AUSTRALIA'S ONLY BATTLE

Woodville Examiner, Volume XXVII, Issue 4514, 11 April 1913, Page 4 (Supplement)

AUSTRALIA'S ONLY BATTLE

w~ Eureka Stockade," December 3rd, 1554.

IN one respect, and that of prime importance, the voung nation of Australia has enjoyed a good fortune alxnovt without an example in history. That i s no lass than the most inestiritabl© blessing of an almost absolute immunity from war, external or intcr--ial. There alone have the colonists poured out from tho motherland during four centuries been able to pursue an unbroken path c-f peaceful dovetepmont. Throughout that great continent were to bo found no fierce and vaadike races to dispute posses-ion of the soil; and as yet, has happened no invasion, or tho menace of it, from ho--ond her shores. And so it happens '\! at the annals of the Commonwealth furnish but a sinnle instance of warlike operations-upon its soil. That was the combat which has been dignified by tbo title of the “Battle of Eureka Stockade," fought- on the 3rd of December on :ho -year ISSI. ‘

_ LAWLESS GOLD DIGGERS. Thrco years previously had begun vhat wild rush to Australia brought --about by tbo discovery of tho wonderful goldfields in Victoria. That the ennErol of governance of such hordes of -adventurers from every part of the •globe as poured iu taxed the resources of the authorities to the utmost is easy to understand. Nor is it at all surprising ‘that tho history of those Stirling davs abounds in instances of dcsa>arate deeds of violence, when men from day to day ciirr-'v] their lives in their own hands. Net withstanding, of tho nature of c.o■>hmco of tho law would never huvo ho?n • dreamed of bub for a well-meant, buy ’unfortunately framed. set cf regulations for tho of the digicings, tlifc ch'.‘L*f croiilrvs cf which wore ..at Ballarat, at Bondi^o; at Chinos ana i:- Mount Alexander. All these wqi'O within tho jurisdiction of \ ictona, •which had only just before been constituted an independent ami solf-goy-sru-Tug colony. One of the first acts of the "legislature of tho now colony was a set , f regulations for tho miners, the main feature of which was prohibition of the right to search for gold without a permit or licence. By a large section of rho adventurers this was received with hitter resentment, and it was speech y -evident that serious trouble was li.vdy to result. REBEL BALLARAT. , . .Although the cost of these mining licences was but trilling—thirty shillings per month— attempts at evasion wore continual, and led totho initatiutr presence of search parties of police -.t all hours of tho day and night. «radTiaily, through the autumn of tent, •-row tlm discontent and increasing rowdvlsm which on the ISth November in n serious incident. On rdiat* niatfit tho “Eureka Hotel, the •uamo Kiven to 'tho principal drinking :aloon at Ballarat, against the proprietor of which tho miners had a grievance, was sacked and burned.. At <:-nco tha Governor cf Victoria. Sir Charles noaui te-'HFd o> p (tu ;;l 10 H companies of the 40th (now tho South Lancashire Regiment) and announced That, ho was determined to enforce respect for the law. The arrival of the soldiers only served to arouse further ~ n a- {-r, especial Iv as they nero used - * niefthe police in huntig out defaulters. ‘Then was formed the “Society of the Southern Gross,”, which soon embraced iha majority of. tho diggers, with the avowed object of resisting, by armed —terco if necessary, any further attempt .re bring them under control. “EUREKA FORT." On the 20th November the decisive :stop was taken. At a groat mass meeting, attended by four to five thousand •diggers, it was unanimously resolved . vhat no more licences should bo applied for or paid. Next day arrived the Goldfield commissioners, escorted by soldiers and police, and a demand made for -all licences to he produced for inspection, but met everywhere with open defiance They were compelled to retire discomfited.* Aware that matters had now come to a crisis, the malcontents, under the ‘leadership of ono Peter Lalor, who had -served in tho army, commenced that ■night to construct on rising ground at .the back of the “Eureka Hotel” a forimidablo entrenchment. This stockade was built of earth, boulders, and balks -of timber, provisioned to stand several •days' siege, and defended by more than one thousand mon. On his part the Governor was not slow to act, and next clay proclaimed martial law throughout xhe goldfields, and ordered Sir Richard Nicklc. commanding' Her Majesty’s forces in the colony, to put down the revolt. THE STRONGHOLD STORMED.

During the 2nd of December there -ai rived at Ballarat to reinforce the tfcroops already there 300 men of the 12th (now the Suffolk Regiment) and 150 blue-jackets and marines, with four •pieces of artillery, camp being for the alight pitched -within, half a mile of the rebels* entrenchments. At dawn the next day tho total force of. some 600 -strong moved out and surrounded the --.-tockade. A summons sent by Captain Thomas, of tho 40th, who was in chief ■-command, to surrender, being met with yells of defiance, a volley was fired by ihe troops over tho rebels’ heads. To this came a brisk reply from revolvers nnd muskets, and battle was at once fairly joined. Then came the artillery into action, and tho 12-pounder balls began to work havoc and consternation within tho diggers’ stronghold. In less than half an hour tho hopelessness of further resistance was manifest, and ,at t<ho end of that time came the hauling down of the “Southern Cross” banner and tho unconditional surrender of the insurgent army. So 'ended tho battle of “Eureka Stockade, - ’ and with it the rebellion, for of open resistance to the law there was at once an end. That tho fight, whilst it lasted, had been fiercely contested is proved by the casualties. Of The diggers upwards of thirty were slain. and more than one hundred -wounded, among* tho latter being tho rebel commander Lalor, who lost an arm in the fray. On the side of the - roops two officers, Captain Wise, of tho 40th, and Lieutenant Pauli, of the 12th, and three privates, were killed and twenty-eight wounded. Of the, defenders eomo one hundred and fifty were made prisoners ar.J arraigned before the Supremo Court on a charge of nigh treason, but in tho end tho matter was not carried to extremes, and all -eventually were set at liberty. Lalor. -their leader, came, in tho fullness of lime, into high place in colonial poli-*-ies, occupying, during many years, the -offico of Speaker of tho Victorian Legislature.