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General News

29 December, 2022

Celebrating 160 years of the Highland Gathering

For two years the pandemic tuned out the annual sound of bagpipes but this Sunday the music is returning with pipers and drummers set to march down the streets of Maryborough — ushering in not only a new year but also the town’s 160th Highland...

By Prealene Khera

Then vs now — the 1960 and the 2020 Gathering parade.
Then vs now — the 1960 and the 2020 Gathering parade.

For two years the pandemic tuned out the annual sound of bagpipes but this Sunday the music is returning with pipers and drummers set to march down the streets of Maryborough — ushering in not only a new year but also the town’s 160th Highland Gathering.

With perfect weather conditions expected over the weekend, the Maryborough Highland Gathering will mark its comeback on January 1, 2023 and will see thousands flocking in to enjoy the much-awaited fanfare.

Boasting national acclaim, the Gathering is popular for being Australia’s oldest continuous running sporting event, established first during the goldrush in 1858. Since it’s inception, only significant events like the Second World War in 1942-1945 and recently, the COVID-19 pandemic, have stopped the program in its tracks.

Given the 2021 and 2022 installment of the event was cancelled, excitement is bubbling in the community this time around with athlete numbers already higher than those in 2020, Maryborough Highland Society sports secretary Nick Weaver said.

“Currently, we have 541 athletes, which is fantastic because we’re up compared to the last Gathering and we’re really happy with that. We’re probably also going to have 120 to 140 pipers and drummers and crowd wise we’re expecting somewhere bet-ween 5000 to 8000 people,” he said.

“There’s a good community buzz around it, which is great and so we’re looking forward to the event. We’ve been working really hard over the last couple of months, just getting everything in place and now it all comes together.

“It’s just great to be involved in setting it up and it brings the town together.

“Coming just after Christmas, everybody’s excited for it. It’s a day of fun activities for everybody.”

NoGirl on the Drum for 2023
From watching the street parade and the woodchopping displays to jumping on carnival rides and venturing into the petting zoo, there’s no shortage of amusement for visitors — and with plenty of enjoyment, there are also some hard-to-miss changes — with the famous girl on the drum spectacle no longer on the cards after the dancer recently tested positive for COVID.

“It is unfortunate with the girl on the drum and COVID has been a big thing influencing it, not just now but over the last few months,” Mr Weaver said.

“The pandemic didn’t help because it takes a couple of years to get the next girl up and since COVID has hit, organisations have stopped doing the dancing so we’ve lost members.

“But in the next year or two, it’s going to start to grow again and hopefully in 2024 we’ll have the girl on the drum back.”

Other changes include some new additions to the event, with organisers deciding to do things differently.

“We’re going to have dancers coming out with the massed bands parade. There will be 30 Highland dancers and the massed bands will be all out,” Mr Weaver said.

“Taking up most of the oval, the pipe bands, they will play together, and they will be followed by the dancers who will put up a performance for the crowd. It will be spectacular.

“With our street parade we also wanted to add some things to it so we’ve included hot rod cars — with our president and chieftain coming down the street in a convertible.”

The Gift
The upcoming Gathering has set another historical precedent, with the prize money for the Maryborough Women’s Gift recently increased to $10,000, bringing both the men’s and women’s races one step closer to parity.

“A big thing for me was to bring in parity with the ladies events having the same prize money and we’re working on it. Hopefully by 2024 the men’s and ladies gift will be the same with the prize money at $15,000. But we’re getting there and that’s great,” Mr Weaver said.

“We wouldn’t have been able to do that without the help of our sponsors. Our sponsors make this happen for us, we’re really proud to have them on board.

“There are over 30 to 40 sponsors and they’re all our own shops in town or businesses who want to be part of the event.”

While there have been changes to the Gathering, its cultural significance for Maryborough has been an unwavering constant over a century and a half according to Mr Weaver.

“It’s pretty incredible knowing that this is the 160th event — it’s amazing how it just continues to grow,” he said.

“It’s a massive part of Maryborough. The town was built with the help of the Scottish people when they immigrated here and they started the event so many years ago and now we’re continuing it.”

A look back in time
In the mid-nineteenth century, years before the Gathering became an official event, sporting activities still took place in the region on New Year’s Day according to the book Maryborough: A Social History.

The book mentions that one such event took place towards the end of the 1850s, and was subsequently reported by The Maryborough Advertiser of the day as follows: “The Scotchmen in Maryborough. New Year’s Day was duly kept up by the Scotchmen in this district. Sports and entertainments peculiar to that nation were participated in by large numbers of our fellow townsmen...”

Another excerpt from the book reiterates the importance of the eventual gathering for Maryborough’s Scottish immigrants, stating “...it is certain that the Scotsmen liked their games and New Year’s Day was to be theirs, by hook or by crook.”

Hundred of years later, on December 30, 1960, The Advertiser wrote an article for the centenary celebration of the Gathering, titled “Highland Society has made headlines for 100 years”.

The article drew comparisons between the upcoming 1961 event and the one held in 1862, back when it was known as the “Caledonian Gathering”.

Back then, events were few and “the programme was not a very extensive one” but the focus was on promoting the event beyond Maryborough with various committees formed to achieve the goal — efforts that have made the current Gathering as popular as it is today — “possibly the [Highland Society] owes more than is readily admitted to those early committees which sponsored interest in the society.

Thus the determination to visit Maryborough each New Year’s Day has passed on from one generation to another”, The Advertiser’s article states.

Relevant even now, another Advertiser article written on December 23, 1960 said, “Highland Gathering programmes have changed, but Scots tradition is maintained” — it also summed up the spirit of the society — “The Maryborough Highland Society is [the town’s] best known organisation and its membership far outstrips that of any other. Long may it reign”.

Now, with it’s 160th Highland Gathering ready to get underway, the society has truly held its own — long and strong.

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