THE Upper Hunter’s own official tartan has arrived.
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The vibrantly coloured material, alive with colours representing the stories and history of the Upper Hunter, has become the 12,320th registered tartan in the world.
The project was put forward by the committee of the Aberdeen Highland Games, an annual celebration of Scottish heritage and tradition, which was first held twenty years ago.
Aberdeen Highland Games president Charles Cooke said the committee wanted to do something special to mark their 20th year.
So, they reached out to Fred and Marie Lawson, hobby crofters who successfully run a weaving mill under the banner Crofters Tartan Weavers at their Spring Ridge farm in North West NSW.
Crofting is derived from a traditional social system in Scotland defined by small-scale production.
Fred and Marie, who weave a variety of materials including wool, cotton and silk, also produced a tartan for the neighbouring Liverpool Plains which has been registered with the Scottish Tartan Registry.
A sample for the Upper Hunter has already been weaved, with wool supplied from the Nundle Woollen Mill, and the committee hopes that soon the colours will be a well-known site for locals.
“The aim is it will be used by the people and businesses,” Mr Cooke explained.
“The tartan is based on Campbell of Breadalbane,” he said.
The colours intertwine to tell a story that is the blood and soul of the Upper Hunter valley.
The green represents the lands where lucerne supports the dairy, beef and equine industries while the blue is for the waters of the Hunter and Goulbourn river valleys.
The white is for the milk and cream that flowed throughout the valley to the butter, milk and cheese factories while the black represents the black coal seams.
The striking purple represents the grapes of the viticulture industry and the yellow is for the golden cereal and canola crops as well as the golden wool clips produced.
Finally, the red is for the Light Horseman of the Upper Hunter region and their horses who served in World War I.
It’s hoped the tartan will become a useful marketing tool for tourism in the region.
“We’ve also approached Upper Hunter Country Tourism asking if they would be interested in incorporating the colours into their marketing and they were very receptive about that,” Mr Cooke added.
“Small Forest Winery at Denman also want us to speak about the tartan at a winemaker’s dinner.”
Over the coming months items such as shawls, ties, scarves, and eventually kilts will be produced.
In the future items in the Upper Hunter tartan colours will also be for sale at Visitor Information Centres across the Upper Hunter.