Eureka Stockade

**Eureka Stockade** was a barricade erected in miners in Ballarat, Victoria, Australia in 1854 as part of a resistance movement against the government.

## Background

In 1851, a British colonial government was established in Melbourne creating the state of Victoria separate from New South Wales. Gold was already being discovered in various places around Victoria, but in particular in Ballarat. Governor Latrobe (Victoria's first) had the authority to authorise a mining tax and related regulations in order to provide the new colony with a revenue stream. This, along with a lack of ability to vote for people to represent them in government, angered miners all over Victoria and laid the foundation for what was to come including acts of civil disobedience bringing them into odds with both the British Military and the local police.

## Matters deteriorate in Ballarat

When Governor Hotham replaced Governor Latrobe in June 1854, he was concerned that farmers were abandoning their land in order to claim a share of the gold in the goldfields. In order to combat this, he cracked down the mining licenses. Many miners did not have them and therefore should not have been prospecting - and Hotham wanted them back on the land. Checks for licenses increased in frequency from monthly to twice a week in September, but no mention was made to anyone that they were needed back on the land - or the pleas were ignored.

## The James Scobie murder

In early October 1854, a Scottish miner named James Scobie was murdered at the Eureka Hotel. The owner of the hotel, James Bentley, was the prime suspect - but an allegedly corrupt Magistrate acquitted him, leading to a riot less than two weeks after the murder involving between 1,000 and 10,000 miners (estimates vary). Bentley and his wife Catherine ran for their lives as the hotel was burnt down by the angry mob. Soldiers were badly outnumbered and were unable to control the riot.

Three of the miners were charged with starting the fire, with the arrest of the first two causing a mass meeting which established a Diggers Rights Society. A little over a week later another meeting was held attracting an attendance twice the size of the first one.

## The Ballarat Reform League

In November 1854 the Society was reformed as the Ballarat Reform League. It had existed previously, but this moment was when it became an official group. The Reform League
settled on a list of demands - full and fair representation; manhood suffrage; no property qualification of members for the Legislative Council; payment of members; short duration of Parliament. In detail, the right to vote to be given to all men, parliamentary terms to be shortened and members of parliament to be paid and to be able to stand for election regardless of property ownership. It also demanded the Commissioners of the Gold Fields Commission to be sacked, licences for gold diggers and storekeepers to be discontinued and the Reform League to be given premises and administrative authority, as well as censure of the disrespectful attitude of Commission officials, mistrust of politicians in Parliament and disapproval of the process establishing the Board of Enquiry. There was also the outstanding issue of the Scobie murder - and the League resolved to secede from the United Kingdom if these demands were not met.

Aware of the developing situation, five days after the formation of the League Governor Hotham appointed a Royal Commission to investigate their grievances. Four days later some measure of justice was done when Bentley was convicted along with two other men on a fresh charge of the manslaughter of Scobie. However at the same time the three miners charged with the burning down of the hotel were also convicted. This led to representatives of the League to travel to Melbourne to meet with the Governor. Hotham though was of the view that justice had been served entirely and anything else would be dealt with by the Royal Commission. Commissioner Robert Rede was less diplomatic, regarding the miners as rabble and sent more troops to Ballarat to deal with the problem more directly.

## Escalation

When the reinforcements arrived in Ballarat they were attacked by furious miners. Another meeting followed with the biggest attendance yet - and it was resolved that everyone would burn their mining licenses. This was in reply to the news that the mission to Melbourne had failed to release the miners who had been convicted of the Eureka Hotel burning. Rede reacted with an immediate order for another license search, and troops tried to arrest eight men who didn't have them. This action attracted an angry mob, and extra troops were needed to rescue the arresting officers.

The miners at this point were out of patience for the diplomatic route, and a change of leadership followed for the Ballarat Reform League. That led to the battle plans and the swearing under the flag of the Southern Cross to fight for their rights. This was consistent with the secession threat in the League's original demands.

## The Stockade

The miners erected a Stockade at the Eureka gold reef. It was a ramshackle set up that to some wasn't intended for any armed hostility. Despite the anger of the miners many were not really ready for what was in effect a war. During the day things were fine but at night many left the Stockade for drinking sessions in the hotels and didn't come back. Despite reinforcements coming from Creswick and requests made as far away as Bendigo, the miners didn't have enough troops to hold off a full scale attack from government troops. It also didn't help when Peter Lalor - the leader of the operation - set a password for access to the Stockade that led many to believe that the Irish had taken control of matters and turned many away. The password, *Vinegar Hill*, was a reference to a battle during the Irish Rebellion of the late 18th century.

Another error - perhaps the most fatal of them - was the decision to send 200 well armed Americans down the road towards Melbourne in order to intercept more troops that were rumoured to be coming from the state capital. This was combined with an assumption that troops would not attack on a Sunday. But on 3am Sunday December 3, 1854, the troops did precisely that. It was a massacre designed to crush the rebellion outright, and on first glance one would have thought it succeeded. But the death tally was not anywhere near what was originally thought, with most of the miners taken prisoner. The toll was 22, plus either five or six on the government side (the death registry in Ballarat gave the total death toll as 27 and yet government forces claimed a total deaths of 6).

## The Aftermath

Word spread of the incident like wildfire. Governor Hotham was informed on the day, and anticipating follow up hostility declared martial law while things calmed down. But the public was furious even within the confines of the restrictions with daylight protest rallies held in Melbourne. Even outside Victoria the action was condemned.

One of the government's first acts was to arrest Ballarat Times editor Henry Seekamp for sedition. He was convicted of seditious libel and sentenced to six months after a series of appeals, and only served three months.

The biggest act was to try as many miners as possible for high treason. Of the over 100 prisoners taken, 13 were brought to trial. It took awhile to get the trial going but the first began on February 22, 1855. The defendant was an African American, John Joseph. After the trial, the jury found him not guilty. A spontaneous round of applause from the gallery was quickly shut down leading to two of the applauders being charged and convicted with contempt of court. The remaining trials were changed up as a result, but the precedent had been set and the other 12 miners were also exonerated.

Meanwhile the Royal Commission had got underway, beginning four days after the Stockade on December 7 when the members who were appointed were confirmed. The report was handed down on March 27, 1855. It was scathing in its assessment of all aspects of the administration of the gold fields, and particularly the Eureka Stockade affair. Within twelve months all but one of the demands of the Ballarat Reform League was implemented. The changes included the abolition of gold licences in favour of an export duty, an annual 1 pound annual miner's right which entitled the holder to voting rights and a land deed, mining wardens replaced the gold commissioners, and a reduction in police numbers and Chinese immigration. The Legislative Council was reconstituted to provide for representation from the major goldfield settlements, although property qualifications with regards to eligibility to vote in upper house elections in Victoria remained at least for now.

More importantly, the Legislative Assembly was established creating a two house Parliament. Both Peter Lalor and original Reform League leader John Hummfray would win seats in the new Assembly (North Grenville and North Grant respectively) with Lalor going on to be the Speaker. Commissioner Rede was re-assigned to a deputy sheriff position in Geelong. Today, Hummfray has a street named after him in Ballarat's eastern suburbs and Lalor a hotel on the corner of Mair and Doveton Streets in the Ballarat city.

The Australian flag created upon the Federation of Australia in 1901 has an element of the Eureka Flat although as it was decided via a competition and there is no proof that Eureka Stocktake influenced the equal winning entries. The Eureka flag is held to be the first Australian flag despite this. The site of the Stockade - although it's exact location is not known - is held to be where the present day Eureka Centre museum is located. The remnants of the original Eureka flag is on display at this centre.

## *Opinions*

* One thing Australia is proud of is it's avoidance of a full scale local war on Australian soil. However that does not mean we have not come close. But such is our resolve to solve issues without fighting, Eureka Stockade showed the benefit of that - and what happens when you don't. This event in Australia's history should NEVER be forgotten - in fact I personally consider it more important than the ANZAC story. It should be first up on the list of Australian history curriculum. Some politicians more recently have tried to play down this importance, notably former National Party leader John Anderson. That is nonsense and I follow more the words of former Victorian Premier Steve Bracks; "Eureka was about the struggle for basic democratic rights. It was not about a riot – it was about rights". He is absolutely correct. *(Personal note - my ancestors arrived in Ballarat in the same year of the Stockade. 1854)* **TLPG** 09:51, December 26, 2020 (UTC)