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W I L L I A M S T O W N R. S. L.
P I P E B A N D
HOME PRACTICE TUITION BOOKINGS NEWS HISTORY REPERTOIRE MEMBERS LINKS H I S T O R Y B A N D H I S T O R Y The band's history begins in approximately 1909, with the formation of the McKay Factory Scottish Pipe Band amongst the employees of the Sunshine Harvester Works in Sunshine, Victoria, Australia.  The McKay Factory Scottish Pipe Band welcomes Sir Ronald and Lady Helen Munro Ferguson to the Sunshine factory, 7 July 1914. In 1913, the band became the Sunshine &
District Pipe Band with Lou MacLennan as Pipe Major. In 1920, Andrew
Donald, of Broughty Ferry, Scotland, became Pipe Major
and the band continued on to become runners up at the Victorian Pipe
Band Championships in 1923. John Laurie, ex-King's Piper, became Pipe
Major in 1924 and under his guidance the band won the Victorian Pipe
Band Championships in 1926.
 Pipers at the farmers tour of inspection, 1925.
By 1925, the band had moved to the Footscray area and became the
Footscray City Highland Pipe Band. In the same year it became a
foundation member of the newly formed Victorian Highland Pipe Band
Association.
Up until 1936, the band wore the MacKenzie tartan with full plaid and military doublet. Despite the depression of the 1930s, the band was able to re-equip, with new kilts, doublets and plaids. The Red Robertson was the choice of tartan, influenced by the fact that three playing and two committee members were of the Robertson Clan.  The band in full dress, 1940. By 1980, although
the band had been having reasonable success between
Grades 2 and 3 under the guidance of Pipe Major George Brass, it was
obvious that the band was ageing. After
a reorganisation of the committee, the band
took on a new direction under the tutelage of John McIver and the
leadership of Pipe Major Barry Stewart and President Graham Bruce.
 The band playing at a Scottish Ball in the early 1980s. From
1983 to
1987, the band
progressed from the bottom of Grade 3 to Grade 2, including a 1st place
in Grade 3
at the 1986 Australian Championships in Adelaide. In 1987, David
McInerney took over the Pipe Major's role from Barry Stewart and the
band continued to have success in Grade 2. In 1988, under the
leadership of Pipe
Major Robert Crozier, the Grade 4 band became the
focus with a successful trip to the Australian Championships in
Sydney,
where the
band took out 1st place.
 Post contest photo in the mid 1980s. By 1989, the band
had again
reached a
cross-roads and decided to amalgamate the
Grade 4 and Grade 2 bands and form one Grade 3 band. With Pipe Major
John Young at the helm, the band attracted many new players
and after considerable success on the competition field, the band was
upgraded to
Grade 2 in 1993. In 1994, the band travelled to New Zealand where it
won the Grade 2 New Zealand Pipe Band Championships.
After winning the Grade 2 Australian Championships in 1996 and 1998, the band was upgraded to Grade 1. A little known fact is that 6 members of the 1998 Grade 1 World Champions, the Victoria Police Pipe Band, actually came from the Footscray/Williamstown stable.  Grade 1 competition band, 2000.
In 1999, the band established an affiliation with the Williamstown
R.S.L. Club and hence changed it's name to the Williamstown R.S.L. Pipe
Band. After winning the
Grade 1 Australian Championships in
2000, the band's numbers went into decline. From 2004 to 2007, the band
was in a rebuilding phase
under the direction of Pipe Major Ian Stewart.
The band thanks L/M Bruce Hocking for compiling much of this history. P I P E M A J O R S Lou MacLennan....1913 - 1918 Andrew Donald....1918 - 1924 John Laurie....1924 - 1936 Andrew Donald....1936 - 1947 Angus MacAffer....1947 - 1950 Leslie Pianta....1950 - 1952 Jack Peters....1952 - 1956 Alan Maas....1956 - 1959 Alexander (Jock) McKay....1959 - 1961 Andrew Masterson....1961- 1967 George Brass....1967 - 1979 Bruce Hocking....1979 - 1980 Barry Stewart....1980 - 1987 David McInerney....1987 - 1988 Robert Crozier....1988 - 1989 John Young....1989 - 2001 Anthony Davis....2001 - 2003 Ian Stewart....2003 - 2007 Ross Bates....2007 Bill Thompson....1922 - 1933 Harry Hill....1933 - 1935 Captain Brunton....1935 - 1937 John Robertson....1937 - 1939 Alexander Cook....1939 - 1946 Jock Adams....1946 - 1948 Les Wilby....1948 - 1950 Captain Dick McDonald....1950 - 1953 Keith Elliot....1953 - 1956 Jim Brice....1956 - 1957 Ian Hawkins....1957 - 1958 Laurie Perry....1958 - 1962 Ron Ackroyd....1962 - 1967 Bob Henderson....1967 Jack Sheen....1967 - 1983 Len Trezise....1983 - 1984 Burt Bywaters....1984 - 1987 Cliff Talbot....1987 - 1992 Barry Stewart....1992 1920s 1923 - 2nd, Victorian Pipe Band Championships. 1926 - 1st, Victorian Pipe Band Championships. 1930s 1939 - 2nd C Grade, Gillie's Cup (Victoria). 1960s 1962 - 3rd C Grade Quickstep, Geelong (Victoria). 1962 - 2nd C Grade, Victorian Quickstep Championships, Dandenong (Victoria). 1962 - 2nd B Grade, Mini Bands, Hawthorn (Victoria). 1962 - 1st C Grade, Mini Bands, Hawthorn (Victoria). 1963 - 1st C Grade, Victorian Quickstep Championships, Geelong (Victoria). 1963 - 1st C Grade, Perpetual Trophy, Geelong (Victoria). 1963 - 2nd C Grade, Quickstep, Ballarat (Victoria). 1963 - 1st C Grade, Quickstep, Werribee (Victoria). 1963 - Best Drum Corps C Grade, Werribee (Victoria). 1963 - 3rd B Grade, Mini Bands, Hawthorn (Victoria). 1963 - 1st C Grade, Mini Bands, Hawthorn (Victoria). 1963 - 1st C Grade, Victorian Country Championships, Daylesford (Victoria). 1963 - Best Drum Corps C Grade, Victorian Country Championships, Daylesford (Victoria). 1963 - 1st B Grade, Ron Harding Trophy, Melbourne Cup (Victoria). 1963 - 1st C Grade, Ron Harding Trophy, Melbourne Cup (Victoria). 1964 - 1st C Grade, Quickstep, Ballarat (Victoria). 1964 - Best Drum Corps, Ballarat (Victoria). 1964 - 4th C Grade, Australian Championships, Adelaide (South Australia). 1964 - 1st C Grade, Victorian Quickstep Championships, Geelong (Victoria). 1964 - 1st C Grade, Perpetual Trophy, Geelong (Victoria). 1964 - 2nd Grade 2, Victorian Championships, Daylesford (Victoria). 1964 - 2nd Grade 2, Street March, Daylesford (Victoria). 1967 - 3rd Grade 3, Victorian Quickstep Championships, Geelong (Victoria). 1967 - 3rd Grade 3, V.H.P.B.A. Mini Bands (Victoria). 1967 - 2nd Grade 3, Selection, Victorian Championships, Geelong (Victoria). 1968 - 2nd Grade 3, Victorian Quickstep Championships, Geelong (Victoria). 1968 - 3rd Grade 3, V.H.P.B.A. Mini Bands (Victoria). 1968 - 2nd, Melbourne Cup Display (Victoria). 1968 - 1st Grade 3, Victorian Country Championships, Daylesford (Victoria). 1968 - Best Drum Corps, Victorian Country Championships, Daylesford (Victoria). 1980s 1986 - 1st Grade 3, Australian Championships, Adelaide (South Australia). 1988 - 1st Grade 4, Australian Championships, Sydney (New South Wales). 1990s 1990 - 1st Grade 3, Victorian Championships, Ringwood (Victoria). 1992 - 1st Grade 3, Victorian Championships, Ringwood (Victoria). 1992 - 2nd Grade 3, Australian Championships, Hobart (Tasmania). 1993 - 1st Grade 2, South Australian Championships, Naracoorte (South Australia). 1994 - 2nd Grade 2, Australian Championships, Geelong (Victoria). 1994 - 1st Grade 2, New Zealand Championships. 1995 - 1st Grade 2, South Australian Championships, Naracoorte (South Australia). 1995 - 1st Grade 2, Daylesford Highland Gathering (Victoria). 1996 - 1st Grade 2, Victorian Championships, Ringwood (Victoria). 1996 - 1st Grade 2, Australian and South Pacific Championships, Perth (Western Australia). 1996 - 1st Grade 2, Daylesford Highland Gathering (Victoria). 1997 - 1st Grade 2, Victorian Championships, Ringwood (Victoria). 1997 - 1st Grade 2, Daylesford Highland Gathering (Victoria). 1998 - 1st Grade 2, Berwick Highland Gathering (Victoria). 1998 - 1st Grade 2, Royal South Street Society Contest, Ballarat (Victoria). 1998 - 1st Grade 2, Nunawading Highland Gathering (Victoria). 1998 - 1st Grade 2, Ringwood Highland Gathering (Victoria). 1998 - 1st Grade 2, Australian Championships, Newcastle (New South Wales). 1999 - 1st Grade 1, Geelong Highland Gathering (Victoria). 1999 - 1st Grade 1, Victorian Championships, Ringwood (Victoria). 1999 - 1st Grade 1, Daylesford Highland Gathering (Victoria). 1999 - 8th Grade 4 (No.2 Band), Daylesford Highland Gathering (Victoria). 2000s 2000 - 1st Grade 1, Berwick Highland Gathering (Victoria). 2000 - 1st Grade 1, Royal South Street Society Contest, Ballarat (Victoria). 2000 - 1st Grade 1, Nunawading Highland Gathering (Victoria). 2000 - 1st Grade 1, Victorian Championships, Geelong Highland Gathering (Victoria). 2000 - 1st Grade 1, Ringwood Highland Gathering (Victoria). 2000 - 9th Grade 4 (No.2 Band), Ringwood Highland Gathering (Victoria). 2000 - 1st Grade 1, Australian Championships, Adelaide (South Australia). 2000 - Best Drum Corps, Australian Championships, Adelaide (South Australia). 2000 - 9th Grade 4, Australian Championships, Adelaide (South Australia). VIRTUTIS GLORIA MERCES "GLORY IS THE REWARD OF VALOUR" The Robertsons descend from Crinan, Lord of Atholl and hereditary lay Abbot of Dunkeld. From Crinan sprang the royal house of Duncan I, King of Scots, whose third son, Melmare, was ancestor of the Earls of Atholl. The Robertsons are more properly called Clan Donnachaidh, from Duncan, fifth in descent from Conan of Glenerochie, a younger son of Henry, Earl of Atholl. Duncan supported Robert the Bruce, and his clan fought at Bannockburn. Duncan later seems to have fallen into the hands of the English, at either Durham or Neville’s Cross. He died in 1355, succeeded by Robert, from whom the general surname of the clan is taken. Robert’s brother, Patrick, was ancestor of the principal cadet house of Lude. Lude, now a comfortable county house which dominates the skyline of Blair Atholl above Glen Tilt, was erected into a barony in 1448. Alexander Robertson of Lude joined Montrose and fought for Charles I at Tippermuir. Lude was burned by Cromwell’s forces in retaliation. The
clan’s fame and
fortune
was assured in 1437, following the murder of James I at Perth. Robert,
known as Riach, the Grizzled, captured Sir Robert Graham, the king’s
assassin who was later put to death with considerable savagery.
Although the chief received the tangible reward of having his lands of
Struan erected into a free barony, he was also granted a symbolic
memorial by additions to his coat of arms. Subsequently, the chief of
Clan Donnachaidh bore as his crest a hand holding aloft an imperial
royal crown, and on the compartment under his shield a naked man in
chains, representing the regicide. Robert Riach died of wounds received
in battle in 1460, and the chiefship passed to his eldest son,
Alexander. The clan feuded with their neighbours, the Stewarts of
Atholl. William, the sixth chief, was killed trying to recover lands
seized by them. The eighth chief was murdered, and his brother
inherited an estate riddled with debt. A large part of the family lands
were sold off, but in 1606, John Robertson, a prosperous Edinburgh
merchant who claimed kinship to the chiefly family, obtained a charter
under the great seal in his favour. He then reconveyed the lands to
Robertson of Struan, that is, transferred the title without exchange of
money.
When the chiefship passed
to an infant, Alexander, in
1636,
the leadership of the clan devolved upon his uncle, Donald. Donald, who
was generally known as the Tutor of Struan, was a staunch adherent to
the royalist cause, and he fought with the Marquess of Montrose in all
of his campaigns. Montrose commissioned him colonel on 10 June 1646. At
the Battle of Inverlochy, where Montrose fell upon the surprised Argyll
after a long forced march, the Robertsons played a major part in
putting the king’s enemies to flight.
The next chief, Alexander, was just eighteen years old, and had been at university in St Andrews when his father died, followed almost immediately by his elder brother in 1688. He had been destined for an academic life, and has passed into history as the ‘poet chief’. After James VII’s final defeat in 1690, the Robertson estates were forfeited, and the gallant and talented young chief joined the exiled court in France. He saw some service in the army of the French king, but was allowed to return to Scotland under a general amnesty granted by Queen Anne. He did not seek any formal pardon from a Crown he still considered to be usurped, and he called out his clan in 1715 when the standard of the ‘Old Pretender’ was raised. He was twice captured by Government forces, and on each occasion contrived to escape, finally fleeing to exile again in France. He once more took advantage of a general amnesty and returned to Scotland in 1725. However, he would take no oath of allegiance to the house of Hanover. Despite all he had suffered for the Stuart cause, he hastened to the side of Prince Charles Edward Stuart, although his age precluded him from active campaigning. He died in 1749 without issue. The chiefship passed to
his kinsman, Duncan
Robertson of
Drumachuine, but he could not take up the family estate as he had been
forfeited in his own right for his participation in the rising of 1745.
His son, Alexander, the fifteenth chief, had the barony of Struan
restored to him by the Crown in 1784. Alexander also died without
issue, and was succeeded by a kinsman who received a charter of
confirmation to the barony of Struan on 23 June 1824. When George,
eighteenth chief, sold the barony of Struan in 1854, he reserved for
himself and his heirs the right and privilege of interment in the
family burial ground for the members of the family of Struan. The
chiefs thereafter lived on their estates in Jamaica, but have now
returned to take up farming in Kent. Williamstown R.S.L. Pipe Band Inc., C/O The Secretary, 11 Vivid Court, Tarneit, Victoria, Australia, 3029 Phone: 03 9749 5723 EMAIL - SECRETARY EMAIL - PIPE MAJOR ABN - 63 578 773 610 Inc. no. - A0021634H Webmaster Last Updated: 27/07/2008 |