Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
The Eureka Stockade: Victoria's Rebellion
On 29 November 1854, about 800 miners tossed their licences into a bonfire during a mass
meeting, then, led by Irishman Peter Lalor, built a stockade at Eureka, where they prepared
to fight for their rights. A veteran of Italy's independence struggle named Raffaello Car-
boni called on the crowd, 'irrespective of nationality, religion and colour', to salute the
Southern Cross as the 'refuge of all the oppressed from all the countries on earth'.
On 3 December the government ordered troopers (the mounted colonial police) to attack
the stockade. There were only 150 miners within the makeshift barricades and the fight las-
ted a short but devastating 20 minutes, leaving 25 miners and four troopers dead.
Though the rebellion was short-lived, the miners won the sympathy and support of many
Victorians. The government deemed it wise to acquit the leaders of the charge of high
treason. It's interesting to note that only four of the miners were Australian-born: the others
hailed from Ireland, Britain, Italy, Greece, Germany, Russia, Holland, France, Switzerland,
Spain, Portugal, Sweden, the US, Canada and the West Indies.
The licence fee was abolished and replaced by a Miners' Right, which cost one pound a
year. This gave miners the right to search for gold; to fence in, cultivate and build a dwell-
ing on a piece of land; and to vote for members of the Legislative Assembly. The rebel
miner Peter Lalor became a member of parliament some years later. Eureka remains a
powerful symbol in Australian culture, standing as it does for the treasured notions of
workers' rights, democracy and 'a fair go for all'.
Sadly, goldfield brotherhood in 1854 had its limits. The 40,000 miners who arrived from
southern China to try their luck on 'the new gold mountain' were often a target of individu-
al violence and systemic prejudice. Still, the Chinese community persevered, and it has to
this day been a strong and enduring presence in the city of Melbourne and throughout re-
gional Victoria.
More than 90% of Australia's $100 million gold haul in the 1850s was found in Victoria.
