Since European settlement in 1788, in total, about 600,000 Scots have made their homes in Australia. While earlier in the twentieth century as many as 12 per cent of Australians claimed to be of Scottish descent, the most recent census shows a figure of 7.6 per cent. Today, the main legacy of the early Scots settlers is a small but strong Scottish cultural identity and heritage within Australia's now much larger and more diverse population. The influence of Scottish military traditions and identity in Australia dates back to the arrival of a battalion of the 73rd Highland Regiment in New South Wales in 1810. From the 1860s several home-grown ‘Scottish’ volunteer militia units were then established in the Australian colonies. This chapter discusses the influence of Scottish military heritage and traditions in Australia from the mid-nineteenth century onwards, focusing particularly on a perceived dominant Scottish influence within a small number of Australian infantry battalions during the First World War. This includes the 56th Australian Infantry Battalion, one of a limited number of units where a larger proportion of officers and men were of Scottish descent, or had pre-war service in militia units with Scottish heritage and identity. A junior Australian officer serving with the 56th observed of Scotsmen in his unit that they displayed ‘A military fervour akin to religious fanaticism’, underlining how, within these units, the links to Scottish heritage were seen as a positive factor and a strength. Yet against this was set a general view across the Australian forces and among senior command during the First World War that units should identify exclusively as Australian.

Throughout the second half of the nineteenth century up to the First World War, around two million Scots emigrated overseas, primarily to the USA and the British Dominions: a remarkable rate of migration given the total population of Scotland by the middle of the nineteenth century was still under three million. The initial waves of migration resulting from the Highland Clearances saw most Scots emigrants go to North America, but about 10,000 made the longer journey to Australia between 1837 and 1857.