Notes

Abbreviations used in the notes

1  Bought at a Price

1 For some of this background material see W. B. Withers, The History of Ballarat (second edition, 1887), Queensbury Hill Press, reprint, 1980, pp. 1–16.

2 P. L. Brown (ed.), The Narrative of George Russell of Golf Hill with Russellania and Selected Papers, London, 1935, pp. 162–4. See Stephen H. Roberts, The Squatting Age in Australia, 1835–1847, Melbourne, 1975, passim.

3 A. Saxton, The Indispensable Enemy: Labour and the Anti-Chinese Movement in California, Berkeley, 1971. A. Markus, Fear and Hatred Purifying Australia and California, 1850–1901, Sydney, 1979.

4 Petition of J. Lister and W. and J. Tom to N.S.W. Legislative Assembly, August 1881, in V&P, L.A.N.S.W., 1881, III.

5 For the events in N.S.W. see John N. Molony, An Architect of Freedom: John Hubert Plunkett in New South Wales 1832–1869, Canberra, 1973, pp. 81–5.

6 For La Trobe see Alan Gross, Charles Joseph La Trobe, Superintendent of the Port Phillip District 1839–1851, Lieutenant-Governor of Victoria 1851–1854, Melbourne, 1956.

7 F. A. Powlett to La Trobe, February 1851 and April 1851, V.P.R.S. 103. See Melbourne Morning Herald, 30 May 1851, and supplement for news of the gold discoveries in N.S.W.

8 The authors of works on Ballarat disagree as to the first discoveries. Weston Bate’s Lucky City: The First Generation at Ballarat 1851–1901, Melbourne, 1978 relies on the detailed study done by H. J. Stacpoole, Gold at Ballarat, Kilmore, Vic, 1971, and concludes that James Regan and John Dunlop deserve pride of place.

9 See pseudo-proclamation re ‘Yellow Fever’, Argus, 4 September 1851. Also W. B. Withers, The History, pp. 26–35. Withers interviewed several of the early discoverers for his 1870 edition.

10 Return Respecting the Gold Fields (printed 18 December 1851), including the supplement to V.G.G., 13 August 1851, in V&P, L.C.V., 1851–2, I. La Trobe to the Legislative Council, 13 November 1851, ibid.

11 The Gold Regulations were published in the Argus, 18 August 1851. Protests began almost immediately: Argus, 23 August 1851; Geelong Advertiser, 25, 29 August 1851, and continued after Doveton’s arrival: Geelong Advertiser, 23 September 1851; W. B. Withers, The History, p. 35.

12 Argus, 1, 13, 24 September; letter from Ballarat, 9 October 1851; Melbourne Morning Herald, 24 September 1851. Lonsdale to Doveton, 26 August 1851, in Return Respecting the Gold Fields, op. cit., pp. 18–19. Murphy’s motion, 18 December 1851, and amendments, 22 December 1851, in V&P, L.C.V., 1851–2, I.

13 In his Lucky City, p. 14, Weston Bate follows H. J. Stacpoole, Gold at Ballarat, pp. 48–61, in this opinion.

14 W. Howitt, Land, Labour and Gold (first edition, 1855), Lowden, Kilmore, Vic, reprint, 1972, pp. 219–21. Howitt’s work is certainly the most readable and probably the most reliable contemporary work on the early goldfields of Victoria. For a spurious account of the goldfields which in part used the then unpublished Howitt see John Sherer (ed.), The Gold Finder of Australia, London, 1853. See John N. Molony and T. J. McKenna, ‘All That Glisters’, Labour History, No. 32, May 1977, pp. 33–45, for an appraisal of Sherer’s book. For public evidence of Armstrong burning tents, taking the grog back to the police camp and generally acting brutally see E. Scott (ed.), Lord Robert Cecil’s Gold Fields Diary, Melbourne, 1945, pp. 19–23, 28. See also Report from the Select Committee upon Licensed Publicans Acts (printed 22 June 1860), in V&P, L.A.V., D51/1859–60, II. However, Armstrong did help develop mining techniques on Ballarat. Argus, 4, 12 September; 8, 11 October; 21, 24 November 1854.

15 W. B. Withers, The History, p. 32, from the account by Teddy Shannahan. Argus, 29 September 1851.

16 Lonsdale to Mair, 7, 12, 28 November 1851, in Return Respecting the Gold Fields, op. cit., pp. 17–19.

17 La Trobe to Earl Grey, 3 December 1851, in Gold Despatches (printed 2 November 1852), pp. 10–13 in V&P, L.C.V., 1852–3, II. Lonsdale to Powlett, 2 December 1851, in Return Respecting the Gold Fields, op. cit., p. 15. There were many meetings against the proposed increase at the various goldfields: Geelong Advertiser, 13, 15, 22 December 1851; Argus, 12 December 1851.

18 La Trobe to Earl Grey, 19 December 1851, in Gold Despatches, op. cit., pp. 21–3.

19 W. B. Withers, The History, pp. 34–5, from A. C. McDonald’s diary.

20 ibid., pp. 32–3. See also La Trobe’s note on a petition for a publican’s licence at Mount Alexander: ‘I can do nothing and have no power to act. The magistrates must do their duty with respect to these applications’. La Trobe meant that no licences were to be granted on the fields. Wright to Colonial Secretary, 6 August 1852, 52/3092, V.P.R.S. 1189, Box 18.

21 W. B. Withers, The History, pp. 202–3. Argus, 12 November 1851.

22 Weston Bate, Lucky City, p. 25.

2  The Actors Assemble

1 Sturt to Colonial Secretary, 11 December 1851, 51/1362, and 15 December 1851, 51/1396, V.P.R.S. 1189, Box 8. The salary of a chief constable was £100 p.a., which rose, together with all salaries of civil servants on less than £250 p.a., by 50% in December 1851. Ebden to Colonial Secretary, 12 December 1851, 51/1382, ibid., Box 6. This increase did not prevent widespread resignations from all government departments in 1852. La Trobe to Earl Grey, Despatch no. 58, 19 December 1851 and Despatch no. 7, 12 January 1852, V.P.R.S. 1084, vol. 1. In May 1852 the foot police at Mount Alexander went on strike for higher wages, Argus, 11 May 1852.

2 C. Deas Thompson to La Trobe, 30 June 1851, 51/73, V.P.R.S. 1189, Box 2.

3 Lonsdale to La Trobe, 20 July 1851, 51/11 (51/147a), ibid., Box 1. See also B. R. Penny, ‘Lonsdale, William’, in A.D.B., vol. 2, pp. 124–6.

4 Report of the Colonial Treasurer, 25 June 1852, 52/2304, V.P.R.S. 1189, Box 18. William Westgarth to his mother cited in G. Serle, The Golden Age, Melbourne, 1963, pp. 14–15. Westgarth to La Trobe, 15 August 1851, 51/418, V.P.R.S. 1189, Box 3. Westgarth was the Honorary Secretary to the Victorian Council of the Australasian League. The petition of protest was to be forwarded by La Trobe to Earl Grey who was warned that if he did not heed it an appeal would be made to ‘the British people’. For the petition see enclosure in La Trobe to Earl Grey, Despatch no. 23, 20 August 1851, V.P.R.S. 1085, vol. 1.

5 Chief Post Master McRae to Colonial Secretary, 6 November 1851, 51/1123, V.P.R.S. 1189, Box 7. Ebden to La Trobe, 12 December 1851, 51/1382, ibid., Box 6.

6 During the early months on the goldfields, the diggers were prepared to pay their licence fees provided they received some tangible benefits from them: Melbourne Morning Herald, 24 September 1851. But the lack of roads and other services led to much dissatisfaction: Geelong Advertiser, 9 July, 5 August 1852; Melbourne Morning Herald, 24 July 1852, and letter from J. B. Watson, 11 March 1852. See also Petition to La Trobe and Members of the Executive Council from the diggers of Bendigo, 10 July 1852, 52/2760, V.P.R.S. 1192. Chief Commissioner of the Gold Fields’ reply to memorials from diggers in which the squatter monopoly and police behaviour were brought forward for attention—fruitlessly, 8 January 1853, A53/272, V.P.R.S. 1189, Box 84. For petitions see Melbourne Morning Herald, 26 October 1852.

7 See Colonial Treasurer, General Papers, April/May 1852, especially 52/1956 & 52/1388, V.P.R.S. 1189, Box 18.

8 Colonial Mining Journal, Railway and Share Gazette, vol. 1, no. 1, September 1858, p. 9, gives a scientific description of Ballarat.

9 W. B. Withers, The History, p. 47. He was an Irishman named Doyle. Ballarat Times, 12 January 1858.

10 Raffaello Carboni, The Eureka Stockade (first edition Melbourne, 1855), Melbourne University Press, reprint, 1963, p. 5.

11 For Carboni see The Eureka Stockade, passim. Jennifer Lorch, ‘Carboni, Raffaello’, in A.D.B., vol. 3, pp. 352–4. W. B. Withers, The History, passim.

12 Carboni, The Eureka Stockade, p. 3. See Argus, 20 December 1852, for the original.

13 La Trobe to Earl Grey, Despatch no. 7, 12 January 1852, and Despatch no. 54, 8 April 1852, V.P.R.S. 1084, vol. 1.

14 La Trobe to Pakington, Despatch no. 112, 1 September 1852, ibid. Wright to Colonial Secretary, 18 August 1852, 52/3231, V.P.R.S. 1189, Box 18.

15 La Trobe to Pakington, Despatch no. 148, 27 October 1852, and Despatch no. 165, 29 November 1852, V.P.R.S. 1084, vol. 1.

16 La Trobe to Pakington, Despatch no. 193, 24 January 1853, ibid. Carboni, The Eureka Stockade, p. 5. For disturbances at Mount Alexander and a riot at the Ovens see Geelong Advertiser, 2 December 1852, Argus, 3 December 1852.

17 Geelong Advertiser, 30 July 1852, claimed that the state of the Eureka diggings could be described in terms of the motto of the French republic: ‘Liberté, Egalité, et Fraternité. W. B. Withers, The History, pp. 53, 56, 63, 282.

18 Births, Deaths and Marriages in the Colony of Victoria during the year ending 30 June, 1854. First Annual Report of the Registrar General, Melbourne, 1854 (printed 4 May 1855), in V&P, L.C.V., A80/1854–5, II, p. xi. The calculations were based on the ability to sign the marriage registers. Victoria in 1853–4: 86% males, 72% females. England and Wales in 1849: 69% males, 54% females. Extracting the Roman Catholics, and therefore in large measure the Irish, the proportion is close to 90% for males and 80% for females. Males amongst the Roman Catholics were, however, 80% literate on this test, which drops to almost 50% amongst Irish Catholic females, thus accounting for the overall variation. See detailed statistics, p. 29.

19 W. B. Withers, The History, pp. 66–7, 295–6, 284, 304. Geelong Advertiser, 8 June 1854. Miner, 8 May 1857.

20 T. J. Linane, ‘Downing, Matthew’, Footprints, vol. 4, no. 2, Melbourne, 1981, pp. 34–5. In 1853 there were twelve clergy on the fields paid at £300 p.a. See Additional Supplementary Estimates for 1852 and Supplementary Estimates for 1853, Ecclesiastical, in V&P, L.C.V., 1852–3; I. G. Quaife, The Churches and the Gold Rushes: Victoria, 1850–1865, BA thesis, Melbourne, 1957.

21 For Lalor see James Valliens, ‘From Tent to Parliament, the Life of Peter Lalor and his Coadjutors and the History of the Eureka Stockade’, in James Oddie (ed.), History of the Eureka Stockade, Ballarat, 1904. C. Kiernan, ‘Peter Lalor, the Enigma of Eureka’, in Labour and the Gold Fields, Canberra, 1968, pp. 11–28. John Lynch, ‘The Story of the Eureka Stockade’, Austral Light, October 1893 to March 1894. Ian Turner, ‘Lalor, Peter’, in A.D.B., vol. 5, pp. 50–4. Two sisters, Margaret and Maria, came out with Peter and Richard, arriving in Melbourne in October 1852.

22 Carboni, The Eureka Stockade, pp. 41–3. D. Langmore, ‘Humffray, John Basson’, in A.D.B., vol. 4, pp. 444–5.

23 La Trobe to Earl Grey, Despatch no. 7, 12 January 1852, V.P.R.S. 1084, vol. 1. Address moved in the Legislative Council, 20 July 1852, in V&P, L.C.V., 1852–3, I. Pakington to La Trobe, Despatch no. 25, 2 June 1852, V.P.R.S. 1087, vol. 2.

24 Gold Export Duty Bill (introduction and debate), Legislative Council, 10, 17 September; 26, 27 October, 2, 3, 9, 16 November 1852, in V&P, L.C.V., 1852–3, I. Gold Fields. Report from the Select Committee on the Management of the Gold Fields (printed 15 January 1853), ibid., II. For evidence of unrest and agitation see Argus, passim, throughout 1853; Melbourne Morning Herald, 11 April, 25 July, 18, 25 August, 24, 28 November 1853.

25 Pakington to La Trobe, 30 September 1852, including Peters to the Earl of Malmsbury, 30 August 1852, Letter no. 501, C. J. La Trobe General Correspondence 1852–3 MS 7872, L.C., S.L.V.

26 La Trobe to Newcasde, 1 June 1853, ibid., E. D. and A. Potts, Young America and Australian Gold, Brisbane, 1974, pp. 176–7. John A. Feely, ‘With the Argus to Eureka’, H.S., Special Eureka Supplement, Melbourne, December 1954, pp. 25–42.

27 Carboni, The Eureka Stockade, pp. 5–7.

3  A Change of Governors

1 La Trobe to the Duke of Newcastle, Despatch no. 10, 16 January 1854, V.P.R.S. 1084, vol. 2. Geelong Advertiser, 7 January 1854.

2 La Trobe to the Duke of Newcastle, Despatch no. 35, 15 March 1854, and Despatch no. 68, 5 May 1854, V.P.R.S. 1084, vol. 2.

3 La Trobe to the Duke of Newcastle, Despatch no. 40, 25 March 1854, and Despatch no. 58, 15 April 1854, ibid.

4 A. Gross, Charles Joseph La Trobe, pp. 124–5, 148. W. Howitt, Land, p. 227.

5 For Foster see B. Malone, ‘Foster, John’, in A.D.B., vol. 4, pp. 205–6. Hotham to the Duke of Newcastle, Despatch no. 79, 26 June 1854, V.P.R.S. 1084, vol. 2.

6 For Hotham see B. A. Knox, ‘Hotham, Sir Charles’, in A.D.B., vol. 4, pp. 429–30. G. Serle, The Golden Age, ch. 6, passim.

7 Draft letter, Hotham to Colonial Office, 4 January 1854, cited by Serle, The Golden Age, note at bottom of p. 156.

8 Newcastle to La Trobe, Despatch no. 1, 2 January 1854, and Military Despatches nos. 11 & 12, 2 January 1854, V.P.R.S. 1087, vol. 5.

9 Hotham’s Geelong Speech, Argus, 17 August 1854. For Hotham’s reaction to his residence see V&P, L.A.V., D18/1867, II, Evidence of Capt. Kay, paragraphs 324, 327–8.

10 Hotham to the Duke of Newcastle, Despatch no. 87, 17 July 1854, V.P.R.S. 1084, vol. 2.

11 Hotham to Sir George Grey, Despatch no. 112, 18 September 1854, ibid. Geelong Advertiser, 30 August; 2, 12 September 1854. Ballarat Times, 2 September 1854.

12 Hotham to Sir George Grey, Despatch no. 112, 18 September 1854, V.P.R.S. 1084, vol. 2. Argus, 11 September 1854.

13 Hotham to Sir George Grey, Despatch no. 112, 18 September 1854, V.P.R.S. 1084, vol. 2.

14 G. Serle, The Golden Age, p. 159. New Gold Regulations, 31 December 1853, gazetted 24 March 1854, V.G.G., 1854, I, p. 769. Hugh Grange to Hotham, Sandhurst, 5 September 1854, no. 16, V.P.R.S. 4066, Box 1.

15 See letters requesting employment in personal letters to the Governor, V.P.R.S. 4066.

16 La Trobe to Hotham, cited by Serle, The Golden Age, p. 152.

17 The letter ordering the licence searches twice a week cannot be located. There is however a letter from the Chief Commissioner of the Gold Fields to the Colonial Secretary, 25 October 1854, which refers to Circular 54/98, 13 September 1854, directing the Resident Commissioners ‘that each portion of their respective districts should be searched for unlicensed miners not less than twice a week’. See J54/11.907, V.P.R.S. 1189, Box 153. Reference is also made to the licence searches being increased to twice a week by several witnesses to the Gold Fields Enquiry held in December 1854. See Gold Fields’ Commission of Enquiry Report (printed 29 March 1855), V&P, L.C.V., A.76/1854–55, II.

18 W. Howitt, Land, pp. 379–80. There was no romance left in gold digging according to the Argus, 26 July 1854.

19 ibid, pp. 381–4. William Howitt wrote to his wife from Ballarat on 20 May 1854. For Ballarat prices see Geelong Advertiser, September to December 1854.

20 Carboni, The Eureka Stockade, pp. 9–26.

4  First Death at Eureka

1 See Depositions re Scobie Inquest, 7 October 1854, and Prosecution Brief for Criminal Sitting, 15 November 1854, especially evidence of Peter Martin, Safe 4, V.P.R.O. Ballarat Times, 14 October 1854. Scobie was born at Perthshire, Scotland and was a highly respected pioneer of the Ballarat goldfields.

2 In a claim for compensation Catherine Bentley stated that her husband’s hotel had been worth approximately £30,000. Petition for Catherine Bentley, M55/912, V.P.R.S. 1189, Box 95. James Francis Bentley was born in Surrey, England in 1818. He was convicted of forgery in December 1843 at the Lancaster assizes and was sentenced to ten years’ transportation. He was transported per Blundell in March 1844 to Van Diemen’s Land. He received a conditional pardon in February 1851 and possibly went to California, returning per Pride in the same year. He set up business as a gold broker and confectioner in Melbourne in 1852–3 before going to Ballarat. He committed suicide in April 1873 in Ballarat Street, Carlton. V.P.G., March 1856; A.J.C.P.—H.O. 11/14, Reel 91, H.O. 27/70, Reel 2813, H.O. 10/61, Reel 86; A53/509, V.P.R.S. 1189, Box 257; 53/302, V.P.R.S. 3219, vol. 12; Prisoner no. 1932, V.P.R.S. 515, vol. 3. Age, 14 April 1873. List of Publicans on Ballarat, D’Ewes to Colonial Secretary, 2 October 1854, H54/10.975, V.P.R.S. 1189, Box 92.

3 There is some discrepancy as to the origins of the man named Farrell. His name is variously given as John or Thomas, but on all official records it appears as John. He was convicted in the Central Criminal Court, Middlesex, in June 1842 for larceny when he was in his early twenties. He was sentenced to either seven or ten years in the colonies and was transported per Forfarshire on 24 June 1843. V.P.G., July 1856, A.J.C.P.—H.O. 16/7, Reel 1544, H.O. 11/13, Reel 91, H.O. 11/20, Reel 93. Pearson Thompson to Hotham, 2 November 1854, no. 8, V.P.R.S. 4066, Box 1. In the eighteen months Thompson spent at Castlemaine all three Chief Constables had previously been convicts in Van Diemen’s Land. See letter 11 November 1854, no. 37, ibid.

4 Depositions re Scobie Inquest and statement of the jury, 7 October 1854, Safe 4, V.P.R.O. V&P, L.C.V. A.27/1854–55, I.

5 Ballarat Times, 14 October 1854.

6 See Rede’s deposition in the case of a body found at Kerang in December 1852 giving a detailed medical analysis and explaining his competence to do so given his background. Enclosure in A53/1425, V.P.R.S. 1189, Box 84. Weekly Report, Rede to Wright, 14 October 1854, J54/12.188, Box 94. Gold Regulations, 31 December 1854, V.G.G., 24 March 1854, p. 769.

7 S. D. S. Huyghue, The Ballarat Riots 1854, MS A1789, M.L.

8 For accounts of the robbery and its aftermath see Argus, 18, 20 October; 13, 15, 17, 20, 21, 22, 27 November; 14 December 1854; 17 February; 2, 3 August; 6 October; 22 November 1855. See also papers contained in V.P.R.S. 937, Box 10; V.P.R.S. 677, vol. 2; V.P.R.S. 1199, Box 1; V.P.R.S. 1189, Boxes 263 and 632.

9 Ballarat Times, 14 October 1854. Argus, 19 October 1854. Riot at Ballarat, Report of the Board (printed 21 November 1854), V&P, L.C.V., A27/1854–55, I, evidence of witnesses nos 3 and 5. The Gold Receiver at Ballarat, John Green, was also present at the Bentley examination. He said, ‘I was greatly surprised that the decision of the Court was otherwise than to commit’, ibid., witness no. 38.

10 Several witnesses before the Board of Enquiry stated that they had heard that D’Ewes had a share in Bentley’s hotel, ibid., witnesses nos 1, 3, 10, and 24.

11 Evidence of William Carroll, ibid., witness no. 27.

12 Certificate of character of James Francis Bentley, ibid., p. 19.

13 Letter to the Board of Enquiry, signed by aforesaid, 10 November 1854, in Riot at Ballarat, Appendix B, pp. 19–20.

14 ‘A Digger’ to the editor, Ballarat Times, 14 October 1854. For Bayne see Riot at Ballarat, witnesses nos 45 and 46. Evidence of John Butler, ibid., witness no. 14.

15 See ‘An Act to Make Provision for the Sale of Fermented and Spiritous Liquors and Refreshments in certain Districts’, clause III, No. XXXV in Victoria, Acts and Ordinances, 1852–3. William Tait claimed to have paid £5 per week ‘hush’ money over a period of eighteen months to carry on his sly grog trade with impunity. See Report of the Board and evidence of William Tait in Riot of Ballarat, p. xi and witness no. 24. Letter to the Board, ibid., p. 20.

16 Carboni, The Eureka Stockade, pp. 13–14, and evidence of Vern in Riot at Ballarat, witness no. 33. This account of the dispute was rejected by the Board because Vern’s fellow witness, Littlejohn, did not show up before it. Report of the Board, ibid., p. xi.

17 Letter to the Board, ibid., p. 19.

18 Carboni, The Eureka Stockade, p. 11.

19 Religious Services at the Gold Fields, Gaols, Hulks, Stockades and Lunatic Asylums (printed 15 March 1854), V&P, L.C.V., C41/1853–4, III. In early 1854 the Catholic chapel was built of slabs measuring 82 by 25 feet. Over 1,000 attended Mass, but it would not hold that number. For Smyth see Ballarat Times, 30 September 1854.

20 Gold Regulations (printed 26 September 1854), V&P, L.C.V., A2/1854–55,1.

21 Gregorius was also referred to as McGregory—unlikely for an Armenian name. For accounts of the affair see Ballarat Times, 14 October 1854, and W. B. Withers, The History, pp. 76–7.

22 Rede to Wright, 26 October 1854, including enclosure 54/290, Johnston to Rede, 25 October 1854, J54/12.201, V.P.R.S. 1189, Box 92.

23 Petition of Catholics, 25 October 1854, enclosure K11.998 in J54/12.201, ibid. A note on the petition written by Wright says, ‘am of opinion that nothing has occurred which should outrage the feelings of the R. Catholic community’.

5  From Camp to Garrison

1 J. D’Ewes, China, Australia and the Pacific Islands in the Years 1853–6, London, 1857, pp. 94–5.

2 Bentley to D’Ewes, 16 October 1854, enclosure in D’Ewes to Colonial Secretary, 17 October 1854, H54/11.605, V.P.R.S. 1189, Box 92. Evans made enquiries as to the nature of the meeting and wrote to MacMahon, ‘with the exception of the fears expressed by Mr Bentley himself I could not learn from any person that any serious outrage was contemplated’. Evans to MacMahon, 17 October 1854, 547/54, V.P.R.S. 937, Box 10.

3 Carboni to W. H. Archer, 18 October 1854, Letters to W. H. Archer, N.L.

4 Evidence of Green, Evans, and Rede in Riot at Ballarat, witnesses nos 38, 44 and Appendix C.

5 Thomas Kennedy was a native of Cumnock, Ayreshire and arrived in Victoria c. 1853. He was, by trade, a shoemaker but left it to become a lay Baptist preacher. He had a store on Golden Point before turning to mining. He lost his shares in a very rich claim when he had to leave Ballarat after the Eureka battle. He died aged 42 on 6 March 1859. See Ballarat Times, 10 March 1859. Carboni, The Eureka Stockade, p. 27.

6 Ballarat Times, 14, 21 October 1854. W. B. Withers, The History, p. 83, says that £200 was collected in Ballarat but it was returned to the donors once the government moved and offered a reward of £500 for ‘the apprehension of Scobie’s murderers’. Reward notice dated 19 October 1854 in V.G.G., 24 October 1854, p. 2,360.

7 Evans to MacMahon, 17 October 1854, 547/54; V.P.R.S. 937, Box 10. Evidence of John Emery in Riot at Ballarat, witness no. 23.

8 Evidence of Ximines, Dyte and Emery, ibid., witnesses nos 3, 15, and 23.

9 Weekly Report, Rede to Wright, 21 October 1854, J54/12.471, V.P.R.S. 1189, Box 92. Evidence of Broadhurst, Green and Rede, in Riot at Ballarat, witnesses nos 21, 38, and Appendix C. Carboni, The Eureka Stockade, p. 30. In some records Broadhurst is spelt Brodhurst.

10 S. D. S. Huyghue, The Ballarat Riots, 1854, MS A1789, M.L. Ballarat Times, 21 October 1854.

11 J. B. Humffray to the editor, Ballarat Times, 21 October 1854.

12 Petition of Ballarat miners, with covering letter, 23 October 1854, Safe 4, V.P.R.O. Two witnesses in particular were believed to have committed perjury for Bentley. They were Everard Gadd and Henry Green. See Evans to MacMahon, 27 November 1854, 619/54, ibid. MacMahon to Colonial Secretary, 22 October 1854, J54/11.879, V.P.R.S. 1189, Box 92.

13 W. B. Withers, The History, pp. 83–7. Samuel Irwin’s eye-witness account.

14 ibid., pp. 86–7. Ballarat Times, 28 October 1854.

15 The arrest of McIntyre and Fletcher took place on 21 October. Rede to Wright, 22 October 1854, K54/11.826, V.P.R.S. 1189, Box 92. W. B. Withers, The History, p. 87, Irwin’s account, Age, 28 October 1854.

16 A detachment of the 12th Regiment under Capain Queade and Lieutenant Adams had left Melbourne on 21 October. See K54/11.739a, V.P.R.S. 1189, Box 140. Rede to Wright, 22 October 1854. K54/11.826, ibid., Box 92.

17 MacMahon to Colonial Secretary, 22 October 1854, K54/11.823, and 23 October 1854, K54/11.824, ibid., Box 92.

18 Broadhurst to Rede, 18 October 1854, and Moore to Rede, 20 October 1854, W. H. Foster, Official Correspondence, MS 11489, L.C., S.L.V.

19 D’Ewes to Kay, Hotham’s private secretary, 19 October 1854, no. 66, V.P.R.S. 4066, Box 1. Hotham wrote on the letter, ‘Not answered having seen Mr D’Ewes in Melbourne’.

20 Weekly Report, Rede to Wright, 21 October 1854, J54/12.471, V.P.R.S. 1189, Box 92.

21 Rede to Wright, 25 October 1854, enclosure 54/287 in J54/11.896, ibid., Box 94. ‘Plan of Camp Defences’, in MacMahon to Colonial Secretary, 27 October 1854, J54/12.058, ibid., Box 92.

22 Rede to Wright, 28 October 1984, K54/12.107, ibid.

6  The Harassment of Hotham

1 Much of the foregoing is based on Bruce Kent’s excellent article, ‘Agitations on the Victorian Gold Fields, 1851–1854: An Interpretation’, H.S., vol. 6, no. 23, November 1954, pp. 261–81. For the Police Magistrate at Wangaratta see John H. Reilly’s letter, 28 October 1854, enclosure in McEachern to Kay, 9 November 1854, no. 24, V.P.R.S. 4066, Box 1.

2 Minute of His Excellency the Lieutenant Governor authorizing a Board of Enquiry, 30 October 1854, and Report of the Board, in Riot at Ballarat, pp. iii–iv.

3 Report of the Board, ibid., p. vii. Carboni, The Eureka Stockade, p. 114. W. B. Withers, The History, pp. 63–6. Ballarat Times, 2 September 1854. Private communication to author from Mrs Elizabeth Stayt, Ballarat, 20 October 1982.

4 Ballarat Times, 23 September; 14, 28 October 1854.

5 Carboni, The Eureka Stockade, p. 114. Report of the Board in Riot at Ballarat, p. vii.

6 ibid., pp. vii–xiii.

7 ibid., passim. Lalor, witness no. 19, is the best example of a digger who could only cast aspersions on Bentley’s coronial trial. No full transcript was kept of the enquiry but it is clear from the printed evidence that mere statements were taken, whether on oath or not is unclear, and no questions were asked. J. D’Ewes, China, p. 99.

8 Letter to the Board, 10 November 1854, in Riot at Ballarat, pp. 19–20. The enquiry sat for the last time on 10 November. It is clear from this submission that the diggers’ representatives, including Humfrray and Vern, had by that stage lost all confidence in the impartiality of the board. Evidence of Charles Dyte in Riot at Ballarat, witness no. 15.

9 Hotham’s minute, 20 November 1854, ibid., p. xv. J. D’Ewes, China, pp. 100, 108–9. W. B. Withers, The History, p. 82.

10 For some insight into Hotham’s character see personal letters to the governor, V.P.R.S. 4066. For specific instances see James Wood to Hotham, 6 August 1855, no. 9, Box 3; Mrs James Grant to Hotham, 27 September 1854, no. 4, Box 1.

11 See V.P.R.S. 4066: A. D. McKinnon to Hotham, 20 November 1854, no. 45, Box 1; Hotham on letter of William Bassett, 16 October 1854, no. 42, Box 1; Letter to Hotham, ‘an honest, straight forward soldier’, by a very old colonist, 8 October 1854, no. 38, Box 1; Alfred Agg, office of Finance Committee, 20 January 1855, no. 44, Box 2; J. Kennedy to Hotham, 10 October 1854, no. 32, Box 1.

12 See V.P.R.S. 4066, Box 1: W. S. Clifton to Hotham, 24 October 1854, No. 78; C. Bradshaw to Hotham enclosing resolutions passed at squatters’ meeting, 28 September 1854, no. 34; the drayman was Christopher Jobson, letter from Warrenheip, 7 November 1854, no. 31; C. Bayliss, Mayor of Geelong, to Hotham, 26 November 1854, no. 70; Joseph Readford to Hotham, 27 November 1854, no. 79; note of Hotham on Jobson, op. cit. Other letters deploring the non-opening of the lands came from W. Gunn, 19 October 1854, and Bryce Ross, 18 October 1854, nos 50 and 51. James M. Main wrote from the Argus office, Geelong, 11 September 1854, ‘the great question of the day here is the “Land Question”’, and that it was no use for the poor man to attempt buying in opposition to the ‘Capitalists’, no. 6.

13 J. R. Hardy to Hotham, Yass, 17 July 1854, no. 10, V.P.R.S. 4066, Box 1. For a favourable opinion of Hardy see G. Blainey, The Rush That Never Ended (second edition), Melbourne, 1969, pp. 21–2.

14 Howqua to Hotham, 5 November 1854, no. 13, V.P.R.S. 4066, Box 1.

15 See V.P.R.S. 4066, Box 1: W. Kilsby, for the proprietors, to Hotham, 23 October 1854, no. 83; Adam Strusinski to Hotham, 27 October 1854, no. 82; W. H. MacKenzie, secretary of the Melbourne Cricket Club to Kay, 9 October 1854, no. 26; Valiant to Hotham, 9 October 1854, no. 30.

7  Bakery Hill

1 Ballarat Times, 28 October 1854. The Ballarat Times wrongly gives the date of this meeting as 22 October 1854 (Sunday), which has been followed in other subsequent accounts. Geelong Advertiser, 25 October 1854, gives the correct date and MacMahon’s letter makes it clear that it was called for Monday 23 October 1854. (See MacMahon to Colonial Secretary, 23 October 1854, K54/11.824, V.P.R.S. 1189, Box 92.) The meeting is reported in both papers.

2 Carboni, The Eureka Stockade, p. 62.

3 Geelong Advertiser, 28 October 1854.

4 Tarleton to Hotham, 24 October 1854 and Hotham to Tarleton, 25 October 1854, Miscellaneous Papers, V.P.R.S. 1095, Box 2. More to Tarleton, 30 October 1854, ibid. E. D. and A. Potts, Young America, pp. 181–2.

5 For a list of authors sold on Ballarat see W. Bate, Lucky City, p. 50, and Ballarat Times, passim., 1854. Carboni, The Eureka Stockade, p. 54.

6 For Archer see Cecily Close, ‘Archer, William Henry’, A.D.B., vol. 3, pp. 41–3. Archer, like Carboni, was a linguist. He was converted to Catholicism in 1848. Captain Archibald Chisholm, husband of Caroline, was a mutual friend. Chisholm acted as a clearing house for Carboni’s mail from home. See Carboni to Archer, 28 August 1853, Letters to W. H. Archer, N.L.

7 Carboni to Archer, 18 October 1854, ibid.

8 W. B. Withers, The History, p. 233. Kent, ‘Agitations’, uses other figures but concludes that the Ballarat district, ‘although certainly not enjoying a boom period, was just as certainly not declining’, p. 281.

9 Age, 16 November 1854. See commissioners’ estimates in weekly reports, August–December 1854, V.P.R.S. 1189, Box 94, and G. Serle, The Golden Age, p. 388.

10 Carboni, The Eureka Stockade, p. 35. Carboni’s title, in Italian, ‘Arcane, Impenetrabili, Profonde, Son le Vie di Chi Die l’Esser al Niente’.

11 Age, 4 November 1854. Evans to MacMahon, 2 November 1854, 175/54, V.P.R.S. 937, Box 10.

12 ‘A Son of Mars’ to the editor, Ballarat Times, 11 November 1854.

13 Summary of Weekly Reports, Wright to Colonial Secretary, 20 November 1854 and Weekly Report, Rede to Wright, 4 November 1854, J54/13.023, V.P.R.S. 1189, Box 94. Reports of Green, Lane and Burr to Resident Commissioner, Ballarat, 1 November 1854, W. H. Foster, Official Correspondence, MS 11489, L.C., S.L.V. Argus, 4, 7 November 1854.

14 Rede to Hotham, 7 November 1854, W. H. Foster, Official Correspondence, MS 11489, L.C., S.L.V. For the code see W. Bate, Lucky City, p. 64 and footnote 78, p. 279.

15 William Kelly, Life in Victoria (London, 1859), Lowden, Kilmore, Vic, reprint, 1977, pp. 251–4.

16 The Reform League document (registered in the Governor’s Office, 27 November 1854), no. 69, V.P.R.S. 4066, Box 1.

17 Ballarat Times, 18 November 1854. Marx quoted in G. Gold (ed.), Eureka: Rebellion Beneath the Southern Cross, Melbourne, 1971, p. 11.

8  Last Words

1 John Molony, I Am Ned Kelly, p. 35.

2 Sir George Gipps to Lord Stanley (17 May 1844) and 10 June 1844, H.R.A., Series I, Sydney, 1925, vol. XXIII, pp. 602–7, 640.

3 For accounts of the trial see Age and Argus, 20 November 1854. William Henry Hance was a native of London, born in 1815 and was by profession a clerk. He had been to California and Van Diemen’s Land as a free immigrant. In 1854 he worked as a clerk at the Eureka Hotel, Ballarat. He was tried and convicted with Bendey and Farrell in November 1854. He received a free certificate in October 1856. See Prisoner No. 1930, V.P.R.S. 515, vol. 2, and V.P.G., March 1856. Bentley’s demeanour in October 1854 is reported in the Argus, 23 October 1854. His drinking and mental state at the time of his death are reported in the Age, 14 April 1873.

4 Names of persons arrested in connection with the riot at Ballarat, J54/12.469, V.P.R.S. 1189, Box 153. Accounts of the trial in the Age and the Argus, 21, 22 November 1854. Editorial, Age, 21 November 1854.

5 Ballarat Times, 18 November 1854.

6 Finance—Reports of Committee on Financial State of Colony (printed 6 June 1855), V&P, L.C.V., A.88/1854–55, II, especially pp. 4, 9–10, 13–14, 21. G. Serle, The Golden Age, pp. 160–1.

7 Humffray, with two gentlemen from Forest Creek, was introduced to Hotham on 23 November with regard to ‘leasing of auriferous land and the general management of the goldfields’, Argus, 25 November 1854. Hotham to Sir George Grey, Despatch no. 162, 20 December 1854, V.P.R.S. 1085, vol. 8. The account of the meeting is enclosure 3. See also W. B. Withers, The History, pp. 92–3. George Black, brother of Alfred, probably arrived in Melbourne per Statesman in September 1852. With H. R. Nicholls he was editor of the Diggers’ Advocate. The newspaper was, however, not successful. Carboni said he had the appearance of a parson and his ‘English is elegant, and conscious of having received an education, and being born a gentleman.’ V.P.R.S. 3501, Reel 1; Carboni, The Eureka Stockade, pp. 49–50.

8 Enclosure no. 3 in Hotham to Sir George Grey, Despatch no. 162, 20 December 1854, V.P.R.S. 1085, vol. 8. W. B. Withers, The History, pp. 93–4.

9 By 28 November there were 435 military and police on Ballarat, Rede to Wright, 28 November 1854, J54/14.460, V.P.R.S. 1189, Box 92. Captain Thomas was requested by Hotham to be sent to Ballarat. He arrived on 28 November. See Foster to Assistant Military Secretary, 27 November 1854, no. 3337, V.P.R.S. 3219, vol. 20; Pasley to Foster, 29 November 1854, K54/13.511, V.P.R.S. 1189, Box 92.

9  The Monster Meeting

1 Carboni, The Eureka Stockade, p. 47.

2 Rede to Wright, 25 November 1854, K54/13.219 and 27 November 1854, 55/J14.458, V.P.R.S. 1189, Box 92. Hotham saw both letters. On the first he wrote ‘Put away’, on the second, nothing. See also Evans to MacMahon, 27 November 1854, Confidential, V.P.R.S. 937, Box 10, reporting information from Sub-Inspector Furnell who was on detective duty on the diggings. Smyth to Reverend J. A. Goold, 27 November 1854, in J. G. Murtagh, ‘Letters to Eureka’, Twentieth Century, vol. 9, no. 2, 1954, pp. 21–30. Rede had been instructed to spend £100 to investigate ‘secret organizations’ at Ballarat. Foster to Rede, 26 November 1854, V.P.R.S. 3219, vol. 2.

3 Hyman Christophers to Hotham, 27 November 1854, no. 66, V.P.R.S. 4066, Box 1.

4 Accounts of this affray abound. For Young see E. D. and A. Potts, Young America, p. 184. Carboni to Archer, 30 November 1854, in Carboni, The Eureka Stockade, p. 48. Captain Atkinson of the 12th Regiment who led the contingent which was attacked was quite inexperienced in colonial affairs, especially the events relating to Ballarat, having only arrived in Victoria on 3 November 1854. See Assistant Military Secretary to the Colonial Secretary, 4 November 1854, reporting the arrival of a detachment of the 12th Regiment, J54/12.340, V.P.R.S. 1189, Box 140.

5 W. Bate, Lucky City, p. 66; E. D. and A. Potts, Young America, pp. 183–4. Henry Gyles Turner, Our Own Little Rebellion: The Story of the Eureka Stockade, Melbourne, 1913, claims that the man who responded to the toast to the Queen was Samuel Irwin, correspondent of the Geelong Advertiser, p. 55.

6 Rede to Wright, 28 November 1854, J54/14.460, V.P.R.S. 1189, Box 92. Pasley to Foster, 29 November 1854, K54/13.511, ibid. Age, 1 December 1854. For Pasley see Ronald McNicoll, ‘Pasley, Charles’, in A.D.B., vol. 5, pp. 409–11.

7 Rede to Wright, 28 November 1854, J54/14.459, V.P.R.S. 1189, Box 92.

8 Goold’s Diaries, entry for 29 November 1854. Diaries in the possession of the Catholic Archives, J.A.G. Museum, Melbourne.

9 Weekly Report, Rede to Wright, 25 November 1854, K54/13.736, V.P.R.S. 1189, Box 94.

10 Copy of the poster in the author’s possession.

11 For the meeting see Garboni, The Eureka Stockade, pp. 47–57. His account is the most detailed even to 10,000 present at the beginning and 15,000 at the end while ‘all the diggings round about were deserted’, p. 48.

12 W. B. Withers, The History, pp. 95–6, has the text of the motions moved at the meeting. Withers probably took them from the Argus, 1 December 1854. The reporter estimated that only 4,000 were present on Bakery Hill.

13 Carboni, The Eureka Stockade, p. 55. Timothy Hayes was a native of Ireland who arrived per Mobile with his wife Anastasia and five children in October 1852. He was chairman of several meetings at Ballarat in late 1854. In later life he went to America and never returned to Australia. See V.P.R.S. 3501, Reel 1; Light (Ballarat Diocesan Journal), December 1976, pp. 22–3.

10  The End of an Era

1 S. D. S. Huyghue, a Canadian in government employment in Ballarat, was in the Camp all through this period and attests to the ‘intolerable situation felt by all its inhabitants who never undressed and slept little day after day’. S. D. S. Huyghue, ‘The Ballarat Pdots, 1854’, MS A1789, M.L. For reactions to the meeting see Evans to MacMahon, 29 November 1854, V.P.R.S. 937, Box 10; Pasley to Foster, 29 November 1854, K54/13.511, V.P.R.S. 1189, Box 92.

2 Carboni, The Eureka Stockade, p. 72 and title page. Letter of J. Basson Humffray and C. F. Nicholls, ibid., p. 133. The quarter-deck was a frequently used expression amongst immigrants to signify the place of authority. They had become accustomed to it on their voyages to Australia. See letter from Robert Taylor in Ballarat Times, 16 September 1854; and in an undated manuscript of J. G. Hickey who came out in 1853 on a one-class ship where ‘all had access to that sacred spot the quarter-deck’. Manuscripts of J. G. Hickey, C.H.R.L., Ballarat.

3 Pasley to Foster, 29 November 1854, K54/13.511, V.P.R.S. 1189, Box 92. Evans to MacMahon, 29 November 1854, V.P.R.S. 937, Box 10. The despatch sent by Rede on 29 November is apparently unavailable. However, in a despatch of 30 November to the Colonial Secretary, Rede refers to his despatch ‘of last night’ in which he detailed his intentions to ‘send out the police in search of licences’. Rede’s despatch, 30 November 1854, K54/13.510, V.P.R.S. 1189, Box 92.

4 Carboni, The Eureka Stockade, p. 58.

5 Rede to Foster, 30 November 1854, K54/13.510, V.P.R.S. 1189, Box 92. Pasley to Foster, 30 November 1854, K54/13.512, ibid. Manuscript of John M. Hood, C.H.R.L., Ballarat, Geelong Advertiser, 2 December 1854.

6 Letter from J. B. Humffray, Ballarat Courier, 20 July 1889. Letter of J. Basson Humffray and C. F. Nicholls in Carboni, The Eureka Stockade, pp. 130, 134. In important matters I deliberately used sources written exactly contemporaneously or within the ensuing year on the grounds that refutation or clarification of other sources became impossible with the passing of time. A notable example is H. R. Nicholls, ‘Reminiscences of the Eureka Stockade’, Centennial Magazine, vol. 2, no. 10, May 1890. Nicholls spent about forty-eight hours on Ballarat before Sunday, 3 December, and left the stockade before events took a turn for the worse.

7 Carboni, The Eureka Stockade, p. 59. Alfred Angel Black, younger brother of George, was only about nineteen at the time of the stockade. He appears to have been more for action than his brother, although Carboni claims he was not prominent until Saturday, 2 December. He acted as Lalor’s ‘Minister of War’. He died in a mining explosion at Ballarat on 15 June 1859. See V.P.R.S. 3501, Reel 1; Carboni, The Eureka Stockade, p. 89; W. B. Withers, The History, p. 102; V.P.R.S. 24, Box 43, Inquest on Alfred Black. Clearly there were several flags used in that final week, perhaps versions of the same design. All the evidence strongly suggests that the one displayed in the Ballarat Art Gallery is the original which flew first on Bakery Hill and was taken down by the military on the Sunday morning at the Stockade. Who designed it and by whom it was made is unclear. The use of the Southern Cross constellation as a device for banners was not original. The Anti-transportation League in Tasmania had adopted a similar device. For the Ballarat flag see Frank Cayley, Beneath the Southern Cross: The Story of Australia through Flags, Sydney, 1980, pp. 60–76; Austin McCallum, The Eureka Flag, Ballarat, Vic, 1973; L. Fox, Eureka and its Flag, Mullaya, Vic, 1973. For an alternative story of the origin of the Eureka flag see J. W. Wilson, The Starry Banner of Australia: An Episode in Colonial History, Brisbane (private), 1963.

8 Carboni, The Eureka Stockade, pp. 59–60. I have followed the main outline of this and subsequent events as recorded by Carboni through to Saturday night. Peter Lalor’s own account, Age, 9 April 1855, departs from Carboni’s only in chronology and the exact location of some of the occurrences. His subsequent operation, flight and illness may have clouded his memory as to exact details.

9 Carboni, The Eureka Stockade, pp. 61–7. There is some confusion as to the Christian name of Mr Diamond. In Lalor’s list of those killed at Eureka his name is given as John. However, Mrs Diamond in her petition for compensation calls her husband Martin. Also a man who claimed to have been a friend of Diamond’s wrote in a newspaper article in 1904 that his name was Martin. See Lalor’s list. Age, 9 April 1855; Petition of Ann Diamond in Claims for Compensation, Ballarat, printed 25 January 1856. V&P, L.C.V. A.73/1855–6, I; Letter from Mr Bourke, Ballarat Star, 2 December 1904.

10 Rede to Foster, 30 November 1854, K54/13.510, V.P.R.S. 1189, Box 92. Pasley to Foster, 30 November 1854, K54/13.512, ibid.

11 Carboni, The Eureka Stockade, p. 68.

12 ibid., pp. 78–80. Geelong Advertiser, 2 December 1854.

13 The account of the meeting between Rede and the deputation is taken from Carboni, The Eureka Stockade, pp. 70–7. See also evidence of Robert Rede, Gold Fields’ Enquiry, op. cit., p. 309.

14 Carboni, The Eureka Stockade, p.77.

11  Stockade

1 The visit by Father Smyth is reported in Rede to Wright, 2 December 1854, 54/J14462, V.P.R.S. 1189, Box 92.

2 Father Smyth to Hotham, 30 November 1854, no. 3, V.P.R.S. 4066, Box 1. J. Moore to Father Smyth, 1 December 1854, no. 3426, V.P.R.S. 3219, vol. 2. (This letter is reprinted in Carboni, The Eureka Stockade, pp. 81–2).

3 For Monty Miller see the article by Eric Fry, ‘Australian Worker Monty Miller’, in E. Fry (ed.), Rebels and Radicals, Sydney, 1983, pp. 178–93. Michael McInerney, like Miller, lived afterwards at Ballarat. Unlike Miller, who was wounded, family tradition records that Michael escaped unharmed from the stockade on Sunday morning. Born in Milltown Malbay, County Clare, in 1838, he was married at Ballarat in 1872, and after the death of his first wife he married again in 1875.

4 Information on those named comes from such a wide variety of sources that little more can be done than refer to the main bibliography. Lalor listed the dead in the Age, 9 April 1855.

5 Rede to Wright, 1 December 1854, J54/14.461, V.P.R.S. 1189, Box 92.

6 Carboni, The Eureka Stockade, pp. 77–8. In Carboni’s opinion the German was making a pretty penny for his work which implies that the diggers, like their medieval forebears in voluntary armies, paid for their own weapons! John Lynch claimed that the use of a pike ‘invited the murder of him who wielded it.’ The pike had been included in the weaponry ‘simply out of deference to an antiquated sentiment. At Vinegar Hill and New Ross in Ninety-Eight the pike did some execution’. John Lynch, ‘The Story of the Eureka Stockade’, Pt VII, Austral Light, March 1894, p. 131.

7 T. J. Linane gives a brief description of the firearms available to the diggers of Ballarat at Eureka in Light, September 1975, p. 20. Carboni, The Eureka Stockade, pp. 78, 80.

8 Evidence of Robert Rede, Gold Fields’ Enquiry, op. cit., p. 310.

9 See warrants for the apprehension of Frederick Vern, otherwise Colonel Vern, with descriptions, dated 1 December 1854, V.P.R.S. 937. Box 10.

10 W. B. Withers, The History, pp. 99–100, and article ‘Some Ballarat Reminiscences’, in Austral Light, January 1896, p. 31. Samuel Irwin, deeply involved in the movement, was a Trinity College, Dublin, man.

11 Carboni, The Eureka Stockade, pp. 78–9.

12 Rede to Wright, 1 December 1854, J54/14.461, V.P.R.S. Box 92.

13 Evans to Johnston, reported in the Argus, 2 December 1854. Officer’s remark in Geelong Advertiser, 2 December 1854. Fawkner spoke in the Council on Friday, 1 December 1854 from a prepared address. See V&P, L.C.V., 1854–55, I. He was reported in the Age on the following day.

14 Age, 2 December 1854. Argus, 8 December 1854.

15 Patrick Hayes to Captain Kay, 2 December 1854, no. 15, V.P.R.S. 4066, Box 1.

16 See James Oddie, ‘Reminiscences’, n.d., and ‘The Eureka Stockade by one of the Insurgents’, 1884, C.H.R.L., Ballarat. W. B. Withers, The History, pp. 102–4. Carboni, The Eureka Stockade, pp. 89, 90–4. W. Bate, Lucky City, p. 68. See letter, Age, 4 January 1855, p. 5, giving the direct lie to the accusations of plunder.

17 For the committee see W. B. Withers, The History, p. 99 and Carboni, The Eureka Stockade, p. 80. It appears that only very few people actually saw or heard the ‘Declaration of Independence’. One of them allegedly was H. R. Nicholls. See Nicholls, ‘Reminiscences’, pp. 746–7. See also W. B. Withers, The History, p. 102, and Withers’s lecture, Ballarat Star, 11 July 1860, in which he stated that ‘a Declaration of Independence had been drawn up by the insurgent minister at war.’ Withers said that he ‘had not been able to procure a copy of the document, and perhaps there was not one now in existence, but some of those who had seen it described it as “incoherent and bombastic”’. Both McGill and Carboni denied any knowledge of the episode: Carboni, The Eureka Stockade, p. 88, Lalor’s letter to the Age, 9 April 1855. Vern’s plan for the defence of Eureka, 78.972, Gold Museum, Ballarat. Carboni, The Eureka Stockade, pp. 80–1.

18 ibid., p. 81. Austin McCallum, ‘Fr. Patrick Smyth, Peacemaker at Eureka’, Footprints, vol. 4, no. 6, February 1982, pp. 25–32.

19 Lalor to the Age, 9 April 1855, Argus, 28 November 1854; Carboni, The Eureka Stockade, pp. 82–3.

20 For the American involvement see the excellent account in E. D. and A. Potts, Young America, pp. 181–98. The Captain of the First Rifles was Nelson or Nealson, a carpenter by trade.

21 ibid., pp. 186–8. Lalor to the Age, 9 April 1855. Although James Herbert McGill is usually regarded as an important figure, Garboni claims that he was not involved in the movement until Saturday afternoon (2 December). Carboni, The Eureka Stockade, pp. 85–6. He died in December 1883, destitute. Ballarat Courier, 13 December 1883. Carboni, The Eureka Stockade, pp. 88–90. W. B. Withers, The History, p. 105. C. H. Currey, The Irish at Eureka, Melbourne, 1954, pp. 1–2, 87. H. R. Nicholls, ‘Reminiscences’, p. 749. Nicholls remarked, ‘the movement at that time [Saturday] seemed to have become almost an Irish one’.

22 Lalor asserted in his letter to the Age, 9 April 1855, that the stockade ‘was never erected with an eye to military defence’ but was merely an enclosure to keep the diggers together. This seems a case of post-factum reasoning, a special pleading on Lalor’s behalf as the very structure of the stockade was indicative of defence and was so understood by all observers and participants, including Carboni who called the stockade a ‘defence against licence-hunting’. Carboni, The Eureka Stockade, p. 84.

23 ibid., pp. 87–8. E. D. and A. Potts, Young America, p. 186. Lalor to the Age, 9 April 1855.

24 S. D. S. Huyghue, ‘The Ballarat Riots, 1854’, MS A1789, M.L.

25 Pasley to his father, 27 June 1855, Letters from Charles Pasley to his Father, 1853–1861, MS, M.L.

26 Rede to Wright, 2 December 1854, J54/14.462, V.P.R.S. 1189, Box 92.

12  Night of a Young Moon

1 S. D. S. Huyghue, ‘The Ballarat Pdots, 1854’, MS A1789, M.L.; Rede to Wright, 2 December 1854, J54/14.462, V.P.R.S. 1189, Box 92. Pasley to his father, 27 June 1855, Letters from Charles Pasley to his Father, 1853–1861, MS, M.L. Diary of Samuel Lazarus, entry for 3 December 1854, MS 11484, L.C., S.L.V. Gilbert Amos, Gold Commissioner on Eureka, had been captured and then released on Saturday so his knowledge was first-hand. See Rede to Wright, 3 December 1854, enclosure no. 9 in Hotham to Sir George Grey, Despatch no. 162, 20 December 1854, V.P.R.S. 1085, vol. 8. See also Extracts from the diary of T. Pierson, entry for 6 December 1854, MS 5714, L.C., S.L.V. for his report to the Camp that the Stockade was almost deserted.

2 The map showing the route is reproduced in W. Bate, Lucky City, p. 69. It places the Stockade some hundreds of yards north of the actual site. The map, or plan of attack, was drawn by Huyghue. For Rede’s remark see Rede to Wright, 2 December 1854, J54/14.462, V.P.R.S. 1189, Box 92.

3 According to Thomas the force was made up of 30 mounted military plus 2 officers, 70 mounted police under 4 officers; the 12th Regiment provided 65 men and 2 officers, the 40th Regiment had 87 men with 3 officers and the foot police comprised 24 men with Sub-Inspector Carter. The orderly officers were Thomas, Pasley, Richards and Sub-Inspector Taylor. Thomas to Deputy Adjutant General, 3 December 1854, enclosure no. 7 in Hotham to Sir George Grey, Despatch no. 162, 20 December 1854, V.P.R.S. 1085, vol. 8.

4 Pasley to his father, 27 June 1855, Letters from Charles Pasley to his Father, 1853–1861, MS, MX.

5 Lalor admitted the digger sentries fired first. ‘I believe that one or two signal shots were fired by our sentries.’ Yet he also stated that the ‘military fired the first volley’. Lalor to the Age, 9 April 1855. Pasley called it ‘pretty sharp and sustained fire’—at a distance of 150 yards! Pasley to his father, 27 June 1855, Letters from Charles Pasley to his Father, 1853–1861, MS, M.L. For the name of the sentry see Monty Miller, the Brisbane Daily Mail, 13 January 1919.

6 See T. B. Millar, The History of the Defence Forces of the Port Phillip District and Colony of Victoria, 1836–1900 (MA thesis, Melbourne, 1957), with plan of attack. The line of the Melbourne road is incorrect, as is also the appellation Stockyard Hill. It was Specimen Hill.

7 Lalor gives a brief account of the battle and his part in it in his letter to the Age, 9 April 1855. See also Ian Turner, ‘Lalor, Peter’, in A.D.B., vol. 5, 1851–90, pp. 50–4.

8 Carboni, The Eureka Stockade, pp. 95–8.

9 ibid., p. 97. C. D. Ferguson, Experiences of a Forty-niner in Australia and New Zealand, Melbourne, 1979, pp. 59–60. E. D. and A. Potts, Young America, p. 192. Carboni, The Eureka Stockade, p. 98. Withers claims the flag was pulled down by ‘trooper, or policeman, John King’. This is supported by many other accounts. W. B. Withers, The History, p. 158.

10 The expression ‘bloody cocktails’ was used to the police by Ned Kelly when he came out of the mist at Glenrowan. A cocktail is a mongrel breed. See John Molony, I Am Ned Kelly, p. 228.

11 Lalor to the Age, 9 April 1855. Lalor included amongst his casualties only those who were actual combatants and, as such, known to him. He ignored those others who, whether in the stockade or outside it, were either killed or wounded. A conservative estimate would bring the overall dead to at least forty and the wounded to fifty—some of whom later died from their wounds. See S. D. S. Huyghue, ‘The Ballarat Riots, 1854’, MS A1789, M.L.

12 Letter to Geelong Advertiser, from a ‘a correspondent’, 6 December 1854. This letter is reprinted in Carboni, The Eureka Stockade, pp. 103–6.

13 ibid. For other accounts of the atrocities enacted at Eureka see extract from the Diary of T. Pierson, entry for 3 December 1854; MS 5714; Diary of Samuel Lazarus, entry for 3 December 1854, MS 11484; Dan and Davis Calwell to their family, 25 April 1855, Calwell Gold fields letters, MS 11492; ‘An account of the Eureka Stockade Riot sent to R. E. Johns by S. D. S. Huyghue, Camp, Ballarat, 4 December 1854’, R. E.Johns Papers, MS 10075. All manuscript sources—L.C., S.L.V. Deposition of Henry Powell, Argus, 15 December 1854. Statement of Frank Hasleham, Age, 28 December 1854.

14 Crowe gave this account many years later. The justification for accepting its veracity is that the author’s convictions were opposed to those of the diggers who took up arms and he could not fairly be supposed to have fabricated a story in their favour. See James Valliens, ‘From Tent to Parliament’, in James Oddie, History, pp. 44–5.

15 Carboni, The Eureka Stockade, pp. 100–1. Father Smyth to W. H. Archer, Ballarat, 13 December 1854, MS 11491, L.C., S.L.V.

16 Diary of Samuel Lazarus, entry for 3 December 1854, MS 11484, L.C., S.L.V.

17 Carboni, The Eureka Stockade, p. 102.

18 Lalor to Age, 9 April 1855.

19 H. Bowyer Lane, assistant government engineer, to his father, January 1855. Lane asked his father to get Pasley a job in the East. He himself ‘hated this country most cordially’ and, if Pasley remained here much longer, he would ‘marry and sink into a mere colonist’. Pasley to his father, 27 June 1855, Letters from Charles Pasley to his Father, 1853–1861, MS, M.L.

20 Carboni, The Eureka Stockade, pp. 102, 111–13.

21 Pasley to Colonial Secretary, 4 December 1854, enclosure no. 8 in Hotham to Sir George Grey, Despatch no. 162, 20 December 1854, V.P.R.S. 1085, vol. 8. Pasley to his father, 27 June 1855, Letters from Charles Pasley, 1853–1861, MS, M.L.

13  A Flag Unfurled

1 Carboni, The Eureka Stockade, pp. 113–14. Rede spoke kindly to Carboni in French and promised to help him if he could ascertain from Dr Carr whether Carboni spoke the truth as to his role in the Stockade.

2 J. Lynch, The Story of the Eureka Stockade, Melbourne, n.d., p. 31, reprinted from Austral Light, Melbourne, October 1893 to March 1894.

3 W. B. Withers, The History, recounts this event at pp. 129–30 and reprints the placards between pp. 128–9. De Chabrillan, who married the colourful Celeste Mogador, died in Melbourne in 1858. He is an Australian link with French haute cuisine as steak Chateaubriand was originally named in his honour!

4 Thomas, Hackett and Rede are in Eureka Documents, pp. 20–3; W. B. Withers, The History, p. 134.

5 Minute 41, 4 December 1854 in Executive Council Minute Book, vol. 2, V.P.R.S. 1080.

6 James M. Tarleton to Kay and Kay to Tarleton, 4 December 1854, V.P.R.S. 4066.

7 See Ian Turner, ‘Lalor, Peter’, A.D.B., vol. 5, 1851–90, pp. 50–4; James Valliens, ‘From Tent to Parliament’, in James Oddie, History, pp. 28–30. Bert and Ben Strange, Eureka: Gold, Craft and Grievances, pp. 20–1.

8 Facsimiles of the reward notices are in W. B. Withers, The History, between pp. 128–9. For Vern see his letter to Lalor, 4 April 1855, and Bert and Ben Strange, Eureka, pp. 20–1. Black camped in the bush for a while and later made his way to Melbourne where he was sheltered by friends, p. 20.

9 The list of names of those brought before the Ballarat Court for committal—111 in all—are from the Argus, 9–12 December 1854, and from the Eureka material, V.P.R.O.

10 Carboni, The Eureka Stockade, pp. 114–18. A stock dealer, William Hardie, died within a few days from gunshot wounds he received near Bath’s Hotel on 3 December. The shots were fired from the Camp, and Rede acknowledged the facts to be true. See K54/14.263, V.P.R.S. 1189, Box 239.

11 Age, 21 December 1854.

12 J. D. Lang, Sydney, 12 December, in the Age, 23 December 1854.

13 Age, 5 December 1854.

14 ibid., 8 December 1854; Melbourne Morning Herald, 5 December 1854; Age, 5 December 1854.

15 Hotham to Denison, 4 December 1854, V.P.R.S. 1092. For Nickle’s Order see the Age, 26 December 1854.

16 Hotham to Foster accepting resignation, 11 December 1854, V.P.R.S. 1092. Despite a promise of recompense for his loss of salary and pension Foster was never paid. See also B. Malone, ‘Foster, John’, A.D.B., vol. 4, 1851–1890, pp. 205–6.

17 V&P, L.C.V., 1854–8, vol. 1, pp. 159–63.

18 W. Forlange and squatters’ memorial to Hotham, 6 December 1854, V.P.R.S. 4066.

19 Age, 6, 7 December 1854, 3 January 1855; Argus, 6, 7, 8, 15 December 1854; Melbourne Morning Herald, 6 December 1854. See an excellent account of these events by Michael Dunn and Robert Darby, ‘The Aftermath’ in Eureka: Rebellion Beneath the Southern Cross, edited by Geoffrey Gold, Melbourne, 1977, pp. 63–79.

20 Argus, 5 December 1854. It did concede that the government had been unwise to ignore the causes of complaint on the fields but blamed its incompetence on Foster, ibid., 6 December 1854. Opinion of law officers in 255/54, V.P.R.S. 1189, Box 95.

21 Carboni, The Eureka Stockade, pp. 120–3.

22 ibid., p. 120. E. D. and A. Potts, Young America, pp. 187–92.

23 Argus, 22 and 25 January 1855; Herald, 23 December 1854, 3 January 1855; and Ballarat Times, cited 23 January 1855.

24 Hotham to Legislative Council, 7 December 1854.

14  High Treason

1 Treason Act 1351, 25 Edward III, c. 2; The Trials of Arthur Thistlewood and others for High Treason, April 1820; W. C. Townsend, Modern State Trials, London, 1850, vol. 1; G. Rude, ‘John Frost 1784–1877’, A.D.B., vol. 1, Melbourne, 1966, pp. 419–20.

2 Carboni, The Eureka Stockade, p. 140.

3 See letter and petitions in Hotham’s correspondence V.P.R.S., passim, Box 4066. On 10 January 1855 the Westgarth petition arrived. See V.P.R.S. 1080, vol. 2, Executive Council Minutes 55/1. The reference to ‘foreigners’ and ‘scum’ is from a letter of James Watson of 18 December, encouraging Hotham to stay firm and uphold the ‘principle of the British Constitution’ against such persons, ibid., J54/14.039.

4 Carboni, The Eureka Stockade, pp. 125–9, 135–6, 138–43; Age, 14 February 1855, for prisoners’ letter of protest.

5 Age, 15 January 1855. On 12 January the Age stated emphatically that it understood Hotham was determined to hang the prisoners were they found guilty. The Argus, 12 January, denied any such determination.

6 Argus, 15 December 1854, 27 January 1855; Age, 24 January 1855. For Manning and Lang’s involvement see Argus, 6 February 1855. Powell’s dying statement as to his being shot by Akehurst was regarded as inadmissible because it was not sworn to. Argus, 20 January 1855; Queen v. Akehurst, V.P.R.S. 30, Box 40, No. 2/78/13.

7 Howell, vol. 4, 1182. Trial of Duke of Hamilton, 1649. Age, 23 February 1855, gives an account of the way the defence managed to persuade the Crown to put off the trials of Hayes, Carboni and Manning, leaving John Joseph to come up first.

8 Accounts of the trials from which the following is drawn are based on the Age, 24 February 1855; Argus, 23 February 1855; G. Serle, The Golden Age, pp. 174–5; E. D. and A. Potts, Young America, pp. 192–5; Despatch no. 38, V.P.R.S. 1084. Generally on the trials see the Eureka material in safe 4 at V.P.R.O., especially Attorney-General’s list of charges, witnesses and jurors. The list of charges, so carefully drawn up by Stawell, although only four in number, runs to some fifteen hundred words in length and is replete with ‘wickedly’, ‘traitorously’ and similar expressions.

9 Age, 27 February 1855; Argus, 23 February 1855; Melbourne Morning Herald, 24 February 1855.

10 Argus, 28 February 1855. A meeting of the Bendigo Reform League on 7 March summed up feelings. The postponement of the trials was ‘discreditable to the Government, subversive to the benefits of trial by jury, and shows an unbecoming desire for vengeance’. Robert Benson to Hotham, 13 March 1855, V.P.R.S. 31, Box 4066. 2. See also account of public meeting in Melbourne in Melbourne Morning Herald, 13 March 1855.

11 Sydney Morning Herald, 7 December 1854, 1 March 1855; Cowper to Parkes, 23 December 1854; Parkes’ Correspondence, vol. 6, p. 379, M.L.

12 Acting C.C. of police to Hotham reporting a meeting of 12 March and telling him not to pay any attention to the hooting. No. 29 in Governor’s Private Correspondence, V.P.R.S. Box 4066.2; Argus, 13 March 1855.

13 J. B. Woods, ‘Ireland, Richard Davies’, A.D.B., vol 4., pp. 460–1; G. M. R. Rathbone, ‘Cope, Thomas Spencer’, ibid., vol. 3., p. 457; and Peter Ryan, ‘Barry, Sir Redmond’, ibid., vol. 3, pp. 108–11. The names and occupations of the jury are in the Age, 22 March 1855.

14 ibid., 22, 23 March 1855. Argus, 21 March 1855; W. B. Withers, The History, p. 141. Opinion of law officers re Hotham’s appearance is in M55/1540, 1189, Box 95, 31 January 1855.

15 Merivale to Palmerston, probably 24 March 1855, A.J.C.P., CO. 309/28, Reel 817.

16 This account of Carboni’s trial is from the Age, 22 March 1855; Carboni, The Eureka Stockade, pp. 147–62. For Carr’s letter see Melbourne Morning Herald, 13 March 1855.

17 Age, 24, 27, 28 March 1855; Argus, 24 March 1855; Sydney Morning Herald, 2 April 1855.

18 Age, 22, 24, 28 February, 9 March 1855. See the letter of Humffray and Nicholls—Melbourne Morning Herald, 25 January 1855. Humffray was subpoenaed by both sides but never called. Age, 3, 4 April 1855.

19 Age, 3 February, for account of murder of digger; 5 February letter from ‘Australian’; 27 February editorial comment on spies and general comment on evidence; H. T. Holyoake on Goodenough’s perjury, ibid., 1 March 1855.

20 Two letters, 10 and 14 April, in Hotham’s private correspondence spoke of his ill health, V.P.R.S. Box 4066.2; Russell to Hotham, 2 June 1855, Confidential vol. 8, 1087; Manning to Age, 27 February 1855.

15  The Making of a Legend

1 See the poems in the Age, 30, 31 March 1855. Goold’s pastoral is in St Mary’s Archives, Sydney, with a copy at the J.A.C. Museum, Melbourne.

2 Report of Commission ordered to be printed 29 March 1855. V&P, L.C.V. 1854–55, vol. 2. The Commission took evidence from 56 persons at Ballarat including Humffray, Johnston, Holyoake and Rede; Smyth was not called and Rede did not give any useful evidence.

3 Lalor to Argus, 10 April 1855; Argus, 13 November 1855.

4 Hotham to Sec. of State, 2 April 1855, no. 47(1), V.P.R.S. 1084; Age, 3 April 1855; Despatch from Sec. of State no. 9, vol. 7, 2 February 1855, and no. 70, V.P.R.S. 1084; Age, 10 April 1855.

5 The respective Bills are in V&P, L.C.V. 1854–55, vol. 1, pp. 337–432.

6 John Lynch, The Story, pp. 36–40; Age, 4 April 1855; Argus, 13 November 1855; Ballarat Star, 1, 12 January 1857.

7 D. L. Langmore, ‘J. B. Humffray’, A.D.B., vol. 4, pp. 444–5.

8 Ballarat Star, 22 September 1854; ibid., 27 June lecture by W. B. Withers, 1860, 11 July.

9 Carboni, The Eureka Stockade, pp. 164–5; Jennifer Lorch, ‘Chronicler’, in Eric Fry (ed.), Rebels and Radicals, Sydney, 1983, pp. 104–14.

10 Hotham’s Military Despatch no. 4, 16 September 1855, V.P.R.S. 1084; Notice of Death, 8 January 1856, no. 1, ibid. ; Argus, 11 January 1856; W. B. Withers, The History, pp. 158–63.

11 Trumpeter, 8 September 1855; Argus, 6 February 1856; Ballarat Star, 2, 4 December 1856; W. B. Withers, The History, pp. 153–8.

12 See W. Bate, ‘Robert William Rede,’ A.D.B., vol. 6, p. 12; Austin McCallum, ‘Father Patrick Smyth’ in Footprints, vol. 4, no. 6, Melbourne, 1982, pp. 25–32; John N. Molony, I Am Ned Kelly, pp. 244–52.

13 Letter signed ‘A Young Englishman’ to Hotham from Ballarat, 11 December 1854, Governor’s Private Correspondence, V.P.R.S.

14 Argus, 13 November 1855.

15 For an excellent summary of these matters see the two articles, Hume Dow, ‘Eureka and the Creative Writer’, and R. D. Walshe, ‘The Significance of Eureka in Australian History’, in H.S., Melbourne, 1954, pp. 50–80.