DISPOSSESSED
Margaret and Martin McGilvray: From the Isle of Mull to the Plains of Victoria
From the Isle of Mull to the Victorian goldfields one family's search for land, belonging and a place to call home.
Dispossessed follows Margaret and Martin McGilvray from the Isle of Mull to colonial Victoria, where a family forced from one world must build another.
From Geelong and the Barrabool Hills to the goldfields of Alma and Maryborough, and finally the farming country of Wareek, their story is one of migration, resilience, family and the long search for belonging.
PUBLISHING 30 NOVEMBER 2026
Stay up to date with Dispossessed
Join the Eagle’s Rest Press mailing list for publication news, launch details and occasional updates.
About the book
Mull, 1850s.
Margaret and Martin McGilvray have already endured hunger, insecurity and the slow dismantling of the life their family has known for generations.
When assisted passage offers them a chance to leave, they take it.
With young children and little certainty about what lies ahead, they travel from Mull to Glasgow and Liverpool before boarding the Hornet for Australia.
Victoria is a world in upheaval.
Gold has transformed the colony. Geelong is crowded with arrivals. The roads inland are filled with miners, labourers, traders and families searching for opportunity. For Margaret and Martin, Australia offers possibility, but little security.
Their journey takes them through the Barrabool Hills and into the goldfields around Alma and Maryborough, where Martin's trade as a shoemaker helps keep the family moving forward. Yet the promise of a new life is tempered by hardship, loss and the constant need to begin again.
Eventually, the family reaches Wareek, where land offers something they have long sought: the chance to build a home of their own.
But for Margaret, the idea of land carries a deeper question. They know what it meant to lose land in Scotland. Now, in Australia, they must confront the history of the country in which they hope to belong.
Based on the real journey of Margaret and Martin McGilvray, Dispossessed is a story of migration, survival, family and the difficult meaning of home.
The story that began in Echoes of the Clearances continues.
Where Echoes followed the MacGillivray family as they fought to remain on Mull, Dispossessed explores what happened when staying was no longer possible — forced migration, a new country, and the struggle to build a life again.
Dispossessed can be read as a standalone novel.
Margaret and Martin McGilvray and their children were real people, and the backbone of Dispossessed is drawn from surviving historical records. Passenger and immigration records trace the family’s journey from Scotland to Victoria; birth, death and marriage records follow them through Geelong, the Barrabool Hills, Alma, Maryborough and Wareek; land records document Martin’s selection at Wareek; and local records place him within the community and his involvement with the Wareek school. Around those known events, the novel imagines the conversations, emotions and private moments that history did not record.
Launch Events
Pre-Launch Author Event
B by Halcyon — 27 November 2026
An early introduction to Dispossessed, its family history and the journey from Mull to Victoria.
Official Book Launch
Daylesford Highland Gathering — 5 December 2026
Daylesford, Victoria
Dispossessed will receive its official launch at the Daylesford Highland Gathering — a fitting setting for a story that begins on the Isle of Mull and follows one Highland family across the world to Australia.
Event or media enquiry?
CONTACT US
Behind the Story
For further information on the stories behind Dispossessed click the links below: