Bonny Hills dancer steps up at Grafton’s annual highland dancing competition

LOWLAND Clearances, the Highland Potato Famine and the Gold Rush era in Australia led to an exodus of Scots to Australian shores.

By the 1850s, Australia’s Scotland-born population represented more than 20 per cent of the total population. By 1891, 124,000 first-generation Scottish-born lived here.

With them came their rich culture, of bagpipe-led pipe bands and Highland Dancing, which survives to this day.

The origins of Highland Dancing were rooted in aggressive exhibitions of military strength.

Today, the modern version has evolved into a female-dominated competitive sport, overseen by the Scottish Official Board of Highland Dancing.

Regarded as one of the most physically exhausting of all dance disciplines, Highland Dancing is often ranked second only to Cossack dancing for its physical demands.

Each September for the last 25 years, Grafton has welcomed Spring with a Jacaranda Festival and a Highland Dancing competition.

A dedicated team of volunteers comes together to support the festival, which draws competitors from across the region for the state-registered ranking event.

Relatively new to Highland dancing, Bonny Hills’ Christie Rogers is already collecting medals.

Grafton was another successful trip for her. She took first place in four disciplines: the Highland Fling, the Scottish Lilt, the Flora, and the Trophy Highland Fling.

“It was a wonderful event,” Ms Rogers said.

“I marked off another square on my beginner’s card, which means I only need to mark off four more to move up to novice level.”

With no local schools on the Mid North Coast, Ms Rogers does her lessons via Zoom, devoting hours each week to practice.

“I’d love to encourage more women to learn highland dancing and compete,” she said.

“One of the mums watching the competition said I’d inspired her to learn.”

By Rachael THORPE