EUREKA STOCKADE

Evening Post, Volume CVIII, Issue 149, 20 December 1929, Page 17

EUREKA STOCKADE

AUSTRALIA'S CIVIL WAR

SEVENTY-FIFTH ANNIVERSARY

Seventy-five years ago on the 2nd December, Australia witnessed its first and only civil war, when 200 gold miners fought a pitched battle with military and police in the memorable Eureka Stockade. Its story provides perhaps the most inglorious chapter in Australia's industrial history. Staged when the gold rush was at its height, the Eureka Stockade marked the most disastrous of the riots associated with those hectic days. Although the encounter lasted only 25 minutes, 30 brave lives wero lost — lives that could be ill-afforded at such an early stage in pioneering work, writes F.C.B. in the Sydney "Morning Herald." Historians admit that the diggers had just grievances, but the rebellion they organised aB a remedy for their ills only -brought untold suffering and trouble upon them. Early in 1854 Sir. Charles Hotham, newly appointed Governor of Victoria, gave instructions that tho authorities should be unsparing in their efforts to collect the licence fee of £1 a month imposed on the diggers to defray the expense of maintaining order on the goldfields, and to prevent ruining on waste Crown land without authority. The severe penalties imposed for nonpayment of the fee aroused general resentment, but the main objection of, the meu was that failure to produce the actual licence on demand meant imprisonment for the offender. When it is considered that many miners were living on the breadline it is easy to understand the undercurrent of intense bitterness the licences engendered. Strangely enough Ballarat East, the scene of the tragedy, was famed through the fields for its orderliness. Until Eureka Stockade, the township had been surprisingly immuno from the riots and disturbances which were an almost daily occurence at Bendigo, Beechworth, and other storm centres. LICENCES BURNED. Hostilities were precipitated when the police commenced . an aggressive campaign in search of licences, notwithstanding the fact that the miners, having determined to take out no more licences, publicly burned . those official documents at a meeting on-Bakery Hill. 1 The miners, ignoring the Kiot Act which had been proclaimed, established a camp on about an acre of land on the Eureka claim.. Mining slabs and other building material served as fortifiestions, and pike heads were the principal means of defence. "Peter Lalor was elected leader," records 'the Australian Encyclopaedia, "and under a blue flag, adorned with the stars of the Southern Cross, the assembled diggers swore 'to stand truly by each other, and fight to defend our rights and liberties.' " The military and police, 276 strong, made a surprise attack on the Stockade at dawn on a Sunday morning, 2nd December, 1854. The rebels, it is recorded, fqught well, but. "the advancing bayonets, flanked on both sides by cavalry and mounted police, proved too much for the diggers. They turned to seek shelter, and all was over." AN AUSTRALIAN REVOLUTION. It'is interesting to note that the ringleader of the insurgents, Peter Lalor, was elected to Parliament the following year, when representation was given to the goldfields. He had a long and successful Parliamentary career, evincing "much firmness, decision of character, and an intimate acquaintance with constitutional law." Lalor carried with him a grim reminder of his part in the rebellion; having been badly wounded by a ball near the shoulder of tile) left arm, which he ultimately lost. The passing years have never Temoved a suspicion that the underlying motive of the Eureka Stockade was not so much the redress of the diggers' complaints, as. a political movement for the establishment ■of a republic. The presence of Italians, Germans, and Americans' among the leaders lent colour to the view. At any rate, the Communist party chooses to regard the historic event as the first attempt at an Australian revolution, and each year conducts local celebrations. ■