Mackay/McKay reunion to bring family together for first time in decades Nambucca Valley Nambucca Valley - popup ad Nambucca Valley News by News Of The Area - Modern Media - September 13, 2024 Lewis Mackay, Beatrice Fuller and Peter Mackay at Saturday’s planning meeting for the family reunion. A REUNION of one of the most prominent and significant families to emigrate to the Nambucca Valley in the 19th century, the Mackay/McKay family, will be held on the October long weekend. Attendees from all over Australia and the world are expected to attend. Advertise with News of The Area today. It’s worth it for your business. Message us. Phone us – (02) 4981 8882. Email us – media@newsofthearea.com.au A previous reunion held in 1988 attracted over 500 attendees. Last Saturday around fifteen family descendents attended a meeting at Bowraville RSL Club to discuss plans for the reunion weekend, which will include tours and events at areas significant to the family such as the Macksville and Bowraville cemeteries and the Bowraville Museum. “We are expecting 100 plus-family members to attend a dinner on Saturday night, 5 October at the Macksville Ex-Services Club,” said Neville Devir, chairman of the MacKay-McKay Reunion Organisation. “But the word is out now and the enquiries keep coming in.” The Mackay/McKay family arrived in Australia in 1839 on the James Moran, a ship which departed Scotland for Sydney in 1838. According to Norma Townsend in her book ‘Valley of the Crooked River’, onboard this ship was “a total of forty family members”. This was almost one fifth of the emigrants on the ship. By the 1960s many family members were living and farming on the Macleay. Like many Scottish immigrants to Australia at the time, the McKays and the Mackays were originally ‘Gaelic speaking’ and came from the Scottish Highlands, an agricultural area of extreme poverty. Ms Townsend credits these factors as contributing to the family’s “clannishness in Australia and the extent of their intermarriage”. According to Mr Devir, there are now “thirteen distinct family branches in the family tree”, located “all across the world”. “We have family members from the USA and New Zealand plus almost every state in Australia, who have replied to their RSVPs to attend at least one or all of the scheduled functions.” Those interested in finding out more about the planned celebrations can email the committee members at MackayMckay.Reunion.org@gmail.com or telephone Mr Devir on 0448 296 837. By Ned COWIE Leanne Boatfield and Lesley Manuel discuss plans for the reunion.
