On New Years Day in 1925, a 27-year-old man left Berneray in the Outer Hebrides to seek his fortune as a farmer in Western Australia.
However, the Great Depression left him destitute and he eventually ended up in a pauper's grave.
75 years on, Iain Archie MacAskill’s family in Glasgow are attempting to have his remains returned home.
Alina MacAskill Simpson – Iain’s grand-niece - said: "It's the fear of him being forgotten. I do have a fear that he will be forgotten out in Australia if he's left out there.
"The next generation of the family will forget that he was even around."
In his short life, Iain was a soldier, a piper, a crofter and a policeman. But when he was in Australia, he lost his farm, fell into debt, and was forced to labour for leftover food.
Iain MacAskill is known of the Bard of Berneray. Many of his poems and verses published after his death express his unhappiness at his plight down under and underline his great homesickness for Scotland. They are read in Gaelic schools to this day.
He died with a serious kidney disease at the age of 36.
Alina added: "I do get really upset when I read his work. However, I think because I am working to bring him home and I am going to be fulfilling his wish – his unfulfilled wish – to come back to Scotland, I think I’ve got these mixed emotions."
If you would like to contribute to Alina’s campaign, contact her on alinasimpson@hotmail.com
