When the Highlands of Scotland were emptying, as clansfolk fled the intolerable atrocities following the Battle of Culloden, and later, during the dreaded Highland Clearances, were driven out of their homes and off the lands their clanspeople and ancestors had occupied for centuries, many boarded emigrants ships for Australia and New Zealand.
Many descendants of the Highlanders who had emigrated to Nova Scotia (Canada) followed Rev. Norman MacLeod when he relocated his congregation to Cape Breton, then to Australia and finally to New Zealand. They finally settled in Waipu, New Zealand, where there is a strong Highland Scottish population today.
Others emigrated to Australia during the gold rush in the 1850s, and
remained to play a major role in developing both Australia and New
Zealand. Today Australia anbd New Zealand are as Highland Scottish as
Canada, perhaps as much so as Nova Scotia.
Waipu Pioneer Memorial Settler's Museum