from a rural to an urban environment’.23 The problems inherent to industrialisation and urbanisation aside, Scotland was relatively prosperous. Consequently, many of the Scots who left were not poor farm labourers. They came from the business and professional classes, were ‘members of the new aristocracy of labour’.24 Hence, what the paradox of Scottish emigration also highlights is that emigration cannot simply be characterised as a flight of the poor: Scottish trends are clearly set apart from those evidenced in other countries. Another crucial matter is the size of the outflow population. While the overall emigration numbers from Scotland may seem low compared to those recorded in other countries, measured in absolute numerical terms, they were high as a proportion of Scotland’s population.25 Scotland stood out in this respect in the age of mass migration. This is a point worth pausing over because it also highlights that though a small nation, Scotland

18 19

20 21

22

23

24 25

Cf. D. Baines, Emigration from Europe, 1815–1930 (Basingstoke, 1991), table 3, 10. T. M. Devine, ‘The Paradox of Scottish Emigration’, in T. M. Devine (ed.), Scottish Emigration and Scottish Society (Edinburgh, 1992), 2. Withers, Urban Highlanders, 4. W. W. Knox, Industrial Nation: Work, Culture and Society in Scotland, 1800–Present (Edinburgh, 1999), 34. Ibid., 37; also C. A. Whatley, Scottish Society 1707–1830: Beyond Jacobitism, Towards Industrialisation (Manchester, 2000), 229. Cf. J. Brock, The Mobile Scot: A Study of Emigration and Migration, 1861–1911 (Edinburgh, 1991), 11, 94. Devine, ‘Paradox of Scottish Emigration’, 2. Richards, ‘Last of the Clan’, 37; Devine, ‘Paradox of Scottish Emigration’, 1.

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actively contributed significant numbers to the peopling of the British empire. In this capacity, the Empire allowed Scotland, notes Fry, ‘to act as if it were a big nation’.26 Bearing this in mind, it is important to place Scottish emigration within the contemporary homeland mindset before moving to a demographic overview of New Zealand’s Scots migrants. The homeland mindset holds the key to our understanding of the development and maintenance of ties in a wider Scottish world, one that sustained and made tangible, as later chapters will show, the Scottish Diaspora now recognised as a global community of Scots. Union, Empire, and Scottish identity Fuelled partly by the success of the London-based East India Company, Scottish imperial aspirations gathered momentum towards the end of the seventeenth century. With the passage of the 1693 Act for Encouraging Foreign Trade, Scottish merchants and businessmen were attracted by the prospect of trading under the Great Seal of Scotland; the Company of Scotland, trading to Africa and the Indies, was established two years later.27 It moved quickly to secure a piece of the imperial cake – overseas trade promised greater independence from England. Financial constraints would have crippled projects before they could even begin had it not been for a remarkable subscription scheme: the Company ‘had caught the national mood’, the scheme transforming into a ‘patriotic crusade’.28 Under the leadership of William Paterson, a settlement at Darien on the isthmus of Panama was to become the shining jewel of that crusade. To widespread disappointment, the scheme failed.29 Apart from severe economic repercussions, the scheme’s failure dealt a blow to Scotland’s national pride; large numbers of Scots from all over the country had invested money. The scheme’s collapse further limited the political options Scotland could exercise and, combined with the succession crisis of 1703, made parliamentary union with England a viable political as well as economic option.30 Those in favour of union viewed it as an opportunity for improved trade relations with England, obviating hostile regulations and 26 27 28 29

30

The Scotsman, 10 Jul. 2010. T. M. Devine, Scotland’s Empire, 1600–1815 (London, 2004), 40. Ibid., 43. Poor planning, adverse local conditions and English attempts to undermine the scheme were the principal reasons for the failure. See T. C. Smout, Scottish Trade on the Eve of the Union (Edinburgh, 1963); J. Prebble, The Darien Disaster (London, 2002); D. Watt, ‘The Management of Capital by the Company of Scotland 1696–1707’, Journal of Scottish Historical Studies, 25, 2 (2005), 97–118; and D. Armitage, ‘The Scottish Vision of Empire: Intellectual Origins of the Darien Venture’, in J. Robertson (ed.), A Union for Empire: Political Thought and the British Union of 1707 (Cambridge, 1995). Cf. T. C. Smout, ‘The Anglo-Scottish Union of 1707: I. The Economic Background’, Economic History Review, 16, 3 (1964), 455–67; C. A. Whatley, Bought and Sold for English Gold: The Union of 1707 (East Linton, 2001).

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protectionism. The integration of both countries into a new mercantile system of commerce was attractive to many Scottish politicians and businessmen interested in using the country’s natural resources in their quest to access and develop new markets. The possibilities of economic gain were a strong pro-union inducement, strengthening an indigenous class of capitalists that would eventually make its way to remote climes.31 In light of these developments, it is important to note the way in which the Union impacted on Scottish national identity within a wider imperial framework. Some Scots feared the Union, assuming it would suppress Scottish distinctiveness and undermine Scottish independence.32 Yet, in terms of a manifest Scottish identity, union was much less of a threat than it may at first have appeared. There are two main reasons. First, the Treaty of Union allowed Scotland to keep its distinctive Protestantism by safeguarding the rights of the Scottish Kirk and the Presbyterian system of government. The Union became a means to protect the Kirk from Catholicism,33 and eventually facilitated its spread in the British empire. For many Scots, securing Scotland’s distinct religion was more important than a secular parliament, and one which historically had been relatively unimportant in Scottish daily life. Surrendering the parliament to defend the Kirk was a national bargain.34 The Union also guaranteed that Scotland’s legal system and the Scottish democratic education tradition, powerfully epitomised in the lad o’ pairts, could be maintained within the new constitutional framework. Religion, law, and education, the three pillars of Scottish society, were left largely untouched despite the Union. This de facto added weight to the institutions on which the three pillars rested and the organisations of Scottish civil society associated with them. So, although the central British state had the final say in all political matters, it had enshrined Scottish civil society through the Union of 1707 and created the space for a Scottish local government maintained within Scottish civil society.35 The Scottish elite was successful in governing Scotland as it wished, with little interference from the central British state. Civil society and voluntary 31 32

33

34 35

Whatley, Scottish Society, 49. For an analysis of the different reactions towards the Union, see M. Pittock, Scottish Nationality (New York, 2001), cp. 2. Colley, Britons, 4, 30. Colley draws attention to the role of ‘the Other’, this being epitomised by war and the French, that is the Catholic threat. In the making of Britishness at the end of the eighteenth century, identities were then shaped by dissociation from this Other. Colley’s argument has received wide acceptance, but her overall reasoning is skewed, being based on the assumption that with the Union, a British state and British civil society were established in which British identity was dominant. Rather than producing a unitary nation state, however, the Union, as Graeme Morton has convincingly argued, enshrined Scottish civil society, see Unionist Nationalism: Governing Urban Scotland, 1830–1860 (East Linton, 1999). L. Paterson, The Autonomy of Modern Scotland (Edinburgh, 1994), 31. Cf. G. Morton, ‘Civil Society, Municipal Government and the State: Enshrinement, Empowerment and Legitimacy, Scotland, 1800–1929’, Urban History, 25, 3 (1998), 348–67.

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organisations, which partly oversaw the day-to-day governing of Scotland, became important vehicles for preserving a distinct Scottish identity, and one that was also transferred abroad through these institutions. Secondly, the Union offered a range of new economic opportunities, allowing Scotland to become part of the then largest free-trade area in Europe. Trading markets were opened up, newer and faster modes of travel facilitating contact. Most importantly, access to the Empire offered the Scots new arenas of work, which they ‘thoroughly and systematically colonised’.36 New Zealand, though among the last British colonies to be settled, was no exception. Scottish aristocrats and their sons were active in colonial governments and became imperial administrators. New Zealand’s first public servant, Scotland-born James Busby, was one of them.37 Scottish doctors and lawyers were especially prominent. As Finlay explains, the Scottish education tradition led to a marked increase in the number of well-trained professionals requiring work. They were quickly absorbed by the Empire, this being a ready outlet for Scottish ingenuity.38 Contributions by learned Scots are recorded all over the world, radical approaches to education, land tenure, or agriculture being notable signifiers of their presence.39 With the military also providing employment for an increasing number, Scots soon roamed the globe. It was partly because of Scotland’s new role in the Empire that it never generated an independence-oriented nationalism, a feature prominently associated with other European countries in the nineteenth century. Scholars have been fascinated by its absence, leading some to bemoan the apparent reduction of Scottish identity to romantic Highlandism in the period.40 The latter interpretation, however, is too reductionist. The National Association for the Vindication of Scottish Rights, for example, promoted a nationalist rhetoric that positioned Scotland’s distinct history and culture not in the parochial cabbage patch, which was brought to life at the end of the nineteenth century in the literary Kailyard School, but in a strong Union and the imperial partnership it had facilitated. Many Scots were well aware that a more vociferous assertion of Scottish nationalism, or demands for political independence, would have undermined their status in the imperial relationship with the wider British world of which Scotland had become an intrinsic part. Within this context, it was possible for 36 37

38

39

40

Devine, Scotland’s Empire, xxvi. For further details, see C. Orange, ‘James Busby, 1802–1871’, DNZB, www.dnzb.govt.nz, last visited 20 Jul. 2010. D. Armitage, ‘The Scottish Diaspora’, in Jenny Wormald (ed.), Scotland: A History (Oxford, 2005), 227; also R. J. Finlay, ‘British Empire’, in M. Lynch (ed.), The Oxford Companion to Scottish History (Oxford, 2001), 44. J. M. MacKenzie, ‘A Scottish Empire? The Scottish Diaspora and Interactive Identities’, in Brooking and Coleman (eds), The Heather and the Fern, 23. T. Nairn, The Break-Up of Britain: Crisis and Neo-Nationalism (2nd edn, London, 1981), 155–63; Ash, Strange Death.

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romantic Highland imagery to be appropriated as a dual trope for Scottish distinctiveness and the newly found ‘cultural and emotional cohesion’ between England and Scotland.41 Importantly, discussions around these issues also took place in New Zealand and other colonies, demonstrating the vitality of imperial connections that became all the more pronounced, as chapter seven will show in greater detail, in connection with the later Scottish Home Rule movement and crofter agitation in the Highlands. Within the wider imperial Scottish world thus emerging, the military glamour of the Scottish soldiers in the British imperial armies was crucial to the promotion of a strong sense of Scottish identity. With famous victories gained and their members skilfully depicted in Highland garb and glory, regiments such as the Black Watch contributed to consolidating a positive image of Scottishness. Scots, notes MacKenzie, ‘were everywhere in the visual record’,42 this reflecting the ways in which they could play out their national identity on the imperial stage. Scottish troops were of particular interest to artists because of their idiosyncratic dress and related accessories such as the bagpipe. The important point is that the Scots’ prominence in paintings visually recorded the ‘metamorphosis in the public imagination’.44 With Jacobites subdued, Scottish soldiers could be depicted as loyal servants to the crown. Viewed as major contributors to imperial expansion and cohesion, the visible image of the Scots’ heroic deeds in the name of Britain was strengthened by royal recognition, cementing Scottish imperial militarism’s role as an important vehicle for a positive and public Scottishness.45 As much is also evident in an account published, in 1866, in connection with the New Zealand Wars in Frazer’s Magazine. Reprinted in Auckland’s Daily Southern Cross, the account’s writer observed: We have listened to hundreds of our Scottish soldiers bugling ‘Scots wha hae’ on the eve of a battle; it was only the other night that we were kept awake till daybreak by a party singing a succession of national songs in a neighbouring tent, while . . . the signal fire of the Maori 41 42

43

44

45

Devine, Scotland’s Empire, xxvi. J. M. MacKenzie, ‘Essay and Reflection: On Scotland and the Empire’, International History Review, 15 (1993), 727. Cf. D. S. Forsyth, ‘Empire and Union: Imperial and National Identity in NineteenthCentury Scotland’, Scottish Geographical Magazine, cxiii (1997), 6–12; J. Morrison, Painting the Nation: Identity and Nationalism in Scottish Painting, 1800–1920 (Edinburgh, 2003). J. A. Kestner, ‘The Colonised in the Colonies: Representation of Celts in Victorian Battle Painting’, in S. West (ed.), The Victorians and Race (Aldershot, 1996), 117. See J. E. Cookson, ‘The Napoleonic Wars, Military Scotland and Tory Highlandism in the Early Nineteenth Century’, Scottish Historical Review, 78 (1999), 60–75; R. J. Finlay, ‘The Rise and Fall of Popular Imperialism in Scotland, 1850–1950’, Scottish Geographical Magazine, 113 (1997), 13–21; J. M. MacKenzie, Popular Imperialism and the Military 1850–1950 (Manchester, 1992); A. Mackillop and S. Murdoch (eds), Fighting for Identity: Scottish Military Experience c. 1550–1900 (History of Warfare Series, vol. 15, Leiden, 2002); A. Mackillop, ‘More Fruitful than the Soil’: Army, Empire and the Scottish Highlands, 1715–1815 (East Linton, 2000), esp. cps 6 and 7.

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might be seen in the distance. The plaintive strains of the ‘Banks and Braes of bonnie Doon’ had a singular effect when sung on the banks of the Waikato . . .46 Such stories, together with the images of heroic Scottish soldiers, facilitated the development of a new focal point, a positive referent, ‘the geographically distant positive Other’.47 The fact that Highland images and tartanry were intrinsic to this new focal point made them powerful vehicles of interaction between the Empire and Scotland. Highland symbols and romantic images of tartanry and valour were comprehensible on either side and served as bridges to Scotland’s past.48 Recognition of this prevailing homeland mindset will aid the analyses of Scottish associational activities and ethnic expression in the chapters that follow. In the new imperial world of which Scotland was an intrinsic part, the country’s history became a transnational one; the Scots emerged as ‘a diasporic people’.49 Ties that existed, evolved, and were maintained over vast distances within that Diaspora did not run in a one-way direction: the Empire was brought home, strengthening a distinctive sense of Scottishness within the Union. Imperial success had made the Empire a vital focal point for Scottish self-perception. New means of communication and the improvement of travel, the popular press, and an increasing number of newspapers with reports on those who had sought their fortunes around the globe, advanced the image of the successful Scot.50 While emigration had been viewed negatively, regarded as a reaction to poor economic and social conditions, this outlook was largely abandoned from the mid-nineteenth century. Emigration had now come to stand for success and opportunities, and was ‘celebrated as evidence of the virility and expansiveness of the Scottish race’.51 The Scots’ involvement in the missionary movement, for instance, powerfully legitimised their role as a ‘race of Empire builders’.52 Missionary work was followed enthusiastically in Scotland because many local churches had their own missionaries abroad who would send reports back home.53 This facilitated a very immediate point of contact with Scots 46

47 48

49 50 51 52 53

Daily Southern Cross, 25 Jul. 1866, 4; for details on the New Zealand Wars, see J. Belich, The New Zealand Wars and the Victorian Interpretation of Racial Conflict (Auckland, 1986). MacKenzie, ‘Empire and National Identities’, 218. Cf. M. Pittock, The Invention of Scotland: The Stuart Myth and the Scottish Identity, 1638 to the Present (London, 1991). Armitage, ‘The Scottish Diaspora’, 225. The Scotsman, 1 Jan. 1897, 3; Finlay, ‘British Empire’, 44. Finlay, ‘British Empire’, 45. Devine, Scottish Nation, 366; also Finlay, ‘British Empire’, 44. R. J. Finlay, ‘Missions Overseas’, in M. Lynch (ed.), The Oxford Companion to Scottish History (Oxford, 2001), 424; the most famous missionary was David Livingstone, whose experiences and exploits, fuelled by a Victorian interest in adventure and the exotic, were readily absorbed in Scotland. Cf. J. M. MacKenzie, ‘David Livingstone: The Construction of the Myth’, in G. Walker and T. Gallagher (eds), Sermons and Battlehymns: Protestant Popular Culture in Modern Scotland (Edinburgh, 1990).

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in the Empire and directly linked the local parish to distant lands. Members of parish churches raised funds, therefore being personally involved in the imperial mission.54 Such examples underscore the importance of the foreign mission movement, and the religious institutions that drove it, for the construction of Scottish national identity in the nineteenth century.55 Missionary societies stressed the role of Scots in the Empire as a means to express ‘a distinctly Scots Presbyterian duty’,56 at the same time re-cementing ‘a sense of Britishness in the face of other cultures’.57 Such activities were not pursued in New Zealand to the same extent as in places like South Africa, but the connection between the Free Church and the settlement of Otago, and Dunedin in particular, provided an equally strong direct link. As much is reflected, for instance, in the Free Church of Scotland Monthly Record’s colonial notes. News highlighted not only the sending out of Free Church ministers to New Zealand, but also documented the financial contributions of colonial congregations to the funds of the Free Church – and ones that, at times, were quite substantial.58 Moreover, particular attention was given to reports on the Otago settlement’s progress. Thus observed the Revd George Sutherland, in 1868, that ‘twenty years ago Dr Burns landed on the shores of Otago, with his fellowpassengers from far-off Albion [and Otago] is now the healthiest, and most prosperous province in New Zealand’.59 This observation serves as a timely reminder of the Otago settlement’s importance as the first co-ordinated Scottish settlement in New Zealand. Before proceeding to explore the Scottish migrants’ experiences and activities after settlement, therefore, it is important to outline the background and general flows of the Scots’ emigration there. The Scots in New Zealand New Zealand, the most distant of the Commonwealth nations constituting the British Empire, is British to the core. Many thousands of 54

55 56

57 58

59

One particular way of bringing the Empire home in this context was the Magic Lantern Show that was performed in churches all over Scotland. During the show, the audience could see images from far-away places and the missionary work. Cf. Finlay, ‘Missions Overseas’, 424–5. Later in the century, these shows were also used by the promoters of Imperial Federation to bring the Empire ‘home’, see for example The Scotsman, 30 Oct. 1900, 6. See Breitenbach, Empire and Scottish Society. J. M. MacKenzie, ‘Empire and National Identities: The Case of Scotland’, Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, 8 (1998), 227. C. Brown, Religion and Society in Scotland since 1707 (Edinburgh, 1997), 190. It was expected, in 1860, that the congregation at ‘East Tiere [sic] will be able to contribute £200 per annum to the Sustentation Fund’ (Home and Foreign Record of the Free Church of Scotland, Dec. 1860, 113). Free Church of Scotland Monthly Record, Sep. 1868, 206; for an earlier example, see Dec. 1864, 684–5.

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miles from the homeland . . . for every New Zealander thus regards Britain . . . we find reproduced just those characteristics that make for our race. The foundations of New Zealand settlement were well and truly laid by pioneers who faced adventure, withstood hardship, and maintained under all conditions of difficulty a determination to plant in this distant part of the world a ‘new Britain’ . . .60 Coming less then ten years after the end of the First World War, the New Zealand Prime Minister’s statement does not surprise. To ease pressures on the post-war British economy, policies of state intervention had been formulated to promote cohesion and unity between Britain and her colonies. Imperialists in British political circles had pressed for state-funded migration schemes earlier in the twentieth century, but it needed war to reinforce their case. Initially set up as a scheme for ex-servicemen under the newly formed Overseas Settlement Committee, assisted passages were provided for war veterans from 1 January 1920. More than eighty-five thousand emigrants were granted free passages under the scheme, but only 16% went to New Zealand.61 The imperialist vision of unity found its culmination in the Empire Settlement Act of 1922. With the British Parliament’s pledge to set aside up to three million pounds annually for fifteen years to assist emigration, over 400,000 people received assistance between May 1922 and March 1936, around 36% of all emigrants from the British Isles in that period. Roughly a third of these embarked for New Zealand.62 Especially welcome were young, single women who could work as domestic servants.63 Special advertisements were published in the British press to attract the desired immigrants, soon drawing takers in Scotland. In October 1923, for example, thirty-eight women left London for New Zealand, twenty of them from Edinburgh, Stirlingshire, Dundee, Montrose, and Aberdeen. They were sent out by the Society for Overseas Settlement of British Women, accompanied by a matron. They pledged to undertake domestic work on arrival, and to abstain from marriage for twelve months, receiving a free passage and a gratuity of £2 in return.64 Yet, the era of Empire Settlement cannot 60

61 62

63

64

Rt Hon. J. G. Coates, Prime Minister of New Zealand, ‘New Zealand Within the Empire: British to the Core’, The Times, 22 Feb. 1927, xi (supplement). Harper, Emigration from Scotland Between the Wars, 15. For a breakdown of destinations, see figure 3 in Harper, Emigration from Scotland Between the Wars, 18; also S. Constantine, ‘Empire Migration and Social Reform, 1880–1950’, in C. G. Pooley and I. D. Whyte (eds), Migrants, Emigrants and Immigrants (London, 1991); K.  Pickles, ‘Pink Cheeked and Surplus: Single British Women’s Inter-War Migration to New Zealand’, in L. Fraser and K. Pickles (eds), Shifting Centres: Women and Migration in New Zealand History (Dunedin, 2002), 63–80. K. Pickles, ‘Empire Settlement and Single British Women as New Zealand Domestic Servants During the 1920s’, New Zealand Journal of History, 35, 1 (2001), 22–44. The Scotsman, 12 Oct. 1923, 5. Women had long since been valued migrants. As Macdonald notes, the demand for domestic servants increased from the 1840s when, through

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be taken as representative of the flow of people from the British Isles, or more specifically Scotland, to destinations around the world. Emigration from Scotland was not a single-stream phenomenon, but is characterised by diverse trends in relation to preferred destinations over time, overall migrant numbers, and their regional background in Scotland.65 In terms of the choice of a particular destination, many factors could influence the decision-making process. Enticed by opportunities the New World offered, the prospect of a better life without the constraints of established social hierarchies was always an important incentive. Freedom is a central theme in many personal testimonies. In 1858, for instance, one of colonial New Zealand’s most eccentric figures, Scotland-born J. G. S. Grant, contended that only New Zealand’s Province of Otago was suitable if a migrant wanted ‘to breathe the atmosphere of independence’.66 Sparked by Arcadian visions of ‘a land flowing with milk and honey’,67 some Scots went for business, while others hoped to acquire their own land. The lure of land certainly was one of the main inducements to emigrate.68 Those who made their way to New Zealand did not take the decision lightly: the Antipodes were God’s farthest outpost.69 This is not to suggest that emigration decisions were made more easily in respect of other destinations, rather that emigrating to New Zealand tended to be perceived as irrevocable – divided by ‘a measureless ocean’.70 This was a sentiment less strong among migrants transferring to destinations in closer vicinity to Scotland. One important practical matter was the significantly higher cost of emigrating to New Zealand, exacerbated by the longer trip and the prospect of months of ‘seasickness and poor food’.71 Incentives in the form of land grants and assisted passages, the attraction of prior migration of family

65

66

67 68 69

70

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systematic colonisation, many well-off colonists sought to recreate their accustomed lifestyle in New Zealand. See C. Macdonald, ‘Strangers at the Hearth: The Eclipse of Domestic Service in New Zealand Homes c. 1830s–1940s’, in B. Brookes (ed.), At Home in New Zealand: Houses, History, People (Wellington, 2000), 46–8. McClean shows the trends in terms of emigration destination, observing marked fluctuations for the 1840–80 period. While most Scots went to the US between 1853 and 1880, they were also more strongly represented than English and Welsh among those who did not choose the US. See R. McClean, ‘Scottish Emigrants to New Zealand, 1840–1880: Motives, Means and Background’, unpublished Ph.D. thesis (University of Edinburgh, 1990), 12–13. Otago Witness, 23 Jan. 1858, 3. Grant was born in Banffshire in Scotland and came to New Zealand in 1855, cf. P. Gibbons, ‘Grant, James Gordon Stuart 1832/1834?–1902’, DNZB, www.dnzb.govt.nz, last visited 23 Apr. 2010. Otago Witness, 23 Jan. 1858, 3. Harper, Adventurers and Exiles, 84. The phrase originally comes from M. King, God’s Farthest Outpost: A History of Catholics in New Zealand (Auckland, 1997), the title reflecting the remoteness of New Zealand that many letter-writers were also concerned about. Phrase used by Robert Shennan in a poem he wrote for his son John on his departure from Scotland, Aug. 1858, Hocken, MS-2144/01. Phillips, Hearn, Settlers, 22; costs were over four times higher than to other colonies.

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and friends, were all the more important. Pull-factors, such as the discovery of gold in Otago’s Tuapeka district in 1861, were equally significant.72 Large numbers of migrants, many of whom had previously mined the Victorian goldfields of Australia, crossed the Tasman Sea. Scots were disproportionately strongly represented among the new arrivals when measured in terms of population ratios in the British Isles.73 Dunedin, the first port of call for many hopefuls, expanded significantly. Its population grew from below 1,700 people in 1858 to near thirty thousand in the mid-1870s, making it, temporarily, New Zealand’s largest city.74 Apart from pull-factors specific to New Zealand, other developments that influenced prospective emigrants in their decision were inhibitors relating to other destinations. As McClean shows, New Zealand became a more popular destination for Scots when Civil War broke out in the United States.75 For the period covered in this book, five distinct immigration phases can be identified. While there were Scots among the transients in pre-1840 New Zealand,76 the first significant phase starts with the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi and runs until the mid-1850s.77 It is in this period that early Scottish pioneers like previously encountered John Logan Campbell made their mark. Ships like the Blenheim, sent by the New Zealand Company to Wellington in 1841, brought Scots directly from the Clyde. Many of these early Wellington Scots living at Kaiwharawhara later resettled in the Manawatu/Rangitikei region and the Wairarapa in the lower North Island.78 Viewed as hard-working, decent, and reliable, Scots were desired pioneer settlers. Dunedin, organised under the aegis of the New Zealand Company and its offshoot the Otago Association, was established as a Free Church Settlement in 1848.79 The Disruption of 1843 shaped the scheme, with a number of Free Church secessionists involved in the planning for the settlement. These included the Revd Thomas Burns of Dumfriesshire, who was offered the position of minister to the migrants in mid-1843 by the Colonial Committee of the Free Church of Scotland. Prior to arrival, Burns had already acquired a reputation for his strict moral standards, which he 72

73

74 75 76

77 78

79

G. Fetherling, The Gold Crusades: A Social History of Gold Rushes, 1849–1929 (Toronto, 1997), 78ff. While the Scottish share of the UK total population at the 1861 census was 10.3%, it was 19.3% on the Otago goldfields; Irish and English came in numbers more closely resembling their homeland share. See table 1. T. Hearn, ‘Scots Miners in the Goldfields, 1861–1870’, in Brooking and Coleman (eds), The Heather and the Fern, 73. King, Penguin History of New Zealand, 209. McClean, ‘Scottish Emigrants to New Zealand’, 16. For some of the earlier arrivals just prior to the signing of the Treaty, see The Scotsman, 30 Oct. 1839, 3. Brooking ‘Tam McCanny and Kitty Clydeside’, 159. One settlement in the former region that maintains a strong Scottish character to date is Turakina, which hosts New Zealand’s longest-running Highland Games. See for example 1847–8, [961] [961-II], Colonial Land and Emigration Commission: Eighth General Report of the Colonial Land and Emigration Commissioners.

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sought to anchor in the colony by selecting the ‘ideal’ Presbyterian settlers, leading Sinclair to later describe him as ‘a censorious bigot’.80 A nephew of the poet Robert Burns, we will return to Thomas in chapter seven. The main point here is that recruitment schemes in Scotland, together with the direct departure from Scottish ports, secured a strong Scottish contingent in this early settlement phase, a contingent that was reserved not just for Otago. The second phase of Scottish migration to New Zealand ran from the mid-1850s to 1870 and was primarily shaped by the discovery of gold in the South Island, first in Otago and later on the West Coast. It was in this phase that Otago’s character as a Scottish settlement was first challenged, though Scots were still being specifically recruited to the settlement in significant numbers.81 The 1858 census shows that no more than 55% of the 1,712 Dunedinites listed in the census gave Scotland as their place of birth.82 This was certainly higher than the 23% English and the less than 2% from Ireland, but it was a far cry from the founders’ vision of the settlement. The sudden influx of new migrants reshaped and diluted the province’s ethnic make-up. The gold-seekers were a very different type of migrant from the early pioneers. They were mostly single (although differences between national groups indicate different migratory streams), highly transient, and of agricultural, mining, or pre-industrial background.83 As will be explored further in chapter three, their arrival in Dunedin was an important factor in the development of Scottish associationalism. Yet, while the discovery of gold meant that attention was primarily focused on the South Island, in the North Island provincial government initiatives such as Auckland’s land grants scheme also attracted Scottish migrant groups, the best known being the followers of the Revd Norman McLeod who settled at Waipu.84 The early 1870s marked the beginning of a co-ordinated central government programme of state assistance for willing immigrants, chiefly through Julius Vogel’s Immigration and Public Works scheme. Devised to improve New Zealand’s infrastructure through the building of railways, telegraph lines, and roads, the scheme offered assisted passages in return for labour. To provide the necessary assistance for a large number of migrants, a

80

81 82

83 84

Cf. R. McClean, ‘Scottish Piety: The Free Church Settlement of Otago, 1848–1853’, in J. Stenhouse and J. Thomson (eds), Building God’s Own Country: Historical Essays on Religions in New Zealand (Dunedin, 2004), 21, 30; Sinclair, History of New Zealand, 92; also J. Stenhouse, and G. A. Wood, Christianity, Modernity and Culture: New Perspectives on New Zealand History (Hindmarsh, 2006); T. Brooking, And Captain of their Souls: An Interpretive Essay on the Life and Times of Captain William Cargill (Dunedin, 1984); A. H. McLintock, The History of Otago: The Origins and Growth of a Wakefield Class Settlement (Dunedin, 1949); also The Scotsman, 9 Aug., 1843, 3. For a recruitment advertisement, see for instance The Scotsman, 13 Dec. 1862, 1. Otago Witness, 14 May 1859, 5; of those listed, 288 were born in New Zealand, but judging by their surnames many of them will have been of Scottish descent. Hearn, ‘Scots Miners in the Goldfields’, 85. Belich, Making Peoples, 314.

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good £20 million was borrowed on the London capital market by the New Zealand government.85 Estimates suggest that around a hundred thousand immigrants entered New Zealand in the 1870s, thereby contributing to the spectacular increase of New Zealand’s non-Maori population.86 Importantly for this study, it was as part of Vogel’s policies that a larger contingent of Highlanders arrived in the country.87 Partly the result of the successful recruitment by emigration agents in Scotland, targeted special settlements were established across New Zealand under the auspices of provincial governments, facilitating the concentrated arrival of Highlanders.88 One special settlement was that of Stewart Island, the destination of a significant group of Shetland Islanders.89 Backed by influential politician Robert Stout, himself a native of Shetland, and Otago Superintendent James Macandrew, Shetland Islanders seemed well suited, ‘inured to the hardships of a rigorous climate’, and inherited ‘maritime instincts’ that would secure them a good living in the far south.90 The settlement, however, was ill conceived.91 Conditions in Foveaux Strait prevented immigrants from using their skills, and poor preservation methods made selling their catch all the more difficult. For periods two and three, that is from the mid-1850s to c. 1880, McClean estimates that around fifty-three thousand Scots travelled directly from a port in the United Kingdom to a destination in New Zealand.92 With the 1880s characterised by the gradual phasing out of assistance, this eventually terminating in 1890, immigration numbers fell. While immigration had previously been the primary source of New Zealand’s population increase, there was a net loss of population from the late-1880s.93 This 85 86

87 88

89

90 91

92 93

King, Penguin History of New Zealand, 229. Between 1861 and 1876, the non-Maori population increased from 99,021 to 399,075, with 207,000 contributed by net immigration, cf. T. Simpson, The Immigrants: The Great Migration from Britain to New Zealand, 1830–1890 (Auckland, 1997), 7. Richards, ‘The Last of the Clan’, 35. Belich, Making Peoples, 281; also S. Butterworth, Chips off the Auld Rock: Shetlanders in New Zealand (Wellington, 1997), 62–5. These schemes were not particular to Scots; the settlement of Katikati, for example, attracted Protestants from Northern Ireland. See B. Patterson, ‘New Zealand’s “Ulster Plantation”: Katikati Revisited’, in B. Patterson (ed.), Ulster–New Zealand Migration and Cultural Transfers (Dublin, 2006). While only a little more than thirty went to Stewart Island, Shetland Islanders arrived in unusually high numbers in the period between 1871 and 1881 as a result of Vogel’s assisted migration scheme. As Rebecca Lenihan demonstrates, the proportion of Shetland Island migrants in that decade was between 6 and 10%, about 1,200 in absolute numbers. See R. Lenihan, ‘From Alba to Aotearoa: Profiling New Zealand’s Scots Migrants, 1840– 1920’, unpublished Ph.D. thesis (Victoria University of Wellington, 2010), 177. Riverton correspondent, Otago Witness, 17 Jun. 1871, 1. R. P. Hargreaves and T. Hearn, ‘Special Settlements of the South Island New Zealand’, New Zealand Geographer, 37, 2 (1981), 67–72. McClean, ‘Scottish Emigrants to New Zealand’, 16. For more details, see J. M. Gandar, ‘New Zealand Net Migration in the Latter Part of the Nineteenth Century’, Australian Economic History Review, 19, 2 (1979), 151–68.

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was the combined result of a lower number of immigrants, assisted and unassisted, and economic depression, also triggering the introduction of the first anti-immigration legislation.94 Despite these developments, the number of Scots entering New Zealand between 1891 and 1915 remained relatively constant. It was only during the First World War that immigration numbers stalled. By contrast, the final phase, up to 1930, witnessed reinvigorated flows. Empire Settlement, as noted earlier, was a direct response to the First World War, stimulating a new influx of migrants in the early inter-war years. Many were Scots trying to escape the economic hardship caused by the decline of the traditional heavy industries in Scotland after the short-lived post-war boom.95 Mass unemployment, particularly among skilled male workers, was high; in the shipbuilding industry alone the average rate of unemployment in the 1920s was 29%.96 In this climate of unease, emigration seemed a viable solution. Against these five phases, a brief statistical overview of the Scots who arrived in New Zealand is useful, enabling a more detailed characterisation of the immigrants. This overview will concentrate on establishing the Scots’ migrants origins in Scotland, and their settlement patterns in New Zealand. These are the characteristics most pertinent here, and ones that can feasibly be explored within the framework of this study. In terms of the migrants’ other characteristics, for instance their age and gender composition, and occupational background, Rebecca Lenihan’s study offers an exceptionally rich analysis.97 Suffice it to point out the key characteristics here. First, Scottish migrants were young, usually in their mid-twenties, with a significantly higher number arriving married than single among both males and females. Secondly, the Scottish migrants’ gender composition was more unbalanced than that of other migrant groups.98 And finally, in terms of the migrants’ occupational background, it is most notable that the Scots who came to New Zealand did not come to escape industrialisation: more than half of the migrants did not come from an industrial background at all, while many of those who did seem to have happily stayed in manufacturing occupations after arrival. In New Zealand, agriculture was the primary employer. It was also a sector in which occupational mobility of Scots was not only common, but also generally upwards. In combination, the occupation characteristics emphasise that Scottish arrivals were not among the poorest section of the population, and that class fissures in 94

95 96 97 98

This was not directed towards immigrants from the British Isles, but primarily towards those from China, see M. Ip (ed.), Unfolding History, Evolving Identity: The Chinese in New Zealand (Auckland, 2003), esp. part I. Knox, Industrial Nation, 189. Ibid., 191. Lenihan, ‘From Alba to Aotearoa’, esp. cps 4 and 5. Some reasons for this are offered in R. McClean, ‘Reluctant Leavers? Scottish Women and Emigration in the Mid-nineteenth Century’, in T. Brooking and J. Coleman (eds), The Heather and the Fern: Scottish Migration and New Zealand Settlement (Dunedin, 2003), 103–16.

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the Scottish immigrant community were comparatively unimportant. Both these points will be revisited in later chapters. To answer where New Zealand’s Scottish immigrants hailed from in terms of their local origins in Scotland is not a straightforward undertaking. This is the case because the records commonly utilised for the purpose of establishing a migrant group’s demographic profile are largely unavailable or non-existent for New Zealand. While passenger lists have survived for New Zealand Company ships for the 1840s, as well as for assisted migrants who arrived under New Zealand government schemes in the 1870s, crucial gaps remain for other decades and self-funders. Even more significantly, all enumerators’ schedules for the New Zealand censuses prior to 1966 were destroyed, with only the published census statistics available to offer some insights.99 In short, few official records are available to shed light on the place of birth of immigrants from the British Isles prior to the midtwentieth century. These strictures in mind, the most up-to-date published analysis available is an outcome of the New Zealand Ministry of Culture and Heritage’s Peopling of New Zealand project (PNZ), which carried out a systematic sampling of the New Zealand Death Registers for the purpose of identifying the origins of New Zealand’s British Isles immigrants. While the largest group of migrants arrived from England, averaging at 58.12% over the period 1840 to 1945, the Scots averaged at 24.64%, coming in second before the Irish with an average of 15.22%. The highest percentage of Scots arrivals, 30.2%, is shown for the period 1853–70. This offers an interesting point of comparison with respect to the distribution of the home population. Based on the UK census years of 1851, 1861, and 1871, the Scots made up around 10% of the UK population; in New Zealand, however, they represented about 30% of New Zealand immigrants.100 In short, the Scots were over-represented. Further to these general patterns, data collated on the basis of records made available by the New Zealand Society of Genealogists Scottish Interest Group (NZSG) emphasises the Lowland background of the Scottish arrivals in New Zealand.101 Between 1840 and 1920, Lenihan has determined, 70.03% of Scottish immigrants were born in a Lowland county.102 This summary of origins, while helping to establish the broad migration patterns, is silent as to the immigrants’ local background in Scotland. To 99

100 101

102

For details, see L. Cook, ‘Constraints and Conflicts in Access to Official Statistics and Statistical Records’, in B. Patterson (ed.), New Zealand Archives Futures: Essays in Honour of Michael Hoare (Wellington, 1996), 173–80; also R. Sinnott, ‘The Census and Privacy in New Zealand: Do Privacy Concerns Justify Destruction of Name-identified Census Forms?’, Archifacts (Apr., 2000), 25–50. Phillips and Hearn, Settlers, 52. The database was compiled by, and forms the statistical foundation of, Lenihan’s Ph.D. thesis, ‘From Alba to Aotearoa’; see 51ff. for details. Lenihan, ‘From Alba to Aotearoa’, 33.

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provide a better understanding of these origins, two sets of data are utilised in this study for the purpose of establishing a more detailed geographic profile of migrant origins (Map 1.1). The first is a database that contains the information on origins extracted from the records provided by the NZSG. The database includes 6,612 individual entries, with local origins being traceable for 6,214 Scots, that is, 93.98% of the overall NZSG database entries. The second database includes all identifiable Scots listed in the six volumes of the Cyclopedia of New Zealand published between 1897 and 1908.103 The overall number of Scots listed across the volumes is 2,582, and local origins are identifiable for 2,378, that is, 92%.104 To provide further comparative context, and to level out source-specific biases,105 the PNZ data has also been included in the following analysis. Some valuable insights are forthcoming based on the distribution in map 1.1.106 First, discernible patterns are broadly the same across all datasets. In the areas where differences exist, they are subtle rather than yawning, averaging at less than 1%. This relatively small divergence is important given the absence of enumerators’ schedules for the New Zealand census, reinforcing the robustness of the different sources used. This is particularly important as the trends evidenced, secondly, confirm that Scottish immigrants to New Zealand were mostly from the Lowlands. The majority of settlers hailed from the densely populated Lowland counties, especially Lanarkshire. In view of the population distribution and migration patterns 103

104

105

106

The Cyclopedia of New Zealand is a very useful source. It provides general overview accounts of settlements in its respective area of coverage, as well as biographical details of people resident in these areas. Although biased in favour of those able to pay the £5 fee required for an entry, the Cyclopedia volumes hold a wealth of information on the professional and social life of those included, further providing details on many immigrants’ ethnic origins. The database used for the analysis was compiled by the author and other members of the Scottish Migration Marsden research team; particular thanks go to Jim McAloon for overseeing database compilation. Cf. Cyclopedia of New Zealand: Industrial, Descriptive, Historical, Biographical Facts, Figures, Illustrations, 6 vols (Wellington, 1897–1908). This compares to almost six thousand listed with identifiable British origins, see M. N. Galt, ‘Who came to New Zealand? New light on the Origins of British Settlers, 1840–1889’, New Zealand Population Review, 21, 1–2 (1995), 51. Among those Scots taken out of the database were 0.85% who were born outside of Scotland, 1.7% who were born in New Zealand, and 5.4% for whom the biographical entry in the Cyclopedia lists only an unspecific reference to Scotland. The Cyclopedia data is problematic because the Cyclopedia volumes were published at the end of the nineteenth and in the early twentieth centuries, thus not including immigrants from the whole period this study is concerned with (for a more detailed exploration of the matters thus arising, see Galt, ‘Who came to New Zealand?’, 53–4). An issue with respect to the PNZ data is that names could not be recorded, preventing cross-referencing. For the broad overview profile established here, however, this stricture is not a pressing concern. The divisions used in this map, and throughout the book, are based upon Flinn, Scottish Population History, map 3, xxiii. This choice has been made on the basis of previous scholarship on Scottish emigration to New Zealand, so as to facilitate comparison (McClean drew on Flinn in her 1990 Ph.D. thesis, as did Lenihan in her 2010 thesis; for the most part, Phillips and Hearn’s in the PNZ analysis also follows these boundaries).

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Map 1.1: Origins of New Zealand’s Scottish immigrants (source: the author).

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within Scotland, this hardly surprises. What the breakdown emphasises strongly, in conjunction with Scottish data, is that New Zealand was a Scottish microcosm: immigrants came proportionately to their regional population concentrations in Scotland,107 a trend not uniformly a characteristic of Scottish settlements abroad.108 A matter of equal importance to that of regional origins in Scotland is the location of Scots settlers in New Zealand. The broad provincial settlement patterns can be established by drawing on published census figures. These reveal that, overall, more than half of New Zealand’s Scottish population resided in the South Island. The Province of Otago was the main settlement hub, followed, until the end of the nineteenth century, either by the Auckland or Canterbury provinces. Patterns shifted slightly in favour of the North Island from then on, with both Wellington and Auckland attracting larger numbers of Scottish migrants throughout the late nineteenth century. An increase is also evident for Taranaki and Hawke’s Bay.109 The other provinces attracted only a comparatively small number of Scottish settlers, with the exception of distinct rises that were the result of particular settlement policies or economic pull-factors. As much was the case, for example, with respect to the West Coast, the gold discovery there attracting a significant number of Scots from the mid-1860s.110 Drawing on the sources utilised for this study, a number of concerns arise with respect to the establishment of a provincial settlement and distribution profile. In the Cyclopedia, entries were grouped according to place of residence in six different volumes, only the most populous regions having their own volumes. The emerging profile shows 11% of Scots for the Auckland volume; 5.6% for the Taranaki, Hawke’s Bay, and Wellington volume; 13.4% for the Wellington city volume; 6.5% for the Nelson, Marlborough, and Westland volume; 23% for the Canterbury volume; and 40.9% for the Otago volume. Given the divergent number of overall entries in the individual Cyclopedia volumes, the spread arguably tells more about settler population distribution and the interconnection between places of settlement and arable land, industries, political life, and capital than it does about the Scots’ provincial settlement patterns. The overwhelming 107

108

109

110

This is confirmed by Philips and Hearn who offer a suitable comparison between the regional origins of Scottish immigrants to New Zealand and the distribution of the population at the closest census in Scotland itself, see Philips and Hearn, Settlers, 107–8; also McClean, ‘Scottish Emigrants to New Zealand’, 150, 157. The bulk of Scottish settlers to Nova Scotia and Cap Breton in Canada, for instance, were of Highland extraction. Cf. L. H. Campey, After the Hector: The Scottish Pioneers of Nova Scotia and Cape Breton, 1773–1852 (2nd edn, Toronto, 2007). In part, these changes were the result of a general population drift from the South to the North Island between the mid-1880s and 1905. See J. S. Duncan, ‘The Land for the People: Land Settlement and Rural Population Movements, 1886–1906’, in M. McCaskill (ed.), Land and Livelihood: Geographical Essays in Honour of George Jobberns (Christchurch, 1962), 170–90. For a detailed profile, see Lenihan, ‘From Alba to Aotearoa’, 61.

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dominance of Scots in Otago is nonetheless noteworthy, confirming the Scots’ prominence there. This is an important factor with respect to the development of Scottish associational culture traced in later chapters. Associationalism first developed in places with the highest number of Scots; it did not emerge within a minority group context, but reflected the endurance of Scottish ethnicity and culture on a large scale. With respect to settlement patterns in New Zealand, the NZSG data is equally problematic in that it tends to list more than just one place of residence. While this documents the transience of immigrants, it makes the establishment of an overview profile more complex. If based on a settler’s place of death, for instance, the NZSG distribution by province still confirms the general patterns established on the basis of the census figures. However, in view of population drifts to the North Island in the late nineteenth century, the data suggests a higher proportion of Scots were living in the North Island than, over the whole period covered here, was the case.111 Bearing these difficulties in mind, the most useful dataset to illuminate patterns for the place of settlement of Scots is the PNZ data. Although far less marked than in the Cyclopedia analysis, the PNZ patterns underscore that Otago and Southland were the foremost places of settlement for Scottish immigrants. Concentrations varied, the 1871 census revealing, for instance, that over 60% of Southland’s immigrants from the UK were of Scottish descent, compared to a little over 50% for Otago.112 What these patterns sometimes obscure is that the Scots generally settled all over New Zealand. As Phillips and Hearn demonstrate, they made up at least 15% in almost all provinces in the censuses up to the First World War.113 Moreover, a key point disguised in regional settlement profiles is that there are a number of localised cluster concentrations of Scots. Some areas in the lower North Island, the Wairarapa and Wanganui areas for example, had a comparatively high concentration of Scots, with many hailing from the Highlands.114 The latter characteristic is important in terms of the membership profiles for some associations, and will be revisited in that context in chapter four. Conclusion This chapter, in surveying the Scottish mindset at the point of departure, has demonstrated and explored how the Empire strengthened a distinctive sense of Scottishness. It was the Union of 1707 that facilitated access

111

112 113 114

For a useful comparison of migrants from each region in Scotland with those living in each province in New Zealand, see Lenihan, ‘From Alba to Aotearoa’, 69. Phillips and Hearn, Settlers, 148. Ibid., 151. For a detailed breakdown, based on the New Zealand regions of death of Scottish immigrants, see ibid., 149.

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for Scots to the Empire within a new constitutional framework. It did so by enshrining Scottish civil society, which in turn provided important opportunities for Scotland’s elite to govern many areas of civic life despite the loss of the parliament. Within this context, the Scots’ role as Empire-builders, bound and transported by popular imperialism, was crucial in that it powerfully underpinned Scottishness at home and abroad. Although Scots could also be exiles, the prevailing mindset at the time Scottish emigration to New Zealand commenced on a large scale was positive, in stark contrast to the generally negative popular portrayal. The timing of Scottish emigration to New Zealand was crucial: all indications are that those Scots who arrived were of a different type to those who shipped for North America in earlier decades. The chapter has also emphasised that Scots throughout the period studied were highly mobile. They had long since roamed the globe in pursuit of work, wealth, and opportunities. In the words of Dunedinite the Revd Dutton, ‘the Scotsman was a noted wanderer, but wherever he roamed he always carried with him an intense love of the Homeland’.115 Statistics confirm that those Scots who came to New Zealand were generally Lowlanders and they settled predominantly in Otago and Southland. Although not a surprising distribution, the analysis has helped to put Scottish migration to New Zealand into perspective, offering the necessary context for the analyses that follow.

115

Otago Witness, 28 Oct. 1908, 75.

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CHAPTER TWO

‘Feeble Pen and Paper’? The Personal Correspondence and Epistolary Practices of Scottish Migrants* On the eve of 27 October 1883, the Jack family, John, Helen, and their two sons John Hill Hunter and James Whitson, left 48 Lauder Road, Edinburgh, for the port of Leith.1 Their luggage had already been packed and was delivered, ahead of the family, to the SS Iona anchored in Leith harbour, the vessel which was to take them to London. From there, the Jacks were to embark on a three-month journey to New Zealand. The departure in Edinburgh was a sad event. Aware of the finality of the Jacks’ decision to emigrate, Peter Gardner, a family friend, observed how unlikely it was that they would see each other again ‘in the flesh’.2 Perhaps Gardner was among those gathered in front of the Iona for the farewell; befitting the occasion, someone had brought ‘a nice cake’.3 After an unexpected delay of three weeks in London, the Jacks were pleased when they could finally leave their hotel, ‘a close dirty place’,4 to take up their quarters on board the Invercargill bound for Wellington. With a mixture of anxiety and anticipation, John Jack and his sons perambulated the London docks for one last time before the family finally left the British Isles on 19 November 1883. Writing of the departure, John noted that after ‘much cheering and waving of handkerchiefs, away we went from the East India Dock’.5 Travelling as *

1

2 3 4 5

A version of this chapter was first published under the title “‘Where the Measureless Ocean between us will Roar”: Scottish Emigration to New Zealand, Personal Correspondence and Epistolary Practices, c. 1850–1920’, Immigrants & Minorities, 26, 3 (2008), 242–65. The author thanks Taylor and Francis for permission to publish this version here. Journal of John Jack, 27 Oct. 1883, Wellington, Alexander Turnbull Library [ATL], MS-1074. John Jack was born in Dundee in late 1828 and baptised on 26 Dec. 1828; his wife Helen was born in the same year and baptised in Bendochy, Perth on 15 Apr. 1828. They were married in Dundee on 19 Sep. 1854 and emigrated to New Zealand in 1883 with their sons John Hill Hunter and James Whitson. John jun. was born in Dundee in 1857 and James in 1866. See O.P.R. Births 282/ 0160 0180 Dundee; O.P.R. Births 332/ 0030 0013 Bendochy; O.P.R. Marriages 282/ 0230 0498 Dundee; also Census 1841, 282/00 014/00 005; Census 1851, 282/00 016/00 010; Census 1881, FHL Film 0203532 GRO Ref. 459-2, 294148. Accessed via Scotlands People, www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/, last visited 20 Mar. 2008. Peter Gardner to John Jack, Edinburgh, 22 Oct. 1883, ATL, MS-Papers-7028-04. Journal of John Jack, 27 Oct. 1883, ATL, MS-1074. Ibid., 18 Nov. 1883. Ibid., 19 Nov. 1883.

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cabin passengers, the family no doubt journeyed in relative comfort, arriving in Wellington on 20 February 1884, when the Invercargill ‘with colours flying, sailed gracefully up the harbour’.6 The story of the Jack family’s departure and voyage was mirrored all over the British Isles and continental Europe in the age of the great migrations, documenting that emigration is more than the sum of those who left. Rather than offering a general account of that migration, this chapter focuses on the human aspect, exploring the personal dimension of the settlement experience of Scots in New Zealand. Drawing on personal correspondence, the chapter thus focuses on the most immediate circle of belonging, asking: what did migration mean to individual Scots migrants and how did they adjust to their new life in New Zealand? Letters and their writers Letters have become fashionable sources for migration historians because they promise unprecedented insights into the private world of migrants, yet there has also been considerable debate about the use and utility of such personal testimonies.7 Letters can record emotional and rational responses to life in the new world, as well as memories of the old. In so doing, letters not only assist sustaining relationships across vast distances, they also produce continuity, helping writers, and to some extent the letters’ recipients, to make sense of the new world before them. Subsequently, personal correspondence can also serve as a means to maintain identity. Framing migrant correspondence in this way moves beyond the use of letters as a mere source for ‘colour and drama’,8 following in the footsteps of David Fitzpatrick’s pioneering study on personal accounts of Irish migration to Australia.9 Aware of the problems inherent to personal testimonies as a source of evidence, Fitzpatrick views emigrant letters as a literary form, hence acknowledging their textuality and specific conventions. Critical engagement with migrant letters, as with any other source, is 6 7

8

9

Ibid., 20 Feb. 1884. B. Elliott et al., ‘Introduction’, in B. Elliott et al. (eds), Letters Across Borders: The Epistolary Practices of International Migrants (Basingstoke, 2006), 4–7; also E. J. Errington, Emigrant Worlds and Transatlantic Communities: Migration to Upper Canada in the First Half of the Nineteenth Century (Montreal, 2007), 174ff. For instance A. McCarthy, ‘Introduction: Personal Testimonies and Scottish Migration’, in A. McCarthy (ed.), A Global Clan: Scottish Migrant Networks and Identities since the Eighteenth Century (London, 2006), 2. Fitzpatrick persuasively demonstrates both the possible scope and breadth of research based on emigrant letters in his seminal Oceans of Consolation: Personal Accounts of Irish Migration to Australia (Ithaca and London, 1994). For an example of a well-arranged letter collection, see C. Erickson, Invisible Immigrants (Ithaca and London, 1972); for the Scottish context also A. McCarthy, ‘Personal Accounts of Leaving Scotland, 1921–1954’, Scottish Historical Review, 83, 2 (2004), 196–215; also A. McCarthy, Personal Narratives of Irish and Scottish Migration, 1921–65: ‘For Spirit and Adventure’ (Manchester, 2007).

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crucial, necessitating close scrutiny of letter writers and recipients alike. At the heart of the matter lies the issue of representation: quite apart from the fact that only a fraction of letters, overall, has survived, there tends to be a bias in favour of the better-educated and literate portion of society. Hence the question: who are we looking at in terms of the societal stratum of the Scottish migrant population in New Zealand? Equally important are questions of authenticity, authorship, and directional flow of letters. In view of the cycle of correspondence, for example, many letters in collections go only one way and whole sequences over longer periods of time are rare. As a result, historians often find themselves faced with a one-way conversation. If this was directed inward to the migrant in New Zealand, reading between the lines easily becomes the norm, potentially resulting in distorted interpretations. A further complication is that letters, although a particular form of writing, are also a discursive construct, and one often arranged around the expression of memories. While these could bridge past and present, serving as a source of continuity and linking to history – both the migrants’ personal history and wider historical developments – memory and history are not identical.10 Consequently, a literal reading of the letters’ content as history is to be strongly discouraged. This holds true not least because personal testimonies are, by nature, subjective and selective. The silence over particular topics, for example, does not mean these were not part of the letter writer’s life; all it means, in the first instance, is that he or she did not write about them. What these questions highlight is a global problem: to what extent is it possible to draw general conclusions from personal testimonies? As Fitzpatrick points out, letters cannot be read as representative of all migrants, but it is possible to synthesise individual responses along common themes. Thus we can begin to discern common migrant experiences.11 This is a useful and sensible approach that will be followed here. Yet as David Gerber’s innovative study, Authors of their Lives, suggests, letters were a medium of communication, but also a crucial constituent in the shaping and maintenance of diverse relationships.12 Personal correspondence thus needs to be scrutinised as a locus for the recording of experiences, but also for its function in what might suitably be called the migrant world. The specific epistolary practices employed, for example, had a range of practical purposes that need to be explored. This study is based on the analysis of 784 letters from fifty-seven

10 11 12

J. Bourke, ‘Introduction’, Journal of Contemporary History, 39, 4 (2004), 485. Fitzpatrick, Oceans of Consolation, 5. Cf. D. A. Gerber, Authors of their Lives: The Personal Correspondence of British Immigrants to North America in the Nineteenth Century (New York, 2006); also D. A. Gerber, ‘Epistolary Ethics: Personal Correspondence and the Culture of Emigration in the Nineteenth Century’, Journal of American Ethnic History, 19, 4 (2000), 3–23.

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individuals and families of Scottish birth or descent, including both letters sent and received. Approximately 61% of the letters were sent from or to Scots settlers resident in New Zealand’s Scottish heartlands of Otago and Southland; the remaining come primarily from the lower North Island. This spread of localities partly reflects the location of New Zealand’s foremost archives and their more immediate catchment areas, and matches the case study localities chosen for this study.13 It is also worth noting that there is a slight temporal bias towards the earlier establishment years, with the material thinning from around 1910. The reasons for this are not entirely clear, but could reflect that letters from immigrants from later periods may still be held by relatives. While the criterion of choice was Scottish descent generally, it was deemed necessary to establish a more detailed profile in terms of the writers’ and senders’ local background in Scotland. A breakdown of countylevel origins was established for 97% of the letter writers and recipients, based on their place of birth. It would be misleading to think that different regional or local origins automatically translated into a particular behaviour or worldview. It is nevertheless fair to assume, particularly in light of the representation issues previously discussed, that a broad geographical base prevents a skewed perspective: if the letters were primarily from Lowland Scots from urban centres, different attitudes might be expected to those expressed in the letters from emigrants from Highland crofts in the north. And indeed, antecedent experiences before emigration have been identified as a key influence on migrant behaviour, decisions, and hence, settlement pathways.14 Based on the study of biographical notes provided with many letter archives, obituaries, and information extracted from sources like the Cyclopedia of New Zealand, there is no obvious geographical bias inherent in the source material utilised. The only point worth noting is that the North East and the Highlands are slightly under-represented relative to the overall number of letters studied, but in terms of the origins of Scottish migrants documented in chapter one, the distribution is, in fact, well in line with overall Scottish migratory trends. Determining details on the social background of the writers and recipients is equally important for the purpose of establishing who they were in terms of the stratum of the Scottish migrant population in New Zealand; their occupational background serves as a key indicator of status in society. Occupations could be identified for 42% of the individuals and heads of households who wrote or received the letters studied, and, for the purpose of comparison, can be grouped in three categories. These are: (1) agricultural labourers and small-scale farmers with 32%; (2) businessmen with 13

14

The archives are the Hocken Library and the Otago Settlers Museum in Dunedin, as well as the Alexander Turnbull Library in Wellington. A. McCarthy, Irish Migrants in New Zealand, 1840–1937: ‘The Desired Haven’ (Woodbridge, 2005), 121.

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some standing in the local community, hence including station owners, with 42%; and (3) those working in church occupations, mostly local reverends, with 26%. The emerging socio-economic profile confirms the validity of concerns in relation to the social background of letter writers, especially since, in terms of social standing, education, and literacy levels, those working in church occupations and as businessmen can reasonably be placed in the same social group. Perhaps not surprisingly, it is letters from writers of these two groups that span the longest time period and are the most comprehensive. The fact that social standing was relatively high may have encouraged the preservation of family papers, providing yet another reason for the survival of more substantial records in these two groups. It is also among those of higher social standing that the majority of female personal testimonies are available. Even so, the overall number of female letter writers and recipients is significantly lower than that of their male counterparts, standing at 16%. Among them was George MacDonald’s mother, who started writing to her son in 1885. That, commented his sister Margaret, who was also communicating with her brother, was a complete novelty in itself since their mother had never sent a letter before. Seemingly, the mother’s desire to maintain communication with her son helped her overcome the fear of writing. Yet she did not want anyone to see her letters apart from the immediate addressee; perhaps she was embarrassed by her writing and poor grammar, both evident from the letters that have survived.15 The fact that Catherine MacDonald picked up a pen to write in the first place, however, is important not only because letters by female writers are rare, but because it gives even further weight to the letter’s role as the crucial medium of communication in the migrant world. This supplies the main reason why personal correspondence facilitates reflection on the immediate socialisation agents, the family and kinship networks: whether located in New Zealand or in the old world, these provided a crucial locus for identity and continuity. Kith and kin as information outposts Once the decision to leave had been made, the process of bidding farewell to friends and family began. The choice to emigrate to the Antipodes, hence the higher costs and longer duration of travel involved, made the prospect of reunion all the more unlikely. As in the case of the Jack family, the near-certainty that leaving Scotland marked the final embrace weighed hard. The prevailing sentiments are expressed to the point by Robert Shennan when writing to his son John on his departure:

15

This and the previous quote are from MacDonald correspondence, 19 Aug. 1885 and 23 Jun. 1887, ATL, MS-Group-1462.

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Dear John you are going to leave me forever To reside in a country that’s far far away Where the measureless ocean between us will roar And your voice in our worship assist me no more I would mourn but I hope that by Providence led You are going where you will be clothed and fed And be more independent than what you could be By remaining at home as a comfort to me Though we meet not again in a family ring To pray and to praise of Jehovah to sing We can meet at the throne of our Father in heaven . . .16 Robert found consolation in his beliefs, which allowed him to envisage the final reunion with his son in ‘the heavenly Jerusalem’. Such feelings of sadness and loss at the point of farewell were the motivation for some emigrants to try and convince relatives or friends to join them abroad. And indeed, family and kinship bonds were potent pull-factors. Within the context of emigration, then, personal correspondence was an important source of information, a crucial decision-making factor, particularly when it came to the choice of destination. Letters sent home transmitted unfiltered information on the destination country, including descriptions of the new life, opportunities, and, in some cases, failures.17 Migrants became an outpost for those who had stayed in Scotland; letters served as means of information dissemination, and a conduit for networks.18 Not seldom, New Zealand was considered to outstrip other colonies, ‘one of the best British colonies to settle in and enjoy life’.19 Or, as another writer observed, it was ‘a fine healthy place not so warm as Australia nor so cold as Scotland’.20 Such positive descriptions were welcomed by family and friends, all being ‘weary very much to hear’ how those who had left were

16 17

18

19

20

Robert Shennan to his son John, Aug. 1858, Hocken, MS-2144/01. Cf. for example R. Dalziel, ‘Emigration and Kinship: Migrants to New Plymouth’, New Zealand Journal of History, 25, 2 (1991), 112–28; also J. A. Johnston, ‘Information and Emigration: The Image-Making Process’, New Zealand Geographer, 33, 2 (1977), 60–7. The increasing number of newspapers that published reports on those who had sought their fortunes around the globe, together with official emigration handbooks, supplemented perspectives. Reports and personal success stories underpinned the positive image of emigration. See for instance Mr Arthur Claydon’s lecture on ‘New Zealand as an Emigration Field’, delivered at the Young Men’s Christian Association Hall in Aberdeen in 1885 (Aberdeen Weekly Journal, 10 Apr. 1885, 5); also the many letters published in newspapers, see for example the extracts from a letter from Otago, Caledonian Mercury, 26 Oct. 1854, 4; or from a Glasgow man working on the Otago goldfields, Glasgow Herald, 23 Jul. 1862, 7. The Scotsman, 21 Jan. 1885, 10; for a detailed personal account on New Zealand and emigration, see The Scotsman, 1 Jan. 1897, 3. James Drummond, 10 Dec. 1856, Dunedin, Otago Settlers Museum [OSM], DC-0588.

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getting on.21 Hence direct enquiries by those in the old world, relating to the standard of living, the society, and country, were a common feature in the letters examined, initial letters in sequences being especially rich in descriptions of life in the colony. Combined with perceived changes in health, John Thomson happily attested that he ‘never was better than what I have been since I came here’,22 while John Dewar liked the country and was happy to report that he got the best food. Dewar was particularly struck, however, by the fact that the farmer he worked for dined with the servants and talked ‘the same as if he was one of ourselves’.23 In similar spirit, John Thomson wrote home that if working-class people in Scotland knew how working-class people were fed in New Zealand, ‘they would never rest at home’.24 This unfamiliar air of freedom was one of the most striking changes noted by Scottish immigrants. Following ideals of egalitarianism that were deeply anchored in Scottish self-perception towards the end of the nineteenth century, upward mobility and progress quickly became key features of New Zealand life. There was an understanding, among many immigrants, that New Zealand was built to be a more equal society, with ideas of utopianism emerging as a result.25 Settlers identified social cohesion rather than division as a key influence in their new lives. Thus wrote J. F. Blackwood to his father, that it was one of the great comforts of a colonist that altho [sic] the life be a little rugged you have your own dwelling and piece of Ground a thing almost out of power of any working man in the home country. Blackwood went on to stress the important role of this new autonomy for his  children: neither did they think about Scotland, nor did they have any inclination of going back ‘for they want for nothing’.26 New Zealand seemed to offer a much more flexible social order in which living independently was a real possibility. Epitomised by William Wallace, the Declaration of Arbroath and Robert Burns’s ‘A Man’s a Man for a’ that’, freedom is a core value in Scottish society. By shifting it to New Zealand, portraying Scotland as a place that one would want to leave sooner rather than later, New Zealand was transformed into a ‘better Scotland’. Caution is, however, in order, as it is not always straightforward to assess the 21 22 23 24 25

26

For example Francis Cairns, 22 Apr. 1860, OSM, AG-216. John Thomson letters, West Taieri, 21 Mar. 1861, Hocken, MS-582/F/33. John Dewar to his mother, 11 Oct. 1863, Hocken, MS-2373/001. John Thomson letters, n.d., Hocken, MS-582/F/33. Cf. M. Nolan, ‘The Reality and Myth of New Zealand Egalitarianism: Explaining the Pattern of a Labour Historiography at the Edge of Empires’, Labour History Review, 72, 2 (2007), 113–34; for the role of egalitarianism and utopian traditions in the folk memory of New Zealanders, see also ‘All things Being Equal’ in the New Zealand Listener, 1–7 May 2010, 14ff. This and the previous quote are from J. F. Blackwood to his father Andrew, 24 Feb. 1861, Hocken, Misc-MS-0389.

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motivation behind positive assessments of the new world. It is by no means impossible that some favourable, at times emphatic, accounts were less the result of satisfaction, than of the desire to paint a picture of success. Admitting to failure or conceding that New Zealand was not the Arcadian dreamland envisaged will have been difficult in any case. The glossing over of difficulties was perhaps an easier solution at times. There was, however, an objective, measurable, and certainly welcome indicator for success: the ability to send back, to Scotland, surplus money.27 Moreover, not all changes were positively received. While John Dewar was very pleased to find the farmer he worked for alongside him during dinner, Nan Drennan was less impressed with the fact that she had to ‘both open the door to visitors and make tea’ because domestic servants were not always performing their duties. While Drennan was pleased to note that this was ‘a common enough thing here and not thought of as in the old country’, she nonetheless ended by explaining that in New Zealand, ‘the mistress of a house and mother of a family must be prepared to give her hand to anything’.28 Contrasting old and new worlds, different values and social practices with familiar ones, was a normal process; it was also one that, as in the case of Nan Drennan, could help immigrants to make sense of new experiences. When used to describe situations to family and friends in letters, these comparisons further helped recipients at home to get a better understanding of the situation in the new world. The positive images of progress contrast starkly with the rugged life some migrants described. The settlers of the earlier period, and those pioneering the settlement of remote areas at later stages, faced difficult terrain, dense bush, and simple living conditions. As Bazil Thomson wrote to his sister, he and his two brothers were in good spirits, despite life being ‘rough and ready’.29 Yet what such accounts also reveal is the aptness of some migrants to fit in. In the case of the Thomson brothers, the fact that they had come out together, in 1879, may have played its part in helping them to adapt to the new circumstances, but they were also flexible. All three worked in a multitude of different jobs, including mustering sheep, cutting bush, and ploughing. Perhaps it was in view of the many changes and challenges that John happily asserted, when camping in the bush, that we cook our own meals, which we manage wonderfully well . . . we got away raw chops, tea and sugar, we cooked our chops on flat stones and boiled our tea in a small pitcher.30

27

28

29 30

John Thomson to his sister Jane, 19 Feb. 1880, ATL, MS-Papers-5174; see also James M. Baxter to a James, 18 Mar. 1881, Hocken, Misc-MS-0878. This and the preceding two quotations are from Nan Drennan to her mother, St Kilda, Dunedin, 31 Dec. 1916, Hocken, Misc-MS-1005. Bazil Thomson to his sister Jane, 8 Jan. 1880, ATL, MS-Papers-5174. John Thomson to his sister Jane, 19 Feb. 1880, ATL, MS-Papers-5174.

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The brothers were proud of the ways in which they had managed the new challenges. They went with the flow of colonial life and understood the importance of adaptability, of which others were similarly aware. As George Hendry wrote to his father, it would be unwise to only want the jobs that people ‘have been in the habit of doing at home’.31 Next to flexibility, perseverance was an equally vital ingredient for success. As one writer commented: McGregor didn’t stay long enough to know if he liked it or not. I didn’t like it at all the first year either. I could have come home at any time then with pleasure, but I’ve got over that now and very nearly like it now.32 In view of these varying perceptions and experiences of the new home, communicated by post to the old, it was axiomatic that emigration should be discussed by many letter writers. Some approached the subject in a straightforward fashion. In 1880, John Thomson advised a male relative that ‘a young man could not come to a better country than this’.33 By contrast, he did not think New Zealand was an appropriate destination for his sister: ‘unless a woman can milk cows, drive a horse and make herself general [sic] useful on a farm she is no use in the colonies’.34 Another John Thomson frequently wrote to his father, in 1861, about the ‘emigration project’,35 noting that while it would take time to settle, he had no doubt that the family would like New Zealand. Yet he felt a strong sense of responsibility with respect to the provision of details about New Zealand life and society and did not want to give relatives ‘a wrong idea’.36 This explains his cautionary tone and the suggestion that if the family could get a good farm in Scotland, ‘it would perhaps be as well not to think of coming out’.37 A few months later, he wrote with similar circumspection, reiterating that he would not advise his father to emigrate, being ‘probably too far advanced in life ever to like the country’.38 The tensions between the concern for relatives and the wish to be close to them recur. When John Dewar discussed the prospect of his brother coming out, he thought hard about his mother’s welfare because she would be left alone in Scotland if his brother chose to emigrate. John believed that his mother ‘would not stand the voyage for it is a fearful job to be unwell at sea’.39 A few years later, when John’s brother Willie had made his 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39

George Hendry to his father James, Auckland, 7 Apr. 1851, Hocken, Misc-MS-0494. James M. Baxter to a James, Ferncourt, 28 Feb. 1882, Hocken, Misc-MS-0878. John Thomson to his sister Jane, 19 Feb. 1880, ATL, MS-Papers-5174. Ibid. John Thomson letters, n.d., 1861, Hocken, MS-582/F/33. Ibid. Ibid. John Thomson letters, Manuherekia, 22 Jun. 1861, Hocken, MS-582/F/33. John Dewar to his brother, 15 May 1864, Hocken, MS-2373/001.

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way to New Zealand, the issue of their mother’s welfare remained pivotal for both, leading John to suggest in a letter to his mother that he could afford to buy a good bit of land now should you think about coming where you could enjoy the remainder of your life in family comfort. Think over it carefully and let either Willie or me know at your convenience.40 With practical considerations in mind, John Thomson advised his father that the ships that left from London were the best and that he ‘had better have a 2nd cabin passage especially if you come in a Glasgow ship. Tho’ it cost you more you will be more comfortable.’41 Over a decade earlier, Andrew Mercer suggested his brother should ‘apply for a free passage direct to Otago’.42 Mercer planned his life in the Province with a view to his father and other family members emigrating. When it came to the selection of a plot of land, it was difficult to decide ‘whether to choose for the present advantage or for the future; as we look forward to you coming out we made choice of a town plot.’43 Despite the generally positive exchanges, advice against emigration can also be documented. William Wilson, for instance, strongly urged his brother George not to come.44 Originally of Aberdeenshire, Wilson had looked for labouring work in the colony, but was soon attracted to the West Coast goldfields. Arriving in Hokitika in 1868, Wilson was happy with the diggings work, but did not like the West Coast much. There was, he noted in early 1869, ‘so much wate wither [sic]’.45 Negative comments, however, primarily relate to poor economic conditions, and hence were often uttered within the context of very specific downturns and misfortunes rather than as sweeping generalisations. Informal networks and settlement Apart from serving as information outposts, family and kinship ties as well as informal ethnic networks practically assisted willing emigrants. Peter Shankland had been invited, for example, by his uncle, Alexander McKay, who had also paid the passage for his nephew. McKay, born in Carsphairns, Kirkcudbrightshire in 1842, arrived on the Helenslee in 1863 and initially tried his luck at the Otago goldfields. After a brief stint in Australia, McKay returned to New Zealand and began exploring Mackenzie Country. There he met famous geologist Julius Haast; fellow Scot James Hector followed to become an acquaintance a little while later. Eventually McKay and his

40 41 42 43 44 45

John Dewar to his brother, 17 Mar. 1864, Hocken, MS-2373/001. John Thomson to his father, Manuherekia, 10 Jul. 1861, Hocken, MS-582/F/33. Andrew Mercer to his father, Dunedin, 31 May 1848, Hocken, MS-0439/143. Ibid. William Wilson to his brother, Kaniere, 27 Aug. 1871, ATL, MS-Papers-3957. Ibid., Hokitika, 31 May 1869, ATL, MS-Papers-3957.

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wife settled in Wellington and he became the government geologist; it was then that he brought out his nephew.46 Even more actively, John McKenzie, Minister for Lands, on his visit to Scotland in 1899, persuaded several Scots to come to New Zealand with him.47 These examples highlight the importance and influence of family, kinship, as well as wider connection webs based on ethnic identity, in the emigration process. As Charles Tilly observes, those migrants linked by acquaintance or kinship were part of ‘the most effective units of migration’.48 Despite the significant flow of information and people, it was not always easy to maintain contact, especially during the early years when letters took months to reach Scotland or New Zealand respectively.49 Sometimes delays were simply the result of a letter sitting on someone’s desk for a few months. As much was true for Effie MacDonald, who apologised profusely to her brother for the long delay in responding to one of his letters in 1902.50 With the postal service underdeveloped and the population highly transient in the early settlement years, however, many letters were lost altogether. References can be found in 23% of the letters examined for this study to letters that were sent, but never arrived. Such losses invariably led to expressions of concern and anxiety at the absence of news from family and friends.51 The fact that Scots from many families were scattered across the world provides another explanation for communication problems.52 Thus it was partly in response to the practical limitations of communication flows that ethnic ties, be it through direct kith and kin or more removed through shared Scottish descent generally, proved a crucial safety net for many Scottish migrants. When the Jack family left Scotland, for example, several passengers on the Iona were familiar faces from Edinburgh, accompanying them to London. New friendships were then quickly formed aboard the ship to Wellington, particularly with other fellow Scots; the sharing of cultural pursuits and the death of a fellow passenger contributed 46

47 48

49

50 51 52

Alexander McKay Papers, 1909, ATL, MS-Papers-4409-1. For more details on McKay, see the obituary in Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New Zealand, 50 (1918), vii–viii; Cyclopedia of New Zealand, vol. 1, Wellington Provincial District (Wellington, 1897), 174; also R. Cooper, ‘McKay, Alexander 1841–1917’, DNZB, www.dnzb.govt.nz, last visited 18 Aug. 2010. Brooking, Lands for the People?, 31, 218. C. Tilly, ‘Transplanted Networks’, in V. Yans-McLaughlin (ed.), Immigration Reconsidered: History, Sociology and Politics (New York, 1990), 84; also C. Toynbee, ‘Kinship and the Decision to Migrate: The Experience of Scots Migrants to New Zealand’, New Zealand Population Review, 26, 1 (2000), 23–44. H. Robinson, A History of the Post Office in New Zealand (Wellington, 1964), 134, 137, 188. Between 1876 and the First World War, delivery time decreased from around fifty days to just over thirty days, pending on the respective best route and good conditions. Effie MacDonald to her brother George, 13 Oct. 1902, ATL, 84-145-41. Cf. Buchanan and McCulloch Families: Correspondence, 1848, Hocken, Misc-MS-1628/1. John M. Wilson, Letters, from Robert Nicol, 1874–8, Misc-MS-0954; also Shennan Family Correspondence, Revd William Burnet to his nephew, 8 May 1861, Hocken, MS-2144/02.

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to the emergence of a firm bond and a collegial spirit. With all passengers bound for a new life and venturing into the unfamiliar, points of contact were welcome. And, as it turned out, the Jacks immediately benefited from a new acquaintance in their quest to secure suitable lodgings on arrival in Wellington. Facilitated by a fellow cabin passenger’s contacts, the Jacks settled in their new home in Wellington’s Mowbray Street on 25 February 1884, almost exactly four months to the day after their departure from Edinburgh.53 In addition to new contacts made aboard ships, friendships and exchange networks could be utilised before departure, or instantly on arrival, by means of testimonials. In some instances, these relied on family connections, using letters to introduce family members to new immigrants. Yet testimonials also worked within a wider net of contacts, for instance to the benefit of William Ogilvy Duthie, the first teacher at Highcliffe School on the Otago Peninsula. Born in Edzell, Kincardineshire in 1853, family history has it that Duthie’s parents moved to the Shetland Islands around 1863, establishing a farm at Tingwall. It was there that William met his future wife Grace, who worked as the family servant. When William’s parents expressed their dismay at the relationship and dismissed Grace, she decided to leave for New Zealand and William followed her. Both left London on the Christian McAusland on 13 September 1872 and arrived at Port Chalmers on 5 December of the same year.54 As noted in chapter one, the 1870s were marked by ambitious state-funded immigration schemes, as part of which New Zealand emigration agents were canvassing Shetland. Domestic servants were especially sought after. As the shipping list of the Christian McAusland shows, the twelve women from the Shetland Islands aboard were all assisted immigrants, and all gave their occupation as domestic servant; Grace Nicolson was one of them. Apart from the wish to follow his future wife, William Ogilvy Duthie’s emigration may also have been influenced by the previous departure of one of his former instructors, Robert Stout. It was Stout’s father, Thomas, who provided an important testimonial for Duthie. Addressed to his son in New Zealand, Stout senior wrote: The bearer of this, Mr William Ogilvy Duthie, has been a pupil teacher with Mr Grey, Master of the Episcopal School here; and I have every reason to believe he is a deserving young man, and bears a high character here. If you can give him assistance in obtaining employment I hope you will do so.55 53 54

55

Journal of John Jack, 25 Feb. 1884, ATL, MS-1074. Christian McAusland passenger Manifest, 13 Sep. 1872 to 5 Dec. 1872, Archives New Zealand, IM 15 2 27. Curiously, William Duthie is listed as a thirty-year-old shepherd from Kirkcudbright. Whether this was a misunderstanding or whether he perhaps took the place of someone else as an assisted passenger remains unclear. Thomas Stout, Lerwick, to Robert Stout, 27 Aug. 1872, Duthie Testimonials, held by Val Petrie, Auckland.

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Duthie’s notebook, with further testimonials, demonstrates that he must have quickly found his way to Robert Stout. A letter written to the Revd E. G. Edwards by Stout is dated 17 December 1872 and confirms their contact: I take the liberty of introducing to you Mr Duthie, a young man who has been a pupil teacher in St Magnus Episcopal School in my native town. He bears a high character, and my father states he has been successful as a teacher. He will show you his testimonials, and by then you will see that he is in full communion with your Church. I have no doubt that you could, perhaps, use your influence for obtaining him a situation as assistant master in some of the public schools. Excuse the liberty I have taken in introducing Mr Duthie to you.56 Stout and Duthie remained in contact even when Stout served as Premier a decade later. In a letter sent in 1885 to provide a character reference, Stout praised Duthie’s attention to detail and noted that he had known him ‘since he was a lad’.57 Documents relating to the earlier encountered Jack family offer further evidence of the key purpose testimonials served, particularly in the form of introduction letters. A specific type of letter, and one with the designated purpose of contact facilitation, the Jacks’ letters were intended to open opportunities and help ease settlement in the new world. All of John Jack’s letters are addressed to specific individuals, helpfully to people from Auckland to Dunedin, thereby providing the family with contact points across New Zealand. While some only give the name and an address of a person that ‘will show you kindness’,58 other letters indicate that patronage flows were utilised. Shortly before the Jack family’s departure, for example, John received a letter from William Duysdale that was addressed to Thomas Brydone, Dunedin. Mr Duysdale wrote: This will be presented to you by Mr Jack who is going out to New Zealand with his wife and two sons . . . John Jack has not yet made up his mind to what he may turn his attention but if he goes in for land I have advised him to apply to you . . . Mr Jack is a relative of a friend of mine . . . a Kirkcaldy Banker and I shall be glad that you do what you can for him.59 Brydone was a useful contact to have in Dunedin. He arrived in New Zealand in 1868, via Melbourne, and had previously been the superintendent for the New Zealand and Australia Land Company Ltd in Edinburgh. He continued his work in Dunedin, but was also involved in chartering vessels to carry frozen mutton from New Zealand to the United 56 57 58 59

Robert Stout to the Revd E. G. Edwards, Dunedin, 17 Dec. 1872, Duthie Testimonials. Robert Stout, Premier’s Office, Wellington, 30 Apr. 1885, Duthie Testimonials. From a letter dated Haddington, 17 September 1883, ATL, MS-Papers 3923-01. Letter dated 27 October 1883, ATL, MS-Papers 3923-01.

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Kingdom,60 hence was extensively connected locally in Dunedin, as well as nationally and internationally. The Jack family, however, did not settle in Dunedin, but remained in Wellington, subsequently drawing on the two letters addressed to Wellingtonians in their bundle. One of them was directed to John Duthie, a native of Kintore near Aberdeen. Trained as an ironmonger in Scotland, Duthie arrived in Auckland in 1863, moving to Wanganui before he eventually settled in Wellington in 1880 and set up Duthie & Co., General Hardware Merchants, Wholesale and Retail Ironmongers, in the same year. Duthie’s company in Wellington soon expanded, and he later became the city’s mayor and Member of the House of Representatives.61 The unknown letter writer who wrote to Duthie on John Jack’s behalf hoped that Duthie might provide information for John, noting that he would esteem such ‘a favour and as done to myself’.62 Based on the date of the letter, it was given to John Jack when he was in London, awaiting the departure to Wellington, hence it might be from one of his London business contacts.63 Another letter with a Wellington addressee was written to the Revd James Paterson. The Jacks had all been heavily involved in church activities in Scotland, and would have valued this particular contact facilitation.64 Perhaps emphasising the centrality of the church in their lives, they could further present the Revd Paterson with a statement provided by their Scottish local minister that confirmed the family’s commitment to church – a document suitably comparable to a modern certificate of good conduct. Apart from the cited documents, one letter of introduction was for Helen Jack, John’s wife. With female migrants and their experiences being more difficult to trace, often silent, this is a rare example of how women employed similar strategies to those used by men in the relocation and settlement process. In particular, this is the case as Helen’s introductory letter was both written by a woman and addressed to a woman who lived near Waimate in the South Island. 60

61

62 63

64

Cyclopedia of New Zealand, vol. 4, Otago and Southland Provincial Districts (Wellington, 1905), 334. Cyclopedia of New Zealand, vol. 1, 261, 289, 688; also G. H. Scholefield, A Dictionary of New Zealand Biography, vol. 1 (Wellington, 1940), 223. Letter dated 13 November 1883, ATL, MS-Papers 3923-01. Further evidence suggests that the Jacks’s contact with Duthie was substantial, John and his two sons joining Duthie, for instance, as members in the Wellington Caledonian Society. For details on the Society’s role as a network hub, see T. Bueltmann, ‘Ethnic Identity, Sporting Caledonia and Respectability: Scottish Associational Life in New Zealand to 1910’, in T. Bueltmann et al. (eds), Ties of Bluid, Kin and Countrie: Scottish Associational Culture in the Diaspora (Guelph, 2009). See Peter Gardner to John Jack, Edinburgh, 22 Oct. 1883, ATL, MS-Papers-7028-04; all members of the family joined St Andrew’s on the Terrace soon after arrival in Wellington, contributing to the running of cultural events in the choir as well as business matters, cf. Jack Family, Papers relating to St-Andrews-on-the-Terrace, ATL, MS-Papers-3923-13; also the later papers in relation to John’s visit to the Presbyterian Synod in Dunedin, 29 Oct. 1889, ATL, MS-Papers 3923-04.

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Mirroring her male compatriots, the female letter writer sought support on Helen’s behalf, noting that this would be a favour.65 While it would be inappropriate to impute general conclusions from one letter, it nevertheless suggests that women were as aware of patronage flows and network connections as men, and activated these to their benefit. Similar contact facilitation can further be traced for later periods, when one of Helen’s Wellington friends of Scottish descent suggested a girl for housework to Helen. The girl had just arrived from Scotland, thereby supplying further evidence of the ethnic networks that were negotiated and sustained through letters.66 Networks served as risk minimisers and sources of comfort, two purposes that can already be traced in relation to the voyage out. George Sutherland, for instance, wrote positively about the presence of fellow Scots aboard his ship; he was especially pleased to learn of the ship’s six Scottish engineers: ‘none’, wrote Sutherland, ‘surpass the canny Lowland Scot in the handling of machinery’.67 Living, working, simply being, among fellow countrymen was viewed as beneficial. Archibald McCallum reported that he worked together with Mr McFarlane whom he knew from Scotland and a Peter McLauchlan from Bailliston who came in the same ship with us. There are five of the passengers in the same house . . . so we are all well acquainted. When we are joking with one another I can never mind that I am sixteen thousand miles from home.68 The sheer scale of emigration from Scotland to New Zealand is reflected in the many references traceable in letters to the meeting of familiar faces. John Dewar, visiting the York Hotel in Dunedin, ‘by mere chance met with a gentleman you [John’s father] are acquainted with’.69 To make the meeting more extraordinary, the gentleman encountered had a brother who had just been home to Scotland and happened to live very close to John’s father. John marvelled at the coincidental meeting, which had fostered a wallowing in memories that made him ‘as jolly as a king’.70 Coincidental meetings were all the more common in the early years of settlement when the proportion of Scottish settlers was particularly high in places like Dunedin. When exploring the area around Port Chalmers (Dunedin’s port), for example, Edward Aitken went on the surveyor’s track and met ‘Mr Anderson Brother to Mr Anderson Fishmonger George 65 66 67

68 69 70

Letter dated 11 September 1883, ATL, MS-Papers 3923-01. Mrs William to Helen Jack, Wellington, 15 Oct. 1906, ATL, MS-Papers 3923-05. George Sutherland, Dunedin, 2 Aug. 1867, OSM, DC-1897; see also Bazil Thomson to his sister Jane, 26 Aug. 1894, ATL, MS-Papers-5174. Archibald McCallum, Dunedin, 23 Sep. 1860, OSM, DC-2799. John Dewar, 23 Jul. 1868, Hocken, MS-2373/001. Ibid. Similarly, it was by noting that most settlers in Central Otago were Scots that Dewar hoped to warm his mother to the idea of emigrating, John Dewar to his mother, 17 Mar. 1864, Hocken, MS-2373/001.

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Street, Edinburgh’.71 The same Mr Anderson was also the subject of a letter from Mr James Williamson to his brother-in-law in Edinburgh. Williamson had stayed with Anderson, noting with great satisfaction that the Anderson family had treated him ‘with kindness of a brother and sister’.72 This was an experience also made by Andrew Mercer, who described Anderson as highly respectable and ‘of good connections at home’.73 Newly arrived immigrants welcomed assistance of any kind. The provision of accommodation or other practical help, for example with the clearing of bush or the building of a house, were common, and confirm that kinship extended beyond immediate family ties. As much was certainly the case for George Brown, who arrived on the Pladda in September 1861 with his parents, four brothers, and two sisters, and was met by a friend who had been an apprentice to George’s father.74 The meeting of fellow Scots generally happened all across New Zealand, but concentrated Scottish settlement clusters naturally facilitated such encounters. Bazil, John, and James Thomson, who had settled in Awahuri in the Manawatu (lower North Island), regularly made reference to meeting familiar faces, or people who knew kin in Scotland, at cattle markets in the region.75 While settlers like Andrew Mercer seemed to be doing well and only occasionally noted that they would be pleased if they had father, mother, and friends beside them,76 other, less fortunate, migrants used kinship ties as a safety net. James Graham, who had settled in Dunedin with his wife Martha, and had experienced difficulties in sustaining a living, wrote to his brother William in Auckland: the sooner we are up there [with you] the better for us all. Martha herself thinks that that is the best thing that we can do, that is if you would be so kind as to let us have about one acre of your land by the river side. If you name the price of it I will send it round to you. Martha says herself that if she was only round beside you and Marion she would be alright. There is one thing that you must know and that is that she has got no friends here and I think I have as few as her.77 The fact that Martha had no friends and felt lonely had already been the subject in earlier correspondence and weighed heavily on James’s mind. 71 72 73 74 75

76 77

Edward Aitken to his brother, Jun. 1848, Hocken, MS-0439/143. Papers relating to the early settlers, Hocken, MS-2462/001. Andrew Mercer to his father, Dunedin, 31 May 1848, Hocken, MS-0439/143. Brown Letters and Reminiscences, OSM, DC-2412. Bazil Thomson to his sister Jane, 26 Aug. 1894, ATL, MS-Papers-5174. The brothers arrived in New Zealand in 1880; first reference to their residence in Awahuri can be found in Wise’s Post Office Directory for 1883–4 where the three are listed in the same entry as farmers; this changed to sheep farmers in 1903. Cf. National Library of New Zealand, FHC NZ/ LIST (FICHE) 1883–4. Andrew Mercer to his father, Dunedin, 31 May 1848, Hocken, MS-0439/143. Graham Family correspondence, Dunedin, 17 Mar. 1861, Hocken, Misc-MS-1343.

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One of the most tragic examples in which family connections played a crucial role is that of the Mackie, Buchanan, Coulter, and Ramsay families. Members from the four families all came to New Zealand from different localities in Scotland, but principally Lanarkshire, between 1875 and 1879; all arrived in small kinship groups. Since family members knew each other, they used the wider kinship network to their benefit. William Ramsay was quick to inform John Mackie that he worked in a mine at Kaitangata and encouraged him to come down and join him as more miners were needed. Although Kaitangata was ‘30 miles from my wife and family’, Ramsay was pleased because he was already working together with Mackie’s brother, William Coulter, and William Watson.78 With male members of the different families in employment at the Kaitangata coal mine, the four families were deeply affected by the 1879 mine disaster in which more than thirty miners died. Among the dead were William Watson, David Buchanan, and Samuel Coulter.79 As the Wanganui Herald reported: Samuel Coulter – Leaves five children. One boy of 13 able to work, and a girl in Dunedin about 12. All the rest are young. He is an aged man, and arrived lately from Scotland in the ship Taranaki. David Buchanan – About 27, leaves a wife and two young children. He is a son-in-law of Coulter, and also a new arrival. William Watson – About 40 years of age. Leaves his father-in-law, who is a very old man, and four children, the eldest of whom is about nine years old.80 Yet, in one sense, connections effectively intensified after the disaster, as Grace Buchanan, David’s wife, remarried a member of the wider family network.81 Apart from the social ties that developed or were maintained in the new home, contacts between immigrants and their families in Scotland helped to improve the flow of information. Knowledge of, and the possibility to use, communication networks that spanned Scotland and New Zealand served as additional contact points and bridges in a world in which instant electronic communication was unheard of. Andrew Blackwood’s son happily told his father not only about his own pursuits, but also about the good folks from Kircaldy [sic] who appear to be all flourishing. David Sandman Wife and Family are doing right well, he has a nice house and Town Section and is always working with her brother 78 79

80

81

William Ramsay to John Mackie, Kaitangata, 7 Feb. 1876, Hocken, Misc-MS-1921. North Otago Times, 22 Feb. 1879, 2; Evening Post, 22 Feb. 1879, 2; for a list of the dead and family members left behind, see Otago Witness, 1 Mar. 1879, 8. Wanganui Herald, 24 Feb. 1879, 2; material from the family collection held at the Hocken Library suggests different numbers for the children; also North Otago Times, 22 Feb. 1879, 2; Evening Post, 22 Feb. 1879, 2. Inchclutha, Stirling Parish Marriage Records, 9 Jan. 1880, Presbyterian Church Archives, 20/6/1.

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William Wilson, an old scholar of your own. James Goodall is still at the ‘Tokomararo’ [sic] . . . Hepburn’s people appear to be doing well . . . David Henderson the Grocer is still in the country as a Shepherd.82 As Errington documents for migrants in Upper Canada, the sharing of news through letters was common within families, but tended also to include friends and neighbours. In fact, she argues, personal correspondence ‘recreated and was an extension of the familiar relationships of village life’.83 While the passing on of details about fellow émigré Scots was important, so were existing contact networks for the purpose of locating relatives and friends. John Stewart of Paisley hoped to use his only acquaintance in New Zealand, James Graham, to find his son Robert so as to advise him that his brother was on his way to join him, writing: Dear Sir, these few lines will let you know that my son Charles sailed from the Clyde for Auckland . . . and his brother Robert does not know that he is coming. I hope you will be so good as to write if he is not at home and let him know that he is coming . . . 84 Secondary contact points outside of the immediate family could be especially valuable at times of crisis. Archibald McCallum in a letter to his father was sad to say that ‘the first time I write to you it is requesting you to go to Mrs McFarlane [to tell her] that her son John is no more’.85 McCallum and McFarlane had emigrated together, but the latter died soon after arrival. McCallum felt impelled to tell his companion’s mother of her son’s death and perhaps deemed it advisable to send his father in person, rather than informing her in a letter. While the personal message did not change the sad reason for contact, it may have made the news more bearable. Communication contact points were by no means a one-way enterprise since it was not uncommon to send news or letters with people who went back to Scotland temporarily. George Hendry, for example, sent a letter with a man whose father lived not far from his own, advising that he is the only person that I know here which comes from our part of Scotland and if you would go to his fathers house and see him he will be able to give you a good deal of information about this country. He only intends to stop six or eight weeks and then return to New Zealand.86 82 83 84 85 86

Letter to Andrew Blackwood, n.d., Hocken, Misc-MS-0389. Errington, Emigrant Worlds, 8, 143. James and Martha Graham Letters, 15 Sep. 1864, OSM, DC-0987. Archibald McCallum to his father, Dunedin, 20 Jun. 1861, OSM, DC-2799. George Hendry to his father, Port Nicholson, 2 Feb. 1846, Hocken, Misc-MS-0494.

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In view of the flow of information between New Zealand and Scotland, which sometimes directly influenced, as we have seen, the decision to emigrate, the news passed on by returnees or visitors home evidences the multiple sources of information and links between old and new homelands. As James Baxter explained in 1861, he would not say anything else about New Zealand in his letter because the recipients of it would have Alick so you may make the most of him and pluck all the information and advice out of him you can if you have still the remotest intention of coming to this part of the world.87 Letters personally delivered were special as they offered the unique opportunity to ask questions about life in the colony. Similar examples are traceable in the accounts of temporary return travellers to Scotland. A common feature of many return trips was their organisation on the basis of a traveller’s own family background, famous Scottish places travellers wished to visit, but also the places of residence of relatives or friends of friends from New Zealand.88 This approach to travelling significantly enlarged the contact and communication network on the spot in Scotland, thereby greatly enhancing the flow of information between the new world and the old. In fact, as a Mr Lambie explained, calling on other people’s friends made the ‘stay very pleasant’ for him, but for those he was staying with it was an equal pleasure, the many opportunities for inquiring about life in New Zealand being singled out as the biggest benefit.89 Moving beyond this practical use of ethnic networks and kinship ties, it is now appropriate to turn to the expression and negotiation of memories as one of the most common epistolary practices employed in the letters studied. Personal testimonies and memory In one of his few surviving letters, James Baxter of Auckland recorded how much he had enjoyed visiting his uncle near Christchurch: being with him was ‘just like going back to Scotland again’.90 It was, in fact, with an air of satisfaction that James attested that ‘uncle and aunt are just as Scotch as ever though they have been out for near 20 years’.91 His uncle, however, was not inclined to pay a similar compliment, observing instead that James, after having lived among so many Englishmen in Auckland, was ‘awfully Englified already’.92 While reflecting upon layered homeland

87 88

89 90 91 92

John Thomson, West Taieri, 2 Apr. 1861, Hocken, MS-582/F/33. Other examples in Walter Blackie, Jottings of a trip to the Home Country, Hocken, Misc-MS0357, 77; Revd James Chisholm, Diary, 12 Sep. 1892, Hocken, 96–188. Hawera and Normanby Star, 14 Mar. 1908, 5. James M. Baxter to ‘James’, n.d., Hocken, Misc-MS-0878. Ibid. Ibid.

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characteristics carried by people across borders, the example is indicative of the role personal correspondence played as a locus of memory, particularly when relating it to family and friends in Scotland. Sentiments of longing are prevalent, especially in the context of upcoming family occasions such as weddings that would have to be missed, or during the holiday season. Nan Drennan, writing to her mother on New Year’s Eve in 1916, remembered the day as one that they ‘always spend together’. The only thing she could offer from New Zealand, however, were her thoughts, which she promised would ‘be with [them in Scotland] all that day’.93 Being in New Zealand for Christmas and New Year was particularly alien, the reversal of the seasons contributing to a sense of displacement. It is such sentiments and potential alienation that help explain why migrants were keen on integrating elements of the old homeland into the new. These could be material or emblematic, or seemingly trivial as in the case of John Thomson who called his dog Tweed.94 The naming of places after homeland locations was certainly common, and a practice often commented upon by writers, Dunedin being the most prominent example. Not only is the city’s name itself the Gaelic for Edinburgh, its layout and place names were largely modelled on the Scottish parent city. As George Sutherland observed in 1867: many of its streets are named after the streets in Edinburgh. It has its Princes Street, George Street, High Street, Canongate . . . Moray Place and many other which the inhabitants of ‘Auld Reekie’ would stare at . . . this South Island is the real Nova Scotia, and this beyond all doubt is the New Edinburgh.95 Although partly the result of the simple need for place names and perhaps influenced by the fact that a large portion of the early New Zealand surveyors and cartographers were of Scottish descent, the use of Scottish place names nonetheless visibly anchored the familiar in the new locality. It was not only the names attached to places, however, that served as reminders of the old home. Arrival narratives in many letters compare New Zealand places, the vegetation, and landscape to parts of Scotland. One of the earliest Dunedin settlers, a passenger on the Philip Laing, noted in 1848 that on entering the harbour, ‘many of our Highlanders, and most of our cabin passengers who had seen it, exclaimed “How like this is to the scenery of the Trossachs and Loch Katrine” ’.96 Even many years later, when the landscape around Dunedin had changed dramatically, similar associations can still be found. The shore road to Portobello 93 94 95 96

Nan Drennan to her mother, n.d., Hocken, Misc-MS-1005. John Thomson letters, Manuhorkia, 22 Jun. 1861, Hocken, MS-582/F/33. George Sutherland, Dunedin, 5 Sep. 1867, OSM, DC-1897. Papers relating to the early settlers, Hocken, MS-2462/001.

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(Dunedin) was very beautiful, observed Nan Drennan, and reminded her of Loch Lomond.97 Similarly, a member of the Jack family travelling party to Paradise near Queenstown compared Lake Wakatipu to Loch Lomond and noted that he found it difficult to make up his mind ‘whether Lake Wakatipu is as fine as Loch Lomond’.98 Such descriptions were a memory transfer for their writers, but also served as an epistolary strategy to make the new homeland more accessible for those who were still in Scotland, giving the letters’ readers somewhat of an idea of the look of the new world. The Jacks greatly enjoyed their holiday, however, not simply because of the perceived familiarity of the landscape. The journey across Lake Wakatipu had been a notable event, as the captain of the ship was found to be a native of Mull, ‘one of the finest type of Highlander’.99 Emotional attachment to the old home was, thus, potently expressed when exposed to situations, characters, or items that were reminiscent of, or could be related to, Scotland. While a familiar song re-invoked ‘glimpses of the Luss Road and all the familiar old places come up before’ for Drennan, so did the oven scones baked for the evening which were just like her mother’s.100 Similarly, Janet Jack noted that their host in Paradise was ‘a fine old Scot’ whose wife made ‘a fine Scotch shortbread and oatcake’.101 Yet, while letters and the kinship ties and networks they sustained were potent means to establish continuity, they were not always sufficient enough to counter feelings of loneliness and anxiety. Migrants were afraid that family and friends in Scotland might forget all about them; the loneliness of some, epitomised in their memories, could penetrate dreams.102 Letters could compensate for separation, could, as Alexander Johnston confided to his father, ‘keep me up in spirits’.103 This was an important consolatory function, but letters remained only a weak substitute for personal encounters. As much was stated by Jane Smith’s brother, who wished that it was possible to meet for a few hours. ‘What a different means of 97 98 99 100

101

102

103

Nan Drennan to her mother, n.d., Hocken, Misc-MS-1005. Jack Family Papers, n.d., Hocken, Misc-MS-1878. Janet Jack to William, 6 Dec. 1913, Hocken, Misc-MS-1878. Nan Drennan to her mother, St Kilda, Dunedin, 31 Dec. 1916, Hocken, Misc-MS1005. Janet Jack to William, 6 Dec. 1913, Hocken, Misc-MS-1878. Research on the relationship between food and migration suggests that traditions from the country of origin, combined with developments at the place of settlement, contributed to the shaping of distinct food cultures, see H. R. Diner, Hungering for America: Italian, Irish, and Jewish Foodways in the Age of Migration (Cambridge, MA, 2001); for Scottish food traditions, see A. Gibson and T. C. Smout, ‘Scottish Food and Scottish History, 1500–1800’, in R. A. Houston (ed.), Scottish Society, 1500–1800 (Cambridge, 2005); A. Fenton, The Food of the Scots: A  Compendium of Scottish Ethnology (vol. 5, Edinburgh, 2007). James M. Baxter to ‘James’, Ferncourt, 3 Mar. 1880; also 13 Aug. 1880, Hocken, Misc-MS0878. Alexander Johnstone to his father, Kawarau, 20 Jun. 1872, Hocken, MS-0993/011.

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communication is feeble pen and paper’, he went on, ‘but let us make the best use of what is in our reach.’104 This was a sentiment shared, it seems, by many Scottish migrants, letters serving as enduring connectors between old and new home. The fact that connections were maintained over vast distances to the old country as well as within the new homeland, offers a neat commentary upon the value many migrants attributed to letters and epistolary practices. Conclusion Personal testimonies of Scottish migrants, as those of other migrants, provide unique insights into their inner world. In this study, they are shown to have recorded the centrality of kith and kin in the emigration process as strategic risk minimisers and a source of comfort. Ethnic networks that were available and accessible to migrants were enduring and helped expatriates in the process of adjustment. It is perhaps in view of the substantial network structures that existed that the testimonies at the heart of this study do not predominantly give voice to loneliness or homesickness, but to the willingness to move on and make the best of the opportunities that existed in the new world. Although stories of failure and hardship are recounted, these primarily reflect upon the role of networks as safety nets rather than the migrants’ dislocation. Consequently, the common themes identified here cast doubt on Fairburn’s conception of colonial New Zealand as an atomised society in which the ‘typical colonist was a socially independent individual’.105 However, this conclusion is, to some extent, skewed because the evidence intrinsically draws attention to kinship webs and does not include the majority of Scots from whom only little or no evidence has survived. The fact that evidence was drawn from across New Zealand and over time, however, allows us to recognise letters as an important measure of community ties. Letter writers demonstrate the existence of networks and reveal their strength across space and time, within and outside of New Zealand. A drawback of the evidence presented is its unspecific nature: what is its Scottish dimension? In other words, which of the discerned patterns are particular to Scots? The experiences recounted and analysed in this chapter are those of Scots, but as studies of other migrant groups in New Zealand and abroad demonstrate, other immigrants had very similar experiences. McCarthy shows that Irish migrants used informal networks to similar benefit.106 This is not to suggest that the use of personal testimonies

104 105

106

Letters to Jane Smith by her brother, Dunedin, 16 May 1893, OSM, AG-183. Fairburn, Ideal Society, 10–11; see also C. Daley, ‘Taradale Meets the Ideal Society and its Enemies’, New Zealand Journal of History, 25, 2 (1991), 129–46. Cf. A. McCarthy, ‘“Bands of Fellowship”: The Role of Personal Relationships and Social Networks Among Irish Migrants in New Zealand, 1861–1911’, Immigrants & Minorities, 23, 2–3 (2005), 339–58.

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is a pointless enterprise. In the first instance, they offer an important view on the complexities of the migration experience, particularly with respect to the diverse epistolary practices employed, which fulfilled a range of functions in terms of identity maintenance and adjustment to the new life. What the previous two questions indicate, however, is that the value of evidence drawn from personal correspondence can be significantly enhanced if it is anchored within a framework that utilises other documentary sources. Not only does this aid the widening of scope and research breadth, it further integrates processes outside of the interior migrant-world into the analysis. This returns discussion to the three circles of belonging previously presented as the underlying analytical framework for the study. Moving away from the individual and immediate contacts, the focus now shifts to group processes to consider more formalised fraternal structures.

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CHAPTER THREE

‘Brither Scots Shoulder tae Shoulder’: An Evolutionary Perspective on Scottish Associationalism When William Pember Reeves wrote his history of New Zealand, he was impelled to observe that Dunedin, ‘the plodding, brave, clannish, and cantankerous little community soon ceased to be altogether Scottish’.1 Indeed, the pioneers seemed almost swamped by the flood of gold-seekers which poured in after 1861. The ‘Old Identities’, many of whom were Scots, were horrified to find their city dotted with the saloons and dance halls of what they called the ‘New Iniquity’.2 As much is certainly in evidence in the report of the Revd George Sutherland, successor of the Revd Thomas Burns at the helm of Dunedin’s First Church, published in the Free Church of Scotland Monthly Record in September 1868. Writing of Otago as a ‘wide field of emigration’, the Reverend voiced concerns in light of the arrival of other denominations, who ‘look without the utmost complacency on her [the Presbyterian Church] numerical superiority, and would fain rival and outstrip her if they could’. As a suitable measure for the Church to keep her place, the Reverend continued, ‘we must have not only a Presbyterian immigration, at least in the same ratio with others, but Presbyterian ministers of zeal, common sense, and piety’.3 These comments do not surprise, as Dunedin had advanced to be the hub of New Zealand commercial and civic life, growing from a small settlement of two thousand in the late 1850s to fourteen thousand a decade later.4 In light of these developments, it was no coincidence that the first formalised Scottish associational structures emerged at the same time. While the new migrant population, chiefly comprised of miners, was highly transient, it still contributed to the reshaping of New Zealand’s ethnic make-up. Rather than seeking to encourage further migration from Scotland, as did the Revd Sutherland, many of the resident Scots hoped to support the weakened social and cultural fabric of their new home by means of fraternal

1 2

3 4

Reeves, Long White Cloud, 178. Sinclair, History of New Zealand, 106; see also J. Barr, The Old Identities: Being Sketches and Reminiscences During the First Decade of the Province of Otago, N.Z. (Dunedin, 1879); Otago Witness, 12 Apr. 1862, 5. Free Church of Scotland Monthly Record, Sep. 1868, 206. Brooking, History of New Zealand, 61.

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bonding: ethnic associationalism was, at least in part, an organised response to the changing face of colonial New Zealand. Moreover, this associational culture did not develop in isolation. The 1860s witnessed an increase in the number of Scottish clubs and societies, as well as a surge in popularity of events such as Highland Games, all over the world, bringing New Zealand in line with developments in the wider Scottish Diaspora. These convergencies notwithstanding, Scottish associationalism was not uniform across the Diaspora; the types of Scottish associations, their structures, and objectives varied between the Scots’ places of settlement.5 With this important point in mind, this chapter explores the evolution of Scottish associational life in New Zealand. The context of Scottish associationalism Associations are collectives of individuals. Located above the level of the family, but below the state, they voluntarily convene to promote and pursue common aims,6 operating at the interstices of public and private spheres.7 By promoting a subscriber democracy that helps manage and organise hierarchies and decision-making processes, associations institute formalised structures which afford a platform for self-organisation outside the political domain.8 They can be carriers of civility, potentially linking associations directly into civil society.9 Associations’ aims could vary significantly. New Zealand’s Scottish clubs and societies followed diverse objectives, some very broad, thereby appealing to a wide range of people, others more limited and specialised, for instance celebrating a particular figurehead. The associations’ goals required a common denominator to bind people together, and will be further explored. In general terms, as the associations of interest were ethnic associations, the common denominator usually related to ethnic identifiers, but not always exclusively so. What is more, apart from the official objectives laid down in constitutions and rulebooks, a multiplicity of more personal reasons for joining Scottish societies and clubs is identifiable, and these include the desire for camaraderie, sociability, entertainment, and recreational pursuits.10

5

6

7 8

9

10

Divergent trends are traceable in the diverse associations explored in Bueltmann et al. (eds), Ties of Bluid. K. Tenfelde, ‘Civil Society and the Middle Classes in Nineteenth-Century Germany’, in N. Bermeo and P. Nord (eds), Civil Society Before Democracy: Lessons from Nineteenth-Century Europe (Lanham, 2000), 91. Habermas, The Structural Transformation. Cf. R. J. Morris, ‘Voluntary Societies and British Urban Elites, 1780–1850: An Analysis’, The Historical Journal, 26, 1 (1983), 95–118. K. Kumar, ‘Civil Society: An Inquiry into the Usefulness of an Historical Term’, British Journal of Sociology, 44, 3 (1993), 383. For the role of sociability, see G. Simmel, ‘The Sociology of Sociability’, American Journal of Sociology, 55, 3 (1949), 254–61.

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The history of the Otago Caledonian Society is key to understanding Scottish associationalism in New Zealand, that Society being the first to develop formalised structures. The possibility of establishing a Caledonian society in Dunedin was first mooted in connection with the hosting of Scottish sports in May 1862, the Society eventually brought to life at a gathering at McCubbin’s Otago Hotel a few months later.11 Noting the many benefits of Scottish fraternal societies, a committee was duly appointed to prepare rules. By the end of 1862, the Caledonian Society of Otago had been formally established with the adoption of these rules and the election of its first directors and management committee. It spent the remainder of the year busily preparing for the first Caledonian Games under the Society’s auspices.12 What the Otago Society’s establishment thus shows is that Scottish associationalism in New Zealand was born on the sports ground. Coupled with the virtual absence of St Andrew’s societies, this sets New Zealand apart from developments in other countries where Scots settled, especially North America. Benevolence was the initial motor there: as was observed by The Scotsman’s Toronto correspondent, the local St Andrew’s Society was ‘mainly devoted to the relief of sick and destitute Scotchmen’.13 This divergence stresses the importance of locale in the shaping of associational culture, but also that the timing of migrant flows and the particular groups of migrants involved in the setting up of associations was crucial for the direction these took. Scottish emigration to Canada, for instance, commenced at a much earlier date and attracted larger numbers of the excess poor in its second phase from 1815.14 The proliferation of Scottish fraternal societies in Canada thus coincided with the arrival of Scots who were in need of financial assistance, explaining the Canadian associations’ focus on philanthropy. New Zealand, by contrast, was a late destination of choice: the migrants who arrived there were not primarily seeking to escape industrial grime nor famine. Instead, occupational upward mobility was a real possibility, with benevolence much less in need. The overall number of Scottish clubs and societies in New Zealand is remarkable. Up to 1930, there were at least 155 Scottish associations, 102 of which were Caledonian societies. Map 3.1 shows the location of the main societies, and also indicates cluster areas of associational activity.15

11 12 13

14 15

Otago Witness, 31 May 1862, 4; 16 Aug. 1862, 5. Otago Witness, 1 Nov. 1862, 5; also 3 Jan. 1863, 4 for a report on the first gathering. The Scotsman, 14 Feb. 1870, 6; for examples from the St Andrew’s Society in Montreal, see C. Bourbeau, ‘The St. Andrew’s Society of Montreal: Philanthropy and Power’, in Bueltmann et al. (eds), Ties of Bluid. Bumsted, Scots in Canada, 9ff. ‘Main’ is measured in terms of membership numbers, attendance at events organised, and longevity of associations. The map thus includes associations that were traceable for a period of at least a decade. The number is based on references found in Society records,

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Map 3.1: New Zealand’s main Scottish associations (source: the author).

While not recording all of New Zealand’s Scottish associations, nor their size, the map reflects the overall geographical distribution, as well as regional clusters. As is evident, the centres of Scottish associational life were in Otago, particularly Dunedin, parts of rural Southland, the lower North Island, and also Wellington. In the first instance, this distribution simply reflects the prevailing population concentrations. When read in conjunction with Scottish settlement patterns, however, the associational clusters mirror these patterns: there was a strong correlation between the presence of larger numbers of Scots in particular areas and the development of associations. This highlights that Scottish associationalism in New Zealand was not defensive, formed by a minority for fear of marginalisation or ethnic fade, but an active and co-ordinated response to new world circumstances by large numbers of Scots. Their associational culture was societies listed under the Friendly Societies or Incorporated Societies acts, references from the Cyclopedia, periodicals such as the New Zealand Scotsman, and an extensive search of local newspapers. For comparison, MacKenzie notes that there were forty Caledonian societies in South Africa by the First World War, MacKenzie with Dalziel, Scots in South Africa, 247.

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strategic for reasons that this and the following chapters will explore. Given the numerical significance of Caledonian societies, these will serve as reference societies for the analysis; the aim is to offer a periodisation of Scottish associationalism. Scottish associationalism writ large: Caledonian societies With the foundation of the Otago Caledonian Society, the Caledonian seed spread quickly across urban areas, sub-regional centres, and rural settlements in New Zealand. The initial centres of proliferation, however, were in Otago and Southland. Invercargill was the first to follow Dunedin’s example, a society which set ‘forth all sorts of amusements’ being established in 1863.16 An early example from the North Island is the Turakina Caledonian Society, which first formed in 1864.17 The identification of establishment patterns is not straightforward, however, and a task especially difficult for smaller societies in rural areas or those with a short life span. As a result, it has been possible to establish the exact foundational year for only forty-nine of the 102 Caledonian societies identified; another five could be placed within a rough time period. A distorting factor is the occasional closure and resurrection of societies, as in Wellington.18 Despite the limitations in discerning foundational years, foundation patterns over time confirm that communities in Otago and Southland dominated the initial phase of the associations’ development between the early 1860s and 1870. This adds weight to the suggestion previously made that there was a correlation between the high concentration of Scots in particular areas and the emergence of associational structures in these areas. While North Island societies, such as Turakina, were also formed in the period, the similar concentration of Scots in Turakina supports the existing correlation rather than negating it. After a brief decline, the late 1870s and early 1880s witnessed the establishment of the largest number of societies. Two factors provide likely explanations. First, the early Caledonian societies had generally proven very successful, particularly so with respect to the organisation of Caledonian Games. As will be explored in chapter five, these became a favourite holiday pastime, a tourist magnet, and potentially a profitable business venture, thereby offering inducements for the establishment of 16

17

18

Southland Times, 2 Jan. 1863, 2; smaller Southland settlements soon followed, see 4 Jan. 1869, 2. Rural sports, including Scottish events, already took place on New Year’s Day 1864 on the grounds adjoining the Turakina Ben Nevis Hotel. Cf. Wanganui Chronicle, 24 Dec. 1863 and 7 Jan. 1864, 2; also New Zealand Spectator and Cook’s Strait Guardian, 11 Jan. 1865, 3. References to a Caledonian society can be found for the late 1860s, but an elaborate inaugural dinner was also held in 1885 after a few years without Caledonian activities in the capital, see Evening Post, 1 Dec. 1885, 2. There is further reference to a similar event in 1919.

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new societies. The influx of Scottish migrants as a result of Vogel’s Public Works Scheme played a further part. The much-reduced foundational activity from the mid-1880s is readily explainable: with many settlements either already having their own societies or societies in close proximity, the need for new ones decreased. The poor economic climate, only picking up again in the early 1890s, and competition from other sports clubs and new forms of entertainment, contributed to the downward trend.19 The early twentieth century saw a minor resurgence. This was an unexpected development and related specifically to the increasing prominence of cash athletics and cycling at Caledonian Games. While this shift in orientation will also be considered in chapter five, the key is that Caledonian Games had become a brand on which a number of athletic clubs tried to capitalise, hosting Caledonian Games rather than ordinary athletic meets. It is conceivable that many of the new Caledonian societies set up in the early twentieth century were athletic clubs with no particular rooting in the Scottish community. A society established within the initial foundation phase was that of Oamaru, a settlement located 70 miles north of Dunedin. Replicating the establishment pattern of that city’s society, the Oamaru Caledonian Society was set up in connection with Caledonian Games. The first traceable New Year sports were held on a small piece of land adjoining the White Hart Hotel in 1868 and 1869. The contests pursued were common to Highland Games, with caber tossing and Highland dancing conspicuous.20 Organised by a committee of Scots formed solely for that purpose, the sports attracted many spectators and provided enjoyable entertainment.21 These moderate beginnings were an important milestone, initiating the establishment of a proper Caledonian society in 1869.22 While the initial meeting to form such a society in Oamaru had to be postponed as a result of limited interest, a second meeting was called by Alexander Morton a few days later. Fortunately for Morton, who had been asked by other Scots in Oamaru to organise a preliminary meeting, more people were attracted by the second notice in a local newspaper.23 A Mr Harper, who had a long-standing interest in the promotion of Scottish customs, took the chair. After a discussion on Oamaru’s capability of, and suitability for, supporting a Caledonian society, the meeting ended with the election of a preliminary management committee of twelve gentlemen, including Morton and Harper.24 While neither a President nor a Board 19

20 21 22 23 24

B. Brookes et al., ‘Spare Time? Leisure, Gender and Modernity’, in B. Brookes et al. (eds), Sites of Gender: Women, Men and Modernity in Southern Dunedin, 1890–1939 (Auckland, 2003), 158–9. Oamaru Times and Waitaki Reporter, 24 Dec. 1867, 3; also 3 Jan. 1868, 3. Ibid., 5 Jan. 1869, 2. Ibid., 16 Nov. 1869, 3. For details see personal clippings book of J. A. Brown, NOMA, 13/1b. Oamaru Times and Waitaki Reporter, 26 Nov. 1869, 2.

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of Directors had yet been elected, the first Caledonian Games under the auspices of the new society were held on New Year’s Day 1870. The Games’ success was celebrated by Caledonian Society members a few days later at the Empire Hotel, a splendid supper provided and the toast wishing success to the Society ‘drunk with enthusiasm’.25 Associational fixtures were established with the adoption of rules and bylaws. Unfortunately, no full set of rules has survived for the early years, though a range of sources permits identification of common patterns. The earliest available rules for Oamaru are for 1893, with newspaper coverage of the Society’s activities indicating that these were most likely in place from its establishment.26 Moreover, the rules correspond to those of the Otago Caledonian Society and others elsewhere in New Zealand and abroad, suggesting a common origin.27 Evidence from an early meeting of the Otago Caledonian Society, held in late October 1862, records that their rules were based on those ‘of a similar society in Victoria’,28 the Melbourne Caledonian Society. Initially set up in 1858 as the Caledonian Society of Victoria, the Melbourne Society had taken its rules from the Caledonian Society of London.29 A complete set of rules for 1861 has survived from the Melbourne Society, almost contemporaneous with the establishment of the Dunedin Society. These rules serve as a useful starting point for the study of New Zealand’s Caledonian societies, not least because the three key objectives are identical to the 1893 Oamaru objectives: 1. Benevolence – to be promoted by contributing to the funds of such Charitable Institutions as the Directors may determine, and by giving information and advice to newly arrived Immigrants, and by affording for special cases of destitution such temporary relief as to the Directors may appear practicable or expedient. 2. Literature – to be promoted by offering prizes for the greatest proficiency of pupils attending the various Educational Institutions of

25 26

27

28 29

Ibid., 7 Jan. 1870, 2. Oamaru Caledonian Society Rules, Bylaws and Conditions of Competition, 1893, NOMA, 98/29c. For example Canterbury Caledonian Society, ATL, MS-Papers-5251; rules similar to these were common all over the world, for example for the Caledonian Society of France, see The  Scotsman, 5 Feb. 1924, 9; also Halifax Caledonian Club, Constitution and Rules, Scottish  Collection at the University of Guelph, FC 162. C15 no.67159; Quebec Caledonian Society Rules and Regulations, 1834, 1839, Scottish Collection at the University of Guelph, FC 162.C15 no.54948. Otago Witness, 24 Oct. 1862, 5. Argus, 31 Mar. 1858, 8; also 7 Apr. 1858, 5. The Victoria Society was part of the Scottish associational scene in Australia which gained momentum in the 1850s, cf. E. Richards, ‘Australia and the Scottish Connections 1788–1914’, in R. A. Cage (ed.), The Scots Abroad: Labour, Capital, Enterprise, 1750–1914 (Sydney, 1985), 141; also K. Sullivan, ‘Scottish Associational Culture in Early Victoria, Australia: An Antipodean Reading of a Global Phenomenon’, in Bueltmann et al. (eds), Ties of Bluid.

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the Colony, and also by procuring and disseminating information regarding the Poetry, History, and Archaeology of Scotland. 3. Customs and Accomplishments – to be promoted by offering prizes for excellence in the performance of National Feats, Games and Exercises, to be exhibited at the Annual Gathering of the Society.30 The rules represent the societies’ common denominators, reflect their permanence, and reveal the aspects of Scottish culture the societies’ leaders and members sought to preserve. Although the rooting of activities in these three areas was common among the majority of New Zealand’s Caledonian societies, some made no provisions for objects other than the organisation of annual sports. At its 1870 meeting to fix rules, the Hokitika Caledonian Society, for instance, did not discuss any particular ‘Caledonian’ aspect. The second rule, which defined the objects, referred only to the encouragement of ‘national games and athletic sports generally’.31 Established under the leadership of James Alexander Bonar, a prominent West Coast Scot born in Edinburgh who had arrived in New Zealand in 1863,32 the different focus perhaps reflected location and the ethnic make-up of the West Coast.33 It was in fact argued that ‘it did not matter what the society was termed. It might be termed the “Ebenezer Society”, or any other name. The title did not bind it, when the object was distinctly stated to be for the encouragement of all games.’34 This focus was unusual in the early years, making the Hokitika Society somewhat atypical in 1870. In terms of the ranking of objectives, benevolence is usually listed as the first, but contrary to practice in North America, much less emphasis was placed on philanthropy in New Zealand. In Canada, for example, the associational scene was more complex in that Caledonian societies often emerged as the leisure-offshoot of St Andrew’s societies, which primarily promoted philanthropy. As O’Connor explains for Toronto, the St Andrew’s Society’s Committee met monthly to go through stacks of applications for relief and decide who was most deserving of aid. The Society’s motto, ‘to help them to help themselves’, reflects the strong ethos of self-help, fostering 30

31 32

33

34

Caledonian Society of Victoria Rules, SLV: 824 V66 (v. 30); accessed via the online portal of the Victoria State Library, http://www.slv.vic.gov.au/vicpamphlets/0/4/6/pdf/ vp0466.pdf, last visited 11 Jun. 2008. West Coast Times, 24 Nov. 1870, 2. Ibid., 8 Nov. 1901, 3; F. Minehan, ‘Bonar, James Alexander 1840–1901’, DNZB, www.dnzb. govt.nz, last visited 20 Jul. 2010. It is primarily seen as an Irish province, with little ethnic diversity being recorded in specialist studies, such as L. Fraser, Castles of Gold: A History of New Zealand’s West Coast Irish (Dunedin, 2007). The Scottish examples here contribute to a more nuanced perspective, as do research findings for the German residents on the West Coast, cf. T. Bueltmann, ‘“Inscribed in German’: German Associational Culture on New Zealand’s West Coast in Comparative Perspective, c. 1860 to 1900’, New Zealand Studies Association Conference (Frankfurt, Jul. 2009). West Coast Times, 24 Nov. 1870, 2.

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among the recipients of relief ‘that spirit of independence which has made Scotchmen honoured and respected throughout the whole earth’.35 New Zealand’s Caledonian societies, by and large, made no effort to establish their own benevolent branches or committees, restricting their activities to donations to other charitable institutions. In the financial year of 1874–5, for example, the Oamaru Society gave £10 10s to the Oamaru Hospital and £5 5s to the Oamaru Benevolent Society; no entries are included in the balance sheet for donations or aid distributed to individuals on application.36 By passing the money on to other institutions rather than distributing it themselves, the societies relinquished a substantial degree of the power which they could have exercised had they distributed the money themselves. As Canadian examples show, distribution through internal society committees could serve as a means of social engineering.37 As a consequence of outsourcing the distribution of funds, Caledonian societies in New Zealand forfeited an opportunity to base benevolence on ethnic criteria. Despite this qualification, the policies adopted varied between societies, and even donations to other charitable institutions could serve a wider purpose that was to the benefit of societies. It was in response to such contributions, for example, that the Oamaru Hospital Board of Governors made an Oamaru Caledonian Society member Honorary Life Governor of the hospital in 1881, linking Caledonians directly into civic life.38 In terms of the promotion of the literature, poetry, history, and archaeology of Scotland, a number of cultural and social gatherings were commonly sponsored throughout the year: concerts, balls, Hallowe’en gatherings, and Burns celebrations were especially popular. From the late nineteenth century, there were also an increasing number of inglesides.39 In contrast to Caledonian Games, which operated on a very large scale, with even the smaller meets easily attracting 300–500 people, inglesides were a much more intimate affair.40 They were less public and anonymous, catering primarily for Society members and their friends.41 As the North Otago Times observed, 35

36

37

38

39

40

41

St Andrew’s Society of Toronto Manager’s Report: Fifty-Second Annual Report, 1887–8, cited in S. O’Connor, ‘The St Andrew’s Society of Toronto: Scottish Ethnic Associational Culture in the Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries’, unpublished MRP (University of Guelph, 2008). Oamaru Caledonian Society balance sheet, reprinted in North Otago Times, 21 Oct. 1875, 2. For instance Montreal St Andrew’s Society Formation and Constitution, 1835–44, National Library of Scotland, 5.5223(26). Oamaru Caledonian Society Meeting of Directors [MoD] minutes, 28 Jan. 1881, NOMA, 98/29c. For example as part of the Blackball Caledonian Society’s monthly events calendar, Grey River Argus, 8 Sep. 1920, 3. In Oamaru, the idea of holding inglesides was first discussed in 1891, Oamaru Caledonian Society MoD minutes, 13 Oct. 1891, NOMA, 382/29d. Oamaru Caledonian Society MoD minutes, 8 Aug. 1892, NOMA, 382/29d.

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for the Scotchman the ‘ingleside’ is his fireside, hence we have an ingleside or fireside gathering, which is far more of an ‘at home’ than some people think . . . the promoters of the ingleside were actuated by the desire to lighten the hearts and strengthen the friendships of themselves and their numerous guests.42 Rather than holding elaborate speeches, they ‘had met to crack and pass a joke; to hear a song and a story.’43 Refreshments were provided by the ladies, Scottish airs were sung, and the evenings were enlivened by the sound of bagpipes. Documentary evidence suggests that there were no fundamental changes to the aims of most Caledonian societies for most of the nineteenth century, but it should be noted that the Otago Caledonian Society rulebook for 1906 lists education as a fourth objective. This was ‘to be promoted by assisting in the education of youths by establishing scholarships, or in such other manner, and under such conditions, as may be approved by the Society’.44 In the absence of earlier complete rulebooks, it is difficult to establish whether the addition was a 1906 innovation. There is sound evidence, however, of interest in educational matters prior to 1906. The Society established a scholarship and donated money to the University of Otago, £10 10s in 1902, for example.45 Most prominently, education took centre stage with the Otago Caledonian Society’s introduction of night schools. These were set up in direct response to a gap in the education system, and proved a great success. The Society’s 1873 annual report records that since the opening of the evening classes more than 180 pupils had enrolled in the subjects of arithmetic, book-keeping, and English grammar.46 The Wellington Caledonian Society, in similar spirit, set up evening classes in conjunction with the Wellington Graduates’ Association of the University of New Zealand in 1886. In the absence of a university college in Wellington, the Society being deeply impressed with the necessity of making some provision for the higher education in this district, have succeeded in making arrangements whereby all persons who are earnest can prepare themselves for the Professions, the pass Degree Examinations of the University, and for the scientific practice of the Arts.47 Evening classes were offered twice weekly in a wide variety of subjects, including Algebra, Biology, English, and Political Economy. Contrary to

42 43 44 45 46 47

North Otago Times, 2 Dec. 1891, 2. Ibid. Otago Caledonian Society Rulebook, 1906, Hocken, MS-1045/005. Otago Witness, 19 Oct. 1902, 17. Otago Caledonian Society annual report, reprinted in Otago Witness, 25 Oct. 1873, 4. Evening Post, 16 Oct. 1886, 2.

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the Dunedin response, the classes did not prove to be particularly popular and were abandoned a year later.48 Perhaps it was the emphasis on higher education, rather than the filling of a gap in the educational system, as promoted by the Otago Society, that led to the classes’ rapid demise in Wellington. As one of the three pillars of Scottish nationhood preserved after the Union of 1707, Scots took great pride in their education tradition.49 It is fair to suggest that the status attributed to education matters by some Caledonian societies in New Zealand is a reflection of its status in Scottish society. It is no coincidence that New Zealand’s first university was founded in Dunedin. No attempts were made to introduce evening classes in Oamaru, but a bursary, with a value of £20 in its first year, was established in 1881.50 Applications were open to boys and girls aged fifteen or under whose parents resided in the Waitaki District. Recipients were chosen by means of competitive public written and oral exams in a variety of basic disciplines, and some Scottish matters,51 with the exams being conducted under the auspices of the Caledonian Society’s education committee.52 The objectives associated with the bursary were manifold, reflecting a dichotomy between those communicated to the general public and those discussed within the Society. For the former, bursaries were described in 1881 as forwarding the cause of education,53 while at the Society’s AGM of the same year a more mundane reason was given. It was argued that enthusiasm amongst the parents and scholars was one of the great aims sought, and the more this existed the greater would be the benefits accruing to the society. The greater the emulation amongst teachers and scholars the more would be the success of the society and hopes of its funds increasing.54

48

49

50

51

52

53 54

Ibid., 20 Feb. 1888, 2; see also J. C. Beaglehole, Victoria University College: An Essay Towards a History (Wellington, 1949), 9. Cf. R. D. Anderson, Education and the Scottish People (Oxford, 1995); also R. D. Anderson, ‘Education and Society in Modern Scotland: A Comparative Perspective’, History of Education Quarterly, 25, 4 (1985), 459–81. The idea of establishing a scholarship was first mooted at a meeting of directors in Oct. 1880; a special scholarship committee was set up a few weeks later to prepare a report on such an undertaking. See Oamaru Caledonian Society MoD minutes, 12 Oct. 1880 and 8 Nov. 1880, NOMA, 98/29c; a similar example are the Grey Caledonian Society contributions to local schools, Grey River Argus, 5 Apr. 1919, 4. The Canterbury Caledonian Society’s scholarship was distributed in similar fashion, but exam questions were on Scottish matters exclusively; not surprisingly, only children of Scottish descent could apply. See Grey River Argus, 19 Apr. 1903, 6. Oamaru Caledonian Society MoD minutes, 28 Jan. 1881, NOMA, 98/29c; also North Otago Times, 29 Jan. 1881, 2. Report on the Oamaru Caledonian Society MoD, North Otago Times, 6 Jul. 1881, 2. Oamaru Caledonian Society AGM report, reprinted in North Otago Times, 29 Oct. 1881, 2.

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The bursaries were thus far more than a subsidy for gifted students: they were viewed as an important promotional tool of the Caledonian Society, a means to attract new members.55 In line with this aim, the annual announcement of the successful candidates was orchestrated as an important civic occasion. Parents were in attendance when the President of the Caledonian Society announced the recipients, as were representatives from the schools of the competitors. Rectors gave speeches and examiners read reports detailing the competitors’ achievements. The Oamaru Mayor was usually present, acknowledging the Society’s important contributions to the community. To maintain the bursaries, however, substantial funds were required, which could not always be secured. In 1885, the number of bursaries, which had been increased to three, reverted to one, notwithstanding attempts to raise extra money by hosting special fundraising concerts.56 The Society was keen to distribute as many bursaries as possible, not only to disseminate a Scottish spirit, but because it ‘gave respectability to the society and was a real benefit’.57 This highlights the multifaceted purposes of Scottish associationalism, the subject of the following section. The diversification and specialisation of Scottish associationalism In early January 1881, the Otago Daily Times and the Otago Witness featured the following announcement in their public notice sections: Two hundred and forty gentleman [sic] have intimated their intention of becoming members of a literary Gaelic Society in Dunedin, which will be conducted upon similar principles to those of the Gaelic Society of Inverness. Gentlemen desirous of becoming members (and only those who speak the Gaelic language) are requested to send their name and address to Mr John MacCallum Jamieson, City Treasurer, Town Hall, Dunedin; or to Mr Donald MacGregor, Lochaber Cottage, London Street, Dunedin . . . when Five Hundred Names shall be received, a circular will be immediately issued with the proposed objects and rules . . . and the date announced for holding a public meeting.58 The proposed public meeting was later advertised for 2 March of the same year and duly took place in Dunedin’s Oddfellows Hall on Rattray Street; forty gentlemen gathered to discuss rules and to vote into office the first 55

56 57 58

Similar aims were pursued by the Caithness and Sutherland Association, which viewed its scholarship as a ‘means of introducing the claims of the society to a larger circle of natives of the northern counties of Scotland in this part of New Zealand, and inducing them to become members of the Association’ (Otago Witness, 3 Jan. 1880, 20). There was one junior and one senior scholarship and the exam for it was conducted by the Dunedin Education Board, see Otago Witness, 22 Jan. 1881, 13. Oamaru Caledonian Society AGM report, 26 Oct. 1885, NOMA, 382/29d. North Otago Times, 1 Oct. 1883, 3. Otago Witness, 15 Jan. 1881, 28.

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executive committee of the Society. The Society’s foundation draws attention to the significance of lead-figures in the formation of associational structures. One of them, Donald MacGregor, had already been involved in the Gaelic Society of London before his arrival in New Zealand. As the Celtic Magazine noted in a report on the formation of the Dunedin Society, MacGregor had ‘kept the Celtic lamp burning so brightly in the British Metropolis’.59 News of the Gaelic Society’s establishment, then, was well received in the homeland and New Zealand. In Wellington, Highlanders gathered to become members, with ‘the ultimate view of establishing a branch in this city’.60 As elsewhere, the idea was to foster Celtic customs, and to bring together Highlanders of the district into friendly intercourse.61 Despite the generally positive comments, some scepticism was expressed in a report published in the Bruce Herald: A Gaelic Society is proposed for Dunedin. What a useful project! Why not establish a society for learning Chinese, Esquimaux, and the dialect of the Mexican Aztecs, or an association might be started for teaching Mr Dornwell’s ox tongue the English language!62 No such attitudes seem to have penetrated in Dunedin, where sixty men attended a later meeting to elect officers; by that stage, the membership already stood at 350.63 The Society successfully brought its first year of existence to a close at a December meeting where the Revd Dr Macgregor delivered a well-received lecture entitled ‘Reminiscences of Perthshire’.64 In view of the rapid and successful development of the local Caledonian Society, why would Scots want to establish a new organisation rather than join the existing association? First, the timing of the Gaelic Society’s establishment is crucial. Evidence pertaining to the development of Dunedin and migration patterns suggests that particular migration flows from the Highlands contributed to the development of Highland-oriented Scottish associations. As noted in chapter one, the 1870s witnessed a concentrated Highland influx to colonial Otago. Wilson estimates that almost a thousand assisted Highland immigrants arrived in Otago and Southland, the latter again part of the Otago Province by 1870,65 as well as a substantial number of unassisted Scots. It seems unlikely that the concentrated arrival of Highland immigrants and the sudden rise of the Gaelic Society of New 59

60 61 62 63 64

65

The Celtic Magazine: A Monthly Periodical Devoted to the Literature, History, Antiquities, Folklore, Traditions and the Social and Material Interests of the Celt at Home and Abroad, 6 (1881), 230. Otago Witness, 29 Jan. 1881, 18. North Otago Times, 13 Dec. 1881, 2. Bruce Herald, 7 Jan. 1881, 3. Otago Witness, 7 May 1881, 18. Although great store was set by fostering the use of Gaelic, the lecture was delivered in English. Cf. Otago Witness, 10 Dec. 1881, 18. M. Wilson, ‘Myth and Misunderstanding: The Enigma of the Scottish Highland Migrant to Otago/Southland, 1870–79’, unpublished MA thesis (University of Otago, 1999).

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Zealand was purely coincidental. Perhaps it was the wish to express a distinct Highland identity, or to delineate themselves from other Scots, that spurred some of the newly arrived Highlanders to form their own society. In view of the concept of identity boundaries propagated by Barth,66 the Society’s establishment was possibly a reaction to the inclusiveness practised by the Caledonian Society. A second crucial factor, however, was the reinvigoration of Gaelic culture in Scotland itself. The Gaelic Society of Inverness was set up in 1871, and a Great Celtic Demonstration held in the city in 1878. Localised associationalism, one rooted locally rather than nationally, as that purported by the Gaelic Society was important because it made available another point of reference that Scots could use to identify themselves (or be identified against). Although launched in a similar fashion to other Scottish societies, those with local roots are an important corrective to the most prominent Caledonian societies. While the latter mostly followed very open and inclusive outward-oriented agendas, the Gaelic Society of New Zealand, as an example of a localised association, was more exclusively Scottish and inward-oriented. This orientation is clearly anchored in the Gaelic Society’s objectives, which were geared specifically to Gaelic and Highland interests. First and foremost, the Gaelic Society was to foster and perpetuate the Gaelic language, to encourage the cultivation of Gaelic literature and music, to establish branch societies throughout the Colony of New Zealand, and generally to take cognisance of all matters which may be considered of special interest to Highlanders.67 The development of associations with a Highland orientation complicated the Scottish associational scene. As much was the case not least because many Lowland Scots, the bulk of Scottish immigrants to New Zealand, adopted Highland symbolism and cultural practices which were not traditionally part of their heritage. The division between Lowlanders and Highlanders, however, has long since been a contentious issue in both Scottish history and historiography, neither being a simple matter of geography, reflecting the physical characteristics of the land, nor of linguistic divisions between Gaelic and English speakers. The differentiation between Highlands and Lowlands has as much to do with cultural traditions, in particular those rooted in the clan system and distinct aspects of Highland history.68 With the Enlightenment and the ‘discovery’ of Ossian’s poetry, 66 67

68

Barth, Ethnic Groups and Boundaries. Otago Witness, 5 Mar. 1881, 18; a complete set of rules is available for the post-1930 period in E. R. Entwistle, History of the Gaelic Society of New Zealand, 1881–1981 (Dunedin, 1981), 150–63. A useful synthesis of developments in the Highlands is T. M. Devine, Clanship to Crofter’s War: The Social Transformation of the Scottish Highlands (Manchester, 1994); see also J. L. Roberts, Clan, King, and Covenant: History of the Highland Clans from the Civil War to the Glencoe Massacre (Edinburgh, 2000).

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the view on Highland Scotland changed, finding its culmination in George IV’s visit to Edinburgh, perfectly staged by Sir Walter Scott ‘when the tartan mania was at its height’.69 Together with Scott’s novels, the ‘balmoralisation’ of the Highlands, and Scottish participation in the imperial mission, such commentary helped to gradually cast off negative images.70 While frequently dismissed as romantic and sentimental, these developments represented a crucial reversal in the external attitudes towards the Highlands.71 This facilitated the appropriation of Highland symbolism for the whole of Scotland, providing one answer as to why Scots from all quarters celebrate symbols of Highland identity. The important point is that the associations with local roots explored here could, and often did, employ this Highland identity for the purpose of establishing boundaries and exclusivity, whereas New Zealand’s Caledonian societies were intrinsically inclusive. The Gaelic Society’s exclusivity did not automatically extend to its main activities, however, these being ‘of a thoroughly social nature and could not fail to foster that fraternal feeling and interest in each other’s welfare which ought to characterise Highlanders wherever located’.72 It was the social activity of dancing, however, that brought trouble in 1882. Throughout its first months of existence, the Gaelic Society rented the club rooms of the Dunedin YMCA. On discovering that the Gaelic Society held dances, the YMCA secretary advised that such frivolities could not be pursued on YMCA premises because this was violating YMCA regulations. While some members of the Gaelic Society took an accommodating view, noting that the impasse was simply the result of different points of view between ‘a Christian man and a Highlander’, others thought the YMCA was simply a bunch of ‘money-grubbers’.73 With the majority of members agreeing that ‘unless we as Highlanders meet together in a social manner, the meetings will lose a considerable amount of their interest’,74 the matter was eventually settled by the Society moving to different premises. The episode underlines two important issues. First, it is indicative of the divergent interests 69 70

71

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Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, 74, 2 (1853), 265. M. Pittock, Scottish and Irish Romanticism (New York, 2008), 70; A. Mackillop and S. Murdoch (eds), Military Governors and Imperial Frontiers, c. 1600–1800: A Study of Scotland and Empires (History of Warfare Series, vol. 17, Leiden, 2003). For a discussion on issues relating to the Highland/Lowland division and its history, see J. Burnett, ‘Ethnic Culture in Transition: Gaelic Scotland, 1939–1965’, unpublished Ph.D. thesis (University of Sunderland, 2000); also E. A. Cameron, ‘Embracing the Past: The Highlands in Nineteenth Century Scotland’, in D. Broun, R. J. Finlay and M. Lynch (eds), Image and Identity: The Making and Re-Making of Scotland through the Ages (Edinburgh, 1998); W. Ferguson, The Identity of the Scottish Nation: An Historic Quest (Edinburgh, 1998); C. Withers, ‘The Historical Creation of the Scottish Highlands’, in C. Whatley and I. Donnachie (eds), The Manufacture of Scottish History (Edinburgh, 1992); and P. Womack, Improvement and Romance: Constructing the Myth of the Highlands (Basingstoke, 1989). Gaelic Society AGM report, reprinted in Otago Witness, 5 Aug. 1887, 15. Otago Witness, 8 Apr. 1882, 14. Ibid.

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the diversification of associational life beyond that of ethnic associations entailed, and secondly, it draws attention to the question of meeting places. For the particular activities pursued by the Gaelic Society, which included lectures, recitals, and choir performances, rooms which provided both sufficient space and an intimate environment were required; by contrast, the meetings of many Caledonian societies were held in local public houses.75 These meetings were not primarily cultural gatherings, but short business meetings followed by social get-togethers. The annual gathering of the Gaelic Society served as another important social occasion and provided a platform for the maintenance of Gaelic. At most early gatherings, annual reports were read in English and Gaelic, while cultural activities featured Gaelic prominently. The monthly ordinary meetings were also used to cultivate the Gaelic language, an objective further pursued by setting up a Gaelic library in Dunedin.76 With only limited funds available to purchase books, the library initially relied on private book donations.77 Some books were even sent by Edinburghbased Professor Donald Mackinnon, the holder of the first Celtic Chair at Edinburgh University.78 The Society was so pleased by the donation, sent to serve as the nucleus of the library, that the Revd Dr Stuart was given a handmade walking stick to be delivered in person on behalf of the Society when he travelled home in 1888.79 Although conceived as a means of keeping Gaelic alive in the new environment, the idea of a library further demonstrates the degree to which the Gaelic Society was committed to self-improvement. Auto-didactism was an important feature in nineteenthcentury Scotland, encouraging a culture of self-directed advancement through education or reading clubs.80 While some other Scottish associations in New Zealand followed a similar path, the establishment of a permanent library aligned the Gaelic Society more closely with the traditional friendly societies interested in self-improvement. Notwithstanding the 75

76

77 78

79 80

This was commonly the case in Oamaru, where meetings tended to be held at hotels owned by Society members. J. M. Brown, for instance, owned the Star and Garter Hotel and then the Criterion Hotel, two of the venues frequently used for the Society’s executive and general meetings. A library was first proposed at the fifth Annual Gathering in 1886, see Otago Witness, 6 Aug. 1886, 14. Gaelic Society AGM report, reprinted in Otago Witness, 6 Aug. 1886, 14. Otago Witness, 5 Aug. 1887, 15; also M. Newton, ‘“Becoming Cold-hearted like the Gentiles Around Them”: Scottish Gaelic in the United States 1872–1912’, Journal of Interdisciplinary Celtic Studies, 2 (2003), 63–131; more is said about the establishment of the Celtic Chair and fundraising for it in New Zealand in chapter seven. Otago Witness, 11 May 1888, 10. The ideology of mutual improvement through libraries was common, for instance, among the Scottish working class from the late eighteenth century, see J. C. Crawford, ‘The Ideology of Mutual Improvement in Scottish Working Class Libraries’, Library History, 12 (1996), 49–61; S. Smiles, Self-Help: With Illustrations of Conduct and Perseverance (London, 1882).

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commitment to the library, there were complaints about it being underused, as well as attempts to encourage members to use it more frequently.81 Two other valuable vehicles for the conservation of Gaelic were the Gaelic service held at ‘the Chalmers Church on the last Sabbath of every month’,82 and the Society’s choir. The promotion of the Gaelic language aside, members were also educated in history, with lectures on topics such as Bonnie Prince Charlie or other matters broadly relating to the Highlands.83 A similar focus  on local history is also evident in the activities of the Wellington Shetland Society in the 1920s, a society that equally documents the endurance of localised Scottish associationalism in that later period.84 Although more exclusive in its outlook and objectives, the Gaelic Society was not opposed to other Scottish associations; it was, in fact, in contact with them. It was perhaps the common hope shared by many societies, that by associating and establishing fraternal ties, their interest in ‘the past . . . would spur the young people on to good work in the future’.85 In Dunedin, cordial ties existed between the Gaelic Society and the Burns Club from the latter’s inception in 1891, when hope was expressed by the new club’s President that a friendly relationship would develop.86 This was consolidated by joint performances by the Gaelic Society and Burns Club choirs.87 Furthermore, Burns Club and Caledonian Society members were present at the annual gatherings of the Gaelic Society, Mr Mackenzie, President of the Otago Caledonian Society, noting at one meeting that the Chief of the Gaelic Society was also a Vice-President of the Caledonian Society and of the Burns Club.88 It seems that in this case Gaelic Society members were happily embracing fraternal opportunities while not opening their own organisation to others. In conformity with the Society’s rules, it would have been impossible for the President of the Burns Club, a Lowlander, to become Vice-President of the Gaelic Society. Nevertheless, contacts extended out to the different branch societies, and to other Scottish societies across New Zealand.89 The notion of a Celtic bond played its part. In 1897, for instance, Father O’Neill’s presence at an annual meeting of the Gaelic Society was described as ‘the signal for a real Celtic welcome’.90 81 82 83

84

85 86 87 88 89

90

Gaelic Society AGM report, reprinted in Otago Witness, 15 Aug. 1889, 2; 6 Aug. 1896, 50. Gaelic Society AGM report, reprinted in Otago Witness, 22 Aug. 1895, 36. Cf. Otago Witness, 10 Oct. 1906, 63; also the 1888 Gaelic Society AGM report, reprinted in Otago Witness, 10 Aug. 1888, 22. For example Evening Post, 25 Nov. 1924, 7; also J. Harland, ‘Island Heritage and Identity in the Antipodes: Orkney and Shetland Societies in New Zealand’, in Bueltmann et al. (eds), Ties of Bluid. Otago Witness, 15 Aug. 1889, 2. Dunedin Gaelic Society, Scrapbook, n.d., Hocken, AG-542-5. Gaelic Society AGM report, reprinted in Otago Witness, 6 Aug. 1891, 29. Gaelic Society Scrapbook, Hocken, AG-542-5. At the 1894 Annual Gathering, even members from Oamaru were present, see Otago Witness, 16 Aug. 1894, 10. North Otago Times, 9 Aug. 1897, 3.

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O’Neill, heavily involved with the Irish Gaelic Society, noted that such meetings helped sustain the bonds between ‘the sea-divided Gael. They were all descended of the same stock and, whether they hailed from the Emerald Isle or the Highlands of Scotland’, ties existed based on a common language and traditions.91 Or, as expressed in the following year at a gathering of the Waitaki Gaelic Society branch, ‘everyone was welcome, even good Irishmen’.92 Another notable feature of associations with a local referent was the greater importance placed on rituals, especially with respect to the opening of events such as AGMs. Many societies had their own pipers and marches featured prominently. In 1891, for instance, the annual Gaelic Society gathering in Dunedin was opened by a march of eighteen pipers.93 In this cordial and convivial environment, the annual gathering was not only a meeting place for society members, but also served as an opportunity for displaying the ‘garb of the old Gael’. In 1886, a number of the men were in full Highland costume, and many of the ladies appropriately completed their evening toilette with a plaid scarf worn crosswise over the shoulder, helping to give the gathering a characteristic appearance.94 Despite these rituals and the focus on Highlandism, the Society’s attempts to sustain that Highland heritage went beyond its own bounds. Prizes were presented at the Dunedin Caledonian Games for particular competitions, silver and gold medals being offered in 1891 for the piping competition, both of which were won by the two sons of the Gaelic Society’s piper.95 Special prize funds were also set up by individual members of the Society ‘for the encouragement for the young ladies of the society in the study of Celtic music’.96 Apart from associations with locally rooted objects, two other important specialised associations merit attention, both organised in the name of national figureheads. First, Scotland’s patron saint, St Andrew, who was commemorated in Wellington by a banquet as early as 1840, with another dinner provided a year later in ‘true Caledonian style’.97 In Auckland, the first celebration was held in 1850: The Anniversary of Scotland’s Patron Saint was celebrated for the first time in Auckland with all due honour on Saturday . . . The feast 91 92 93 94 95 96 97

Ibid.; also New Zealand Tablet, 6 Aug. 1897, 19; 23 Aug. 1895, 8. North Otago Times, 3 Oct. 1898, 1. Otago Witness, 6 Aug. 1891, 29; see also Entwistle, History of the Gaelic Society, 18. Otago Witness, 6 Aug. 1886, 14. Gaelic Society AGM report, reprinted in Otago Witness, 6 Aug. 1891, 29. Ibid., reprinted in Otago Witness, 10 Aug. 1887, 22. Cf. New Zealand Spectator and Cook’s Strait Guardian, 5 Dec. 1840, 3; 4 Dec. 1841, 3.

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was held in the Masonic Hotel, in the Ball Room, which had been appropriately decorated for the occasion . . . At the head of the room was placed a large and conspicuous escutcheon, on which the arms of Scotland were beautifully delineated; while at the foot, the figure of Saint Andrew occupied an equally prominent position, the venerable tutelary seeming as if he smiled benignant welcome upon his sons and their guests, who had that day assembled in honour of his name.98 In such and similar fashion, St Andrew was a recognisable feature in the annual festive calendar of many Scottish associations throughout New Zealand. Despite its status as the saint day, however, St Andrew’s Day celebrations never attained the same prominence as St Patrick’s Day festivities, the comparable celebration in the Irish community.99 Furthermore, the saint was never as successfully anchored in Scottish associational life as was the case in other countries. The scant available evidence on St Andrew’s societies in New Zealand suggests that these were an entirely Aucklandbased phenomenon. After its first 1850 celebration, the Society’s history is difficult to trace, with both limited newspaper coverage and no society records. This is regrettable, because the timing indicates that it was the earliest Scottish association in New Zealand, set up more than a decade prior to the first Caledonian society in Dunedin. From the reports that do exist, there is a glimpse, however, of the Society’s objectives. These were set out as the promotion of Education; the granting of pecuniary aid to deserving persons who may wish to emigrate, the rendering assistance to such on their arrival in the Colony; the communication of information as to the state and prospects of this Province to influential persons and Societies in Scotland, with a view to the benefit of intending emigrants; the revival of old associations; and, finally, the affording such charitable relief as its funds permit to natives of Scotland and their descendants, resident in Auckland.100 These objectives are more in line with those of the locally rooted societies than Caledonian societies, and closely resemble those of many North American St Andrew’s societies. In view of the argument advanced that the latter’s focus on benevolence relates to the particular migrants they primarily catered for, the early timing of the Auckland Society lends further support to that proposition. Little is known of the Auckland St Andrew’s Society for the following years. Occasional reports and advertisements suggest that at least fifty-six meetings were held between 1851 and c. 1858, but no references could

98 99

100

Daily Southern Cross, 3 Dec. 1850, 3. M. Cronin and D. Adair, The Wearing of the Green: A History of St Patrick’s Day (Abingdon, 2006). New Zealander, 24 Dec. 1851, 2.

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be found to activities in the ensuing decade. Reports again appear in 1868, starting in May with an account of a meeting intended to revive the Society.101 This was, it seems, not successful, since no further activities are reported until 1874. Indeed, the next substantial report in the Daily Southern Cross announces the formal dissolution of the Society in November 1875. The remaining funds, £80 5s 8d, were to be equally divided and then distributed half to ‘the Presbyterian burying ground and half to deserving poor’.102 Yet this was not quite the end, for a second society of the same name was set up in the early twentieth century.103 Founded in response to the enthusiasm aroused in Auckland in 1902 by the visit of famous Sir Hector MacDonald,104 the Society was more successful in attracting and keeping members, holding its tenth annual meeting in 1912.105 The reestablishment of the Auckland St Andrew’s Society, and the formation of Burns clubs in Dunedin and Wanganui at the end of the nineteenth and in the early twentieth centuries, in fact, heralded a new phase in Scottish associational life. The anniversary of Burns’s birth acted as a de facto national day for Scots at home and abroad. Yet, while Burns was celebrated in the colony from at least the mid-1850s, associational structures in Burns’s own name did not develop until the late nineteenth century; Caledonian societies provided an associational anchor from the 1860s. Although attention tends to focus on the Dunedin Burns Club, a Burns Club and Literary Society was in place in Auckland by 1886.106 Following its establishment, the Auckland Club applied to the Kilmarnock Burns Federation for admission, with the Society’s President being appointed to the Federation’s Committee when this was approved. The Burns Federation acknowledged membership by sending out a diploma; it was also possible for every member to receive ‘a private diploma at the cost of 2/-’.107 Contact between the Auckland Society and Scotland was substantial. Members of the Kilmarnock Committee sent Scottish newspapers, while Auckland members in turn reported their activities.108 Although federated in 1886, the Auckland Burns Club was only registered as a Friendly Society in 1890. With little activity in the following decade, it was predictable that a meeting of twenty to thirty Auckland

101 102 103 104

105 106

107

108

Daily Southern Cross, 2 May 1868, 4; 16 May 1868, 4. Ibid., 20 Nov. 1875, 6. New Zealand Scot, 1, 9 ( Jul. 1913), 17. For details on MacDonald, see E. M. Spiers, The Scottish Soldier and Empire, 1854–1902 (Edinburgh, 2006). New Zealand Scot, 2, 3 ( Jan. 1914), 4. Burns Club and Literary Society AGM report, 4 Nov. 1886, Auckland City Library Special Collection [ACLSC], NZMS77; the exact year of foundation remains unclear, but it was most likely in the early 1880s. Burns Club and Literary Society AGM report, 4 Nov. 1886, ACLSC, NZMS77; also Annual Burns Chronicle and Club Directory, 1 (1892), 126. For example 22 Jan. 1887, ACLSC, NZMS77.

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Burns Club members should be held in 1905 to ‘authorise the trustees to hand over all the valuable property of the club to the Auckland St Andrew Society’.109 The Dunedin Burns Club, founded in 1891, was more successful than its Auckland sister society. The Club originated, as the first annual report shows, in the office of Mr John Gillies, ‘when it was resolved to hire the Oddfellows’ Hall . . . and to advertise in the newspapers that a meeting would be held for the purpose of forming a Burns Club’.110 Those present at the meeting, presided over by A. J. Burns, agreed that one thing that they could do in cultivating the study of Burns . . . was to study the Scottish language, which was likely to die out. They could also enter into the study of Scottish history, as illustrated in the writings of Burns. He [Dr Stenhouse] looked upon the poet as the first man of first-rate ability who had taught the doctrine of the universal brotherhood of mankind (hear, hear) – a doctrine that had come to the front in our day, and that was destined yet to have a great influence over the destinies of mankind. There was another object they might keep in view – and that was to inspire the younger generation with a sentiment of patriotism. That was a very great want in New Zealand. By the study of Burns’s writings and the study of Scottish history – the two of which could not be very well separated – the younger generation here would be able to participate in some of the great memories connected with Scottish history that had had so much to do with Scottish national character.111 It was along similar lines that William Brien of the Dunedin Burns Club later wrote to the Secretary of the Highland Society of New South Wales that the Club was started by a few enthusiastic Burns admirers who considered that although we have a pretty sound Caledonian Society (of which I am a director) and a Gaelic Society – their national sympathies did not give enough scope. Nearly all Scots and conditions of Scotsmen have a feeling of something like enthusiasm for Burns and for keeping his memory and the Club has been a success since the start.112 With monthly and quarterly meetings and the annual celebrations of Burns Night, the Club quickly became a favourite meeting place for Dunedin’s Scots. By the end of 1892, there were already 387 members on the roll, although only 288 had paid their subscriptions.113 The growing popularity 109 110 111

112 113

Burns Club President to the Registrar General, 10 Feb. 1905, ACLSC, NZMS154. Dunedin Burns Club AGM report, reprinted in Otago Witness, 31 Mar. 1892, 32. Otago Witness, 5 Mar. 1891, 15; for details on A. J. Burns, see Cyclopedia of New Zealand, vol. 4, 1039. Dunedin Burns Club Letterbook, 6 Jul. 1892, Hocken, MS-2047. Dunedin Burns Club AGM report, reprinted in Otago Witness, 31 Mar. 1892, 32.

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of the Club can further be measured through the venues where activities were held. As attendance at meetings increased, the Club had to shift from the Choral to the City Hall.114 Activities were similar to those of the Gaelic Society in their strong cultural focus, but geared towards Burns and less Highland in character. The Burns Club Choir was considered to effectively spread the knowledge of national poetry and music, especially to the young.115 Another fixture in the Club’s yearly activities was the Hallowe’en gathering. In 1897, the President (Mr Gibson), who occupied the chair, in speaking of the festival of Halloween, said it was one of the most ancient and honoured customs of Scotland not to ‘hae passed yard stock’ with all its attendant fun and doings were things well understood when he was a lad.116 A variety of games were available and attractive to adults and children alike, including the favourite ‘dookin’ for apples’.117 A crucial point of difference between Burns clubs and other Scottish associations was that many of the former were affiliated to the Burns Federation of Kilmarnock, and hence part of a global fraternal network that will be more fully explored in chapter six. Apart from this demarcation, specialised societies fall into two categories. First, there were the societies for whom specialisation came hand in hand with an exclusive and inward-oriented outlook similar to that of associations with localised roots. The second category, which includes Burns clubs, however, though organised around a specialised object, maintained an open character. Burns served well as the epitome not only of Scotland, but also mankind, a fact that contributed to the inclusive nature of Burns celebrations. Despite their open character, Burns clubs were part of the associations that heralded a new phase of Scottish associational life in New Zealand by relocating the focus of associational activities more firmly in the cultural sphere. It was this shift that provided the base for the re-popularisation of the past, the promotion of romantic notions of Scotland, which characterised Scottish associationalism in the early twentieth century. Re-popularising Auld Scotia: the case of the Scottish Society In 1912, the New Zealand Scot was first published ‘to unify and inspire Scotch patriotism in New Zealand, and to voice the goings of Scottish, Highland, Gaelic and Caledonian Societies throughout the Dominion’.118 In itself a representation of the emerging re-popularisation of Scottish culture, a new 114 115 116 117 118

Otago Witness, 29 Mar. 1894, 10. Ibid. Dunedin Burns Club Halloween Gathering report, 31 Oct. 1898, Hocken, 95-104/01. Otago Witness, 4 Nov. 1897, 19. New Zealand Scot, 1, 2 (Dec. 1912), 3.

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type of Scottishness and Scottish associationalism, the periodical enables the tracing of many of the new societies that developed in the early twentieth century for which manuscript records are scarce. The first association to fall into this category was established in Christchurch when Scots gathered to form the Scottish Society in response to the threat posed by the growing influence of athletic associations over the organisation of Caledonian Games. While the latter are discussed in chapter five, the history of Scottish societies is intrinsically bound to the changing nature of these conspicuously Scottish events and therefore merit brief attention here. Frictions first occurred in 1906 when the Christchurch Scottish Society attempted to hold Caledonian Games on 1 and 2 January, dates that for years had been used by Caledonian societies in the area for holding their Games. By that time, the major South Island Caledonian societies had all become affiliated to the New Zealand Athletic Union (NZAU), the sports being conducted under its rules. It was as a result of this affiliation that the NZAU protested on behalf of several Caledonian societies against the attempts by the Scottish Society to hold Games on New Year’s Day. Suggestions for an amicable solution were made, including an arrangement under which the Athletic Union would hold no contests for championships in traditional Highland events or piping and dancing, while the Scottish Society would agree to refrain from offering track or field championships, leaving these in the hands of the NZAU. With both sides unbending in their views, no compromise was reached. By December 1906, a Highland Games Association had been formed in Christchurch from within the Scottish Society, committed to ‘protect and promote the interests of pipers, dancers, and athletes who take part in competitions proper to Highland sports meetings’.119 The problem was that the Athletic Union, representing the interests of its four thousand registered competitors, strictly prohibited its athletes from competing at the sports organised by the Christchurch Society. It went so far as to threaten those who broke the rules with exclusion. The Scottish Society remained unfazed by the threat, instead advising pipers, dancers, and athletes against joining the NZAU and to take no notice of the Union’s threat to disqualify competitors.120 Antagonism lay at the heart of the dispute: the Scottish Society wanted to protect what it considered Scottish traditions that were being destroyed by athletic bodies interested in profit-making. A closer look at the Society’s other activities demonstrates that their idea of what was Scottish differed from previous conceptions in that it was more strongly oriented towards a romantic past similar to that created by Sir Walter Scott. This was well exemplified in the Society’s club rooms, where visitors and members could not, once inside, 119 120

Otago Witness, 12 Dec. 1906, 58. Advertisements by the NZAU with this message were published in newspapers across New Zealand, for instance Wanganui Herald, 13 Dec. 1906, 1.

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fail to be struck with the thoroughly national character of the work which is undertaken. The walls are a picture gallery, and are reminiscent of all that is best in Scottish patriotism, poetry, song, and military life. As we entered those rooms, examined the pictures, and saw the Scottish lion rampant, we could not help asking, ‘Why this very distinctive national display at a distance of 13,000 miles from Edinburgh?’ And the only answer possible is because of the uniqueness and strength of Scottish national life, and because, too, of its worth and greatness in the British Empire.121 By contrast to the events organised by Caledonian societies, which had oriented themselves more and more towards New Zealand, the activities of the Christchurch Scottish Society, and many others that followed, were located in a cultural realm more exclusively defined to invoke Scotland. The Poverty Bay Scottish Society, founded in June 1911, held Hallowe’en gatherings and hosted annual concerts and picnics. Activities of the Wellington Scottish Society, set up in February 1904, included concerts and balls at which ‘the skirl of the pipes floated out into the quiet night’,122 while clan associations also moved to the fore in this period. Activities previously pursued under the heading of education had to make way for piping and dancing activities, now enshrined as crucial elements in the education of the young. The second St Andrew’s Society of Auckland already pursued this line in that it listed these activities under the heading of education.123 Other societies tried to link into the new orientation by concentrating their activities on piping and dancing. The North Otago Scottish Society, for instance, was established in April 1922, when Robert Meek contacted the local pipe major to discuss how Scottish cultural pursuits could be integrated to make the Society a useful point of contact.124 It was this climate that fostered the emphasis on symbolism, iconography, and emblematic displays of identity. The Christchurch Scottish Society, for instance, received annual contributions of heather from Auld Scotland. Already about 200 boxes have come to hand representing some 250 donors . . . The heather comes from all over Scotland . . . and many of the bunches were culled on historic ground such as Culloden.125 The heather was usually distributed by the Chief of the Society at the Annual Gathering of the Clans and sent to kindred societies across New Zealand. 121 122

123 124 125

New Zealand Scot, 1, 10 (Aug. 1913), 3. New Zealand Scot, 1, 3 ( Jan. 1913), 17; the capital later witnessed the foundation of a Highland Society, which set similarly great store by promoting a romanticised past, introducing a range of new celebrations such as ‘Bannockburn Nicht’. See Evening Post, 5 Nov. 1913, 9. New Zealand Scot, 2, 3 ( Jan. 1914), 4. Letter by R. Meek, 18 Mar. 1943, NOMA, 5007/128d. New Zealand Scot, 2, 1 (Nov. 1913), 16–17.

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Perhaps the Wellington Scottish Society’s heather, given to members at the annual Burns celebrations a year earlier, had also come via Christchurch.126 More than a decade later, the custom was still adhered to and the Society appealed to people in Scotland to send sprays of heather . . . The sprays are made up into small bunches, each bunch bearing the name and address of the person who sent it. In addition to the pleasure of giving and receiving a present associated with national sentiment, the custom has led to many friendships by correspondence between the Old Country and the Dominion. In some cases it has united relatives and old friends.127 Items of sentimental value were crucial, and occasionally took interesting forms. At the second meeting of Dunedin’s Orkney and Shetland Association in 1929 it was suggested that at June meetings members should bring along ‘anything in the way of relics’, for example spinning wheels, and that ladies ‘competent to operate a spinning wheel be in attendance thereat’.128 Apart from Scottish societies, another tier of the re-popularised associational culture comprised social clubs such as the Auckland Thistle Club or the Wellington Scots’ Social Club, which operated similarly to gentlemen’s clubs. Hence the Wellington Club did not hold public functions, and nominations for membership were to be ‘jealously scrutinised by the committee, as membership is strictly confined to those of Scottish birth or descent’.129 As a result, these clubs were even further removed from mainstream New Zealand society than were Scottish societies, though rules document that their focus, as well as that of many re-established Caledonian societies, was similarly exclusive in terms of their objectives. In New Plymouth, revised rules stated the objectives as the cultivation of social intercourse among members; the preservation and cultivation of a knowledge of the records and traditions on the history of Scotland; the induction of the study of Scottish music and literature; the encouragement of the wearing of Highland costume; and the promotion of Highland pastimes.130 Although membership records for many of the new societies are scarce, evidence gathered from newspapers and Scottish periodicals suggests that with the shift of focus to the cultural sphere, new members were quickly attracted. In New Plymouth, the membership stood at 206 a year after a new

126

127 128 129 130

Evening Post, 25 Jan. 1912, 2; heather was sent from Scotland to other destinations, for instance to San Francisco, for use by the local St Andrew’s Society, cf. San Francisco Call, 19 Oct. 1904, 16. Scottish New Zealander, 3, 36 (Dec. 1925), 12. Orkney and Shetland Association minutes, 16 May 1929, Hocken, 95-127/001. Scottish New Zealander, 4, 9 (Sep. 1926), 8. New Plymouth Caledonian Society Rules, n.d., Puke Ariki Museum Heritage Collection [PA], New Plymouth, ARC2002-852.

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Caledonian Society had been founded,131 while the Poverty Bay Scottish Society soon found it increasingly difficult to find suitable accommodation for its larger functions. The Society thus decided to purchase a quarter-acre section for £610 for the purpose of building its own hall, this being opened in June 1913. ‘They [Scots] had a reputation of being a clannish people’, noted a Dr Porter, ‘and being a clannish people they required a meeting place.’132 A special Scottish Fair was held in July 1913 to raise funds for the kitting out of the hall.133 Such fairs had generally become popular, serving well to collect money for specific causes or projects, including the 1924 fundraiser of the St Andrews Scottish Society, organised to raise funds to procure uniforms for the Otautau Pipe Band in that way.134 Two more marked points of contrast emerge between Caledonian societies and the newly established societies. First, the new societies’ pursuits were not geared towards making profit, as was the case for many Caledonian societies, which often viewed Caledonian Games as a business venture. As noted by members of the Mataura Highland Society, it ‘never makes money’, its purpose defined instead as ‘fostering the love of Scottish literature, song and dance’.135 This position was advanced by the vast majority of Scottish societies, as well as many of the re-established Caledonian societies, and is documented in their balance sheets and annual reports.136 Secondly, several Scottish societies set up in the early twentieth century began by establishing head societies and then branched out. The Taranaki Provincial Scottish Society had branches in Stratford, Manaia, Toko, and Inglewood by 1912.137 The only other associations to do so were the Wairarapa Caledonian Society, which set up a branch in Carterton in the early twentieth century, and the Gaelic Society of New Zealand. The Wairarapa Society was thus an exception to the general trend among Caledonian societies. This branching out may have contributed to the reinvigoration of the idea of a New Zealand Scottish Federation.138 In 1913, the New Zealand Scot encouraged a discussion on the matter that went on for several months. It was suggested by the editor that the time was ripe for Scots to ‘form a union of their own . . . to give strength, loyalty and patriotism, cohesion and unanimity to the Scots and their descendants in this land’.139 Triggered by the wish to silence critics who viewed the idea of federal structures as 131 132 133

134 135 136 137 138 139

The Society was set up in 1921. Cf. First Annual Report, 1921–2, PA, ARC2002-852. Poverty Bay Herald, 14 Jun. 1913, 4. For a drawing of the building, see New Zealand Scot, 1, 11 (Sep. 1913), 18; for details on the offerings, see Poverty Bay Herald, 11 Jul. 1913, 4. Otautau Standard and Wallace County Chronicle, 29 Apr. 1924, 3. Scottish New Zealander, 4, 6 ( Jun. 1926), 5. New Plymouth Caledonian Society First Annual Report, 1921–2, PA, ARC2002-852. New Zealand Scot, 1, 2 (Dec. 1912) and 1, 7 (May 1913). New Zealand Scot, 2, 6 (Apr. 1914), 15. Ibid., 1, 3 ( Jan. 1913), 1.

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unwanted interference, the proposition went on to stress that ‘not for a moment would it mean to interfere with the work or independence of the many societies now in existence’.140 The case in favour of a Scottish Union for New Zealand was further strengthened by pointing out that such a union would be able to more coherently respond to matters of interest such as education: ‘A Scottish Union which, true to the history and traditions of our native country, would stand for the higher moral and material welfare.’141 Others suggested that, instead of setting up a new union, all societies should ‘affiliate to the New Zealand Athletic Union, thus practically absorbing that body’.142 The debate continued well into the 1920s, making real progress only when the Wellington Caledonian Society drew up a draft constitution as the basis for discussion for all Scottish associations in both the North and South islands.143 Responses to the draft were numerous. John Lachland McGillivray Watson noted thus: I can remember the founding of the Caledonian Society in Invercargill, being the first Scottish Society started in Southland over 50 years ago. One of my earliest recollections is being taken to the Caledonian games when I was a little boy of 5 or 6 years old, being escorted by my mother, who dressed me in the kilt she made for me, and how proud I was of my little sporran and bonnet and brogues as I marched behind the pipers to the sports. I feel the thrill yet of those boyhood days and the charm of the reels and strathspeys which my mother also played on the piano with such skill, and the songs of Bonnie Scotland which she sang to me so sweetly are still my haunting joy and delight.144 Watson was in favour of federation, relating it to the existence of other unions such as the Trades Unions and Masonic Lodges. He stressed that while all individual societies had their own objects, co-operation would serve to strengthen them. To underpin his argument, Watson recounted the important contributions of the global Burns Federation. Many discussions and further proposals later, the majority of New Zealand Scottish associations were eventually convinced of the usefulness of a union. A conference was held in Wellington in April 1927 to initiate the New Zealand Federation of Caledonian and Scots Societies and draw up an official constitution.145 The Federation consisted of all affiliated societies, clubs, and institutes with a Scottish membership which agreed to accept and conform to the constitution, but also individual members, who

140 141 142 143 144 145

Ibid. Ibid., 1, 8 ( Jun. 1913), 6. Evening Post, 25 Jun. 1915, 4. Scottish New Zealander, 4, 39 (Mar. 1926), 1. Scottish New Zealander, 4, 41 (May 1926), 1. The Scotsman, 18 Apr. 1927, 6.

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had to be of Scottish descent. The executive officers of the Federation were elected by ballot at the annual conference and consisted of a Chief, a Chieftain, three members, and a Secretary-Treasurer. The annual conference was to be held at Easter, with each society in affiliation appointing delegates in the proportion of one to each two hundred financial members. The annual fee for affiliation was also based on the number of members and set at £1 for each two hundred financial members. An entrance fee of £1 1s was further payable.146 The main aims of the Federation were:147 1. To unite in one organisation all Caledonian and other Scots societies, clubs, and other Scots institutions. 2. To unify all Scots throughout New Zealand. 3. To stimulate a general interest in all affairs of racial and national concern to Scots people. 4. To encourage the study of literature, music, art, song, history, tradition incidental to Scotland; and the practice of games, sports, arts and pastimes associated with Scotland. 5. To exercise a brotherly interest in Scots arriving from the Mother Country and overseas, and organise services of guidance. It is curious that this change occurred at a time when, partly in response to the First World War and the economic problems of the inter-war period, New Zealand identity was strengthening.148 Perhaps it was this very fact that contributed to the downfall of Caledonian societies, which had followed a much broader and essentially colonial outlook. Integration had been largely successful, the need to claim respectability in the wider community by means of an open and inclusive ethnic associationalism, as had been promoted by New Zealand’s Caledonian societies, had ceased. What was now wanted was a reaffirmation of roots, particularly among the next generation of New Zealand Scots, the founders of the new societies primarily born in New Zealand. As sociologist Herbert Gans suggests in his work on symbolic ethnicity, lingering sympathies for the ancestral homeland among descendants of immigrants relate to generational distance.149 In New Zealand’s Scottish community, the subsequent generational changeover clearly was one key factor in the increasingly ethno-centric outlook of Scottish associations post-1910. The new clubs and societies followed an

146 147

148 149

New Zealand Scotsman, 1, 3 (May 1927), 99. Ibid., 1, 3 (May 1927), 97; developments were also reported in Scotland, see The Scotsman, 18 Apr. 1927, 6. Belich, Paradise Reforged, 80, 116ff. H. Gans, Making Sense of America: Sociological Analyses and Essays (Lanham, 1999), 177ff; Gans is especially concerned with third- and fourth-generation descendants of immigrants, attempting to explain the resurgence of ethnic identity in America from the mid-twentieth century.

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inward orientation along lines that were previously reserved to the smaller number of locally rooted societies.150 Conclusion Scots in New Zealand began organising along ethnic lines on first arrival, but formalised fraternal structures were only firmly established in the early 1860s. With the foundation of the first Caledonian Society in Dunedin in 1862, the scene was set for a flourishing associational culture which took several different forms and exhibits clear development patterns over time. The four distinct phases outlined in this chapter are shown in Figure 3.1. While this periodisation follows a Weberian classification of ideal types and cannot be taken to represent firm demarcation lines, it does indicate important trends. Most commonly hidden behind blanket terms or the all-embracing ‘national banner’, the different types of associations deserve recognition in their own right, with attention drawn to their diverse purposes and meanings within and outside of the Scottish community. These changed over time, tying in with the clearly identifiable fluctuations in terms of associational activity. The early period was distinctly that of the Caledonian societies. They were the most prolific, best organised and most widely spread associational form that developed from within the Scottish community. When placed under the microscope, Caledonian society structures emerge as intrinsically open and inclusive. From the late nineteenth century, however, associational culture diversified, and associations with more specific objectives developed, first in the form of localised referents, then specialised in linkage with national figureheads. These associations were more inward oriented and, consequently, better served the needs of Scots if assessed as vehicles of ethnic identity. Yet, although this inward orientation took centre stage, the consequently more insular nature of activities did not automatically lead to a decline in membership. What it achieved was to attract a more specific type of migrant, or a descendant, from within the Scottish community. Another important point of contrast between the different associations is that the largest locally rooted association, the Gaelic Society, successfully served as an umbrella organisation, linking together a number of branch societies across New Zealand. Although there were attempts to set up a New Zealand Caledonian Association in the early twentieth century, Caledonians did not successfully federate for most of the period covered here, co-ordinated attempts to implement federation being confined to the late 1920s. To this end, it was by advancing amateur and professional

150

This also explains the sudden rise of new celebrations: anything with a palpable link to Scottish history and culture, regardless of whether it was Highland or Lowland, was utilised to celebrate Scottishness. See for example New Zealand Scot, 2, 6 (Apr. 1914), 5.

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Figure 3.1: Periodisation of Scottish associationalism in New Zealand (source: the author).

athletics that a degree of federation was achieved indirectly through the different sporting and athletic unions. Their influence over Caledonian societies was significant in any case, contributing to the final phase’s classification in terms of re-popularisation. Associations drew primarily on the past and cultural aspects to attract members from within the Scottish community exclusively. Placed against this developmental periodisation, the following chapter explores the anatomy and function of Scottish associational culture.

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CHAPTER FOUR

Ethnic Identity, Networks and Social Capital: The Anatomy and Function of Scottish Associationalism Scotsmen, while perhaps the most ubiquitous race on the earth, are also the most patriotic; they never forget the land of their birth, however humble may have been their heritage therein. Wherever they wander, whether under the burning sun of India or the snows of Canada, Caledonian societies . . . are proof of their yearning affection for the land of their birth.1 Sentimental expressions of Scottish identity abroad as described in the Otago Daily Times no doubt played their part in the shaping of Scottish associational life. Many of the Scots who chose to become members of associations created a social and celebratory Scottishness in a fully conscious act of manufacture because they were keen to preserve their homeland culture. They were driven, at least in part, by melancholy, a sense of longing underlying their desire to wallow in memories of ‘auld Scotia’. However, to fully understand Scottish associationalism in New Zealand, it is necessary to move behind the facade of such romantic perceptions of Scottishness, exploring the organisational structures of the different societies that served as vehicles for ethnic expression; their membership bases; and the connections that existed between members within and outside of the associational bounds. Such closer consideration assists in the establishment of a more nuanced picture of the anatomy and function of Scottish associations, and a deeper appreciation of their inner workings. More importantly, this focus helps transcend the associations’ ethnic purpose, placing them within the larger matrix of civic voluntary organisations. While the previous chapter was organised in terms of the periodisation of associational culture, this chapter is thematically arranged. Associational membership Apart from outlining the associations’ aims, rulebooks provide details as to the membership criteria set by different societies. With early examples 1

Newspaper cutting from the Otago Daily Times, 30 Dec. 1911, found in Otago Caledonian Society Scrapbook, Hocken, MS-1045/030.

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for New Zealand being scarce, the Caledonian Society of Victoria rules, previously cited as close to those adopted by several New Zealand societies, again serve as a useful starting point. In this instance, membership was conditional on the payment of an annual subscription fee; alternatively, it was also possible to become a life member.2 This division was the same in Oamaru and Dunedin. The rate for annual membership in Oamaru was set at 10s in 1893, whereas it was £1 in the 1906 Otago rules. With the payment of the subscription, members were entitled to free admission to the grounds and grandstand for the annual gathering. In the case of Oamaru, the Society’s bylaws further extended free admission to the respective member’s immediate family, defined as the ‘wife, unmarried daughters, and such of his sons as may be under 18 years of age. If unmarried, his mother and unmarried sisters.’3 Similar provisions were in place in the Wairarapa.4 Apart from the annual membership fee, entrance fees were sometimes collected; the Caithness and Sutherland Association, established in 1873, initially levied an entrance fee, but abolished it in 1880, noting that it discouraged people from joining.5 A common division of members in Oamaru and elsewhere was between honorary and ordinary members, the former category introduced in Oamaru in 1877 to accommodate past presidents as honorary life members.6 An interesting point of difference in terms of membership is the further sub-division of ordinary members in Oamaru, where there was differentiation between country and town members. A number of practical reasons suggest possible explanations for the division. Firstly, the collecting of the annual subscription and the recruiting of new members were two important tasks associated with active membership. It was assumed that by more distinctively acknowledging country members, making them more visible within the organisational structure of the Society, country membership would increase. Furthermore, the division highlights the nature of connections between people who lived in Oamaru’s more rural surrounds and those in Oamaru for purposes other than business. From among those Oamaru Society members whose place of residence could be identified, 21% were from smaller settlements outside of Oamaru, such as

2

3

4

5

6

Caledonian Society of Victoria Rules, SLV: 824 V66 (v.30); accessed via www.slv.vic.gov.au/ vicpamphlets/0/4/6/pdf/vp0466.pdf, last visited 11 Jun. 2008. Oamaru Caledonian Society Rulebook, 1893, NOMA, 98/29c; Otago Caledonian Society Rulebook, 1906, Hocken, 1045/005; regulations detailing access to the grounds were also often printed in newspaper adverts, for example Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle, 29 Dec. 1873, 3. Cf. old admission tickets for the Wairarapa Caledonian Games, Wairarapa Archive, Masterton [WA], 99-20/75.R7B2S1. Evening Post, 3 Dec. 1873, 2; New Zealand Tablet, 27 Dec. 1873, 6. The Society later extended its base to include immigrants from Orkney and Shetland, see Otago Witness, 29 Jan. 1876, 8; 27 Dec. 1873, 7; 3 Jan. 1880, 20. North Otago Times, 23 Oct. 1877, 2.

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Kakanui or Hampden to the south, Waimate to the north (certainly before Waimate formed its own Caledonian Society in the mid-1870s), or as far as Kurow, a good 45 miles inland. The Society’s catchment area was wide. What this suggests is that, contrary to Fairburn’s argument that community structures were few and weak, with a ‘deficient framework of association’,7 colonists were not only able to bond with others in clubs and societies across larger distances, but effectively did so. One organisation alone is not sufficient to cast doubt on Fairburn’s argument. However, the emerging Scottish community structures throughout New Zealand, combined with the proliferation of other civic associations and organisations such as trades unions, suggest that associations and organised and connected settlements were more important in the foundational culture of New Zealand than he concedes. What is striking about the Caledonian society membership rules of the main case study localities is that none points to ethnicity as an official criterion; neither do the 1861 rules of the Caledonian Society of Victoria. Coupled with the fact that non-Scots occupied prominent positions in many societies, there is no evidence to suggest that ethnic origin exclusively determined or prevented membership in New Zealand Caledonian societies. In Oamaru, Robert Lawrence Rule, a native of Cumberland, served as secretary from 1879 until 1909, while fellow Englishman George Sumpter was prominently involved in the annual gatherings. The Otago Society membership roll for 1882 includes Sew Hoy, a prominent Chinese merchant and investor, while several Germans were members of the Wairarapa Society, including Frederick William Henry Kummer. Described as a Prussian, he acquired a reputation as ‘one of the best athletes in the North Island in . . . wrestling, stone-putting, hammer throwing and tossing the caber’.8 These examples of inclusive membership emphasise that many societies born from within the Scottish community were civic associations at heart. As much was stated by members of the Hokitika Caledonian Society, who agreed the object was to get gentlemen on the committee who could render service . . . Mr Meyer’s name should be substituted for his [Mr Hawkins’]. It was deemed desirable that there should be no character of nationality in the society, and that object could not be better promoted than by the election of Mr Meyer, who, being a German, was of course not a Caledonian. The German element was rather strong just now; and it might be judicious to import some of that strength into a committee that was to promote athletic sports . . . He [Mr South] should like to see the committee composed of all nationalities. As there were to be sixteen members, let there be four English, 7 8

Fairburn, Ideal Society, 10–11. Cyclopedia of New Zealand, vol. 1, 993.

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four Scotch, four Irish, and four German members. A Voice – And four Welsh. Mr South – Yes, and four Welsh. Let all differences as to nationalities be utterly sunk, and all work harmoniously together.9 It might be tempting to consider the absence of an ethnic qualification a curiosity, since the common native land was a favourite element in the speeches delivered at many events, but this view would be based on the idea that Scottish associational culture primarily served an exclusionary ethnic purpose. That, however, was not necessarily the case. In keeping with the open structures of Caledonian societies, and by contrast to other associations such as Masonic lodges or locally rooted Scottish societies, membership was not usually by nomination. For those interested in joining Caledonian societies, obstacles such as lengthy vetting processes or evaluations of character were virtually non-existent until the re-popularisation phase. A notable exception was the Wairarapa Society, which required members to be proposed and elected by directors. Yet neither minute books nor newspaper reports indicate that character-vetting was involved. It would appear that nomination and election was more a token procedure than an actual means to socially engineer or control membership.10 Moreover, a decision in favour of inclusive admission policies was perhaps simply a practical one at times. As much, it seems, was on the mind of a Dr Scott at a Burns anniversary held in Gisborne. ‘As Scotsmen were so scarce’, he observed, ‘those having Scotch possessions should also be eligible, such as owning a Scotch terrier or keeping a drop of “Scotch” in the house, one man holding the opinion that a Scotch wife should be sufficient qualification to admit the fortunate owner.’11 The situation was markedly different among the associations with a localised referent, for which, as has been shown, restrictive membership policies were in place. The other major impediment to membership was gender, but that was less the result of a conscious choice to exclude women than a reflection of the spirit of the time: early associational life was primarily a male domain. Contrary to the practice of many other contemporary associations, the Caithness and Sutherland Association had lady members and admitted them free of charge.12 Lady-membership was generally more common among locally rooted and specialised societies. The Dunedin Gaelic Society, for instance, allowed women to become members following a motion carried in November 1881; in 1897 they could join at a reduced rate.13 Perhaps it was the importance attributed to cultural pursuits in the 9

10 11 12 13

West Coast Times, 24 Nov. 1870, 2; see also the reference to the Otago Caledonian Society as an ‘almost civic institution’, Otago Caledonian Society Scrapbook, Otago Daily Times article, 4 Sep. 1912, Hocken, MS-1045/030. Wairarapa Caledonian Society MoD minutes, 1901, WA, 89-038/1.R1B2S3. Poverty Bay Herald, 27 Jan. 1906, 4. Otago Witness, 10 Oct. 1874, 15. Ibid., 12 Dec. 1881, 8.

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Gaelic Society that underlay the crucial difference: women were prominently represented among the singers and musicians in both the Dunedin umbrella Society and its local branches. The former even had a woman Bard, Mrs E. Colville.14 Among other associations, the opening of structures may have been a response to the movement to grant women the vote in New Zealand. It was in 1893 that the Dunedin Burns Club directors chose to admit women. As William Brien had explained a year earlier, ‘we owe a good deal of this [the success of the Club] to the Ladies who are present at all our meetings and act as recruiting sergeants’.15 Yet the reasoning behind the relaxation of restrictions was, in fact, much more rational: lady-membership was ‘to the great advantage of the funds of the club’.16 The outward visibility of women was further enhanced by the importance some societies gave to the Chieftainess. At the meetings of the Waitaki Gaelic Society each grand march was led by the Chief and his Chieftainess.17 A more substantial inclusion of female members became an objective of a number of Scottish societies in the early twentieth century, Scottish community-centred activities being deliberately targeted towards women. A Ladies’ Committee was set up in Wellington and an annual Ladies’ Night introduced in Gore. The latter was described as the night when the Clanswomen take possession of the Hall, push the Clansmen into their seats, and proceed to show the latter how an entertainment should be run . . . It is when the ladies come into their own, when for once in his life man is not the master of his own house and when he is also fully made to realise that fact; the womenfolk take full advantage of their opportunity.18 There were to be further changes in the 1920s. Membership in Oamaru was altered so as to admit the ‘sons or daughters of Scottish women as associate members’,19 and in the Hawera Scottish Society women were tied into the Society’s structure through their own executive.20 Despite the increasingly open nature of associations in terms of gender, the re-popularisation phase outlined in the associational periodisation witnessed the introduction of more restrictive membership policies along ethnic lines. The newly formed North Otago Scottish Society in Oamaru, for example, distributed a form for signature to new members which required a statement that they were of Scottish descent on either the male

14 15 16

17 18 19 20

Entwistle, History of the Gaelic Society, 19. Dunedin Burns Club Letterbook, 6 Jul. 1892, Hocken, MS-2047. Dunedin Burns Club AGM report, reprinted in Otago Witness, 30 Mar. 1893, 14; the Dunedin Burns Club had 117 lady members in 1895. North Otago Times, 3 Oct. 1898, 1. Scottish New Zealander, 4, 41 (May 1926), 6. North Otago Scottish Society minutes, 6 May 1922, NOMA, 3906/118Z. Scottish New Zealander, 3, 35 (Nov. 1925), 10.

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or female side.21 It was further proposed at a meeting in September 1922 that visitors who attended the Society’s socials should be introduced by a member in accordance with the rules.22 The openness and inclusivity previously so characteristic of the Oamaru Caledonian Society had disappeared; the re-popularisation of ‘auld Scotia’, a seemingly purer version of Scotland, required an ethnic membership base only achievable by exclusionary associational structures and rules. Against this background, it is imperative to consider who the officebearers and members of the societies were. Unfortunately, membership rolls are rare for most of the societies investigated. It has nevertheless been possible to extract the names of many involved in the main case study societies from a range of sources, setting up membership databases for the purpose of establishing deep profiles. The Oamaru database includes the names of 231 members, while the Wairarapa database comprises 179.23 In both instances, existing minute books, AGM and newspaper reports, entries in the Cyclopedia of New Zealand, and lists of competitors and judges at Caledonian Games have been utilised to extract the details of involved individuals. Once the initial gathering of names was complete, a diverse range of other sources was consulted to enable cross-referencing. Given the impracticality of access to the New Zealand Registrar General’s Births, Deaths, and Marriage records, as well as ethics constraints imposed as a result of existing New Zealand privacy laws, civil registration records have not been utilised.24 With this in mind, the databases used for the demographic overview in chapter one have also been drawn upon. Members’ names identified were cross-referenced with the Cyclopedia of New Zealand database, this containing biographical information for 2,582 Scots, and the NZSG database, which includes biographical information for 6,612 Scots. To further substantiate extracted details, record linkage was then continued by drawing on electoral rolls, trade directories, Wise’s telephone directories, existing databases, for instance of the Caversham project by the University of Otago, as well as newspaper advertisements and business notices. Moreover, the information gleaned further aided the establishment of occupational patterns, including for pre-migration as this was frequently included in the biographical information provided in both the 21 22 23

24

North Otago Scottish Society minutes, 6 May 1922, NOMA, 3906/118Z. Ibid.; also 2 Sep. 1922. These two societies have been used to explore, in miniature, the characteristics of members in depth. Cross-checking has been carried out for samples from all case study locations, however, facilitating broader insight. The laws prevent the recoding of names, hence, the cross-referencing of records. While these can be ordered, this can only be done for previously identified people individually. For a more detailed discussion of the existing constraints, see also G. E. Horn, ‘“A Loyal United and Happy People”: Irish Protestant Migrants to Wellington Province, 1840–1930. Aspects of Migration, Settlement and Community’, unpublished Ph.D. thesis (Victoria University of Wellington, 2010).

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Cyclopedia of New Zealand and the NZSG data; networks between members; and their engagement in local community life. The object was to offer a detailed characterisation of the Oamaru and Wairarapa associations’ membership. It was hoped to establish the members’ county origins in Scotland, their occupations, family and business connections, also their positions in the respective local communities. The fact that the catchment localities of both Societies were relatively small greatly aided in the identification of members and prevented anonymisation. Although many member surnames were similarly common in Oamaru and the Wairarapa, as elsewhere in New Zealand, the relatively small size of the districts made it a simpler task to track names and people. Record linkage was successful, and has aided the establishment of detailed profiles for 53% of the Oamaru members, and 38% for the Wairarapa. While the two databases do not fully substitute for the absence of consecutive membership rolls, they allow for comparisons between the two societies. Although both societies had several non-Scots members, they were dominated by Scots or descendants of Scots: 8.7% of the Oamaru Caledonian Society members were non-Scots, as opposed to 11.3% of the Wairarapa Society members. Map 4.1 shows the breakdown of local origins by county of the two societies’ Scottish members. A notable difference is that the Wairarapa Society was much more prominently composed of Scots from the Highlands while Oamaru drew its members from a wider range of Scottish counties. If these patterns are compared with the origins of Oamaru and Wairarapa Scots, as shown in map 4.2, it is evident that the distribution in the two societies broadly reflected settlement patterns in the two localities. What this suggests is that neither of the two associations attracted a particular settler cohort in terms of county origins, instead drawing its members from across the respective local Scottish immigrant populations. If these findings are compared to the ethnic make-up of the Gaelic Society of Dunedin, a very different picture emerges. In the absence of early membership records, 186 Gaelic Society members have been identified for the period covered based on the analysis of newspaper reports of monthly and annual meetings; specific county origins in Scotland could be traced for 26% of them.25 The Society always adopted more restrictive membership rules, admitting only ‘Scottish Highlanders, or the descendants of Highlanders possessing an acquaintance with and a desire to improve their knowledge of the Gaelic language’.26 Moreover, rather than simply imposing the issue of descent as

25

26

The only manuscript material that has survived for the period up to 1930 are a number of photographs, a scrapbook, and the subscription listings and minutes of the Gaelic Society and Highlands and Islands Relief Fund. The latter was of some use, but only covers the period 1915–16; consequently, newspapers have again proven indispensable to fill gaps. Otago Witness, 5 Mar. 1881, 18. In the later rules published in the Society’s history, membership requirements are more specific: candidates for life membership and normal

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Map 4.1: Origins of Oamaru and Wairarapa Caledonian Society members (source: the author).

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Map 4.2: Origins of Oamaru and Wairarapa Scots (source: the author).

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Map 4.3: Origins of Dunedin Burns Club and Gaelic Society members (source: the author).

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a yardstick for admission, the Society inserted a further exclusion criterion in the form of Gaelic language knowledge. This membership criterion must have loosened over the years, the chairman at the annual gathering in 1904 noting that he could not give the address in Gaelic.27 However, fully in keeping with its membership rules, membership was not broadly drawn from across the local composition of the Scottish immigrant population, but from across the local Highland settler population. The extent to which exclusivity was maintained in this way is evident in particular with respect to members hailing from Perthshire, all indicating that they were from the Highland parts of that county.28 In direct contrast to the Gaelic Society, the Dunedin Burns Club drew its members primarily from the Lowlands, reflecting Burns’s own origins while leaving the door open for those from other Scottish regions. While no sequential membership lists have survived for the Club, monthly meetings and other events reported in the press again included the names of those involved. The database thus compiled includes 149 names for the period of the Club’s foundation until 1930, and county origins could be traced for 23%.29 Notwithstanding the parallel alignment along the Highland and Lowland boundaries, the Burns Club did not actively control its membership or engineer it by means of more restrictive membership rules and admission procedures.30 Such rules created a series of hurdles that had to be overcome and emphasise the more inward-oriented objectives of the Gaelic Society, an association designed to cater exclusively for Scots from the Highlands. The aim was not simply to express a focused Highland identity, as much as to safeguard it by means of exclusiveness.31 The first Auckland St Andrew’s Society embraced similarly restrictive policies, admitting only natives of Scotland, a son or grandson of a native of Scotland, or a husband of a native of Scotland. There were provisions, however, for members to seek a suspension of the above rule at the Quarterly General Meeting ‘for the purpose of proposing for admission any person, who, from his connexion with Scotland, or on other grounds, shall possess claims to such admission’.32 Further, membership of the Society was governed by a very

27 28 29

30

31

32

membership ‘must be Scottish Highlanders, or persons of Highland descent’, whereas the category of honorary life membership and honorary membership was for ‘any persons who support the aims and objectives of the Society, but who do not possess the qualifications’ for life membership or normal membership. See Entwistle, History of the Gaelic Society, 155–6. Cf. Gaelic Society AGM report, reprinted in Otago Witness, 7 Sep. 1904, 49. See also Withers, Urban Highlanders, 18. This comparatively low success rate relates to the frequent absence of the first name in accounts, this making the identification of a large number of individuals impossible. Members had to be proposed and affirmed by the majority of members present at an ordinary or annual meeting of the Society, see Otago Witness, 5 Mar. 1881, 18. It is noteworthy that several Ulster-Scots with a Highland background were active in Gaelic societies, cf. North Otago Times, 13 Sep. 1897, 1. New Zealander, 24 Dec. 1851, 2.

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specific proposal process. Not only did those seeking to propose a new member have to give a notice of their intention to do so, this had to be lodged in writing with the Secretary of the Society at least a fortnight before a Quarterly Meeting (members could not be proposed at ordinary meetings). The proposal was then put to a vote at the meeting by ballot. What these diverse membership policies emphasise is that ethnic associations in New Zealand’s Scottish community cannot be treated as the same. Ethnic identity was not homogeneous, but shaped around a layered system of differentiation based on a range of characteristics that aided the construction of boundaries between groups. Some, like the first Auckland St Andrew’s Society, were particularly exclusive with their boundary definitions. Beyond ethnic origins, another key to understanding the anatomy and function of associationalism is the occupational background of society members, this information providing a strong indication of their social standing. Even a superficial analysis of the Dunedin Burns Club suggests that its membership base was tilted towards the colonial elite, but there is neither evidence of a particular class orientation per se, nor of conscious attempts to preclude lower-class elements from participating. Much of the ethos of celebrating Burns was embodied in the ideas of classlessness, meritocracy, and democracy previously discussed as cornerstones of Scottish self-perception. For the Oamaru Caledonian Society, occupational patterns were reconstructed through the analysis of advertisements in the business section of local newspapers, trade directories, and the Cyclopedia of New Zealand. These sources yielded data for 40% of the Oamaru members. The analysis was restricted to the early twentieth century, the Society records providing the most comprehensive membership data for that particular period.33 To make the analysis more comparable, the occupations have been arranged in conformity with the seven classes of breadwinners used by the Registrar-General in the 1901 New Zealand Census, that closest to extant Society records.34 First, the data gathered confirms the substantial middle-class involvement, particularly in the Society’s leadership. Of the Society’s directors, 53% fall in the agricultural and pastoral class, with another 32% in the commercial class. Hence a large number of those in leading positions in the Society were members of Oamaru’s higher middle class, with run-holders, storekeepers, merchants, shipping agents, and other local businessmen and politicians among their number. The high number in the agricultural, pastoral, and mineral category reflects the prominence of large farms and runs in the proximity of Oamaru and its surrounding rural settlements. The category is problematic, however, in that a number of Society directors who described themselves as farmers in directories or the Cyclopedia of New Zealand were really Oamaru merchants 33 34

Oamaru Caledonian Society list of members, NOMA, 382/29d. For details on the general New Zealand occupational profile, see E. Olssen and M. Hickey, Class and Occupation: The New Zealand Reality (Dunedin, 2005).

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who also owned rural properties managed by others. While they may have felt a closer affinity to their farms than their town-based businesses, this incongruity creates a somewhat skewed distribution. The true agricultural/ pastoral component was arguably lower than 53%. An altogether different distribution is apparent for ordinary members. Although broadly concentrated in the same categories as the Society’s leaders, there is a stronger representation in working-class categories, with 31% in the professional class, and some representation in the transport and industrial classes. While this demonstrates the Oamaru Caledonian Society’s inclusiveness, it also suggests that positions in the Society executive tended to be occupied by individuals towards the top of the social ladder. While there is no evidence of conscious attempts to preclude lower-class elements from participating in associational activities, leading members were clearly middle class. In the context of the emergence of associational structures in nineteenth-century Europe, the distribution reinforces that the Scottish associations in New Zealand served a similar role to the formalised voluntary clubs and societies of the old world where associationalism was an important means of self-expression for the middle class, providing the local urban elite with a forum to exercise power and assert its position in society.35 Working-class involvement was stronger on the ‘activities side’, for example among the athletes competing at Caledonian Games. An analysis of directors, office-bearers, and judges involved in the Oamaru Caledonian Society in 1902 powerfully supports the emerging trend. Of the forty-three individuals involved in the organisation of the annual Oamaru Caledonian Games in January 1902,36 79% were prominent figures in Oamaru civic life, if prominence is defined in terms of activity in local politics, involvement in the community, church and para-church organisations, and power over capital. Comparable analyses of the member databases for the Wairarapa, Wellington, and Timaru Caledonian societies, as well as the Gaelic Society, confirm the occupational distribution established for Oamaru. Significantly, however, variations in the distribution in the seven classes of breadwinners are not yawning, instead reflecting the dominant economic activities in particular districts. The Cyclopedia of New Zealand provides further insights, serving as a valuable measure of colonial success. The Wellington volume, for instance, lists a little over a hundred Scots for Wellington city, with 37% of these being identifiable members of the second Wellington Caledonian Society. A trend mirrored in other volumes, the prominence of Caledonians in the Cyclopedia suggests that there was a connection between activity in Scottish associations and success. 35

36

R. J. Morris, ‘Introduction’, in G. Morton, R. J. Morris and B. M. A. de Vries (eds), Civil Society, Associations and Urban Places: Class, Nation and Culture in Nineteenth Century Europe (Aldershot, 2006), 3. Some of these gentlemen are depicted on the book’s cover.

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In fact, many of those deeply involved in Caledonian and other Scottish societies also spearheaded civic and commercial life. Apart from providing insights as to the social make-up of Scottish associations, occupational patterns can further illuminate how migrants fared in their new homeland, especially when compared to occupations prior to emigration. Of the 40% of Oamaru Caledonian Society members for whom occupations could be traced, the previous occupations or, alternatively, what people trained for is known for 48.5%. While it is impossible to retrospectively predict how well off some of the younger members could have been had they stayed in Scotland, some suggestive observations can be made. From among those for whom occupational background was established, 8% worked in jobs below their training, 25% managed to retain occupational status, while a majority of 67% improved their status, particularly in the field of agriculture; this trend is in line with findings by Lenihan.37 For those 67%, three success stories emerge. The first relates to North Otago’s pastoral and agricultural development. A comparison of lists of run-holders with the membership database of Caledonian Society members demonstrates that several Scots who arrived at an early date, when stations and runs were being established, managed to advance from shepherd to station manager, then eventually to acquire their own run or station.38 Secondly, a number of Scots remained in their traditional trades, but set up in or acquired their own businesses, as in the case of David Henderson. The story of Henderson is interesting for several reasons. Born in Lanarkshire in 1843, Henderson was the third of eleven children of James Henderson and Amelia Millar. The majority of family members emigrated to New Zealand in 1873, leaving the Clyde on the Wild Deer and arriving in Port Chalmers on 9 March 1874. David Henderson was not among them, having already left Scotland about ten years earlier, arriving in New Zealand in 1863. His sisters Elizabeth and Mary, also brother James, preceded the rest of the family in the late 1860s. After his arrival in New Zealand, David worked as a blacksmith, the family trade, and soon opened his own business in Oamaru, which he extended in 1876.39 By that time his father had joined him in business with his ‘fifty years experience in Lanarkshire’.40 The latter, no doubt, was a useful promotional slogan, demonstrating not only experience, but also old-world quality. Not all family members settled in Oamaru. Brother James instead went to Timaru, 55 miles north, where he also worked as a blacksmith, while John set up his

37 38

39 40

Lenihan, ‘From Alba to Aotearoa’. Cf. C. Moore, Northern Approaches: A History of Waitati, Waikouaiti, Palmerston, Dunback, Moeraki, Hampden and Surrounding Districts (Christchurch, 1978); R. Pinney, Early Northern Otago Runs (Auckland, 1981); W. H. Scotter, Run, Estate and Farm: A History of the Kakanui and Waiareka Valleys, North Otago (Christchurch, 1978). NZSG database and Henderson’s obituary, North Otago Times, 20 Aug. 1892, 2. North Otago Times, 7 Oct. 1876, 3.

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business in the family trade in Ngapara, 20 miles inland. The Henderson family trade thus spanned from northern Otago to South Canterbury.41 The third success pattern involved people who, while having trained in a particular trade, chose to show flexibility in the new world, seizing the opportunities of the day. Thomas Meek was born in Lanarkshire and trained as a joiner. He arrived in Dunedin on the Electric in 1863, at the age of twenty-one, and then settled in Oamaru. After working as a contractor for four years, he moved into flour milling in 1867, purchasing the old Crown Mills in 1872. He was later joined by his brother James, the brothers together establishing J. & T. Meek in Oamaru, which owned the mill in what is now Meek Street, as well as the grain stores and elevator in Itchen Street. The Meeks were two of Oamaru’s foremost businessmen.42 Now, having established who could and did join Scottish associations, it is important to consider how they were structured and organised internally to shed further light on their function. Matters of governance Rules of Scottish associations suggest that the governance and management of societies were highly regulated. In Oamaru, the Caledonian Society’s executive comprised a Board of Directors of no fewer than twenty members; the Dunedin Society Board had ten directors elected for life and ‘not less than 20 or more than 45 other directors’.43 Seven directors were set as the quorum in Dunedin for the transaction of business at ordinary meetings. A President, a Vice-President (later changed to two, sometimes distinguished as Junior and Senior vice-presidents, as in Oamaru), an Honorary Treasurer and a Secretary were annually elected by ballot from the Board of Directors, and two auditors were appointed. Very similar structures were common across all of the societies studied.44 The Gaelic Society again exhibited a marked divergence, adopting a hierarchical structure, at the head of which was a Chief rather than a President. This difference can be explained by reference to Highland clan life, in which the ‘chief was the father of the clan’.45 By organising along familiar clan structures, an essentially Highland aspect was infused into the organisational patterns of the Gaelic Society and its local units. Although occasionally proposed as a more appropriate structure by members of Caledonian societies, a change from President to Chief was uncommon 41 42 43

44

45

Ibid. Cyclopedia of New Zealand, vol. 4, 546. Oamaru Caledonian Society Rules, Bylaws and Conditions of Competition, NOMA, 98/29c; Otago Caledonian Society Rulebook, 1906, Hocken, 1045/005. For example for the Auckland St Andrew’s Society, see Daily Southern Cross, 2 May 1868, 4; 16 May 1868, 4. Otago Witness, 27 Aug. 1902, 29; this was further consolidated by the fact that the position of Vice-Presidents was changed to Chieftain (Otago Witness, 9 Jun. 1898, 11).

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before the re-popularisation phase.46 There were, however, some exceptions. In Naseby, for instance, a President and Chieftain were part of the organisation structure. The latter position was held by politician Scobie Mackenzie in the late nineteenth century, illustrating that it was more of an honorary position than one engaged in the day-to-day governing of the Society. As Member of the House of Representatives for Mt Ida District, Mackenzie had limited time at his disposal to participate actively in the Society’s meetings. A native of Tain in Ross-shire, Mackenzie was generally keen to be involved in Scottish cultural activities, and did not seem to mind whether it was Highland or Lowland culture he was associating with, delivering speeches at several Dunedin Burns anniversaries.47 His fondness for his native land was well exemplified by his decision to name his home in Dunedin Melness, after the family seat in Scotland.48 Among New Zealand’s Caledonian societies, the Wairarapa Society was again a notable exception, electing a Chief and President. In view of the previously established ethnic composition of the Society, this may well have been a direct reflection of its strong Highland membership. Caledonian and Gaelic societies, then, expounded diverse objectives, and put in place different internal organisation structures. In part, this reflects the dynamics inherent to associational culture, but it no less underscores the importance of homeland traditions and antecedent experiences within a collective that, in the first instance, organised around ethnicity. In the case of the Gaelic Society, homeland tradition was heavily localised rather than related to the national level. It was rooted in the Highlands and was anchored in the organisational structure in the form of the Chief. Based on the organisation structure of the Oamaru Caledonian Society, the following comparative organisation chart, which mirrors the common patterns of New Zealand’s Caledonian societies generally, shows that there was also a clear division between the administrative and the cultural branch in the Gaelic Society. This was not normally the case with Caledonian societies. With a cultural branch firmly incorporated in its structures, the Gaelic Society automatically allotted more weight to cultural interests than did Caledonian societies. While the latter were also concerned with cultural activities, these were, at best, secured through the establishment of committees, and were not specifically anchored in the structures. In view of this differentiation, the preferred organisational structures were a reflection of the divergent approaches by Caledonian societies and Gaelic societies as

46

47

48

A proposition to do so in Oamaru in 1880 did not find enough support (North Otago Times, 15 Oct. 1880, 2). North Otago Times, 11 Jan. 1892, 2; for an example of a speech, see Otago Witness, 31 Jan. 1895, 14. Obituary, Otago Witness, 18 Sep. 1901, 43; also S. MacDonald, The Member for Mount Ida (Wellington, 1938).

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Figure 4.1: Caledonian Society and Gaelic Society organisation chart (source: the author).

to how their respective versions of Scottishness could best be preserved. The fact that executive members of the cultural branch were annually elected on the same terms as the other executive members in the Gaelic Society affirms this important point. The election by society members gave authority and more weight to the positions than the appointment of a committee. In view of the development phases set out in the previous chapter, another vital point is that the organisational structure adopted by the New Zealand Federation of Caledonian Societies, and the majority of Scottish societies established in the early twentieth century, more closely resembled that of the Gaelic Society. Although it did not have an independent cultural branch, the Federation chose to have a Chief and chieftains. This in itself was a reflection of the changing nature and reorientation of Scottish associationalism. It is further accentuated in the lists of office-bearers published in the different Scottish community periodicals between 1912 and 1930, showing that the most common head position had become that of Chief. It is difficult to ascertain the specific motivation for this shift, but in line with the re-popularisation argument advanced in this study, it seems likely that Highlandism was seen to represent a more traditional and truer version of Scottishness. At a time when associations were under increasing pressure, with membership becoming dominated by a new generation of New Zealand Scots, it was perhaps hoped that organisation structures arranged around the traditional position of Chief would better capture an uncompromised Scottishness. In other respects the favoured structures reflected the common

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hierarchical organisation of many friendly societies, with specific jobs assigned to particular positions.49 The Secretary and Treasurer were responsible for most of the day-to-day business, with the position of Secretary being the most work-intensive. Initially an honorary position, as was that of the Treasurer, many societies soon found themselves entangled in discussions relating to the provision of a salary for the Secretary, largely because of the significant amount of time required to carry out the necessary tasks. As is evident from the Otago Caledonian Society 1906 rulebook, secretarial duties could be onerous: The Secretary shall keep a Minute Book in which he shall enter a correct record of all business transacted at General, Board, and Committee Meetings, which book shall be open to the inspection of any Member of the Society at all reasonable times. He shall keep copies filed of all letters and documents in reference to the affairs of the Society. He shall also keep correct books of accounts showing the income, expenditure, and financial position of the Society, and shall explain and balance such accounts at such times as may be required by the Directors, and shall find approved security in such sum as the Directors may determine, the Society to pay the premium on such security.50 While payment of the Secretary was first proposed in Oamaru in 1883, not all members were in favour of such a move. Neil Fleming in particular was opposed to the idea, expressing his amazement that anyone could want a salary for such an honourable task. If there was no gentleman among the directors who was prepared to take the position without payment, he argued, the sooner the Society would have to call it a day.51 Ironically, Fleming himself would not accept the job, so the motion in favour of a salaried position was eventually carried. The position of Treasurer tended to remain honorary. Society balance sheets and newspaper reports document that such an arrangement was common among Caledonian societies throughout New Zealand. The Wairarapa Society, for example, paid an average salary of around £25 between 1900 and 1908. In addition, secretaries could also receive a bonus for special service.52 In 1894, the Dunedin 49

50

51

52

Relevant discussions on associational life in the wider context of the British Isles and Diasporas include Clark, British Clubs and Societies; D. M. MacRaild, Faith, Fraternity and Fighting: The Orange Order and Irish Migrants in Northern England, c. 1850–1920 (Liverpool, 2005). Otago Caledonian Society Rulebook, 1906, Hocken, 1045/005; for another similar list of duties, see South Canterbury Caledonian Society Records, Jul. 1893, South Canterbury Museum Archive [SCMA], A 17.18. Oamaru Caledonian Society AGM report, reprinted in North Otago Times, 23 Oct. 1883, 3. This seems to have been paid mostly in relation to work for the Caledonian Games, cf. Wairarapa Caledonian Society Minute Book Balance Sheets, WA, 89-038/1.R1B2S3.

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Burns Club also discussed paying the Secretary in view of the Club’s rapid expansion.53 The majority of executive members were ordinary directors of their respective societies. In Oamaru, elections for directorship and the other executive positions took place at the Society’s AGM, directors being elected by nomination from among the members present; all members of the Society were entitled to make nominations. Once directors had been elected, a meeting of directors was held, either as part of or straight after the AGM, to elect both the President and the other office-bearers from among their number.54 In line with rule five of the Oamaru Society’s constitution, directors were meant to retire annually, fresh elections being then held at each year’s AGM. This rule was amended in 1881, from that point only half the directors being required to retire annually. It was further amended so that after retirement rotation to another position was possible. The proponents of the amendments argued that they would prevent ‘violent changes taking place in the society’.55 And indeed, the altered system contributed to greater leadership continuity, but there were also two less favourable explanations. The new rules may, simply, indicate that there were not enough interested members to accommodate the more restrictive rule requiring annual retirement and prohibiting straight re-election. In view of the occasional references in newspaper reports to the absence of elected members at meetings, this would seem a viable explanation. In 1874, the North Otago Times noted: It strikes us that gentlemen who allow themselves to be elected members or directors of clubs or societies . . . should either find time to discharge their duties . . . or resign their positions in favour of gentlemen who have more time at their disposal, or perhaps a greater desire to give their attendance when required. This constant lapsing of meetings for want of a quorum is, to say the least of it, extremely unsatisfactory and discouraging.56 Disciplinary measures were limited. While provisions were in place to remove directors from their seats if they did not attend meetings on a regular basis, this was not a particularly powerful threat. In Oamaru, town directors absent from three and country directors absent from six successive meetings without sufficient excuse forfeited their seat.57 More stringent measures were applied in the Dunedin Society, where ‘any Director absent

53 54 55

56 57

Dunedin Burns Club AGM report, reprinted in Otago Witness, 29 Mar. 1894, 10. Oamaru Caledonian Society Rules and Bylaws, 1893, NOMA, 98/29c. Oamaru Caledonian Society AGM report, reprinted in North Otago Times, 29 Oct. 1881, 2. North Otago Times, 7 Jul. 1873, 2. Oamaru Caledonian Society Rules and Bylaws, 1893, NOMA, 98/29c.

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from five successive ordinary meetings of the Board without sufficient excuse may be declared to have forfeited his seat’.58 The Dunedin Burns Club also added a new rule to its constitution in 1900 which governed the consecutive absence of members: ‘should any member of the committee absent himself without leave from three consecutive meetings of the committee his seat shall ipso facto be declared vacant’.59 Viewed from yet another angle, the rule amendments in Oamaru hint at the development of power oligarchies within the Oamaru Caledonian Society, groupings which those who were part of them sought to maintain. Evidence pertaining to the office-bearers and the positions they held within the Society gives viability to this second explanation. Until 1900, mostly the same people held office over long periods of time. While some changes are apparent, most likely the result of generational factors, there was nevertheless a significant degree of continuity. Rotation had indeed become the underlying principle, with secretaries becoming treasurers, or vice-presidents being re-elected as presidents. In view of the fact that it was the very same members who were powerful in Oamaru’s civic life, there may well have been a wish to retain power in the social and cultural realms within which the Caledonian Society operated. More generally, the degree of continuity further indicates that the success of some associations was intrinsically bound to particular people who held the associations’ fortunes in their hands. Their departure or death could herald the end of a society. In Dunedin, the retirement of directors was also common, but was governed by a more specific set of rules. The intention was that the twelve members of the Board who were not life members, and who had ‘the lowest percentage of attendance for the year’, should retire annually.60 The percentage was based on attendance at directors’ as well as committee meetings, the Annual Gathering and ‘any other gathering at which a Director has been summoned to attend’.61 In the case of directors with the same percentage of attendances, a ballot was used to determine who had to retire. Interestingly, retiring directors were immediately eligible for reelection, a point of difference with the early Oamaru rules. Apart from the election of office-bearers, the business meeting of directors that usually followed an AGM appointed the different working committees. For the Otago Caledonian Society, this tended to be a Finance Committee, a Games and Grounds Committee and an Education Committee, but numerous other committees were possible. The AGM, at which elections usually took place, constituted a critical point in the yearly life-cycle of most associations. These events were not primarily social get-togethers, but often included a social component or 58 59 60 61

Otago Caledonian Society, Rulebook, 1906, Hocken, 1045/005. Dunedin Burns Club AGM report, reprinted in Otago Witness, 5 Apr. 1900, 9. Otago Caledonian Society Rulebook, 1906, Hocken, 1045/005. Ibid.

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concluded with dinners and drinks, indicating the importance of sociability.62 In Oamaru, as in a number of other places, they were usually called between August and November of each year. With the President in the chair, the balance sheet and annual report of the directors were presented and matters of contention discussed. Although the societies were hierarchical in their basic structures, the requirement of an annual election allowed members to vote on who they thought should lead the respective society or be part of the executive. As a form of associational self-governance, this process allowed members to exercise some level of control. Yet, while the delegation of power to the executive put in place power gradients, these left room for ordinary society members to express their views. With payment of their annual fee, they had the right to assert their opinion. The formulation of such rules and the establishment of the organisational and election structures formalised procedures, enhancing accountability. It was possible for members in Oamaru, for instance, to ask for a special meeting on matters of concern. All that was required was nine members to make the relevant request to the Society’s Secretary.63 The day-to-day business of the societies was conducted through directors’ meetings. These were held frequently throughout the year, sometimes once a week, sometimes only every second month, with the frequency of meetings of Caledonian societies usually increasing from November in the run-up to the annual Caledonian Games. More numerous meetings were also common afterwards, and were used to evaluate the Games or to deal with complaints by competitors.64 Venues and days for meetings varied greatly. While some societies owned their own club rooms, others met in local hotels. In Oamaru the venue shifted between hotels and tended to be held at a hotel owned by a Society member. The most coherently organised meetings were those of the Dunedin Gaelic Society, which were held at monthly intervals. These were essentially a social affair, intended to provide opportunity for the pursuit of activities in accord with the aims of the Society, for instance the reading of Gaelic poetry or lectures on Highland history. The Society’s annual meetings fused social activities and business, setting greater store by the social component than most Caledonian societies. Associations as network hubs and facilitators of social capital While providing a profile of the ‘type of Scot’ involved in associations and the governance of societies as formalised voluntary organisations, these details do not yet reveal why émigré Scots, New Zealanders of Scottish descent, even those with no direct ethnic link to Scotland, should choose 62 63 64

Cf. North Otago Times, 8 Jan. 1878, 3. Oamaru Caledonian Society Rules and Bylaws, 1893, NOMA, 98/29c. Oamaru Caledonian Society MoD minutes, 5 Jan. 1880, NOMA, 98/29c.

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to commit their time to monthly society meetings or annual caber tossing. The recreational factor will have been important, particularly in the early years of settlement when entertainment was scarce, but the study of other local material, such as council records from the case study localities, suggests another important explanation: the far-reaching and significant political and commercial links between members. To understand how these links translated into networks, and how these operated, it is necessary to move beyond the aims of societies and consider even more closely the individuals involved. Henry Aitken was well known throughout Oamaru, having been connected with almost every civic and public institution in the city. From Lerwick, Shetland, he came to New Zealand on the Lady Egidia in January 1861 as an assisted passenger, and first made his way to the Lindis Pass goldfields.65 Aitken settled in Oamaru in 1863, quickly setting up in business as a timber merchant. The business was closely associated with the Union Steam Ship Company and Aitken became that company’s local agent, eventually largely abandoning his timber trade in favour of the more profitable work as shipping agent. Aitken was a founding member of the Caledonian Society in 1869 and held many positions in subsequent years, including that of President, and was deeply involved at the annual Games as Superintendent. Equally engaged in the local Masonic lodge, Aitken devoted much time to ‘everything that affected the public well-being’.66 He was a member of various local boards and became Mayor of Oamaru, dying in office in 1899. His funeral arrangements reflected the esteem in which he was held: The flags on the shipping and in town are flying half-mast as a mark of respect for the late Mr Henry Aitken . . . The brethren of Lodge Oamaru Killwinning are summoned to meet at the Lodge room at 1.30 p.m. today in full regalia, in order to attend the funeral of their late brother Henry Aitken. Mr Aitken had for years been a member of this Lodge, and had occupied the highest position in it – that of Worshipful Master. It is requested by the W.M. that all the brethren who conveniently can will attend, in order that the utmost respect may be shown to one who besides being a good citizen was also a good mason.67 Aitken’s involvement with the Masonic lodge was an important avenue for networking, but it was only one element in a substantial network spanning many civic, as well as political, bodies in Oamaru. If Aitken is taken as a starting point, it is soon evident that a net of 65 66 67

Otago Witness, 2 Feb. 1861, 4–5. Obituary in North Otago Times, 7 Jan. 1899, 3. North Otago Times, 9 Jan. 1899, 3; the Lodge was warranted in May 1872, see ibid., 24 May 1872, 2.

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connections existed in which the Oamaru Caledonian Society served as a key common denominator. Aitken’s connections, in fact, extended well beyond Oamaru through his role as local agent of the Union Steam Ship Company, the enterprise which organised water transport between Dunedin and Oamaru. In that role, Aitken worked together with Keith Ramsay of Dunedin. Ramsay, born in Alyth, Perthshire, arrived in New Zealand in 1862 and initially worked for Cargill & Co. in Dunedin, but he soon decided to independently set up in business as shipping agent. He then established his connections with Oamaru. Similarly to Aitken, Ramsay was involved in Dunedin’s political and civic life, and a member of the Otago Caledonian Society, for which he served as President.68 Through this commercial relationship, then, it is possible not only to link people within Oamaru, but also to establish connections with Dunedin. While this exercise of cross-linking should not be overinterpreted, it serves to re-emphasise the degree to which those prominently active in Caledonian societies in different New Zealand localities were spearheading commercial and civic life. Another example of an intricate net of relationships channelled through the Oamaru Caledonian Society is that of William Christie, who was elected the Society’s President at the end of October 1886. It is likely that among those present at that year’s AGM were John Sinclair and Thomas Procter, their names being listed in connection with other Caledonian Society events throughout the year. Christie, Sinclair, and Procter knew each other well, all having served as borough councillors. It was within this context that the three became contestants for the Oamaru mayoralty in November 1886. With fortune again on his side, Christie was elected only a month after his installation as the Caledonian Society’s President, winning the Oamaru mayoral election with a majority of sixty-four votes. Sinclair and Procter came second and third respectively.69 Sinclair, a native of Caithness, had been considered the favourite in the run-up because of his strong ties to Oamaru. As a builder and contractor, he had been involved in building the Colonial Bank and Union Bank, the Presbyterian and Anglican churches, and several private residences; he was also a member of the Oamaru Volunteer Fire Brigade.70 Christie served as Mayor until early 1889, when he was declared bankrupt, being also accused of having misappropriated money from the Colonial Investment Company for which he had worked. Christie was sentenced to prison under the Bankruptcy Act by District Judge Ward, although many people believed that he had been wrongly convicted. Petitions were lodged with the Dunedin Supreme Court, these eventually contributing to Christie’s release. This was celebrated at the 68 69 70

Obituary in Otago Witness, 9 May 1906, 30. North Otago Times, 25 Nov. 1886, 2. Cyclopedia of New Zealand, vol. 4, 554; also K. C. McDonald, History of North Otago (Oamaru, 1940), 130.

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Figure 4.2: Procter, Christie, and Sinclair network (source: the author).

end of April 1889 in Oamaru’s Star and Garter Hotel, a common haunt of Oamaru Caledonian Society members, by at least fifty people, including many fellow-Caledonians.71 The web of connections between Procter, Christie, and Sinclair was part of an even larger net, involving other Society members in the three organisations (Figure 4.2 – the asterisk denotes Caledonian Society membership).72 Particularly striking is the fact that the Oamaru Building Society, in the late 1870s and 1880s, was entirely comprised of Caledonians, mixing civic and political connections with commercial and business links. Some of these links culminated with the establishment of the Oamaru Woollen Mill by a group of fifteen Oamaru businessmen in 1878, seven of whom were active members of the Caledonian Society.73 The aim was to purchase a piece of land and secure the necessary machinery and buildings for an Oamaru-based woollen manufacturing business, one embodying all important branches of the industry. The founders believed that Oamaru was ideally situated, in close proximity to Central Otago and with its own harbour, allowing the quick disposal of the manufactured goods. All that was needed to begin, it was pointed out, was a sufficient number of shareholders to establish a capital base of £50,000.74 Although it took time to set 71

72

73 74

For example North Otago Times, 8 Apr. 1889, 3; 25 Apr. 1889, 3; 22 Jul. 1889, 2; for details on Ward, see Scholefield, Dictionary of New Zealand Biography, vol. 2, 458. Connections were established using details extracted from the Cyclopedia and business notices published in the local press. Cf. Brooking, ‘Tam McCanny and Kitty Clydeside’, 181. For further details on the set-up and share prices, see North Otago Times, 3 Oct. 1878, 3.

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Figure 4.3: Oamaru Caledonian Society members’ connections (source: the author).

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everything up, there was significant progress by 1883.75 A major issue of concern, however, was water supply to the factory. Hotly debated at various Borough Council meetings, this question illustrates that, however important a networking agent the Caledonian Society may have been, the ties it fostered did not automatically amount to common goals outside of Society affairs. At the Council, the only opponent speaking out against council subsidies for the water supply was Neil Fleming, himself a prominent member of the Caledonian Society.76 Soon after the meeting, however, a letter to the North Otago Times by A Shareholder suggested a possible further reason for Fleming’s opposition, noting that ‘his antipathy to the factory is caused by the directors refusing to build it on a piece of land he had for sale at Kakanui’.77 Fleming, naturally, disputed this conclusion and rejected the accusations, pointing out that the guarantee for water the Council would have had to give was too substantial and therefore not beneficial for Oamaru as a whole.78 Whatever the truth, the dispute highlights that ethnic associationalism was no guarantee of support. It further illustrates that cohesion could be quickly lost outside the associational structures or when money was involved. There was, for instance, no obvious favouritism in respect of the annual tenders for the building of the Caledonian Games’ grandstand. Although tenders were submitted by Society members, these were declined in favour of cheaper offers by non-members.79 An important qualifier is Oamaru’s smallness, which also helps explain some of the allegiances and power oligarchies in commercial, political, and civic bodies.80 Bearing this qualification in mind, the emerging social networks facilitated by associations offered access to opportunities and patronage on a range of different levels (Figure 4.3), but two detailed examples must suffice. Alexander McMaster was born in Stranraer in 1822 and emigrated to Australia in around 1842. After pursuing several different careers, he decided to move on to New Zealand and made his way to Oamaru in the mid-1850s, going into partnership with John Borton. The two may well have met in Australia, there being evidence of a trip by Borton to Australia in the early 1850s. John had come to New Zealand with his sister, her husband buying the first of the Maerewhenua runs in the Waitaki. After the commencement of their partnership, Borton and McMaster bought several 75 76

77 78 79 80

North Otago Times, 9 Mar. 1883, 3. For a report on the respective Borough Council meeting, see North Otago Times, 11 May 1883, 2. North Otago Times, 16 May 1883, 3. Ibid., 18 May 1883, 2. For example Oamaru Caledonian Society MoD minutes, 4 Dec. 1882, NOMA, 98/29c. Oamaru had a population of between six hundred and seven thousand throughout the period in question; the 1886 census gives the number as 5,686, as against 4,927 in 1878, see North Otago Times, 7 May 1891, 2 and 22 Apr. 1886, 2. This was around 1% of the country’s total population. Cf. A. H. McLintock (ed.), An Encyclopedia of New Zealand (vol. 2, Wellington, 1966), 825.

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other runs and started breeding cattle. McMaster returned to Australia in the late 1850s to convince his friend James Gardiner, whom he had first met aboard the ship from Scotland for Australia, to join him and Borton as station manager. Gardiner did so, working for Borton and McMaster until his death in 1867.81 His son William continued as station manager after his father’s death. The second connection involved previously encountered Neil Fleming, a native of Kintyre, whose partnership with Allan Hedley was initiated in August 1868 and existed for thirty-two years.82 Although trained as a teacher, and first employed as such on the Cromwell goldfields, Fleming settled in Oamaru and soon entered into the partnership with Hedley. The two were not only in partnership as stock and station auctioneers, they also co-owned Incholme Estate and successfully bred Ayrshire cattle and Clydesdales.83 Networks were comprised of dense and penetrating personal, commercial, and public layers. They were about friendship, just as much as business opportunities, and could span large distances. Relationships intersected and connected different groups of people. The multiplicity of connections highlights that associationalism and group membership was viewed strategically, as a means of optimising and increasing opportunities. Deliberate choices were made, perhaps for want of camaraderie or as an expression of ethnic identity, but also for the purpose of increasing social capital. As one of the circles of belonging, identified here as a useful means to account conceptually for the areas through which migrants could position themselves in the new homeland, ethnic associationalism and the networks thereby opened provided a field of interaction and promised to bring an array of benefits.84 These included, first, the access to opportunities, for instance business opportunities, marriage opportunities, and patronage; secondly, the provision of risk minimisers in the new world, for instance through patronage and the networks sustained; thirdly, access to power in terms of associational hierarchies; and finally, the possibility to gain and accumulate authority and respectability. Importantly, the latter two types of social capital generated had the potential to transcend the associations’ ethnic bounds, having an impact on wider civic life. Social capital has been most thoroughly explored by J. S. Coleman and Robert Putnam, albeit in different ways. For Coleman, social capital 81

82

83

84

For obituaries for Gardiner and McMaster, see North Otago Times, 21 May 1864, 2; 14 Sep. 1885, 2; also McMaster Family, Tokarahi Station Records, 1869–73, Hocken, MS-1011-05; Pinney, Early Northern Otago Runs. North Otago Times, 14 Apr. 1900, 2; for a note on his death in 1900, see Celtic Monthly, Aug. 1900, 217. North Otago Times, 10 Apr. 1880, 14; they sold parts of the estate for agriculture, see 12 Jun. 1884, 3. A. Portes, ‘Social Capital: Its Origins and Applications in Modern Sociology’, Annual Review of Sociology, 24 (1998), 1–24; P. Bourdieu, ‘The Forms of Capital’, in J. G. Richardson (ed.), Handbook of Theory and Research for Sociology of Education (New York, 1985).

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encompasses those elements of social structures that serve as action facilitators; it is neutral and depends on the context in which it operates.85 It may, hence, be seen as a resource within particular social structures that can help individuals or groups within those structures to achieve their goals.86 Associational structures, such as those provided by Caledonian societies, can effectively aid the production of social capital, facilitating its accumulation. The nature and extent of social capital flows, however, depend on a number of factors, including reciprocity and intimacy in patronage networks. The fact that different variables determined the generation of social capital explains why multiple group membership, as evidenced in some of the earlier charts, was common among those Scots who joined Scottish associations. The more associations people were members of, the greater the number of contact zones and networks. The key is that in the case of Scottish associations, social capital developed as part of activities that, at the outset, had a different purpose, for example the organisation of Caledonian Games. Though born out of an ethnic activity, the probability, then, is that many of the Scots studied in this book defined their ethnic identity, at least in part, by its function for the purpose of opportunity maximisation within a wider civic context. With the acquisition of social

Figure 4.4: Typology of Scottish associationalism I (source: the author). 85

86

J. S. Coleman, Foundations of Social Theory (Cambridge, MA, 1990), 302; R. Putnam, ‘Bowling Alone: The Strange Disappearance of Civic America’, Journal of Democracy, 6 (1995), 65–78. J. S. Coleman, ‘Social Capital in the Creation of Human Capital’, Journal of Sociology, 95, supplement (1988), 98.

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capital in mind, they were able to use their ethnic origins as a strategic tool to position themselves in the new home. A crucial factor that could influence the effectiveness of this tool, that is the level of opportunity maximisation, was the orientation of associations. Set against the analysis and periodisation presented in chapter three, Caledonian societies were well integrated into New Zealand community structures and civic life through Caledonian Games. As the next chapter will explain further, these events were integrative, linking into the development of New Zealand’s organised athletics. This stands in contrast to the activities of the majority of the more exclusive specialised societies. Their orientation was inward, directed at members of the Scottish community from specific areas, primarily the Highlands. Other specialised societies, such as St Andrew’s societies and the Scottish societies that emerged in the early twentieth century, fall into the same category. A notable exception are Burns clubs which, although more specialised, maintained an outward orientation. With this emerging dichotomy, it is possible to develop a typology of Scottish associational life in New Zealand. This typology captures the associations’ main activities, connecting them with their purpose within and outside of the Scottish community (Figure 4.4). Bearing the associations’ orientation in mind, it is possible to move one step further, recognising the relationship of the different associations to civil society (Figure 4.5).

Figure 4.5: Scottish associationalism and New Zealand civil society (source: the author).

Similar to the analytical framework offered in the circles of belonging presented in the introduction, this model is also based on the idea of circles. Scottish associational life operated in these concentric rings, which are permeable, signalling that associations were located in the public sphere and interacted with it. Comparable to the different levels of social capital generation, the degree to which interaction took place depended on the type of associational structure identified in the previous typology (Figure 4.4). While Caledonian societies oriented towards the Scottish

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community, they also served an important role in New Zealand society more widely. As a result, the circle surrounding the Scottish community is just as permeable as the previous one. Inward-oriented societies, however, were less likely to extend into the wider community. So, although not closed completely, the second circle in this instance is much less pervious. What the model highlights is that cultural legacies did not transfer in isolation, but in response to new realities,87 the needs of those involved in their maintenance, and with diverse functions. Conclusion When previously encountered John Jack of Wellington died in 1909, the Evening Post published an account of his funeral, listing the attending representatives of bodies with which the deceased was more or less associated.88 Among these were representatives of the Wellington Harbour Board, of which John had been Chairman in the 1890s, the Choral Society, the Masonic Lodge, and the Caledonian Society. As a staunch supporter of St Andrew’s on the Terrace, his local Presbyterian church, it comes as no surprise that members of the church were also present. John’s activities were not confined to para-church associations, but were linked into Wellington’s foremost organisations of civic life. His commitment to associations is typical of the involvement of many migrants in a range of ethnic, fraternal, and leisure societies: these migrants were ‘joiners’, and membership in associations reflected their attempts to order, and contribute to, the development of the new society in which they were living. Associationalism was a critical part of creating civic life in a rapidly changing immigrant society, allowing for the assertion of difference within a safe and organised environment. Scottish associationalism developed as part of a growing associational culture in New Zealand. Other ethnic groups clubbed together in similar fashion, with Irish societies, Orange lodges, and German clubs an important part of a scene in which associations without an overt ethnic component, such as trades unions, were equally prominent. The life-cycle of many associations was connected to their leadership and the turnover of membership. The majority of the pioneer leading figures in associations were highly regarded members in their communities, businessmen and politicians among their number. The most robust associations had a low turnover, thus exhibiting continuity and stability over long periods of time. Both were challenged by the influence of the younger generation of New Zealand Scots that came to join societies, especially from the early twentieth century, who were looking for conviviality rather than social capital or respectability. Tensions emerged in relation to the organisation of Caledonian Games in particular, and it is to these that we now turn. 87 88

Bodnar, The Transplanted, 152. Evening Post, 2 Nov. 1909, 7.

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CHAPTER FIVE

‘The Lusty Sports of “Caledonia, Stern and Wild” ’: Caledonian Games in New Zealand* The lusty sports of ‘Caledonia, stern and wild’ have been celebrated in prose and verse by the greatest masters of both. They have a peculiar charm of their own. The combination of massive strength with deerlike agility, which is characteristic of the proficient Highland athlete, is seldom to be found in the athletes of other countries . . . Scotchmen are the only people who, in these modern degenerate days . . . appear to attach the same importance to athletic sports as the classical nations of old did.1 At the outset, Caledonian Games were ‘purely Scottish sports’ indeed, athletic feats being merged with the familiar tunes and dances ‘dear to the heart of Scotchmen’.2 First held in Scotland at St Fillans in 1819, the Games were soon exported by Scottish migrants, spreading quickly throughout North America in the first half of the nineteenth century.3 Similar evidence of their popularity can be traced all over the world, including in South Africa, Australia, and Southeast Asia.4 In Scotland, royal patronage added to the attractiveness and recognition of Highland Games, these finding increasing favour not only with local Scots, but also the growing number of travellers from abroad: a visit to Caledonian Games was an essential item on the Scottish itinerary.5 The Games’ popularity at home and abroad *

1 2 3

4

5

Versions of parts of this chapter were first published in ‘Manly Games, Athletic Sports and the Commodification of Scottish Identity: Caledonian Gatherings in New Zealand to 1915’,  Scottish Historical Review,  89, 2 (2010), 224–47. The author thanks Edinburgh University Press for permission to publish this version here. Evening Post, 2 Jan. 1880, 2. Otago Witness, 3 Jan. 1863, 4; North Otago Times, 4 Jan. 1878, 2. The first Games in the US were organised by the Highland Society of New York in 1836, while Redmond suggests that Games were held even earlier in Canada. See G. Redmond, The Sporting Scots of Nineteenth-Century Canada (Rutherford, 1982), 160. Also S. Thernstrom (ed.), Harvard Encyclopedia of American Ethnic Groups (Cambridge, MA, 1980), 915; R. J. Blaustein, ‘Scottish Americans’, in J. H. Brunvand (ed.), American Folklore: An Encyclopedia (New York, 1996), 652–5. For example Sydney Morning Herald, 10 Oct. 1859, 7; Singapore Free Press and Mercantile Advertiser, 13 Jul. 1932, 18; also MacKenzie with Dalziel, The Scots in South Africa, 240ff. Examples include W. Pembroke Fetridge, Harper’s Hand-Book for Travellers in Europe and the East (London, 1869), 55; Handbook for Travellers in Scotland (London, 1868), 306; see also R. Cox et al. (eds), Encyclopaedia of British Sport (Oxford, 2000), 177.

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notwithstanding, they should not simply be read as a transplanted cultural tradition. In New Zealand, Caledonian Games emerged, first, as an enduring and popular sporting occasion for Scots and non-Scots alike. As Roderick Mackenzie stated when comparing the Dunedin Caledonian Games with those in Canada, the Dunedin Society had little to learn, their Games being so expertly organised, popular, and ‘ahead of them [the Canadian Games]’.6 For earlier observers, they were simply a great ‘outdoor jollity’.7 Secondly, however, the Games were also a key driving force of formalised sports culture, thus becoming an integral part of the annual New Zealand sporting calendar. Sport is central to the fabric of New Zealand society, emerging as a key force in the shaping of the country’s national identity. In fact, outdoor pursuits and sports meets formed part of local life within a short time of the first migrant foot-fall in many of the country’s settlements. When Wellington’s first settlers gathered, at the end of January 1841, to celebrate the anniversary of their arrival, sporting pursuits were at the heart of the celebrations.8 From the late 1840s, many a sports’ gathering was held on provincial anniversaries, or as part of the Christmas and New Year holidays. It was the Scots, however, who, with their Caledonian Games, provided the most effective framework for the hosting of organised sports from the early 1860s. Held from Waipu in the north of the North Island to Invercargill at the tip of the South Island, newspaper reportage supplies neat evidence of the Games’ immense popularity in communities both urban and rural, large  and small. Attendance estimates for the 1887–8 Christmas and New Year holiday period suggest, for example, that a good sixty thousand people  participated in or visited Caledonian Games throughout New Zealand.9 What this number highlights is that the proliferation of Caledonian Games was neither simply evidence of Scottishness, nor was their demise evidence of lessened Scottishness. For all the observations that Caledonian Games are a key component of the émigré Scots’ cultural life, only little attention has been paid to the subject in the wider Scottish Diaspora. Grant Jarvie’s seminal study of the emergence and development of Highland Games remains the most authoritative and valuable to date, tracing the Games’ folk origins, their Victorian proliferation, and royal patronage, to the modern Games of the twentieth century.10 Yet, while Jarvie has explored the export of the Games to North 6

7 8

9

10

Mackenzie had visited Games in Canada on his home trip to Scotland in 1910–11, cf. Otago Caledonian Society Scrapbook, Otago Daily Times article, 14 Dec. 1911, Hocken, MS-1045/030. Huddersfield Chronicle and West Yorkshire Advertiser, 19 Mar. 1864, 6. C. Macdonald, ‘Ways of Belonging: Sporting Spaces in New Zealand History’, in G. Byrnes (ed.), The New Oxford History of New Zealand (Melbourne, 2009), 272. With a good number of smaller Games without attendance estimates, the overall number will have been even higher. G. Jarvie, Highland Games: The Making of the Myth (Edinburgh, 1991).

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America, his focus has been more on their role as ‘focal points of emigre reunions’11 than how they tied in with community life in different places of settlement. In New Zealand scholarship, Caledonian Games have found some recognition in sport histories and studies of leisure and holiday culture, but the general neglect of the Scots as a distinct migrant group has contributed to a similar disregard for the Games.12 This is peculiar given the relative wealth of source material: society records aside, reports on the holding of Caledonian sports featured prominently in even the smallest rural newspapers: Caledonian Games were one of the best-documented occasions organised from within an ethnic association. What factors then might explain the Games’ neglect? In the first instance, it seems that a problem of categorisation has diverted attention. Shrouded in tartanry, scholars have been unsure about how best to label the events. Were the Games an ethno-cultural practice transplanted from Scotland, hence chiefly an expression of romantic nostalgia, or a site of physical education for the colonial youth? Tracing the Games’ evolution from within the Scottish community, this chapter argues that there is no need to establish such categorical strictures. Caledonian Games evidently served multiple roles within and outside of the Scottish community, particularly in the context of amateur and professional athletics, and these require scrutiny in unison. The endurance and success of Caledonian Games, in conjunction with the Caledonian societies that organised them, will provide substantial further evidence of the deep and sustained connection between Scottish ethnic activities and New Zealand civic life. Mapping an emerging New Zealand tradition ‘Spreading from their home in Scotland’, observed the Wellington Independent in 1865, Caledonian Games ‘have taken root and now flourish all over Australia and New Zealand’.13 First evidence of their existence in New Zealand can be traced to the diary of prominent New Zealand Scot, Donald McLean. Born at Kilmaluag on Tiree in 1820, McLean came out to the Antipodes aged eighteen, first settling in New South Wales. Employment brought McLean to Auckland in 1840, from where he eventually found his way further south, being appointed to the Protectorate of Aborigines, later serving as police inspector in Taranaki, land purchase 11

12

13

G. Jarvie, ‘Sport, Parish Life and the Émigré’, Journal of Sport History, 25, 3 (1998), 392; see also G. Jarvie, ‘The North American Émigré: Highland Games and Social Capital in International Communities’, in C. Ray (ed.), The Transatlantic-Scots (Tuscaloosa, 2005); also E. Heath, ‘“You Don’t Have to Be a Scotchman”: Sport and the Evolution of the Vancouver Caledonian Games, 1893–1926’, unpublished MA thesis (Simon Fraser University, 2005). Brookes et al., ‘Spare Time?’, 158–9; G. Ryan, The Making of New Zealand Cricket, 1832–1914 (London, 2004), 63–4. Wellington Independent, 30 Dec. 1865, 5.

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agent, and Member of the House of Representatives in the mid-1860s. McLean was well regarded by many Maori tribes, thus becoming not only one of the most influential figures in mid-nineteenth-century New Zealand, but also the key figure in Maori–settler relations. A keen converser in Gaelic, McLean enjoyed meeting fellow Highland settlers, ‘swapping stories and songs’.14 As much is indeed in evidence in McLean’s diary entry that relates to his engagement with Highland sports at Kaiwarra, Wellington in 1848. With a good many other Highlanders present, the Games were well conducted, displaying neither strife nor enmity, as ‘all in perfect unison played their part with animation and cheerfulness – the bag pipes playing at the end of each game’.15 Once the Games, which had included hammer throwing and wrestling, were over, McLean and many of the other patrons of the gathering repaired to Barrett’s Hotel. Perhaps it was the whisky, this being liberally dispensed, that led McLean to observe that it was a sincere pleasure to meet so many people of the same land the same descent and origin met together to call to remembrance the sports of our parent land and not forget them. Do not forget your country and your loyalty – Highlanders, your meeting together shows the energetic spirit that animates and whatever zealously undertake you will – yes, Highlanders, you will do it.16 While pursued by a group of émigré Highlanders in 1848, the promotion of Scottish Games became the primary object, as we have seen in chapter three, of New Zealand’s Caledonian societies rather than their Highland counterparts. Thus commonly referred to as Caledonian rather than Highland Games,17 it took until the early 1860s for them to become a regular fixture in New Zealand, proliferating in connection with the Caledonian societies then established. In keeping with the emerging tradition of holding sport meets over Christmas and New Year, and as a result of reversed seasons, Caledonian societies in New Zealand held their Games during the southern hemisphere summer.18 There was, among the large societies, a strong preference for New Year’s Day, Scottish migrants thus contributing to making New Year, rather than Christmas, the foremost holiday 14

15 16 17

18

For further details on McLean, see A. Ward, ‘McLean, Donald 1820–1877’, DNZB, www. dnzb.govt.nz/, last visited 2 Jun. 2010. Sir Donald McLean diary, 25 Dec. 1848, ATL, MS-1220-1230. Ibid. Turakina and Waipu are two notable exceptions, both settlements originally comprised of strong settler contingents from the Highlands. The use of the term Caledonian Games rather than Highland Games was also common in North America, see Redmond, Sporting Scots, 159. Similar trends are documented for parts of Australia in Sullivan, ‘Scottish Associational Culture in Early Victoria, Australia’.

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in the colony.19 This was an important development, given the role Hogmanay has traditionally played in Scottish society.20 Although there is fragmentary evidence of shinty being played in the Highlands around New Year,21 it pales alongside the documentation of the Caledonian Gatherings celebrated in New Zealand. The connection between sports and New Year, then, is a distinct contribution of southern hemisphere Scots.22 The first large-scale Caledonian sports meet in Wellington was held on New Year’s Day 1866. Praised for the successful manner in which ‘enthusiastic Caledonians, mindful of old Scottish traditions, ushered in the new year’, had revived the games of their country, the gathering was held on a paddock behind the White Swan Hotel. The paddock had been made available by Mr John Martin, Esq., it being ‘smooth as a bowling green’, and thus, well suited for the holding of games. By 11 o’clock, the street leading to the paddock was crowded with people, with the paddock itself filling quickly with holiday-makers in want of enjoyment. A flagstaff had been put up in the centre of the paddock, a platform adjoining it to provide the appropriate space for the piper ‘in the garb of the old Gaul’, playing the music ‘dear to the ears of those who hailed from the Highlands’. A grandstand had been erected on the left side of the paddock, set aside ‘for the more aristocratic portion of the assemblage’ and many elegantly dressed ladies. Several refreshment booths had been set up, selling tea, coffee, cakes, and sandwiches, as well as alcoholic beverages. Attracting an estimated two thousand spectators, the first Wellington Games came off splendidly, attracting the ‘elite of Wellington society’.23 The paddock remained the location for many small and rural meets, including New Zealand’s longest-running Games in Turakina in the North Island. The majority of Caledonian societies, however, switched to larger venues for want of space, a reflection of the Games’ growing popularity and patronage. Showgrounds, sports grounds, and town reserves were often used, leased from the respective local Agricultural and Pastoral associations or town councils. The Oamaru Caledonian Society’s first gathering in 1870, for instance, was held on the local cricket ground. With a population

19

20

21 22

23

See for example Otago Witness, 9 Jan. 1864, 8. For a more detailed account of holiday celebrations in colonial New Zealand, see A. Clarke, Holiday Seasons: Christmas, New Year and Easter in Nineteenth Century New Zealand (AUP Studies in Social and Cultural History 4, Auckland, 2007). See Brown, Religion and Society, 15; R. Hutton, The Stations of the Sun: A History of the Ritual Year in Britain (Oxford, 1996), esp. cp. 3; M. Todd, The Culture of Protestantism in Early Modern Scotland (New Haven, 2002). T. Collins, Encyclopedia of Traditional British Rural Sports (London, 2005), 58. In northern hemisphere settlements, the Games were often linked to other holidays, for instance Dominion Day in Canada. See N. B. Bouchier, For the Love of the Game: Amateur Sport in Small-town Ontario, 1838–1895 (Kingston, 2003), 56. This and the previous quotes are from Wellington Independent, 2 Jan. 1866, 5.

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Figure 5.1: Overlooking Oamaru, 1880s (source: Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand, Vance Collection, F-1974-1/2).

of a good 2,100, but surrounded by settled small farming districts and with other Otago population centres in easy reach, the Games were well attended, attracting about seven hundred visitors.24 Resplendent with similar temporary fixtures for spectators and athletes as at the Wellington Games, the cricket ground offered a suitable venue. The day’s proceedings began at 10 am with quoiting, followed by foot races and more conspicuously Scottish events that included Highland dancing and caber tossing.25 Equally well received as the Wellington Games, the Oamaru gathering soon saw a significant increase in patronage, this being a key factor in the Oamaru Caledonian Society’s decision to move the Games from the cricket ground to the grounds of the North Otago Agricultural and Pastoral Association. Located off Wharf Street at the top of a hill, the ground provided visitors with a panoramic view of Oamaru, the harbour, and the backcountry, while still being in close proximity to the town centre. Although attendance at the first gathering in the new location was similar to that of the previous year, the move was applauded because the new ground was more commodious, sloping, laid out in grass, and properly fenced off.26 As in Wellington, a grandstand had been set up, dominating the eastern side of the grounds, and refreshment booths could be found close to it. This was a familiar scene. At the 1870 Hokitika Games on the West Coast, the grandstand was adjoined by 24 25 26

Oamaru Times and Waitaki Reporter, 4 Jan. 1870, 2. Ibid. The photograph of late 1880s Oamaru gives some indication of the view visitors would have had. While the Agricultural and Pastoral Association’s showground is not visible, it was situated just to the left of the trees on the left.

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Figure 5.2: Attendance at Dunedin and Oamaru Caledonian Games to 1900.

a series of booths, in each of which the attendants at the bars had . . . as much as they could conveniently do in supplying the many who desired to drink either from necessity or compliment. There was Keller’s Cafe National, the Pioneer and Ballarat Hotel, Hansen’s Post Office Hotel, the Westland Hotel, Power’s Dunedin Hotel, and Martin’s Bellevue Hotel, all efficiently represented in accommodation, waiting, and wines; and in various situations contiguous there were several stands where cake and fruit seemed to find a ready sale.27 Based on attendance estimates gleaned from newspaper reports and gate takings recorded in associational records, a comparison of the Oamaru Games with New Zealand’s first and largest Caledonian Games, those held in Dunedin, serves as a useful measure of their success (Figure 5.2). The graph shows that the Oamaru Games continued to be very successful after their inception, both in relation to the Dunedin Games, as well as in proportion to the town’s population. Attendance peaked in 1888 at around seven thousand spectators, when, as census records show, Oamaru had a population of about 5,500. While the Dunedin Games, at their height of popularity, attracted almost double that number of spectators, they were less successful in relation to the local population. The graph further documents the significance of the weather, the majority of the dips between 1878 and 1888 being the result of poor weather rather than a general decrease in popularity. As much was certainly the case for the Dunedin Games’ biggest 27

West Coast Times, 28 Dec. 1870, 2.

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slump in 1881. Not only did the Games have to be postponed, the Society’s grounds were also flooded. Hence, while ‘full 5000 persons visited’, stated the Otago Daily Times, ‘had the weather been fine the attendance would probably have amounted to between 12,000 and 14,000’.28 The Games in Wellington supply another important perspective with respect to the factors that could influence attendance numbers. In the early years of the Games, attendances, while ranging from 2,000 to 3,500, never matched those reached contemporaneously in the major South Island  locations. In part, the higher numbers in the south were simply reflective of population and settlement patterns. However, it is also important to note that Caledonian Games in Wellington were organised by committees for a much longer period than in Dunedin or Oamaru. While there was a delay in forming a Caledonian Society in Wellington, the transition from committee to society had been quick and smooth in other centres. Although the absence of a fully organised Caledonian society did not automatically impede the proceedings, the lack of proper institutionalisation contributed to a less stable base, resulting in greatly varying levels of success.29 In 1870, for example, no proper Games were held due to bad weather. However, the presence of two organising committees, one planning sports at the cricket ground, the other opting for a different venue, had caused great confusion. Petty rivalries and the lack of an institutionalised organisation further contributed to the absence of professional athletes in 1872, they being attracted to a better arranged and ‘more profitable engagement at the Wairarapa’.30 Despite the problems, the Wellington Games continued annually until 1882, when they suddenly stopped, not resuming until 1886. This coincided with the initiation of a new Caledonian Society in 1885. The impact was immediate, with attendance numbers tripling to around eight thousand in 1886, when the second Wellington Caledonian Society held its first annual gathering; they remained at this higher level until the late 1890s. While far from the smallest of New Zealand sub-regional centres, Oamaru was buzzing with the voices of thousands on a Games’ day when the spectators and athletes poured in. The town’s railway station was uncomfortably small for accommodating the arrival of such large numbers, as ‘dense crowds . . . thronged the platform’ in 1878. When leaving the station, they passed out into Wansbeck Street, filling ‘the whole street from pavement to pavement’.31 The high attendances proved to be an attraction in themselves, the gathering of people being ‘proof of the wonderful advance of the district within the past few years’.32 Moreover, attendances 28 29 30 31 32

Otago Daily Times, 5 Jan. 1881, 3. Evening Post, 3 Jan. 1868, 2. Wellington Independent, 3 Jan. 1872, 3. North Otago Times, 3 Jan. 1878, 2. Ibid., 5 Jan. 1875, 2.

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were also indicative of the wide catchment area of the Oamaru Games. In 1873, visitors arrived from all over the district, and the steamer Samson brought spectators and the Provincial Band from Dunedin, the latter later providing the musical entertainment for the day.33 Further north, in Timaru, trains came from Ashburton, 60 miles north, while the cars of the train from Fairlie Creek ‘had to be supplemented by trucks to bring in the number of people offering their fares’.34 All of the main roads into Timaru were lively with horsemen and vehicles of all kinds, settlers pouring in with their families to what had become known as the great festival in the district. A few years earlier, and as a result of its heavy load of Caledonian visitors, the engine on the train from Temuka had become ‘so exhausted . . . that it had not sufficient strength left to blow its whistle’.35 While these descriptions offer a flavour of the prevailing scenes and atmosphere on arrival on a Games’ day in many New Zealand towns, the assessment of visitor numbers is not straightforward. Attendance numbers provide, however, a useful yardstick for the success of Games, as we have already seen with respect to Oamaru and Dunedin. So how do these Games compare to the rest of New Zealand? As has been noted, newspaper reportage offers detailed accounts, but these did not always include estimated attendances, frequently referring instead to an ‘enormous assemblage’ or an ‘animated group of visitors’. By means of cross-referencing newspaper reports and associational records, however, it has been possible to reliably establish overall attendance patterns for case study locations of this study until 1900. Though estimates may not always have been strictly accurate, they nonetheless give a useful indication as to the size of the Games (Map 5.1), allowing their evolution to be mapped into three distinct phases; these are emergence, peak, and decline. In conjunction with figure 5.2, the map confirms that Dunedin was the centre of Caledonian sports. During the emergence and peak phases, the rise in patronage reflects the position of Caledonian Games as the main event of the year in many communities throughout New Zealand until the mid-1890s. With other sporting events growing in popularity, and the increasing influence of amateur and professional athletic bodies, patronage shifted away from Caledonian Games in the later 1890s. Triggered in part by tensions in relation to amateurism versus the professionalisation of Scottish sports, Caledonian societies in New Zealand struggled to secure attendances. Importantly, the phase of decline shown in map 5.1 mirrors the general period of decline evidenced for Caledonian societies in the previous chapter, thereby stressing the intrinsic connection between the Games and Scottish associational culture in New Zealand. Studies for Canada suggest similar time-patterns, documenting some 33 34 35

Ibid., 3 Jan. 1873, 2. Timaru Herald, 2 Jan. 1889, 2. Ibid., 4 Jan. 1876, 4.

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Map 5.1: Development of New Zealand’s Caledonian Games.

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degree of conformity in the development of Caledonian Games throughout diverse places of Scottish settlement.36 However, given that no other survey of Caledonian Games has been carried out at national level that compares to the one presented here, it is impossible to say with certainty how the New Zealand development phases compare with those of Caledonian Games in other places of Scottish settlement. A number of general conclusions can be drawn nonetheless. Estimates from newspapers document the attendance of tens of thousands of spectators when attendances were at their peak in the US.37 Equal numbers are traceable for Canada. In the first instance, then, Caledonian Games were a popular activity pursued around the world. In the US, more organised sporting schedules of Caledonian meets were established in the 1850s. The Civil War put a dampener on the gatherings, but they were soon revived after the War’s conclusion, further proliferating in the 1870s and 1880s. As in New Zealand, the emergence of amateur and professional athletic clubs was an equally crucial challenge towards the end of the nineteenth century, contributing to the eventual decline of the Games.38 Similar trends are also evident in Scotland itself,39 while Redmond claims that such challenges were not of a fundamental nature in Canada. He emphasises instead how well Caledonian and sporting associations co-operated; however, Redmond presents only limited evidence to back his claims.40 What these examples highlight is that broad synergies in terms of overall development patterns existed, a fact also reflected in the contests promoted. What was particular to New Zealand was the deep connection between the organising societies and civic life. With that in mind, the map further emphasises that Caledonian Games were, together with sundry other sports meets and events organised by agricultural societies, important tourist magnets in their respective districts. With the proliferation of the Games, large numbers of people travelled across the country, the Railway Department soon beginning to provide excursion trains for convenience. Offering special fares, departure times were adjusted to correspond to the Games’ order of the programme, enabling country folk to spend as much time as possible at the events.41 Caledonian Games were more than an enjoyable pastime, transforming into a leisure and holiday event of great importance. Enthusiasts from Wellington, for example, could book an excursion trip by ship to attend the Wanganui Caledonian Games. The trip included the passage from Wellington north to Wanganui, but offered a detour en route, sailing via 36 37 38

39

40 41

For example Heath, ‘“You Don’t Have to Be a Scotchman”’, 2. See also Blaustein, ‘Scottish Americans’, 654. Cf. G. B. Kirsch, ‘Scots’, in G. B. Kirsch et al., Encyclopedia of Ethnicity and Sports in the United States (Westport, CT, 2000), 406ff. D. Birley, Land of Sport and Glory: Sport and British Society, 1887–1910 (Manchester, 1995), 64–5. Redmond, Sporting Scots, 201–2. North Otago Times, 1 Jan. 1890, 2.

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Queen Charlotte Sound and stopping at Picton in the South Island.42 A similar holiday spirit prevailed at the many smaller Games. Frequently held in appealing venues, these Games perhaps come closer to the traditional Highland gatherings Jarvie has traced, giving an air of real Highland hospitality. In Port Molyneux, 60 miles south of Dunedin, the Caledonian Games were held on a beach, a location enticing ‘numerous private picnics and reunions . . . in the many delightful and romantic retreats with which the locality abounds’. The Games were of great interest, but some visitors also rambled the countryside, with some going off to gather shells along the shore, while others ‘tried the speeds of their steeds upon the beach; not a few did a little “billing and cooing” in the bush’.43 While the patronage of both sportsmen and pleasure-seekers supplies the central reason why Caledonian societies worked hard to keep their Games running smoothly, the resulting expansion also brought to the surface a series of problems. Given the increasing number of societies, the first concern was when Games should be held, particularly for smaller rural societies. With competition for patronage rife, societies in close proximity to each other were keen to avoid holding Games on the same day.44 An additional benefit was that those Caledonian societies who managed to put in place a co-ordinated timetable de facto established a regional Games’ circuit that spectators and competitors could follow. The Waitaki District provides a good example. With the Oamaru Games at the centre in terms of prestige and visitor numbers, there were also two smaller Games in Ngapara and Waimate. The Oamaru Caledonian Society held its event on New Year’s Day, whereas Ngapara and Waimate arranged their activities around the Christmas period. This co-ordination enabled the most enthusiastic Caledonians to attend all three Games if they so wished (Map 5.2). In 1899, visitors for the Waimate Games began arriving early in the morning from the country and ‘the train from the Junction was crowded with over 500 excursionists, not even standing room being available, the majority of the passengers being from Oamaru’.45 Many of these travellers would also have attended the Oamaru Games a few days later, bearing out that the circuit was well patronised. Not only is the circuit an example of associational networking between societies, it also reflects the contribution of Scots to the formalisation of track and field sports, and the transition to organised athletics.46 As much was the case because circuits attracted competitors as well as spectators. The former did not restrict their

42 43 44

45 46

Evening Post, 20 Dec. 1867, 3. Clutha Leader, 3 Jan. 1879, 4. As did Dunedin and Oamaru, the two societies discussing their arrangements. See Oamaru Caledonian Society MoD minutes, 22 Nov. 1880, NOMA, 98/29c. Waimate Advertiser, 28 Dec. 1899, 3. Similar trends have been observed for Canada, K. B. Wamsley and D. Morrow, Sport in Canada: A History (Oxford, 2005), 74.

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Map 5.2: Waitaki District Caledonian Games circuit.

participation to their immediate circuits, with many travelling significant distances to compete. ‘A fine contingent of promising young Scottishcolonials’ arrived at the Wellington Games in 1890 from Hawke’s Bay to take part in the dancing competitions and pipers, while a group of wrestlers had also ‘journeyed from afar, clad in their national tartans’.47 Competitors known by societies were also encouraged to compete at Games organised by sister societies.48 While the Waitaki District circuit, like the majority of others, centred on the Christmas and New Year holiday period, some Caledonian societies chose other dates. Provincial holidays and Easter were especially popular, as in Wanganui, where the sports were held on the Anniversary Day of Wellington Province at the end of January.49 With the emergence of circuits, some of the most successful competitors, hailing from both New Zealand and abroad, were able to employ Caledonian Games as a sporting career platform. By establishing themselves 47 48 49

Evening Post, 2 Jan. 1890, 2. Oamaru Caledonian Society Scrapbook, 22 Dec. 1894, NOMA, 3790/119b. Caledonian Games had already been arranged in Wanganui in the late 1860s and held on New Year’s Day. With the establishment of the Wanganui Caledonian Society, however, the alternate date was chosen.

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Figure 5.3: Robert Scott, champion wrestler (source: Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand, James McAllister Collection, G-7893-1/1).

as professional champions in their respective fields, these athletes became an attraction in their own right, so much so that many Caledonian societies were keen to attract them for the purpose of increasing patronage. In order to do so, they had to offer substantial prizes, preferably cash prizes. One of the champion athletes thus made famous was wrestler Robert Scott, his career developing not unlike that of Canadian athlete Roderick McLennan.50 Scott’s many trophies – one from the Manawatu and West Coast Caledonian Society is depicted in the photograph – document his achievements around the country. His career had started, however, aged seventeen at the Dunedin Caledonian Games. With many victories on his side, Scott soon began competing further afield, first in Invercargill and then in the North Island. While renowned for his wrestling, Scott also won prizes in hammer throwing and caber tossing. Importantly, the Caledonian Games

50

Cf. G. Gillespie, ‘Roderick McLennan Professionalism and the Emergence of the Athlete in Caledonian Games’, Sport History Review, 31, 1 (2000), 43–63.

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circuits that developed were also open to those competing in events like dancing and piping. At the 1902 championship Gathering in Napier, for instance, Scott was joined by fellow Dunedinite J. McKechnie jun., Champion Dancer and Piper of New Zealand, who, without much opposition, took home the championship title. McKechnie competed at a number of other Caledonian meets on the North Island, winning ‘£96 in prize money, and trophies to the value of £10’.51 Almost two decades earlier, two other leading South Island pipers, Mr Mackay and Mr Munro, arrived in Wellington by the Rotomahana to take part in the Caledonian sports on New Year’s Day 1887. Mr Macdonald from Wanganui was also present and so were Messrs Ross, Macdonald, and Patterson from Masterton.52 Among the competitors from overseas were renowned Scottish athlete Donald Dinnie, and Australians Arthur Postle and Jack Donaldson, but also less well-known sportsmen. The latter included, in 1912, Willie Mackenzie from Sydney. With his father, a member of a Scottish association in New South Wales, on a holiday in Otago, Willie took part in several youth competitions in dancing, while a social evening was arranged for his father at Dunedin’s Excelsior Hotel.53 Further to the question of when Games should be held, another key concern was the number of event days. Given the Games’ growing popularity throughout the 1870s and 1880s, many of the organising societies explored here began to extend the gathering to two-day sports. Dunedin had adopted a two-day arrangement from very early on, quickly adding a third.54 In Oamaru, the introduction of a second day was proposed by Mr Sinclair during a meeting of directors held after the 1878 Games.55 What these discussions over circuits and the number of event days reflect is the increasing focus on the Games as business ventures and entertainment for the wider community. It is to these issues that we now turn. Caledonian Games: business venture and entertainment The appeal of Caledonian Games as entertainment has already been documented. Yet, while the many food stalls and booths thus set up provide evidence thereof, they also document that Caledonian Games were seen to be excellent commercial ventures by businessmen, offering ‘a thriving trade’.56 Stalls and booths were not confined to the inside of the grounds, fruit being sold in front of the gates in Oamaru, where one could also

51 52 53

54 55 56

Otago Witness, 1 Jan. 1902, 54. Evening Post, 31 Dec. 1886, 2. Otago Caledonian Society Scrapbook, Otago Daily Times article, n.d. 1912, Hocken, MS-1045/030. For example Otago Witness, 9 Jan. 1890, 14. Oamaru Caledonian Society MoD minutes, Jan. 1878, NOMA, 98/29c. North Otago Times, 3 Jan. 1873, 2.

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usually find a ‘tempting display of confectionery’,57 as well as a merry-goround and Aunt Sally. The prevailing fair-like atmosphere, best exemplified by the Caledonian Carnival organised in association with the Games in Oamaru, made the events all the more attractive.58 Consequently, the selling of privileges for booths and stalls soon became a profitable auxiliary business for Caledonian societies throughout New Zealand. While societies initially advertised privilege sales in newspapers on their own behalves, the majority of the larger societies soon began to use the services of local auctioneers. As a vital source of many societies’ annual income, the selling of privileges was crucial, documenting the increasing professionalisation of the auxiliary business side.59 The extent to which societies came to rely on the sale of privileges is highlighted by the struggles some faced as a result of the prohibition movement. At the 1907 AGM of the Oamaru Society, when an overall loss of £30 17s 4d was recorded in the annual balance sheet, three reasons were offered. First, a high number of counter attractions; secondly, the prevailing poor weather; and finally, the effect of the Oamaru no-licence vote.60 First enshrined in the New Zealand Licensing Act of 1873, measures facilitating the prohibition of liquor sales in a district were put in place. Though a petition, signed by two-thirds of the district’s residents, was required, the Act was an effective legal starting point for the prohibition movement. No-licence campaigns began spreading all over New Zealand, finding confirmation in the 1893 Alcoholic Liquors Sale Control Act. While local licensing committees could not stop the selling of alcohol altogether, they often put in place restrictive measures that adversely affected the privilege sales of a number of Caledonian societies. In the three-year period in which the licensing committee had adopted a prohibitionist outlook in Oamaru, observed the Caledonian Society’s President in July 1897, the Society lost £255 5s 6d.61 The Wairarapa Caledonian Society was in a similar situation, first in 1896, when the Chairman of the local licensing committee refused to grant the appropriate liquor licence for the ground where the Society’s Games were held. As a result, commented the Foxton correspondent of the Otago Witness, ‘the Masterton atmosphere is full of sulphur’.62 Further trouble lay ahead when, in 1907, the no-licence campaigners succeeded 57

58

59

60 61 62

Oamaru Caledonian Society MoD minutes, 27 Dec. 1880, NOMA, 98/29c; North Otago Times, 5 Jan. 1875, 2. The Carnival quickly became a major attraction, with its elaborate electric light effects, illuminated dancing platforms, and fireworks supervised by the Oamaru Fire Brigade. Oamaru Caledonian Society MoD minutes, 20 Jul. and 29 Dec. 1886, NOMA, 98/29c. Evening Post, 3 Dec. 1892, 3; for examples for Oamaru, see North Otago Times, 17 Dec. 1881, 3; 23 Dec. 1899, 3. Otago Witness, 6 Feb. 1907, 58; 11 Sep. 1907, 58. North Otago Times, 30 Jul. 1897, 3. Otago Witness, 20 Feb. 1896, 17; see also Ashburton Guardian, 7 Jan. 1896, 2.

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in having the licence for Masterton Park revoked. To avoid the loss of privilege revenue, the Caledonian Society executive debated whether or not it might be possible to shift to another location where the licence was still active. The President certainly favoured ‘leaving the park as we cannot afford to lose our revenue from the booth’.63 While there is no substantial evidence of similar problems in Scotland, the  issue of licensing and liquor sales at Highland Games was an equal matter of concern. In the first instance, the question was whether Highland Games were, in fact, fairs, and thus subject to liquor licensing laws. Consulted as part of the evidence taken for a parliamentary select committee’s inquiry into the licensing system, one witness from Aberdeen certainly believed that Highland Games were fairs, stating that the regulation of liquor sales was indispensable. ‘The selling of spirits at these places [Highland games and ploughing matches]’, the witness stated, was ‘a very great evil. There is no time at which people are more apt to take too much, and to get the worse of it.’64 Similar arguments were brought forward by prohibitionists in New Zealand. The impact of the prohibition movement on Caledonian Games and society finances aside, the selling of privileges underlines that Caledonian Games were commercial ventures, close scrutiny of income and expenditure being expedient. In the Wairarapa, privilege sales generated an average profit of £40 annually for the Caledonian Society between 1899 and 1909, making it third only to the revenue from gate takings for the Games and competitors’ entrance fees, these averaging at £148 and £54 respectively.65 Further to the income generated, the balance sheets reveal the Society’s expenditure. A crucial cost factor was the result of the increased popularity of cycling events, to which we shall return in a moment. As the Wairarapa balance sheets show, with the proliferation of these events, affiliation fees for the New Zealand League of Wheelmen had to be paid, and repair costs for the cycling track amounted to £27 6d in 1904. Moreover, the Society took out an accident insurance to protect itself from compensation claims made by cyclists who had been injured at Games.66 The most significant costs relate to the rent for grounds and track preparation. In this respect the Wairarapa Caledonian Society was in a good position, costs being moderate as quite suitable provisions were already in place 63

64

65

66

Wairarapa Caledonian Society Annual Report for the Year Ending 30 September 1907, 19 Oct. 1907, WA, 89-038/1.R1B2S3. Parliamentary Papers, 1860, [2684] [2684-I], Report by Her Majesty’s Commissioners for Inquiring into the Licensing System, and Sale and Consumption of Excisable Liquors in Scotland, with Minutes of Evidence, 531 (evidence section). Wairarapa Caledonian Society Balance Sheets for the years 1899 to 1909, WA, 89-038/1. R1B2S3. This was most likely the result of various incidents that occurred in 1901, see Evening Post, 2 Jan. 1901, 7; also Wairarapa Caledonian Society MoD minutes, 30 Mar. 1901 and 20 Dec. 1902, WA, 89-038/1.R1B2S3.

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at both the Masterton Park Oval and the agricultural showgrounds. We find a similar situation in Dunedin, the Basin Reserve provided a good home in Wellington, and the Timaru Caledonian Society eventually purchased a site itself to built suitable ground facilities.67 Yet the choice of venue was not always straightforward, other societies struggling with the annual monies required for providing a suitable home for hosting their Caledonian Games. Annual tenders for the erection of grandstands and platforms had to be called, and arrangements for the subsequent pulling down of the structures built had to be made. This was not only a laborious task, it was also costly. One of the societies thus faced with significant expenses was the Caledonian Society of Oamaru. It was as early as 1875 that the Society discussed the possibility of buying its own ground, so that it could build a permanent grandstand structure.68 Though attempts were made to accumulate funds for that purpose, and though generally in a good financial position, the Society’s finances were not substantial enough for such a large project. As a result, the Games were held, until 1907, on the North Otago Agricultural and Pastoral Association’s showground.69 The Caledonian Society nonetheless set up ground-search committees, which continued to explore a number of opportunities for a ground purchase. At times, the Society’s committees worked together with the Agricultural and Pastoral Association, exploring the feasibility of jointly building a permanent grandstand on the Association’s ground. The proposed initiatives never bore any fruit, rent of the showground being annually negotiated between the two bodies. In 1878, for example, the Association offered the ground for £25, later settling for £20.70 Another central expenditure relates to the associated events hosted in many localities at the conclusion of the Games. The Carnival in Oamaru, to which reference has already been made, is one example, albeit an atypical one. More common were the provision of musical entertainment, in the form of concerts and balls, and dinners on the evening of the Games. Bands usually required a fee, but also charged the costs for hiring of some musical equipment and the honorarium for the bandmaster. With the

67

68

69

70

For Wellington, see Wellington City Council Records pertaining to the Wellington Caledonian Society and use of the Basin Reserve (1892/3), 00233:30:1891/159 and 00233:36:1893/25; for Timaru, see the Patiti Point Grounds, South Canterbury Caledonian Society Letters, Memorandum of Agreement and tender application, Mar. and Apr. 1886, SCMA, A 17.18. Oamaru Caledonian Society MoD minutes, 30 Nov. 1885, NOMA, 382/29d; also North Otago Times, 29 Oct. 1881, 2. Oamaru Caledonian Society MoD minutes, 11 Nov. 1878 and 14 May 1883, NOMA, 98/29c. Ibid., 4 Nov. 1878 and 2 Dec. 1878, NOMA, 98/29c; although co-operation between the two societies usually worked well, perhaps the result of several Caledonian Society members being equally involved in the Agricultural and Pastoral Association, the mid1890s were overshadowed by petty squabbling.

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formation of local Brass and Artillery bands, costs were reduced: in 1880, the Oamaru Artillery Band was paid a flat fee of £25 for its services and brought its own equipment.71 The provision of concerts and balls greatly added to the character of Caledonian Games as a holiday. Compared to the Games themselves, the associated evening entertainments, however, were of a different nature. First, they were not normally held in open and public spaces, with local church and community halls or hotels serving as venues. Thus set up in a more enclosed, intimate, and confined space, entry was, secondly, restricted to those who had purchased tickets in advance. If not all of these were sold, significant losses could be incurred. Given the costs involved in mounting a successful Caledonian gathering, then, what enticed those Scots involved in their organisation to do so? The last part of this chapter seeks to answer this question by exploring the contests commonly held, focusing on the increased formalisation of athletics and the subsequent associational realignment of many Caledonian societies. Sporting ethnicity, athletics, and associational realignment With a focus on providing enjoyable entertainment, many Caledonian Games started with a procession from a central point in town to wherever the Games were being held. At the Clutha Caledonian Society Games, a procession composed of the Society’s directors, other office-bearers and members, headed by a piper, marched to the ground, while the West Taieri Caledonian Society procession was made up of local groups that included the Oddfellows and the brass band of the West Taieri Volunteers.72 The allimportant national banner was integral to the procession of the Hawke’s Bay Caledonian Society, while pipers were at the head of the Amberley procession in 1897, playing the March of the 74th Highlander and Lord Penmuir’s March.73 With marches a certain attribute of the Edinburgh Highland Society Games,74 perhaps they also featured at the 1883 Dunedin procession, where pipers in full Highland dress led the way. Once processions had made their way to the respective venues, visitors found pleasure in watching the day’s proceedings unfold. While programmes differed from place to place, a set of core contests can be identified that were held in New Zealand, as well as in Scotland and other places of Scottish settlement around the world. Among the common contests were jumping, vaulting, and foot races, with caber tossing, hammer throwing, quoiting, Highland dancing, and piping giving ‘a Scottish tone to the affair’.75 Further to these familiar contests, common additions to 71 72 73 74 75

Oamaru Caledonian Society MoD minutes, 19 Jan. 1880, NOMA, 98/29c. Clutha Leader, 29 Dec. 1876, 3; Otago Daily Times, 4 Jan. 1879, 1. Bush Advocate, 16 Jan. 1890, 2; Star, 26 Mar. 1897, 4. For example Caledonian Mercury, 28 Jul. 1860. Wanganui Herald, 26 Apr. 1884, 2; these events were also common in Scotland, cf. Caledonian Mercury, 10 Oct. 1844; 6 Aug. 1859.

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Figure 5.4: Dunedin Caledonian Games procession (source: Illustrated New Zealand News, 3 September 1883, 8).

the programme were special boys’ races and, towards the end of the nineteenth century, events for women. On briefly returning to the Wairarapa balance sheet previously examined, the money spent on wooden logs demonstrates the prominence at the Wairarapa Games of sawing and wood-chopping competitions.76 These were colonial additions to the programme, reflective either of the popularity of particular sports or local traditions. Another important addition in New Zealand came with the introduction of races for Maori, these events documenting a co-ordinated attempt to open Caledonian Games to Maori. There is evidence, particularly in areas of the lower North Island where Maori settlements were in close proximity, of such races being held. Elsewhere, Maori competed among the whitesettler athletes.77 In Wanganui, six young Maori girls performed the traditional Maori poi dance, exciting ‘a great deal of interest’.78 Such praise was not bestowed on the Maori war dances that were part of the early Games in Wellington. They were apparently a ‘very so-so affair’ and those present 76

77 78

For a discussion on the supply of timber, see Wairarapa Caledonian Society MoD minutes, 16 Dec. 1899, WA, 89-038/1.R1B2S3. For instance Hawera and Normanby Star, 30 Mar. 1893, 2; Bush Advocate, 16 Jan. 1890, 2. Wanganui Herald, 22 Jan. 1904, 7.

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at the Games were ‘heartily glad’ when the performance had finished and the more interesting sports could continue.79 A good three decades later, however, Maori participation was also viewed more favourably in the capital, when ‘two little Maori lasses . . . attired in Highland costume’ showed great skill in the dancing competition.80 While these examples do not supply sufficient evidence to merit a claim of substantial Maori involvement at Caledonian Games, they nonetheless document Maori participation in a range of competitions. The examples are further indicative of changes over time, as the participation of Maori was more favourably received from the late nineteenth century onwards, Maori athletes being singled out for their strength and dancing skills. As much is perhaps also evident in the 1938 proposal by a Miss Acheson to introduce Scottish country dancing to Maori on her return to New Zealand after having attended a Scottish summer school of country dancing.81 With the expansion in the number of contests also came the introduction of entry fees as a prerequisite for the qualification of competitors. Together with the codification and implementation of strict rules for competition, these are all signs of the increasing professionalisation of Caledonian Games. Initially, the rules were drawn up by the organising Caledonian societies. In Oamaru, for instance, competitors entering for any of the walking or running handicaps had to state their performances for the previous two years to ensure good-quality matches. For those keen on competing in the piping events, it was essential to ‘appear in Highland costume’, though ‘ornaments, medals, etc. will not be taken into account, and such as are superfluous or inappropriate must be taken off during judging’.82 The wearing of the national costume was, of course, especially important as it served to signify ethnic distinctiveness, while for the organising societies symbols redolent of Scotland served to denote their office and authority, Caledonian Society members in Oamaru appearing in ‘tartan trews, and wearing scarlet rosettes fastened with a silver thistle’.83 However, not all visitors appreciated the display of the traditional garb. As John C. Helps observed in a letter to his brother: On New Year’s Day we had Caledonian Sports consisting of running, leaping, throwing the hammer etc. They also had a lot of Highlanders in costume dancing the reel and bagpipes playing. One of the Highlanders went in for the hurdle race but having no drawers on every time he jumped I need not say there was an

79 80 81 82

83

Evening Post, 2 Jan. 1867, 2. Ibid., 2 Jan. 1900, 5. The Scotsman, 12 Aug. 1938, 11. Oamaru Caledonian Society Rules, Bylaws and Conditions of Competition, 1893, NOMA, 98/29c. Oamaru Times and Waitaki Reporter, 5 Jan. 1872, 2.

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indecent exposure of person. Everybody laughed but the ladies only said ‘for shame’.84 It was perhaps to prevent such mishaps that many Caledonian societies required the approval of dress before participation was endorsed.85 While the popularity of contests varied, there are some clear changes in favour over time that deserve pausing over. Among the competitions gaining in popularity were the pedestrian races and cycling.86 The interest these contests stirred is reflective of the changing nature of Caledonian Games, these transforming into increasingly competitive and sophisticated professional sporting meets towards the latter half of the nineteenth century.87 This trend is crucial to our understanding of not only the evolution of Caledonian Games, but also their function within and outside of the Scottish community. The focus on these contests had a number of practical implications for the Caledonian societies at the helm of organising the Games, as well as for their character. First, the hosting of athletic events resulted in an exponential rise of the costs of mounting gatherings. As has been noted above, societies were keen on attracting well-known athletes, but had to offer significant cash prizes to do so. Athletes and cyclists were ‘like ordinary mortals’, observed the North Otago Times, ‘venturing to the contests where they can make most’.88 The prizes alone, however, were not enough as competitors were equally keen on participating under suitable conditions. This meant that ground facilities, particularly running and cycling tracks, required constant maintenance and improvement to meet the needs of an increasingly professionalised body of running athletes and cyclists. Moreover, as the Wairarapa Society’s investment in accident insurance has already shown, there were other associated costs. Secondly, the professionalisation in evidence ties in with wider trends in New Zealand sporting history, coinciding with the growing popularity of athletic and cycling clubs.89 The emergence of these designated sporting associations was a novel and unprecedented challenge for many Caledonian societies. Rather than at the vanguard of New Zealand sporting culture, these societies suddenly 84

85

86

87 88 89

John C. Helps to his brother Alfred, Riverton, 8 Jan. 1870, ATL, MS-Papers-7888-111; thanks to Gerard Horn for drawing my attention to this source. For example rule three of the Nelson Province Caledonian Society Games regulations: ‘No person will be allowed to compete for any event whose dress has not been previously approved by the Committee.’ Reprinted in Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle, 29 Dec. 1873, 3. The latter were also of some interest in Scotland itself, see L. Jackson, ‘Sport and Scottish Gaeldom in Argyllshire 1790–1900’, in G. Jarvie (ed.), Sport in the Making of Celtic Cultures (London, 1999), 36. See Collins, Encyclopedia of Traditional British Rural Sports, 35–6. North Otago Times, 4 Jan. 1898, 3. Cf. J. Nauright (ed.), Sport, Power and Society in New Zealand: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives (ASSH Studies in Sport History 11, Sydney, 1995).

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found themselves pushed into a corner: while sporting clubs could offer activities all year round, Caledonian Games were an annual event. This was not an insurmountable disadvantage, but it emphasises that it was paramount for Caledonian societies to react to the new circumstances before them if they wanted to continue their success stories. It is within this developmental context that many societies began to more substantially flesh out their programmes in view of public opinion, giving athletics and cycling contests preference over the traditional Scottish events. These contests thus became a significant challenge for most Caledonian societies, not least because of the consequent involvement of governing sporting bodies in the organisation of Caledonian Games. These included, for instance, the League of New Zealand Wheelmen, which issued permits for cycling races to Caledonian societies.90 The popularity of cycling is traceable in the accounts given in newspapers, these reflecting the great public favour in which cycling was held. As a result, the number of entries for cycle races was increasing steadily in most of the locations studied. Newly introduced competitions, like the ladies’ floral bicycle parade in Oamaru, also show the degree to which prizes ‘for what is essentially Caledonian, had been subjected to the pruning knife’ to free money for the purpose of financing cycling prizes. In Oamaru, some younger members of the Caledonian Society were of the opinion that if a better cycling track could be provided, more local men would enter and there would be more visitors from further afield.92 This, however, contributed to the resurfacing of an old debate: with the Games still being held on the Agricultural and Pastoral Association’s showground, there was an understandable reluctance on the Caledonian Society’s part to invest heavily in a new track or similarly costly alterations on grounds it did not own. The primary concern was the length of the track, this being considered too short. In fact, the pressure on the Society to provide a more suitable track increased, when over thirty cyclists signed a petition to have the track improved in 1892.93 The Society’s directors were worried, subsequently hiring a local surveyor, Percy Mitchell, to investigate the track and propose the necessary alterations.94 Mitchell’s plans were extensive and costly. The only feasible solution would have been a joint covering of costs between the Caledonian Society and the Agricultural and Pastoral Association, but the latter’s response can only be described as lukewarm at best.95 Understandably, it had no interest in financing a cycling track when 90 91

92

93 94 95

Star, 14 Dec. 1897, 4. North Otago Times, 3 Jan. 1890, 2; 4 Jan. 1888, 2; 4 Jan. 1897, 3. Also in the Wairarapa, see Feilding Star, 26 Nov. 1895, 2. Oamaru Caledonian Society AGM report, reprinted in North Otago Times, 25 Aug. 1892, 2. Ibid; also Oamaru Caledonian Society MoD minutes, 26 May 1892, NOMA, 382/29d. North Otago Times, 9 Dec. 1891, 3. Ibid., 22 Dec. 1891, 2.

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all it used the ground for was its annual agricultural show. Partly as a result of these problems, new ground-search committees were set up. These developments mark a crucial watershed in the Oamaru Society’s history, heralding a series of actions, all connected to the question of purchasing grounds, that eventually resulted in its demise. First steps were taken in 1892, the Society’s organising committee resolving to move to the North Road Ground. Evidently, the committee had not foreseen the resistance of some members, a counter-resolution having been put forward by a Mr McLennan. In seeking to repeal the proposal to move to other grounds, McLennan argued that he did so in order to give town and country members an opportunity of expressing their opinions on the question of a change in ground . . . the Society was a Caledonian Society, and was established to encourage the young and rising generation to compete for prizes at Caledonian games. It was not a cyclist club, although it had been thought advisable to include cycling events among their sports.96 The matter was eventually settled in McLennan’s favour, illustrating that an association’s organisation structure and rules could work in favour of ordinary members, provided they knew how to make use of them. The resolution did not, however, prevent the steady ebbing away of support for dancing, piping, and traditional Caledonian events. With that trend seemingly unstoppable, divisions within the Society grew. While some members, particularly older ones, maintained that athletic competitions did not promote a ‘deeper Caledonian spirit’,97 newer Society members argued that it was crucial to ‘cater for the public, and cycling was the sport that drew people together’.98 But it was precisely the fear of the ‘bicycle rampant’ replacing the ‘lion rampant’ that divisions had first emerged. These fears were aggravated by the introduction of new racing bikes in the 1890s which made cycling even more attractive and opened it to an increasing number of people, including women.99 What magnified the problems in Oamaru was that cyclists eventually decided to stay away from the Games because of the poor track; this, in turn, led to a sharp fall in attendance numbers. As had been noted in the Otago Witness’s cycling notes, the matter of a new track would have to be faced or cyclists will be forced to consult their own safety by staying away from the meeting . . . There is always an element of danger in a cycle race 96

97 98 99

Oamaru Caledonian Society AGM report, reprinted in North Otago Times, 26 Sep. 1892, 2. Oamaru Caledonian Society Scrapbook, second box, n.d., NOMA, 3791/119b. North Otago Times, 5 Jan. 1893, 3; 1 Jan. 1890, 2. Cf. C. Simpson, ‘A Social History of Women and Cycling in late Nineteenth Century New Zealand’, unpublished Ph.D. thesis (University of Lincoln, 1998).

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even on a good track, but on such a track as the Oamaru one the danger becomes intensified . . .100 It was hoped that by purchasing a ground and constructing a better track, cycling could be revived and a prosperous future secured. Sport reporters excitedly noted that by buying their own ground, it could be ‘confidently expected that the Oamaru Caledonian Society’s New Year games will again prove as attractive as any in New Zealand’.101 Quite the opposite was the case, problems aggravating in 1905.102 The beginning of the end came in 1907 with the Society’s decision finally to purchase the North Road Recreation Ground, borrowing heavily to do so: £1,250 was spent on the purchase, and another £340 to make the necessary track alterations.103 The ground had belonged to A. G. Creagh, local notary and Crown Prosecutor, who, although he might have secured more money by selling the ground to someone else, reportedly wanted the Society to purchase the property so that it could preserve the sporting competition.104 Elaborate construction plans for a 440-yard cycling track and a grandstand were again commissioned.105 The fact that both financial returns and attendance continued steadily to fall was ignored, and a former President’s statement was proven no longer valid. President Meek had argued that it was ‘almost a certainty that whatever the weather (Scotchmen were never frightened by threatening weather), their gatherings would be successful’.106 Perhaps it was a reflection of the Society’s finances when it failed, in 1909, to redistribute the appropriate prize money after the disqualification of the initial winner.107 Either way, it was necessary, by 1910, to call a Special General Meeting to address the Society’s financial situation. A finance committee

100 101 102

103

104

105 106 107

Otago Witness, 7 Jan. 1903, 48. Ibid., 6 Feb. 1907, 58. Amateur events had been struck out in favour of the seemingly more profitable cash athletics (Oamaru Caledonian Society MoD minutes, 18 Dec. 1905, NOMA, 382/29d). This was not necessarily a position followed by sporting head organisations. The New Zealand Amateur Athletic Union (NZAAU), for instance, specifically addressed this matter in its rules, setting out that the NZAAU council could give permission for professional and amateur events held at the same event. The only provision was that all amateur events should be judged and co-ordinated by an NZAAU official while professional events were reserved for representatives from the New Zealand Athletic Union (for example Otago Witness, 3 Apr. 1907, 58); also Oamaru Caledonian Society AGM report, 23 Aug. 1906, NOMA, 382/29d. Oamaru Caledonian Society, MoD minutes, 28 Feb. 1907, and AGM, 29 Aug. 1907, NOMA, 382/29d; see also Otago Witness, 8 Jul. 1908, 63. In recognition, Creagh was made a life member of the Society, but he had already been involved in the Society for some time prior to the purchase transaction (Otago Witness, 30 Oct. 1907, 58); for details on Creagh, a native of Dublin, see Cyclopedia of New Zealand, vol. 4, 526. Oamaru Caledonian Society Special Meeting, 28 Sep. 1908, NOMA, 382/29d. Oamaru Caledonian Society Scrapbook, second box, n.d., NOMA, 3791/119b. Otago Witness, 21 Jul. 1909, 62.

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was established in 1911, which soon made it plain that authorisation to dispose of all assets was the only viable option. The revenue from privileges sold had drastically declined from an annual average of £193 to only £29. Coupled with considerably lower gate takings and reduced membership numbers, there was no option but to sell the grounds and all other assets.108 While the Society continued to exist for another six years, it was effectively defunct from 1910 to 1916. Consequently, solicitors from Lee Grave & Grave, noting that a few of the directors had only paid a small amount each year, ‘to keep the Society technically alive’, applied in 1916 to the Registrar of Incorporated Societies for its dissolution.109 Remaining assets, which were deposited in the Post Office, were given in equal shares to the Red Cross Society and the Oamaru and Naval Dependants Fund.110 Yet the history of Caledonian Games in Oamaru had not yet come to a complete close, with the North Otago Caledonian Society being established four years later. This, however, aligned itself more closely with the aims pursued by the then prominent Scottish societies as part of the re-popularisation of Scottish associationalism. The developments that had contributed to the downfall of the Oamaru Caledonian Society were mirrored, to varying degrees, in many other localities throughout New Zealand. First, this reflects the gradual associational realignment of Caledonian Games as a direct consequence of an increasingly professionalised sports culture. Secondly, the changes are evidence of generational changes within the organising societies, many of those involved in the early twentieth century being in pursuit of very different goals to those who had set up the societies decades earlier. As was stated with respect to the Otago Caledonian Society in 1912, the change in customs and in almost everything that makes up life to-day has forced the Caledonian Society of Otago to look upon the glory of the past as a delight doomed to fade as the years pass by.111 With this in mind, finally, the developments traced tie in with the re-popularisation of Scottishness explored in chapter three: those with an interest in maintaining a genuine Scottish culture rather than athletic sports moved on to other organisations, particularly the newly established Scottish societies. This was the case not least because it was common, from the late 1890s, to conduct athletic and cycling contests at Caledonian Games under the rules of the respective governing athletic and cycling bodies. These bodies went so far as to send judges to Caledonian Games, a responsibility that had previously been entirely in the hands of the respective Caledonian Society 108 109 110 111

Oamaru Caledonian Society Finance Committee Report, n.d., 1911, NOMA, 382/29d. Letter dated 15 December 1916, NOMA, 382/29d. See North Otago Caledonian Society Minute Books 1920–36, NOMA, 3790/119b. Otago Caledonian Society Scrapbook, Evening Star article, 11 Sep., Hocken, MS-1045/ 030.

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executives. Relinquishing this responsibility, coupled with the fact that the events were based on rules not drawn up by the Caledonian societies themselves, shows that large parts of the Games were increasingly administered through local sporting bodies. Though many societies were not in favour of these developments, there was little that could be done. The Wairarapa Caledonian Society, as others, was pushed ever closer towards cash athletics, this going hand in hand with the requirement to affiliate to the governing sporting bodies. This constituted further increases in expenditure, with annual membership fees for affiliation having to be paid.112 It is perhaps understandable that for many sports enthusiasts it made great sense for specialised cycling and athletic events to be uniformly governed by their respective parent organisations. What members of Caledonian societies took issue with, however, was that the professionalisation of the Games soon extended into the traditional Caledonian events. When the NZAU was established, all athletic associations, including all clubs and societies involved in the hosting of cash athletics, were not asked, but required, to be affiliated. The problem was that athletics was so broadly defined that it included ‘all wrestling, hammer-throwing, jumping, musical and dancing events . . . open to adults’.113 The NZAU was divided into territorial districts, with each district having a designated centre responsible for nominating societies and clubs for affiliation. Annual championship events were held in these centres. As many Caledonian societies were keen on hosting these events, their affiliation was secured. Catering not only for sporting associations, the NZAU’s Otago Centre had forty-five athletic, Caledonian, and Irish societies under its jurisdiction, as well as over three hundred registered competitors shortly before its incorporation.114 Once accepted for affiliation, payment of a subscription was necessary, the size of which depended on the prize money offered. To emphasise the new strictures in place as a result of affiliation to an athletic body, the rule for caber tossing serves as a suitable example. The caber should be a natural tree, as straight as possible, and about 20ft long, about 8 in. in diameter at one and 3 in. at the other end . . . Competitors take any length of run they desire, and deliver the caber when at best balance for tossing. If too heavy, a cut to be taken off heavy end . . .115 Such far-reaching regulations caused great concern among many Caledonian societies, leading some, including the Wanganui and 112 113

114 115

Wairarapa Caledonian Society Balance Sheet, 1901, WA, 89-038/1.R1B2S3. NZ Athletic Union Objects, Constitution and Rules, 1909, ATL, PBox 796.4206 NZ.ATH 1909. Otago Witness, 6 Feb. 1907, 58. NZ Athletic Union Objects, Constitution and Rules, Rule 55, 1909, ATL, PBox 796.4206 NZ.ATH 1909.

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Southland Caledonian societies, to take action. While the former refrained from affiliation, perhaps for fear of continuous interference, the latter seceded from the NZAU because of the body’s decision to disqualify the Society temporarily because it had allowed a disqualified athlete to compete.116 Secession meant, however, that the Southland Caledonian Society was holding unregistered events, from which NZAU athletes were barred. Reprimanded instantly, and with threats of further action against them looming, the Southland Society eventually caved in, reaffiliating in 1910.117 These examples document that though affiliation had its benefits, for instance that it facilitated the attraction of big-name athletes from abroad, as well as the splitting of costs for them, Caledonian societies remained suspicious of affiliation. This was the case in particular because they were being pushed rather than invited into affiliation to a nationwide, professional, and highly specialised associational sports network, while at the same time failing to federate successfully under their own Caledonian umbrella. Developments in Christchurch that culminated in the formation of the Scottish Society of New Zealand are crucial in this context. Although the Society intended to hold annual Games, it refused to be pressed into the institutional constraints that were a consequence of affiliation with the NZAU. By ultimately refusing to be realigned, the Scottish Society contributed significantly to setting in motion a new phase in Scottish associational life in New Zealand. What the realignment also underlines is that Caledonian Games had become a successful brand, of which a number of new societies were a direct product.118 Not only was it the case that societies were set up as Caledonian societies in order to benefit from the name, some existing sporting societies were inclined to change their name for the very same reason. An example of the latter is the Manaia Athletic Club, which held a Special General Meeting in 1888 to discuss the matter. An exchange between members provides rare insight into the logic behind the proposed name change. According to a Mr Allsworth, there were two crucial reasons: first, a change of name would entice a larger number of Scots to support the club (while those from other national backgrounds would continue to support it liberally); and secondly, Caledonian societies operated very successfully. The latter point was picked up by a Mr Pearce, who pointed out that he ‘had never known a Caledonian Society a failure’.119 While these arguments proved insufficient to convince the majority of Manaia Athletic Club members to vote in favour of the motion, other examples demonstrate that this was by no means an uncommon scenario. 116 117

118 119

Otago Witness, 17 Feb. 1908, 63. Hawera and Normanby Star, 21 Jan. 1910, 5; Grey River Argus, 15 Dec. 1910, 6; Evening Post, 4 Mar. 1911, 14. Cf. Hawera Caledonian Society, see Hawera and Normanby Star, 17 Jan. 1885, 2. Hawera and Normanby Star, 2 Feb. 1888, 2.

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The establishment of new societies under a purely athletic banner aside, the first three decades of the twentieth century were primarily those of decline for Caledonian Games. As in Oamaru, several societies were dissolved, while those still in existence struggled to maintain membership and secure a profitable base of the Games. Exceptions are traceable where societies managed to maintain athletic events, while also including completely new competitions of local interest. Another guarantor for good attendances was the promotion of piping and dancing, particularly when carried out in conjunction with specialist clubs, as was successfully done by the Wairarapa and New Plymouth Caledonian societies.120 For associations unable to put in place such strategies, the First World War complicated matters further: with entertainments largely suspended for the time of its duration, further financial losses were incurred. On the other hand, however, the War promoted a new sense of patriotism, prompting the establishment of a third Wellington Caledonian Society for the purpose of reviving the city’s Caledonian Games.121 With that in mind, societies began focusing on advertising associational membership and the promotion of the Games as patriotic duty, a practical form of patriotism, and one linked directly to civic life. As much was stated on the 1921 programme of the Otago Caledonian Society: Did it ever occur to you that practical patriotism, like charity, should begin at home? As a Community, we are as one in our loyalty to the Empire. As an individual, are YOU equally loyal in supporting local institutions of a public nature? The Caledonian Society of Otago is just such an institution. It exists to fulfil many important public functions – e.g., to encourage Education, and to foster National Games, Pastimes and Athletic Sports. It places the premier sports ground of the Dominion at the disposal of the Dunedin public.122 The civic purpose of Scottish associationalism, and Caledonian Games, had not yet been altogether lost – at least not in New Zealand’s bigger urban centres. Even in the late 1920s, the Dunedin and Wellington Caledonian societies’ patron and guest lists were dotted with distinguished names, chiefly those of politicians and businessmen, reflecting the enduring and wider popularity of Caledonianism in New Zealand. Appeals such as the above, however, reveal clearly that societies were struggling increasingly

120

121 122

For example New Plymouth Caledonian Society Annual Report, 1924–5, PA, ARC2002852; see also the records of specialist clubs, which document the distinct development of piping and dancing separate from the Scottish associations explored here: New Zealand Academy of Highland and National Dancing, Records, 1901–99, Hocken, MS-1974; Piping and Dancing Association of New Zealand Records, 1908, 1918–93, ARC-0052; Otago Centre Records, 1913–90, ARC-0186. Evening Post, 23 Jul. 1919, 8. Otago Caledonian Society Programme, 1921, MS-1045/046.

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to maintain their membership.123 Designed to attract new members, such calls confirm that many Scots were concerned about a weakening sense of Scottishness. As one writer to the Scottish New Zealander lamented in 1925, there was a ‘decay of patriotism in the young Scots born in this country’.124 This was, it seems, a sentiment echoed in New Plymouth, where the local Caledonian Society debated the introduction of essay competitions on ‘The Scottish People’.125 For the Scottish New Zealander’s editors, however, blame lay with the parents, those having an obligation to teach their children Scottish history and traditions, including those promoted at Caledonian Games. Conclusion Not everyone present at Caledonian Games took an ‘absorbing interest in quoiting, tossing the caber . . . or even exhilarating Highland reels’.126 Yet by offering enjoyable entertainment for Scots and non-Scots alike, sports thus interlocking with traditional Scottish culture, Caledonian Games enticed large numbers of people to attend. The Games were meeting places, as well as training grounds for aspiring athletes in colonial New Zealand, serving as community events to counter ‘exclusiveness . . . and promote a friendly fellowship’.127 While the increased professionalisation of the Games, and the subsequent connection between Caledonian societies and governing athletic bodies, challenged the Scottish elements integral to the Games, they nonetheless maintained a prominent position in New Zealand civic life. Integral to the yearly leisure calendar that spanned from December to April, Caledonian Games, similar to their North American and Australian counterparts, commonly involved middle-class organisers.128 For them, the Games and associations at the helm of their promotion were crucial generators of respectability and social standing. This was the case because neither the Games nor the Caledonian societies promoting them were exclusive, forming instead an intrinsic part of a larger, New Zealand-wide, culture of organised sport and leisure. The extent to which this was the case is best exemplified by the emergence of Irish St Patrick’s Day Sports, these being modelled on Caledonian Games. It was a group of ‘energetic Irishmen’, coming together after the 1882 Invercargill Caledonian Games, 123

124 125

126 127 128

This is also clearly in evidence in the annual reports of the New Plymouth Caledonian Society, the matter of outstanding subscriptions and a general shortfall of income causing concern. See Third Annual Report, 1923–4, PA, ARC2002-852. Scottish New Zealander, 3, 27 (Feb. 1925), 6. For example New Plymouth Caledonian Society Annual Report, 1924–5, PA, ARC2002852. North Otago Times, 3 Jan. 1882, 2. Ibid., 3 Jan. 1876, 2. Redmond, Sporting Scots, 159ff; Bouchier, For the Love of the Game, 55.

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who observed ‘that it was only proper that they should have sports of their own, and that St Patrick’s Day was of all days the most appropriate’.129 Caledonian Games were, for much of the late nineteenth century, the undisputed annual sports gathering because of the pervasive associational culture the Games emerged from. As Macdonald argues, in terms of the development of sports, it was associational culture that was distinctive to New Zealand.130 The fact that this culture was largely driven by Scots strongly substantiates the central argument made in this book: that Scottish ethnicity was crucial for the making of New Zealand society. This also emphasises that Caledonian Games were a colonial product rather than a simple means of displaying Scottish identity. They were flexible enough to serve a dual purpose, offering entertainment for the wider public, while potentially serving as a site of memory for those Scots who recognised bagpipes and Highland reels as part of their heritage. In reality, however, the Games had only limited value in this respect because of their open nature and character as major community events. It was the smaller associated evening entertainments, such as balls or dinners, that were more powerful anchors for members of the Scottish community. In being more closely reflective of the whole package of ceremonials and events that constitute a Highland Gathering, smaller events more effectively served as sites of memory. This only changed with the re-popularisation of Scottish associational culture in the early twentieth century, some societies reverting back to all-Scottish events. Yet, compared to the most potent site of Scottish memory, the annual Burns anniversaries held all over New Zealand, even these events paled. Serving as a national-day proxy, Burns celebrations contrast neatly with Caledonian Games and are discussed in the following chapter.

129 130

Southland Times, 18 Mar. 1882, 2. Macdonald, ‘Ways of Belonging’, 270.

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CHAPTER SIX

Collective Rememberings of Home: Robert Burns as a Site of Memory When members of the Dunedin Burns Club and its friends gathered in 1906 to celebrate the 147th birthday of Scotland’s national bard, they did so ‘with mirth and song and joyous acclamations’.1 The Club’s choir and the Dunedin Pipe Band enlivened the proceedings, offering musical entertainment between the many toasts and speeches that were delivered. The key address of the evening was made by Sir Robert Stout. Born in Lerwick, Shetland, in 1844, Stout left for New Zealand in 1863, soon rising to become one of the country’s most prominent public figures, serving as Premier and Chief Justice. An ardent champion of his Scottish heritage, Stout was engaged with a number of Scottish associations, thereby maintaining strong links with his native Shetland and the Scottish mainland.2 He was keen for others of Scottish descent to do the same, thus expressing his delight that even young New Zealanders still knew and were interested in Robert Burns. Stout went on: I believe it makes for concord and union amongst our people if we keep in memory the land from which many of us have sprung. I do not think much of that man, to whatever nation he may belong, who forgets his native country or the country of his ancestors. Depend upon it, the man who is ashamed of the country from which he has come has something wrong with his disposition, and something wrong with his heart.3 But what does it mean to ‘keep in memory’ the native land, and how relevant were the sentiments of belonging and longing Stout touches upon? 1 2

3

Otago Witness, 31 Jan. 1906, 14. For instance his involvement with the second Wellington Caledonian Society, Wanganui Herald, 6 Dec. 1886, 2; also with the capital’s Shetland Society, Evening Post, 28 May 1928, 5. For further details on Stout, see D. Hamer, ‘Stout, Robert 1844–1930’, DNZB, www.dnzb. govt.nz, last visited 25 Jun. 2010. Though Stout did not seem to care much about Lowland and Highland divisions, his native Shetland remained the primary focus for him. This is perhaps best documented in his will, which details a bequest of £250 to the Gilbert Bain Hospital in Lerwick, as well as £100 to the Lerwick primary school, ‘the yearly income from the latter amount to be expended on a prize for the best pupil in work and character’ (The Scotsman, 2 Sep. 1930, 5). Otago Witness, 31 Jan. 1906, 14.

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This chapter offers to answer these and related questions, exploring the different ways in which Scotland’s national bard, Robert Burns, was commemorated in New Zealand. These commemorations provide a suitable focus: while Scottish immigrants, as we have seen, fostered a wide range of cultural activities, Burns anniversaries were the most enduring recurring celebration within the many Scottish sites of settlement. To this day, Robert Burns remains a global poet, his iconic figure being central to the formulation and expression of Scottishness.4 The proliferation of Burns celebrations, the clubs and societies associated with the poet worldwide, as well as the many diverse commemorative practices centring on Burns are, therefore, vital to our understanding of how Scottish ethnicity was negotiated overseas. With the focus set on diverse commemorative practices, it is first necessary to explore the concept of memory itself, and the development of Burns anniversary celebrations generally, before proceeding to examine the New Zealand dimension of that enduring tradition. Cultural memory and Robert Burns As an encompassing cultural phenomenon, memory penetrates life on different levels, can be public as well as private, individual or collective. It serves as an orientation, a function all the more important in a migration context where people come to alien environments in which they still had to find their place.5 In assisting the reconciliation of new experiences with old ones, memory can help define a group’s commonalities to the inside, equally operating as a signifier of difference for the outside. Memory is one possible tool for the establishment of ethnic boundaries, the sharing of memories exerting the power to link collectives in the respective present.6 For those Scots gathered to celebrate Burns, memory secured continuity with the past, this being an important function in new homelands, which evolved quickly and in ways that were often unfamiliar. The social environment the anniversaries offered was equally central,7 supporting the formation of a collective identity. In view of this overall purpose of memory, both concrete memory practices, such as commemorations, as well as more abstract memory narratives, for example those expressed in 4

5

6

7

As much was emphasised, for example, by the 2009 Homecoming Scotland celebrations, which coincided with the 250th anniversary of Burns’s birth. For his global ‘permeation’ and influence, see also F. M. Szazs, Abraham Lincoln and Robert Burns: Connected Lives and Legends (Carbondale, 2008). See Cohen’s argument about familiarity of past experiences to ‘attach some sense’ to new situations or places. A. P. Cohen, The Symbolic Construction of Community (London, 2000), 99. Maurice Halbwachs identifies the importance of continuity in his pioneering work in the field, arguing that it is the present that determines what people remember. Cf. M. Halbwachs, On Collective Memory (Chicago, 1992). Ibid., 37.

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speeches, are rich sources worthy of investigation. In the first instance, however, it is necessary to develop a framework in which memory is not simply reduced to another label for past developments, denoting different types of reminiscences. Memory has become a fashionable term, the meaning and employment of which is not always made explicit.8 The key is to move beyond what Abraham Lincoln famously described as the ‘mystic chords of memory’ in his inaugural address in 1861.9 For that purpose, the approach adopted in this study broadly follows Brockmeier, localising memory in culture, defining the act of ‘remembering as a cultural practice’.10 Thus understood, it is possible to interpret commemorations, such as Burns anniversaries, within a coherent framework that gives recognition to the manifold and dynamic types of memory, the related mnemonic practices and forms of remembering. Moreover, this approach serves to counter the idea that memory is a poor substitute for concepts already in use, ‘forcing itself like a molten rock into an earlier formation’.11 Memory comprises three key dimensions: the material, the social, and the mental (Figure 6.1).12 The material dimension relates to the particular media of memory used to transmit meaning; these can include cultural artefacts such as monuments, but also personal testimonies not unlike the ones explored in chapter two. The social dimension grasps the institutionalised and organised context in which memory operates, in this case drawing attention to the associations and committees responsible for organising the celebrations held in honour of the Scottish national bard. Finally, the mental dimension refers to the narratives and rituals used in the act of remembering. When brought together, and in recognition of the interface between the different dimensions, memory transcends the descriptive level, instead offering a key perspective on a central component of immigrant community life. Newspaper reports on Burns celebrations offer a unique source-base. They account for the more ‘skeletal details’ of the events, thereby shedding

8

9

10

11 12

See W. Kansteiner, ‘Finding Meaning in Memory: A Methodological Critique of Collective Memory Studies’, History and Theory, 41, 2 (2002), 179–97; other useful discussions on memory include: J. Climo and M. G. Cattell (eds), Social Memory and History: Anthropological Perspectives (Walnut Creek, 2002); J. Fentress and C. Wickham, Social Memory (Oxford, 1992); K. L. Klein, ‘On the Emergence of Memory in Historical Discourse’, Representations, 69 (2000), 127–50; D. Lowenthal, The Past is a Foreign Country (Cambridge, 1985). Abraham Lincoln, ‘First Inaugural Address’, in I. M. Tarbell (ed.), Selections from the Letters, Speeches, and State Papers of Abraham Lincoln (Boston, 1911), 75. J. Brockmeier, ‘Introduction: Searching for Cultural Memory’, Culture & Psychology, 8, 1 (2002), 8. N. Gedi and Y. Elam, ‘Collective Memory: What Is It?’, History and Memory, 8 (1996), 30. The model follows A. Erll, Kollektives Gedächtnis und Erinnerungskulturen (Stuttgart, 2005), 102–3.

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Figure 6.1: The three circles of memory (source: the author).

light on the material and social dimensions, while equally recording speeches and toasts delivered. Hence, reports allow for the textual analysis of Scottishness to which other records, such as minute books, do not often lend themselves. Verbatim reports in newspapers were common, retelling the proceedings vividly and in great detail, hence providing an immediate insight into the mental dimension. Contained within the reports were also specific memory narratives which drew on Scottish history and familiar cultural plots connected with Burns. These plots were repetitive, being used all over the world where Burns was celebrated. The repetitiveness and universality of these plots hold the key to their effectiveness, helping to organise and make accessible the memory expressed.13 It is these narratives, related rituals, and the actors involved in producing them, as well as more concrete forms of memorialisation, that this chapter is concerned with. Events held in honour of Robert Burns are the best known and enduring Scottish cultural tradition transplanted overseas, first emerging soon after the poet’s death in 1796. While the earliest celebrations in Scotland were organised by friends of the poet,14 the familiar patterns, many of which are still in place today, were established in the early nineteenth century. 13

14

Cf. Brockmeier, ‘Introduction’; see also J. K. Olick and J. Robbins, ‘Social Memory Studies: From Collective Memory to the Historical Sociology of Mnemonic Practices’, Annual Review of Sociology, 24 (1998), 112. M. E. Brown, Burns and Tradition (London, 1984), 119, 123.

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Among the recurring components that eventually made their way around the world were the recitation of Burns’s poems, the singing of his songs, and the honouring of the poet himself, usually through a series of toasts. The upholding of Burns anniversaries was important in early nineteenthcentury Scotland, a time when Scottish society was in upheaval. The country witnessed great change in the wake of industrialisation and related modernisation processes, and ones that effectively dislocated Scottish society.15 What many people sought to hold on to, in the hope of rescuing that society from dislocation, was their accustomed way of life and familiar traditions. Hence, the prevailing Scottish mindset at the time was characterised not only by tartans and Highlandism, but also more generally ‘the romanticisation of the Scottish past, the sentimentalisation of rural life’.16 This type of Scottishness, heavily criticised by scholars like Tom Nairn,17 helped secure continuity and distinctiveness in an ever-changing world.18 Yet, while writers like Sir Walter Scott also drew on this sentimentalised Scottishness, Robert Burns was of greatest significance. This was the case because he represented the uncompromised version of Scotland and its rural past that many Scots hoped to safeguard.19 He did not simply write about them, but de facto embodied many traditional Scottish virtues in himself. Robert Burns thus became Scotland’s national bard, transforming into a universal symbol of Scottishness. It is this characteristic that also explains the bard’s appeal abroad, his anniversary serving what one New Zealand Burns enthusiast fittingly described as ‘the red-letter day in the Scottish Calendar’.20

15

16 17

18

19

20

R. J. Finlay, ‘The Burns Cult and Scottish Identity in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries’, in K. Simpson (ed.), Love and Liberty. Robert Burns: A Bicentenary Celebration (East Linton, 1997), 69. Devine, Scottish Nation, 70. Nairn, Break-Up of Britain. For Nairn, Scotland faced a peculiar, even abnormal, historical situation in the nineteenth century, a context which inhibited the development of a ‘normal’ culture. Instead, Scottish culture had to turn into the Scottish cabbage-patch in the form of the literary Kailyard and tartanry, subverting a national culture into a romanticised sub-national version. This, in Nairn’s view, prevented the development of a fully fledged nationalism in mid-nineteenth-century Scotland. Nairn’s negative interpretation of Scottish culture, however, has also found its critics, see for example C. Beveridge and R. Turnbull, The Eclipse of Scottish Culture: Inferiorism and the Intellectuals (Edinburgh, 1989). Smith’s work on nations, their ethnic origins, ethnie and myths is particularly interesting in this context, cf. Smith, Myths and Memories of the Nation; also Ethnic Origins of Nations. As Lord Rosebery argued at Dumfries on the centenary of the death of Burns in 1896: ‘For Burns exalted our race, he hallowed Scotland and the Scottish tongue . . . The Scottish dialect, as he put it, was in danger of perishing. Burns seemed at this juncture to start to his feet and reassert Scotland’s claim to national existence; his Scottish notes rang through the world, and he thus preserved the Scottish language forever’ (quoted in Finlay, ‘The Burns Cult’, 71). Thames Star, 26 Jan. 1898, 3.

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Burns anniversaries in New Zealand As far as can be established, the first Burns celebration in New Zealand was held in Dunedin in 1855, though earlier examples of toasts in honour of the poet, delivered, for instance, at a Masonic Festival in Auckland in 1850, are already suggestive of Burns’s popularity in the country.21 The celebrations’ emergence in Dunedin does not surprise given the city’s establishment as a Free Church settlement. In fact, the settlement’s spiritual leader, the Revd Thomas Burns, was a nephew of the poet, the two thus united not only by ‘a mere accident of name . . . [but] by ties of blood’. Moreover, in the Octagon in Dunedin, overlooked by the massive Town Hall, are two monuments to distinguished men. One . . . a life-size bronze statue of Robert Burns, and the other is a tall column . . . erected to the memory of Thomas Burns. The poet and the pioneer colonist are thus brought together in the heart of a province that is in a sense the Scotland of the Southern Hemisphere.22 Yet, while united in the Octagon, the Revd Burns would probably not have enjoyed the convivial get-togethers organised in honour of his uncle. As contemporary accounts suggest, the two were ‘poles apart in many ways’,23 the Reverend described as stern and with high morals. Still, the connection between the two, and thus Scotland and New Zealand, nonetheless made Burns celebrations all the more important in that ‘Scotland of the Southern Hemisphere’, providing an intrinsic link to its founding fathers. In the absence of designated Burns clubs, the first anniversary celebrations held in New Zealand were usually arranged by groups of individuals. For the first dinner in 1855, the initiators of the event were Messrs John Barr, Fisher, Kilgour, Birch, and Wilson. Little is known of the latter four, but John Barr was a prominent figure in Dunedin’s Scottish circles, later becoming the poet laureate of the Otago Caledonian Society.24 Held at Dunedin’s Royal Hotel, the event Barr helped organise was praised by the local press and duly repeated in similar fashion the following year.25 Though of a much smaller scale, Burns anniversary celebrations grew at a similarly rapid speed to that of Caledonian Games, quickly spreading all over New Zealand. Given the increased popularity throughout the country, 21

22

23 24

25

For an advertisement to the first dinner, see Otago Witness, 20 Jan. 1855, 2; for the earlier Auckland festival, see New Zealander, 26 Jun. 1850, 2. Otago Witness, 27 Jan. 1909, 65. See also E. N. Merrington, A Great Coloniser: The Rev. Dr. Thomas Burns – Pioneer Minister of Otago and Nephew of the Poet (Dunedin, 1929); The Scotsman, 22 Dec. 1921, 22. Otago Witness, 27 Jan. 1909, 65. Otago Witness, 10 Feb. 1855, 2; Barr was a writer of poems and songs, with some of his work being published in local newspapers. See also Cooper, ‘Barr, John 1809–1889’. Otago Witness, 9 Feb. 1856, 3.

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committees were soon established to organise the events as annual fixtures. When Scottish associations gained momentum in the 1860s and 1870s, developing as important providers of entertainment for Scots in many New Zealand communities, they then usually took over the organisation of Burns celebrations.26 Importantly, as we have already seen in chapter three, specialised Burns clubs only developed later in the century, heralding a new phase of Scottish associationalism. As formalised social get-togethers, Burns anniversaries were arranged around a series of toasts, with Scottish songs and music being provided in the intervals between these toasts. This arrangement was common in New Zealand and elsewhere in the Scottish Diaspora.27 The comparative similarity of toasts and the anniversaries’ running order aside, programmes were not static. In New Zealand, alterations were made particularly from the late 1880s. Concerts and dances, for instance, became increasingly popular towards the end of the nineteenth century, at times replacing the familiar dinner.28 First, this flexibility reflects the inclusive character of Burns anniversaries, these providing entertainment for a wider audience, especially the colonial elite, as well as Scotsmen: Scottish cultural events were of broad appeal.29 Secondly, the flexibility also emphasises that changes took place within the Scottish immigrant community in terms of what they saw as suitable vehicles for the expression of their Scottishness. What is important in this context is that a reversion to the more traditional dinners is evident from the early twentieth century, thus coinciding with the associational re-popularisation phase identified in chapter three. The most recurring component of the celebrations in both New Zealand and elsewhere was the toast to ‘the immortal memory’ of the poet.30 Covering a broad range of themes associated with Burns, the toast was designed to commemorate the poet’s life and work. As was summarised by the Thames Burns Club’s President, Captain Alex Farquhar, I have spoken to you of Burns as the poet of humanity, as the poet of social, religious, and political progress; as the singer of all things Scotch, from hills to haggis and from parritch to patriotism. I have expatiated upon Burns as a man, as a lover, and as a friend of the people.31

26

27

28 29 30

31

See also E. Campbell, ‘Scottish Identity in Dunedin and Christchurch to c. 1920: An Application of the New “British history” to New Zealand’, unpublished MA thesis (University of Canterbury, 2001). This is clearly evident in Burns Club records from other places of settlement, see for example Burns Club of St Louis, Burns Nights in St Louis (St Louis, 1912). For example Otago Witness, 28 Jan. 1892, 16; see also Grey River Argus, 6 Feb. 1886, 4. See also Buettner, ‘Haggis in the Raj’. Evidence suggests that this toast was first used by William McLaren at the Paisley Burns Club dinner held in 1805 (cf. Brown, Burns and Tradition, 121). Thames Star, 24 Jan. 1896, 2.

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It was this versatility that made Burns appealing: a complex character not without faults, the poet was the incarnation of all that was Scottish. Burns was celebrated because ‘for more than a hundred years [he] has symbolised the genius and inspired the sentiment of his nation’.32 Described by one commentator as the ‘seer of Scotland’,33 the Scots worship Burns because he expressed ‘his patriotism’.34 The annual anniversary thus became the occasion on which Scots all over the world ‘feel more than ever proud of “Caledonia stern and wild” because they are reminded of the special glory that attaches to their country and . . . on Scots everywhere’.35 In fact, as one speaker observed in 1901, ‘but for Burns the Scotland that Scots all the world over cherish as a religion, might fade into a vague memory. In Burns the “Auld Scotch” Scotland will last as long as the world.’36 It was this endurance that secured the popularity of Burns in both Scotland and abroad, his memory always remaining ‘green in the heart of every true son of Caledonia’.37 Honouring the poet’s memory was tantamount to honouring Scotland. Yet, while Burns thus became a key marker of Scottish distinctiveness, he was also of more universal significance, representing humanity and mankind.38 As much was the central theme of the address delivered at the inaugural meeting of the Wellington Burns Club by James Craigie. Burns, Craigie observed, ‘had a home in more human hearts than any other man who ever lived’, the reason being the poet’s own humanity.39 Craigie was, as will be explored in more detail later, a key figure in the fostering of Burns’s memory. Born at Coupar Angus, Perthshire, in 1851, Craigie arrived in New Zealand at the age of fifteen together with his parents. He was an apprentice to a painter in Dunedin, later setting up a small business in Timaru in 1873 as importer and general decorator; he also owned a farm at Kingsdown, situated 6 miles to the south of Timaru. Perhaps it was his Scottish upbringing that fostered in Craigie a strong civic spirit. He was involved in local and national politics as Chairman of the Timaru Harbour Board, served as Timaru Borough Councillor, became the Mayor of Timaru, and was then elected as Member of the House of Representatives and Member of the Legislative Council.40 Perhaps it was also Craigie’s Scottish upbringing that fostered his desire to give back to the community 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39

40

Southland Times, 28 Jan. 1896, 2. Ibid. From an article entitled ‘Why Scots Worship Burns’, Bush Advocate, 23 Mar. 1909, 7. Thames Star, 26 Jan. 1898, 3. Feilding Star, 13 Feb. 1901, 2. Ashburton Guardian, 26 Jan. 1905, 2. Bruce Herald, 2 Feb. 1870, 7; Otago Witness, 1 Feb. 1894, 19. Evening Post, 26 Feb. 1931, 8. The address was later published as J. Craigie, The Humanity of Burns (Wellington, 1931). Cyclopedia of New Zealand, vol. 3, Canterbury Provincial District (Wellington, 1903), 963; Scholefield, Dictionary of New Zealand Biography, 180–1.

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that made him. It was his wish to promote education, for instance, that led Craigie, while Mayor of Timaru, to set up a free public library. To fund the project, he had applied for a grant from the Carnegie Corporation of New York, receiving £3,000.41 It is fair to say that his Scottish heritage certainly made Craigie a keen promoter of Burns’s poetry. The universality of Burns cherished by Craigie and many others celebrating the poet derived from Burns’s humble upbringing. ‘Born in a cottage, [and] following the plough from his youth’, his background made him a suitable representative of every man; after all, it was noted on many occasions, Burns was singing ‘his first notes to the peasants’.42 The fact that Burns was able to rise in status is of great significance, self-advancement and democracy being two central Scottish values. The myth of the ‘lad o’ pairts’ was especially important, emphasising that it was the poet’s personal ability rather than his status that determined his life pathway.43 Moreover, the pathway of self-advancement was one that many Scottish immigrants could well relate to. As was observed in chapter two, improvement in status and living conditions was the goal many migrants hoped to achieve on resettling in New Zealand. Further to Burns representing core Scottish values, many a Scot overseas had a story to tell that connected him to Burns more directly. True or not, such stories served as important legitimisers of Burns’s importance as a national icon, equally offering an even more immediate hook for the expression and negotiation of memory. As one speaker at a Burns anniversary in Ashburton mused, he ‘was born in Burns’s own district, and his grandfather had spoken to Burns in his lifetime. In fact, his grandfather had assisted in carrying Burns’s body to its last resting place of residence.’44 It was such stories, as well as the important connections between Burns and traditional Scottish virtues, that explain the poet’s significance for Scots abroad. Remembering Burns established, and helped maintain, continuity with the past because the toasts in his honour coherently drew on familiar myths, stories, and Scottish history. All of these aided the collective recall of memories of the old world.45 The above examples highlight that Burns anniversaries were much more

41

42 43

44 45

Ibid., 181; also Grey River Argus, 4 Jun. 1909, 5; Andrew Carnegie funded a multitude of philanthropic projects, but had long since promoted the provision of free public libraries, believing them to be the best means for self-education. See D. Nasaw, Andrew Carnegie (London, 2007), 42–4; also W. A. Wiegand and D. G. Davis, Encyclopedia of Library History (New York, 1994), 469–70. Southland Times, 28 Jan. 1896, 2. Cf. Anderson, Education and the Scottish People, 19; R. A. Houston, Scottish Literacy and the Scottish Identity: Illiteracy and Society in Scotland and Northern England, 1600–1800 (Cambridge, 2002); also Devine, Scottish Nation, 294. Ashburton Guardian, 26 Jan. 1905, 2. See also D. Middleton and D. Edwards, ‘Introduction’, in D. Middleton and D. Edwards (eds), Collective Remembering (London, 1990), 8.

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than celebrations organised for a few Scots ready to wallow in nostalgia. Following Pierre Nora, the events served as sites of memory, providing community cohesion when memory begins to fail.46 The identification of the celebrations as sites of memory emphasises a crucial difference between them and the Caledonian Games explored in the previous chapter. Caledonian Games were, though expressly Scottish at the outset, less potent in maintaining a sense of Scottishness. In short, they were of more limited use as sites of memory. While they developed out of a Scottish cultural tradition, the Games’s size and broad community focus in New Zealand countervailed their strength as a carrier of memory within the Scottish community itself. By contrast, Burns anniversaries, being smaller and more intimate events, were very effective in transmitting memory. Commemorative symbols and rituals, many of which were condensed in meaning and schematised, aided this transmission.47 The decorations used for venues, menu cards embroidered with thistles, but also the music played at anniversary dinners are only some examples. In Ashburton, in 1905, the hall was nicely decorated for the occasion, the Scottish Standard occupying the position of honour over the Chief’s chair. A portrait of Burns, kindly lent by Mr Robert Frizzelle, and draped in tartan, occupied a central place, facing the audience, while on the walls were quotations from Burns’s poems, and other suitable inscriptions, ‘A man’s a man for a’ that’, occupying a prominent position over the reporter’s table.48 Of equal importance was the traditional ‘bill of fare’, with haggis, neeps and tatties, and whisky featuring prominently on the menu. As key bearers of national culture, these dishes offered a culinary home-journey.49 Together with tartan, thistle, and heather, they were enduring symbols of an easily comprehensible and consumable ethnicity for an audience keen on revisiting, even if only for one night of the year, the ancestral homeland.50 With this in mind, a point worth pausing over is that many of the symbols used at Burns anniversaries were appropriated Highland symbols, 46

47

48 49 50

Pierre Nora, ‘Between Memory and History: Les Lieux de Mémoire’, Representations, 26 (1989), 7–24; Alex Tyrell has noted a similar role of Burns at the Burns Festival in Ayr in 1844, see ‘Paternalism, Public Memory and National Identity in Early Victorian Scotland: The Robert Burns Festival at Ayr in 1844’, History, 90, 1 (2005), 42–61. A. Radley, ‘Artefacts, Memory and a Sense of the Past’, in D. Middleton and D. Edwards (eds), Collective Remembering (London, 1990), 54; also Fentress, Wickham, Social Memory, 32, 47. Ashburton Guardian, 26 Jan. 1905, 2. See for instance the dinner menu published in Grey River Argus, 28 Jan. 1884, 2. The importance of heather has already been noted in chapter three in this book; see also Buettner’s study of the Bannerman family in colonial India – Mr Bannerman asked his children, who lived in Scotland, to send heather so that he could take it to the annual St Andrew’s Dinner (Buettner, ‘Haggis in the Raj’).

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there being no automatic discordance between Burns and Highland imagery. This emphasises that Belich’s call to avoid focusing on ‘reinvented and romantic Highland Scottishness’ when studying the Scots in New Zealand is problematic.51 While Belich is right to draw attention to some of the less visible and less demonstrative Lowland traditions, Highland cultural markers were important. Their utilisation in New Zealand was connected to, and reflective of, developments in Scotland’s home culture, revealing important synergies between homeland and Diaspora. As easily recognisable, easily understandable, and unique markers of ethnicity, Highland symbols served to unify in the imperial context. This is particularly important as Burns himself never exclusively represented Lowland Scotland. Although a Lowlander by birth, the poet’s sympathies with the Jacobite cause helped to place Jacobitism, and thus the Highlands, ‘at the centre of the new national consciousness which was emerging in Scotland after the Union’.52 The scrutiny of Burns anniversaries within the context of memory adds another layer to the typology of Scottish associationalism previously advanced, incorporating the different levels of effectiveness of Scottish celebrations as sites of memory (Figure 6.2). In principle, all associations with a more specific referent, in the form of a national figurehead or local roots, were more potent as sites of memory. This was the case because they catered for a smaller audience, while also pursuing a narrower set of aims. As much was stated by a Mr Bonar at a Hokitika Burns night. ‘The present gathering’, he observed, was ‘of a private character for social intercourse [rather] than denoting any public purpose or object.’53 A strong contributor in the maintenance of identity, memory could be more coherently expressed within the environment thus provided. In the case of the Gaelic Society, other societies with local roots, and the Scottish societies that developed from the early twentieth century, their more exclusive membership policies also played a role in making them more effective as sites of memory. Importantly, in the case of Burns anniversaries, sites of memory did not automatically have to be walled in, the emphasis of Burns celebrations never entirely set on the poet or Scotland. This is also reflected in the events’ inclusiveness, and one that marks them off from those societies above with restrictive membership policies. As a Mr Carson explained, Scottish blood was running through his veins, his sentiments ‘as a colonist . . . had been widened by mixing with men of all nationalities’.54 51

52 53 54

Belich, Paradise Reforged, 221; Clarke’s assumption that Burns’s Night celebrations displayed Lowland rather than Highland identity, thus, also has to be qualified, see A. Clarke, ‘Feasts and Fasts: Holidays, Religion and Ethnicity in Nineteenth-Century Otago’, unpublished Ph.D. thesis (University of Otago, 2003), 151. Devine, Scottish Nation, 237. West Coast Times, 28 Jan. 1885, 2. Wanganui Herald, 26 Jan. 1887, 2.

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Figure 6.2: Typology of Scottish associationalism II (source: the author).

The monumental poet While the previous discussion focused on Burns anniversary dinners as sites of memory, the physical memorialisation of the poet was equally important. Statues, a material rendering of memory, carry a specific symbolism and meaning and are potent as vehicles for commemorative practices as they channel attention and attach it to a particular place. This place is usually in a public locality, thus widely and easily accessible to everyone. The nineteenth century witnessed the proliferation of national monuments in Europe, the boom peaking between 1870 and 1914. LateVictorian Scotland was no exception, commemorating John Knox, David Livingstone, Robert Burns, and William Wallace.55 The boom in material 55

See E. Hobsbawm, ‘Mass Producing Traditions: Europe, 1870–1914’, in E. Hobsbawm and T. Ranger (eds), The Invention of Tradition (Cambridge, 1992). The Wallace Monument in Stirling was opened in Sep. 1869. For a useful analysis of the icons and rhetoric of national monuments in Scotland, see Morton, Unionist Nationalism, cp. 7. Burns monuments can be found all across the world, cf. Richards, ‘Australia and the Scottish Connections’, 142; also F. M. Szasz, Scots in the North American West, 1790–1917 (Norman, 2000), 113–15.

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memorialisation, according to Boyer, reflected the existence of memory systems ‘transcribed in stone’.56 In New Zealand, it was unsurprisingly members of Dunedin’s elite who first showed interest in the monumentalisation of Burns, a special fund being set up in the late 1870s to collect money for the Kilmarnock Burns statue. Having discussed the matter at an annual meeting, the Dunedinbased Ayrshire Association decided to undertake the collection of subscriptions towards the Kilmarnock Burns Statue Fund. Subscriptions amounting to £8 12s 6d have been received, and the committee desire to take this opportunity of tendering their thanks to those gentlemen in the Taieri and Oamaru districts who took charge of the subscription lists. At the date of latest advices from Kilmarnock the amount subscribed to the fund amounted to upwards of £3000.57 These efforts did not go unnoticed. As J. G. S. Grant explained in November 1879, all the world over the heart of the people is in a flame to do homage to the memory of their prophet, the interpreter of their feelings, the soother of their sorrows, the inspirer of their revolutions, their friend, their brother, and comforter in the house and in the field, in the workshop or by the way . . . In Kilmarnock they have unveiled a monumental statue to his memory . . . New York has reared another monument to Burns. There are also monuments to perpetuate his memory in Edinburgh, Ayr and Glasgow. And, Sir, why not in Dunedin? Let the Caledonian Society make the initiative in this matter. Let the Ayrshire Association in particular . . . move in this direction. We can easily raise £2000 for such a glorious purpose.58 Grant, who often successfully antagonised fellow Dunedinites with his comments and proposals, had for once hit the right note, and his plea for a Burns statue was received favourably. It took almost another two years, however, before active steps were taken at a meeting in late September 1881. Forty people came together at the invitation of the Ayrshire Association to discuss the erection of a monument.59 In the forefront was Robert Stout. Although noting that Burns’s work was so well known all

56

57 58

59

M. Boyer, The City of Collective Memory: Its Historical Imagery and Architectural Entertainments (Cambridge, MA, 1994), 33–4; B. S. Osborne, ‘Constructing Landscapes of Power: The George Etienne Cartier Monument, Montreal’, Journal of Historical Geography, 24, 4 (1998), 431–58. Otago Witness, 24 Aug. 1878, 8. Saturday Advertiser (Dunedin), 29 Nov. 1879 (thanks to Mark Stocker for providing this quote). Otago Witness, 1 Oct. 1881, 14.

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over the world that he did not necessarily require ‘perpetuation by a statue anywhere’, Stout nevertheless maintained that erecting a statue to Burns is in one respect our duty. It is one way we have of recognising him, of recognising his works, and of recognising the good that he did to humanity and I believe it would tell upon us in two ways. Firstly, it tells upon us in this way: it shows what taste a community has when it is found honouring a man who has benefited humanity . . . and I think that it is peculiarly appropriate that a movement of this character should take place in Dunedin, considering how the name of Burns is linked with the early associations of this province. (Applause). We are all aware that the late Rev Dr [Thomas] Burns took a leading position in the establishment of this province, and did his best to build it up into a flourishing community, and even on that account alone a statue ought to be erected to Robert Burns, and I think if there is one to be erected in New Zealand at all it should be in Otago.60 Despite the general climate of approval, some Dunedinites spoke out against the monument, less because they objected to honouring Burns, rather more because they thought monuments were useless for the public, instead proposing the establishment of a scholarship. For Stout and others, however, only a statue would serve as a sufficient ‘public reminder – such as a scholarship would not give us’.61 It was eventually resolved to appoint a committee to raise the necessary funds by subscription and any other means deemed appropriate.62 The Burns Statue Fund Committee membership was to consist of Ayrshire Association officebearers and others appointed at the first committee meeting. Prominent Dunedinites were among their number, including John Barr and Keith Ramsay, both of whom, as has already been shown, were deeply involved with other Scottish activities and clubs in the city and beyond. Overall, the proposal to erect a statue and subsequent formation of the committee was well received, but there were still some dismissive comments. Especially sceptical was a correspondent from the Otago Daily Times, who asked whether two or three Ayrshiremen ever met of an evening in any part of the world where a drop of whisky was procurable, without running the risk of ‘spitting sixpences’ next morning in honour of the immortal memory of Robert Burns . . . His native county might indeed be filled with statues, pillars, cenotaphs and dramshops, all consecrated to his

60 61 62

Ibid. Ibid. Different means to collect funds are discussed in Otago Witness, 22 Nov. 1881, 17; for a list of subscribers, see Otago Witness, 4 Jun. 1886, 16.

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memory, and all would be too little; but what business has any other part of Scotland, or indeed, any other part of the habitable globe, to gratify its vanity by raising marble or emptying gill-stoups in honour of Robert Burns?63 The reporter also expressed concern about the nationality of those involved in the committee, not all of whom were Scots, let alone Lowlanders. The committee had among its number several Highlanders who, he thought, would better concern themselves with Ossian rather than Burns, but also some Irishmen and Englishmen. The fact that Stout, a Shetland Islander, was involved underlined the dubious pedigree of the committee. For the reporter, a primordial understanding of identity, assigning it with birth and birthplace, was the driving force. Despite fundraising concerts and a contractual arrangement with favourite Burns sculptor John Steell, progress was slow.64 While further concerts in Timaru, Oamaru, and smaller centres across the lower South Island brought in additional capital,65 it took almost another four years for the statue to arrive in Dunedin on the SS Rimutaka in early 1887.66 But even then, wrote Civis, ‘what to do with the Burns statue now we have got it is a puzzle’. The place for the statue remained a matter of contestation. As Ayrshire observed, ‘to put a poet in the midst of street traffic is an affront to the Muses. A retired spot is alone suitable, to the contemplative poetic nature.’ Civis agreed, but proposed an alternative: Better still – and this is my own contribution – put him on the White Island, opposite the Ocean Beach, a pedestal provided by Nature herself. There the immortal bard would be, as he ought to be, far from the madding crowd, alone with his greatness and the sounding sea, and at the same time safe from desecration by dogs, Salvationist orators, or Mr J. G. S. Grant.67 The Dunedin City Council only gave the final go-ahead for the centrecity location in the Octagon at a meeting held at the end of January 1887.68 63 64

65

66 67 68

Otago Daily Times, 30 Sep. 1881 (thanks to Mark Stocker for providing this quote). Otago Witness, 18 Feb. 1882, 23; 18 Mar. 1881, 14; 24 Nov. 1883, 9; Steell, a Scot himself, had also handcrafted the Burns statue for London and New York, cf. M. Stocker, ‘“The Head o’ the Bard Sweeps the Southern Sky!” Sir John Steell’s Statues of Robert Burns: From Dundee to Dunedin’, Journal of the Scottish Society for Art History, 11 (2006), 18–26; R. E. Graves, ‘Sir J. R. Steell (1804–1891)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, online edn, Oct. 2005, www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/26352, last visited 4 Aug. 2010. At the end of May 1882 the Burns Statue Choir performed in Oamaru’s Volunteer Hall under the auspices of the Oamaru Caledonian Society, cf. North Otago Times, 25 May 1882, 2; Otago Witness, 24 Nov. 1883, 9. Otago Witness, 7 Jan. 1887, 10. This and the preceding two quotes are from Otago Witness, 21 Jan. 1887, 21. Otago Witness, 28 Jan. 1887, 9.

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The foundation stone was laid in March 1887, and the statue was finally unveiled on 24 May 1887 by Agnes Burns, granddaughter of the Revd Thomas Burns and great-grandniece of Robert.69 The day was marred, however, by the fact that sculptor Steell had not yet been fully paid. As Civis commented scathingly: Subscriptions towards getting poor Burns out of debt come in slowly, very slowly. The poet, his bills unpaid, sits in the high places of the city a brazen symbol of universal bankruptcy. Was ever such dishonour done before to poet, living or dead! To think that Scotchmen should have selected their national bard, of all men, to fill such a humiliating role! If the committee are friends to his name and fame, and would shelter him, sitting there in an insolvent condition, from the jeers of the stranger, they should cover him up again, quick, hiding his shame and their own till his countrymen provide the necessary bawbees. Or, if indifferent on the point of honour, they have an alternative course. Provide Burns with a big collection box, sling it round his neck, and let him mutely beg as a street mendicant till the money for his ransom is made up. Poor Burns!70 It was only at the 1888 Burns anniversary that a more determined effort was made to clear the debt. Under the patronage of the Dunedin Mayor, William Dawson, a committee of those interested in collecting funds was initiated. This was achieved by the end of April 1888, leading Robert Stout to acknowledge that ‘a disgrace to our city is wiped out’.71 While the Burns statue in Dunedin is well known, the same cannot be said of the three other New Zealand Burns statues in Timaru, Hokitika, and Auckland. Erected in the Auckland Domain, the latter monument to Burns, as that in Sydney, is a replica of the Paisley Burns statue produced by F. W. Pomeroy. Burns is represented in peasant costume, standing next to a plough. Donated to the city by Auckland businessman J. M. Mennie, it was unveiled in 1921 by the then New Zealand Prime Minister, W. F. Massey, ‘this big determined Ulsterman’, who ‘displayed in his speech a surprising knowledge of Burns, so much so that a man in the crowd called out “You’re a regular Scottie” ’.72 Similar to the arrangements in Auckland, the Timaru statue had been

69

70 71 72

See the special supplement on the statue published in Evening Star, 23 May 1887; another special pictorial page was published in the Otago Witness to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Burns’s birthday. The pictorial includes pictures of the poet, his cottage in Alloway with the room in which he was born, and the Burns statue in Dunedin (Otago Witness, 20 Jan. 1909, 48). Otago Witness, 10 Jun. 1887, 21. Ibid., 3 Feb. 1888, 11; 17 Feb. 1888, 14; 20 Apr. 1888, 10. The Scotsman, 20 Dec. 1921, 4; also Evening Post, 7 Nov. 1921, 8; J. D. Ross, A Burns Handbook (Stirling, 1931), 289.

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Figure 6.3 Unveiling of the Timaru Burns statue, 1913 (source: Sir George Grey Special Collections, Auckland City Libraries, 35-R1480).

unveiled by a politician, former New Zealand Premier Sir Robert Stout, eight years earlier on 22 May 1913. Hundreds arrived from Dunedin by train for the event, among them a band of pipers and the Dunedin Burns Club Choir. ‘On arriving at our destination’, noted a participant, ‘what a great crowd there was to welcome us.’73 A similarly large assemblage came together in the Botanical Gardens for the unveiling. The Timaru statue was solely financed by previously encountered James Craigie.74 Described as ‘one of the real Burns enthusiasts, [who] . . . has done much to enhance the fame and popularity of the great Scottish bard in New Zealand’,75 Craigie was convinced that a monument to Burns served as a particularly potent means of commemoration. The only overseas vice-president of the Burns Federation,76 Burns offered Craigie an active link to the old home, but his commitment went further. In 1925, for instance, he sent a £100 donation to the Burns Federation for the purpose of starting a fund to erect a memorial for Robert Fergusson in Edinburgh. In a letter to the secretary of the Burns Federation, Craigie explained: I believe that, with the exception of the stone erected by Burns over the remains of one whom he described as the ‘elder brother’ of his 73 74 75 76

New Zealand Scot, 1, 8 (1913), 19. Ibid., 1, 10 (1913), 3–4. Evening Post, 17 Aug. 1927, 10. See Craigie’s obituary, Evening Post, 17 Aug. 1935, 11.

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muse, Robert Fergusson has no memorial in Scotland, not even in his native city. It is surely passing strange. To Robert Fergusson more than any other pre-Burns writer we are indebted for the revival and continued use of ‘braid Scots’ . . .77 Craigie had long maintained connections to the Burns Federation and similar clubs in Scotland. A year prior to his donation, he had visited the home country and been honoured with a reception in the Glasgow Burns House Club, where he was presented with a gold badge ‘suitably inscribed in recognition of his distinguished services to the Burns cult’.78 In his speech acknowledging the gift, Craigie explained that in New Zealand a Caledonian society or Burns club could be found in every town, not just to celebrate Scottishness, but ‘in addition to asserting the claims of Scottish nationality these institutions made for good citizenship and effective government’.79 In view of Tocquevillian arguments on the intricate relationship between civil society, politics, and democracy, this is an interesting comment.80 For Craigie, Burns and Scottish nationality were much in evidence, ‘perhaps . . . more so than in Scotland’,81 but they were deeply rooted in New Zealand civil society. Scots were among its key shapers, while still finding space for the expression of their ethnicity in the civic context. Yet for Craigie the object, in the first instance, was to further Scottish traditions, culture, and language. Referring to the three statues recently erected in his adopted country, Craigie promised to devote the rest of his life to spreading a ‘knowledge of the Scottish language as written and spoken  by Burns’.82 That pledge would have been well received by the Scottish Dialects Committee, which hoped to produce a Scottish-language dictionary. In a quest for contributors and subscribers, it specifically addressed the expatriate Scot, convinced that a dictionary was ‘a work in which he would find so much to remind him of his own country and early associations’.83 It was, in fact, a year prior to the Dialects Committee’s pledge that Craigie was made an honorary president of the Burns Federation ‘in recognition of his enthusiastic work on behalf of Scots vernacular verse’.84 Craigie’s devotion to his ancestral home was much in evidence when he returned to Scotland in 1927 for the unveiling of the Fergusson memorial

77 78

79 80

81 82 83 84

The Scotsman, 31 Aug. 1925, 6. Ibid., 18 Aug. 1924, 3; Craigie was present for the unveiling of the memorial, which took the form of a panel in St Giles’ Cathedral, see The Scotsman, 25 Jun. 1927, 11. Ibid., 18 Aug. 1924, 3. A. de Tocqueville, Democracy in America and Two Essays on America, trans. G. E. Bevan and I. Kramnick (London, 2003). The Scotsman, 18 Aug. 1924, 3. Ibid. The Scotsman, 2 Jun. 1927, 8. Evening Post, 13 Feb. 1926, 16.

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in Edinburgh’s St Giles Cathedral, a memorial the entire cost for which Craigie had, in 1926, defrayed. ‘Although Mr Craigie lives away in New Zealand’, stated Sir Robert Bruce, President of the Burns Federation at the unveiling ceremony, ‘he is far more Scottish, if I might use the expression, than many of us who live in the middle of the homeland.’85 The third Burns statue was erected in Hokitika on New Zealand’s West Coast, which is commonly characterised as an Irish stronghold, with little ethnic variation recorded in scholarly studies. The Burns statue serves as a physical and visible reminder of the Scottish presence on the West Coast, counterbalancing the prevalent view. As previously noted, there were a number of Caledonian societies on the West Coast from as early as 1870, the plan for a Burns statue being conceived by the Westland Caledonian Society of Hokitika. Rather than in the heyday of monumentalisation, the erection of the Hokitika statue was only commissioned in 1923. In view of the periodisation established for Scottish associational culture in New Zealand, this corresponds with the phase of re-popularisation of Scottishness. James Craigie’s name being well connected with the bard, the politician was invited to unveil the monument in an elaborate ceremony. As the programme booklet for the event outlines, the day began at 11 o’clock in front of the Hokitika Town Hall, when all involved assembled for a procession. This left at half past eleven, headed by a band and pipers, proceeding to Cass Square, the chosen home of the statue. After various addresses, by the Mayor, Craigie, and the Westland Caledonian Society’s Chief, a musical programme of traditional Scottish songs was followed by the actual unveiling, the event concluding with the singing of Auld Lang Syne. It was in honour of Burns that the programme booklet featured a poem by Hugh Smith of Reefton: Faur ower the seas by the clear winding ‘Doon’ Stands a cottage wi’ walls snowy white. ’Twas there, when the Jan’war winds blew loud and cauld – That the plewman-Bard first saw the light . . . And monuments rise where the dark-skin’d have trod To his honour and mem’ry and fame . . .86 Burns in a world of kindred spirits The celebrations of Burns’s natal day, together with the monuments set up in his honour, emphasise first, the importance of the poet for Scots abroad as a site of memory, both in a cultural and physical sense. Secondly, both reflect the deep appreciation of the poet in New Zealand, Burns’s

85 86

Ibid., 17 Aug. 1927, 10; for a related report, see also 5 Nov. 1927, 21. See a letter from the Secretary of the Westland Caledonian Society to Isaac Paterson in Reefton, 16 May 1923, ATL, MS-Papers 2502-2.

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humanity appealing to Scots and non-Scots alike. What many of the above examples have already documented, too, however, is the existence of a global Scottish world, one united in the celebration of its national bard. The location of the Scots in this world often reflected on the power of the imperial Scot: . . . it did not matter in which quarter of the globe – there was a good sprinkling of Scotsmen, or of those who had Scottish blood in their veins, whether it would be true or not that when the North Pole should be discovered there would be a Scotchman on it, and the Scotsmen loved the traditions of their country, they liked to hallow its associations, and they loved to assemble themselves to remember its feast days and holidays. Amongst those occasions on which they loved to assemble was the 25th January . . . meetings would be held in many different places from the south to the north, and particularly in the part which had been so graphically described as Kyle; and not only in Scotland but in South Africa, and away in the East in the cities of India, and in the West from the St Lawrence to Vancouver’s Island, and from New York to the Pacific slope. In fact, a gentleman, whose name had often been mentioned in the Burns Club – Wallace Bruce – was travelling 1000 miles that day to deliver an address . . . away west in the City of Chicago.87 James Gibson, in 1899, found suitable words to describe this community of Scots abroad, observing that no matter where Scots had relocated to, they would always be united on the day of their national bard’s birth as ‘kindred spirits’.88 This world of ‘kindred spirits’ is well documented in newspaper reports, frequent reference being made to Burns celebrations around the globe. As the Fair Play explained in 1894: The Scots in this colony [New Zealand] are not alone in their patriotism, in their desire to do honour to the land of their birth. In America and Canada Burns celebrations are held, and are attended by many wealthy and influential people. In this connection we notice there has recently been a curious incident at Ottawa. It appears that a number of patriotic Scots had gone to the trouble of importing a barrel of real Scottish heather. On this the customs authorities, presumably not Scotsmen, but sticklers for the supposed dues, levied a duty. Then there was a rare rumpus, dozens of letters in the papers and great indignation. The ‘clans’, however, came off victorious in the end and the much loved heather was admitted free and adorned the banquet table at a great Scottish dinner.89

87 88 89

Otago Witness, 30 Jan. 1896, 22. Ibid., 2 Feb. 1899, 15. Fair Play, 3 Mar. 1894, 1.

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Yet connections also existed on a more direct and personal level. Members from Scottish associations sent congratulatory messages around the world on 25 January, equally paying each other visits on that day.90 In fact, as has been shown in chapter three, Burns provided the most effective hook for a global fraternal network, one manifested in the Burns Federation established in 1885. The pronounced aims of the Federation were to strengthen and consolidate the bond of fellowship presently existing amongst the members of Burns clubs by universal affiliation; its motto being ‘A man’s a man for a’ that’. The members of every Burns Club registered as belonging to the Federation shall be granted a Diploma admitting them to meetings of all Clubs connected with the Federation . . .91 This is an important point worth exploring further. While some of the other Scottish associations considered in this study had links with each other that served well to maintain connections, these nonetheless fell short of the type of formalised relationship established through the Burns Federation. What is more, while many Scottish clubs and societies in America were linked into federal structures, for instance the North American United Caledonian Association, that type of federation was not a common feature in New Zealand.92 In the early twentieth century, the federation of Caledonian societies was attempted, as chapter five has shown, in association with the New Zealand Athletic Union, while later movements towards federation under a Caledonian umbrella, in the late 1920s, fell short of putting in place enduring federal structures. Burns, and the commemorations in his name, however, entrenched what might suitably be described as a memory community, and one effective in maintaining links globally. To reflect further on that community, the Burns centenary celebrations held in honour of the poet’s death in 1896, serve as a useful case study. Centenary celebrations had become a fashionable form of public commemoration, their popularity growing steadily throughout Europe from the mid-nineteenth century.93 In line with that new popularity, the centenary of the birth of Robert Burns was widely celebrated in 1859. In Edinburgh, over a thousand guests attended the main event in the Music Hall, joining in the usual loyal and patriotic toasts; enthusiasts further south thronged to the Crystal Palace, where ‘the nave was lined with stalls selling parian

90 91 92

93

See for instance Star, 26 Jan. 1907, 7. Muir, Annual Burns Chronicle and Club Directory, 1 (1892), 125–6. For some of the activities of the North American United Caledonian Association, including its annual assembly, see New York Times, 7 Jul. 1885, 2; Toronto Daily Mail, 5 Oct. 1887, 6; Montreal Daily Witness, 1878, 8. R. Quinault, ‘The Cult of the Centenary, c. 1784–1914’, Historical Research, 71, 176 (1998), 303.

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busts of Burns’.94 With Burns anniversaries already a common celebration in many a place of Scots settlement, events were also held further afield, including in New York and Boston, where the city’s Burns Club hosted a dinner for 250 guests.95 New Zealand was still a young colony in 1859 and the birth centennial was not celebrated in elaborate fashion. By 1896, however, the situation was a very different one. The centenary of the poet’s death thus serves as a more appropriate comparator, not least because by the time it was celebrated a ‘cult of the centenary’ had emerged.96 Managed by various committees in connection with the Dumfries Burns Club and the Burns Federation, the centenary event’s organisers were keen to involve members from overseas to do honour to Burns. In writing ‘to all the Burns Clubs and Scottish Societies, and also to the leading newspapers of America, Australia, and New Zealand’, the officials expressed the sincere hope that no Scot abroad would ‘allow distance to be any hindrance to them if they wished to be represented here on the 21st July and assist us in doing honour to the memory of our great national poet’.97 And indeed, further practical steps were taken to promote the representation of as many overseas Burns clubs as possible. Earlier in the year, for example, the Thames Burns Club had received a circular from the Dumfries Burns Club. The writers of the circular assumed that ‘the Burns world will naturally turn its eyes and thoughts to the spot where the National Poet rests’, thereby hoping to encourage the sending of a deputation to the commemoration on 21 July.98 While there is no evidence of the sending of such a deputation, the lady members of the Thames Burns Club formed a special committee for the purpose of making a fitting wreath for the planned procession in Dumfries. The report on what became known as the Great Demonstration in Dumfries proves that that wreath was indeed made and sent to Scotland. The procession of Burns clubs was headed by a wagon decorated with wreaths which had been sent from overseas, including from Newark, Philadelphia, San Angelo, Texas, and the aforementioned wreath of the Thames Burns Club.99 Moreover, in the American and colonial deputations was Mr John Mill, Port Chalmers, representing the Dunedin Burns Club.100 As was observed by one speaker at the gathering that followed the procession, there will be thousands of hearts turned towards Dumfries, throbbing in unison, with our own testifying to the world-wide admiration of our 94 95

96 97 98 99 100

The Times, 27 Jan. 1859, 10; Quinault, ‘The Cult of the Centenary’, 307. The Centennial Birth-day of Robert Burns as Celebrated by the Burns Club of the City of New York (New York, 1860); Celebration of the Hundredth Anniversary of the Birth of Robert Burns by the Boston Burns Club (Boston, 1859); Boston Daily Advertiser, 26 Jan. 1859, 1. Quinault, ‘Cult of the Centenary’, 303. Burns Centenary 21st July 1896: Great Demonstration at Dumfries (Dumfries, 1896), 135. Thames Star, 6 Mar. 1896, 4, Burns Centenary 21st July 1896, 32–3. Ibid., 61.

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poet’s genius, and verifying his own noble aspiration – Man to man the warld o’er / Shall brithers be, and a’ that.101 Apart from the main celebrations on 21 July, a series of exhibitions and commemorative events was held throughout Scotland. The latter included the unveiling of a number of statues, for instance in Irvine. Donated by Glaswegian John Spiers, an estimated twelve thousand people had assembled to pay homage to Burns, including the Hon. William McCullough, member of the Legislative Council of New Zealand for Auckland, as well as the Auckland Burns Club’s President, Mr James Stewart.102 The two were, in fact, present at a number of commemorations in Scotland, including the last in the centenary programme: the unveiling of a statue of Highland Mary at Dunoon in August 1896.103 In proposing a vote of thanks to the donors of the statue’s site, McCullough observed that Burns clubs were numerous in all parts of the world, trying to carry out the poet’s idea of love of country and love of humanity. (Applause.) These clubs helped to bind the ties between the Mother country and her colonies over the sea. They encouraged young people of the colonies who had never seen the Mother country to cherish associations of their parents, and to study the works of those who had made her great.104 As the report in The Scotsman details further, the associations thus established ‘were fostering the sentiment that was binding the British Empire into one great people’.105 And indeed, Burns in particular was able to represent an integrative Britishness. At a time when the Scots were ‘finding a new role on the world stage’,106 being British, as well as Scottish, was beneficial. Identities overlapped, as the poet’s ‘Scottish nationalism was cancelled out by repeated reference to his British patriotism’.107 One important factor in this respect was war, or the looming threat of it, which set the focus almost entirely on Britishness and Empire, underwriting unionist nationalism.108 101 102 103 104 105 106 107

108

Ibid., 135–6. Annual Burns Chronicle and Club Directory, 1897, 24. The Scotsman, 3 Aug. 1896, 8. Thames Star, 14 Sep. 1896, 2. The Scotsman, 3 Aug. 1896, 8. MacKenzie, ‘Empire and National Identities’, 220. Finlay, ‘The Burns Cult’, 73; Whatley and Crawford argue along the same line by pointing out that Burns saw himself as a Briton. He was essentially ‘bicultural’ and expressed the heterogeneity rather than homogeneity of the British nation. See C. A. Whatley, ‘Burns and the Union of 1707’, in K. Simpson (ed.), Love and Liberty. Robert Burns: A Bicentenary Celebration (East Linton, 1997), 195; R. Crawford, ‘British Burns’s’, in C. McGuirk (ed.), Critical Essays on Robert Burns (London, 1998). See for instance the emerging problems in South Africa, Otago Witness, 30 Jan. 1896, 22.

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While the centenary commemorations in Scotland were widely reported in the New Zealand press, there was also a diverse range of celebrations in the country itself. There was a gathering of clans at Manaia,109 while a grand national concert was organised in Christchurch. With a very large and enthusiastic audience, the Christchurch Opera House offered a suitable venue for an enjoyable programme of songs and music, at the end of which ‘a large portrait of Burns . . . wreathed with laurel, was unveiled, and Mr G. Laurenson spoke a brief eulogy of the poet’.110 In addition, a fitting centenary address was also published. Written by Edinburghborn Wilhelmina Sherriff Bain, the address praises Burns and his work, ‘Forgetherin’ here this July nicht, / Wi’ thochts o’ thee, / An’ greetin’s tae they royal hicht / O poesie!’111 With meetings held ‘far an’ wide’, praise and prayers were liberally dispensed. Further south in Oamaru, a special Burns Centenary Celebration Committee had been established by the local Caledonian Society, opting to celebrate the centenary with a social gathering.112 Held in the Assembly Hall, the gathering was opened with the Selkirk grace before proceeding in similar style to the annual Burns anniversaries previously examined.113 Even further south, in Dunedin, relics of interest connected to Burns, for instance an early publication with his poems, were exhibited at the shop of Mr James Muir.114 Boasting a membership of four hundred, the Dunedin Burns Club organised a special centenary gathering in the Garrison Hall.115 The main commemoration of Burns’s centenary took place in Wellington, a fact reflected by the long list of illustrious guests, including the New Zealand Governor, the earl of Glasgow, in the Chair, Premier Richard John Seddon and the Hon. John McKenzie, Minister of Lands and Agriculture, also present. Held at Thomas’s Hall, proceedings commenced with the Governor being escorted to his chair by a piper, a toast then delivered in his honour not only because he was the Governor, but also ‘a Scotchman, and an Ayrshireman’.116 In response, the Governor stressed that ‘as an Ayrshireman, he would say that, though it was 100 years since Burns died, his memory had year by year been growing more precious to his countrymen . . . there was actually a cult of Burns springing up’.117 109 110 111

112 113 114 115

116 117

Hawera and Normanby Star, 21 Jul. 1896, 2. Star, 22 Jul. 1896, 2. Ibid., 21 Jul. 1896, 2; for details on Bain, see M. Hutching, ‘Bain, Wilhelmina Sherriff, 1848–1944’, DNZB, www.dnb.govt.nz, last visited 4 Jul. 2010. North Otago Times, 13 Jul. 1896, 2. Ibid., 23 Jul. 1896, 1. Otago Witness, 25 Jun. 1896, 11. For a detailed report, including verbatim reprints of toasts, see Annual Burns Chronicle and Club Directory, 1897, 127ff. For membership, see ibid., 154. Evening Post, 22 Jul. 1896, 2. Ibid.

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Conclusion The earl of Glasgow was perhaps a little too tentative in his assessment, the Burns cult having already been much in evidence in New Zealand for a good fifty years. By the time Burns anniversaries were first celebrated in that country, they already were an established Scottish cultural practice at home and in other settlements abroad. Although initially organised by committees set up solely for that purpose, Caledonian societies or specialised societies such as the Dunedin Ayrshire Association became the main driving forces behind the celebration of Burns prior to the initiation of New Zealand’s first Burns clubs. As the epitome of Scotland, Burns was a particularly potent connector, symbol, and point of contact for memorialisation, be it narrative or physical. It is this diversity that partly explains why Burns was an effective site of memory for Scots, while still maintaining an outward orientation. Another key is that although memory channelled the looking back towards the past, it was not automatically backward-looking. Memory narratives and practices were used strategically to locate the self in the new world by employing specific cultural plots, familiar stories, or myths. They framed events to produce coherence. That said, they did not simply replicate the past. The new homeland was conceptually enriched through memory and a discursive use of the past. Patterns remained flexible, were adapted to acknowledge the new community circumstances, and were often located within a wider narrative that placed Burns within a much wider global Scottish world.

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CHAPTER SEVEN

‘Far distant from their native land’: Locating New Zealand in the Scottish Diaspora The songs are charmingly rendered . . . we enjoy the unique impromptu concert most hugely, and when all join together in singing ‘Auld Lang Syne’ the effect is most complete! As I watch the group under the feathery palms I wonder in how many lands and under how many different circumstances Scotia’s national anthem has been sung? [Waiawa, Hawaii]1 Part of William McHutcheson’s account of his return trip to his native Scotland in the late 1880s, these words echo the feelings of many a Scot overseas. Passing through an unfamiliar territory, the singing of Auld Lang Syne provided both conviviality and a common denominator shared with fellow Scots. A little more than a decade later, at the end of July 1901, the San Francisco Caledonian Club held an open meeting in the Scottish Hall, offering a programme of songs and recitations. What attracted the attention of the local press, however, was the presence of Alexander Burt, ‘one of the leading citizens of Dunedin, New Zealand’.2 Burt, the paper went on, was on a home trip to his native Scotland, passing through the city en route. Representing the Otago Caledonian Society, Burt also delivered an address on the Society’s activities to his fellow Scotsmen in San Francisco.3 Aware of, and drawing on, shared roots and fraternal connections, Scots like McHutcheson and Burt were able to see themselves as part of a wider Scottish world, actively using it to their benefit – as a contact point and for entertainment. 1

2 3

Otago Witness, 29 Apr. 1887, 15. Later published as W. McHutcheson, The New Zealander Abroad in England, America and the Highlands of Scotland, in Madeira, Capetown and the Sandwich Islands: Being Notes of a Six Months Holiday Tour round the World (Glasgow, 1888); other examples of published travel accounts include E. Bannerman, Notes by the Way (Waimate, 1918) and A. W. Rutherford, The Impressions of a New Zealand Pastoralist on Tour (Christchurch, 1912). San Francisco Call, 27 Jul. 1901, 23. After Burt’s return to New Zealand in early 1902, an account of his trip around the globe was published in the Otago Witness. His trip was for both pleasure and business, since Burt hoped to buy machinery for brass-finishing and engineering in America that would help to cut down on labour costs in his business. Cf. Otago Witness, 7 May 1902, 55. For details on Burt, see Cyclopedia, vol. 4, 322; also Brooking, ‘Tam McCanny and Kitty Clydeside’, 180.

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Much of the evidence in previous chapters has already given an indication of the role of kinship connections across vast oceans; it has also been suggestive of some of the links that were maintained by means of associational culture throughout this wider Scottish world. The examples traced document the extensive, multiple, and diverse links that existed between ‘Scots the whole world over’.4 In order better to understand these global connections, it is the purpose of this chapter to locate New Zealand in what is now commonly referred to as the Scottish Diaspora. In the first instance this calls for critical engagement with the term diaspora itself. Reconceptualising diaspora Shrouded in the rhetoric of exile and victimhood, diaspora has emerged as an all-purpose concept readily employed in many disciplines to explain phenomena associated with the movement of people. In particular, Robin Cohen’s oft-cited overview, now in its second edition, has done much to bring diaspora into scholarly discourses. It traces the term’s history and offers a typology of diasporas; among Cohen’s groupings are victim, trade, labour, imperial, and cultural diasporas.5 While useful at the outset, recognising the diversity of diasporas, Cohen’s typology suggests that almost any group of migrants, be it those exiled or those leaving voluntarily, be it those who became outcasts in the new home or those who assimilated, can have a diaspora. This may well be the case, but it makes diaspora an all-encompassing blanket term of limited value for the identification of patterns or specific group dynamics. One important dynamic, for instance, is that people from the same homeland may have left for very different reasons and at different points in time. Another complication is the notion of victimhood repeatedly connected with diasporas. Initially associated with the movement of Jews, and in that case appropriately so, victimhood has become, for many, a requirement to claim a diaspora. In the case of the Scots, this idea is reflected in popular opinion, which often characterises Scottish emigration in terms of the dislocation of people, especially from the Highlands. Yet, as we have seen, this falls short of adequately reflecting the geographical patterns of Scottish emigration and fails to account for voluntary migrants. It is not helpful either, however, to cast off forced dispersal, instead attaching the term diaspora to virtually any form of settlement or community group outside of the ancestral homeland. This is another jump in a misleading direction. The previous examples portray the nature of present-day scholarly discourses as a ‘ “diaspora” diaspora – a dispersion of the meanings of the term in semantic, conceptual and disciplinary space’.6 In this ‘ “diaspora” 4 5 6

Evening Post, 16 Feb. 1924, 16. R. Cohen, Global Diasporas: An Introduction (2nd edn, New York, 2008). R. Brubaker, ‘The “Diaspora” Diaspora’, Ethnic and Racial Studies, 28, 1 (2005), 1.

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diaspora’ the term easily hinges on ethno-symbolism and nostalgia, suggesting that it was primarily through a sentimentalised version of the past that Scottish migrants could be part of a diaspora. Such a conceptualisation is skewed, denying Scottish associations any function other than that of harbourers of nostalgia. Moreover, this understanding of diaspora denotes passivity, making diaspora a label assigned to migrant groups, rather than an active construct.7 The focus on victimhood, nostalgia, and passivity needs to be overcome for diaspora to emerge as a useful category in historical analysis. Indeed, it is necessary to conceive research parameters that permit analysis of the function and meaning of diaspora for its members for it to be a viable concept. The case is made here that such parameters can be established if diaspora is defined as a form of social and cultural organisation. This can be achieved by moving beyond the traditional Greek meaning of the word diaspora, which denotes ‘expansion through outward migration and settlement’.8 Diaspora is only one part of a dual trope, that of homeland and diaspora. Rather than simply denoting the movement overseas of particular migrant groups, diaspora thus connects a homeland with a new place of settlement; it also gives recognition to other places where migrants from the same homeland settled. Consequently, diaspora is not a passive entity, but represents a matrix of relationships that links the old homeland with these diverse new worlds through its members.9 Central to upholding these relationships were transnational communication processes. These could be channelled, as we have seen, through personal correspondence and kinship ties, as well as ethnic networks and associations.10 Conceptualised thus, diaspora offers a window of inquiry into the nature of the relationships that emerged. Importantly, this perspective establishes agency as the main focus of inquiry, recognising that a diaspora is actively maintained, promoted, and utilised by its members. Transcending the nation-state, this approach facilitates a comparative perspective across geographical space and time that scrutinises diaspora through the individual migrants, migrant collectives, and the structures in which they operated.11 7

8 9

10 11

A similar point was raised by D. H. Akenson at a conference in Wellington in 2008. Akenson argued that if Diaspora was to fulfil its promise as a concept useful to historians, it would have to change its voice from passive, particularly as in ‘victim diasporas’, to active. Cf. D. H. Akenson, ‘Ever More Diaspora: Advances and Alarums’, Nations, Diasporas, Identities, International Conference (Wellington, Mar. 2008). Cohen, Global Diasporas, ix. Vertovec classifies these relationships in terms of the triadic relationship between homeland-diaspora-other diaspora locations, all being situated within a transnational world. See ‘Three Meanings of Diaspora: Exemplified among South Asian Religions’, Diaspora: A Journal of Transnational Studies, 6, 3 (1997), 277–99; also F. Anthias, ‘Evaluating “Diaspora”: Beyond ethnicity?’, Sociology, 32, 2 (1998), 557–80. See also MacRaild, Faith, Fraternity and Fighting, 286ff. Cf. D. MacRaild et al., ‘“Diaspora” and “Transnationalism”: Theory and Evidence in Explanation of the Irish World’, Irish Economic and Social History, 33 (2006), 48–9.

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To some extent, this approach has already been drawn upon in previous chapters, where active connections between migrants and associations around the world have been touched upon. This chapter now offers a more focused discussion on how the diaspora that developed worked for and with the Scots in New Zealand, investigating how they actively engaged with the homeland. The chapter concentrates on cultural and political connections, particularly those established through philanthropy, thereby locating New Zealand in the wider Scottish world. Émigré Scots, culture, and philanthropy From 1875, correspondents from a number of New Zealand newspapers reported on the plan to establish a Celtic Chair at the University of Edinburgh.12 Scottish scholar and nationalist Professor John Stuart Blackie suggested that an endowment of £10,000 would be needed for the chair, and was confident that the sum would be raised in due course. What makes the proposal relevant in relation to this study is that Blackie hoped to encourage expatriate Scots, Highlanders in particular, to contribute to the endowment. He thus began to contact Scottish associations around the world to inform them about the proposal and to ask them for their support.13 One letter was addressed to John McLean of Redcastle near Oamaru. McLean, originally from the island of Coll, was a run-holder and member of the Otago Provincial Council and the Legislative Council, and, being involved with the local Caledonian Society, had long since shown an interest in maintaining his Scottish heritage.14 The letter to McLean read: Sir,- The accompanying papers will explain the nature of my present position. The University of Edinburgh has determined not to allow longer the neglect of the Celtic language and literature in our academical institution . . . Assured of the zeal of Highlanders abroad, we send forth a special circular to you, and hope that you may feel yourself able to contribute liberally to so excellent an object.15 Acting in response to the letter, McLean advertised a meeting for Oamaru and district Highlanders, to be held at the Star and Garter Hotel in Oamaru. An editorial in the North Otago Times encouraged people to attend, noting that, although they were all New Zealanders, they still cherished their ‘connection with the Old Country, with its old customs 12 13

14 15

For instance Otago Witness, 30 Jan. 1875, 4; Wanganui Herald, 25 Jan. 1876, 2. For details on Blackie, his involvement in establishing the Celtic chair, and overseas’ contributions, see S. Wallace, John Stuart Blackie: Scottish Scholar and Patriot (Edinburgh, 2006), 272ff; also A. W. MacColl, Land, Faith and the Crofting Community: Christianity and Social Criticism in the Highlands of Scotland, 1843–1893 (Scottish Historical Review Monograph, Edinburgh, 2006), 76. Cyclopedia of New Zealand, vol. 4, 78; see also North Otago Times, 27 Jan. 1880, 2. North Otago Times, 14 Sep. 1875, 2.

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and ancient language’.16 Among those present at the meeting were many Oamaru Caledonian Society members of Highland descent, including Neil Fleming and Robert McIntosh. At the meeting thus held, McLean presented Blackie’s letter, and the papers that had accompanied it, for discussion, the main issues being the ‘Appeal to Highlanders at Home and in the Colonies’.17 McLean, in support of the proposal to establish a chair, explained that he had already met with fellow Highlanders in Dunedin to discuss what might be done to raise and contribute money. The meeting concluded with the appointment of an eighteen-member committee to collect subscriptions, seven of whom came from country districts as far inland as Omarama, a good 75 miles away. Professor Blackie was impressed with the accumulated funds from subscriptions in New Zealand. At the half-yearly meeting of Edinburgh University Council in 1876, he reported with satisfaction: You will see the first fruits of the effective sympathy from Highlanders and Scotsmen in the Colonies and abroad . . . Among the initial subscriptions you will find £100 from the Highlanders of Auckland . . . The Colonial papers intimate that a great public meeting was held . . . at Dunedin, New Zealand, on the 10th June last . . . the warmest sympathy was expressed with the scheme at the University, and committees were appointed – committees of men of high position, character, and influence in the Colonies – to collect contributions in aid of the fund.18 Discussions in relation to the fund were had all over the world, including Melbourne, where, in 1876, meetings of Scotchmen favourable to aiding the establishment of a Celtic chair were held. While not all meetings resulted in direct actions, The Scotsman observed that Highlanders in Otago ‘have already met with such success as to warrant a belief that a remittance of £1000 at least will be made’.19 As was reported in various Scottish newspapers in early 1877, Blackie certainly received £214 13s 6d ‘from the Highlanders in the Otago district . . . [and] the Hon. J. Maclean [sic], of Redcastle, in this same district, at an early period of the Celtic Chair movement contributed from his own purse the sum of £200’.20 Overall, well over £10,000 had been collected by 1877, although Blackie suggested that the endowment figure should be raised to £12,000 to secure a more comfortable base.21 Consequently, it took several more years for 16 17 18 19 20

21

Ibid., 7 Sep. 1875, 2. Ibid., 14 Sep. 1875, 2. Otago Witness, 22 Jan. 1876, 4; see also Glasgow Herald, 1 Nov. 1875, 5. This and the previous quote are from The Scotsman, 14 Mar. 1876, 3. Northern Warder and Bi-weekly Courier and Argus, 15 Jun. 1877, 3 (originally published in The Scotsman). Evening Post, 29 Dec. 1877, 2. See also Blackie’s letters to his wife for details of contributions and collection efforts, A. Stodart Walker (ed.), The Letters of John Stuart Blackie to his Wife (Edinburgh and London, 1909).

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the first Professor to be appointed to the new chair, it not being until 19 December 1882 that Donald Mackinnon was selected by the curators of the University and Professor Blackie.22 A graduate of Edinburgh, Mackinnon had worked as a clerk to the Edinburgh School Board before being offered the chair. Yet even after the appointment, links between Edinburgh and New Zealand remained strong in connection with the chair. Mackinnon, partly because of his interest in Gaelic and its promotion at home as well as abroad, and partly because many expatriate Scots had contributed to the endowment, kept in contact with fellow Highlanders resident overseas. As noted in chapter three, Mackinnon presented a set of Gaelic books to the Gaelic Society of Dunedin to serve as the nucleus for the Society’s library.23 For Blackie and Mackinnon, Gaelic language and culture provided a crucial anchor for connecting with the wider Scottish world. Apart from such early examples of émigré Scots providing funds for initiatives ‘at home’ that aided the promotion of Scottish culture, literature, and the Gaelic language, the main means through which practical links into diaspora were established was philanthropy, particularly when channelled in organised fashion by associations. Reference has already been made, in chapter three, to the associational object of offering relief and pecuniary aid. It has also been shown, however, that the majority of associations in New Zealand set relatively little store by such philanthropic pursuits when compared to their North American sister societies. Instead of distributing monies to deserving immigrants in the new home, as did, for example, the Toronto St Andrew’s Society,24 Scottish associations in New Zealand often outsourced their benevolent work by donating funds to local charitable institutions for distribution. A few notable exceptions existed, however, which merit attention with respect to the present discussion. For the most part, these exceptions relate to benevolent activities promoted by associations previously designated as those with a localised homeland referent, that is particularly those catering for a Highland membership. In 1873, the Caithness and Sutherland Association hoped to offer assistance to persons belonging to its member counties who were ‘in quest of employment, and to give temporary relief, from a fund to be raised for that purpose among members, to those who from sickness or any emergency may stand in need of such aid’.25 By maintaining contact with societies 22 23

24

25

Report by the Home correspondent, Otago Witness, 17 Mar. 1883, 9. As previously noted, Dr Stuart of the Gaelic Society offered to deliver the stick to Professor Mackinnon in person on his home trip in 1889 (cf. Otago Witness, 11 May 1888, 10). An important link was perhaps Dunedinite Donald MacGregor who, while involved with the London Gaelic Society, championed the idea of a Celtic chair. Cf. The Celtic Magazine, 6 (1881), 230 and 2 (1877), 357. See S. O’Connor, ‘“Nowhere in Canada is St Andrew’s Day Celebrated with Greater Loyalty and Enthusiasm”: Scottish Associational Culture in Toronto, c. 1836–1914’, in Bueltmann et al. (eds), Ties of Bluid. Otago Witness, 27 Jan. 1873, 7.

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around the world with similar objectives, the Association aimed to learn of people from the two northern counties intending to come to Otago, thereby ensuring that members could ‘welcome and assist such emigrants on their arrival here with advice or pecuniary aid, if required’.26 The Association sought to achieve this by actively promoting its policies in government circles. By doing so, it hoped to be recognised as a possible agency through which eligible people might be assisted to emigrate. It is likely that the idea of government approval was first mooted in view of Vogel’s assisted immigration schemes. The Caithness and Sutherland Association sought to bring out contingents of Scottish Highlanders, assisting them not only financially, but also spiritually. As the directors of the Association reported in their first annual report, the members resident at Port Chalmers had boarded the home ships on arrival, made themselves known to any on board hailing from the North, giving them introductions to the members of the Committee in Dunedin; the result being that instead of landing as strangers in a strange land, the new arrivals found themselves among friends . . .27 The Association focused on the provision of mutual support for those from the same local background, thereby offering access to a readily available network. Yet, while engaged in philanthropy, much of the benevolent work was designed for Scots in the old homeland rather than those in New Zealand: the philanthropy of the Caithness and Sutherland Association was both a direct and directed connection to the old world, with charitable pursuits specifically designated towards particular relief projects in the Highlands. In 1876, for example, the attention of the Association centred on the condition of the inhabitants of Fair Isle, ‘and through their efforts, seconded by James Macandrew, Esq., the first instalment, consisting of 12, had arrived quite recently at the Bluff in the Waitara. The attentions of the Association have followed these immigrants to Stewart Island.’28 A few years later, the Association further initiated a Shetland Relief Fund in response to the Gloup disaster in which fifty-eight fishermen drowned, ‘the total number of persons thus left destitute [being] . . . estimated at about 200’.29 A fund, which readily found subscribers in New Zealand, was set up to provide support for the widows and children of the fishermen, Highland 26 27

28

29

Ibid. Caithness and Sutherland Association AGM report, reprinted in Otago Witness, 9 Jan. 1875, 3. Otago Witness, 29 Jan. 1876, 8; James Macandrew, a native of Aberdeenshire, was Superintendent of Otago at the time, see E. Olssen, ‘Macandrew, James 1819?–1887’, DNZB, www.dnzb.govt.nz, last visited 21 Jul. 2010. North Otago Times, 12 Oct. 1881, 2; The Scotsman, 25 Jul. 1881, 5 and 28 Jul. 1881, 2; also L. Abrams, Myth and Materiality in a Woman’s World: Shetland 1800–2000 (Manchester, 2005), 196–7.

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members of the Oamaru Caledonian Society also promoting the fund. In January 1882, the Association’s Shetland Relief Fund secretary received a letter from Charles Rampini, Sheriff of Lerwick and chairman of the relief committee, acknowledging receipt of a ‘bank draft for the sum of one hundred pounds Sterling as a contribution from Shetlanders resident in Dunedin and the Caithness, Sutherland, Orkney and Shetland Association . . . in aid of sufferers of the terrible calamity of 20th July’.30 Similar subscription funds were set up by a group of Highlanders from Invercargill. In June 1883, the group submitted £85 15s to the editor of the Celtic Magazine, with another £62 14s following a month later. These contributions, also designed to aid the distressed families on the isle of Skye, were collected as a result of ‘the appalling accounts given in the home papers’ of the conditions on the island. Perhaps a little proud of the sum they had collected, the undersigned went on to say that the collection reflected the bond of shared roots: ‘though far distant from their native land, the kindly spirit of the Scot for his countrymen is still undiminished’. As much was certainly agreed to by the editors of the magazine, who were quick to add that they trusted ‘other Highlanders abroad will copy the excellent example set them by the countrymen of Invercargill’.31 Indeed, based on evidence gleaned from Scottish newspapers, financial contributions were by no means uncommon, and continued well beyond the 1880s. Contributions were made, in 1929 for example, to the Elsie Inglis Memorial Maternity Hospital by the Kelantan St Andrew’s Society.32 Such relief efforts, together with the links between homeland and diaspora they facilitated, reflect a measurable and active connection between benevolence and Scottish homeland politics that deserves exploration. Benevolence and Scottish homeland politics Relief efforts by the associations previously discussed were geared towards their member counties, thus primarily areas in the Highlands. These efforts commenced, on a larger scale, from the mid-1870s, proliferating in the 1880s. This timing is not coincidental, indicating an important connection between what might suitably be called diaspora relief efforts, clearances, and crofter agitation in the Highlands. On the outset, the associations studied made it explicit that they were not political, being engaged

30

31

32

Otago Witness, 21 Jan. 1882, 24; a Shetland Relief Fund was again set up in 1901, only this time by the Gaelic Society; for a list of some subscribers, see Otago Witness, 24 Apr. 1901, 17. Attached were subscription lists which show that many prominent Invercargill and Southland businessmen and farmers contributed money. This and the previous quote are from Celtic Magazine, Sep. 1883, 532. For later contributions by Scots from Hawke’s Bay to the London Crofters’ Aid Fund, see Hawkes Bay Herald, 6 Jul. 1887, 3. The Scotsman, 26 Nov. 1929, 7.

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instead with cultural pursuits and pastimes of interest for members of the Scottish immigrant community. Yet, while as much was also stressed by the Dunedin Gaelic Society, it nonetheless began discussing political issues relating to developments in the north of Scotland in the early 1880s. Again spurred by reports from the home papers, the Society’s Chief noted, in the annual report of 1886, that they believed in Highlanders being alive to everything that was going on in the political world around them, and it was gratifying to them to learn that the newly enfranchised crofters had displayed sufficient unity and strength . . . It was to be regretted that the measure of land reform granted was not all that could be wished, but as a prelude to further reforms, it was an earnest that the Crofters by energy and unanimity would outlive the oppression and tyranny to which they had so long been subjected.33 In view of developments in the Highlands in the early 1880s, such comments scarcely surprise. With the appointment of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Condition of the Crofters and Cottars in the Highlands and Islands in 1883, the government responded to the growing unrest in the region. The Napier Commission’s report of 1884 officially recognised problems of land congestion, acknowledging the crofters’ rights while enshrining ameliorative measures in the Crofters Holdings (Scotland) Act in June 1886.34 These developments did not go unnoticed in New Zealand. The Invercargill Highlanders previously encountered expressed their hope, for instance, that ‘good results may arise from the Royal Commission now sitting, the proceedings of which are keenly watched by Highlanders here’.35 Moreover, Scottish clubs and societies continued to provide aid for crofters in distress and did so as part of a larger, global, network of Scottish associations linked in the pursuit of a common goal: the promotion of better conditions for crofters. In 1887 the Gaelic Society received circulars from the Crofters’ Aid Committee in London and a letter from the Liverpool Society of Highlanders.36 Both outlined the grievances of our crofter fellow-countrymen at home, and [urged] the necessity of supplying resources to meet emergencies and secure to the crofters as far as possible their legal rights. Your Council of Management took 33 34

35 36

Gaelic Society AGM report, reprinted in Otago Witness, 6 Aug. 1886, 14–15. Previously encountered Professor Donald MacKinnon, Celtic Chair at Edinburgh, was a member of the Commission. For details on the Act, see E. A. Cameron, Land for the People? The British Government and the Scottish Highlands, c. 1880–1930 (East Linton, 1996); also E. Richards, The Highland Clearances: People, Landlords, and Rural Turmoil (Edinburgh, 2000). Celtic Magazine, Oct. 1883, 584. The latter had long since promoted the crofters’ cause, see for instance Glasgow Herald, 8 Mar. 1886, 7; also Liverpool Mercury, 24 Mar. 1886, 7.

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the matter into consideration and issued subscription lists in aid of the cause, and although these lists are not yet closed, it is obvious that a respectable amount will be collected. . . . Land law reform, however, must not terminate in the mere reduction on rent of a three-acre croft. The croft must be enlarged so as to provide food for a family. The land must be reclaimed from the sheepwalk and the deer forest and utilised by the Highlander to the extent of his requirements at a fair rent with security of tenure and option of purchase, or any other concessions that may ensure the maintenance of a rigorous and virtuous Highland population on the straths of their native land. The agitation necessary to achieve this will probably be a long one, and its agents will require funds to legally carry it on; it is therefore hoped that the Highlanders in Otago will help to the best of their ability to bring about so desirable a consummation.37 Subscription lists were issued and £95 17s 5d later transmitted to the Glasgow Weekly Mail ‘to relieve the severe distress among the crofters in the Hebrides’.38 Another special Highlanders Fund was set up in 1900.39 Practical relief efforts were not restricted, however, to the provision of funds for the distressed, extending instead to the active promotion of emigration schemes. Such schemes had been named in the 1884 Napier report as a possible solution for congestion in particular Highland districts, the encouragement of emigration being identified as ‘the last of the remedial measures . . . for the present condition of the Highlands and Islands’.40 Indeed, the idea that emigration might be worth exploring had also been promoted by those Invercargill Highlanders who collected money to aid the crofters from the isle of Skye. On sending the first cheque to the Celtic Magazine in 1883, the group observed that we have no hesitation in saying that, if some scheme of emigration could be arrived at between the Home and the New Zealand Governments, and a number of the Highlanders induced to come out here, they would receive in this colony a true Highland welcome.41 While these words did not result in specific actions, a number of New Zealand Scots developed concrete plans for the resettlement of Highland crofters in the country. Drawn up in the mid-1880s, the proposed schemes were viewed as a practical means of aiding those in distress. While it is not 37 38 39

40

41

Gaelic Society AGM report, reprinted in Otago Witness, 5 Aug. 1887, 15. Otago Witness, 5 Aug. 1887, 15; 10 Aug. 1888, 22. Otago Witness, 8 Feb. 1900, 19; examples of such activities can be found from other Scottish places of settlement, see The Scotsman, 3 Dec. 1915, 3. Parliamentary Papers, 1884, [C.3980] [C.3980-I] [C.3980-II] [C.3980-III] [C.3980-IV], Report of Her Majesty’s Commissioners of Inquiry into the Condition of the Crofters and Cottars in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland, 97ff and 103ff. Celtic Magazine, Sep. 1883, 532.

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clear whether the following schemes outlined here were connected to the proposals put forward by the London-based Highland Land Reform Association, it praised the branches committed to providing support in New Zealand and America, where ‘the heather was on fire, and it was burning very fiercely’.42 One proposed scheme related to settling Highland crofters in the Waikawa district in Southland, providing small land grants for them, while the Otago Caledonian Society suggested the introduction of Skye crofters to the south of the South Island.43 A deputation from the Society met with Premier Robert Stout in early 1885 in the hope of receiving financial backing from the Government.44 The Minister of Lands, John Ballance, had already been contacted and was urged to prepare a memorandum on the matter. Yet although Ballance had sent the memorandum to the Imperial Government, and Stout was not opposed to the proposal, the latter nevertheless noted that if the crofters did come out the Caledonian Society would [have to] give them assistance of some sort – if not in the way of money, by advice, and by rendering such assistance as was given by the Orkney and Sutherlandshire Society some time ago. That Society used to take upon itself to look after immigrants from that particular part of the Old Country – giving them advice, and getting work for them if possible.45 The subsequent debate centred on two questions: first, were emigrants from Highland Scotland suitable settlers, and secondly, who was to finance the proposed scheme? The proposed special settlement between Catlins River and Mataura in the South of the South Island for crofters from the isle of Skye allows us to gauge the prevailing opinion in New Zealand. It was emphasised, by the scheme’s promoters, that we could hardly have a better class of settler than one accustomed to hard work, spare living, and a severe climate, nor could they have a better chance of improving their condition than by coming to a colony like this, where the climate is so genial, the soil so fertile, and the general conditions of life so easy.46 42 43

44 45

46

The Scotsman, 3 Sep. 1885, 5. Evening Post, 11 Feb. 1885, 2; the initial suggestion had been made by James Macandrew, see also Otago Witness, 6 Jun. 1885, 8. For a report on the meeting, see Otago Witness, 31 Jan. 1885, 11. Otago Witness, 31 Jan. 1885, 11; another interesting account is entitled ‘Emigration of Small Farmers’, the substance of an interview with Arthur Clayden who had travelled to Britain to lecture about New Zealand as a place of settlement, Otago Witness, 10 Oct. 1885, 7. University of Otago Medical Library, Newspaper Clippings Book, 29 Jan. 1885, Hocken, MS-1653.

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But the optimism was not shared by all. Otago Pioneer believed that Highland crofters, like the Chinese, are not a progressive people, and it is an undoubted fact that they still exist in the same primitive condition. Sympathise with them under their oppression; help them if you will; but don’t flood this country with thousands of lazy men who are good for nothing . . . and who leave all the hard work to the women.47 In view of developments in other places of settlement, John McLeod raised another important point. He believed that a scheme to attract Highland crofters to New Zealand would not be successful because of competition from other countries, in particular Canada. McLeod concluded that ‘the crofter is not an ignorant serf, but a man wide awake and full of intelligence. He knows full well the superior advantages which America offers.’48 Canadians had successfully adopted a strategy of sending recruitment agents to the crofters, a practice the New Zealand government was advised to follow. The chosen agent would have to ‘be a man capable of commanding the confidence of the crofters, and should be able to speak the Gaelic language’.49 It was for that reason that the suggestion to send James Macandrew, champion of the first proposal, was not well received. Skyeman stated as a Highlander that his mission will be a failure, for the very reason that he [Macandrew] cannot address the people in the Gaelic language, consequently, they would not listen to him. He would be looked upon as an agent of the hated lairds, sent specially for their transportation to unknown shores. If the Government are desirous of making the settlement a success, let them send Home a real Highlander. For such a mission no more fitted man could be got in the Colony than the immigration agent – Mr C. Allan. Born and brought up in the Isle of Skye, he is conversant with the language and the manners and customs of the people. . . . If Mr Allan were sent he would no doubt visit Tiree, Coll, Eigg, Uist, Barra, and Lewis . . .50 Even more critical was Highland crofter’s son, who wrote: To those in New Zealand who, like myself, have recently come from the heart of the Highlands, all this public commotion made about the temporal advancement of Highland crofters must seen to be lamentably misleading to our countrymen at Home and heinously unjustifiable and grievous to colonists, and therefore altogether unnecessary and absurd in the extreme. Charity, without doubt, I think, at the present 47 48 49 50

Ibid., 27 Jan. 1885. Ibid., 28 Jan. 1885. Ibid., 29 Jan. 1885. Ibid.

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time should begin at home. . . . Therefore, to send an agent Home on such a wild goose chase at the expense of the Colony, as has been mooted by the Caledonian Society, seems monstrously preposterous, and should be strongly objected to by at least all true Highlandmen in the Colony who have the wellbeing of their kin at heart.51 The criticism of those already resident in the colony is significant: why were they reluctant to aid their countrymen? Perhaps Ossian had a point when he accused those contributors critical of a settlement scheme of hypocrisy given they had taken the emigration route themselves, often for want of a better life.52 What is important is that discussions around the settlement of Highland crofters in the South Island of New Zealand were not confined to that colony and newspaper columns, but also took place in the Imperial Parliament. Some contributors to the debates that took place there echoed the cautionary tones of the New Zealanders previously quoted. Sir William Harcourt, the British Home Secretary in the early 1880s, for instance, made the following remarks in response to a motion put forward by Sir Donald Macfarlane:53 No doubt the Scottish are people who have shown great qualities for emigration. A great part of the Empire of England . . . is due to their intelligence and their energy. . . . The history of Scotsmen in India is famous, and in New Zealand, also, there is a Scottish Colony of great prosperity and eminence. But that is, or ought to be, in my opinion, a voluntary emigration. I am entirely against pressing people out of their own country, and, least of all, such people as the West Highlanders.54 The issue of emigration as a remedial measure was scrutinised more thoroughly in March 1890, when a Select Committee was appointed to explore different emigration schemes that had been proposed to the government ‘to facilitate Emigration from Congested Districts of the United Kingdom to the British Colonies’.55 Instructed to consider the 1884 Napier report as part of its investigation, the Committee was particularly concerned with the settlement of Highlanders. For the purpose of this study, the examination of Sir Francis Dillon Bell, the then Agent General for New Zealand, is of particular interest. Outlining the New Zealand Government’s unwillingness to provide financial assistance for emigration schemes without 51 52 53

54 55

Ibid., n.d. Ibid. Macfarlane, MP for Carlow, moved that the Government should act on the recommendations of the Royal Commission upon the condition of the crofters and cottars in the Highlands and Islands, applying remedial measures to improve their living conditions. Hansard, HC Deb, 14 Nov. 1884, vol. 293 cc1731–806. Parliamentary Papers, 1890 (354), Report from the Select Committee on Colonisation, Together with the Proceedings of the Committee, Minutes of Evidence, and Appendix, ii.

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the support of the Imperial Parliament, Bell confirmed that a number of special settlements had already been established. These had generally been quite successful, documenting how a special settlement for crofters from the Highlands could be set up.56 Bell went on to say that a proposal to that effect had, in fact, been made by the New Zealand Government in 1885. Though Bell does not explicitly state this, the proposal he refers to is the one linked to the Otago Caledonian Society’s efforts to secure the New Zealand Government’s support for a special emigration scheme for Highlanders. Bell further observed: It was thought in New Zealand that Her Majesty’s Government might be willing to join with the New Zealand Government in some plan for the establishment of a crofter settlement, with a view to relieving the distress which was believed to exist in the Highlands and islands of Scotland; and after having been in communication at first with Sir Kenneth Mackenzie in the Highlands, I made a proposal in 1885 to Lord Derby, then Secretary of State for the Colonies, that the two Governments should act together in sending out a number of pioneer settlers to a district of land which had been set apart . . . The site of settlement was one which was believed to be eminently suitable for a Highland crofter settlement, on account of its being close upon the sea-board, with a small harbour, with very good land, with forest and open country, and excellent opportunities for dairy industry; on a coast abounding in fish; with ample educational provision, and a free grant of 10 acres to each crofter. Lord Derby took an interest in the matter; but after some correspondence and personal communication between his Lordship and myself, that matter went no further. On the re-introduction of the Crofters Bill in 1886, I renewed the proposal to Lord Granville. Then afterwards, Lord Dalhousie, who had been to New Zealand himself, and was familiar with the southern part of the country . . .57 The proposal was submitted to the Cabinet, but the decision was negative, no further explanation for this being given. Bell nonetheless continued his efforts in 1887, ‘but practically, every negotiation which was begun fell to the ground’.58 As the minutes of evidence from the Select Committee document, it was exploring and comparing a broad range of emigration schemes, including, among others, schemes for South Africa and Tasmania. The Committee was especially keen to learn ‘an estimate of the cost of colonisation in the south-east of New Zealand as compared with the cost of colonisation in

56 57 58

Ibid., Minutes of Evidence, 28 Apr. 1890, 70. Ibid. Ibid., 71; see also Glasgow Herald, 29 Apr. 1890, 10.

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Canada’.59 Yet, while concerned primarily with details relating to the cost of the scheme, where the proposed settlements would be located, and what employment opportunities would be available, the Bell evidence shows that the Committee was also interested in the general well-being of the potential emigrants, assuming that they would fare better among fellow countrymen. As much is evident in the Chairman’s question whether the Clutha region ‘is a very Scotch country, is it not?’60 Equal points were raised by A Stranger in the Scotsman a few days later. Discussing the present state of the Highlands, the writer observed that New Zealand was ‘beyond all question the Colony that is most likely to solve the problem of crofter emigration’. Claiming to have explored many a Highland settlement in the Antipodes, Highlanders ‘were happier, if not indeed more prosperous, in New Zealand than in any other place’.61 The proposed schemes reflect the intertwining of homeland politics and expatriate Scots within a wider Scottish world. They are also evidence, however, of how the Scottish Diaspora was made tangible, the underlying communications processes between Scotland and New Zealand promoting a sense of shared roots. As much is also evident in publications such as the Celtic Monthly or the Celtic Magazine, outlets that served to connect Highland Scots at home and abroad. While, on the one hand, these publications demonstrated a sense of collective diaspora consciousness, with reports inspiring ‘many happy thoughts when one hears of the dear Highland homeland’,62 they again provide strong evidence of the active links that existed between New Zealand and Scotland. In 1903, for example, Mr D. Macpherson visited Scotland, bringing with him a donation ‘of £5 towards the MacDonald Fund, and £50 for the War Fund in connection with the Highland Regiments’, as well as a contribution ‘towards the Gaelic Prize Fund of the Gaelic Society of London’.63 Contributions made by New Zealand Scots, and localised associations in particular, to relief projects remained significant. What the previous examples also highlight, however, is that diaspora connections did not necessarily relate to Scotland as a whole: local origins played a key role in motivating individual and associational actions in the wider Scottish world. But while such local ethnic ties were important for members of New Zealand’s Scottish immigrant community, serving as connectors to the homeland for Highland Scots, they also influenced New Zealand society more broadly. Specifically, this was the case with respect to John McKenzie’s land policies, which were shaped by his experiences in Scotland. Born in the parish of Rosskeen on 6 October 1839, McKenzie 59 60 61 62 63

Ibid., 75. Ibid., 71. The Scotsman, 10 May 1890, 9. Noted in a letter by John Dow from Dunedin, Celtic Monthly, Jan. 1907, 70. Celtic Monthly, Jul. 1903, 190.

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arrived in Port Chalmers on 25 September 1860 and soon developed an interest in local and national politics.64 One of his main concerns was the question of land tenure reform, which he prominently advocated as Minister of Lands and Agriculture from 1891. As his biographer Brooking notes, McKenzie’s personal and political life was shaped by experiences of the Highland clearances witnessed in childhood. Speaking in the closing debate on his Land Bill in August 1892, McKenzie explained: The Minister of Lands, Sir, got his ideas as a boy when he saw the poor people evicted from their houses in the most cruel manner, and unable to get a place for their feet to stand upon except they went to the cemeteries. . . . The only place in the world where they could go and rest themselves without being put in a gaol was among the dead in the cemetery. I have seen that in my days. Is it any wonder that I should have opinions of my own in connection with the land question in this country?65 His experiences, no doubt, strongly influenced his view of the world. As McKenzie reminisced at a farewell celebration marking his departure on a home trip to Scotland in 1899, he arrived in Palmerston 38 years ago in the gloaming. Next morning at 5 o’clock he was on top of Puketapu to view the surrounding country. He saw from that height only two huts, and the thought occurred to him that here was a land for the people in the old land who were being driven out from the homes in which they had been born and brought up. It appeared to him as one of the loveliest spots in creation, which was ready to receive those human beings who were being driven out of their country. . . . And on that mountain he said that if he ever had the opportunity he would not allow the evil laws of the old land to prevail here.66 Questions over land distribution and ownership were central to the Liberal reforms of the 1880s and 1890s. As Dalziel explains, the large pastoral farms were seen to block ‘economic progress and access to the land by new generations of aspiring farmers’.67 These problems in mind, McKenzie’s 1892 Lands for Settlement Act did not only provide land and loans to small farmers, it also facilitated the break-up of larger runs into smaller properties, these being made available on a number of different tenure options. To meet the demand for land, however, additional measures were needed to encourage the sub-division of private holdings. With 64 65 66 67

Brooking, Lands for the People?, 21. Quoted in Brooking, Lands for the People, 16; for the particulars of the bill, see 109ff. See also the farewell report, Otago Witness, 6 Apr. 1899, 22. R. Dalziel, ‘Southern Islands: New Zealand and Polynesia’, in A. Porter (ed.), The Oxford History of the British Empire: The Nineteenth Century (vol. 3, Oxford, 1999), 593.

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voluntary land offers at a minimum, McKenzie later exercised his power to compel landowners to sell. Together with the 1894 Government Advances to Settlers Act and the loan scheme it provided, the new measures were successful in securing land for colonists, breaking down land monopoly and preventing landlordism. It was these efforts that were most widely recognised on McKenzie’s 1899 home trip. The minister was met, in Alness, by a deputation from the Ross and Cromarty Ploughmen’s and Labourers’ Union, whose members ‘expressed their admiration of his labours in the cause of land reform’.68 Although founded in his own past experiences, McKenzie s policies were oriented towards modernity.69 Yet, while progressive in this respect, McKenzie and other late nineteenth-century New Zealand politicians of Scottish descent, such as Robert Stout, failed to acknowledge the grievances of indigenous society with respect to the land question, grievances not dissimilar to those of Scottish Highlanders cleared off their lands. As Brooking observes, these politicians were blind ‘to Maori aspirations to develop their own land by themselves’. Convinced that Maori were not able to develop commercially viable farming, McKenzie effectively ‘helped dispossess Maoris of their land’.70 What is more, he also failed to see how paradoxical this was in light of the land reform policies he was promoting for ‘European New Zealand’. As Apirana Ngate, Member for Eastern Maori, observed in 1920, McKenzie in fact introduced a Bill that promoted the purchase of Maori land, thereby making the period 1892–7 ‘one of the most active periods in the purchase of Native lands by the Crown’.71 McKenzie’s policies were not, however, specifically designed to exploit Maori: land settlement was crucial to the Liberal government of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, while Maori ‘by the 1890s had come to be seen as almost irrelevant to New Zealand political life’.72 With McKenzie and Prime Minister John Ballance advocating the state-controlled purchase of land, this was thus enshrined in terms of the European settlement of land, giving only minimal consideration of Maori. The substance of this chapter has given an indication of the degree to which homeland experiences in Scotland shaped policies in New Zealand directly, and how political questions brought together expatriate Scots and those in the old homeland. Similar connections have been traced for 68 69 70

71

72

Aberdeen Weekly Journal, 12 Sep. 1899, 7. Cf. Brooking, Lands for the People, 270. This and the preceding quote are from T. Brooking, ‘New Zealand’, in M. Lynch (ed.), The Oxford Companion to Scottish History (Edinburgh, 2001), 451; see also P. Grimshaw et al., ‘The Paradox of “Ultra-Democratic Government: Indigenous Civil Rights in NineteenthCentury New Zealand, Canada and Australia’, in D. Kirkby and C. Coleborne, Law, History and Colonialism: The Reach of Empire (Manchester, 2001), 84ff. Cited in R. Boast, Buying the Land, Selling the Land: Governments and Maori Lands in the North Island, 1865–1921 (Wellington, 2008), 177. Ibid., 183.

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other groups from the British Isles, especially the Irish.73 Among the Scots in New Zealand, connections channelled through politics were less pronounced than in the Irish community. Evidence suggests that expatriate Irish provided substantial funds for the national cause, but Scots failed to do this to the same extent when it came to the question of Home Rule.74 This supplies evidence for the synergies that existed between Scotland and its diaspora: the Scottish Home Rule movement in Scotland was less enthusiastically supported than the Irish Home Rule movement in Ireland, and one that eventually culminated in the Irish War of Independence. While John Redmond toured Australasia in the early 1880s on behalf of the Irish National League,75 for instance, no such activities were undertaken by Scots involved in similar Scottish bodies. What this highlights is that the Scottish Diaspora was fundamentally different from that of the Irish: the former was essentially cultural rather than political. In the case of New Zealand’s Scottish community, examples of directed national rhetoric advocating Home Rule are few and far between. One such example, however, deserves consideration, being suggestive of the kinds of national ideas and arguments that found their way to the Antipodes. Richard McCallum’s name, stated the New Zealand Truth in 1927, ‘implies something of a fine old “Hieland” strain’.76 And indeed, though born in Blenheim, Marlborough, in the South Island in 1863, McCallum developed a keen interest in things Scottish. Perhaps it was his father, Archibald McCallum, one of the pioneer settlers in the Wairau who hailed from Glasgow, who had instilled in his son a sense of Scottishness.77 One important influence had been Australian Alexander Renfrew, JP, who first obtained McCallum’s interest in the issue of Scottish Home Rule in 1892.78 It was shortly after a meeting with Renfrew, in 1892, that McCallum composed a series of articles for the Marlborough Daily Times to explain what is meant by Home Rule for Scotland, and to assess ‘whether Scotland and her people would be benefited or injured by the concession of a National Parliament’.79 The premise of McCallum’s articles was that Scotland ‘has an existence as a nation . . . her national life and patriotic feelings of her inhabitants are as alive and intense to-day’ as they were before the Union

73

74

75

76 77

78 79

For a recent exploration of the web of connectivity, see D. Gleeson (ed.), The Irish in the Atlantic World (Columbia, 2010). See for example B. Jenkins, Irish Nationalism and the British State: From Repeal to Revolutionary Nationalism (Montreal and Kingston, 2006); M. G. McGowan, The Waning of the Green: Catholics, the Irish, and Identity in Toronto, 1887–1922 (Montreal and Kingston, 2006). Cf. M. Campbell, ‘John Redmond and the Irish National League in Australia and New Zealand, 1883’, History, 86, 283 (2001), 348–62. New Zealand Truth, 7 Apr. 1927, 6. Cyclopedia of New Zealand, vol. 5, Nelson, Marlborough and Westland Provincial Districts, 319, 336, 356; also McCallum’s obituary, Evening Post, 12 Feb. 1940, 5. Cf. R. McCallum, Home Rule for Scotland (Fitzroy, 1925). Ibid., 7.

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of the Crowns.80 He traced the development that led to the Union of 1707, and then outlined the demands made by those in favour of home rule. He referred to the Scottish Home Rule Association and its work, summarising the Association’s objectives. McCallum outlined the key grievances the Association and earlier groups, for example the National Association for the Vindication of Scottish Rights, had identified, particularly the issues of Scottish representation in Westminster and taxation. In fact, in terms of representation, the people of Scotland by reason of their being under-represented fell into a degraded political condition for a century after the Union cannot be gainsaid . . . Cornwall with her forty-four members was but one vote less in importance . . . From this it will easily be understood that the lives and liberties of the Scottish people and all their possessions were at the mercy of those few members who were the favourites of and were controlled by the Ministry in London.’81 Commenting on the strength of Scottish nationality, citing Robert Burns and Sir Walter Scott in support, McCallum’s position was clear: Scotland had not been well treated in the Union, which thus should be revoked. ‘Surely’, his final article concluded, ‘enough has been said to convince the average colonist, blest with the right to manage his own affairs of every description, that Scotland would be practically benefited and relieved’ if it had its own Parliament again.82 Importantly, for McCallum and many of his compatriot propagators of Home Rule in Scotland itself, émigré Scots were important, first, as moral champions of the cause, and secondly, as potential suppliers of funds in support of the Home Rule campaign. ‘It is not to be wondered’, McCallum observed, that when Scottish colonists after an absence of 20 or 30 years revisit their mother country speedily again forsake her shores and bring back tidings that the country districts have retrograded and have not at all kept pace with their adopted country, many holding firmly that the country districts seem fifty years behind the times.83 And indeed, some of the early return travellers to Scotland offer compelling insights into the social conditions in cities and the country, often being appalled that little was being done to remedy these. On his return trip to Scotland in 1892, the Revd Chisholm drew particular attention to the plight of the poor in Glasgow. His entry for 2 July 1892 recounts, for example, his meeting with three children in an area ‘of sooty roofs and 80 81 82 83

Ibid. Ibid., 19–20. Ibid., 29–30. Ibid., 23.

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dirty backyards’, later describing ‘that sad spectacle of the haggard, barelegged, barefooted woman with a baby in her arms in Argyle Street’. The Reverend was shocked by what he identified as ‘an indescribably sad pathos about that face of grim set in the midst of so much wealth and fashion’.84 In terms of the active encouragement of financial support from Scots overseas, the Scottish Home Rule Association’s Colonial Secretary played an important role. Writing to newspapers around the world in connection with the Association’s ‘Statement of Scotland’s Claim for Home Rule’ in 1888, the Secretary asked for the statement to be reprinted for Scots abroad, so that they ‘may be informed of the struggle that we are making . . . to appeal for sympathy and assistance to our fellow-countrymen abroad, many of whom are enjoying the privileges of political freedom’.85 Three years later, appeals became even more directed, asking: Scotsmen, do you love your native country? – We know you do! . . . Colonists, we have sent you strong men with strong brains, and they have made their mark wherever they have gone – can you do without them, will the world be richer or poorer by the extinction of Scottish nationality?86 With signatories that included Professor Blackie, assistance was sought from all Scots ‘anxious to see a full measure of local government granted to their native land’.87 With the crofters’ agitation in Scotland falling away and international threats such as the Boer War and the First World War looming large, however, the efforts of those engaged in the Home Rule Association, and writers like McCallum, quickly faded. The Scottish Diaspora politics they promoted shifted towards a British patriotism of which Scots could be part. A good three decades after McCallum’s writings had initially appeared, as was explained at a St Andrew’s supper in Edinburgh, societies . . . whether at home or abroad, could do much to inspire and nurture the spirit of patriotism all over the world . . . a strong national spirit had the ability to combine nationalism with the Empire spirit.88 Money was collected for patriotic funds, participation in patriotic events was common,89 and attempts were made by several Scottish associations to establish a Scottish regiment.90 War was, in fact, a potent connector, 84 85

86 87 88 89 90

Revd Chisholm Diary, 2 Jul. 1892, Hocken, 96–188. New Zealand Tablet, 11 May 1888, 3; for later examples, see also Colonist, 17 Jul. 1891, 3 and North Otago Times, 21 Jul. 1891, 4. West Coast Times, 22 Jul. 1891, 4. Tuapeka Times, 12 Aug. 1891, 6. The Scotsman, 1 Dec. 1926, 9. For example Grey River Argus, 25 May 1915, 6; 5 Jun. 1918, 2. A deputation from the associations met with the Minister of Defence to propose the regiment, but it was declined (Evening Post, 28 Sep. 1915, 8).

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fostering contact between New Zealand, Scotland, and the wider diaspora. The Wairarapa Caledonian Society, for instance, discussed a request to collect money at its sports to establish a fund for the families of the fallen soldiers of the Highland Regiment in South Africa.91 In the First World War many soldiers seized the opportunity of their service in Europe to visit ancestral homes. As a letter jointly sent by Alexander Begg (Otago Caledonian Society), D. McPherson (Gaelic Society), Robert McKinlay (Burns Club), J. Grant (Dunedin Highland Pipe Band), and D. McPherson (Piping and Dancing Association of New Zealand) to the editors of the Glasgow Herald, The Scotsman, and the Moderator of the United Free Church of Scotland, explains, the members of the undersigned Scottish societies, on behalf of the people of New Zealand, desire you to convey to the people of Scotland their sincere and heartfelt thanks for the hospitality and kindness which was so freely extended to our New Zealand soldiers when on furlough in Scotland. Every returned man has told us of the splendid fighting qualities and comradeship of the Scottish regiments, but, above all, they speak in the most affectionate terms of the genuine welcome and the untiring efforts made on their behalf while on their visit to your country . . . Our gratitude is due to you for making dear ‘Auld Scotland’ a second home to so many of our men while absent from their native land.92 Apart from the wider spirit of patriotism the War had promoted, it also offered an opportunity for many of the first and second generation New Zealand-born of Scottish descent to visit their roots in Scotland. Such return trips became all the more prominent from the mid-twentieth century, offering émigré Scots and their descendants the most immediate experience of their Diaspora.93 Conclusion This chapter set out to redefine the meaning of diaspora, conceptualising it not simply in terms of the movement of people overseas, but through active agency in the form of individual migrants and their actions and associations. In so doing, it has shown the multiple and multifaceted types of connections that existed between New Zealand and the wider Scottish world. The connections ensured enduring and diverse ways in which New Zealand Scots, as well as those of Scottish descent, actively maintained and 91 92 93

Wairarapa Caledonian Society MoD minutes, 24 Dec. 1899, WA, 89-038/1.R1B2S3. The Scotsman, 22 Jul. 1919, 7. T. Bueltmann, ‘“Gentlemen, I am going to the Old Country”: Scottish Roots-Tourists in the late Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries’, Back to Caledonia: Scottish Return Migration Symposium (University of Edinburgh, May 2010).

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experienced the Scottish Diaspora. There was a strong sense of transnational identification. This allowed New Zealand Scots to recover a sense of belonging and locate it in a more global context. Diaspora, in fact, mediated between living in the new homeland and remembering the old in a variety of forms, for instance through the concern shown by expatriate Scots for the crofters in the Highlands. Many émigré Scots genuinely saw them as fellow countrymen though they lived in a distant land. The Scottish Diaspora thus understood becomes a tool that promotes understanding of the flows and connections across place and time. What is crucial is that these flows went both ways, not only through personal connections, but also wider cultural and political concerns. An important issue this chapter has brought to the fore is that the notion of diaspora and homeland is, to some extent, flawed: homeland did not necessarily have to refer to the Scottish nation as a whole, but could also be localised.94 The evidence suggests that, particularly when it came to politics, Scots of Highland extraction were more conscious of their local roots than their national ones. Not only were these roots, at times, defined against the British state, but also against the Scottish nation. However, this reaction was primarily one shaped by the very particular context of the Scottish Home Rule movement, land clearances, and crofter agitation, subsiding soon after the turn of the century. Later examples of localised links within the wider Scottish Diaspora document a more positive attitude, and include those that existed between those New Zealand League of Mothers branches that had a high percentage of Scottish women members, and branches of the Scottish Mothers’ Union. Evidence for the mid-1930s documents the extent of connections, for instance between Alloa and Hataitai (a suburb of Wellington). Letters were exchanged between the two branches and the Hataitai branch President, when on a home trip, spoke at the Alloa branch summer meeting.95 With such examples in mind, the role of localised identity in a diaspora context deserves further exploration. ‘All Scotsmen abroad’, observed a writer in Chambers’s Edinburgh Journal, ‘look forward to the time when they may come home.’96 Active connections within the Scottish Diaspora could facilitate such going home, be it for good, temporary, or in terms of simply maintaining strong links with the old world. This is an opportune moment to return to John Jack and his family, the Scots with whom we started the journey to New Zealand in chapter two. When John died in Wellington on 29 October 1909, his wife

94

95

96

For the role of the nation in this wider context, see T. Bueltmann, ‘“No Colonists are more Imbued with their National Sympathies than Scotchmen”: The Nation as an Analytical Tool in the Study of Migrant Communities’, New Zealand Journal of History, 43, 2 (2009), 169–81. Scottish Mothers’ Union Reports from their Branches on Overseas Links, 1933–4, ATL, MS-Papers 3923-04. Chambers’s Edinburgh Journal, 13 Oct. 1849, 226.

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Helen immediately sent a letter to family members in Scotland, informing them of John’s death, and asking for a notice to be put in the home papers.97 John’s death was well documented in the Wellington press, not only because he was a prominent citizen, but also because he was the first person in New Zealand to be cremated. John had specifically made this request so that his ashes could be sent back to Scotland to be buried in the family plot. His wish was duly observed, relatives in Scotland receiving the ashes in early 1910. When the ashes arrived, a private ceremony was held at the family home in Dundee. John’s ashes were placed on the old oak table in the living room, before the mourners proceeded to the cemetery to lay Jack to rest in the family grave. John’s wife and family only learned of the course of events months later when a letter arrived in Wellington from Helen’s niece, Jeanie Wilson. Although an immediate relative, the two had not met in person for more than two decades, but were now united in sharing their diverse experiences in relation to John’s death through personal correspondence.98 For many of the Scots at the heart of the story that has been told here, then, the departure from their native land was not inevitably a finite act. This underlines that emigration was by no means as conclusive in the later nineteenth and early twentieth centuries as perhaps it had been half a century before.99 New means of communication, and the exchange of ideas and people, secured far-reaching ties and active connections, locating New Zealand firmly in the Scottish Diaspora.

97

98

99

Specifically, she asked for it to be put in the Dundee Advertiser and The Scotsman, for the latter, see The Scotsman, 13 Dec. 1909, 12. Evening Post, 1 Nov. 1909, 1; 2 Nov. 1909, 7; also Karori Cemetery Records, cremation record no. 1, 2 Nov. 1909; Jeanie Wilson to her aunt Helen Jack, Perth, 21 Dec. 1909 and 16 Feb. 1910. For a discussion on this mobility being ‘many-directional’, see C. Harzig et al., What is Migration History? (Cambridge, 2009), 3.

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Conclusion ‘The Scot Abroad: A Sentimental Fraud.’ . . . All the Scots are queer folk, especially abroad . . . Their common memory draws them together in strange and weird societies . . . What queer things are our Caledonian Societies! They touch my soul and my humour at the same time. As soon as a man lands with the smell of the peat still fresh on his tweeds, the local Scots invite him to some function, generally a dinner redolent of the land o’ cakes. I wish I could sketch the touching scene for you . . . On the table in heaped array are oatcakes, bannocks, haggis – and everything else which we generally avoid at home! . . . We paint the heather a colour that no decent heather would ever be . . . Oh yes! We are indeed the sentimental humbugs of the world.1 The Revd James Black’s ridiculing of the public face of Scottish national celebrations overseas concentrated on the superficial and romanticised aspects of Scottishness. Yet there was more to Scottish culture than heather, readings from the bard, and a selection of ethnic foods, but the Revd Black failed to explore the wider issues. The importance of Black’s words, however, lies in the resonances they sound with contemporary debates concerning the nature of Scottish ethnic identity, both at home and abroad. As we have seen, for many observers Scottish ethnic expression reflected a people seeking sanctuary in the past, abandoning their own history in favour of a whiggish history in which England was dominant.2 Such reasoning persists. Originally, it was cultivated within larger Marxist interpretations of imperialism and ethnic dependency. These characterised Scottish history in terms of a core–periphery model of inequality: the core, England, was strong and dominant; the periphery, Scotland, was weak and subservient. Arising from this, Scottish culture was described as a romantic sub-culture, a tradition captured by Samuel Rutherford Crockett and other authors of the the late nineteenth-century Kailyard school. The argument

1

2

‘The Scot Abroad: A Sentimental Fraud’ by the Revd James Black, The Scotsman, 23 Aug. 1928, 8. Cf. C. Kidd, Subverting Scotland’s Past: Scottish Whig Historians and the Creation of an AngloBritish identity, 1689–c. 1830 (Cambridge, 2003), 4–5; for a discussion on the rejection of Scottish history, see also J. Hearn, ‘Narrative, Agency, and Mood: On the Social Construction of National History in Scotland’, Comparative Studies in Society and History, 44 (2002), 752.

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about Scottish inequality developed into a larger model that included the Welsh and Irish in Michael Hechter s notion of the ‘Celtic Fringe’.3 The Scots abroad who attended the types of events belittled by the Revd Black, however, carried deeper meanings of Scottishness within them. For many of them, the trappings of the past, romantic or otherwise, were an intrinsic part of a larger culture integral to their identity. New Zealand writer Jessie Mackay, for instance, set great store on the Scottish roots which had been key to her upbringing.4 When fellow-writer Edith Searle Grossmann, a friend of Mackay’s, sent a note on the Clan Mackay Banner exhibited in the Edinburgh Antiquarian Museum, referring to its ‘soiled and ragged condition’,5 Mackay felt impelled to provide details on the relic to colonial members of the clan. Explaining the history of the banner, she observed: Yet as our modern wont is to read our own subtler time spirit into the customs, the lives, the faiths of primeval peoples, there is a deeper chord here than the mere . . . lilting of superficial curiosity. Strangely suggestive and sweet to the young Mackays should be the memory of the white banner . . .6 It has been the intention of this book not to present a superficial narrative of the activities derided by the Revd Black; instead the aim has been to explore the deeper meanings evoked by Jessie Mackay and many like her. Ethnic roots and identity served an emotional function which deserves recognition. At the same time, it is hoped that this study has moved further, revealing the deeper textures of Scottishness, those that are easily glossed over by the type of sentimentalism the Revd Black mocked. The possibilities for being outwardly, consciously, and publicly Scottish in New Zealand were ample. Individual levels of engagement varied, being determined by the immigrants’ own needs, as well as by the organisations and events they developed, or that were developed by fellow Scots in their respective communities. By trying to define not only their own identity in the new world, but also their place in it, Scottish immigrants could choose to be actively engaged in celebrating, promoting, and maintaining their ethnicity. The key question is this: why did some Scots opt to do so, be overtly Scottish, while others did not? To provide an answer, it is necessary to return to the helpful conceptual dichotomy of primordial and circumstantial ethnicities first explored in the introduction. What this study has highlighted is that national origins are

3

4

5 6

M. Hechter, Internal Colonialism: The Celtic Fringe in British National Development, 1536 to 1966 (Berkeley, 1975); Beveridge, Turnbull, The Eclipse of Scottish Culture. Cf. H. Roberts, ‘Mackay, Jessie 1864–1938’, DNZB, www.dnzb.govt.nz, last visited 25 Jul. 2010. Otago Witness, 3 May 1905, 78. Otago Witness, 10 May 1905, 69.

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not necessarily the key to understanding ethnic identity: a large number of Scots in New Zealand opted for a circumstantial/instrumental interpretation of their Scottish identity. That is, they actively created a celebratory, social Scottishness, which drew upon national symbols; they did so in a fully conscious act of manufacture. These Scots became members of associations because they wished to recreate the life of the old country; perhaps melancholy and longing lay behind the desire to wallow in memories of ‘auld Scotia’. At the same time, however, associations and the activities they promoted also served a series of immediate functions. These depended on the level of involvement, and ranged from the provision of entertainment and conviviality to much more practical benefits, for instance in the form of patronage or employment opportunities. Hence, many Scots were committed to, and invested time in organising, Caledonian Games or lectures on Scottish topics because they expected to gain advantages from their contributions. As much was also true for many of the letter writers encountered in chapter two. For them, contact with fellow Scots and maintenance of ethnic ties through personal correspondence aided the transition to life in New Zealand by offering a safety net and continuities with the old life. The associational typologies advanced in this study show that those Scots involved in associations with an outward orientation were particularly successful in maximising their ethnicity, generating social capital for themselves and the wider Scottish networks they were part of. In particular, they were able to gain respectability in their local community, potentially increasing power and authority. While the social capital thus generated did not automatically translate into status or wealth, there was a strong link between associational membership and success in colonial New Zealand. The associations’ leading members in particular were connected through dense family and business ties, ethnic societies providing a crucial hub. Some individuals may have achieved the same results outside of associations, but formalised group structures allowed Scots to make the most of their ethnic origins. This emphasises the functionality of ethnicity: it was one possible adaptive strategy in the new world. It served as a crucial means of control, but also as a tool for self-promotion and a mode of entry to a collective in which other benefits could be cultivated. In that respect, Scottish ethnicity in New Zealand functioned rather more as a mechanism for integration into the new society than Revd Black’s sentimental source of comfort. The instrumental interpretation of ethnic identity, however, did not inevitably obliterate the underlying cultural fabric of Scottishness. Instead, an interplay between the two, which has been captured in the relational models of explanation employed in this study, existed. These models assisted our discerning of the duality of purpose of Scottishness as both a means to establish continuity with the old world, and a means to adapt to the new. As the connector between the three circles of belonging set apart in the introduction, Scottish ethnic identity could serve as a marker

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of distinction and integration. By focusing on agency, both in the form of individual migrants and the associations that provided formalised structures for agency, the models have also assisted the exploration of the ranges of ethnic identity, capturing their dynamics within the Scottish community. These dynamics are indicators not only of the fluidity of identity, but also of the diverse developments in different New Zealand localities. This underlines that while common origins were a useful denominator, it is crucial to consider both the migrants’ origins and their place of settlement to explain patterns. This point is emphasised when locating New Zealand in the wider Scottish  Diaspora: the Scots’ associative behaviour, and the associational structures put in place, were by no means uniform throughout that Diaspora. In contrast to developments elsewhere, most notably North America, Scots in New Zealand primarily achieved cohesion and standing through the promotion of leisure rather than philanthropy. Although this point of difference does not automatically account for a case of New Zealand exceptionalism, it accentuates that developments in different colonial settings diverged and had more to do with the respective local circumstances, the particular type of migrants who came, and the timing of their arrival than their ethnic origins per se. As has been suggested, the late arrival of migrants, together with their comparatively well-to-do background, were key factors in the absence of strong philanthropic tendencies in the associationalism of the Scots in New Zealand. This study has not characterised the Scots as copying other friendly and benevolent societies. While such organisations were an important part of New Zealand life up to the First World War, the Scots were at the vanguard in the promotion of associational culture. Importantly, while exclusive associational structures emerged, the most prolific associational activities were open and inclusive, Caledonian Games being the prime example. While New Year’s Day sporting gatherings existed in New Zealand from at least the end of the 1840s, it was the Scots who institutionalised them successfully and effectively, guaranteeing the survival of these sporting meets until well into the twentieth century. Though the focus of the events changed over time, their endurance and wide appeal secured the position of New Zealand’s Caledonian societies. As spearheads of the Scottish associational scene, they hence occupied a large arena of civic life through the annual promotion of large-scale leisure and sporting activities. Not only was this a means for Scots to secure their standing throughout New Zealand, it was also one that other ethnic groups hoped to capitalise on. Promoted as a primary annual pastime throughout many New Zealand communities, Caledonian Games were instrumental in the development of field athletics. The key is that the Games met multiple ends. They provided structures for the hosting of a wide variety of sporting competitions from within an ethnic organisation abounding with Scottish symbols, but also aided social cohesion. This was the case because of their wide community appeal, bringing

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together people from diverse backgrounds and age groups, and both sexes. The Games had great recreational value, offered athletic training for the colonial youth, and were linked primarily to the New Year holidays, giving them pre-eminence over Christmas in some areas. These are the key characteristics that mark Caledonian Games in New Zealand off, first, from other team sports with an ethnic rooting, such as cricket. Secondly, however, this is also a development distinct from that of the Games in Scotland itself, emphasising that Diaspora synergies existed, but new world dynamics were often stronger in shaping associational activities. The conclusions drawn emphasise that the activities of the Scots also came to reflect a wider and deeper Scottish contribution to the development of New Zealand society. This was the case not least because of the relative absence of pronounced class strictures in the Scottish immigrant community’s activities. Moreover, the main activities promoted by Scots were inclusive New Zealand community events, opening Scottish culture to the colony. Together with the strong Scottish influence in religion, education, and New Zealand politics, this ensured that, gradually, Scottish culture was normalised, becoming integral to New Zealand culture. From the foundation of Otago University, the provision of night schools, and the spread of the Scottish four-year honours programme, the almost endemic wearing of tartan at school and the popularity of marching teams,7 Scots influenced New Zealand culture in a fundamental way. Given that the Scots were early arrivers and eventually represented up to one-quarter of the settler population, they were, then, de facto disproportionately responsible for New Zealand’s foundational culture. Numbers alone cannot account for the Scottishness of European settler culture in New Zealand. The reason Scots culture permeated so widely is because Scottish associations, and the activities they promoted, were not free-floating, or isolated. Neither did the Scots occupy an ethnic-urban ghetto, nor were they divided from the host society by language or religion: they were deeply rooted in New Zealand civil society. They shaped that society in fundamental ways, while still finding the necessary space for ethnic-national expression. By helping to organise this space, Scottish associations bound migrants with diverse interests, particularly those with a middle-class background who shared enough common aspirations, together. Yet, while middle-class Scots tended to dominate the membership of associations, their records do not suggest the existence of pronounced class fissures. Life in the ‘better Britain’ in the South Seas was characterised by opportunities and upwards social mobility. This is a trend equally evident in the Scots’ personal testimonies, these revealing the degree to 7

Marching teams flourished in New Zealand as a form of organised sport in 1945. For details, see C. Macdonald, ‘Putting Bodies on the Line: Marching Spaces in Cold War Culture’, in P. A. Vertinsky and J. Bale (eds), Sites of Sport: Space, Place, Experience (London and New York, 2004).

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which Scots associated New Zealand with the ideals of freedom, democracy, and classlessness. Scottish values and culture tended to cut across class boundaries. Much of the ethos of celebrating Burns, for instance, was also connected to the ideas of classlessness, meritocracy, and democracy. The immigrants’ own class character underpins this as we find a relatively homogenous group.8 With this in mind, the Scottish associations’ role as providers of space for not only ethnic engagement, but also civic engagement, was all the more important in New Zealand settler society. Compared to Europe, where urbanisation was a crucial factor in the rise of associationalism, it was a common feature in the development of both rural and urban settings in New Zealand. While the earliest formalised structures emerged in the more developed centres, rural New Zealand was dotted with societies at a remarkable speed. In the larger matrix of associationalism, New Zealand thus deserves a place not least because it shows that associations which developed in the context of migration, thus the relocation of large numbers of people, do not have to be intrinsically connected to urbanisation processes. One possible explanation for this difference is that without as broad a range of public and civic institutions at hand in its infant years as in the old world that could be utilised to claim authority and power, ethnic associations were all the more crucial, a trend enforced by the late settlement of New Zealand, and the subsequent fast development of New Zealand society.9 In terms of Habermas’s public sphere, it might be argued that it was largely vacant in early colonial New Zealand in the sense that no or only limited structures had already been established in the midnineteenth century. This allowed settlers of different backgrounds to place themselves within the public sphere and to utilise the space available to their benefit. Ethnic associations, such as those promoted by the Scots, were a co-ordinated response to the vacant sphere, instituting formalised structures which provided a platform for self-organisation outside the political domain. Read against the associational typology advanced in this book, another more specific conclusion can be drawn. The level of effectiveness of Scottish associations as a platform for self-organisation depended on the particular type of association and its relationship to civil society, and one established upon principles of inclusion and exclusion. In the case of the majority of specialised Scottish societies, for instance those with local roots, the societies themselves opted for principles of exclusion, implemented through restrictive membership policies and the types of activities organised. This 8

9

The majority belonged to the lower middle-class or the skilled and literate working class. See T. Brooking, ‘Weaving the Tartan into the Flax: Networks, Identities and Scottish Migration to Nineteenth-Century Otago, New Zealand’, in McCarthy (ed.), Global Clan. Cf. D. Pearson, ‘The Ties that Unwind: Civic and Ethnic Imaginings in New Zealand’, Nations and Nationalism, 6, 1 (2000), 91–110.

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explains why, with the decline of the more open Caledonian societies, the existing two-tier system began to tilt towards the inward-oriented associations from the early twentieth century. This highlights that associative behaviour was also dynamic over time: it answered to the changing needs of Scottish migrants over time in relation to generational cross-overs and alternation, as well as the increasingly diverse ethnic make-up of New Zealand society. From the early twentieth century onwards, Scottish associations survived in the cultural sphere; social activities and conviviality took precedence over the types of pursuits previously taken up that were of broader community appeal. In short, Scottish immigrants had become Scottish New Zealanders who became New Zealand Scots. The important point in this argument is that although circumstantial interpretations of ethnic identity were crucial, the underlying cultural fabric continued to play an important role over the whole period this study is concerned with. It offered the most easily accessible and usable common denominator for the formation of a collective identity, yet was open to situational influences that linked it to the host society. One example of such an influence is war, which commonly accentuated the emphasis on an integrative Britishness, even among those clubs and societies that were more exclusive and inward-oriented. This is a sign of flexibility, supplying one reason why Scottish cultural traditions and identity were not obliterated in the new homeland. Ethnic networks and associations provided the locus for these traditions, while equally assisting the development of community ties, of sociation. The last is ‘the form . . . in which individuals grow together into a unity and within which their interests are realised.’10 The result was a counterbalancing of transience, isolation, and individualism, but the degree to which Scots were able to tie their activities into local communities varied. Structures were clearly strongest in those areas where larger numbers of Scots had settled, indicating the importance of regionalism for the development New Zealand. Yet, patterns from one place of settlement cannot be read as surrogate for developments in New Zealand as a whole. While practices and organisational fixtures were similar across the country, it is within their respective local communities that these emerged and progressed. That said, it is hoped that the case study framework employed in this book has given adequate recognition to locale, thereby drawing more widely applicable conclusions that offer broader insight. Inevitably, any study of an ethnic group, even a group as highly integrated as the Scots in New Zealand, risks privileging those who persisted with their ethnic affiliations over those transients or ‘faders’ who rejected, ignored, or lost their original identity. This study has certainly made much of those involved in associations rather than those who were not; those

10

G. Simmel, On Individuality and Social Forms: Selected Writings, ed. by D. Levine (Chicago, 1971), 24.

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who wrote letters rather than those who cut off ties with the old world. It is recognised, therefore, that this study is one of extreme associationalism. It is about those who stood out as brothers ‘shoulder tae shoulder’.11 At the same time, the study has also shown that a very large proportion of Scots were persisters, while the examination of the Caledonian Games in particular demonstrated that many non-Scots availed themselves of Scottish cultural capital. In this sense, ethnicities cut both ways. The cases of migration, association, and networking that have been presented in this study, partial though they may be at times, combined with the interlocking of Scots and non-Scots through certain cultural expressions, offers a further counterpoint to Fairburn’s controversial and much-debated thesis of social atomisation. His argument that New Zealand society lacked the glue that bonded mature European urban societies, or tightly defined rural communities, is significantly challenged by the Scots examples outlined here: not only in the sheer number of their activities but also by their early timing. The Scots at the heart of this study show that networks, both formal and informal, and associationalism were marked features of colonial life throughout the country. While the drifters and sheep-station men of Fairburn’s work may have felt that there was no society in New Zealand, while they may not have found the Arcadian ideal they had been promised, the majority of the Scots studied would not have agreed that communities were weak or absent. They were able to seize the opportunities provided, successfully generating rewards from within their own ethnic bounds that could transcend the same. The Scots were champions of the ethnic to make their ideal society. Civic-mindedness played a central part in this, with some associations being civic before they were ethnic, and most being civic as well as ethnic. This highlights that Scottish ethnicity, in all the varied forms it could take and that have been explored in this book, was essentially a strategy to overcome the potentially fracturing effects of setting up home in a new world. While the Scots assimilated quickly, they were never ‘invisible ethnics’.12 They were interlocked ethnics, their ethnicity, culture, and traditions becoming integral to the making of New Zealand society. The broader implications of this book are that it serves well for New Zealand historiography to branch out, transcending previous mono- and bicultural interpretations of the country’s past by giving voice to specific settler groups. While this study has been concerned with the Scots, the point applies more generally to other groups from the British Isles, first and foremost to the English, as well as immigrants from other places across Europe and beyond: all groups deserve scrutiny in their own right. The focused study of ethnic groups has important implications not only for New Zealand as a whole, but also for the history of specific regions. In particular, 11

12

This was the motto of a number of societies, for example of the Waitaki Gaelic Society, see North Otago Times, 10 May 1898, 1. Armitage, ‘The Scottish Diaspora’, 246.

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this book has shown that some New Zealand regions were more ethnically varied than has previously been assumed, the South Island’s West Coast being a prime example. The diversity thus revealed requires further scrutiny to understand better the shaping forces of colonial New Zealand. Finally, this research has stressed the importance of locating places of Scots’ settlement, New Zealand in this case, in the wider Scottish world. Diaspora is not simply a term to describe the scattering of Scots abroad: it operated as an active link between old and new worlds, making tangible these links, particularly through communication processes. Channelled through associations and wider ethnic networks, and covering cultural and political spheres, far-reaching transnational links have been traced. Their significance and depth serves as a timely reminder of the political rhetoric that gained momentum in Scotland at the end of the 1990s. By focusing on the idea of bringing émigré Scots back into the fold, talk of the ‘extended family’ proliferated.13 Such vocabulary is comparatively new to Scotland’s Diaspora, which has traditionally been more muted than that of the Irish. The fact of the matter is that the establishment of the new Scottish Parliament ended the incorporating Union. While this has not (yet) led to full independence, it marks a crucial turning point in Scottish history and historiography.14 Scotland’s first SNP-led administration takes advantage of this turning point, giving increasing attention to expatriate Scots. While networks like Global Friends of Scotland or Globalscot were initiated under the previous government, the SNP heavily draws on them, officially politicising the Scottish Diaspora. Such a Diaspora, one argument advances, ‘can play a major part in this process [of strengthening Scotland’s economy]’.15 Coupled with the ongoing commercialisation of Highland culture and newly invented traditions such as Tartan Day,16 these developments denote a watershed in Scottish history, which may ultimately culminate in and link to Scottish independence. As MacKenzie rightly observes, Scottish Nationalists ‘have long hoped that former migrants . . . would play their part in the struggle to bring state and nation back into alignment’.17 In view of these developments, the interest in the Scottish Diaspora and connections home are measurable, for example in terms of clan societies connected across the globe or recent more popular studies such as Kay’s The 13

14

15

16

17

Helen Liddell, then Secretary of State for Scotland, in a talk delivered in New York, cf. M. Pittock, Celtic Identity, 2; Sunday Herald, 14 Oct. 2001. R. J. Finlay, ‘New Britain, New Scotland, New History? The Impact of Devolution on the Development of Scottish Historiography’, Journal of Contemporary History, 36, 2 (2001), 385. ‘Challenge Set for Global Scots’, SNP, 23 Dec. 2007, www.snp.org/node/7231, last visited 27 Aug. 2010. Tartan Day was officially legislated in the US Senate, see E. Hague, ‘The Scottish Diaspora: Tartan Day and the Appropriation of Scottish Identities in the United States’, in D. C. Harvey et al. (eds)., Celtic Geographies: Old Culture, New Times (London, 2001), 140. General editor’s introduction to Harper, Emigration from Scotland Between the Wars, 18.

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Scottish World, Hunter’s Scottish Exodus: Travels Among a Worldwide Clan, or the books by SNP MSP Kenny MacAskill and former First Minister Henry McLeish.18 The most co-ordinated effort to date to link expatriates back to Scotland has been Homecoming Scotland, a year-long celebration of Scotland’s contributions to the world held in 2009, and thus timed to mark the 250th anniversary of Scotland’s national poet, Robert Burns. In the case of New Zealand, the linking back is made more difficult by the country’s geographical position: it remains the farthest outpost of diaspora. Moreover, it lacks the powerful, contemporary Scottish associational culture of North America. While many societies still exist in New Zealand, none of them yields substantial funds to establish and maintain connections with Scotland. This stands in contrast to their North American sister societies.19 Whether it will be possible to integrate New Zealand Scots and their descendants more firmly into the new Scotland remains to be seen, on the local level contacts no doubt exist.20 What the Scottish Diaspora offers is a largely unploughed field for researchers. Diaspora is, as Akenson declared for the Irish Diaspora, ‘itself a land of scholarly opportunity’.21 The message should be recognised and seized by historians working on the Scots abroad.

18

19

20

21

B. Kay, The Scottish World: A Journey Into the Scottish Diaspora (Edinburgh, 2006); J. Hunter, Scottish Exodus: Travels Among a Worldwide Clan (Edinburgh, 2005); K. MacAskill and H. McLeish, Global Scots: Voices from Afar (Edinburgh, 2006); also K. MacAskill and H. McLeish, Wherever the Saltire Flies (Edinburgh, 2006). One example is the Toronto-based Scottish Studies Foundation whose objective it is to ‘encourage research, both inside and outside universities, in Scottish culture – history, literature, religion, art, law, and in Scottish migrations to North America; and to publish historical studies and documents relating to Scottish culture and migrations. Our present emphasis is aimed at raising the awareness of the Scottish heritage in Canada through various levels of education including the funding of academic scholarships in Scottish Studies in Canada and Scotland.’ See www.scottishstudies.com, last visited 29 May 2010. A recent example is the case of Mrs Sandy McKay of Brechin, Scotland, whose parents emigrated to New Zealand and then returned to Scotland. Mrs McKay came across material relating to the Wairarapa Caledonian Society Pipe Band and established contact with New Zealand to return the material, cf. Wairarapa Midweek, 22 Apr. 2008, 12. D. H. Akenson, The Irish Diaspora: A Primer (Toronto, 1996), 271.

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Bibliography MANUSCRIPT SOURCES For items from collections or groups of papers, reference is made to the head collection or group. Individual item reference numbers and titles, if different, can be found in the respective footnote. Personal papers, letters, and diaries Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand Charles Claude Bagnall Papers, 1898–, MS-Group-0950. Brown Family Correspondence, 1884–5, 1918, MS-Papers-4825. Cowie Family Papers, 1876–89, MS-Papers-1373. Alexander Robertson Falconer, ‘Journal of My Visit to Shetland, 1903–4’, fMS-Papers-6806. Gilmore Family Letters, 1829–1903, qMS-0840. George Grant Letters, 1885–1918, MS-Papers-0339. David Guild, Reminiscences, 1876–, MS-Papers-1147. Helps Family Papers, 1868–75, MS-Papers-7888-111. Jack Family Papers, 1878–1913, MS-Group-0977. John Jack Journal, 1883–4, MS-1074. Thomas Keir Journal, 1858–9, 1861, 1863–5, Micro-MS-0837. MacDonald Family Papers, 1867–1980, MS-Group-1462. Agnes Susan Craig MacGregor Diary, 1881–6, MS-Papers-4275. Alexander McKay Papers, 1864–1917, MS-Papers-4409. Norman Roderick McKenzie Papers, 1850–, MS-Papers-0248. Donald McLean Papers, 1832–76, MS-Group-1551. Donald McLean Diary, 1848–49, MS-1220–30. McLean Family Papers, 1826–1927, MS-Group-1556. Susan Millar Letters, 1856, MS-Papers-1057. Hector William Pope Smith Journal, 1858–72, MS-Papers-3520. Thomson Family Papers, 1873–94, MS-Papers-5174. Sarah Williams Reminiscences, c. 1928, MS-Papers-0648. George Wilson, Letters by his brother William, 1862–71, MS-Papers-3957. Hocken Library, Dunedin, New Zealand Andrew Blackwood, Letters from J. F. Blackwood, 1857–63, Misc-MS-0389. Buchanan and Marshall Families Correspondence, 1842–92, Misc-MS0977.

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Buchanan and McCulloch Families Correspondence, 1848–1900, Misc-MS1628. Jessie Cousins Letter, August 1872, Misc-MS-1522. John and William Dewar Letters, 1863–77, MS-2373. Dix Family Collection, 1863–1969, AG-669. Margaret Galbraith, Letters from Nan Drennan, 1916–17, 1921, Misc-MS1005. James Hendry, Letters from his son, 1840–9, Misc-MS-0494. Felicity Jack Family Papers, c. 1913–18, Misc-MS-1878. William Johnstone Papers, c. 1837–1956, MS-0993. Mackie, Buchanan, Coulter and Ramsay Letters, c. 1876–c. 90, Misc-MS1921. Mathieson Family Papers, 1856–92, 94-061. Otago Early Settlers Letters, 1848, MS-0439/143. John Roberts Family Papers, 1864–1906, ARC-0189. Shennan Family Papers, 1847–1997, ARC-0317. James McCosh and Jane Smith Letters, 1872–7, Misc-MS-1591. James Strachan, ‘My First Twelve Years on My Own’, c. 1915, ARC-0415. John Thomson Letters, 1860–2, MS-582/F/33. Graham Family Correspondence, 1856–89, Misc-MS-1343. James M. Baxter Letters, 1880–4, Misc-MS-0878. John Wilson, Letters from Robert Nicol, 1874–8, Misc-MS-0954. North Otago Museum Archive, Oamaru, New Zealand J. A. Brown Personal Clippings Book, 13/1b. Meek Family Papers, 5007/128d. Otago Settlers Museum, Dunedin, New Zealand Thomas Adams Letters, 1851–63, DC-1003. Alexander Bain Letters, 1878, DC-0487. Brown Letters and Reminiscences, DC-2412. Francis Cairns Letters, 1860s, AG-216. Edgar and Alice Clarke Letters, 1876–86, DC-0576. James Drummond Letters, 1858, DC-0588. James and Martha Graham Letters, 1860–89, DC-0987. Archibald Henderson Letters, 1860–75, DC-2399. Archibald McCallum Letters, 1860s, DC-2799. Peter McLaren Letters, 1850s, DC-0357. Robert Nicol Correspondence, 1874–81, DC-0069. Jane Smith Letters, 1875–1906, AG-183. George Sutherland Letters, 1867, DC-1897. William Wilson Letters, 1862–72, DC-0454. Private Ownership William Duthie Letters and Testimonials, held by Val Petrie, Auckland.

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Society records Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand Canterbury Caledonian Society Papers, MS-Papers-5251. Comunn Gaidhealach Wellington Minute Books, 1930–86, MSX-30553061. Ellesmere Caledonian Society, in John Hall Papers, MS-Group-0033. Hastings Caledonian Society, in McLean Family Papers, MS-Papers-00321028. Hawke’s Bay Caledonian Society, in McLean Family Papers, MS-Papers0032-1023. Inglewood Caledonian Society, Programme, 1908, Eph-A-HIGHLANDGAMES-1900/1980s. Wairarapa Caledonian Society, Miscellanea (Australian Joint Copying Project: Miscellaneous Series Microfilm), Micro-MS-Coll-20-2775. Wellington Caledonian Society, Programmes and Poster, in Jack Family Ephemera, 1886–1897, 1911, MS-Papers-3923-14. Wellington Gaelic Society, Correspondence and Constitution, in J. G. Griffin Papers, 86-043-3/l5. Wellington Scottish Society, in F. D. Thomson Papers, MS-Group-1472 and fMS-Papers-8482. Hocken Library, Dunedin, New Zealand Dunedin Burns Club Records, 1892–1991, ARC-0280. [early records lost] Dunedin Scottish Society Incorporated, Records, 1920s–60s, 87-040. Gaelic Society of New Zealand Records, 1906–81, AG-542. [early records lost] Milton Highland Pipe Band Records, 82–171. Mt Ida Caledonian Society, Day Book, Rules and advertising, 1881, c. 1904–11, in William Strong Papers, MS-1048. New Zealand Academy of Highland and National Dancing, Records, 1901–99, MS-1974. Orkney and Shetland Society, Records, 1929–85, 95–127. Otago Scottish Council, Records, 1925–78, AG-008. Otago Caledonian Society, 1868–1963, MS 1045. Piping and Dancing Association of New Zealand Otago Centre Records, 1913–90, ARC-0186. Piping and Dancing Association of New Zealand Records, 1908, 1918–93, ARC-0052. National Library of Scotland, Edinburgh Buenos Aires St Andrew’s Society of the River Plate, St Andrew’s Gazette, 1894, AB.8.79.4. Cairo Caledonian Society, 1923, 6.1032. Ceylon Caledonian Society Constitution and Rules, n.d., H1.84.149. Montreal St Andrew’s Society Constitution, 1835–44, 5.5223(26).

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New York St Andrew’s Society Rules, 1764, 5.264. Ottawa St Andrew’s Society Constitution, 1869, APS.1.91.42. Philadelphia St Andrew’s Society Rules, 1751, Mf.134, reel 9558, no.01. Quebec St Andrew’s Society Constitution, 1835, APS.1.91.43. Toronto Caledonian Society Constitution and By-laws, 1871, AP.2.88.13. North Otago Museum Archive, Oamaru, New Zealand Oamaru Caledonian Society Minute Books, 1878–85, 98/29c. Oamaru Caledonian Society Minute Books, 1885–95 and 1905–16, 382/ 29d. Oamaru Caledonian Society Scrapbook, 3790/119b. North Otago Caledonian Society Rules, 3790/119b. North Otago Scottish Society Papers, 3906/118Z. Puke Ariki Museum Heritage Collection, New Plymouth, New Zealand New Plymouth Caledonian Society Records, 1921–82, ARC2002-852. New Plymouth Scottish Women’s Club Records, 1937–80, Ms1163. Scottish Collection, University of Guelph, Canada Boston Burns Club Celebration, 1859, s0328b07. Chicago Caledonian Society, ‘Oration on Robert Burns’, 1893, FC 162.C15 NO.07317. Dumfries Burns Club Anniversaries, 1901–2, s0050b36. Halifax Caledonian Club Constitution and Rules, FC 162. C15 no. 67159. Hamilton Burns Club Constitution and By-laws, 1858, FC 162.C15 NO. 43339. Montreal Burns Club Bye-laws, 1859, FC 162.C15 no.50615. Montreal Caledonian Society Halloween Concert, 1878, s0545b08. Montreal Caledonian Society, Early Scottish Influence in North America, Lecture by F. S. MacLennan, 1898, FC 162.C15 NO.04637. Quebec Caledonian Society Rules and Regulations, 1834, 1839, FC 162.C15 no.54948. Vancouver Caledonian Games Souvenir Programme, 1922, s0136b41. Wairarapa Archive, Masterton, New Zealand Wairarapa Caledonian Society Collection, 1899–1997, 89-038. Wairarapa Caledonian Society Programmes, in Leonard Frances Collection, 10-145/12-1.R2B4S5. Wairarapa Caledonian Society Sports Programmes, in Leonard Frances Collection, 03-150/1.R7B2S6. Miscellaneous Archives Canterbury Caledonian Society Records, kept at the Society’s archives. Hutt Valley Scottish Society Records, n.d., Hutt City Archives.

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Index adaptability, 5, 49 adjustment, 14, 62–3 Advances to Settlers Act, 196 Africa, 23 agency, 9–11, 15–16, 206 and diaspora, 182, 200 Agent General for New Zealand, 192 agents historical, 2, 9–11 emigration, 33, 52, 105, 191–2 socialisation, 45 Agricultural and Pastoral Association, 128 of North Otago, 129, 141, 146 Aitken, Henry, 115–16 Akenson, D. H., 5, 182n, 212 Antipodes, 30, 45, 126, 194, 197 Arcadian, 30, 48, 210 Ash, Marinell, 2 assisted passage, 29–32 associational culture, 15–16, 39, 65–7, 88, 92–3, 97, 109, 123, 132, 154, 173, 181, 206, 212; see also associationalism, associations associationalism, 11, 14–15, 32, 39, 93, 121, 122, 149, 152, 161, 165–6, 206, 208, 210 anatomy and function of, 94–123 evolution of, 64–93 formal and informal, 4 localised, 77 re-popularisation of, 85–92 specialisation of, 75–85 typology, 121–2, 165–6, 208 see also associational culture, associations associations, 11–12, 14–15, 17, 39, 64–212 AGM, 74–5, 81, 99, 112–13, 116, 139 admission to, 97, 104

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annual fee, 91, 114 annual gathering, 71, 79, 80–1, 87, 95–6, 104, 113 annual meeting, 80, 83, 100, 104n, 114, 167 branch, 76–7, 80–1, 89, 92, 98, 190, 201 benevolent branch, 72 cultural branch, 109–10 directors, 66, 70, 74n, 97, 98, 105–15, 119, 142, 146, 149, 186 formalised structures for agency, 206 German, 71n, 96–7, 123 governance, 108–14 hierarchies, 65, 120 homeland referent, 15, 185 lady membership, 97–8 locally rooted, 81–2, 92, 97 main Scottish associations, 66–7 membership, 14, 39, 66n, 76, 83, 88, 90, 92, 94–110, 117, 120–1, 123, 149, 152–3, 165, 178, 185, 205, 207–8 membership fee, 95, 150 monthly meeting, 104 outside the political domain, 15, 65, 208 periodisation, 14, 68, 92–3, 98, 122, 173 President, 69, 75, 80, 83, 95, 108–16, 139–40, 148, 161, 171–3, 177, 201 Quarterly General meeting, 104 realignment, 142–53 re-popularisation 85, 93, 97–9, 109–10, 149, 154, 161, 173 restrictive membership, 97–8, 100, 104, 165, 208 rules, 66, 70–3, 77n, 80, 86, 88, 94–6, 99–100, 104, 108, 112–14, 147

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Index Secretary, 84, 91, 96, 105, 108, 110–12, 114 subscription, 84, 95, 100n Treasurer, 91, 108, 110–11, 113 Vice-President, 80, 108, 110, 113, 171 athletics and associational realignment, 142–53 cash, 69, 148n, 150 field athletics, 206 formalisation of, 142 organised, 122, 135 professional, 92, 126 atomisation, 4, 210; see also Miles Fairburn Auckland Thistle Club, 88 Auld Lang Syne, 173, 180 Australia, 5, 31, 42, 46, 50, 53, 119–20, 124, 126, 127n, 138, 153, 176, 197 Melbourne, 53, 70, 184 Australia Land Company Ltd, 53 auto-didactism, 79 Ayrshire Association, 167–8, 179 bagpipe, 26, 73, 144, 154 Ballance, John, 190, 196 Barr, John, 160, 168 Barth, Frederick, 9, 77 Bell, Francis Dillon, 192 benevolence, 66, 70–2, 82, 187 and Scottish homeland politics, 187–200 see also philanthropy better Britain, 207 better England, 3 Black, James, 203–4 Black Watch, 26 Blackie, John Stuart, 183–5, 199 Blackwood, Andrew, 57 Blackwood, J. F., 47 Bodnar, John, 1n Boer War, 199 Bonar, James Alexander, 71 Bonnie Prince Charlie, 80 Borton, John, 119–20 Boyer, M., 167 Brien, William, 84, 98 Britain, 3, 14, 26, 29; see also Scotland, England, United Kingdom

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British empire, 5, 13, 23–4, 28, 87, 177 British world, 5n, 14, 25 Britishness, 3, 24n, 28, 177, 209 Brockmeier, J., 157 Brooking, Tom, 3n, 195–6 Brown, George, 56 Brown, William, 6–7 Brydon, Thomas, 53 Buchanan, David, 57 Burns, A. J., 84 Burns, Agnes, 170 Burns, Robert, 15–16, 32, 47, 155–79, 198, 212 centenary, 159n, 175–8 see also Burns Night/anniversary Burns, Thomas, 31–2, 64, 160, 168, 170 Burns Club, 15, 80, 83–5, 103, 122, 160–1, 172–9, 200 Auckland, 83, 177 Dumfries, 176 Dunedin, 83–4, 98, 103–5, 111–13, 155, 171, 176, 178 Thames, 161, 176 Wellington, 162 Burns Federation (Kilmarnock), 83, 85, 90, 171–3, 175–6 Burns Night/anniversary, 15, 84, 97, 156, 160, 163, 165, 170 immortal memory, 161, 168 toasts, 155, 158, 160–1, 163, 175, 178 see also memory Burns statue, 16, Auckland, 170 Dunedin, 168–70 Hokitika, 173 Kilmarnock, 167, Timaru, 170–3 see also monumentalisation Burt, Alexander, 180 Busby, James, 25 Caithness and Sutherland Association, 75n, 95, 97, 185–7 Caledonian Games, 7, 15–16, 66, 68–70, 72, 81, 86, 89–90, 99, 106, 114, 119, 121–2, 124–54, 160, 164, 205–7, 210 and associational realignment, 142–53

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Caledonian Games (cont.) attendance, 125, 129–32, 134, 147–8, 152 band, 132, 141–2 as a business venture, 68, 89, 138–42 contests, 69, 134, 142–6, 149 cycling, 69, 140, 145–50 grandstand, 95, 119, 128–9, 141, 148 ground, 68, 95, 128–9, 131, 138–42, 145–9, 152 Highland dancing, 69, 129, 142 liquor licence, 139 privileges, 139–40, 149 prizes, 81, 137, 145–7 and re-popularistion, 85–6 rules, 144–5, 148n, 149–50 tenders, 119, 141 track, 86, 135, 140, 145–8 wrestling, 96, 127, 137, 150 see also Caledonian Society, Highland Games Caledonian Society, 14–15, 54n, 66–75, 77–9, 82–3, 85–9, 91–3, 94, 96–7, 106, 108–11, 114, 116, 121–2, 126–8, 132, 135–7, 139, 142–53, 173, 175, 179, 203, 206, 209 Canterbury (Christchurch), 70n, 74n Clutha, 142 federation, 89–92 governance, 108–14 Greymouth, 74n Hokitika (Westland), 71, 96, 173 Invercargill (Southland), 68, 90, 151 London, 70 main societies, 67 Manawatu and West Coast, 137 Melbourne (Victoria), 70, 95 membership, 94–108 as a network hub, 114–23 New Plymouth, 88n, 88–9, 152–3 Oamaru, 69–70, 72, 74–5, 79n, 80n, 95–6, 98–101, 105–9, 111–20, 128–9, 131, 135, 138–41, 146–9, 169, 178, 184, 187 Otago (Dunedin), 66, 68, 70, 73, 76–7, 80, 82, 92, 160, 167, 180, 183, 190, 193 Quebec, 70n rules, 95

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Timaru, 106, 141 Turakina, 68 Wairarapa, 89, 95–7, 99–101, 106, 109, 111, 139–41, 143, 145, 150, 152, 200, 212n Wanganui, 150 Wellington, 68, 73–4, 90, 98, 106, 123, 131, 141, 152, 155n see also associations, Caledonian Games Campbell, John Logan, 6, 31 camaraderie, 14, 65, 120 Canada, 2n, 14, 66, 71, 94, 124n, 125, 128n, 132, 134, 135n, 174, 185n, 191, 194, 212n Cap Breton, 38n Nova Scotia, 5, 10n, 38n, 60 Quebec, 10n, 70n Toronto, 66, 71, 72n, 185, 212n Upper Canada, 58 Vancouver, 126n Vancouver Island, 174 capitalism, 22 Caribbean, 21 Carnegie, Andrew, 163n Carnegie Corporation, 163 Catholicism, 24 Celtic Chair, 16, 79, 183–5, 188n Celtic Fringe, 204 core–periphery model, 203 see also Michael Hechter census, 22, 31n, 32, 105, 119n, 130 published figures, 38–9 records in New Zealand, 35–6 charitable institutions, 70, 72, 185 charity, 152, 191 Chief, 80, 87, 91, 98, 108–10, 173, 188 Chieftain, 91, 110 Chieftainess, 98 Chinese, 96, 191 Chisholm, James, 198–9 Christie, William, 116–17 circles of belonging, 10–11, 14, 63, 120, 122, 205 civic life, 40, 64, 72, 106, 113, 116, 120, 122–3, 126, 134, 152–3, 206 civil society, 15, 24, 65, 122, 172, 207–8 Scottish, 24, 40 Civil War, 31, 134

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Index Clan Mackay, 204 clan societies, 211 class, 9, 22, 24, 34–5, 105–6, 207–8 middle class, 105–6, 153, 207, 208n mobility, 34, 47, 66, 207 working class, 47, 79n, 106 Clearances, 19–20, 187, 195, 201 Cohen, A. P., 156 Cohen, Robin, 181–2 Coleman, J. S., 120–1 Colley, Linda, 7, 24n Colonial Committee of the Free Church of Scotland, 31 colonial congregations, 28 Colonial Investment Company, 116 colonisation, 3, 193 systematic, 29–30n commemoration see memory Company of Scotland, 23 concentric loyalties, 10n continuity leadership in associations, 112–13, 123 with the past, 11, 42–3, 45, 61, 156, 159, 163, 205 Coulter, William, 57 Craigie, James, 162–3, 171–3 Creagh, A. G., 148 Crockett, S. R., 203 Crofters’ Aid Committee (London), 188 Crofters Holdings (Scotland) Act, 188 Crown Mills Oamaru, 108, Culloden, 20, 87 cultural baggage, 1 Cyclopedia of New Zealand, 36, 44, 99–100, 105–6 Dalziel, R., 195 Darien, 23 Dawson, William, 170 Death Registers, 35 Declaration of Arbroath, 47 democracy, 105, 163, 172, 208 demographic overview, 28–39 Dewar, John, 47–9, 55 Diaspora collective diaspora consciousness, 194

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definition of, 181–3 enforced, 21 homeland and Diaspora, 165 Jews, 181 typology, 181 victimhood, 181–2 see also Scottish Diaspora Dinnie, Donald, 138 disculturation, 20 dislocation, 20 Disruption, 31 domestic servant, 29, 48, 52 Drennan, Nan, 48, 60–1 Duthie, John, 54 Duthie, William Ogilvy, 52–3 Duysdale, William, 53 East India Company, 23 Edinburgh School Board, 185 Edinburgh University Council, 184 education, 5–6, 16, 24–5, 163, 207 democratic ideals, 6 and Scottish associations, 70–4, 75n, 79, 82, 87, 90, 113, 126, 152, 212n Scottish honours system, 6 elite, 14, 16, 24, 40, 105–6, 128, 161, 167 emigration, 10n, 14, 19–40, 42, 44, 46n, 51, 64, 107, 202 agents, 52 to Canada, 66 circular mobility, 21 and Diaspora, 181 and kinship, 62 paradox, 22 in personal testimonies, 49–50, 55 pull-factors, 31, 38, 46 push-factors, 21 schemes, 16, 189–94 Empire, 3, 5, 13, 87, 152, 177, 192, 199 Empire Settlement Act, 29 England, 13, 22–3, 26, 35, 192, 203 Liverpool, 188 London, 3, 23, 29, 33, 41, 50–2, 54, 70, 76, 185n, 187n, 188, 190, 194, 198; see also Britain, Scotland, United Kingdom epistolary practices, 14, 41–63 Erll, A., 157

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Errington, Jane, 58 ethnic dependency, 203 ethnic fade, 67 ethnic identity, 2, 7–12, 51, 92, 203, 205–6, 209 circumstantial (instrumental), 8–9, 204–5, 209 constructivist, 9 primordial, 8–9, 169, 204 see also ethnicity ethnicity, 2, 7–12, 18, 39, 91, 96, 109, 142, 154, 156, 164–5, 172, 204–5, 210; see also ethnic identity ethno-centric, 91 ethno-cultural practice, 126 ethno-symbolism, 182 evening classes, 73–4 exile, 19–21, 40, 181 Faed, Thomas, 19 Fairburn, Miles, 62, 96, 210; see also atomisation farming, 12, 20, 129, 196, runs, 6, 105, 107, 119–20, 183, 195 station, 6, 45, 107, 120, 210 Farquhar, Alex, 161 Fergusson, Robert, 171–3 Finlay, R. J., 25 First World War, 12, 29, 199–200, 206 Fitzpatrick, David, 42–3 Fleming, Neil, 111, 119–20, 184 Fraser, Peter, 6 fraternal organisations, 14–15; see also associations Free Church, 6, 13, 28, 31, 64, 160, 200 free passage, 29, 50 free-trade, 25 freedom, 30, 47, 199, 208 friendly society, 66n, 79, 83, 111 Fry, Michael, 19, 23 Gaelic Society, 15, 92, 109–10, 165 Dunedin (New Zealand), 17, 75–81, 84–5, 89, 97–8, 100, 103–4, 106, 108, 114, 185, 188–9, 200 Inverness, 75, 77 London, 76, 194 Waitaki, 81, 98, 210n see also associations

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Gans, Herbert, 91 Gardiner, James, 120 Geertz, Clifford, 8 gender, 9, 34, 97–9 George IV, 78 Gerber, David, 43 Germans, 71n, 96–7 German clubs, 71n, 123 Gibbon, Lewis Grassic, 20 Gibson, James, 174 Gillies, John, 84 Glasgow Burns House Club, 172 Glendining, Robert, 6–7 Gloup disaster, 186 gold, 31–2, 38, 50, 64, 115, 120 Graham, James, 56, 58 Grant, J. G. S., 30, 167, 169 Great Celtic Demonstration, 77 Great Demonstration in Dumfries, 176 Haast, Julius, 50 Habermas, Jürgen, 11, 208; see also public sphere Halbwachs, Maurice, 156n; see also memory Hallowe’en, 72, 85, 87 Handlin, Oscar, 1n Harcourt, William, 192 Harper, Marjory, 10n, 21 Hearn, Terry, 38n, 39 heather, 87–8, 164, 174, 203 heavy industries, 34 Hechter, Michael, 204; see also Celtic Fringe Hector, James, 50 Hedley, Allan, 120 Hendry, George, 49, 58 Here to Stay, 19n Highcliffe School, 52 Highland, 19–20, 76–8, 80, 100, 114, 122, 126–8, 181, 183–95, 201 clan life, 108 culture, 2 109, 165, 211 emigration, 33, 38n, 39, 44, 76–7, 104 Highland–Lowland division, 92n, 104, 155n identity, 104, 165n relief funds, 16, 100n

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Index symbolism, 26–7, 78, 164–5 settlements, 21 see also associations, Clearances Highland Games, 31n, 65, 69, 124–5, 127 Highland Games Association, 86 in Scotland, 140 see also Caledonian Games Highland Land Reform Association (London), 190 Highland Mary, 177 Highland Regiment, 194, 200 Highland Society Edinburgh, 142 Mataura, 89 New South Wales, 84 New York, 124n Wellington, 87n Highlandism, 25, 81, 110, 159 historical agent see agent Hobsbawm, Eric, 9n Home Rule, 26, 197; see also Scottish Home Rule Association Homecoming, 156n, 212 homeland politics, 16, 187–200 House of Representatives, 54, 109, 127, 162 Hoy, Sew, 96 Hunter, Jim, 212 identity see ethnic identity, ethnicity immigrant community, 2, 35, 157, 161, 188, 194, 207 immigration, 2, 64 land grant, 30, 32, 190 phases, 31–5 schemes, 52, 186 imperialism, 40, 203 imperialists, 29 India, 10n, 94, 164n, 174, 192 indigenous society, 196 individualism, 4, 14, 209 industrialisation, 22, 34, 159 integration, 15, 91, 205–6 interlocked ethnics, 210 invisible ethnics, 210 Irish, 1n, 3, 5, 16, 31n, 35, 42, 62, 71n, 82, 97, 173, 197, 204, 211–12 Irish Gaelic Society, 81

BUELTMANN PRINT.indd 241

241

Irish Home Rule, 197 Irish St Patrick’s Day Sports, 153 Irish societies, 123, 150 Irish War of Independence, 197 Jack, Helen, 41–2, 54–5, 202 Jack, James Whitson, 41–2 Jack, John, 41–2, 53–4, 123 Jack, John Hill Hunter, 41–2 Jacobite, 26, 165 Jarvie, Grant, 125–6, 135 Johnston, Alexander, 61 Kailyard, 25, 159n, 203 kinship, 10, 14, 45–6, 50–1, 56–7, 59, 61–2, 181–2 Kirk, 24 Knox, John, 166 Kummer, F. W. H., 96 lad o’ pairts, 24, 163; see also education Land Bill, 195 land reform, 188, 196 landlordism, 19, 196 Lands for Settlement Act, 195 legal system, 24 Legislative Council, 162, 177, 183 Lenihan, Rebecca, 33n, 34–5, 36n, 39n, 107 letters see personal testimonies, epistolary practices Liberal government, 196 Licensing Act, 139 Lincoln, Abraham, 157 Liverpool Society of Highlanders, 188 Livingstone, David, 27n, 166 Lord Dalhousie, 193 Lord Derby, 193 Lord Granville, 193 Lord Rosebery, 159n Low Countries, 21 Lowland, 20–1, 35–6, 40, 44, 55, 77–8, 80, 104, 105, 169 traditions, 165 see also Highland Macandrew, James, 33, 186, 191 MacAskill, Kenny, 212 McCallum, Archibald, 55, 58

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McCallum, Richard, 197–9 McCarthy, Angela, 62 McClean, Rosalind, 30n, 31, 33 McCullough, William, 177 MacDonald, Catherine, 45 MacDonald, Effie, 51 MacDonald, George, 45 MacDonald, Hector, 83 Macfarlane, Donald, 192 MacGregor, Donald, 75–6, 185n McIntosh, Robert, 184 McKay, Alexander, 50–1 Mackay, Jessie, 204 McKechnie, J., 138 Mackenzie, J. M., 5, 26, 67n, 211 McKenzie, John, 6, 51, 178, 194–6 Mackenzie, Kenneth, 193 Mackenzie, Roderick, 125 Mackenzie, Scobie, 109 Mackinnon, Donald, 79, 185, 188n McLauchlan, Peter, 55 McLean, Donald, 126–7 Maclean, Duncan, 20 McLean, John, 183–4 McLeish, Henry, 212 McLennan, Roderick, 137 McLeod, John, 191 McLeod, Norman, 5, 32 McMaster, Alexander, 119–20 Macpherson, D., 194 Magic Lantern Show, 28n Mandler, Peter, 7 Maori, 4, 127 at Caledonian Games, 143–4 and the land question, 196 non-Maori population, 33 whakapapa, 4 marginalisation, 5, 67 Martin, John, 128 Marxist, 203 Masonic lodge, 90, 97, 115, 123 Massey, W. F., 170 Meek, Robert, 87 Meek, Thomas, 108 membership see associations memory, 10n, 43 circles of memory, 158 commemoration, 11, 156–7, 171, 175–8

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cultural, 156–9 cultural plots, 16 dimensions, 157–8 folk, 47n and history, 43 narratives, 156 and personal testimonies, 59–62 practices, 11, 156–7 site of memory, 11, 16, 154, 155–79 types of memory, 157 Mennie, J. M., 170 mercenary, 21 Mercer, Andrew, 50, 56 middle class see class migration see emigration, immigration, New Zealand Company, Otago Association military, 25–6, 87 Mill, John, 176 Millar, Amelia, 107 monument, 16, 157, 160, 166–73 monumentalisation, 16, 167, 173 Morton, Alexander, 69 Morton, Graeme, 24n, 166n Muir, James, 178 Nairn, Tom, 159 Napier Commission, 188 nation-state, 182 National Association for the Vindication of Scottish Rights, 25, 198 national bard see Robert Burns national stereotype, 1 national-day proxy, 15, 154 nationalism, 9, 25, 159n, 177, 199 unionist nationalism, 177 nationalist, 8, 25, 183, Scottish, 211 see also Scottish Nationalist Party networks and associations, 15, 114–23 between associations, 135, 151 ethnic, 10, 14, 62, 182, 188, 205, 209, 211 formal, 4, 210 global fraternal, 85, 175, 188 informal, 4, 14, 45, 50–9, 62, 210 New Statistical Account of Scotland, 20

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Index New Year, 60, 68n, 69–70, 86, 125, 127–8, 135–6, 138, 144, 148, 206–7 New Zealand Amberley, 142 Ashburton, 132, 163–4 Auckland, 6, 26, 32, 38, 53–4, 56, 58–9, 81–4, 87–8, 104–5, 126, 160, 170, 177, 184 Awahuri, 56 Blenheim, 197 Canterbury, 38, 108 Carterton, 89 Christchurch, 17n, 59, 86–8, 151, 178 Dunedin, 1, 6–7, 12–13, 17, 28, 31, 32, 40, 53–7, 60–2, 64, 66–70, 74–6, 78–84, 88, 92, 95, 97–8, 100, 103–5, 108–9, 111–14, 116, 125, 130–2, 135, 137–8, 141–3, 152, 155, 160, 162, 167–71, 178–80, 184–8, 200 Foveaux Strait, 33 Foxton, 139 Gore, 98 Hampden, 96, 136 Hawke’s Bay, 38, 136, 142 Hokitika, 50, 71, 96, 129, 165, 170, 173 Inglewood, 89 Invercargill, 68, 90, 125, 137, 153, 187–9 Kaitangata, 57 Kaiwarra, 127 Kaiwharawhara, 31 Kakanui, 96, 136 Kurow, 96 Lake Wakatipu, 61 Mackenzie Country, 50 Maerewhenua, 119 Manaia, 89 Manawatu, 31, 56, 137 Marlborough, 38, 197 Masterton, 12, 138–41 Mataura, 89, 190 Mt Ida, 109 Napier, 138 Naseby, 109 Nelson, 38 Ngapara, 108, 135–6 North Island, 4–6, 12, 31–2, 38–9, 44, 56, 67–8, 96, 125, 128, 137–8, 143

BUELTMANN PRINT.indd 243

243

Oamaru, 12, 69–70, 72, 74–5, 79n, 95–6, 98–102, 105–9, 111–20, 128–32, 135–6, 138–9, 141–2, 144, 146–9, 152, 167, 169, 178, 183–4, 187 Otago, 3, 5, 28, 30–3, 38–40, 44, 50, 52, 64, 66–8, 70, 73–6, 80, 87, 95–6, 99, 107–8, 111, 113, 116–17, 129, 138, 150, 152, 160, 168, 180, 184, 186, 189–90 Paradise, 61 Picton, 135 Port Chalmers, 52, 55, 107, 176, 186, 195 Port Molyneux, 135 Queenstown, 61 Rangitikei, 31 Redcastle, 183–4 Reefton, 173 South Island, 6, 12, 32, 38, 54, 60, 86, 125, 131, 135, 138, 169, 190, 192, 197, 211 Southland, 39–40, 44, 67–8, 76, 90, 151, 190 Stewart Island, 33, 186 Stratford, 89 Taranaki, 38, 89, 126 Temuka, 132 Timaru, 106–7, 132, 141, 162–3, 169–71 Tuapeka, 31 Turakina, 31n, 68, 127n, 128 Waimate, 54, 96, 135–6 Waipu, 5, 32, 125, 127n Wairarapa, 12, 31, 39, 89, 95–102, 106, 109, 111, 131, 139–40, 143, 145, 150, 152, 200, 212n Wairau, 197 Waitaki, 74, 81, 98, 119, 135–6 Wanganui, 39, 54, 83, 134, 136, 138, 143, 150 Wellington, 12, 31, 38, 41–2, 51–2, 54–5, 67–8, 73–4, 76, 80–1, 87–8, 90, 98, 106, 123, 125, 127–9, 131, 134, 136, 138, 141, 143, 152, 162, 178, 201–2 West Coast, 32, 38, 50, 71, 129, 173, 211 New Zealand Amateur Athletic Union, 148n

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Scottish Ethnicity and the Making of New Zealand Society

New Zealand and Australia Land Company Ltd, 53 New Zealand Athletic Union (NZAU), 86, 90, 150–1, 175 New Zealand Federation of Caledonian (and Scots) Societies, 90–2, 110 New Zealand Company, 31, 35 New Zealand Governor, 178 New Zealand League of Mothers, 201 New Zealand League of Wheelmen, 140 New Zealand Scottish Federation, 89 New Zealand Society of Genealogists Scottish Interest Group (NZSG), 35–6, 39, 99–100 New Zealand Wars, 26 Ngate, Apirana, 196 night schools, 73, 207; see also education, evening classes Nora, Pierre, 164; see also memory normalisation of culture, 207 North America, 40, 66, 71, 82, 124, 127n, 153, 175, 185, 206, 212; see also Canada, United States nostalgia, 2, 10n, 15, 126, 164, 182 Oamaru Benevolent Society, 72 Oamaru Hospital, 72 Oamaru Woollen Mill, 117 O’Connor, Shannon, 72n Oddfellows, 142 oligarchies, 113, 119 Oliver, W. H., 4 Orkney and Shetland Association, 88, 187 Ossian, 77, 169 Otago Provincial Council, 183 Overseas Settlement Committee, 29 parliamentary union, 23 pastime, 15, 68, 88, 91, 134, 152, 188, 206 Paterson, James, 54 Paterson, William, 23 patron saint, 81 patronage, 10, 15, 53, 55, 119–21, 205 royal, 124–5

BUELTMANN PRINT.indd 244

Peopling of New Zealand Project (PNZ), 35–6, 39 personal correspondence see personal testimonies personal testimonies, 14, 16–17, 30, 41–63, 157, 207 philanthropy, 66, 71, 183–7, 206; see also benevolence Phillips, Jock, 39 pipe band, 89, 155, 200, 212n Pocock, J. G. A., 4 post-war, 29, 34 power gradients, 114 Prebble, John, 19 Premier, 53, 155, 171, 178, 190 Presbyterian, 6, 28, 32, 83 Presbyterian Church, 64, 116, 123 Prime Minister, 6, 29, 170, 196 Procter, Thomas, 116–17 prohibition, 139–40 provincial government, 32–3 public sphere, 11, 17, 122, 208 Public Works scheme, 32, 69 Putnam, Robert, 120 race, 4, 27, 29, 94 Rampini, Charles, 187 Ramsay, Keith, 116, 168 Ramsay, William, 57 Ranger, Terence, 9n Redmond, G., 124n, 134 Redmond, John, 197 relief, 66, 70–2, 82, 185–7, 194 relief fund, 16, 100n, 187, 189 subscriptions, 17, 183–7 religion, 9, 24, 207 remembering see memory Renfrew, Alexander, 197 return trip, 59, 180, 198, 200 rituals, 81, 157–8, 164 Ross, John, 6–7 Ross and Cromarty Ploughmen’s and Labourers’ Union, 196 Ross & Glendining, 7 Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Condition of the Crofters and Cottars in the Highlands and Islands, 188 Rule, Robert Lawrence, 96

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Index rural, 12, 15, 22, 67–8, 95, 105–6, 125–6, 128, 135, 159, 208, 210 St Andrew, 10n, 81–2, 199 St Andrew’s Society, 66, 71, 82–4, 87, 104–5, 122–3, 185, 187 St Patrick’s Day, 82 Scandinavia, 21 Scotland, 6, 13–14, 16, 19–40, 44–9, 51, 54–61, 64, 77, 79, 83, 88, 100, 104, 120, 124, 126, 134, 140, 142, 158–9, 165–6, 172, 176–7, 188, 194–203, 207, 211–12 Aberdeen, 29, 50, 54, 140 Alloa, 201 Carsphairns, 50 Coupar Angus, 162 Dundee, 22, 29, 41n, 202 Dunoon, 177 Edinburgh, 16, 29, 41, 51–3, 56, 60, 71, 78–9, 142, 171, 173, 175, 178, 183–5, 199, 204 Edzell, 52 Fair Isle, 186 Glasgow, 21–2, 50, 172, 197–8 Glenurchy and Inishail, 20 Hebrides, 189 Irvine, 177 Isle of Skye, 187, 189–91 Kintore, 54 Kirkcaldy, 53 Kirkcudbrightshire, 50 Lanarkshire, 36, 57, 107–8 Leith, 41 Lerwick, 115, 155, 187 Montrose, 29 Mull, 61 Paisley, 58, 170 Rosskeen, 194 Ross-shire, 109 Shetland, 33, 52, 115, 155, 169, 186–7 Stirlingshire, 29 Tain, 109 Tingwall, 52 Tiree, 126 Trossachs, 60 Scots’ Social Club, 88 Scott, Robert, 137–8

BUELTMANN PRINT.indd 245

245

Scott, Walter, 78, 86, 159, 198 Scottish Dialects Committee, 172 Scottish Diaspora, 2–3, 7, 16, 23, 65, 125, 161, 180–202, 206, 211–12; see also Diaspora Scottish Home Rule Association, 198–9; see also Home Rule Scottish Mothers’ Union, 201 Scottish National Party (SNP), 211–12 Scottish Society, 85–92 Christchurch, 86–7, 151 Hawera, 98 North Otago, 87, 98 Poverty Bay, 87, 89 St Andrews, 89 Taranaki Provincial, 89 Wellington, 87–8 Scottish Studies Foundation (Toronto), 212n Scottish world, 16, 23, 26, 174, 179–81, 183, 185, 194, 200, 211–12 Scottishness, 2, 7–8, 10, 12, 15, 26–7, 39–40, 86, 92n, 94, 110, 125, 149, 153, 156, 158–9, 161, 164–5, 172–3, 197, 203–5, 207 Searle Grossmann, Edith, 204 Seddon, R. J., 178 self-improvement, 79 self-organisation, 15, 17, 65, 208 Shankland, Peter, 50 Shennan, Robert, 30n, 45 Sherriff Bain, Wilhelmina, 178 Shetland Society (Wellington), 80, 155n Sinclair, John, 116–17, 138 Sinclair, Keith, 4, 32 site of memory see memory, Pierre Nora Smith, Hugh, 173 Smith, Jane, 61–2 Smout, Christopher, 10n sociability, 14, 65, 114, social capital, 15, 94–123, 205 social order, 47 socialisation agent, 45 societal stratum, 43 Society for Overseas Settlement of British Women, 29 sojourner, 21 soldiers, 21, 26–7, 200

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246

Scottish Ethnicity and the Making of New Zealand Society

sources, 16–17 South Africa, 6, 28, 67n, 124, 174, 177n, 193, 200 Southeast Asia, 124 Spiers, John, 177 sport see Caledonian Games Star and Garter Hotel (Oamaru), 79n, 117, 183 Steell, John, 169–70 Stewart, James, 177 Stewart, John, 58 Stout, Robert, 33, 52–3, 155, 167–71, 190, 196 subscriber democracy, 65 Sumpter, George, 96 Supreme Court (Dunedin), 116 Sutherland, George, 28, 55, 60, 64 tartan, 2, 27, 78, 126, 136, 144, 159, 164, 207 Tartan Day, 211 Tasman Sea, 31 Tasmania, 193 Te Papa Tongarewa, 19n Thistle Club (Auckland), 88 Tilly, Charles, 51 Thomson, Bazil, 48 Thomson, John, 60 tobacco trade, 21 Tocquevillian, 172 trade directories, 99, 105 traditions, 47n, 81, 86, 88, 90–1, 109, 128, 153, 172–4, 210 cultural, 2, 77, 125, 158–9, 164, 209 invented, 9n transience, 4, 12, 31–2, 39, 51, 64, 209 transnational, 27, 182, 201, 211 Treaty of Union, 24 Treaty of Waitangi, 31 TVNZ, 19n

BUELTMANN PRINT.indd 246

Union of 1707, 13, 21, 24, 39, 74, 198 Union Steam Ship Company, 115–16 United Kingdom, 3n, 14, 21, 33, 192; see also Britain, England, Scotland United States, 14, 31 Boston, 176 Cape Fear, 21 Chesapeake, 21 Chicago, 174 New York, 21, 124n, 163, 167, 169n, 174, 176 San Francisco, 88n, 180 University of New Zealand, 73 University of Otago, 73, 99 urban, 12, 14–15, 22, 44, 68, 106, 125, 152, 208, 210 urbanisation, 22, 208 utopianism, 47 veteran, 29 Vogel, Julius, 32–3, 69, 186; see also Public Works scheme voluntary societies see associations Wakefield, Edward Gibbon, 3 Wallace, William, 47, 166, 174 Watson, William, 57 Wellington Graduates’ Association of the University of New Zealand, 73 White Hart Hotel (Oamaru), 69 Williamson, James, 56 Wilson, M., 76 Wilson, William, 50, 58 Wises, 99 working class see class wrestling, 96, 127, 137, 150 YMCA (Dunedin), 78

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