[Dòmhnall] Tha New Zealand air dùthaich cho iomallach ’s a tha air an t-saoghal. Tha a nàbaidh as fhaisge, Astràilia, mìle mìle air falbh.
[Dòmhnall] Tha e air fear dhe na h-àiteachan mòra mu dheireadh dhan tàinig mac-an-duine. B’e seòlaidairean Poilinèiseanach, na Maori, a thàinig an toiseach bho chionn dìreach mìle ’s dà cheud bliadhna.
[Dòmhnall] ’S e Autearoa, no Tìr an Neòil Mhòir Ghil a thug iad air an tìr a chunnaic iad bhuapa às na curachan. Ach cha b’ fhada gus an tàinig neòil dhorcha às an Roinn Eòrpa mu an claigeann.
[Dòmhnall] Bha na Gàidheil nam measg dìreach mar a bha iad ann an àiteachan eile dhen ìmpireachd. Bha iad am measg nan cìobairean ’s nan tuathanach a thog tuathanas caorach cho soirbheachail ’s a bh’ air an t-saoghal air monaidhean an Eilein a Deas.
[Dòmhnall] Tha aon sgìre na laighe fo sgàil cuid dhe na beanntan as motha ann an Astràilisia air a h-ainmeachadh air fear dhe na cìobairean sin. An Gàidheal a lorg na raointean a tha seo air cùl nam beann.
[Dòmhnall] ’S e ainm Gàidhlig prìomh bhaile na h-Alba, Dùn Èideann, a th’ air a’ bhaile mhòr as fhaide deas ann an New Zealand. Ged a dh’fhàg Gàidheil an làrach fhèin air cuid dhe na sgìrean-sa, bha iad anns a’ bheag-chuid annta mar bu trice.
[Dòmhnall] Ach tha aon sgìre iongantach anns nach robh sin fìor. ’S e an t-seann-ainm Maori a th’ air Waipu fhathast. Baile beag ann am fìor cheann a tuath an eilein a tuath, ach b’e Gàidheil a stèidhich a’ choimhearsnachd an seo, agus ’s e ìomhaighean Albannach as motha a tha am baile beag-sa an cois a’ chladaich fhathast a’ cumail ris an t-saoghal mhòr.
[Dòmhnall] Chan e aona imrich-eilthireach a th’ ann an eachdraidh Waipu ach grunn dhiubh. ’S e a th’ ann seo sgeulachd mu thuras iongantach air feadh an t-saoghail a thug còrr air deich bliadhna fichead. Turas a shireadh dùthaich a bhiodh saor bho ghort, bho làmh nan uachdaran, bho chreideamh meadh-bhlàth no spioradail agus bho shannt ’s bho ana-diadhachd an t-saoghail.
[Dòmhnall] Thug an t-sireadh iad far Gàidhealtachd na h-Alba a Chanada, às an sin a dh’Astràilia agus mu dheireadh a New Zealand.B’ e turas iongantach a bh’ ann seach gun robh an duine a bh’ air a cheann e fhèin iongantach.
[Dòmhnall] B’ e gu ìre mhòr sireadh pearsanta aon duine airson saoghal ùr a bha seo. Ministear Clèireach daingeann, An t-Urramach Tormod MacLeòid.
[Dòmhnall] Rugadh e air rubha lòm, creagach Àsainte ann am fìor iar-thuath na Gàidhealtachd ann an seach deug ’s ceithir fichead. Cha mhòr gum faigheadh tu àite a b’ fhaide à New Zealand.
[Flosaidh NicPhàil] Uill seo am memorial ga chur an àrd dha Tormod. Bha iad an-còmhnaidh ag èigheach ann an New Zealand nach robh, nach do rinn sinne dad air a shon agus gun do rinn iadsan na h-uiread. Bha e cho popular thall ann an New Zealand.
[Dòmhnall] An robh Tormod MacLeòid a-riamh cho ainmeil ’s a tha e an-diugh anns a’ bhaile a tha seo?
[Flosaidh NicPhàil] Cha robh. Cha robh fhios agamsa gun robh an leithid de dhuine ann nuair a bha mi nam leanabh. Chuala mi nas motha mu dheidhinn Tormod MacLeòid o chionn ceithir bliadhna na chuala mi fhad ’s a bha, bho rugadh mi. Agus cha robh iad a’ cantainn mòran mu dheidhinn idir nuair a bha mise nam leanabh. Bha fhios agam càite an do rugadh e. Bha fhios agam gun deach e gu New Zealand ach sin uile a bh’ agam de dh’eòlas air.
Chaidh am prògram seo, Na h-Eilthirich, a chraoladh an toiseach ann an 1999.
[Donald] New Zealand is one of the most remote countries in the world. Its closest neighbour, Australia, is 1000 miles away.
[Donald] It is one of the final great places that man came to. It was Polynesian sailors, the Maori, that came initially just one thousand two hundred years ago.
[Donald] They called the land that they saw before them from the canoes Autearoa, or the Land of the Long White Could. But it was not long until a dark cloud from Europe was over them.
[Donald] The Gaels amongst them were just as they were in other areas of the empire. They were amongst the shepherds and the farmers that established the world’s most successful sheep farm on the South Island’s plains.
[Donald] One area lies in the shadow of some of the largest mountains in Australasia and is named after one of those shepherds, it was a Gael that discovered these plains behind the mountains.
[Donald] The most southerly city in New Zealand is called the Gaelic name of Scotland’s capital city, Dùn Èideann (Edinburgh). Although Gaels left their mark on some of these areas, they were often in the minority.
[Donald] But there is one extraordinary area in which that was not true. Waipu is still called by its ancient Maori name. A small town in the far north of the north island, but it was Gaels that established the community here, and it is predominately Scottish imagery that this small town by the shore still projects to the outside world.
[Donald] Waipu’s history is not of one set of emigrants’ immigration but a few of them. It is a story of a remarkable journey across the world that took more than thirty years. A journey to seek a country that would be free from famine, from landlords, from lukewarm religion and spirituality and from greed and the ungodliness of the world.
[Donald] The search took them from the Highlands of Scotland to Canada, from there to Australia and finally to New Zealand. It was an extraordinary journey since the man leading it was himself extraordinary.
[Donald] This was largely one man’s personal search for a new world. Staunch Presbyterian minister, the Reverend Norman MacLeod.
[Donald] He was born on the stony, bare headland of Assynt in the far north-west Highlands in seventeen eighty. You could hardly find a place further from New Zealand.
[Flossie MacPhail] Well this is the memorial erected for Norman. They were always shouting in New Zealand that, that we did not do anything for him and that they did so much. He was so popular over in New Zealand.
[Donald] Was Norman MacLeod always as well known in this village as he is today?
[Flossie MacPhail] No. I did not know of such a man when I was a child. I heard more about Norman MacLeod in the last four years than I heard whilst I was, since I was born. And they did not say much about him at all when I was a child. I knew where he was born. I knew that he went to New Zealand but that is all that I knew of him.
This programme, Na h-Eilthirich, was first broadcast in 1999.
[Dòmhnall] Tha New Zealand air dùthaich cho iomallach ’s a tha air an t-saoghal. Tha a nàbaidh as fhaisge, Astràilia, mìle mìle air falbh.
[Dòmhnall] Tha e air fear dhe na h-àiteachan mòra mu dheireadh dhan tàinig mac-an-duine. B’e seòlaidairean Poilinèiseanach, na Maori, a thàinig an toiseach bho chionn dìreach mìle ’s dà cheud bliadhna.
[Dòmhnall] ’S e Autearoa, no Tìr an Neòil Mhòir Ghil a thug iad air an tìr a chunnaic iad bhuapa às na curachan. Ach cha b’ fhada gus an tàinig neòil dhorcha às an Roinn Eòrpa mu an claigeann.
[Dòmhnall] Bha na Gàidheil nam measg dìreach mar a bha iad ann an àiteachan eile dhen ìmpireachd. Bha iad am measg nan cìobairean ’s nan tuathanach a thog tuathanas caorach cho soirbheachail ’s a bh’ air an t-saoghal air monaidhean an Eilein a Deas.
[Dòmhnall] Tha aon sgìre na laighe fo sgàil cuid dhe na beanntan as motha ann an Astràilisia air a h-ainmeachadh air fear dhe na cìobairean sin. An Gàidheal a lorg na raointean a tha seo air cùl nam beann.
[Dòmhnall] ’S e ainm Gàidhlig prìomh bhaile na h-Alba, Dùn Èideann, a th’ air a’ bhaile mhòr as fhaide deas ann an New Zealand. Ged a dh’fhàg Gàidheil an làrach fhèin air cuid dhe na sgìrean-sa, bha iad anns a’ bheag-chuid annta mar bu trice.
[Dòmhnall] Ach tha aon sgìre iongantach anns nach robh sin fìor. ’S e an t-seann-ainm Maori a th’ air Waipu fhathast. Baile beag ann am fìor cheann a tuath an eilein a tuath, ach b’e Gàidheil a stèidhich a’ choimhearsnachd an seo, agus ’s e ìomhaighean Albannach as motha a tha am baile beag-sa an cois a’ chladaich fhathast a’ cumail ris an t-saoghal mhòr.
[Dòmhnall] Chan e aona imrich-eilthireach a th’ ann an eachdraidh Waipu ach grunn dhiubh. ’S e a th’ ann seo sgeulachd mu thuras iongantach air feadh an t-saoghail a thug còrr air deich bliadhna fichead. Turas a shireadh dùthaich a bhiodh saor bho ghort, bho làmh nan uachdaran, bho chreideamh meadh-bhlàth no spioradail agus bho shannt ’s bho ana-diadhachd an t-saoghail.
[Dòmhnall] Thug an t-sireadh iad far Gàidhealtachd na h-Alba a Chanada, às an sin a dh’Astràilia agus mu dheireadh a New Zealand.B’ e turas iongantach a bh’ ann seach gun robh an duine a bh’ air a cheann e fhèin iongantach.
[Dòmhnall] B’ e gu ìre mhòr sireadh pearsanta aon duine airson saoghal ùr a bha seo. Ministear Clèireach daingeann, An t-Urramach Tormod MacLeòid.
[Dòmhnall] Rugadh e air rubha lòm, creagach Àsainte ann am fìor iar-thuath na Gàidhealtachd ann an seach deug ’s ceithir fichead. Cha mhòr gum faigheadh tu àite a b’ fhaide à New Zealand.
[Flosaidh NicPhàil] Uill seo am memorial ga chur an àrd dha Tormod. Bha iad an-còmhnaidh ag èigheach ann an New Zealand nach robh, nach do rinn sinne dad air a shon agus gun do rinn iadsan na h-uiread. Bha e cho popular thall ann an New Zealand.
[Dòmhnall] An robh Tormod MacLeòid a-riamh cho ainmeil ’s a tha e an-diugh anns a’ bhaile a tha seo?
[Flosaidh NicPhàil] Cha robh. Cha robh fhios agamsa gun robh an leithid de dhuine ann nuair a bha mi nam leanabh. Chuala mi nas motha mu dheidhinn Tormod MacLeòid o chionn ceithir bliadhna na chuala mi fhad ’s a bha, bho rugadh mi. Agus cha robh iad a’ cantainn mòran mu dheidhinn idir nuair a bha mise nam leanabh. Bha fhios agam càite an do rugadh e. Bha fhios agam gun deach e gu New Zealand ach sin uile a bh’ agam de dh’eòlas air.
Chaidh am prògram seo, Na h-Eilthirich, a chraoladh an toiseach ann an 1999.
[Donald] New Zealand is one of the most remote countries in the world. Its closest neighbour, Australia, is 1000 miles away.
[Donald] It is one of the final great places that man came to. It was Polynesian sailors, the Maori, that came initially just one thousand two hundred years ago.
[Donald] They called the land that they saw before them from the canoes Autearoa, or the Land of the Long White Could. But it was not long until a dark cloud from Europe was over them.
[Donald] The Gaels amongst them were just as they were in other areas of the empire. They were amongst the shepherds and the farmers that established the world’s most successful sheep farm on the South Island’s plains.
[Donald] One area lies in the shadow of some of the largest mountains in Australasia and is named after one of those shepherds, it was a Gael that discovered these plains behind the mountains.
[Donald] The most southerly city in New Zealand is called the Gaelic name of Scotland’s capital city, Dùn Èideann (Edinburgh). Although Gaels left their mark on some of these areas, they were often in the minority.
[Donald] But there is one extraordinary area in which that was not true. Waipu is still called by its ancient Maori name. A small town in the far north of the north island, but it was Gaels that established the community here, and it is predominately Scottish imagery that this small town by the shore still projects to the outside world.
[Donald] Waipu’s history is not of one set of emigrants’ immigration but a few of them. It is a story of a remarkable journey across the world that took more than thirty years. A journey to seek a country that would be free from famine, from landlords, from lukewarm religion and spirituality and from greed and the ungodliness of the world.
[Donald] The search took them from the Highlands of Scotland to Canada, from there to Australia and finally to New Zealand. It was an extraordinary journey since the man leading it was himself extraordinary.
[Donald] This was largely one man’s personal search for a new world. Staunch Presbyterian minister, the Reverend Norman MacLeod.
[Donald] He was born on the stony, bare headland of Assynt in the far north-west Highlands in seventeen eighty. You could hardly find a place further from New Zealand.
[Flossie MacPhail] Well this is the memorial erected for Norman. They were always shouting in New Zealand that, that we did not do anything for him and that they did so much. He was so popular over in New Zealand.
[Donald] Was Norman MacLeod always as well known in this village as he is today?
[Flossie MacPhail] No. I did not know of such a man when I was a child. I heard more about Norman MacLeod in the last four years than I heard whilst I was, since I was born. And they did not say much about him at all when I was a child. I knew where he was born. I knew that he went to New Zealand but that is all that I knew of him.
This programme, Na h-Eilthirich, was first broadcast in 1999.