Northland’s Waipū Highland games celebrates 150 years

Stephen Abercrombie throws a 16-pound rock during the Novice Heavyweights event at the Waipū Highland Games. Photo / Michael Cunningham.

The sound of bagpipes welcomed Northlanders into the New Year at the 150th Waipū Highland games on Sunday, after two years of postponement due to Covid.

The event drew crowds of families and many competitors and performers who presented their skills on stage and in the arenas.

Waipū has a long Nova Scotian and Scottish heritage and the games are one of the longest-running Scottish gatherings in the Southern Hemisphere, having taken place since 1871.

The event kicked off at 8.30 am with a street march of pipe bands and people representing many different clans.

Vivienne Douglas, 94, was part of the street march, representing her Glenbervie Douglas clan, which she says there are now four generations of.

“For us, it’s so special that the Douglas name will carry on,” said Glenbervie Douglas clan secretary Lynn Douglas.

The band then made its way into Waipū Caledonian Park, which was gifted by the Caledonian Society as a space for the people of the area to enjoy and to have as a centre for their annual games.

Waipū Caledonian Society chief Bain McGregor is a Nova Scotia descendant, and referred to the huge migration of six ships to Waipū in 1853.

“My great-great-grandparents were all part of that,” McGregor said.

The Pipe Band and Clans begin the street march at the Waipū Highland Games. Photo / Michael Cunningham.

Appropriately the Clan MacLeod was the guest clan of the year, which is well known in the district for Reverend Norman MacLeod, who led his followers to New Zealand in the 1850s. Norman MacLeod lived happily in Waipū until his death in 1866.

McGregor has been going to the Waipū Highland games since he was 4 years old. He’s now 65 and still going strong.

McGregor led the NorthCal/Whangārei Pipe Band for 33 years until 2018. His distinctive tall figure has been a familiar sight at the front of the band at hundreds of public celebrations throughout the region.

“The games are a very iconic event for the township... we don’t really have to widely advertise it because it happened every New Years’ Day, except these last couple of years because of Covid,” McGregor said.

On New Years’ Eve, the day before the Highland festivities, a memorial event for his late wife Helen McGregor was held that was especially Scottish.

“When she passed away she wanted to have a special event because she liked the likes of Gordon Duncan’s freestyle of piping, which is slippery notes and sliding notes,” McGregor said.

The Heavyweight Games commenced at 9am, where pretty much anything weighty is tossed, including an almost 5.5-metre caber coming in at 58 kilos.

Craig Manson of the Mackenzie clan was one of the day’s first winners in the 22-pound stone throw section with an 11.86-metre throw.

The kids running races were clearly highlights for families, who crowded around the track cheering their children on from 10.30 am.

A range of food was on offer, including haggis, the traditional Scottish meal containing sheep’s heart, liver, and lungs, thanks to the Waipū Lions Club.

There were several music events, including Solo Piping and Drumming Competitions, a Fiddling Competition and singing The Flower of Scotland, Scotland’s national anthem.