I have lived in Australia since the mid 1980s and had long involvement with the Scottish community through running Scottish studies and history programs in Melbourne including a course in Scottish History at the University of Melbourne. I also served on the boards of the Melbourne Scots, the Victorian Scottish Heritage Foundation and the Society of St Andrews in Queensland as both Chairman and President. I have been patron of the University of Queensland Pipe Band at Emmanuel College (now the Emmanuel College Highlanders at the University of Queensland).

Brisbane Scottish Highland dancer awards presented by Stewart Gill

As a settler society, there is an ever-growing interest in Australia in ancestry and none more so than amongst the Scots. In recent days we have seen the rise of new groups of Scots that serve as professional networking bodies but still enjoy their Scottish heritage of food, drink, music and history. The adoption of a .scot Scottish domain by Scots-Australians would further strengthen their identity.

Throughout the history of Australia the Scottish diaspora has been small but highly significant beyond the numbers. The most recent surveys would indicate that there are about 2.2 million Scots in Australia by ancestry (8.4% of the population) and about 130,000 by birth.

Where exactly have Australians of Scottish descent fitted into the “Australian mosaic” of cultures? The Scottish tradition cannot be seen as a single, clearly defined entity but as a variety of typically Scottish traditions: romantic, military, political, economic, educational, philosophic-religious, literary-linguistic, musical, artistic, sporting and culinary.

Scots have played an important role in Australia from the very beginning of white settlement. Scottish names appear frequently at crucial turning points in the Australian story as well as in more mundane aspects of its development.

In this I have observed that the Scots have contributed certain characteristics to the Australian identity The Scottish influence, although metamorphosed by the Australian geographical and social environment, remains strongly Scottish in flavour. Many of the leading figures in these turning points in Australian history have been members of recognizably Scottish societies – Burns Clubs, Caledonian or St Andrews Societies etc.

In spite of the proportional decline of Scots and Australians of Scottish descent within the population, they still play an important part in Australian life and activity. Scots continue to come to Australia from all levels of society: skilled workmen, professionals, financiers, entrepreneurs, manufacturers, scientists and academics. Moreover, even though they may have no relatives in Australia, they soon find that they are involved with other Scots or Scottish-Australians who are very conscious of their Scottish background and heritage and of what Scots have meant to the development of Australia and Australian self-consciousness.

[Stewart Gill grew up in Methil, Fife and is a graduate of the University of Edinburgh. He subsequently studied on a Commonwealth Scholarship at the Universities of Toronto and Guelph. He has lived in Australia (Melbourne and Brisbane) since the mid-1980s and been involved in many Scottish organisations including teaching Scottish History at the University of Melbourne. He is part of Scotland’s international business network as a Global Scot. He is also a global ambassador for DotScot Registry which applied for and now manages the .scot domain. Stewart believes that there can be no better way to continue our connectedness to Scotland as part of the diaspora than to have a domain that clearly identifies these links.]

To register your own .scot domain, please visit domains.scot

For more information on the .scot domain, please visit DotScot Registry