Scottish Association CairnPrint Page

The cairn commemorates the contribution of people of Scottish ancestry to the development of Inverell and District.

Many of the early property owners came from Scotland, bringing with them their Presbyterian faith, Gaelic language and Scottish customs. One, Alexander Campbell, gave Inverell its name, made of two Gaelic words – “Inv” a meeting place and “Ell” swans, so named because of the many swans in the area at that time. Campbell arrived in Australia in 1824 and was employed by Peter Macintyre in the Hunter Valley. Macintyre, also a Scotsman, had been formerly employed by Lord Gwydir and then T.P. Macqueen – a British MP who invested large sums of money in NSW and thus received substantial land grants of 20,000 acres. Macintyre was in charge of Macqueen’s Australian ventures and arrived in NSW in 1825.

During the period Peter McIntyre owned “Byron Plains”, the Andersons had “Newstead” and the Borthwick family “Auburn Vale”. In 1853 the McIntyres invited Colin and Rosanna Ross to come to the hill overlooking Green Swamp and set up a store on Byron Station land. They did so, but soon the settlement moved onto the flat area, the present CBD, which was on Inverell Station land. The area proved to be flood-prone but was marked out as a town by Surveyor Henderson in 1856 and the first lots sold in 1859. The public school opened in 1862 and the area was incorporated as a municipality in 1872.

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