The importance of Fife connections to Australia has been stressed by the governor of New South Wales, Professor Marie Bashir, when she launched a new book.
She paid tribute to these links when launching The Life and Times of David Scott Mitchell. Born in Sydney, Mitchell was the son of Fife-born doctor James Mitchell, who was assigned as surgeon to a regiment in the colony in 1821.
His descendants live today in the Dalgety and Auchterderran areas. They only recently discovered the story of both men.
They learned about their distinguished ancestors from Australian interest in the Fife origins of the Mitchells.
James Mitchell achieved distinction in Sydney for his philanthropic activity. Continuing family tradition, David Scott Mitchell became the founding benefactor of Sydney’s famed Mitchell Library.
Burntisland resident and historian Iain Sommerville author of Burntisland: A Social History is his full cousin thrice removed. He said, “I knew there was a Dr James Mitchell among my ancestors, but all I had was the name.”
He learned more from Australian visitors to Fife, including the book’s author Sydney historian Eileen Chanin.
Iain took them to the places associated with his ancestors, including James Mitchell’s birthplace at Clinkhill, Capledrae Farm, and the family burial ground in Auchterderran Churchyard.
Proud of his connections to David Scott Mitchell, Iain thinks that there must be a library gene in the Mitchell family makeup.
“My grandfather, James Lothian Mitchell David Scott Mitchell’s full cousin once removed was the driving force behind the establishment of Andrew Carnegie’s public library here in Burntisland in 1907,” he added.
Professor Bashir believes that Australians are indebted to Mitchell for the priceless heritage that is his collection.
“I have always said that, if ordered, in the most catastrophic of times imaginable, in fantasy, to save just one man-made structure in Australia from destruction I would immediately nominate the Mitchell Library with all its contents,” she commented.
The 37th Governor of New South Wales, Professor Bashir made a pilgrimage in September to Mull and to the Macquarie Mausoleum there to pay tribute to the 5th governor Lachlan Macquarie. Her pilgrimage was filmed in the documentary by Caledonia TV, The Father of Australia, which was transmitted in Scotland and in Australia on Australia Day this year.