The colony of Victoria, a sparsely populated region of farmers and graziers, was declared separate from New South Wales on 1 July 1851. Its tranquility was disrupted that same year with the discovery of substantial gold fields all across the colony, which led to a rapid and massive influx of fortune-hunting immigrants.

The roots of the Eureka Stockade uprising lay in the inability of a fledgling colonial government to cope with the new demographics of the colony. From being the administrative body of the "squattocracy" the government suddenly found itself required to take charge of a large and unruly population of itinerants. Its response was to impose an unofficial martial law, enforced by the hurriedly assembled and quasi-military "Gold Commission". Many of the newly-arrived miners regarded the Victorian authorities with suspicion, seeing them as close associates of the "English" authorities.

Within a short time, the easy surface gold had been exhausted, and gold could be found only by digging for the deep lead — the veins buried beneath metres of clay and rock. By 1854, the fields of Ballarat were occupied by 25,000 or more miners,[citation needed] mostly from Ireland, but also from the United Kingdom, other parts of Europe, China, and North America (many had come to Australia from the California Gold Rush). The hills for miles around were soon entirely denuded of trees in order to provide timber for the deep shafts being dug.

Authority in the camps was held by the Resident Gold Commissioner, Robert Rede, and enforced by a military garrison. The main mechanism of government revenue was the "Miner's Licence", a short term lease of a "claim", a 3.6 square metre plot of land. The monthly fee for this licence was 30 shillings — a huge fee for the time — and was payable whether or not any gold had actually been found. This raised the ire of the miners, as did the weekly "licence hunts" where the military police searched for and arrested anyone lacking proof of a licence. A petition against the license hunts of over 5000 signatures was collected and presented in 1853.

 

In September 1854, prompted primarily by budget shortfalls resulting chiefly from the cost of maintaining a private army, the Governor of Victoria, Sir Charles Hotham, ordered the frequency of the licence hunts increased to twice weekly. With dissent simmering, this and two further incidents drove the miners to violence:

    * The first was the arbitrary arrest of a crippled, non-English speaking Armenian (Johannes Gregorious) and his associate, Stipe Mesich, a Romani Gypsy born in Orahovica. They were wrongfully charged with assaulting an officer. The man arrested was also the servant of Roman Catholic priests, Father Smyth and Father Matthew Krizanac, and this was interpreted as a religious affront by the large Irish Catholic component of the miner population, who already held deep resentments against the British for religious and economic oppression.

    * The second was the acquittal of James Bentley  who had been the main suspect of the murder of a miner, James Scobie. Bentley was found not guilty in the first trial for the murder of James Scobie. The miners were not happy with that acquittal and Peter Lalor agitated for another trial in which Bentley was found guilty of manslaughter and not murder as is often misstated.

Catherine Bentley wrote on the back of the Eureka Hotel plans that it was illegal to try James twice for the same crime. There is some evidence that the Englishman and ex convict Bentley may have been a scapegoat for the murder of an Irish miner called Martin in a claim jumping war. There is further evidence that James Scobie was never killed at all and lived until 1917. The Bentley family webpage. In early October, an angry mob, seeing the acquittal as unjust, burnt Bentley's hotel to the ground

 Protests, Chartism and the Ballarat Reform League

Civil disobedience and protests began to grow as a result of these perceived injustices:

    * Tuesday, 17 October 1854: At the spot where James Scobie was allegedly killed, 5,000-10,000 diggers gathered to protest the rightful "acquittal" of their prime suspect? Catherine Bentley, the owner of the Eureka Hotel. Her husband James Bentley fled for his life as the hotel was burnt down at the misguided attack on an "innocent family" similar to the day's of old Salem Town Witch burnings of 1635 but in this case it was caused by the Government of Victoria's harsh convict settlement attitudes during the heady day's of the gold rush fever at Ballarat!
    * Sunday, 22 October 1854: Ballarat Catholics met to protest the treatment of Father Smyth's servant.
    * Monday, 23 October 1854: A mass meeting to protest the selective arrest of McIntyre and Fletcher for burning down Mrs.Catherine Bentley's and Son's Eureka Hotel attracted 4,000 miners and supporters of the Ballaarat reform league and other weak minded people to that calamity. It was decided to form a Digger's Right Society, to maintain their rights.
    * Tuesday, 1 November 1854: 3,000 diggers met once again at Bakery Hill. They were addressed by Kennedy, Holyoake, Black and Ross. The diggers were further incensed by the arrest of another seven of their number, for the burning down of the Eureka Hotel.
    * Saturday, 11 November 1854: A crowd estimated at more than 10,000 miners gathered at Bakery Hill, directly opposite the government encampment. At this meeting, the "Ballarat Reform League" was created, under the chairmanship of Chartist John Basson Humffray. Several other Reform League leaders, including Thomas Kennedy and Henry Holyoake, had been involved with the Chartist movement in England. Many of the miners had past involvement in the Chartist movement and the social upheavals in England, Ireland, and continental Europe during the 1840s.

In setting its goals, the Ballarat Reform League used the British Chartist movement's principles. The meeting passed a resolution "that it is the inalienable right of every citizen to have a voice in making the laws he is called on to obey, that taxation without representation is tyranny". The meeting also decided to leave open the possibility of secession from the United Kingdom if the situation did not improve.

 

The demands of the Ballarat Reform League encompassed:[citation needed]

    * Manhood suffrage (the right for all men to vote, excluding Aborigines).
    * Abolition of the property qualifications for members of parliament.
    * Payment of members of parliament.
    * Voting by secret ballot.
    * Short term parliaments.
    * Equal electoral districts.
    * Abolition of diggers and storekeepers licenses.
    * Reform of administration of the gold fields.
    * Revision of laws relating to Crown land.

Throughout the following weeks, the League sought to negotiate with Commissioner Rede and Governor Hotham, both on the specific unsubstantiated matters relating to Bentley and the men being tried for the burning of the Eureka Hotel, and on the broader issues of abolition of the licence, universal suffrage and democratic representation of the gold fields, and disbanding of the Gold Commission. Commissioner Rede's response has been attributed by many historians (most notably Manning Clark) to his belief in his right to exert authority over the "rabble." Rather than hear the grievances, he increased the police presence in the gold fields and summoned reinforcements from Melbourne.

On Monday 6 November 1854, a delegation from the Ballarat Reform League — John Humffray, George Black and Thomas Kennedy — met with Governor Hotham. They attempted to negotiate the release of the miners arrested after the attack on Eureka Hotel, and presented the demands for universal suffrage as well as abolition of the miners and storekeepers licenses. The only concession Hotham was willing to make was for one digger's representative to be elected to the Legislative Council.[citation needed] The delegation rejected this, and returned to Ballarat empty handed.

The writings of Raffaello Carboni, who was present at the Stockade, make it clear that "amongst the foreigners ... there was no democratic feeling, but merely a spirit of resistance to the licence fee"; and he also disputes the accusations "that have branded the miners of Ballaarat as disloyal to their QUEEN" (emphasis as in the original).

Escalation
On 28 November 1854, the reinforcements marching from Melbourne were attacked by a crowd of miners. A number were injured, and a drummer boy was allegedly killed. The rumour of the drummer boy's death was perpetuated, even with a memorial erected to him in Ballarat Cemetery for many years, although historical research has shown that the boy, John Egan, continued military service until dying in 1860.

 

At a meeting of about 12,000 'diggers' on the following day, (29 November), the Reform League delegation relayed its failure to achieve any success in negotiations with the authorities. The miners resolved on open resistance to the authorities and to burn the hated licences.

Most notably, the Eureka Flag, a blue flag designed by a Canadian miner, "Captain" Henry Ross, and bearing nothing but the Southern Cross, was flown for the first (recorded) time. As a gesture of defiance [citation needed], it deliberately excluded the British Union Flag, which is included in the official flag of Australia. The Argus newspaper, of 4 December 1854, reported that the Union Jack flag flew underneath the Southern Cross flag of the diggers at the Eureka Stockade. The original Eureka flag is now housed at the Ballarat Fine Art Gallery.

At the meeting on Bakery Hill an oath of allegiance was sworn: "We swear by the Southern Cross to stand truly by each other and fight to defend our rights and liberties."

 

Rede responded by ordering police to conduct a licence search on 30 November. Eight defaulters were arrested, and most of the military resources available had to be summoned to extricate the arresting officers from the angry mob that had assembled.This raid prompted a change in the leadership of the Reform League, to people who argued in favour of 'physical force' rather than the 'moral force' championed by Humffray and the old leadership. In the rising tide of anger and resentment amongst the miners, a more militant leader, Peter Lalor, was elected. In swift fashion, a military structure was assembled. Brigades were formed, and captains were appointed. Licences were burned, the rebel "Eureka" flag was unfurled, and an oath of allegiance was sworn. The miners vowed to defend themselves from licence hunts and harassment by the authorities. An encampment at the Eureka Flag was set up, and by Friday, 1 December, a stockade had been hastily constructed from timber and overturned carts. In fact, this enclosure was not meant to be a military stockade or fortress. In the words of Lalor: "it was nothing more than an enclosure to keep our own men together, and was never erected with an eye to military defence". Lalor had already outlined a plan of self-defence whereby, "if the government forces came to attack us, we should meet them on the Gravel Pits, and if compelled, we should retreat by the heights to the old Canadian Gully, and there make our final stand".[citation needed]

Irish born people were strongly represented at the Eureka Stockade. It is now known that most of the miners inside the stockade were Irish. Eureka historians have discovered that, in the area where the defensive position was established, there was a large concentration of Irish miners. The password used at the Eureka Stockade — "Vinegar Hill" — was the scene of an 1804 Irish convict uprising in New South Wales (Battle of Vinegar Hill).

During Saturday December 2, some 1500 men trained in and around the stockade.[citation needed] A further two hundred Americans, the Independent Californian Rangers, under the leadership of James McGill, arrived about 4 pm. The Americans were armed with revolvers and Mexican knives, and possessed horses. In a fateful decision, McGill decided to take most of the Californian Rangers away from the stockade to intercept rumoured British reinforcements coming from Melbourne. Rede's spies observed these actions. That night many of the miners went back to their own tents after the traditional Saturday night carousing, with the assumption that the Queen's military forces would not be sent to attack on the Sabbath, Sunday. A small contingent of about 150 miners remained at the stockade overnight, which the spies reported to Rede.

---

Battle/conflict
Rede's inaction thus far did not reflect his true intent, and at 3 am on Sunday, 3 December 1854, a party of 276 police and military personnel under the command of Captain J.W. Thomas approached the Eureka Stockade and a battle ensued. There is no agreement as to which side fired first, but the battle was fierce, brief, and terribly one-sided. The ramshackle army of miners was hopelessly outclassed by a military regiment and was quickly routed in about 15 minutes. During the height of the battle, Lalor was shot in his right arm, took refuge under some timber and was smuggled out of the stockade and hidden. His arm was later amputated.
Killing was indiscriminate, bodies were mutilated, tents set on fire, and nearby stores were burnt and pillaged (store owners and others later received compensation for this destruction).[citation needed] Stories tell how women ran forward and threw themselves over the injured to prevent further indiscriminate killing. The Commission of Inquiry would later say that it was "a needless as well as a ruthless sacrifice of human life indiscriminate of innocent or guilty, and after all resistance had disappeared".

According to Lalor's report, fourteen miners (mostly Irish) died inside the stockade and an additional eight died later from injuries they sustained. A further dozen were wounded but recovered. Three months after the Eureka Stockade, Peter Lalor wrote: "As the inhuman brutalities practised by the troops are so well known, it is unnecessary for me to repeat them. There were 34 digger casualties at which 22 died. The unusual proportion of the killed to the wounded, is owing to the butchery of the military and troopers after the surrender."

 

By 7am, Captain Pasley, the second in command of the British forces, sickened by the carnage, saved a group of prisoners from being bayoneted and threatened to shoot any police or soldiers who continued with the slaughter. One hundred and fourteen diggers, some wounded, were marched off to the Government camp about 2 kilometres away, where they were kept in an overcrowded lockup, before being moved to a more spacious barn on Monday morning.

Among the soldiers and military police, six were killed, including one Captain Wise. Martial law was imposed, and all armed resistance collapsed. News of the massacre spread quickly to Melbourne and other goldfield regions, turning a perceived Government military victory in repressing a minor insurrection into a public relations disaster, with widespread condemnation of the Government's action and support for the diggers' requested reforms.

 

---

 

 

Source:wikipedia 

Comments

Add New Search RSS

Write comment
Name:
Title:
UBBCode:	-color-aquablackbluefuchsiagraygreenlimemaroonnavyolivepurpleredsilvertealwhiteyellow -size-tinysmallmediumlargehuge

Powered by JoomlaCommentCopyright (C) 2006 Frantisek Hliva. All rights reserved.Homepage: http://cavo.co.nr/