Activity 1 - Trouble on the Goldfields
By August 1851, Victoria’s governor, Charles Joseph La Trobe, was worried. Most of his police force had run off to the goldfields. There was no one left to guard convicts and keep law and order.
Governor La Trobe feared that his colony would become as lawless as California’s ‘Wild West’ during the 1849 gold rush in the United States of America. He needed money to pay troopers to keep order on the goldfields. However, the landowners in the Victorian Legislative Council would not allow government money to be spent on the goldfields. They hated the gold rush because it interrupted their farming. So, Governor La Trobe introduced gold licences that the diggers had to buy before they were allowed to dig for gold. This helped to solve the government’s money problem, but it upset the miners. |
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Differing Viewpoints
The government saw the miners as a mob of troublemakers and rebels. The miners saw themselves as fighters for justice.
- Read the two letters below and identify what each party wanted on the Goldfields.
Viewpoint OneGold Commissioner Robert Reid
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Viewpoint TwoPeter Lalor, elected spokesperson for the miners
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