YOU don’t have to be Scottish to enjoy this year’s highland ball in Williamstown, says Norman Macdonald, high commissioner of Clan Donald Australia.
“Our family have attended the Clans and Societies Tartan Ball in Williamstown for many a year. This is a great evening where the Scots, and others, kick up their heels and really enjoy themselves,” he says.
“I personally encourage anyone to spend the time on the 4th of May this year to get in touch with their inner Scot, listen to the bagpipes, watch highland dancing and stand up to dance Scottish country dances with us.”
Mr Macdonald says there are two types of people in the world: those who are Scottish, and those who want to be.
“Don’t join in just because you are Scottish, join in because it’s fun to be Scottish.”
There’s only one place you should cross swords with Bill Schrank, and that’s during a highland fling. The treasurer of Scottish Societies and Clans of Victoria is in the midst of organising this year’s event, the 61st annual ball. The Burnside resident is also secretary of the Scots of Victoria Co-ordinating Group, liaising with more than 150 Scottish groups throughout Victoria.
Mr Schrank’s late parents were also on the ball committee and he says he’s following tradition.
“My maternal great-grandfather, John Paterson, was a Scottish immigrant. He married my great-grandmother Mary McMillan, also a Scottish immigrant, in Ballarat in the 1800s.
“The family followed the Scottish traditions so my mother learnt highland dancing and the bagpipes – she toured New Zealand with the Australian Ladies Pipe Band in the 1920s as a teenager. Later in life, she was pipe major of the Melbourne Ladies Pipe Band and an adjudicator of highland dancing.”
Mr Schrank said an increasing number of younger people, aged 20-45, were attending the ball and discovering their roots. Details: 83610308.
