In terms of regional origins the migrants from Scotland to New
Zealand were a very balanced cross-section of the Scots as a whole.
There were few marked regional concentrations.
Since the vast majority of the Scottish population lived in the
lowlands, it is not surprising that this area was the origin of
about 60% of New Zealand's Scots immigrants. The only change was a
slight shift from the East Lowlands around Edinburgh to the West
Lowlands around Glasgow. This may reflect in the early years the
influence of Edinburgh leaders in the Otago settlement and the
importance of Glasgow as a port of departure in the later years.
There was a strong representation from the far north of Scotland
especially the off-shore islands. Indeed Shetland Islanders
comprised 13.8% of the Scots miners going to the West Coast and
6.2% of those going to the Otago diggings and a high proportion of
all assisted Scots during the 1870s. This probably followed an
article in the Shetland Advertiser in 1862 on the Otago gold
discoveries, and initiated a strong and distinctive flow to New
Zealand from Shetland.
People from the Highlands were also well-represented among the
mining community (18.4% of Scots miners), but, contrary to
tradition, they were only marginally over-represented among the
other immigrant flows.
The Borders and the North-east tended to be slightly
under-represented.
Caledonian Society of Wellington concert programme, 12
July 1889
