A small town in Western Australia that became home to scores of Kintyre expatriates has celebrated its 100th anniversary.
Northcliffe was established as a group settlement town in 1924, with many people from Campbeltown and surrounding villages among the first to arrive.
Lots of the present day residents, including some of those who helped to organise the centenary celebrations, remain proud of their Kintyre heritage and the part their forebears played founding the town.
A whole weekend of centenary celebrations was organised, with a packed programme of events taking place from March 29 to April 1.
Attractions included a grand parade led by a pipe band and cars and machinery from the past 100 years, market stalls, street performers, musicians, activities including a log chop event and blacksmithing demonstrations and an historical walk around town featuring a series a plaques commemorating key sites.
There was also a sporting extravaganza, with exhibition matches, fun games and challenges for people of all ages and abilities, as well as an Easter egg treasure hunt.
Among the descendants of Kintyre expats who joined in the centenary celebrations was Susan Stockdale, whose father, Archie Jackson, travelled with his family – parents Margaret and George, and siblings George, Margaret and James – from Front Row, Drumlemble in 1926.
Arriving in Northcliffe as a four-year-old, Archie lived and worked on the land allocated to his family until he died in 2008.
Susan said: "I feel very privileged to have grown up on the land in Northcliffe that was allocated to my grandparents and their family in 1926 under the group settlement scheme. They endured much hardship in the early years but managed to persevere – and the land is still owned by my family to this day.
“The Northcliffe 100th was a fantastic event that provided an opportunity to recognise the hardship endured and celebrate the achievements of our forebears.”
Susan’s daughter Siân Stockdale made a short documentary, ‘Archie’s Acres’, to honour the perseverance and achievements of her grandfather and his family who established “a little piece of Scotland” on the other side of the world.
Included in the video is a poem, titled The Homes of the Groupies, written by Archie, which references “the homes of Munro and of Black”, two of the Kintyre families who also made the journey Down Under.
Susan added: “Interestingly, the Munro home mentioned in the poem has been recently transported into Northcliffe and placed next door to the Pioneer Museum.
“It has been renovated and furnished with donated items from other Group Settlement homes. The construction of a passageway from the Pioneer Museum to the Munro home used materials from the Black home.”
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