2. In today’s class I am learning to:
• Describe the impact of Scottish
emigrants in Australia
Emigrant Scots in Australia
3. During the 1800s and 1900s Australia was an
emigrant destination for large numbers of Scots, and
they influenced the country in different ways.
Emigrant Scots in Australia
4. Scots have moved to live
in Australia since the
1700s. Most chose to go
to build a new life, some
went as part of Britain’s
army and some even
served a prison sentence.
Between 1830 and 1850
around 40,000 Scots made
the long journey.
Emigrant Scots in Australia
5. Initially the majority of
Scottish emigrants to
Australia came from the
Lowlands, but over time
more Highlanders chose
to move there.
Even to this day, more
than two million
Australians claim to have
Scottish heritage.
Emigrant Scots in Australia
7. Emigrant Scots had a
significant impact on
Australia’s economic
development.
They found jobs working
in a range of different
industries, and they also
had a role in setting up
businesses and bringing
changes to the country.
Emigrant Scots in Australia
8. Scots had a strong
reputation as hard
workers, helping make it
easier to find work.
This included being
stonemasons, tradesmen
such as joiners, engineers
and toolmakers. Others
worked in professional
roles like lawyers.
Emigrant Scots in Australia
9. Scots played a major role
in Australia’s farming
industry.
Many Highland and
Lowland Scots took their
farming skills and either
set up their own farms
(sometimes with land
grants) or worked on
other people’s farms.
Emigrant Scots in Australia
10. John MacArthur was a
military officer from a
Scottish family.
He set up a farm in
Australia and began to
introduce flocks of sheep.
The success of this venture
meant he is considered as
a main founder of
Australia’s sheep industry.
Emigrant Scots in Australia
11. Scots also helped develop
the alcohol industry in
Australia.
Robert McCracken from
Ayrshire moved to
Melbourne and started a
beer brewing company
which became one of the
biggest in the entire
country.
Emigrant Scots in Australia
12. James Harrison’s work
made a major impact in
the economy and homes.
Harrison moved to
Australia to set up a
printing company.
However he ended
developing machines
which were used to make
refrigerators.
Emigrant Scots in Australia
13. Other people with Scottish
backgrounds were
involved in wine making.
Samuel McWilliam (from
Ireland but whose great
grandfather was Scottish)
set up a wine farm in New
South Wales, growing it to
become one of the
country’s largest.
Emigrant Scots in Australia
14. Mining played a major
role in attracting Scots to
live and work in Australia.
Some Scots – using the
skills they had gained in
Scotland – worked in coal
mining. Others were
attracted by the potential
riches that gold mining
offered.
Emigrant Scots in Australia
15. Scots also had a significant
influence in banking.
Lesslie Duguid helped
found the Commercial
Banking Company of
Sydney, whilst other Scots
held senior positions in
the Bank of New South
Wales and the Bank of
Australia.
Emigrant Scots in Australia
16. Ships and shipbuilding
played a major role in
Scottish emigrant lives.
Robert Campbell from
Greenock opened
Australia’s first shipyard.
Many Scots later went to
work in the shipyards of
Australia, taking skills
learned in Scotland.
Emigrant Scots in Australia
17. Scots helped found
various famous brands.
A Scottish emigrant’s son
set up MacRobertson’s
chocolate company,
making products such as
Freddos. Alexander
MacRae from Ross
founded a company which
made Speedo swimwear.
Emigrant Scots in Australia
19. Scots in Australia had a
major impact on their new
home on issues such as:
• Religion
• Education
• Politics
• Sport
• Music
Emigrant Scots in Australia
20. Some Scots travelled to
Australia as missionaries
trying to spread the
Christian message.
They often tried to
convert native
communities, or else they
set up churches to provide
religious support to
Scottish emigrants.
Emigrant Scots in Australia
21. John Dunmore Lang
helped spread the
Presbyterian Church
across Australia.
He initially arranged the
building of one church in
New South Wales, which
gradually spread. Lang
also supported education
by opening a school.
Emigrant Scots in Australia
22. Other Scots made the
journey to work as
teachers, or helped
develop Australia's’
education system.
Many Scottish emigrants
opened schools, such as
Scots College in Sydney,
set up for the children of
farmers.
Emigrant Scots in Australia
23. Australian university
education was also
influenced by Scots.
St Andrew’s College in
Sydney was as founded by
Scottish emigrants in 1867
(to promote religious
education). The college
later became part of the
University of Sydney.
Emigrant Scots in Australia
24. Many Scots played an
active role in Australian
politics, helping influence
the country’s government.
Andrew Fisher of Ayrshire
became Australian Prime
Minister three times
between 1908 and 1915.
He also led the Australian
Labor Party.
Emigrant Scots in Australia
25. Other Scots were involved
in local politics.
John Hunter, Lachlan
Macquarie and Thomas
Brisbane were governors
of New South Wales.
Macquarie has many
streets named after him in
Sydney and a city was
named after Brisbane.
Emigrant Scots in Australia
26. Emigrant Scots often
named towns in Australia
after locations in Scotland.
This includes places such
as Perth, Dundee and Ayr.
Also one of Australia’s
main cities, Brisbane, was
named after a Scottish
emigrant, Thomas
Brisbane.
Emigrant Scots in Australia
27. The Scots’ influence on
towns and cities in
Australia was not just
limited to names.
Many of the architects
and builders who built
parts of Australia came
from Scotland, such as
James Barnet and George
McRae.
Emigrant Scots in Australia
28. Scots also brought
different types of music
and poetry to Australia.
Some emigrants set up
Burns Clubs and also held
Burns Suppers each year.
Also, the famous
Australian song Waltzing
Matilda was written based
on a Scottish tune.
Emigrant Scots in Australia
29. Other clubs were
established which allowed
Scots to meet and
remember their
homelands, such as
through music or food.
Caledonian Societies and
St Andrew’s Societies
appeared in different
towns in Australia.
Emigrant Scots in Australia
30. The Scots also influenced
Australia – and kept links
with home – through the
playing of sport.
Highland Games were
played in Scottish
communities, and other
Scottish sports such as
Shinty was also found in
migrant communities.
Emigrant Scots in Australia
32. There was extreme
tension between
immigrants to Australia
(such as Scots) and the
native peoples.
The British gave native
Australians the name
aborigines, although this
wasn’t a name the natives
used themselves.
Emigrant Scots in Australia
33. Land arguments were the
main cause of conflict
between Scottish settlers
and aborigines.
Scots wanted land for
farming and to build
towns, but this meant
taking aborigine land,
including often sacred and
holy places.
Emigrant Scots in Australia
34. Professor Tom Devine, a
well known Scottish
historian, has pointed out
a strange element of Scots
taking aborigine land:
“It was ironic that some of
those most notoriously
involved were Highlanders
who had themselves
suffered clearance.”
Emigrant Scots in Australia
35. Arguments were also
caused when aborigines
took animals being farmed
by the Scots.
All of this led to battles
between Scots and
aborigines. Many
aborigines were killed by
Scottish settlers as a result
of this.
Emigrant Scots in Australia
36. One infamous attack
involving the two groups
took place at Warrigal
Creek in 1843.
Twenty settlers – led by a
Scottish emigrant called
Angus MacMillan –
hunted down and killed at
least 60 aborigines, and
possibly up to 180.
Emigrant Scots in Australia
37. Disease was also an issue
which caused problems for
native Australian people.
Many Scots (and other
European migrants) had
diseases such as smallpox.
Aborigines could not cope
with these illnesses and
large numbers died as a
result of this.
Emigrant Scots in Australia
38. Scottish emigrants also
had a role in splitting up
aborigine families.
Some Scots believed it was
their job to ‘civilise’ the
aborigines, whether by
teaching them the
Christian religion, or other
actions such as learning to
speak English.
Emigrant Scots in Australia
39. Large numbers of native
Australian children were
taken from their parents
and sent to schools where
they were taught
European values.
Governor Lachlan
Macquarie set up the
Native Institution to teach
the Aboriginal children.
Emigrant Scots in Australia
40. Children who went to the
Native Institute were only
allowed to see their
parents once per year.
Between 1869 and 1969,
100,000 Aboriginal
children were forcibly
taken from their families,
most commonly never
seeing them again.
Emigrant Scots in Australia
41. Other Scots tried to
influence aborigines by
changing their religious
beliefs.
Missions were set up to
not only try and convert
Aborigines to Christianity,
but also to allow emigrant
Scots to continue their
faith once overseas.
Emigrant Scots in Australia
