EUREKA STOCKADE.

Manawatu Standard, Volume IV, Issue 280, 27 October 1931, Page 2

EUREKA STOCKADE.

OLD INCIDENT RECALLED. An.interesting stage of early life in the Victorian goldfields was recalled by a Press Association message from l'imaru, ye.sieruay, which reported the death of Mr J. E. Potter, “the last survivor” of the Eureka stockade. lire Eureka stockage came into being through riots on the Victoria goldfields in 1854, caused by the authorities imposing on all diggers a license fee of thirty shillings a month. A clause of the Act which imposed the tax appropriated one-half of the recovered penalties for the informer or prosecutor. At the end of 1853 the license fee was reduced to £1 per month, but nothing was done to remedy the diggers’ great grievance—that they could be imprisoned for not having the actual license upon them, though their possession of one might be proved by the records. In addition, the men were unrepresented in Parliament, though the population ot the Ballarat goldfields was estimated at 20,000. , TT , In June, 1854, Sir Charles Hotlram, the new Governor of Victoria, was alarmed at the depleted state of the Treasury. He ordered the police to redouble their exertions to obtain fees. This quickly produced a state of tension, for not only was £l2 a year a high tax to many miners, but the police, largely recruited from Tasmania, included many ex-convicts, and, in addition to being corrupt, were brutal. On the night of October 6, 1804, a miner named Scobie was killed in the Eureka Hotel, near Ballarat, and the murdered man's brother accused the proprietor (an ex-convict) of the crime. Tlie man was brought before a magistrate and discharged. An indignation meeting was held, and the miners resolved to attempt to obtain a newt rial. Toward the end of the meeting the cry was raised that the police were attempting to disperse the gathering, and the miners attacked and wrecked the hotel, setting tire to it. The police arrested three men who could not be proved to have taken part in the riot, but were nevertheless sentenced to three, four and six months’ imprisonment. A demand from the miners for the release of the prisoners was refused and the Governor sent additional, troops to the goldfields. The diggers, under the leadership of Peter Lalor. constructed a stockade and commenced drilling. Neither food nor ammunition was available, however, and many men left in search of these, so that on December 2 only 200 remained. Aware of this, the authorities launched an attack by 276 troops, and caught the diggers unawares. Less than 50 had rifles, and after a few volleys the stockade was carried at the bayonet’s point. Five soldiers- were killed and about twelve injured, while sixteen miners were killed, at least eight others died of wounds, many probably died in hiding and 114 prisoners were taken. Of these all but thirteen were discharged, and these others were subsequently acquitted. A Royal Commission condemned the severity of police methods, and the tact of Sir Robert Niekle, who arrived in the area, pacified the miners.