To the Australians, the word �Eureka� does not evoke images of an intellectual breakthrough ! Instead, it is coupled with the word �Stockade� and signifies an armed uprising against authority � a bit similar to �Storm the Bastille !� for the French. The Eureke Stockade incident manifested the first stirrings of an independent, republican consciousness in Australia. What happened was this, mate. At Ballarat, near Melbourne, the early gold diggers had to pay a $1 sterling a month license fee whether they struck gold or not. Raids by thuggish police (often ex-convicts from Tasmania) who enforced the license fee and �collected� half the fine from the defaulters added to the tension. In October 1854, a miner was kicked to death by a local publican, who (despite strong evidence) was cleared of the crime. Mass meetings by 5,000 miners railed against the injustice. They also demanded the granting of a universal franchise, the abolition of license fees and ceremoniously burned their mining licenses. The Lietenant-Governor of Victoria, Sir Charles Hotham sent in the �traps� (policemen) and troopers. Five hundred diggers built a stockade (now known as the Eureka Stockade, get it?) or barricade, swore to �fight to defend our rights and liberties,� and hoisted the blue-and-white flag with the stars of the Southern Cross (those stars onlyseen in the southern-hemishere) and dropped the Union Jack flag of Britain. In the early hours of 3 December 1854, a force of 300 infantry, calvary men and mounted police savely attacked the 150 strong sleeping diggers of the stockade. Within 15 minutes, it was all over. Twenty four miners and six soldiers were dead. The rebel leader, Peter Lalor, escaped but 13 others were charged with treason. |
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