Scottish Australian

Scottish Australians are residents of Australia who are of Scottish ancestry.

According to the 2006 Australian census 130,204 Australian residents were born in Scotland,^[2] while 1,501,204 claimed Scottish ancestry, either alone or in combination with another ancestry.^[1]

History

The links between Scotland and Australia are long and stretch back to the first European expedition of the Endeavour under command of Lieutenant James Cook (himself son of a Scottish ploughman), who navigated and charted the east coast of Australia, making first landfall at Botany Bay on 29 April 1770. His discoveries and reports by Cook's expedition would lead to the British settlement of the continent, and during the voyage Cook also named two groups of Pacific islands in honour of Scotland: New Caledonia and the New Hebrides.^[3] The first European to die on Australian soil was a Scot, Forbey Sutherland from Orkney, an able seaman died on 30 April 1770 of consumption and was the first to be buried on the colony by Captain Cook, who named Sutherland Point at Botany Bay in his honour.

Colonial period

The first Scots arrived in Australia with the First Fleet in 1788,^[4] including three of the first six Governors of New South Wales John Hunter, Lachlan Macquarie (often referred to as the father of Australia) ^[3][4] and Thomas Brisbane. The majority of Scots 8,207 of the total 150,000 transported to Australia made 5% of the total convict population. The Scottish courts were unwilling to repatriate crimes deemed to be lesser offences in Scots Law which would have resulted in the deportation and repatriation to Australia, by its contemporaries and was considered more humane for lesser offences than the English and Irish legal systems.^[3]

From 1793-1795 a group of political prisoners later called the 'Scottish Martyrs' were transported to the colonies (they were not all Scots, but had been tried in Scotland). Their plight as victims of oppression was widely reported, and the subsequent escape of one of them, Thomas Muir, in 1796 caused a sensation and inspired the poetry of Robert Burns.^[3] The majority of immigrants in the late 18th century were Lowlanders from prominent wealthy families. Engineers like Andrew McDougall and John Bowman arrived with experience in building the colonies corn mills, while others were drawn to Australia by the prospects of trade. William Douglas Campbell, Robert Campbell, Charles Hook, Alexander Berry Laird of the Shoalhaven, were some of the first merchants drawn to the colonies.

19th century

The majority of Scottish immigration prior to 1830 consisted of farmers and landholders who chose to repatriate willingly, due to the Scottish economic recessions of the 1820s. A second group of Scottish radicals were deported to the colonies in 1820 resulting partially in nationalistic as well as the social economic disruption and riots caused by the Agrarian revolution. All of who were educated and later were esteemed by the respectable colonists. In the coming years Australia was one of many countries to benefit from the Scottish population rise and exodus of the late 18th century. The majority of immigrants were predominantly from Edinburgh, Dundee and Aberdeen, that encouraged strong commercial and financial links between the Scottish east coat and Western Australia. In this time, several Scottish regiments are recorded in the colonies. The first was the Macquarie's unit or the 73rd Regiment, the Royal North British Fusiliers, and the King's Own Scottish Borderers. Three of the Deputy Commissaries-General (the highest rank in the colony) from 1813 to 1835, three were Scots; David Allan, William Lithgow, Stewart. By the 1830s a growing number of Scot’s from the poorer working classes joined the diasporia from across the country. Immigrants included skilled builders, tradesmen, engineers, tool-makers and printers, settled in urban commercial and industrial cities; including Sydney, Adelaide, Hobart and Melbourne. The migration of skilled increased to include bricklayers, carpenters, joiners, Christian ministers, and stonemasons including the Australian provincial centres, of Victoria, New South Wales, South Australia and Tasmania. By 1830 15.11% of the colonies total population were Scots, which increased by the middle of the century to 25,000, or 20-25% of the total population. The Australian Gold Rush of 1850s provided a further catalyst for Scottish migratory patterns; in 1850s the total immigration of 90,000 people were Scots, far higher than other British or Irish populations at the time.^[4] Literacy rates of the Scottish immigrants ran at 90-95% and contained a higher percentage of the total immigrant population from the British Isles. Many of the Scottish immigrants were skilled artisans, including businessmen, clerical workers, and professionals. By 1860 Scots made up 50% of the ethnic composition of Western Victoria, Adelaide and the south-east with communities in Penola and Naracoorte. Other settlements included New England, Hunter Valley and Illawarra in New south Wales.

Famine and forced migration

Scottish immigration from the Lowlands, Highland and Islands further concentrated the mix, and permeating throughout Australian society at all levels. This was partly due to radical social and economic change of the Highland Potato Famine, Highland Clearances and the Lowland Clearances of the mid-19th century.

20th century

A steady rate of Scottish immigration continued into the 20th century. From 1900 till the 1950s Scots favoured New South Wales, as well as Western Australia and Southern Australia. Substantial numbers of Scots continued to arrive after 1945 ^[3] and the ebb and flow of Scottish people was further heightened during the later half of the 20th century. Maintaining a strong cultural Scottish presence, evident in the Highland games, dance, Tartan day celebrations (originating in Australia), Clan and Gaelic speaking societies found throughout modern Australia.

Demography

At the 2006 Census 130,204 Australian residents stated that they were born in Scotland.^[1] Of these 80,604 had Australian citizenship.^[5] The majority of residents, 83,503, had arrived in Australia in 1979 or earlier.^[5]

Notable Scottish Australians

Culture

Some of the following aspects of Scottish culture can still be found in some parts of Australia.

• Bagpiping and pipe bands.
• Burns Supper^[10]
• Ceilidhs
• Hogmanay, the Scottish New Year^[11]
• Presbyterianism - the majority of Scottish settlers were Presbyterian (although a substantial number were not, many of them are Roman Catholic or Episcopalian).
• Tartan, some regions of Australia having their own tartan. Additionally Scottish dress is worn by some Australians to celebrate their ancestral heritage.
• Tartan Day, in Australia, this falls on 1 July.,^[12] the date of the repeal proclamation in 1792 of the Act of Proscription that banned the wear of Scottish national dress.^[13]

Highland gatherings

Highland gatherings are popular meetings in Australia celebrating Scottish culture. Notable gatherings include:

• Bundanoon, New South Wales established in 1976, claimed to be one of the world's largest Highland Gatherings, and the biggest in Australia.
• Maryborough, Victoria held since 1857 on New Year's Day^[14]

Scottish schools

As elsewhere in the world, the Scots in Australia started a number of schools, some of which are state run, and some of which are private.

• The Scots College, in Bellevue Hill, Sydney, New South Wales
• The Scots PGC College, in Warwick, Queensland, formed by the merger of The Scots College, Warwick and The Presbyterian Girls' College
• The Scots School Albury, in Albury, New South Wales.
• The Scots School, Bathurst, in Bathurst, New South Wales
• Scotch College, Adelaide, in Torrens Park and Mitcham, South Australia
• Scotch College, Melbourne, in Hawthorn, Victoria
• Scotch College, Perth, in Swanbourne, Western Australia
• Scotch College, Launceston, in Tasmania; amalgamated with Oakburn College in 1979 to form Scotch Oakburn College
• Seymour College, Adelaide, South Australia

Scottish placenames

There are Scottish placenames all over Australia.

Notable Scottish placenames in Australia include:

• New South Wales
  • MacLean
  • Ben Lomond
  • Glen Innes

• Northern Territory
  • MacDonnell Ranges

• Queensland
  • Brisbane (Thomas Brisbane)

• South Australia
  • St Kilda, not to be confused with the one in Victoria

• Tasmania
  • Ben Lomond
  • Suburbs of Hobart-Glenorchy-
    • Glenorchy & City of Glenorchy

• Victoria
  • St. Kilda

• Western Australia
  • Marvel Loch, Western Australia
  • Perth
  • Stirling Range

Places named after Lachlan Macquarie

Many places in Australia have been named in Macquarie's honour (some of these were named by Macquarie himself). They include:

At the time of his governorship or shortly thereafter:

• Macquarie Island between Tasmania and Antarctica
• Lake Macquarie on the coast of New South Wales between Sydney and Newcastle renamed after Macquarie in 1826
• Macquarie River a significant inland river in New South Wales which passes Bathurst, Wellington, Dubbo and Warren before entering the Macquarie Marshes and the Barwon River.
• Lachlan River, another significant river in New South Wales
• Port Macquarie, a city at the mouth of the Hastings River on the North Coast, New South Wales.
• Macquarie Pass, a route traversing the escarpment between the Illawarra district and the Southern Highlands district of New South Wales.
• Macquarie Rivulet, a river 23 kilometers long which rises near Robertson, New South Wales and drains into Lake Illawarra.

• In Tasmania:
• Macquarie Harbour on the west coast of Tasmania
• Lachlan a small town named by Sir John Franklin in 1837 [1]
• Macquarie River
• Macquarie Hill, formerly known as Mount Macquarie, in Wingecarribee Shire, Southern Highlands, New South Wales
• Macquarie Pass, north-east of Robertson, New South Wales

Many years after his governorship:

• Macquarie Park and Macquarie Links, suburbs of Sydney.
• Macquarie, a suburb of Canberra, Australia
• Division of Macquarie, one of the first 75 Divisions of the Australian House of Representatives created for the Australian Parliament in 1901.

See also

• Anglo-Celtic Australian
• Scottish placenames in Australia

References

Further reading

• Prentis, Malcolm D. (2008), The Scots in Australia University of New South Wales Press, Sydney.

External links

• Scottish Australian Heritage Council
• Scotland's Links with Australia and New Zealand