St Kilda school days.

Leaving the St Kilda church by a side door, we entered the school room which was completed in 1900. The long silent room was brightly lit with windows front and back. The children's desk had a neat row of slates (very similar to those I used on starting school in the Highlands in the late 1950's). The teacher's desk overlooked that of the pupils. On the wall hung maps of Canada, the World and South Africa.

Although a school had been established on St Kilda in 1709 it was not until 1809 that a teacher was appointed by the Society for the Support of Gaelic Schools. He remained on the island until a resident minister was appointed in 1829. Education was then the responsibility of successive ministers until 1884 when the Ladies Committee of the Highland Society started to send missionary teachers out to the island.


On the teacher's desk a ledger lay open at the school roll. There were names of 50 children who had entered the school from 1892 until the late 1920's. The pages have been damaged by 116 years of dampness but some lines of copperplate writing in India ink are still legible. The final column lists "reason for leaving".

Drowned : This was the sad death on 2nd October 1906 of Norman Gillies.
Died
Left the island
Died
Went to Glasgow
Left the island
Left the island
Over 14
To help parents with home industries
Over 14
Over school age
Sick in hospital, Glasgow


The children had names like Niel (sic) Gillies, Margaret MacQueen, Rachel MacDonald, John Ferguson, Catherine Gillies, Rachel Gillies and Flora Gillies. This photo (from a display in the schoolroom) was taken in 1927. The man was a missionary teacher sent from the mainland.

Although the children learned about far away places such as Australia (and many left the island to go there) they received little instruction on sustenance farming which was vital to their survival. In many ways the charity of the educators failed the islanders. It did nothing to make their lives easier but it opened their eyes to opportunity elsewhere.

03/06/2008 am

The village head dyke of St Kilda and its Australian connection.

A very characteristic feature of the Village on St Kilda is the head dyke which contours above the current crescent of the village street. It is built right through older structures such as this cleit and it incorporates some very large slabs of rock. It encloses the village houses and cultivated plots from the open grazing land on the hills above.


The mediaeval village was higher up than the current village and was a cluster of simple houses. The current layout of the village was planned by the Rev Neil Mackenzie who was minister to St Kilda from 1829 to 1843. A Devon man, Sir Thomas Dyke Acland, made several visits to St Kilda and in 1834 he left £20 with the minister in order to encourage the people to build better houses. The St Kildans constructed black houses along the crescent of the current street and built the head wall in the years following 1834. Mackenzie had to lead just about every aspect of this work, by direct physical involvement.

Acland's business interests included a schooner, the Lady of St Kilda. This traded with Melbourne in Australia and in 1842 the suburb of St Kilda was established, with an Acland Street. In 1856, 36 St Kildans emigrated to Australia but half of them died en route. Perhaps they had heard of the prospects for a better life there from the well intentioned Acland. The plots of cultivated land within the dyke that had been allocated to these emigrants was thereafter known as common ground.

03/06/2008 am

The sad hulk and glorious past of the City of Adelaide

The sad hulk of the once proud City of Adelaide sailing clipper lies high above the flotsam and jetsam of Irvine inner harbour. She was built in Sunderland in 1864 and at one time held the record for the fastest sailing voyage between London and Australia. She has wooden planking over an iron frame and was built to carry both passengers and cargo. Two of the passengers, making a new life on her maiden voyage, were George and Annie Wilcox. (I am not sure if there is any family link.) Her first master was a Scot Captain David Bruce. Two of his sons were later to succeed him as master. All together she made 23 return voyages to Australia until she was sold in 1887 during the Australian depression.

In later life she spent nearly 50 years moored on the Clyde, in the centre of Glasgow, as the RNVR ship SV Carrick. She sank in 1991 and was later transferred to the Scottish Maritime Museum at Irvine. Unfortunately funds have never been found to restore her. A ray of hope exists as an Australian charity "Save the clipper ship City of Adelaide" is raising money for her restoration. The Australians recognize her crucial importance to the history of their country. It is estimated that 1.1 million Australians are descended from immigrants who made the long voyage to the other side of the world in the City of Adelaide.

Many people in Scotland have links with Australia. My brother emigrated to Melbourne and my wife's brother emigrated to Brisbane. We must go, probably in a Boeing 747. I wonder if any of them will still be around in 143 years?

Added 07/04/2009
Please see an update about the City of Adelaide here.