150 years of the fighting Eureka spirit

Paddy Gorman

Editor Common Cause*

In Australia today, there is no more fitting emblem of the spirit 
of a Fair Go than the Eureka flag. It stands as the powerful 
symbol of resistance to injustice.

Wherever the battle lines are drawn in industrial disputes you'll 
find the Eureka flag flying high on the Picket Lines. And when 
the workers and their supporters take to the streets to 
demonstrate in support of justice, we march proudly behind the 
Eureka flag.

Since it was first raised at the miners' Stockade 150 years ago, 
the Southern Cross of Eureka has come to embody everything that 
is best in the Australian character; courage, conviction and a 
commitment to a Fair Go.

For mineworkers, we cherish the spirit of Eureka. For us, the 
Eureka miners' rebellion is not a far off historical clash that 
occurred 150 years ago and is frozen in time; it is alive in our 
struggles today.

The burning rage against injustice that fired the Eureka miners 
150 years ago, remains undiminished in our struggles today.

There is nothing we wear with greater pride than the symbol of 
Eureka. There is nothing we cherish more than the proud 
independent spirit of Eureka.

As we commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Eureka Stockade on 
December 3 1854, it is fitting to recall the events that led to 
this uprising and the benefits that flowed to all Australians as 
a result of it.

The Eureka Story

In 1851 gold was discovered in a number of places across central 
Victoria sparking a gold rush that attracted people from not only 
all over Australia but from all over the world.

By 1854 there were almost 70,000 men, women and children living 
on the Victorian goldfields chasing their fortune.

By then, the easy surface gold was exhausted and the miners 
burrowed into the hillsides and gullies. The workings became 
known as diggings and those that mined them were Australia first 
diggers.

The rush to the gold fields created a huge shortage of labour as 
workers left the factories, wharves and industries in search of 
their fortune. This greatly concerned the captains of industry 
who not only had to contend with a shortage in the workforce but 
had to deal with increased demands from the workers who remained 
and who had real industrial muscle.

At the behest of the employers, the Governor of Victoria, Sir 
Charles Hotham, moved to force workers out of the gold fields and 
back to the cities.

On the gold fields there were no civic institutions or any 
democratic representation. They were ruled by a government 
appointed quasi-military Gold Commission, whose aristocratic 
officials lorded it over the miners and their families.

The Government collected revenue on the gold fields through a 
"Miners Licence", which entitled the holder to a single 3.6 metre 
square "claim" for a flat monthly fee of 30 shillings.

Hotham knew that many of those in the Ballarat diggings did not 
have a miners' licence. Up to the middle of September 1854, the 
search for licences occurred about once a month.

Hotham ordered that licence hunts become the order of the day. He 
boosted his police force with coppers from as far away as 
Tasmania and ordered that fines be substantially increased to 
five pounds for a first "offence" ten pounds for a second and 15 
pounds for a third. To ensure that the police vigorously pursed 
the attack, Hotham cleverly ordered that half the value of every 
fine be given to the arresting copper.

Under the control of the Gold Commission on the mining fields, 
the authorities unleashed a wave of tyranny. Miners who had 
licences but did not have them on them as they worked their claim 
were arrested and fined.

Arrested miners were taken to police camps and chained to logs or 
gum trees or flung into filthy prisons until they or their mates 
found the money to pay the fines. The coppers grew more greedy 
and ruthless and resentment among the miners fermented throughout 
the gold fields, nowhere more powerfully than the mining region 
of Ballarat, which had a population of some 25,000, including 
immigrants from Ireland, North America, Britain, Europe and 
China.

In contrast to the miners' quarters, a more respectable permanent 
settlement was growing up around the Government Camp, from where 
the Resident Gold Commissioner, Robert Rede, exercised absolute 
authority over the diggings, an authority which was enforced by a 
large contingent of police and backed up by a military garrison.

Rule by tyranny

Two events in October 1854 lit the fuse that exploded into the 
Eureka Rebellion.

The first was the wrongful arrest during a licence hunt of a 
crippled non-English speaking Armenian servant of the local 
Catholic Priest, Father Smyth. The crippled man was subsequently 
convicted of assaulting a police officer!

The second occurred when a miner, James Scobie, was killed by the 
owner of the Eureka Hotel, James Bentley, and three of his men. 
Bentley and his cronies were acquitted, an injustice that 
outraged the diggers.

The murdered digger Scobie's claim was next to that of Peter 
Lalor, an Irishman who was greatly respected as a leader by the 
miners.

Lalor, whose brother James Fintan was a leader of the Young 
Irelanders rebellion in Ireland, had spoken out against the 
injustices and tyranny unleashed on the gold fields.

He said that the diggers were treated like dogs. He pointed out 
that they had no vote, no chance to get land for themselves and 
that none of the money from their licence taxes was spend on 
roads, schools, hospitals or other facilities for their families. 
We must make the Government realise we're free Australians, Lalor 
demanded.

A protest meeting against the acquittal of those who had murdered 
James Scobie was called for October 17 at the Eureka Hotel. 
Bentley went to Commissioner Rede who determined to assert 
government authority and teach the diggers a lesson. Rede called 
in troop reinforcements.

Pursuit of justice

On October 17, a crowd of 4000 gathered near the Eureka Hotel, 
which was surrounded by the hated police. Despite this the 
meeting was conducted peacefully and it passed two resolutions. 
The first said: "That this meeting pledges itself to use lawful 
means to have the Bentley case tried again". The second 
resolution said: "That this meeting offer a reward for the 
conviction of James Scobie's murderers".

As the meeting was breaking up the police rode into the crowd 
trying to herd them away. Inside the Eureka Hotel, the owner, 
Bentley, panicked and mounting a horse in sight of the angry 
miners rode full gallop towards the police camp.

The crowd had now swollen to around 10,000 and moved toward the 
Eureka Hotel to be confronted by Commissioner Rede. Despite 
Rede's and the heavy police presence the Eureka Hotel was burned 
to the ground.

Seven men were arrested and charged.

In response, Governor Hotham decided to take a hard line and 
ordered 500 extra police and soldiers to Ballarat. Hotham 
demanded more of the detested licence hunts ordering the police 
to use whatever force they felt was necessary.

On October 22, a crowd estimated at 10,000 miners gathered at 
Bakery Hill directly across the flat from the Government Camp, on 
the road to the predominantly Irish area of Eureka. The colonial 
authorities were on notice, resistance to injustice was 
increasing and would not be cowered by inflicting even greater 
tyranny. On November 1, the Ballarat Reform League was formed.

Meanwhile in Ballarat, four of the seven men arrested for burning 
down the Eureka Hotel were found innocent and the other three 
were sent to Melbourne, convicted and sentenced to prison terms 
ranging from three months to six months.

Throughout the next month the leadership of the Reform League 
sought meetings with Gold Commissioner Rede and Governor Hotham 
to discuss Bentley's acquittal and the jailing of the three 
Eureka men as well as broader issues such as the abolition of the 
licence, democratic representation of the gold fields and the 
disbanding of the reviled Gold Commissions.

As public condemnation of the injustices grew, so too did 
Governor Hotham's concern and he appointed one of the State's 
most respected Magistrates, Mr Stuart, to review the Bentley 
acquittals. Stuart found that the Ballarat Magistrate Dewes — 
who acquitted Bentley and his cohorts — and some police were not 
only liars but were brutal and wicked and that Bentley was 
undoubtably guilty of Scobie's murder.

Bentley and two of his henchmen were sentenced on 18 November to 
three years hard labour for the murder of James Scobie.

But that was all that the miners were going to get from Hotham. 
Their three mates remained in jail and the Governor remained 
opposed to their demands for reform.

The colonial powers in Melbourne and on the Ballarat gold fields 
remained determined to impose their rule by force.

On November 28, military reinforcements from Melbourne to the 
gold fields were attacked by a group of miners at Eureka. Baggage 
carts were overturned and a number of men were injured in the 
clash.

Southern Cross flown

The following day, November 29, at a mass meeting of some 12,000 
miners on Bakery Hill, the Southern Cross flag was flown for the 
first time.

The moderate leadership of the Ballarat Reform League reported on 
their failure to make any significant progress in their talks 
with Governor Hotham.

The diggers had had enough.

Pushing his way through the crowd to the platform a miner named 
Frederick Vern said he wanted to speak. He moved that the diggers 
burn their licences and that no one take out a new one. Further, 
if any of the miners were arrested they rest pledged to free 
them.

Beneath the flag of the Southern Cross to the sound of their own 
guns firing, the miners burned their licences.

Commissioner Rede's spies brought him the news and he responded 
by ordering a licence hunt the next day, November 30. They 
targeted the diggings closest to the police camp and eight miners 
were arrested.

Following the raid thousands of miners made their way to Bakery 
Hill where Peter Lalor, rifle in hand, stood on a tree stump.

Oath of allegiance

Lalor told all those who were there and who could not swear an 
oath of allegiance to the Southern Cross, to leave. Those who 
stayed formed into formations and with the Southern Cross hoisted 
on a flagstaff, Peter Lalor, now commander in chief, knelt 
beneath the flowing flag and led the diggers in their oath — "We 
swear by the Southern Cross to stand truly by each other and 
fight to defend our rights and liberties".

With Lalor at the head the miners selected other leaders and 
various divisions were established. The rebel miners marched to 
the Eureka. Pikes were forged and firearms, provisions and horses 
were organised.

Drilling commenced and miners displayed their new found strength 
within sight of the police camp.

That night the rebel miners' leaders met and decided to send a 
delegation of three to see Commissioner Rede to demand that the 
eight diggers arrested that morning be released. They also sought 
an end to licence hunts. The three representatives were Raffaello 
Carboni, George Black and the Catholic Priest, Father Smyth. They 
went into a heavily guarded policy camp where Rede dismissed 
their demands.

Stockade

All the next day, Friday 1 December, and throughout the following 
day, the rebels constructed a defensive fortification — a 
stockade at Eureka built of slabs, logs and other oddments. In 
reality it was no more than a rough fence that provided little 
protection.

Inside it was about an acre of ground on which were tents. About 
500 men were marching and drilling while the Southern Cross flag 
flew over the stockade.

News of the brewing storm spread throughout the Victorian gold 
fields as diggers from other areas began to make their way to 
Eureka.

Rede's spies reported the secret Eureka Stockade password — 
"Vinegar Hill", to the authorities. The password was a tribute to 
the first convict uprising at Vinegar Hill near Sydney in 1804 
where the colonial authorities brutally murdered dozens of poorly 
armed Irish convict rebels. Their leaders were hanged in chains 
and most of the survivors sentenced to between 200 and 500 lashes 
and sent to work in the colony's first convict coal mines.

The Vinegar Hill historical connection would have greatly alarmed 
the colonial authorities who feared that the Eureka miners might 
spark a widespread rebellion throughout the goldfields. The 
authorities were determined to nip it in the bud as quickly as 
possible.

Meanwhile, in the centre of the stockade a huge bonfire was lit 
and a makeshift kitchen was established to feed the men.

At noon on Saturday December 2, no attack had come and most 
miners began to leave the stockade planning to come back on the 
Monday.

By Saturday night only 150 miners remained at the stockade. 
Rede's spies were reporting regularly. They knew the miners' 
ranks were thin that night and that they were poorly armed.

At 2 am on Sunday December 3, the Government troops mustered 
quietly outside the police camp for their surprise assault on the 
150 poorly armed miners in the Eureka Stockade.

The Government forces were made up of: 152 infantry soldiers; 30 
cavalry; 74 mounted police; 24 foot police; and five inspectors.

At 3 am when the attack began most of the Eureka miners were 
asleep.

The uneven fight lasted between 15 and 20 minutes.

At the end of the battle, among the 22 stockaders killed and the 
12 wounded were Peter Lalor and 19 of his fellow Irishmen. With 
the exception of one miner identified as being from New South 
Wales, all the others were immigrants.

On the Government side there were four killed and 12 wounded.

Peter Lalor later paid tribute to the courage of the Eureka 
diggers in the face of overwhelming odds. "There were about 70 
men possessing guns, 30 with pikes and 30 more with pistols, but 
each man had no more than one or two rounds of ammunition."

Most of the Eureka stockaders were taken prisoner while some 
escaped. A number of tents within and around the Eureka Stockade 
were burned. The exact number of miners killed and wounded is not 
known.

Peter Lalor was wounded in the shoulder and lay hidden beneath 
some slabs. Although he escaped most of the other leaders were 
killed but 13 were arrested, including Carboni Raffaello, and 
charged with treason.

Martial law was declared.

However, the Government's military victory was short lived. There 
was a massive outburst of public indignation and anger over the 
slaughter at Eureka.

Massive public meetings in Melbourne rocked Governor Hotham and 
the colonial authorities throughout Australia as the people 
condemned them and honoured the rebels.

In early 1855, just months after the Stockade, all 13 of the 
Eureka rebels tried for treason, were acquitted to great public 
acclaim.

The Governor was forced by public opinion to establish a 
commission of enquiry into the administration of the gold fields 
and it was scathing in its criticism of the authorities.

In the following months, most of the miners' demands were 
granted. The Miner's Licence was replaced by an export duty on 
gold and a Miner's Right, which cost a small annual fee. The 
detested all-powerful gold commissioners were replaced by mining 
wardens. Police numbers on the gold fields were cut drastically.

Within a year, the rebel miners' leader Peter Lalor was 
representing Ballarat in the Victorian State Legislative Council. 
After the establishment of the Legislative Assembly in 1856, 
Peter Lalor was elected as an MP and later became the Speaker of 
the Parliament.

The spark for other gains

But the Eureka Stockade did much more than usher in a new era of 
important reforms in Victoria, it reverberated throughout the 
whole of Australia and sparked the introduction of many reforms 
democratic rights for ordinary people throughout Australia.

Within 17 years of the Eureka Stockade the following important 
laws were passed in Australia ahead of their introduction in 
Britain:

* 1856 — Australia introduces Secret Voting at elections. 
England did not follow until 1872.

* 1857 — Australia introduces the right for every man to vote. 
England followed in 1884.

* 1857 — In Australia a man no longer had to own property to 
vote. England followed in 1858.

* 1858 — Australia introduces a short period of Parliament for 
every three years. England introduces a five-year Parliament in 
1911.

* 1871 — Australia introduces payment of Members of Parliament 
allowing workers and other in the community equal opportunities 
to stand. England follows suit in 1911.

The events of Eureka in 1854 were pivotal in Australia's history 
for democratic rights and a Fair Go for all.

It is the courage and commitment of the diggers at Eureka that we 
salute. It is their determination for fight against the odds for 
what they knew was right that inspires us today.

* * *

*Acknowledgements to Common Cause,
journal of the Mining Division of the CFMEU.