This presentation was given at a meeting of the Coffs Harbour & District Historical Society. 

John and Angus McLeod were early pioneers. Origin in the Western Isles [Wikipedia: The Outer Hebrides or Western Isles, sometimes known as the Long Isle/Long Island, is an island chain off the west coast of mainland Scotland]. Great potato Famine (1836). Arrived Sydney 12 December 1837. The family moved to the Macleay River area for several months (The father, Angus, was killed there by a falling limb). They were some of the first settlers there. 

Angus married Miss Mary Shaw from the Barrington Post Office on 8 February 1890. Previously he had worked land at Paddy’s Plains in the Dorrigo area but was unwilling to take his wife there (‘it would be hazardous’). Angus selected land near his brother John in the Orara River in 1887 (application for land No. 35). Once married they travelled from Barrington PO to Port Macquarie then took a coastal steamer, The Wellington, to the Nambucca River. Mr Albert Small took them to Raleigh. John McLeod met them there with saddle horses and the three proceeded via cedar cutter track to Coffs Harbour. There all accommodation was booked out but they managed to ‘have a shake down’ [sleep] on the kitchen floor. They then travelled over flooded creeks to their destination their homestead on the Orara – which consisted of a basic rough slab building with a lean to. Water was obtained from the River some 500 yards away using kero tins.

Coramba Showground was the only cleared area in locality to graze horses and would have to moved 6-7 miles to the homestead. 

 5 minutes – All food and supplies came via pack horses from either Coffs Harbour or Grafton. The trip to Grafton usually would take a week. The nearest biggest township at this time was Bucca Creek. The residents never expected Coffs Harbour would ever be more than swampland. Land was very cheap in Coffs but much more expensive at Bucca which was expected to develop into the main town.

The Aboriginal people here were reasonably friendly. Their tribal chief was King Billy (who was proud of his brass disk given in recognition for his loyalty). Father would mention the feasting and dancing on the farm. Cooking snakes over the hot coals. Also feasting on flying foxes. Stone axes found on the farm.

Mrs Casson's father was born in December 1890 at Woodford Island [on the Clarence River] as there were no midwives or doctors at Orara, Karangi or Coramba. Understand a midwife came to the district a few years later.

The O’Neills played a prominent part in the close knit lives – a strange coincidence. 

Mentions the ‘fairy flag’ an important part in the tradition in relation to the O’Neill’s. It was given to them in 1595 [Wikipedia: The Fairy Flag (Scottish Gaelic: Am Bratach Sìth) is an heirloom of the chiefs of Clan MacLeod. It is held in Dunvegan Castle along with other notable heirlooms... The Fairy Flag is known for the numerous traditions of celtic fairies, and magical properties associated with it. The flag is made of silk, is yellow or brown in colour, and is a square of side about 18 inches].

Grandfather had the first wireless set in the district.

8 mins: About 1912 Grandparents semi-retired to Camperdown Street to ‘live by the sea’. Furniture for the new home came from sales (auctions). One piece is a cedar wardrobe from Hermann Rieck, the first banana grower in the district, which Mrs Casson still owns.

During the gold mining period my grandfather had a small business and would deliver produce (eggs, butter, bread, etc) by horseback to the settlement [Bucca?]. Angus McLeod was a baker by trade. At one time he owned the bakery on the corner of Nile and Edinburgh Streets [in the Coffs Harbour Jetty area]. He sold this business to David McGregor for ‘the handsome price of’ 15 pounds. He also had a little bakery at the entrance to the railway station. The building was later taken over by the Railway Department for rest centres for their employees.

My uncle John McLeod was one of the first 5 applicants for land lodged at the Grafton Land Office on its opening day on 26 July 1886. Built a home and had 15 children at Upper Orara. The school building was called Dunvegan after the first building built there. His wife was Miss Ferrett, also of a pioneering family of Orara. His main job was hauling timber by bullock teams but he was a miner at heart and prospected (for gold) whenever possible.

Relations of McLeod are in the Macksville area and on Manning and the Clarence [Rivers].

John McLeod worked with bullocks to the Matilda Gold Mine including having a team that. He and others were responsible for finding a better route over Red Hill.

 The McLeods came out from Scotland in 1837 on the Midlothian. Most passengers on this ship were Free Presbyterian churchgoers and did not speak English but Gaelic.