Russell Matheson (Macarthur, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Today I want to mention a beautiful township in my electorate of Macarthur, the township of Appin, and its 200-year celebrations. The week of 13 May 2011 holds great significance for the historic township of Appin, as the community celebrates 200 years of settlement. The town will be holding week-long celebrations with a much anticipated festival on the weekend of 21 and 22 May. Opening the festivities will be the launch of the book The Bicentenary of Appin 1811-2011, followed by activities such as community workshops, street parades, traditional Scottish highland games, village displays, historical and bush tucker tours along with a colonial style ball and celebrations.

The festivities will conclude with a fireworks display on Sunday night. Appin’s bicentennial celebrations will bring together tourists, amateur historians and merrymakers from all over Sydney, the Illawarra and the Southern Highlands as we celebrate and explore the rich and vibrant history of this remarkable town.

Appin was founded in 1811 by Governor Lachlan Macquarie. It was named in memory of a small coastal village of the same name in Argyllshire, Scotland, where Governor Macquarie’s wife was born. It was the fifth village to be established in New South Wales and still boasts a number of original buildings dating back to the early 1800s.

Appin is the traditional land of the Dharawal people and a traditional meeting place for Aboriginal tribes from all over the east coast of New South Wales. In April 1816 the Appin massacre occurred, when 14 Dharawal men, women and children were shot dead by Governor Macquarie’s militia and an unknown number of tribe members were forced over the cliffs at Broughton Pass. This dark day in our colonial history has been remembered with the erection of a memorial plaque at the Cataract Dam picnic site, where an annual service is held in honour of the massacre victims.

Today, Appin is home to a close-knit community of 1,750 people and is well known for its award-winning bakery and historically significant buildings as well as the thousands of hectares of nearby national parks, bushwalking trails and the Cataract gorge and dam.

I express my thanks to the Appin 200 committee and officially recognise the many hours of hard work they have put into organising these great celebrations. To Leanne Zautsen, Sharon Shelton, Ray Slee, Kwilang Ng, Julianne Rawcliffe and John Jones: I know that the coming festivities will do justice to your hard work. I look forward to attending the celebrations and welcome the wider Sydney community to attend as well.