Activity 2 - Significant People from the Ballarat Goldfields
Governor Charles Hotham |
Sir Charles Hotham, (14 January 1806 – 31 December 1855) was Lieutenant-Governor and, later, Governor of Victoria, Australia from 22 June 1854 to 10 November 1855. Hotham was governor at the time of the Eureka Stockade. When Hotham became lieutenant-governor, replacing La Trobe, he enforced mining licensing laws.
Tours of the gold regions had given Hotham the impression of men finding more gold than they did. One of Hotham’s first actions was to order twice-weekly licence searches. Hotham's actions brought all the simmering grievances of the diggers to the fore again; license hunts, the incompetence and corruption of the police and the inadequate services provided by the government of the goldfields. Hotham had reason to believe that he was dealing with more than simple unhappy miners and the gold licence system. He saw signs of a rebellion against the Queen’s authority which had democratic and republican aspects. He had a naval background, and he would have been aware of the revolutionary movements in Europe. After the Eureka Stockade, Hotham still feared revolution and wrote to the Governor of Tasmania requesting Military assistance in case the more rebels, might reassemble. He called on citizens to assist in preserving social order, proclaimed (put in place) martial order (when citizens are controlled by the military) in Ballarat, and posted rewards for the escaped rebel leaders. Sources: Wikipedia, http://www.sbs.com.au/, https://independentaustralia.net Click on each of the image to watch the clip
Clip description In Victoria in the 1850s the introduction of a gold license was extremely unpopular. Although many diggers wanted it abolished immediately, the question of the license could not be separated from more complex questions about government revenue and taxation policy. The new Governor, Charles Hotham, was planning to review and reform these areas but he needed time and time was running out. He also felt strongly that existing laws, however unpopular, needed to be strongly enforced. |
The Miners |
From the early 1850s, hopefuls coming to the Victorian goldfields were required to pay high fees for mining licences and were ill-treated and harassed by the authorities (police/troopers) who were meant to protect them. The government dismissed the complaints of the miners, who had no vote and couldn't buy land.
The goldfield workers (known as 'diggers') opposed the government miners' licences. The licences were a simple way for the government to tax the diggers. Licence fees had to be paid regardless of whether a digger's claim resulted in any gold. Less successful diggers found it difficult to pay their licence fees. Official (people who worked for the government) corruption was another concern for the diggers. This issue came to a head (made worse) after a group of men beat to death a drunken Scottish digger, James Scobie. The group included local publican James Bentley. Bentley was a friend of the local magistrate and he escaped prosecution, as did three other men from the group. This led to the diggers meeting on 17 October to try to bring the men to justice. After the meeting, a crowd of diggers burnt Bentley's hotel to the ground. Soon after three diggers were arrested and charged with arson (setting something on fire on purpose) for their part in setting fire to the hotel. The Ballarat Reform League was formed on 11 November 1854 at Ballarat as a protest against the regulation of the gold diggings, specifically the League was formed with the view of abolishing (removing) the Miner's Licence and having the miners connected with the fire at the Eureka Hotel released. Some of the demands of the Ballarat Reform League wanted:
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Gold Commissioner Robert Rede |
Robert Rede arrived in Port Phillip in 1851 and, after some success as a digger, was employed by the Goldfields Commission, becoming Resident Commissioner at Ballarat in May 1854.
Rede initially sympathised (felt sorry for) with the miners and their criticisms of the licence system. Commissioner Rede was one of the two members of the Bench that acquitted (let off) James Bentley for the murder of miner, James Scobie. Rede and the police were then sent to protect the hotel from furious miners. Rede ‘bravely faced them from a window and begged them to be peaceable and respect the law’. Instead the hotel was wrecked and burnt to the ground. However, in the midst of the unrest and confusion that preceded the Eureka Stockade, he became convinced that the diggers’ anger over the hated licence system was just a way to cover their reasons for a rebellion for democracy and had to be crushed. Rede had been humiliated by the Eureka Hotel incident and had been under great pressure. The governor of Victoria, Sir Charles Hotham had insisted that the Commissioner increase the ‘digger hunts’ and break the rebellion. Backed by military reinforcements sent by Governor Hotham, he enforced a carefully planned licence hunt in the most extreme part of the diggings. This provoke more serious digger resistance by the miners as they retreated to a rough stockade they had built for protection and began praticising with arms (guns). His actions on this day would have fatal consequences. After the storming of the stockade, Rede was removed from Ballarat. (Source: http://www.egold.net.au/, http://foskc.org/biographies/rede/) Click on each of the image to watch the clip
Clip description This clip shows scenes and events leading up to the Eureka Stockade rebellion in 1854. The clip opens with an image of troopers and a narrator introduces an actor playing Robert Rede, the Gold Commissioner at Ballarat, Victoria; Rede declares his determination to 'crush’ the miners and their protests against the miner’s licence. |