Proud history comes to life

By BRIDGET CARTER

It is one of the most celebrated Scottish settler stories in the world and it belongs to the people of a little township that sits above the Brynderwyn Hills in Northland.

The story is the journey of the Waipu settlers, a break-away group of strictly religious Scots who sailed from Nova Scotia in Canada in search of a promised land, ending up in New Zealand.

It is 150 years since the settlers arrived in Waipu and proud locals have spent three years quietly planning a massive anniversary celebration, which begins today.

The commemorations, which will run for the first few days of January at the same time as the Highland Games, have drawn people from all over the world, including Nova Scotia and Scotland, and are expected to pull thousands from around the country.

Resident Ken Couper says the story about the arrival of the Scottish settlers means everything to the people of Waipu.

The history is told down through generations and is taught at the school.

Dozens of Waipu adults and children keep their heritage alive by learning aspects of Scottish culture, such as Highland dancing and playing the bagpipes.

"Waipu people cling to it. It gives us an identity," he says.

Lachie McLean, whose family has lived in Waipu since the original settlers arrived, says the reason the story is world-famous is because the settlers carried out the longest unaided sea voyages with the greatest number of people in the world.

But he believes it is also because the story reads like a film script.

It centres around the charismatic Presbyterian Minister Reverend Norman McLeod and his group of 850 Gaelic-speaking followers.

They rebelled against the church of Scotland and settled in Nova Scotia before eventually sailing to Auckland on six ships and settling in Waipu from 1853.

The settlers, who made up a classless society of hardworking Scottish puritans with a strong set of religious and moral values, bought 24,300 bush-covered hectares at Waipu, which they chose because it bordered the sea and was enclosed by hills, allowing Mr McLeod to keep a close guard on his people.

The group first built a church and then a colonial-style schoolhouse, which still sits in Waipu today.

Mr McLean says most of the energy for the anniversary has been poured into tonight's grand pageant - a theatrical spectacular that will tell the Waipu story, with hundreds of locals as actors.

The anniversary is also being marked in other ways.

A Waipu Heritage Trail, which leads people on a tour through the area, is being opened, a special book called Pride of the lion has been written by Waipu people and there has been a $660,000 extension to the township's Heritage Centre and development of the Heritage Square.