Scottish Australian Heritage Council Inc Australian Patron His Excellency Mr Michael Bryce AM AE Patron in The Right Honourable the Earl of Errol Patrons of Scottish Heritage Week The Honourable Douglas McClelland AC The Right Honourable the Earl of Dunmore Sir Wayne Broun of Colstoun and Thornydykes Bt

COSCA Caucus Grandfather Mountain , USA, 2013

Greetings from the Scottish Australian Heritage Council and the Clans and Organisations affiliated with the Scottish Diaspora in Australia. We wish the games organisers and kinfolk a great event.

The topics being discussed today are very important to not only maintain, but develop the Clans and Organisations that make up the rich tapestry of the Scottish culture. The challenges that all our we face today are those that influence every family and business, with issues ranging across many elements of culture and heritage, including survival, relevance, finances, relationship, participation, communication, governance and leadership.

I wish to provide comments in relation to these topics for consideration of the caucus.

(1) Clanship, Sustainable Clans and Scottish Heritage I think it can be said that there are several levels of commitment by clan leadership and clan association leadership to their clans. Those clans that have a real focus, usually the large clans with active clan chiefs, and have resources (landwise/clan spirit/participants) appear to the rest of us to be 'doing well.' How can we get this same spirit into those smaller clans that don't have these resources, those with chiefs that aren't committed, and those with no resources other than their stories, a clan badge and .

By building these clans up, surely we are broadening the appeal of clanship. One key idea is Sir Malcolm MacGregor's view about having a clan centre in Scotland. Another idea is for key clan and coordinating organisations such as the Standing Council of Scottish Chiefs and the Council of Scottish Armigerous Clans and Families to actively encourage leadership within Scotland for these clans (with a chief, chief-less, armigerous or otherwise) to build a broader framework for clans and clanship.

Outwith Scotland, we rely upon the peak and regional coordinating organisations to maintain and grow the interest in Scottish culture and heritage. The relationship between the country peak organisations is critical to help each other learn about what can work. I for one, as President of the SAHC, have benefited from the networking that we have with Sir Malcolm

Scottish Australian Heritage Council Inc PO Box 787, Civic Square ACT 2608, Australia ABN: 63 074 358 702 http://www.scottishaustralianheritagecouncil.com.au MacGregor, Standing Council of Scottish Chiefs, Susan McIntosh, COSCA. Recently, the Canadian organisation, Clans and Scottish Societies of Canada (CASSOC), has joined this group. We need to continue to work on New Zealand to join in.

Our greatest challenges continue to be sustainable leadership and attracting the young for the future.

Several initiatives are being taken by Australia to improve the connectedness of the Scottish Australian community nationally.

We are identifying and rebuilding networks with regional coordinating organisations, encouraging mutual support for events where these linkages do not exist, as well as with peak organisations of the Caledonian and St Andrews' Societies, Pipe and Drum Bands, Dance (highland and country) and Musicians/Poets, Gatherings and Events to promote cultural influences in the broader community. We are encouraging the development of links for mutual benefit with Business. We aim to develop participation in multi-cultural events to encourage cross cultural events, thereby increasing participation rates and having fun. Also, we are joining with government entities at the national, regional and local government level to promote multi-cultural exposure, increase opportunities for grants, and to influence policy.

We have introduced a clan leadership group as a rally point for clanship in this region. This includes the establishment of a Chiefs'/Chieftains' group, an Armigers' group to provide guidance to the Scottish Australian Heritage Council. We have about 10 Chiefs and Chieftains in Oceania. We are working to identify the Armigers in the region (perhaps some help can be found from Lyon Office and the Society of Armigers as a mutually beneficial activity).

We have run a colloquium of Clan Leaders at the Wingham Highland Games for a number of years and have been asked to consider expanding the opportunity to run a forum at Glen Innes, another of our key Celtic Festivals.

I commend the role that COSCA is taking to provide opportunities for clans in leadership development, communication on important topics, and access to resources to achieve these. We have much to learn from this.

(2) Homecomings, Gatherings, Conventions - International and 'Local' These events are important and, apart from and bagpipes, have, arguably, the greatest impact on the broader community's perception about our culture. There appear to be several levels of games, from the iconic, eg. Grandfather Mountain (Bundanoon in Australia), to the smaller and, perhaps, local community-developed event aimed at attracting tourism to the town/region.

An aspect of events in Scotland from an Australian and New Zealand Diaspora perspective is that the cost of travel from Australia/New Zealand is quite high relative to USA travellers just over 'the pond.' Consequently, we need to know that the event is high value and is a cost

Scottish Australian Heritage Council Inc 2 PO Box 787, Civic Square ACT 2608, Australia ABN: 63 074 358 702 http://www.scottishaustralianheritagecouncil.com.au effective events for us to travel. Also, the lead time to save for such a trip is about 2 years. This requires a lot of certainty and information well in advance of the actual event. The Scottish Government just doesn't get this. 2009 was unique so it really attracted interest from this part of the world. Of course, the uncertainties around the Global Financial Crisis impacted upon actual attendance. I am certain that these are the same issues for kinfolk worldwide anyway. Unfortunately, we have not had this certainty for Homecoming 2014 and I understand that there is not the same level of interest as in 2009.

Perhaps it is time for the Community to take this on for those iconic, combined clan oriented events. Feedback on the Glamis Castle option would be useful.

Scottish Honoured Guests visiting Australia/New Zealand There is much interest from both organisers and clanfolk about who will be the Honoured Guest at the games. Organisers tend to consult the Scottish Australian Heritage Council about Chiefs/Chieftains, and more so about the availability of the 'local' Australian/NZ ones.

We would like to see more Scottish Guests of Honour in Australian, but when it comes to a Chief/Chieftain attending, the decision is a function of funding. It is not cheap or easy to have an overseas Scottish Chief or their representative (younger) attend events in Australia. In the past, a Scottish visitor has been funded by the Scottish Australian Heritage Council through fundraising events. We are finding funding difficult given the ongoing uncertain economic circumstances. We do feel somewhat left out when we see so many Chiefs attending events in the USA.

One advantage that a Scottish visitor brings is to talk about issues to clan leaders. At the recent Bundanoon games Jamie, Lord Sempill, spoke to clan representatives matters of current interest about 2014 events in Scotland and about clanship. Feedback was that we really appreciated the opportunity for a discussion with a clan leader in touch with events in Scotland.

This is a blatant plug for Scottish Chiefs/Chieftains to visit Australia and New Zealand, who may be considering a business opportunity, to seek from the SAHC information about opportunities to attend an event on their visit.

The SAHC wishes everyone a great Caucus and fun and festivities at Grandfather Mountain.

I am sorry that I can't be there with you today to participate directly in the discussion on the agenda topics.

Kind Regards from Kinfolk Downunder,

Malcolm Buchanan President

Scottish Australian Heritage Council Inc 3 PO Box 787, Civic Square ACT 2608, Australia ABN: 63 074 358 702 http://www.scottishaustralianheritagecouncil.com.au