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CHAPTER XIII.
1. Effects of Gold Excitement.—For the first few months after the discovery of gold in
Victoria, many shrewd persons believed that the colony would be ruined by its
seeming good fortune. None of the ordinary industries could be carried on
whilst workmen were so scarce and wages so high. But, happily, these
expectations proved fallacious; for, in 1852, when the great stream of people
from Europe began to flow into the colony, every profession and every trade
sprang into new and vigorous life. The vast crowds on the goldfields required
to be fed, so the farmers found ample market for their corn, and the squatters
for their beef and mutton. The miners required to be clothed, and the tailor and shoemaker must be had, whatever might be the prices
they charged. Mechanics and artisans of every class found their labours in
demand, and handsomely paid for. The merchants, also, found
trade both brisk and lucrative; while the imports in 1850 were worth only
three-quarters of a million, those of three years later were worth about twenty
times that amount. After this enormous increase in population and
business, it was found that there was quite as great an opportunity of gaining
riches by remaining quietly engaged in one’s own occupation as by joining the
restless throng upon the goldfields. The public revenue of the colony was in
1852 six times, and in 1853 twelve times as great as it had been before the
discovery of gold; so that, both as individuals and as a nation, the people of
Victoria had reason to be satisfied with the change.
2. Convicts Prevention Act.—There
existed, however, one drawback; for the attractions of the goldfields had drawn
from the neighbouring colonies, and more especially from Tasmania, great
numbers of that class of convicts who, having served a part of their time, had
been liberated on condition of good behaviour. They crossed over by hundreds,
and soon gave rise to a serious difficulty; for, in the confused and unsettled
state of the colony, they found only too great an opportunity for the display
of their criminal propensities and perverted talents. Being by no means charmed
with the toilsome life of the gold-miner, many of them became bushrangers.
There were, in 1852, several bands of these lawless ruffians sweeping the
country and robbing in all directions. As the gold was being conveyed from the
diggings, escorted by bands of armed troopers, the bushrangers lurked upon the
road, treacherously shot the troopers, and rifled the chests. On one occasion,
their daring rose to such a height that a band of them boarded the ship Nelson
whilst it lay at anchor in Hobson’s Bay, overpowered the crew, and removed gold
to the value of £24,000—remarking, as they handed the boxes over the side of
the vessel, that this was the best goldfield they had ever seen.
To prevent any further introduction of these undesirable immigrants, the
Legislature, in 1852, passed what was called the “Convicts Prevention Act,”
declaring that no person who had been convicted, and had not received an
absolutely free pardon, should be allowed to enter the colony; and that all
persons who came from Tasmania should be required to prove that they were free,
before being allowed to land. Any ship captain who brought a convict into the
colony was to be fined £100 for the offence.
3. Aspect of Goldfields.—Meanwhile the goldfields were growing apace. The discovery
of the Eureka, Gravel Pits, and Canadian Leads made Ballarat once more the
favourite; and in 1853 there were about forty thousand diggers at work on the
Yarrowee. Hotels began to be built, theatres were erected, and here and there a
little church rose among the long line of tents which occupied the slopes above
the creek.
4. Scene on the Goldfields.—Below, on the flats, the scene was a busy one. Thousands
upon thousands of holes covered the earth, where men emerged and disappeared
like ants, each bearing a bag of sand which he either threw on a wheelbarrow or
slung over his shoulder, and then carried forward, running nimbly along the
thin paths among a multitude of holes, till he reached the little creek where
he delivered the sand to one of the men who stood shoulder to shoulder, in long
rows, for miles on either bank, all washing the sand and clay into the shallow
current, whose waters were turned to a tint of dirty yellow. Such is the scene
which presents itself by day; but at sunset a gun is fired from the
commissioner’s tent and all cease work: then, against the evening sky, ten
thousand fires send up their wreaths of thin blue smoke, and the diggers
prepare their evening meals. Everything is hushed for a time, except that a
dull murmur rises from the little crowds chatting over their pannikins of tea.
But, as the darkness draws closer around, the noises begin to assume a merrier
tone, and, mingling pleasantly in the evening air, there rise the loud notes of
a sailor’s song, the merry jingle of a French political chant, or the rich
strains of a German chorus.
In some tents the miners sit round boxes or stools, while, by the light
of flaming oil-cans, they gamble for match boxes filled with gold-dust; in
others they gather to drink the liquors illicitly sold by the “sly grog shops”.
Many of the diggers betake themselves to the brilliantly-lighted theatres, and
make the fragile walls tremble with their rough and hearty roars of applause:
everywhere are heard the sounds of laughter and good humour. Then, at midnight,
all to bed, except those foolish revellers who have stayed too late at the
“grog shop”.
At dawn, again, they are all astir; for the day’s supply of water must
be drawn from the stream ere its limpid current begins to assume the appearance
of a clay-stained gutter. Making the allowances proper to the occasion, the
community is both orderly and law-abiding, and the digger, in the midst of all
his toil, enjoys a very agreeable existence.
5. The Licence Fee.—He had but one
grievance to trouble his life, and that was the monthly payment of the licence
fee. This tax had been imposed under the erroneous impression that every one
who went upon the goldfields must of necessity earn a fortune. For a long time
this mistake prevailed, because only the most successful diggers were much
heard of. But there was an indistinguishable throng of those who earned much
less than a labourer’s wage.
The average monthly earnings throughout the colony were not more than
eight pounds for each man; and of this sum he had to pay thirty shillings every
month for the mere permission to dig. To those who were fortunate this seemed
but a trifle; but for those who earned little or nothing there was no resource
but to evade payment, and many were the tricks adopted
in order to “dodge the commissioners”. As there were more than one-fifth of the
total number of diggers who systematically paid no fees, it was customary for
the police to stop any man they met and demand to see his licence; if he had
none, he was at once marched off to the place that served for a gaol, and there
chained to a tree.
The police were in the habit of devoting two days a week to what was
called “digger hunting”; and as they often experienced much trouble and
vexation in doing what was unfortunately their duty, they were sometimes rough
and summary in their proceedings. Hence arose a feeling of hostility among the
diggers, not only to the police, but to all the officials on the goldfields.
The first serious ebullition of the prevailing discontent took place on the
Ovens, where a commissioner who had been unnecessarily rough to unlicensed
diggers was assaulted and severely injured. But as violence was deprecated by
the great body of miners, they held large meetings, in order to agitate in a
more constitutional manner for the abolition of the fee. At first they sent a
petition to Governor Latrobe, who declined to make any change. It was then
hinted that, possibly, they might be driven to use force; and the Governor
replied that, if they did, he was determined to do his duty. But in August,
1853, when the agitation was increasing, Latrobe hurriedly reduced the fee to
twenty shillings per month. This appeased the miners for a time; but the
precipitancy with which the Governor had changed his intention showed too plainly
the weakness of the Government, for there was at that time scarcely a soldier
in Victoria to repress an insurrection, if one should break out. Among the
confused crowds on the goldfields there were numbers of troublesome spirits,
many of them foreigners, who were only too happy to foment dissension.
Thousands of miners had been disappointed in their hopes of wealth, and, being
in a discontented frame of mind, they blamed the Governor for their
misfortunes.
In spite of the concession that had been made to them, a spirit of
dissatisfaction prevailed throughout all the goldfields; mutterings were heard
as of a coming storm, and Latrobe, in alarm, sent to all the neighbouring
colonies to ask for troops. As the Ninety-ninth Regiment was lying idle in
Hobart Town, it was at once despatched to Melbourne.
6. Governor Hotham.—While matters were in this state, Governor Latrobe retired from office; and in June,
1854, Sir Charles Hotham arrived to fill the position. On his first arrival, he
showed that his sympathies were, to a great extent, with the diggers. But he
could scarcely be expected to make any important change until he had been a few
months in the colony, and had learnt exactly the state of affairs, and,
meanwhile, the discontent on the goldfields was daily increasing. The months of
September and October, in 1854, were exceedingly dry; the creeks were greatly
shrunk in volume, and in many places the diggers could find no water either for
drinking or for gold-washing; and their irritation was not at all soothed by
the manners of the commissioners and police. Besides this, the Government had
thought it necessary to form a camp on the goldfields, so that a large body of
soldiers dwelt constantly in the midst of the miners. The soldiers and
officers, of course, supported the commissioners, and, like them, soon came to
be regarded with the greatest disfavour.
The goldfield population was in this irritable state when a trifling
incident kindled revolt.
7. Riot at Ballarat.—A digger named Scobie, late one [evening, knocked at the
door of Bentley’s Hotel, at Ballarat. Finding the place closed for the night,
he tried to force an entrance, and continued his clamour so long that Bentley
became angry, and sallied forth to chastise him. A crowd gathered to see the
fight, and, in the darkness, Scobie’s head was split open with a spade. Whose
hand it was that aimed the blow no one could tell; but the diggers universally
believed that Bentley was himself the murderer. He was therefore arrested and
tried, but acquitted by Mr. Dewes, the magistrate, who was said by the diggers
to be secretly his partner in business. A great crowd assembled round the
hotel, and a digger, named Kennedy, addressed the multitude, in vigorous
Scottish accents, pointing out the spot where their companion’s blood had been
shed, and asserting that his spirit hovered above and called for revenge. The
authorities sent a few police to protect the place, but they were only a
handful of men in the midst of a great and seething crowd of over eight
thousand powerful diggers. For an hour or two the mob, though indulging in
occasional banter, remained harmless. But a mischievous boy having thrown a
stone, and broken the lamp in front of the hotel, the police made a movement as
if they were about to seize the offender. This roused the diggers to anger, and
in less than a minute every pane of glass was broken; the police were roughly
jostled and cut by showers of stones; and the doors were broken open. The crowd
burst tumultuously into the hotel, and the rooms were soon swarming with men
drinking the liquors and searching for Bentley, who, however, had already
escaped on a swift horse to the camp. As the noise and disorder increased, a
man placed a handful of paper and rags against the wooden walls of the bowling
alley, deliberately struck a match, and set fire to the place. The diggers now
deserted the hotel and retired to a safe distance, in order to watch the
conflagration. Meanwhile a company of soldiers had set out from the camp for
the scene of the riot, and on their approach the crowd quietly dispersed; but
by this time the hotel was reduced to a heap of smouldering ruins.
8. Conviction of Rioters.—For this outrage three men were apprehended and taken to
Melbourne, where they were tried and sentenced to imprisonment. But Bentley was
also re-arrested and tried, and as his friend Dewes could on this occasion be
of no assistance to him, he was sentenced to three years of hard labour on the
roads. Dewes was dismissed from the magistracy, and Sir Charles Hotham did everything
in his power to conciliate the diggers. They were not to be thus satisfied,
however, and held a stormy meeting at Ballarat, in which they appointed a
deputation, consisting of Kennedy, Humffray, and Black, to demand from the
Governor the release of the three men condemned for burning Bentley’s Hotel.
Hotham received them kindly, but declined to accept their message, because, he
said, the word “demand” was not a suitable term to use in addressing the
representative of Her Majesty. As the diggers were haughty, and refused to
alter the phrase, the Governor intimated that, under these circumstances, no
reply could be given. The delegates having returned to Ballarat, a great
meeting was held, and Kennedy, Humffray, Black, Lalor, and Vern made
inflammatory speeches, in which they persuaded the diggers to pass a
resolution, declaring they would all burn their licences and pay no more fees.
9. Insurrection at Ballarat.—Skirmishes
between the soldiers and diggers now became frequent; and, on the 30th of
November, when the last “digger hunt” took place, the police and soldiers were
roughly beaten off. The diggers, among their tents, set up a flagstaff, and
hoisted a banner of blue, with four silver stars in the corner. Then the
leaders knelt beneath it, and, having sworn to defend one another to the death,
proceeded to enrol the miners and form them into squads ready for drilling.
Meantime the military camp was being rapidly fortified with trusses of hay,
bags of corn, and loads of firewood. The soldiers were in hourly expectation of
an attack, and for four successive nights they slept fully accoutred, and with
their loaded muskets beside them. All night long lights were seen to move
busily backwards and forwards among the diggers’ tents, and the solid tread of
great bodies of men could be heard amid the darkness. Lalor was marshalling his
forces on the slopes of Ballarat, and drilling them to use such arms as they
possessed—whether rifles, or pistols, or merely spikes fastened at the ends of
poles.
10. The Eureka Stockade.—Sir Charles
Hotham now sent up the remaining eight hundred soldiers of the Ninety-ninth
Regiment, under Sir Robert Nickle, and to these he added all the marines from
the men-of-war and nearly all the police of the colony. They were several days
on the march, and only arrived when the disturbance was over. The diggers had
formed an entrenchment, called the Eureka Stockade, and had enclosed about an
acre of ground with a high slab fence. In the midst of this stronghold they
proclaimed the “Republic of Victoria”; and here they were able to carry on
their drilling unmolested, under the command of the two leaders—Vern, a German,
and Peter Lalor, the son of an Irish gentleman. They sent out parties in every
direction to gather all the arms and ammunition they could obtain, and made
extensive preparations for an assault; but, imagining that the soldiers would
never dream of attacking them until the arrival of Sir Robert Nickle, they kept
guard but carelessly. Captain Thomas—who commanded the troops in the camp—determined
to finish the affair by a sudden attack; and, on Saturday night, whilst the
diggers were amusing themselves in fancied security, he was carefully making
his preparations. On Sunday morning, just after daybreak, when the stockade
contained only two hundred men, Captain Thomas led his troops quietly forth,
and succeeded in approaching within three hundred yards of the stockade without
being observed. The alarm was then given within; the insurgents rushed to their
posts, and poured a heavy volley upon the advancing soldiers, of whom about
twelve fell. The attacking party wavered a moment, but again became steady, and
fired with so calm and correct an aim, that, whenever a digger showed himself,
even for a moment, he was shot. Peter Lalor rose on a sand heap within the
stockade to direct his men, but immediately fell, pierced in the shoulder by a
musket ball. After the firing had lasted for twenty minutes there was a lull;
and the insurgents could hear the order “Charge!” ring out clearly. Then there
was an ominous rushing sound—the soldiers were for a moment seen above the
palisades, and immediately the conflict became hand-to-hand. The diggers took
refuge in the empty claims, where some were bayoneted and others captured,
whilst the victors set fire to the tents, and soon afterwards retired with 125
prisoners. A number of half-burnt palisades, which had fallen on Lalor,
concealed him from view; and, after the departure of the soldiers, he crawled
forth, and escaped to the ranges, where a doctor was found, who amputated his
arm. The Government subsequently offered a reward of £500 for his capture; but
his friends proved true, and preserved him till the trouble was all past.
The number of those who had been wounded was never exactly known, but it
was found that twenty-six of the insurgents had died during the fight, or
shortly afterwards; and in the evening the soldiers returned and buried such of
the dead bodies as were still lying within the stockade. On the following day,
four soldiers who had been killed in the engagement were buried with military
honours. Many of the wounded died during the course of the following month, and
in particular the colony had to lament the loss of Captain Wise, of the
Fortieth Regiment, who had received his death wound in the conflict.
11. Trial of the Rioters.—When the news of the struggle and its issue was brought to
Melbourne, the sympathies of the people were powerfully roused in favour of the
diggers. A meeting, attended by about five thousand persons, was held near Prince’s
Bridge, and a motion, proposed by Mr. David Blair, in favour of the diggers,
was carried almost unanimously. Similar meetings were held at Geelong and
Sandhurst, so that there could be no doubt as to the general feeling against
the Government; and when, at the beginning of 1855, thirteen of the prisoners
were brought up for trial in Melbourne, and each in his turn was acquitted,
crowds of people, both within and without the courts, greeted them, one after
another, with hearty cheers as they stepped out into the open air, once more
free men.
12. Improvements on the Goldfields.—The commission appointed by Sir Charles Hotham commenced its
labours shortly after the conclusion of the riot, and in its report the fact
was clearly demonstrated that the miners had suffered certain grievances.
Acting upon the advice of this commission, the Legislative Council abolished
the monthly fee, and authorised the issue of “Miners’ Rights,” giving to the
holders, on payment of one pound each per annum, permission to dig for gold in
any part of the colony. New members were to be elected to the Council, in order
to watch over the interests of the miners, two to represent Sandhurst, two for
Ballarat, two for Castlemaine, and one each for the Ovens and the Avoca
Diggings. Any man who held a “Miner’s Right” was thereby qualified to vote in
the elections for the Council.
These were very just and desirable reforms, and the Government added to
the general satisfaction by appointing the most prominent of the diggers to be
justices of the peace on the goldfields. Thus the colony very rapidly returned
to its former state of peaceful progress, and the goldfields were soon
distinguished for their orderly and industrious appearance.
CHAPTER XIV.
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