The story
On December 3, 1854, about 280 soldiers and police attack a stockade built by gold miners at Ballarat in the colony of Victoria. The fight lasts about 15 minutes. About 30 people die, most of them miners, among them a number of Irish diggers, along with several soldiers. The miners had been resisting a monthly license fee that was collected regardless of whether a digger found gold, and the heavy-handed police who enforced it.
Anger had been rising since 1851. A miner named James Scobie was killed in a dispute at a hotel in October 1854, and the man accused was acquitted, with riots following. The diggers burned the hotel, formed the Ballarat Reform League, and on November 29 swore an oath under a new flag, the Southern Cross. Their leader was Peter Lalor, an Irish-born engineer, who was wounded and escaped. Thirteen arrested miners were tried for treason in Melbourne but acquitted by juries. The government replaced the license with a cheaper annual 'miner's right', which came with the vote, and Lalor was later elected to the colony's Legislative Council. The Southern Cross flag became a symbol of Australian democracy and protest.
Why it mattered
- It led to abolition of the license fee and to votes for miners, an early step in Australian democratic reform.
- It became a national symbol in Australian memory, claimed by labor and republican movements and, more recently, by others.
- It showed that juries and public opinion in the colonies would not support harsh action against rebels.
Sources
- Eureka Stockade Britannica
- Peter Lalor Britannica
- Eureka Stockade National Museum of Australia
Community notes
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