UK NEWS

TWIN TOWN'S GONE TARTAN DOWN UNDER

Tartan signs

Saturday November 15,2008

By Rod Mills

THEY’RE separated by more than 10,000 miles, but that hasn’t stopped Bothwell, in Tasmania, paying a colourful tribute to its Scots namesake.

The tiny island community is paying permanent homage to some of its original Scots settlers by decking the town in tartan.

The 500 residents have decorated street signs and rubbish bins to honour its Scottish roots.

Barbara Fowler came up with the streetscaping plan to remember her Scots family, who settled in the territory off the southern tip of Australia more than 175 year ago.

She said: “I just love Bothwell. My roots are here, my mother’s people and my father’s family came in the early part of the 19th century.

“I felt like we were a Scots town and we needed to identify with that.

I felt like we were a Scots town and we needed to identify with that

Barbara Fowler

“I thought we could celebrate our Scottish heritage with tartan.”

The Tasmanian town sits on the River Clyde, just like its Scottish namesake.

With summer temperatures a pleasant 21C at this time of year, it bears little resemblance to the cold, wet and windy Bothwell, in Lanarkshire.

The Aussie village is a sleepy rural backwater, while the original Bothwell is one of Glasgow’s most prosperous satellites and is home to, among others, Celtic manager, Gordon Strachan.

Bothwell, Tasmania, was named after the Scottish town by Governor George Arthur in 1824. It is home to Ratho golf course – the oldest in Australia – which was built in the mid- 1850s, and boasts the first Aberdeen Angus stud Down Under.

Ratho Golf Links was laid out by a Scots family who settled in the area in 1822. The public course, open throughout the year, charges just £5 for either nine or 18 holes, and golfers deposit the money in an honesty box.

It is a world away from its Scottish counterpart, Bothwell Castle Golf Club, a haunt of millionaire Old Firm players, which charges a slightly pricier £39.

The street signs and bins outside the course and all over Bothwell Down Under all feature a different tartan including Tasmania’s own design of the traditional fabric.

Its green, purple and yellow colours are based on gum and wattle trees and was created by Scottish-born weaver Isabella Shorrock at her Bothwell studio.

Yesterday the tribute was welcomed by the village’s Lanarkshire counterparts.

Tory councillor Henry Mitchell said: “I am all for promoting Scotland. I am really pleased that people are doing this as far away as Tasmania.

“It can only be a good thing for Scotland and long may this kind of promotion continue.”

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