Comunn na Feinne - Cliff Cummin

The Highland Society at Geelong, or to give it its proper name, Comunn na Feinne (The Society of Fingalians), lasted from 1856 to 1946, approximately ninety years.

Despite its Highland roots, to define it solely as a Scottish organization would be to paint only a very narrow portrait of its life and activity in Geelong and district. There were present, certainly, all of the usual trappings of tartan, haggis and bagpipes, but these represented only a very small portion of its overall activities throughout each year, and Scots numbered only a small percentage of its support.

The Society had a ‘vision’ of the ‘normative community’. It sought to create an inclusive, harmonious and just environment within Geelong and to continue to radiate this in ever-widening waves beyond the town itself.

It championed a culture of volunteerism, raised educational standards, both in terms of the curriculum taught as well as the teaching itself, and reached out to the marginalized groups and individuals in the community. Along the way it produced many men and women whose achievements were to take them to the highest ranks in education, medicine, opera, theatre and politics.

How the Society originated, thrived and ended is told in a popular way in the pages of this book.

It was a ‘vision’ brightly shining, but then gradually dimming, flickering and, finally, being lost to sight and to memory.