The 100th birthday celebrations for the Burns Club continue, with an exhibition of club memorabilia opening on Saturday.
Everything from old bagpipes to dinner dance invites to a real leopard-skin apron worn by pipe band drummers are on display in Tartans and Thistles: Burns Club 100 Years.
Club president Athol Chalmers said many of the items in the exhibition had been kept in boxes in back rooms, ever since the club moved from Forrest to Kambah in 1991.
"A lot of this stuff I didn't know we had until we started to do a deep dive on it," Mr Chalmers said.
The club formed on October 13, 1924, reflecting the large number of Scots in the young national capital at the time. The club helped them to socialise, maintain their cultural ties and support each other in a new country.
'The Scottish Club'
The club members funded a statue of the Scottish poet and club namesake Robert Burns which was opened on the corner of Canberra Avenue and National Circuit in Forrest in 1935 at a function attended by then-prime minister Joseph Lyons.
After years of meeting wherever they could, the club members opened their first permanent facility in 1957 in Forrest, behind the Burns statue.
The club moved to Kambah in 1991, added The Star Buffet as a "game-changing" tenant in 2015 and, last year, bought the Belconnen Magpies golf course and clubhouse in Holt.
Now comes the exhibition, showing the history and community connection of the club.
Among the items on display are the minutes from the original meeting of the club in October, 1924.
"That to me was really interesting. I was frightened to turn the page (in case) I tore something," Mr Chalmers said.
The works of Robert Burns, pipe band instruments and uniforms and items used in the annual Highland Games are also in the exhibition.
The Campbell Cup is also on display, given to the champion pipe band of the day, donated by Canberra's Campbell family.
The Burns Club was about celebrating Scottish culture, including highland gatherings, pipe bands, a football club and dart club, but it also embraced the wider community. Mr Chalmers said they had added "The Scottish Club" in recent years to club merchandise to help people understand its provenance.
Future events this year include a big highland gathering on October 12 on the oval opposite the club in Kambah. The next day will be the club's 100th birthday party.
Curator Nicole Sutherland had enjoyed putting the exhibition together.
"We're just trying to capture the whole 100 years of the club's history in a small gallery space," she said.
"We're trying to give people a sense of what the club does and some of its highlights over the last 100 years."
- Tartans and Thistles: Burns Club 100 Years is at the Canberra Museum and Gallery on the corner of London Circuit and Civic Square until January 26. It is open noon to 4pm weekends and 10am to 4pm weekdays.
