Before the end of 1850, Scottish settlers in Western Australia represented a small minority group of what was, in terms of the European population, a predominantly English colony. By comparison to the eastern Australian colonies, Western Australia attracted the least number of Scottish migrants. This thesis aims to broaden the historiography of Scottish settlement in Australia in the nineteenth century by providing insights into the lives of Westralian Scots. While this thesis broadly documents Scottish settlement, its main focus is Scottish identity. Utilising techniques of nominal record linkage and close socio-biographical scrutiny, this study looks beyond institutional manifestations of Scottish identity to consider the ways in which Scottishness was maintained in everyday lives through work, social and religious practices. This thesis also demonstrates the multi-layered expressions of national identity by recognising Scottish identity in the Australian colonies as both Scottish and British. The duality of a Scottish and British identity made Scots more willing to identify eventually as Westralian Scots.

Dr. David Livingstone, the Victorian “missionary-explorer”, has attracted more written commentary than nearly any other heroic figure of the nineteenth century. In the years following his death, he rapidly became the subject of a major “biographical industry” and indeed he continues to sustain an academic industry as well. Yet, out of the extensive discourse that has installed itself around him, no single unified image of Livingstone emerges. Rather, he has been represented in diverse ways and put to work in a variety of socio-political contexts. This thesis interrogates the heterogeneous nature of Livingstone’s legacy and explores the plurality of identities that he has posthumously acquired. In approaching Livingstone’s “Lives” the methodology employed is that of metabiographical analysis, essentially a biography of biographies. This framework does not aim to uncover the true nature of the “biographee” but is rather concerned with the malleability and ideological embeddedness of biographical representation. The first chapter considers Livingstone’s own self-representation by critically analysing Missionary Travels, his best-selling travelogue. I argue that the text is more ambivalent than has hitherto been acknowledged and that its heterogeneity facilitated the diversity of Livingstone’s posthumous interpretations. The second chapter discusses Livingstone’s Victorian commemoration, exploring a body of hitherto unexamined remembrance literature, a wealth of obituaries and elegiac poetry. Focusing on a brief historical juncture, the year of his national memorial, presents an opportunity to reflect on some of the foundation stones of his legacy. The next chapter concerns itself with Livingstone’s imperialist construction, certainly his most persistent image. It discusses the way in which he was routinely re-presented in order to meet the evolving demands of empire. Yet, Livingstone was never constructed homogenously at any one colonial moment and so I argue that we should speak of his imperial legacies. The penultimate chapter considers the Scottish dimension of Livingstone’s reputation in a range of contexts, from the Celtic Revival to Kailyard. While some ignored his northern heritage, his national identity was of vital importance for others who used him to negotiate a Scottish national consciousness. The final chapter extends the concept of life-writing to include fictional portrayals of Livingstone. The focus here is primarily on postcolonial literature in which, as a cherished icon of empire, he became a focal point for critique and imaginative violence. The thesis contributes to the growing body of scholarship on life-writing and directs further attention to the changing nature and political efficacy of historical lives. Livingstone emerges as a site of competing meanings; the Victorian hero has himself become a colonised space.

This thesis is the first in depth study that has been undertaken concerning Edinburgh and Glasgow’s identities and rivalry. It is not an economic or a social study driven solely by theory. Essentially, this is a cultural and political examination of Edinburgh and Glasgow’s identities and rivalry based on empirical evidence. It engages with theory where appropriate. Although 1752 – 1842 is the main framework for the period there are other considerations included before this period and after this timeframe. This study provides the reader with a better understanding of the ideas highlighted in the introduction and it also indicates the degrees of changes as well as continuity within the two cities. Therefore, this thesis is not a strict comparison of the two cities and neither does it provide for a complete contextual breakdown of every historical event over the course of every year. The primary focus is kept on an array of primary written sources about the two cities over the course of the period, with only brief reflections about other places, where it is deemed appropriate. The thesis is driven by the evidence it has uncovered in relation to identity and rivalry, and the study uses particular events and their impact on the two cities within a particular historical narrative. As it is a preliminary report of its kind, there are, of course, many gaps which are opportunities for further research. This is something that the conclusion of this thesis returns to. Identity and rivalry are words not attached to any particular corpus of research material but rather are buried in an array of primary sources that are wide-ranging and all encompassing. Most have been uncovered in individual collections and in the literature of the time, including newspapers, guidebooks, travellers’ accounts, civic histories, speeches, letters, and in entries for the Encyclopaedia Britannica and also the Old and New Statistical Accounts. Although historians may have examined some of this material it has not necessarily been employed by them to investigate how the cities’ identities and rivalry evolved. The period was influenced by the ideas birthed from the Enlightenment and Romanticism, by the impact of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars and by the intense processes harboured by urbanisation, industrialisation and by political and social change as the Georgian city became a Victorian one, so consideration of these important aspects must be afforded, as well as the particular historians’ ideas about them and how they affected cities like Edinburgh and Glasgow within a Scottish and a British context.