Centenary of Scottish Rifles & Successors Print Page

The framed plaque commemorates the New South Wales Scottish Rifles and its successors from 1885 to 1985.  

The plaque contains colours of the 30th and 2/30 Battalions, Insignias of the New South Wales Scottish Regiment, Scottish Rifles, Royal New South Wales Regiment, Red Hackle Association and the Black Watch Affiliation. The memorial plaque also contains a figure of a soldier wearing a kilted uniform.

 Following the death of General Gordon in Khartoum in 1885, the New South Wales Government sent a special force to the Sudan. This aroused public reaction in the State, which led to the formation of a new Unit, to be called the Scottish Volunteer Rifle Corps in 1885.  The name was later abbreviated to the Scottish Rifles and they first paraded in November 1885. The chosen uniform of the Scottish Rifles was to be a kilt of Black Watch tartan but as the Unit was not formally affiliated to the Black Watch (the Royal Highland Regiment), the tartan was adapted by adding a thin red line. In 1911, the Government announced that a new Citizens' Army involving compulsory service was to be formed and all existing Units would be absorbed into the militia. In 1912 this came into effect and all trainees were drafted into new Battalions, those in Sydney being the 25th and 26th Infantry and the Scottish Rifles ceased to exist.

During World War One, the previous Units were not disbanded as such but remained in Australia as home Units and so at the end of the War, the 25th Infantry had remained in existence.  After the War it was renamed the 2/4 Battalion, i.e. the second Battalion of the 4th Infantry, and was to continue the history of the 4th Battalion.

In 1920, for organisational reasons, the Government decided that it was inappropriate to retain second Battalions to an A.I.F. Battalion and the 2/4th was renamed 30th Battalion, New South Wales Scottish Regiment. 
 

Location

Details

Dedication