The Remotest Community in the World

 50th Anniversary Commemoration of the Resettlement of Tristan Da Cunha (1963-2013)

Image courtesy of British Pathe

Scottish Centre for Island Studies

Friday 1st November 2013

Wellington Suite, Grand Central Hotel, Glasgow

(Please note: This event is now FULL. No further places are available.)

This day event offers a programme of research talks, archive film screenings and individual commentaries each relating to the island community of Tristan da Cunha.

In 1961 the island’s volcano erupted and the entire community were forced to leave Tristan for safety with no prospect of certain return. The plight of the Tristan islanders was a global media event. Their story is one that intrigued and invited comment in terms of our ideas of island living, remoteness and sustainability in the changing times of the early 1960s. These ideas continue to inform how we think and represent island communities today here in Scotland, and beyond. The Tristanians were offered immediate refuge in Scotland, with Shetland playing a pivotal role, but they were actually ‘settled’ in England where they worked and lived for some two years. In 1963 the islanders eventually returned to Tristan to rebuild their lives on this most remote of islands. Today the community continues to thrive and our day invites comment on future cultural and creative responses to live on Tristan.

This UWS research and knowledge exchange event offers a series of talks and archive film and media screenings which each commemorate this remarkable story from the despair of 1961 evacuation to the elation of 1963 resettlement. It also provides an occasion to focus on the present, the successful rebuilding of a sustainable Tristan da Cunha and to invite reflections on 50 years of change on islands here in Scotland, in Tristan, and elsewhere. Our theme for the day is that of the images, the issues, and the reality of small island community life. Our examples are largely drawn from Tristan da Cunha but also from the island communities of Scotland, including the Hebrides and Shetland. A range of speakers including academics, educationalists, film-makers and island community enthusiasts will share experiences and information together with the audience. See running order and details of talks, and screenings here.

09:30 09:40          Welcome and Introductions Scottish Centre for Island Studies

09:40 10:00          Opening Comments: Mr Chris Bates, Tristan da Cunha Government UK Representative

10:15 11:00          Tristan da Cunha ‘The Volcano Years 1961-63’: Media Archive and Representation in  a Scottish Context Dr Kathryn A Burnett, SCIS UWS Chair: Professor Neil Blain, University of Stirling

11:00 11:15          Refreshment Break (15 mins)

11:15 12:00          Tristan da Cunha: Marginalisation, Community and Islandness – the Shetland and Canna dimensions Mr Ray Burnett, SCIS UWS; Chair: Professor Mike Danson, Heriot Watt University

12:00 13:00          Screening: The Forgotten Island (1998) (Dir: Uwe Kersken) 48 mins BBC ”Under the Sun”, followed by a short Q & A

13:00 14:00          Break (60 mins)

14:00 14:30          Illustrated Talk: “Rockhopper Choppers”  Mr Bob Carse, Advisor to Tristan da Cunha Heritage Committee Chair: Mr Chris Bates

14:30 15:15          Screening: The 1991 Jim Kerr videos: a Q & A session on Tristan community life

Mr Jim Kerr, Former Education Officer Tristan da Cunha Chair: Mr Ray Burnett

15:15 15:30          Refreshment Break (15 mins)

15:30 16:00          Illustrated Talk: Island Links – A Royal Society Expedition Link with Barra. 

Mr Alasdair MacEachen, Islands Book Trust Chair: Dr Kathryn A Burnett

16:00 16:30          Screening: ‘Impressions of Tristan by David Mackenzie’

Mr David Mackenzie (Director), Chair: Mr Tony Grace

17:00 17:30          Final Discussion, Close and Thanks

Please note: This event is now FULL. No further places are available.

If you would like to attend this UWS Scottish Centre for Island Studies event then please contact kathryn.burnett@uws.ac.uk to reserve your place, or call Dr Kathryn A Burnett on 01292 886482 with your details.  There is no charge for this event but please note places are limited. Refreshments and a light lunch will be provided for full day attendees. Alternative lunch for purchase is available on site and nearby.   All welcome.

Please note: This event is now FULL. No further places are available.

For directions to the venue please link here: http://www.thegrandcentralhotel.co.uk/location/

Tristan da Cunha island community and the connection to Shetland: SCIS research event

Illustrated Talk: Tristan da Cunha’s ‘volcano years’1961-1963 – the Shetland dimension

Ray Burnett and Kathryn Burnett, Scottish Centre for Island Studies, University of the West of Scotland

Image courtesy of British Pathe

In 1961 a volcanic eruption forced the community of Tristan da Cunha, ‘the loneliest island in the world’, to abandon their island home for evacuation to the UK and an uncertain future. First to offer a new home to the Tristanians were the islanders of Shetland. While government deliberated what to do, the ‘refugee’ island representatives visited Shetland to assess the possibilities.  After considerable debate the government’s preferred resettlement location was to be the south of England where the islanders remained for just under two years before they were finally able to return to Tristan in 1963.

As Tristan da Cunha celebrates the 50^th anniversary of this return, Ray and Kathryn Burnett have been researching this remarkable story of small island survival. The media coverage and government files of these events reveal much about prevailing perceptions of islands and islanders within the ‘corridors of power’ and the popular press.  Their findings in the archives, from Stockholm to Shetland bring to light not just the significance of those who stepped forward as the champions of small island communities but also the importance of the Shetland dimension. This illustrated talk will present these findings with a view to rekindling and seeking out memories from within Shetland of these events of fifty years ago.

This research has been funded by the British Academy.

The talk is on at Shetland Museum Archives  on Thursday 7^th March 2013  at 7:30 pm (Doors open  7:00 pm). All welcome.