The festival starts on April 22 and will see dozens of museums host evening events to highlight stories and showcase their displays.

The Lake Innes tours are on April 23 and 24, starting at 3.45pm.

National Parks and Wildlife Service's Susan Phillips said the theme for the tours is while the piper plays.

"Major Innes had a bagpiper on his estate - the piper was a very tall Scotsman called Bruce - who was also an overseer," she said.

"Bruce appears not to have been a convict and was highly respected on the estate. Anabella Boswell (nee Innes) mentions in her diary that Bruce would pipe in the morning to waken the household and again in the evening to close of the day.

"He also provided some of the music for dancing after dinner as the Innes family often entertained.

"The library was used for dancing on formal occasions and the valuable carpets were rolled up and stored elsewhere before the merriment began.

"The four young girls of the house, Annabella, her sister and two Innes daughters were given the task of decorating the reception rooms on formal occasions. They would pick huge bouquets of flowers and ornamental greenery from the formal gardens around the mansion.

"Annabella records the occasion of a visit by Governor Fitzroy when the Governor's party danced on the front lawn to the sound of bagpipes well into the evening.

"She also described that many of the older Scots' visitors to the house spoke Gaelic fluently, that it sounded very musical and that they also kept many of the old traditions alive in their new country."

As part of the tours, the NPWS is reviving the old custom of having a piper play as the sun sets over the beautiful Lake Innes.

NPWS has hosted tours of the ruins since 1995.

Ms Phillips says the tours highlight the important part the ruins play in our convict history.

"To have the ruins open for guided tours helps inform people about how hard life was for the convicts and the early settlers and what brave and intrepid people these men and women were around the early pioneering times of Port Macquarie.

"The Lake Innes historic site is within the Lake Innes Nature Reserve and features very high conservation value for the entire range of flora and fauna.

"Major Innes and wife Margaret established an immense estate just south of Port Macquarie in the early 1830s.

"They were one of the richest families in the colony for a brief period owning the most head of cattle and horses.

"Their colonial empire extended to the New England, the Upper Manning and Macleay areas."

Bookings are essential for the tours and can be made at the Glasshouse.

People attending the tour will need to use their own vehicles to reach the ruins, wear enclosed shoes, bring a water bottle and small hand torch and use non-aerosol mosquito repellent.

The two hour tour ends at 6pm.

While the evening tours are rare, NPWS does host regular Wednesday morning tours with volunteers. Bookings are also available at the Glasshouse.

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