CHAPTER VIII.
THE EUREKA STOCKADE.
The insurgents had pitched upon the junction of the Eureka lead with the Melbourne road as a place suitable for meeting en masse. About an acre of the ground was roughly enclosed with slabs, and within this area the diggers commenced their drilling. The slabs were put up as a screen merely, so that the preparations for revolt might not be too closely watched. This frail enclosure received the name of the Eureka Stockade.
Lalor delivered a speech within this stockade. It was couched thus:—"Gentlemen, I find myself in this responsible position for the following reasons. Outraged at the unaccountable conduct of the camp officials in the wicked license-hunt at the point of the bayonet, the diggers took it as an insult to their manhood, and a challenge to the determination expressed at their monstre meeting. They ran to arms, and crowded on Bakery Hill. They wanted a leader, but no one came forward, and confusion was the consequence. I mounted the stump, and called on the people to fall in into divisions according to the arms they had got, and to choose their captains out of the best men among themselves. My call was answered with unanimous acclamation, and complied to with willing obedience. The result is, I have been able to bring about that order without which it would be folly to face the impending struggle like men. I make no pretentions to military knowledge. I have not the presumption to assume the chief command no more than any other man who means well in the cause of the diggers. I shall be glad to see the best man take the lead. In fact, gentlemen, I expected someone who is really well known to you to come forward and direct our movement! However, if you appoint me your commander-in-chief, I shall not shrink; I mean to do my duty as a man. I tell you that if once I pledge my hand to the diggers, I will neither defile it by treachery nor render it contemptible by cowardice."
Raffello, who had a great admiration for Lalor's straightforwardness and many other manly qualities, comments thus:—"Bravo, Peter, you gave us your hand on the Eureka, and left there your arm," an incontestible proof of the sincerity of Lalor's pledge.
Lalor was appointed commander-in-chief. In thanking the council for the confidence placed in him, he told them he was determined to prepare the diggers to resist force by force; but at the same time it was perfectly understood by everyone present that the organisation was solely for defence.
In the stockade a straight pole, eighty feet long, was erected to serve as a flag-staff. At the head of this the diggers hoisted their standard—the Southern Cross. Then Lalor, gun in hand, mounted a stump. Resting the stock of the gun on his foot, and grasping its barrel firmly in his left hand, he slowly raised his right arm towards the standard, and proceeded solemnly to swear in the diggers. He said, "It is my duty to take from you the oath to be faithful to the standard. The man who, after this solemn oath, does not stand by our standard is a coward at heart." All those who did not intend to take part in the insurrection were ordered to leave the meeting. Then the armed diggers, numbering about five hundred, gathered around the flag-staff. They were formed into divisions, and the captains of each saluted their commander-in-chief. He now knelt down, and solemnly pointing to the standard streaming in the breeze, said, in firm, serious, and glowing tones, "We swear by the standard to stand truly by each other and fight to defend our rights and liberties;" to which the diggers responded decisively by a universal "Amen," and by simultaneously stretching five hundred hands towards the flag.
Immediately after the swearing-in ceremony the names were taken down and the men formed into squads for drill. Drilling was kept up with but little intermission till a late hour, and was now and then renewed up to the capture of the stockade. Side by side with these warlike preparations several claims were being worked; indeed, some of the working miners gave up their tents as quarters for insurgent officers.
Orders of war were sent round the diggings to obtain arms, ammunition, etc. Lalor was obliged to keep piquets to enforce these orders, and also to prevent their being made a cover for robbery, because some unscrupulous diggers had, in the name of the insurgents, pillaged the storekeepers. The levying officers issued receipts on behalf of the Reform League. Some of these are rather entertaining documents. Here is one: "Received from the Ballarat store, 1 Pistol for the Comtee x. Hugh McCarty—Hurrah for the people!" Another: "The Reform Lege Comete, 4 drenks, fower chillings, 4 Pies, for fower of thee neight watch troops xP." The four night watch troops were some of those insurgents told off to patrol the diggings. The foragers, as things came to a crisis, became more peremptory in their demands, one party even threatening to shoot a storekeeper if he did not hand over quickly. But, notwithstanding the levying, the insurgents failed to obtain sufficient war material. Several of their fire-arms were afterwards found loaded with pebbles and such missiles.
Lalor's men kept together within the stockade, some cooking the meat which friendly butchers had brought in; others mending muskets or making pikes or similar rude weapons for use by the several companies of pikemen. Friends and enemies also dropped into the stockade at all hours until the day before the tragic event.
Humffray, ever foremost in advocating peaceful reform, heard, when in the stockade, of a project to attack the soldiers' camp. It was thought that 2000 diggers could be got for that purpose. Humffray, with other mild spirits, vainly endeavoured to persuade them from attempting it, and then left the stockade.
Vinegar Hill was the pass-word on the night of the 2nd of December, and its ominous associations led several to abandon what they saw was a badly-organised and hopeless movement.
Meanwhile the soldiers had not been idle. After securing a commanding position on the rising ground afterwards known as "Soldiers' Hill," they vigilantly watched the movements of the insurgents. The police were also on the alert, so that little was said or done among the insurgents that was not soon afterwards reported to the authorities.
A Government officer, then in the camp, writes:—
"On the 1st of December the Government took final measures to meet the assault. Every Government employee was armed and told off to his post, and sentinels and videttes were placed at every point. The principal buildings of the camp were fortified with breastworks of firewood, trusses of hay, and bags of corn from the Commissariat Stores, and the women and children were sent for security into the store, which was walled with thick slabs and accounted bullet-proof. A violent storm of rain, with thunder, commenced as these arrangements were completed, and the mounted police, soaked through with rain, spent the night standing or lying by their horses, armed, and horses saddled ready for instant action. At four A.M. on the 2nd of December the whole garrison was under arms, and soon after daylight a demonstration in force was made towards Bakery Hill without opposition, although bodies of men were seen drilling near the Red Hill. A mounted trooper coming from Melbourne with despatches was fired at near the Eureka lead. No work was carried on through the entire diggings, and every place of business was closed. Notices were issued stating that if any lights were seen in the neighbourhood after eight o'clock at night, or if any fire-arms were discharged, the offenders would be fired at by the military." The same Government officer writes about the
STORMING OF THE STOCKADE.
"Before daylight on the morning of the 3rd of December a mixed force of two hundred and seventy-six men, including a strong body of cavalry, quietly left the camp for the purpose of taking the stockade. At early dawn they reached the neighbourhood of the position sought, and the advance files were fired at by a sentinel within the stockade. The order to attack was given, and the 40th regiment, led by Captain Thomas, the chief officer in command, made a quick advance upon the double breastwork which formed the stronghold of the insurgents. After several volleys had been fired on both sides, a barrier of ropes, slabs, and overturned carts was crossed, and the defenders driven out or into the shallow pits with which the place was spotted, and in which many were put to death in the first heat of the conflict either by bullets or by bayonet thrusts."
Raffello says—"I awoke on Sunday morning. A discharge of musketry—then a round from a bugle—the command 'Forward'—and another discharge of musketry was sharply kept up by the red-coats for a couple of minutes. The shots whizzed by my tent. I jumped out of my stretcher and rushed to my chimney facing the stockade. The force within could not muster then above one hundred and fifty diggers. The shepherds' holes inside the lower part of the stockade were turned into rifle pits.... The dragoons from the south and troopers from the north were trotting at full speed towards the stockade. Peter Lalor was on top of the first logged-up hole within the stockade, and by his decided gestures pointed to the men to retire among the holes. He was shot down in his shoulder at this identical moment. It was a chance shot. I recollect it well, for the discharge of musketry from the military now mowed down all who had heads above the barricades.... Those who suffered most were the pikemen, who stood their ground from the time the whole division had been posted on top, facing the Melbourne road from Ballarat, in double file under the slabs to stick the cavalry with their pikes. The old command 'Charge' was distinctly heard, and the red-coats ran with fixed bayonets to storm the stockade. A few cuts and kicks, a little pulling down, and the job was done; too quickly for their wonted ardour, for they actually thrust their bayonets through the bodies of the dead and wounded strewed about the ground. A wild hurrah burst out, and the 'Southern Cross' was torn down. Of the armed diggers, some made off the best way they could, others surrendered themselves as prisoners, and were collected in groups and marched down the gully.... The red-coats were now ordered to 'fall in,' their bloody work being over, and were marched off, dragging with them the 'Southern Cross.'"
In less than twenty-five minutes the engagement was over, and the soldiers had possession of the stockade and one hundred and twenty-five prisoners. During the same day the soldiers who were killed in the inglorious conflict were buried in the cemetery; and no opposition was offered to the dead bodies of the insurgents being placed in rough coffins and taken away by their sorrowing friends.
After the fray notices were posted up at various places ordering all well-disposed persons to return to their ordinary occupations, and to abstain from assembling in large groups. The soldiers then returned to their camp, but remained under arms all night, rumours of an intended attack keeping them on the alert, although it was tiring work; and most of them, having had no repose for four nights, were almost exhausted.
On the next evening a number of insurgents, favoured by a clouded moon, crept up under the cover of the nearest tent beyond the palisade and fired from several points upon the sentinels. This caused a sudden alarm in the camp; everyone ran to his post, and a general firing followed, resulting in the wounding of a woman and child in one of the tents and of three men on the road close by, who unfortunately happened to be passing.
On the 5th of December Major-General Sir Robert Nickle arrived with a relief contingent from Melbourne, and later in the day a force of eight hundred soldiers and a large party of seamen from the men-of-war then in the bay still further strengthened the hands of the Government. The presence of these additional troops had immediate effect throughout the digging community in sinking below zero the spirit of insurrection, which was already depressed by the loss of the Eureka stockade. Sir Robert was a veteran well skilled in quelling disturbances. The district was now under martial law, but his good sense made it more acceptable to the diggers than the previous administration of the Commissioners.
The soldiers were kept at Ballarat until affairs on the gold-fields resumed a more peaceful course; then, as no further tumults were apprehended, Sir Robert Nickle and his forces returned to Melbourne, leaving a small garrison to await the turn of events.
EXCITEMENT IN MELBOURNE.
Meanwhile, the Government were making other strenuous efforts to restore order, and favouring the report that the leaders of the revolutionary movement were foreigners, issued notices, calling upon British subjects not only to abstain from identifying themselves with persons who were endeavouring to excite the mining population to riotous courses, but to render support and assistance to the authorities, civil and military, then stationed at Ballarat. At the same time £500 was offered for the arrest of a German named Vern, whom the Government believed to be the chief instigator of the outbreak. Civilians in Melbourne, Geelong, and various towns in the colony were requested to come forward and be sworn in as special constables.
From McCombie's History of Victoria we learn:—"That the Legislative Council presented to the Governor an address expressing their sympathy for him and pledging their support to him while affairs were so embarrassing." Sir Charles Hotham replied, "That the firm resolve to suppress the incipient revolution was softened by the readiness with which he offered to redress the grievances complained of. It would be his constant endeavour to conduct the Government with the utmost possible temper. The time for military rule had passed, but when there was an outbreak, and that caused by foreigners—men who had not been suffered to remain in their own country in consequence of the violence of their character—then Englishmen must sink all minor differences and unite to support the authorities."
The Government, however, fared differently when a direct appeal was made to the people. At Melbourne a public meeting had been called by requisition to consider the best means for protecting the city during the crisis at the diggings. The principal agitators in this matter seemed to be the members of the Legislature, who took a large share in the proceedings of this public meeting. The resolutions proposed were received with such ill-concealed dissatisfaction that, after the Mayor had declared two of them to be carried, the opponents of the Government interfered, and such confusion prevailed that the gentleman who presided vacated the chair; and a series of resolutions, diametrically opposed to the proceedings of the Executive, and demanding an immediate settlement of the differences between the Government and the diggers, were carried with the utmost enthusiasm. One speaker told the people they must go forth with their brother-diggers to conquer or die.
"The Government demonstration having terminated in so unsatisfactory a manner, another meeting was convened on the following day, 'for the assertion of order and the protection of constitutional liberty.' It took place on a large open space of ground near St. Paul's Church, at the corner of Flinder's Lane. From four to seven thousand people were present, the chair being filled by Henry Langlands, one of the largest employers of labour in Melbourne. The resolutions condemned the whole policy of the Government, and declared that, while disapproving of the physical resistance offered by the diggers, the meeting could not, without betraying the interests of liberty, lend its aid to the Executive until the coercive measures they were attempting to introduce should be abandoned. The result of this meeting had very considerable weight with the Executive, and the same afternoon a Government Gazette extraordinary appeared, in which was a proclamation revoking martial law at Ballarat."
A few days before the outbreak a Commission had been appointed to inquire into the state of the mining districts, and now, in deference to the feelings shown at the public meetings, several gentlemen were added to it, in order to find out the grounds of the diggers' complaints. The Commissioner urged the Government to grant a general amnesty as to the past; but the Government considered that some of the prisoners taken in the stockade should be tried for high treason.
A monstre meeting was therefore held in Melbourne, at which it was resolved, "That the unhappy outbreak at Ballarat was induced by no traitorous designs against the institution of monarchy, but purely by a sense of political wrong and irritation, engendered by the injudicious and offensive enforcement of an obnoxious and invidious tax, which, if legal, has since been condemned by the Commission." Thousands in Ballarat subscribed a similar petition.
But the Executive remained obdurate, and on the 18th of January issued a public notice offering £400, £200 each, for the arrest of Lalor and Black, because of their treasonable and seditious language in inciting men to take up arms against the Queen.
The insurgent chief, Lalor, was severely wounded whilst defending the stockade. He fell to the ground. Some of his pikemen seeing his body, covered it with slabs. When the soldiers retired with their prisoners, he managed to extricate himself from the débris and make his way to his friends. On the following day his left arm had to be amputated. He secreted himself in various friendly huts at different places, and after several narrow escapes, succeeded in eluding the police in their search for fugitives. His friends proving true to him, notwithstanding the reward of £200, he ultimately reached Geelong, where he remained until the storm of general disapproval had extinguished the desire of the authorities for his capture.
In the opinion of many, the agitation at Ballarat was constitutional at first, and had assumed its unconstitutional form in consequence of the coercion of the Commissioners, who precipitated measures by their imprudent digger-hunting during the period of excitement.
However, the Government continued the prosecution of the rioters, despite their being the objects of public sympathy. The trial was ended on the 1st of April by the jury acquitting the prisoners, a result which had been generally anticipated.
WRONGS RIGHTED.
The insurrectionists were afterwards conciliated by the efforts of the Commission of Inquiry, and consequent redress of grievances. The revolt, in addition to the valuable lives lost, cost the colony £20,000 for military expenses, extra police charges, and compensation to sufferers.
From Westgarth's Colony of Victoria we extract:—"The Commission produced a lengthened report, in which the whole system of gold-fields' management was proposed to be reconstituted. The miners' earnings were found to be, on an average, rather smaller than those of other branches of colonial labour—a circumstance not favourable to the persistent maintenance of a heavy license fee of practically very unequal incidence. The report recommended the abolition of this fee, and in its place the imposition of a moderate export duty on gold. The issue of a 'Miner's Right' was suggested, at a cost to each miner of one pound a-year, and conferring upon him both the mining privileges and the franchise. The title of 'Commissioner' to the head of each gold-field, a name now associated with the wranglings of the past, was proposed to be changed to the old English mining title, 'Warden.' The Commissioners recommended local elective mining courts, and benches of local unpaid justices of the peace, who should sit with the regular paid magistrate. The more intelligent of the miners were constituted local justices of the peace, and arrangements were made by which the mining districts elected their own representatives to the 'Colonial Legislature.'"
Mr. Peter Lalor[A] was one of the first of these representatives, and has since been in several ministries, and twice Speaker of the Assembly.
Thus ended one of the few unfortunate incidents of Australian history. The miners have since been as loyal as any other section of the population, and, by their industrious delving in the seemingly inexhaustible gold mines of Victoria, they have contributed a full share towards the prosperity of the colony.
Printed by Walter Scott, Felling, Newcastle-on-Tyne.