Miners Vs Police

Miners vs. Police

Ama: Welcome y’all to Ballarat Museum. My name is Susan Smiles and I shall be all yas tour guide today. Please proceed to your left. Points to the right. Everyone turns right. Clears throat. Your other left, y’all.

PowerPoint shows the Eureka Flag Child: Grandmummy, grandmummy! What is that? Grandma: That, my dear is the Eureka Flag. Child: Is Eureka near Sesame Street? Where the Elmo comes from? Grandma: No dearest, Eureka isn’t a country; Eureka is what they called out when the miners found gold on the gold fields. Child: A miner? Like my great- great- great- great- great-grandpa? Grandma: Yes, dear, my grandpa was a miner during the time of the Eureka Stockade. Child: What’s a thock-ay? Grandma: The Eureka Stockade is where my grandpa and his fellow miners shut themselves in from the police. Child: Why? Mummy said that policemen were good people!

Grandma: well deary It started with the police having concerns about the low level of licence compliance, the Governor, Sir Charles Hotham secretly ordered an increase in the frequency of the hated licence hunts to twice weekly. For a time, a violent response seemed imminent at the volatile Bendigo field, but it failed to materialise. Instead, two events occurred in October at Ballarat, hitherto the most peaceful and industrious of fields, which inflamed the situation there even further. The first was the wrongful arrest during a licence hunt, and the subsequent conviction for assaulting a trooper, of a crippled, non-English speaking Armenian servant of the Roman Catholic priest, Father Smyth. The second was the unpopular acquittal of the publican of the Eureka Hotel, James Bentley, who had been charged with the murder of a miner, James Scobie. After an angry mob burned Bentley’s Hotel to the ground, Commissioner Rede, resolving to reassert government authority and teach the diggers a lesson, requested troop reinforcements. On Sunday, October 22, a crowd estimated at upwards of ten thousand miners assembled to discuss their grievances on Bakery Hill, directly across the flat from the Government Camp, on the road

to the Eureka. Considerable anti-government sentiment was voiced at the meeting, and the Camp was fortified and guarded against attack for a week afterwards, but no violence eventuated. Following a second mass meeting on Wednesday November 1, the Ballarat Reform League took shape under the moderate leadership of J. B. Humffray. Throughout the next month, the League sought to negotiate with Commissioner Rede and Governor Hotham, both on the specific matters relating to Bentley and the men being tried for the burning of the hotel, and on the broader issues of abolition of the licence, democratic representation of the gold fields, and disbanding of the Gold Commission. These attempts at conciliation were unsuccessful. Instead, Rede’s and Hotham’s pronouncements and actions throughout November seemed designed to goad the more belligerent elements among the miners into precipitating a crisis.

Ama: And this y’all is the Eureka Flag! The Eureka Flag was the battle flag used at the Eureka Stockade, a gold miners' revolt in 1854 The Eureka Flag was flown for the first time on Bakery Hill, Ballarat, Australia as a symbol of the resistance of the gold miners

during the Eureka Stockade rebellion in 1854. The design of the flag was taken by Captain Henry Ross, one of Eureka's miners and a Canadian expatriate, to three women, Anastasia Withers, Anne Duke and Anastasia Hayes, to sew up in time for a large rally at Bakery Hill. Claire: And what did you Australians do with this flag other than raise it up on a flag pole? Grandma: We Australians did a lot more than you pompous, arrogant… Srishti: Group photo! Ama: Cheers y’all! As I was saying, beneath this flag, Peter Lalor, leader of the Ballarat Reform League, swore this oath to the affirmation of his fellow demonstrators: "We swear by the Southern Cross to stand truly by each other and fight to defend our rights and liberties." Claire: Hey lady! You forgot to mention the roll up banner. Srishti: Roll-up banner! I know roll-up banner! At the time of the NoChinese Lambing Flat riots in 1861, there was known as the "Roll Up Banner" with the words "Roll Up - No Chinese" added.

Claire: Anyway… how did you Australians end this unfair bloodshed against the righteous upholders of the law of this barren land? Ama: It all happened one Sunday afternoon, on the 3rd of December, 1854. The military and the police force mounted a surprise attack on the miners. Anna: But, Grandmummy! Weren’t there lots of miners there ready to fight? Jess: Well, dear. There were 1500 men at the Stockade, but many of them had left the night before for some reason or another. There were only 100 to 200 men left. So when Gold Commissioner Rede and Captain Thomas found out they decided to launch a surprise attack. Srishti: How long did battle last for? Ama: The battle lasted for a real long time. It lasted for fifteen minutes! After that, the police went CRAZY and trashed the whole place! It was awesome! This concludes our tour for today. Please feel free to spend some time, and money, in the souvenir shop.

Claire: Damn tour was a complete waste bloody time! It told things that I already knew! That Australians are a bunch of bloody barbarians! Jess: Grandma says goodbye Srishti: Group photo!