Life in Newburgh on Ythan

By Talpa

Memorial to The Emigrants

On 23 July 2007, the Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond unveiled a 10 ft-high bronze statue to commemorate the many thousands of people who were forcibly evicted from their Highland homes by landowners in the early 1800s and who left their homeland to begin new lives overseas. The statue, which depicts a family leaving their home, stands at the mouth of the Strath of Kildonan and was funded by Dennis Macleod, a Scottish-Canadian mining millionaire. The plaque under the statue reads:

This memorial commemorates the people of the Highlands and Islands of Scotland who, in the face of great adversity, sought freedom, hope and justice beyond these shores. They and their descendants went forth and explored continents, built great countries and cities and gave their enterprise and culture to the world. This is their legacy. Their voices will echo forever thro the empty Straths and Glens of their homeland.

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