Largs man Chris Paton headed ‘Down Under’ , and could not resist the opportunity to visit the other Largs in Adelaide.
Chris was taking part of a three week genealogy lecture tour/roadshow of Australia and New Zealand - It was entitled Researching Abroad: Finding British Isles and European Ancestors, with his talks specialising primarily on Scottish and Irish based family history research.
But there was an added twist as Chris managed to visit Largs Bay.
He said: “I had a day off a couple of days ago and managed to visit a suburb of Adelaide, South Australia, called Largs Bay, named after our Largs in Ayrshire. It has a train line that ends at Largs, a kiosk selling ice cream, a pier, and at the moment, and even the same weather!
“I have taken photographs taken beside the City of Adelaide clipper, which used to be based at the maritime museum in Irvine.”
The suburb is served by a primary school, Largs Bay Primary School, and the local high school is Ocean View College Gedville Campus, in nearby Taperoo. There is a hospice on Everard Street and a museum. Largs Reserve overlooking Woolnough Road is the main outdoor recreational reserve in the suburb, being the site of a lawn bowling club. The Largs Pier Hotel on the Esplanade was used as a historical landmark in earlier times by sailors. A sailing club and a jetty are present on Largs Bay Beach.
The eastern side of the suburb, by the Port riverside is the location of three shipping berths, which are used by Caltex, BP and Mobil vessels.
Former ‘News’ editor Drew Cochrane also visited Adelaide and Largs Bay a few years ago. He said: “As I looked out on Elder Park from my hotel room in Adelaide little did I know that a man who made his home in Largs had gifted the land in Adelaide city centre. He was George Elder who lived and died at Knock Castle at the end of the 19th century. 
“George and his brother Thomas had named Largs Bay after our tempest tossed resort. The brothers helped set up a small harbour at Largs which today is an attractive, sunny residential suburb within Port Adelaide, and they are commemorated for doing so. Amazingly, a big white building, looking like The Moorings, sits on their Largs Pier. 
“It is actually the Largs Hotel and bar.”
A home from home indeed!