Clann Albainn is a law-bending, non-violent, consciousness raising group. Clann Albainn is comprised of students, unemployed, and workers whose political ideas stretch from monarchism to socialism. We wish to highlight to the public and law-makers that the people of Scotland do not have self-determination as they are entitled to by the United Nations. Clann Albainn was responsible for the renaming of Cumberland Street to Culloden Road last Monday night, in time for the 250th anniversary of the Battle of Culloden.
The 1745 Jacobite rising ended in the annihilation of the Highland Scots army at Culloden Moor. This battle can be seen as Scotland’s last military attempt to stop English overlordship. Following the Highland Scots army’s final defeat and route, the Highlands of Scotland were ravaged by the English. After the battle the Duke of Cumberland, who commanded the English forces, rampaged through the Highlands raping, killing and pillaging the Highland Scots. Highland culture was consequently destroyed — kilts, bagpipes and Gaelic language were made illegal. Thus the great Highland Clearances began. For his efforts the Duke of Cumberland earned the title Butcher of Cumberland by the Scots.
It is the feeling of Clann Albainn (and many others) that the Duke of Cumberland does not deserve a place in a city as Scottish as Dunedin claims to be. There should be no monuments to such a butcher. We feel that this street would be better be named after the many ordinary people who were killed at Culloden and during the Clearances that followed.
It has been commented that Edinburgh’s, and therefore Dunedin’s, Cumberland St was named after a later Duke of Cumberland, perhaps the Butcher’s nephew. However, the Gaelic people, who suffered those atrocities maintain the tradition that the descendant of the perpetrator is a legitimate target for retribution — especially so when he holds the same title. It is culturally insensitive to use a name associated with genocide; the title of Cumberland is now associated with the Butcher rather than his nephew.
The streets of the "new town" Edinburgh were named at a time when oppression on an unprecedented scale was being inflicted upon Gaelic peoples. Highland attire and tartans, the Gaelic language, bagpipes were all outlawed. The clansfolk were being forced into emigration, whilst their lands were being taken over by sheep farmers from the south.
Those in power at the time were tools and gained from that oppression and hardly likely to take Gaelic considerations into account when street naming. A Southern Television tourist advertisement, for example, mentions how early Scots settlers resented the number of high positions in Dunedin filled by Englishmen.
To say that the Scots people had no objection to the naming of Cumberland St. is quite erroneous. Prior to the 20th Century most people were illiterate and unable even to vote. As far as the state was concerned they existed only for the purposes of punishment, enlistment and labour.
It took a long time for the Irish to remove Nelson’s Column (1966) from the centre of Dublin. It took a long time for Māori to attack One Tree Hill (1995). It sometimes takes a long time for people to recognise a symbol of oppression and act. But that does not make their claim any less valid.
A city laying proud claim to a true Scots heritage should commemorate the many ordinary Scots who died as a result of the Battle of Culloden and subsequent Highland Clearances with more than a small street in a suburb. These people have been largely ignored for 250 years. They are far more deserving of recognition than an irrelevant German noble.
Clann Albainn want a change from Cumberland St., but this need not be to Culloden Rd. Some alternatives for discussion include: Jacobite St, Flora Macdonald St, Forty Five St, Prestonpans St, Killiecrankie St. (several of these could be used for the separate sections of Cumberland St.). Further, names significant to the original Māori settlers could be used instead.
This application is made on behalf of Clann Albainn by:
Mark I Baxter
Douglas Mackie
Nigel Cairns
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