A colourful painted rock on the shoreline at Dunoon has become a firm favourite with tourists, but many don’t know its history is one of controversy.
What has now become ‘Puffin Rock’ was for years known as Jim Crow Rock. Painted with a black face with red lips and daubed with the words ‘Jim Crow’, it was linked to the Jim Crow laws in the USA, which made racial segregation and discrimination legal in certain states.
At the time, Dunoon enjoyed close links with America, Holy Loch the site of a US naval base between 1961 and 1992. Over the years five different submarine tenders and one floating dry dock served in the loch with as many as 3000 US personal stationed locally.
The rock first appeared on maps back in 1864 and locals thought it looked a bit like a crow. In time it was painted to look like a crow but, as the years passed, it was linked to Jim Crow, something deemed to be giving the area a bad name. However, various attempts to remedy the situation met with resistance and it was not until 2017 that decisive action was taken. In 2020, the landmark was targeted by Black Lives Matter protesters who plastered the rock with the letters ‘BLM’ in white and yellow paint.
Following meetings involving community leaders and local politicians, Dunoon Grammar School was approached and the school’s art department agreed to run a competition for a new design and to paint the rock when a winner was chosen.
Pupil Alex Fraser’s puffin design won the public vote and, after being delayed by the Covid-19 pandemic, pupils set about transferring it to the rock, creating a statement of positivity rather than racial negativity.
So, despite its dubious past, which has now been conveniently painted out, the rock offers a positive message for the future, in the form of a friendly puffin. Visitor reviews tend to indicate it is not always the most easily accessible site.
Whatever it’s history, it does look kind of cool now.
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