City of Melbourne Highland Pipe Band is one of Australia’s oldest pipe bands, with traditions dating back to the 1890s. Its history is linked to the South and Port Melbourne Thistle Society Pipe Band, formed around 1897/1898. In 1918, that band changed its name to Melbourne Highland Pipe Band, giving the present organisation a deep line into Melbourne’s Scottish music heritage.

The band has built a reputation for both tradition and musical innovation, performing at civic, corporate, cultural and community events across Melbourne while maintaining a competitive presence in the Australian pipe band scene. Its own profile describes the organisation as one of Australia’s oldest pipe bands and notes its long-running commitment to Scottish pipe music in a multicultural city.

Today, City of Melbourne Highland Pipe Band is one of the larger pipe band organisations in Australia, with more than thirty pipers and twenty drummers, and fields multiple contest bands. Its public recruitment material notes Grade 3 and Grade 4 contest bands, while recent Pipe Bands Victoria material shows its No.1 band competing in Grade 2 in 2025.