AWP-67- The Eureka Rebellion, Part 1: The Seeds of Rebellion

It's late 1854 and the Victorian town of Ballarat. A gold rush is on and we are the gold diggings, but things are extremely tense. The gold miners are mounting a strong oppostion against the Victorian Government because of the mining license fee it is imposing. Police are undertaking raids into the miners camps and demanding that miners produce their license.

So the miners respond by burning their licenses. On 30 November 1854 a mass burning of licences takes place at Bakery Hill. Under the leadership of Peter Lalor, the diggers march to the Eureka diggings. Here they construct a stockade and inside the stockade some 500 diggers take an oath on the Southern Cross flag

Then at dawn on Sunday 3 December the miliatry launch an attack on the stockade. The diggers are outnumbered and the battle is over in twenty minutes. Twenty-two diggers and five troops lie dead.

The Eureka rebellion is considered by some to be the birthplace of Australian democracy.