I didn't realize that so many people in Oz were all interested in the same subject of emigrant movements to Australia and the related issue. I guess logic applies in this case as there were three considerations. The first is which was the closest seaport to the place of residence. The second is the size of the group planning to leave Scotland and the third is their destination. Clearly those in the western areas of Inverness made for Fort William as it had access to the sea and regular shipping down to Liverpool. If there were enough emigrants to fill a ship then why go to Liverpool. Those that came to Australia individually would have had to go via Liverpool to gain a passage on one of the emigrant ships. I have just finished reading People of Glengarry by MacLean where the author states that in the case of the MacDonald clan migrations to America & Canada 1773 - 1815, the leaders chartered their own ships from Fort Willam to go direct and not via Liverpool. In my own case, the two relatives Hugh & Duncan McDonald left between 1852 - 1856 probably on their own and not part of any scheme. I assume they would have caught a coastal ship to Liverpool and then embarked upon one of the regular shipping runs to Australia. Unfortunately I cant find any record in the Emigrant ships passenger lists of a Duncan (29) and a Ewen or Hugh (20) on the same ship arriving in Victoria between 1852 & 1856 (when he married in Victoria). I was hoping to work from the other end and locate a passenger list for a ship leaving Fort William around 1852-53 but this has proved impossible. David Port Fairy