Ipswich Thistle Pipe Band Centennial Dinner
14 March 2009
Federal Member for Oxley, Mr Bernie Ripoll MP, representing the Prime Minister,
Mayor of the City of Ipswich and Patron of the Ipswich Thistle Pipe Band, Councillor Paul Pisasale,
President of Pipe Bands Australia, formerly the Australian Federation of Pipe Bands Associations, Mr Greg Gordon OAM,
President of the Ipswich Thistle Pipe Band, Mr Donald (Don) MacSween,
Representing the traditional owners, Mr Eddie Ruska and Mrs Denise Ruska,
Band Members - Past and Present - Supporters, Friends.
I thank Eddie Ruska for his Welcome to Country, and express my respects to the traditional custodians of the land on which we are gathered this evening, the Jagera, Yuggera and Ugarapul people and their descendents, and acknowledge their ongoing connection to the land on which the City of Ipswich now stands.
It is a pleasure to be here with you this evening to help celebrate one hundred years of the Ipswich Thistle Pipe Band.
For me, this celebration marks another - welcome - chapter in my relationship with the Ipswich Thistle Pipe Band and with the historic, heritage city of Ipswich. Many of your here will be aware of this, as will everyone who reads the foreword I wrote to the History of the Band being launched tonight, but for those who may not, I first met members of the band in 2006, when I was Australia's Ambassador to France. That year, Australia was the 'Country of Honour' at the Interceltique Festival in Lorient in Brittany. Then in its 36th year - now its 39th - this is the largest cultural festival in France and the second largest in Europe - and the Ipswich Band was part of the Australian contingent.
As a Queenslander with long standing family ties to Ipswich - (my maternal great-grandfather, Harry Evans, settled here in the 1850's and lived in Ipswich for 67 years, after migrating from the UK and my paternal great-grandfather's family, the McCullochs, also made Ipswich their home in the 1800's, leaving their strong mark on many aspects of the city's history) - I felt a very deep sense of pride as the Ambassador of modern, multicultural Australia, to see and hear the distinctive interpretations of Scottish musical tradition by a group of dedicated Ipswichians, and also to see an international audience and many French families enjoying and responding enthusiastically to their presence and their performance. Of course the band itself is also very much a family affair - with generations of families - clans - continuing the tradition of the pipes and drums - and I understand that many of those families are here this evening.
So when the invitations came from Joe McGhee to write the foreword for the history of the band, and to attend this celebration, I was very pleased. And I think that's a good thing, because I'm not sure that Joe was really giving me a choice! When I caught up with Joe and Don at the Ipswich Mayor's Carols by Candlelight last year, Joe made sure to remind me of those invitations - as you all know, he's certainly not the shy, retiring type! - but I was genuinely pleased to be able to fit tonight's function into my crowded diary because I think a centenary is a wonderful milestone which deserves full and appropriate recognition, and because I think this ‘wee pipe band from Ipswich', as Joe so modestly and delightfully described it in a letter telling me about the band's wonderful experiences in Russia, is such a great reflection of the contribution that Scottish migrants and the Scottish culture have made to Australian society.
At the 2006 Census, over one and a half million Australians claimed Scottish ancestry. The contribution of Scottish Australians has been immense, and the cultural traditions they brought with them from Caledonia are still vibrant today.
In thinking about tonight and my remarks, I thought a great deal about the enduring Scottish traditions - Hogmanay, the Burns Supper, the wearing of the tartan, the savouring of Haggis, of Dundee cakes and scones, of shortbread and the single malt, and of course, the skirling of the pipes themselves - all of which are alive and enthusiastically embraced by Scottish descendents in Australia today. In particular, however, I thought about the thistle - symbol of Scotland for over 500 years, and enshrined in the name of the band we honour this evening. I wondered in particular why it was that such a proud people as the Scots should choose such a humble plant - and let's be honest here - a weed - as their national symbol.
I did a good deal of reading and research and was more than a bit surprised to find out that no-one really knows - or at least can agree - why! There are wonderful legends of course - about how a sleeping party of fierce Scots warriors were almost set upon by an invading band of Vikings, and were only saved when one of the attackers trod on a wild thistle with his bare feet. His cries raised the alarm and the roused Scots duly defeated the invaders. And so it was, according to this story, that the grateful Scots adopted the Guardian Thistle as the symbol of Scotland. It sounds to me like a tale from one of the great Scottish bards - worthy of the great Robbie Burns himself - but, in truth, there is no historical evidence to back up this particular explanation.
When I thought more about it, however, I decided that the decision to incorporate the reference to the thistle in the band's name was wonderfully appropriate. Like the thistle, the band has proven itself be hardy and adaptable, putting down strong roots in Australian soil. Like the sweet nectar of the thistle - irresistible to the wonderfully named Fritillary butterflies of Scotland - the music of the band draws us into the proud history and culture of the Scottish peoples, just as the band has, over its century, been welcoming to those wanting to learn to master the pipes, or the drums, or those simply curious about the Celtic musical tradition. And like the thistle, the band can be pretty fierce when provoked - maybe that's why it has been so successful in international competitions! Scotland's premier order of Chivalry, the Most Ancient and Noble Order of the Thistle, has as its motto "Nemo Me Impune Lacessit" - "No-one provokes me with impunity" - and I think that probably applies to anyone who challenge the band - musically at least!
And so it is with images of the thistle swirling in my head and the sound of its stirring music, that we heard earlier this evening, yet ringing in my ears that I congratulate all the members of the Ipswich Thistle Pipe Band - past and present - on their contribution to this wonderful Ipswich institution and wish them continued success in the future; as I wish everyone present continued enjoyment of this very happy and very special evening of celebration.