General News
19 December, 2025
Tartan flair to return to town
It’s not just another year for the Highland Gathering next month but a half-century milestone for the much-loved girl on the drum.
Each year the crowd grows in anticipation for the Girl on the Drum spectacle which has been a mainstay of the event since 1976.
While local girl Addyson Plover will brave the performance next year, she’ll be alongside every other dancer that stood where she will.
Maryborough Highland Society’s general manager Malcolm Blandthorn said all previous girls on the drum, a dozen in total dating back decades, will be present.
“It’s a good year for reflection and, for an event that’s run for 163 years, these little milestones are always worth celebrating along the way,” he said.
Addyson is the fourth Plover to perform atop the drum and whose grandmother, Christine Plover, has been training the performers for three decades.
“It’s nice to be able to see a tradition continue like this,” Christine said.
In her decades of experience Christine said the girl on the drum needs to be brave and committed.
“It has to be a very special little girl that will be prepared to get up there,” she said.
The girl on the drum locally can find its origins in 1960 when longtime Highland Society member Morrie Hutchinson saw it performed in Aberdeen, Scotland.
He then mentioned it to Highland Society president Bill Sinclair and the rest is history.
In recent years the performance has faced its challenges which have been overcome through community effort.
From 2021 to 2023 there was no girl on the drum due to COVID and no being dancer available.
To continue the tradition Andrew Rae and Christine Plover trained Cobi Kaye, who danced locally but wasn’t a highland dancer, for 2024 and 2025.
Cobi said the first time was “nerve-wracking” because she’d only been learning it for three months.
But through their efforts the performance’s legacy has continued.
The contributions of Highland Gathering stalwarts Glenn Hooper and Harold Hubble, who both died in recent years, are also being celebrated in the names of the women’s gift and street parade respectively.
It’s representative of the community’s role in the events success which Maryborough Highland Society sports secretary Nick Weaver said is at the event’s heart.
He encouraged families to come along to the milestone day. From pedal-powered boats on Lake Victoria to new rides there’s something for all ages to enjoy.
“That’s what it’s all about,” he said.