Notes for speech by Warden David Oliphant, June 20, 2000

Ladies and Gentlemen:

Reverend W.A. MacKay in his collection of biographies, Zorra Boys At Home and Abroad, which was published at the turn of the last century, tells of how MacKay's father responded to the news that his son wished to leave home for a foreign field: "George, could you not get enough work at home?"

I can relate to the sense of anguish that accompanies leaving one's home land, because I personally have been through that experience. Actually my situation was less like George Leslie MacKay's who responded to his father's heartfelt anguish by stating that "for years the words have been ringing in my ears, 'Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature".

My personal experience, when a child, of moving from England to Oxford was more akin to that of George's father, a Scottish Highlander, who emigrated to Zorra in 1830, many years before my journey. I did not experience the "friendless first days" like George Leslie described, "when tongues were strange and hearts were hard".

Nor were my first days in Zorra like those experienced by the elder George in 1830. These excerpts from Pioneer Life in Zorra, also written by W.A. MacKay, illustrate the sort of challenges that George senior faced in his new land:

· "there were no roads - only blazed paths here and there to guide the traveller"
· "A large part of the country was at that time swamp, and in the spring and fall of the year the swamps would be full of water. The waters contained myriads of frogs, which kept up an incessant croaking all day and night."
· "The dismal howling of the wolves, together with the "many eldritch screeches" of the frogs outside, and the crickets inside the houses, were a torment to the new settlers till their ears got accustomed to the disagreeable sounds."

· "The woods were full of wild beasts, such as the deer, bear, wolf, fox, hedge-hog, wild-cat and squirrel, also many snakes and other reptiles."
· "Many stories are told of bears appropriating, Rob Roy-like, the lamb, the calf or the pig of the settler."
· "These settlers lost no time whimpering over the cruelties of the past or the hardships of the present; but with brave hearts and stout arms, they at once went to work, and from dawn till dark the forests resounded with the strokes of the axe, and the crashing of the falling trees. ….. Soon little clearances, like so many breathing spots could be found scattered over the whole township; but nowhere could one clearance be seen from one another."

Fourteen years of such life preceded the entry of George Leslie MacKay into the world on the 21st of March, 1844.

Yet, we have no sense that his departure to Formosa (Taiwan) indicated a desire to escape. George Leslie speaks of a seemingly simple home life when it came to formal instruction but one that was rich with a commitment to truth and iron will and formidable strength of spirit. He says in From Far Formosa:

"Before I reached the age of ten the ever-blessed Name was sweet and sacred in my ear. The paraphrase beginning with the words
   'While humble shepherds watched their flocks
      In Bethlehem's plains by night,"
repeated at my mother's knee in the quiet of the Sabbath evening, early made a deep impression on my soul. It was then that the thought of being a missionary first came."

As I said, I can relate to the experiences of leaving one's homeland, but in doing so I do not at all wish to put myself in the same category as George Leslie MacKay or his father. Today's times are so much different than those. The forests of Zorra are now productive fields. West Zorra has expanded and become simply, Zorra. East Zorra is now a part of the Township of which I am honoured to be Mayor. Dentistry is no longer used as a tool for conversion and the various denominations of Christian Churches share an unprecedented degree of unity.

The lesson that I learn from considering George Leslie MacKay's early years in Zorra and the accomplishments is one of how despite differences in culture, language, even appearance, we share basic commonalities. We can move to other cultures and we can bring with us the best of our home cultures.

George Leslie MacKay referred to the strength he derived from his Zorra days:

"…many a time, alone in the awful silence of primeval forests, in solitudes never before disturbed by a white man's tread - many and many a time during these three and twenty years have I looked back from far Formosa and in fancy gazed on my Zorra home, and joined in the morning or evening psalm."

I moved to Oxford from a country east of Canada, just as did George MacKay senior. I have to take pride in claiming that the MacKay homestead IS actually in what is now East Zorra, but I do so in very deliberate irony. The communities in which we live are bigger than labels like "East" and "West". We have the means of creating a sense of communities that transcends borders and cultures and appearances.

George Leslie MacKay showed us how we can be "at home" in both West and East, how we can make a positive difference despite our differences. I am proud to be part of the community that gave the world George Leslie MacKay and I pray, hopefully with him, for the strength of several communities that can come from our homeland, our heritage and our friends around the world.