Bentley. Robert. Mithdat. Robert. Eugeine. webmasterhp. secretary. Editor. ByronB. admin. scienceeditor. bud. Lannigan. Hanrahan. Anderson. Mary. public. History. familynews. James. Fran. Maurice. Frederick. Reporter. newsreport.
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The miner's oath is empty rhetoric to most Australians, the Bracks/Brumby Victorian government has paved the road to hell with misguided and ignorant good intentions. A lot has been already done to destroy democracy in Victoria by such actions as making secret deals with the Police Union against the Westminster doctrine of the separation of powers. The Former Premier Steven Bracks banned free speech on religion and ignored a petition signed by 27,000 people protesting against the Act which stifles free speech.
Any racial jokes, like Irish jokes could now be illegal. An Irishman walks into a bar... "Six months jail". Bracks has banned Catholics speaking about Islam. Sharia law could be imposed and we would not be unable to criticise it under Section 8. Catholics have been banned from speaking about Islam under the rule of a tyrants Bracks and Brumby. If you cannot act yourself to stand together to defend our rights and liberties, please support those who do stand against the Bracks' governments constant moves to abolish our rights and liberties. All that is required for evil to triumph is for good men to stand by and do nothing.
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A miners Licence costing 30 shillings in 1854 contained Regulation 4. That miners "maintain a due and proper observance of Sundays". One of the main complaints the miners had against the Bentleys was that the Eureka Hotel traded on a Sunday. There were riots in England in 1855 against Sunday trading.
Michael Hanrahan's the Eureka Stockade Pikemen leader's wife Mary left in her will £10 each to the local priests, and two of her daughters went on to be sisters, but the boys did not generally become priests. Michael Hanrahan did not leave the parish priests anything in his will. I wonder how they reconciled their different natures together, no doubt Michael was also deeply religious, the peace of Christianity reconciled with the brutal blood on the Southern Cross, although the Irish may have a history of being rebellious against English rule, their religion was firmly founded in acceptance of the hierarchical relationship to God, through the priests and church. Perhaps part of their anger was because of the violence against the Priest's servant!
It would be interesting to hear some sermons from the time of Eureka to see how much the church supported the action by miners? It seems the church was pro-actively involved to avoid the bloodshed as demonstrated by the appeal from the parish priest of Ballarat, Patrick Smyth to Governor Hotham to suspend licence fees. The Catholic priests pleaded with the miners not to burn their licences which was ignored. Some other religious denominations were more supportive of the Hotham government and regarded the miners as lawless elements.
During 1851 the miners received periodic visits from the Geelong Priest Father Dunne until much later a Catholic Priest was appointed to Ballarat, Father Smythe. Other denominations were also present but in less significant numbers than the Catholics and they were less supportive of the miners than the Catholic priests were. Rev Theophilus Taylor a Wesleyan minister with very royalist devotion to the English throne reported disparagingly of the Catholics that "At the head of the meeting appeared two Catholic priests Fathers Matthew Downing and Patrick Smyth. It was resolved to resist Government by burning licences, which was done to a considerable extent."
Other Diary entries by the Wesleyan minister Rev Theophilus Taylor show an interest with more mundane spiritual matters and to resist "lawless elements". October 4th 1854. "Assisted at public meeting of the Sabbath Alliance". "Numerously attended and good speeches. This movement is exciting a good deal of emotion on the part of the lawless and ungodly. But none of these things move us." "Men lying dead slain by evil. The remedy is very lamentable but it appears was necessary. It is hoped now rebellion will be checked. Preached twice and administered the Lord's Supper in the evening."
The Ballarat Parish Priest asked Hotham to suspend licence fees. He wrote in alarm to his Bishop of impending violence but in an effort to quell the violence he also betrayed the miners secret plans. On 25th November he told one of Rede's detectives that he had seen a gathering of nine hundred armed men (none of them English) and he went to Rede to tell him how serious things were hoping he could bargain some reconciliation. Rede took the message seriously but not for reconciliation, he sent mounted reinforcements to nearby towns of Castlemaine, Gisborne and Geelong. Rede wanted the agitation crushed. He also believe the Americans were trying to Americanise the colony.
Another report of the Ballarat Catholic community presenting their complaints, involved Reverend Father Smyth's servant, Johannes Gregorious. Gregorius, who spoke little English and suffered from a physical disability, was arrested by Constable James Lord for failing to produce a licence, despite being legally exempt from requiring one. Priests Doctors women and children were exempt from the requirement to have miner's licence to look, prospect or mine for gold. According to the account given by the committee of Ballarat Catholics elected to formally protest the incident (of which Timothy Hayes was the Chairman), Gregorious was treated by the trooper in an unwarrantable and cruel manner, maltreated and trampled upon.
Ballarat Catholics protested about treatment of the local Priest's servant Gregorius. On Sunday 22nd October 1854 the Catholics met after mass to discuss how to redress the insult to their priest. Between 10, 000 and 15,000 men were said to be present at the Bakery Hill meeting which passed three resolutions:
It was a long established English tradition to humbly petition and pray rather than to demand anything from the crown. The miners voted not to petition but to demand reforms from Hotham rather than to petition and pray. Compensation payments were awarded by Humffray and Lalor when they were parliamentarians, being a Catholic such as Curtain seemed to be preferred. Maybe the British feared an Irish rebellion to follow on from their expensive war against the American colonies?
Rebellions were rife in the world since 1848 and the French Americans and Irish were considered to be some of the most rebellious against the UK. There may even have been a bias towards Catholics in the compensation payments?
It did not seem to matter how respectfully Catherine Bentley requested compensation for the destruction of the Eureka Hotel, she was not only ignored, she was punished for even asking for her legal right to compensation. Catherine had a fundamental legal pre-emptive land owner's right to be compensated. The Victorian government continues to ignore this injustice of the Eureka Stockade to this day. Catherine's heirs and ancestors in 2007 do not petition and pray, they demand compensation for this injustice and the theft of private property by the Victorian government.
The Catholics and the Chartists were some of the main advocates of resisting the officials on the goldfields. A collection was made to defend the arsonists. The Bentley riot had inflamed the miner's, but adding centuries old religious indignation of the Irish greatly increased the chances of violence. On 25th October a deputation was later to meet Commissioned Robert Rede who labelled the miners deputation "The Tipperary Mob" They were petitioning Rede to reopen the case of the priest's servant and the removal of Commissioner Johnston from Ballarat. This Catholic deputation was composed of Timothy Hayes, and the firey Irish Catholic John Manning as well as Thomas Kennedy a Scottish Catholic and Chartist who believed in using physical force. Hotham in response announced a board of inquiry into the camp generally and the burning of the Eureka Hotel which sat at Bath's Hotel from November 2nd to the 10th. The inquiry interviewed 58 witnesses and listed complaints about goldfields officials, but almost all the complaints were dismissed. The most pressing grievances were:
Apart from Father Smyth, other priests mentioned had more conservative roles, like Fathers Matthew Downing (proposed licences not be burnt) and Patrick Dunne. From their protests, they could see violence looming and even seem to have headed meetings with firm resolutions to resist authority and led deputations to the Governor and Gold Commissioner, but they could do little to stop the autocratic government and many other more conservative religions regarded the miners as criminal ungodly elements. The Catholic priests appeared to be actively involved in the defiance of authority, but their flock were prepared to go further against the peaceful teachings of Jesus, risking possible eternal damnation to defy an unjust government. I can see why a Christian miner might not want to speak of it much. A matter for confession perhaps?
Carboni said that Smyth's kindly advice did not thrive because it was planted on barren ground. He reveals in his book a letter from Father Smyth also dated this same day to the Colonial Secretary's Office in which Smyth urged the authorities to "enforce the laws or disorder and licentiousness must prevail." Until the report on the diggings is made, "the law of his Excellency found in force must be obeyed." Father Smyth secretly supported the status quo, supported Hotham and urged the miners to other forms of constitutional protest.
Apart from the politics of the situation, Father Smyth's involvement at Eureka was according to Carboni:
The Eureka Centenary Mass was celebrated in St. Patrick's Cathedral at Ballarat on December 3rd, 1954. Preaching the occasional sermon, Rev. Father McInerney of Creswick said that Australia once again had need of the heroism displayed by the diggers at Eureka. He said the nation was "again threatened by tyranny ... a tyranny that (had) already subjected thirteen nations and enslaved 700 million people." It was a tyranny "inspired by the fiery sons of Marx." Father McInerney urged his listeners to "take pride in the part Catholics played in the struggle at Eureka. But this was a bold anti-communism statement 100 years after the event. What would sermons have said at the time in 1854, for miners to take up arms?
There seems to be a lack of consistent chronologically ordered historical references to Eureka, that the Stockade was forgotten, maybe even a cause for shame soon after the event. There was opposition to any celebration of Eureka. A similar thing happened after the Vinegar Hill rebellion in Sydney in 1804, authorities tried to expunge that rebellion from history and it was only recently researched, documented and remembered. After the initial euphoria and changes to Victorian government, "the results of the stockade", it seems to not be mentioned much again until four decades later, until the 1890's when Mark Twain called it the finest thing in Australian history. Maybe we needed an American aware of British colonial domination to point that out for us, but a preliminary search of papers from 1854-1900 show there was opposition to celebrating a rebellion?
Apparently, some miners never said a word about Eureka to anyone, we are not sure why unless you take the destruction of Bentley's Hotel into account and the possible involvement of some miners in a frame up of Bentley for murder? It was also not an event that a peace loving Christian would to be proud of being involved in.
Eureka has only become fashionable in modern times, the fact was the miners got a beating which was not something to celebrate. One family involved in the Stockade the descendants of Michael Hanrahan never spoke a word about the Eureka Stockade in the family. Michael Hanrahan's son Thomas (1864) was also not one to converse openly with his sons. The boys often obtained information from uncle Michael (1872) and Dan. Was Michael (1829) his father and Pikemen leader at the Stockade the same? One example where he seems to have been, was regarding the suicide death of Thomas in 1901 which was not spoken of to later generations, perhaps for religious reasons as well?
The stockade seems to have been a cause for shame contrary to Mark Twain's (Samuel Longhorn Clemens) observations. Perhaps he associated with the more liberal elements of Melbourne and Ballarat on his visit?
Maybe he missed the Catholic influence of the condemnation of violence or the social trauma caused against King and country by the rebellion. Caroline Chisholm had expressed sympathy for the diggers, but likewise condemned the rebellion which had "stained the hands of the people with blood". Michael's wife Mary would surely have known the Catholic Priest, the fact that two of her daughters became nuns, leads to the conclusion that maybe Michael did not want to mention the Stockade, as it was abhorrent to their religious beliefs?
Perhaps there was a form of social post traumatic stress disorder following Eureka, the shock the rebellion had on a largely stable British Empire, when Britannia ruled the waves and Australia did as Britain ordered. The Australian constitution is an act of the British parliament 1901. "For King and Country" was often the cry from Australians enlisting to fight in English wars, as if they still lived in London. After the first Kangaroo series stamps were introduced in 1913 conservative elements were outraged at the removal of the King from stamps and when the Cook government was elected by 1914, they introduced the King George V series stamps. General euphoria for the British empire was as strong as ever at the time Michael died in 1912.
Australians had volunteered to fight for British colonial conquests up to WW1. Many Australians recently voted to retain the British Monarch as head of our Parliamentary democracy and not to become a republic with an elected head of state. Eureka would be covered up, a cause of shame and fear reminiscent of the French revolution a few years previous in 1848 and the Chartist movement in England, the English aristocracy feared a revolution, perhaps especially from the long history of the rebellious Irish. England has transported many rebels from Ireland to Australia in chains, they had every reason to suppress the memory of a rebellion.
Thomas (1864) said that he had heard a story that Michael had led a party of miners out to the Geelong Road, to ambush the extra soldiers who were being sent to Ballarat, but that he had no way of knowing if it were true of not. Unlike Mark Twain's statement that the people were proud of Eureka, some miners never stated so as far as we know.
There was a 50th anniversary reunion of Eureka miners in 1904; many miners did not attended the 1904 reunion. The Eureka Enclyclopedia states that Michael Hanrahan (Pikemen leader) was ill on the day of the reunion, being the reason why he is not in this photo, but we are unsure where this information came from and it contradicts some information passed down through the family that Michael never said a word about the Eureka Stockade. Another Eureka man related to Noreen (Rene) Carton who married Edmond Hanrahan Michael Tuohy did attend this reunion and is the front row fourth from the left. The first picture is a private photo and the second is taken from The Leader newspaper. A book of Eureka Reminiscences is available from the website. It gives accounts rarely told about Eureka. An eighty-four page Illustrated Eureka book, with a comprehensive index.
The view that the Stockade was not spoken of in conservative circles is evidenced by local opposition to the 50th anniversary. "That 50 years was not long enough for the wounds of battle to be healed." The celebrations committee was admonished for having acted indiscreetly.
Local enthusiasm for commemorating the anniversary of Eureka waxed and waned over subsequent years, although the Eureka Reserve became a popular recreational area due to the efforts of the Eureka Progress Association. Throughout the 1930s, newspaper accounts of the anniversary activities suggest that local anxieties about the propriety of celebrating a "rebellion" had eased.
"It is a truism, perhaps, that the importance of an historical event lies not in what happened but in what later generations believe to have happened." Prime Minister E. G. Whitlam QC, MP, unveiling the restored Eureka Flag, Ballarat Fine Art Gallery, 3rd December, 1973.
PDF version of Essay on Eureka
Perhaps there are other cases where battles have been forgotten a few decades after? When the fight and bloodshed is a cause of much shame at the inner barbarian unfettered nature. Like war veterans who refuse to speak of the war. Without the stockade rebellion we may have suffered English rules for many more decades. There are many causes of natural justice and human dignity the miners might fight for proudly today without a pike.
Maybe the saying that a "Prophet or Rebel with integrity against injustice is never recognised in his own household" might not be drawing too long a bow, but more in the political rebellious manner rather than saintly style. Perhaps some miners had a great capacity to change, certainly the trip to Australia itself is a sign of accepting change, adaptation. From potato farmers in Ireland to gold miners in Australia 90ft under the ground.
Victorian Premiers Steve Bracks reminded us that this year 2004, the 150th Anniversary celebration of the Eureka anniversary is a celebration of democracy; no taxation without representation and the right to dissent. The main reason Hotham would not listen at all to the Ballarat reform League was because they "demanded", instead of more meekly "petitioning and praying".
Noted Australian historian Geoffrey Blainey stated that Eureka was not really the foundation of Australian democracy as South Australia achieved self government within a year of Victoria with-out the agitation of a rebellion like Eureka. Demands of The BALLARAT REFORM LEAGUE went beyond complaints of police corruption. South Australia may have been very much influenced by the actions of miners at Eureka as they had many convicts transported there from Ireland up to the early 1850s. South Australia had as much to fear a rebellion as anywhere else, especially with a large number of transported convicts.
One of the social legacies of Eureka seems to be that the people abhor violence and that peaceful means are preferred, but given enough pressure and violence by police, they will resist corrupt authority. Eureka should also be seen in the background of a general world social movement for democracy and with the gold rush the influx of ideas into Australia just took a little longer due to the tyranny of distance. Some events in Ballarat even took a week to be reported in Melbourne papers only two days ride away. Miners generally stopped at a small country town, "Diggers Rest," overnight on the way from Melbourne to Ballarat. Ideas from Europe were slow to filter through into the political aspirations of many who came here. The murder of James Scobie was a trigger which started a mass rebellion based on feelings about many other issues.
Let us hope in our lifetimes that we do not have to survive a famine or put our lives on the line as the miners did, that we have a brave spirit, industrious nature, generosity to family, humility, awareness of mortality and the strength to resist ubiquitous Victorian Police corruption which has prospered for over 150 years.
I wonder what the miners might say about Police Corruption in Victoria today, being stopped by police with error prone saliva test kits and them demanding a blood sample. They would spit on such corruption. Yet many of their descendants capitulate with a corrupt Victorian government. When other Australian states have external investigations of Police corruption and integrity testing, Victoria has not. Police Corruption in Victoria a brief History.
Speech to the "Monster Meeting" by Carboni
Political changes contemplated by THE REFORM LEAGUE:
Carboni called this "worn out twaddle imported from old England". 150 years later on 11th November, this document was presented to and accepted by the Victorian parliament for the important place is has in early Australian democracy.
"The people demand", we do not petition and pray to be heard, we demand.
Ballarat Mayor presents miner's charter to Victorian parliament 11th November 2004.
Quotation from Mark Twain (1897)
following a visit to the Goldfields in 1895.
Samuel Clemen's full report
Short History of Australia
Australian History Hugh Capel's website picture and story archive pre 1901.
Genealogical research
Australian rebellions
Trinity College Eureka resources
Encyclopaedia of revolutions of 1848
The Eureka Stockade by Tom O'Lincoln
Reclaiming the Radical Spirit of the Rebellion
Memories of the Stockade
SBS Eureka Links
Defending Victoria website pictures Ballarat Stockade:
Outline of the events at Eureka Harvey's book :
Link to genealogical Society website:
Hanrahans still in County Clare in 1901 :
All Hanrahan Families Genealogy Forum:
Griffith's Valuation 1855 lists three related Hanrahans Patrick jnr Bridget and John:
New in late 2004
The Eureka Encyclopaedia
Hot off the Press
Packed with Eureka Stockade research
Corfield J, Wickham D, Gervasoni C,
Ballarat Heritage Services 2004.
PO 2209 Ballarat VIC 3354.
Email Ballarat Heritage Service
Anderson Hugh (editor.)
Report on Condition of the Goldfields
Red Rooster Press, Melbourne, 1978.
Blake Les.
Peter Lalor: The Man From Eureka
Neptune Press, Belmont, Vic., 1979.
Currey. C.H.
The Irish at Eureka
Angus and Robertson Sydney, 1954.
Desmond O'Grady.
Raffaello! Raffaello!: A Biography of Raffaello Carboni
Hale and Iremonger Sydney, 1985.
Despatches From Sir Charles Hotham
Public Record Office, Melbourne, (1981?).
Eureka: Rebellion Beneath the Southern Cross
Rigby, Melbourne, 1977.
Fox Len.
Eureka and its Flag
Mullaya Publications, Canterbury, Vic., 1973.
MacFarlane Ian.
Eureka: From the Official Records
Public Record Office of Victoria, Melbourne, 1995.
Potts E. Danieland Annette Potts.
Young America and Australian Gold
University of Queensland Press St. Lucia, Qld., 1974.
Raffaello Carboni.
The Eureka Stockade
Currey O'Neil Blackburn Vic., 1980.
Full text of Carboni online
Riddley Matt.
Nature via Nurture.
Fourth Estate Harper Collins London 2003
Ross R.S.
Eureka:Freedom's Fight of '54
Fraser and Jenkinson, Melbourne, 1914.
The original copy of the 11.11.1854
Meeting resolutions
Public Record Office in Laverton Victoria: "27 Nov. 1854:
Bakery Hill Ballaarat Resolutions
(VPRS 4066, Unit 1, File 69).
Turner Ian.
Peter Lalor
Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 1974.
Weston Bate.
Lucky City: The First Generation at Ballarat 1851-1901
Melbourne University Press, Carlton Vic 1978
Withers William Bramwell.
The History of Ballarat
From the First Pastoral Settlement to the Present Time
Queensberry Hill Press, Carlton, Vic., 1980.
First-hand accounts of the Eureka rebellion(EDP1:158)
Page hits from Dec 2004.
