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 Michael Hanrahan 14/01/1829 04/01/1912 |
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Last updated 3rd January, 2008.
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Michael Hanrahan arrived in Melbourne on this day 23rd July in 1854 aboard the Miles Barton.
One large issue for the miners was police gold licence checks, but if Michael Hanrahan arrived in Victoria today, instead of facing police in gold licence hunts, he would face a police force demanding a error-prone saliva test followed by a demand for a blood sample. The most corrupt Victorian Bracks/Brumby government has no respect for civil liberties or for the Westminster system of the democratic separation of powers.
On December 5th 2004 at Bungaree, there was a special celebration to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Eureka Stockade rebellion and for Hanrahans; the life, family and children of Michael Hanrahan 1829 - 1912, his brother Thomas,
his sister Margaret and her husband Dan Powell, Dan McAllen, Powell, Tuohy, Walsh, Torpy, Prendergast, Carton, Power, Sullivan, Paton, Rousch, Pigott, Doyle, Hayden
and many other families, all related to Michael Hanrahan who emigrated to the Australian goldfields on "Miles Barton" in 1854.
Pictures from the Bungaree Reunion Dec 5th 2004.
3rd December dawn remembrance ceremony report.
A note from Fran (1944). On my mother, Rene Hanrahan 's side of the family we have a Eureka Stockade man too. Michael Hanrahan's grandson Edmond, married Rene Carton, grand-niece of Michael Tuohy in the early 1930's. - Michael Tuohy. On Saturday 4th Dec 2004 at 11.45am at the Ballan cemetery, there was a special event to celebrate his participation in the Eureka Stockade.
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One little known and long standing injustice of the Eureka Stockade riots continues to this day and has been brought to the attention of the Victorian government, many times, but instead of fixing the government's errors, ex-Premier Bracks tried to corruptly influence other branches of government to prevent the injustice being corrected, in this case the government tried to influence the courts to prevent the Bentely's claims for justice from proceeding in Victorian courts. Former Premier Bracks made secret deals with other branches of government, like his secret deals with the Victorian Police Union.
The ongoing injustice of the Eureka Stockade is on the English Bentley family who owned the Eureka Hotel destroyed by the miners and their land was stolen by Victorian parliamentarians in 1859. This matter is being introduced at Federal and international courts because the Bracks/Brumby Victorian government refuses to address any issues of political and police corruption in Victoria Australia.
HANRAHAN - O'hAnrachain. The O'hAnrachain's are of the ancient Gaelic Dalcassian clan whose territory was Thomond in County Clare. The Dalcassians embraced many kindred Septs, including the mighty O'Briens. Many Hanrahans have resumed the "O" prefix. They are numerous throughout Ireland with the exception of Ulster. *Sept - The official term for a group of the same family name. The term clan is used in Scotland. From"The Dictionary of Irish Family Names" by Ida Grehan.
The motto on the crest is in the Irish language. Michael Hanrahan was born in Ireland. He died 4th January 1912 aged 86. His marriage certificate states that he was 33 years of age on 14/01/1862 which gives his birthdate as 14th January 1829.
We are of the view that Michael Hanrahan was one of seven children born to Thomas Hanrahan and his wife Bridget (formerly Heath) of Scalpnagown, County Clare. Their children were John, Bridget, Maura, Margaret (1834? - Died 21 Oct 1900), Patrick, Michael and Thomas.
George Keehan's family of Florida, are distant cousins of Australian Hanrahans, descended from the family of Mary Hanrahan (who was a sister of Thomas Hanrahan who married Bridget Heath) ie. our Michael Hanrahan's aunty. They may have emigrated to America around or a little after 1854, when Michael emigrated to Australia? Patrick Keehan married Mary Hanahran in Scalnagoon and they had 8 sons and 3 daughters.
Michael certainly had plenty of first cousins, and they were all over the world.
Michael may have spoken and maybe written Gaelic as well as English, part of the Celtic language group? The language of the past was almost lost to generations of English speaking descendants? THe Griffith's land valuation of 1901 records that Michael's brother Patrick who died in 1902, as speaking Irish and English. Gaelic has some unique expressions, characteristic of having a different viewpoint on things, (Gaelic would be an interesting language to learn) grammar and syntax from which, we could learn about nature and ourselves. An almost lost language of the past, written out of history by the victorious Roman, then Viking and later British Empires.
Three of Thomas and Bridget's children emigrated to Australia with Michael, his sister Margaret (and her husband Daniel Powell) all on the "Miles Barton" and his brother Thomas Hanrahan came out around 1855 (based on his death certificate). I am yet to find a record of his entry into Victoria from the shipping records.
The English had been using Australia as a dumping ground for English criminals, but by the early 1800's many of the prisoners transported to Australia were political prisoners from Ireland with political aspirations for freedom from English rule. The Irish Rebellions at Vinegar Hill. The name Vinegar Hill would later be used in the "Vinegar Hill" Convict revolt in Sydney in 1804 and also at the Eureka Stockade "Vinegar Hill" was the password.
Michael the elder told Michael (1896) that he remembered the big wind of 1839 which flattened Ireland when he would have been ten years old. The big wind of 1839 Pictures of the Hanrahan home in Scalpnagown show a slate roof from the 1960's. If it had a thatched roof as most homes did at the time, the home would have been destroyed by this hurricane wind.
Conditions were never very good in Ireland, especially for Roman Catholics. In 1778 there was a local movement to repel the Norman (French) invaders and assert Irish rights. Gardiner's Relief Act permitted Catholics to lease land if they took an oath of allegiance. In 1792 the Catholic Relief Act removed restrictions on what professions Catholics could work in and also lifted educational restrictions, they were given the right to vote in 1793, but had to be large landowners, which very few of them were.
In 1816 there was a partial failure of the potato crop and a further failure in 1822. The Catholic association was formed in 1823 to campaign for political and other rights.
The resounding electorial win of an Irish Lawyer, Daniel O'Connell who stood for County Clare in 1828 made the English Prime Minister and Duke of Wellington fear a violent insurrection in Ireland, if O'Connell did not take his seat in parliament. Before O'Connell was elected, there was no political representation of the Irish. Some of this religious prejudice goes to changes introduced by Henry VIII to change and rewrite the Bible so that the monarch is God's representative on Earth, not the Pope of Rome. The zealous religious conflicts often ended with a puritanical Cromwellian hatred and domination of Catholics. Some Catholic monarchs like "Bloody Mary," gave reasonable cause for a hated of Catholics who followed the Papal authority. "Bloody Mary" executed many who opposed her.
Many English Protestants opposed granting any sort of rights or equality to Catholics, but the 1829 Catholic Emancipation Act allowed Catholics to hold most offices except Regent (King or Queen), Lord lieutenant and Lord Chancellor. The Irish however had more immediate concerns. In 1836 there was another potato famine.
The Great Irish Famine of 1846-50 took as many as one million lives from hunger and disease and convinced many that it was time for social change. The Potato Famine 1846-1850, began with heavy rains which rotted the potato crop causing a blight of the entire potato crop that left acre upon acre of Irish farmland covered with smelling black rot. As harvests across Europe failed, the price of food soared. Reports passed down through the family via Tom (1902) were that they survived the famine by fishing as they lived near a Loch.
In 1848 during the Great Famine, there was an uprising in Tipperary which was easily suppressed and the leaders were transported. During the 1850s there were many demonstrations by Catholics for tenants rights, the Feinians started an insurrection which failed.
Michael Tuohy, another County Clare man from Scariff, (10km from where the Hanrahan's came from) also remembered the famine of 1847 and 1848 and helped to bury many of the unfortunate victims who died of starvation. To the end of his days Michael Tuohy, had a bitter hatred of the tyrants who, through misgovernment, brought such terrible suffering on his fellow-countrymen. He never failed to impress on his listeners the fact that while his people were starving, shiploads of produce were leaving Ireland so that the absentee landlords might get their pound of flesh.
As well as Irish political prisoners being sent to Australia, some landlords paid for their tenants to emigrate, sending thousands of Irish to Australia. Irish immigration averaged 268,469 per year during the famine. But emigration was a risk filled venture, shipowners often crowded hundreds of desperate Irish onto rickety vessels called "coffin ships." In many cases, these ships reached port only after losing a third of their passengers to disease, hunger and other causes. Michael had lived through difficult times for Catholics politically and the Great famine ( probably by fishing ) though the worst of the famine was mostly over by the time Michael emigrated. The English government heavily taxed alternative foods. The Corn Laws ensured that bread was very expensive even for the starving Irish, until Peel was able to repeal the Corn Laws and bread was more affordable. English feudal landlords were also reported to be squeezing people off their land for more profitable pursuits.
The environment of the mother can determine the later health of the baby before birth. Michael's birthdate would place him safely invitro in a non famine year. Interestingly from a generational point of view, the effects of a famine can persist for many generations. There is a little known and bizzare second generational effect of famine. From a World War Two study of 40,000 births during the "hungry winter" for the Dutch. A large scale study showed that babies born in a famine (even if they were of average weight) later went on to have unusually small babies themselves. According to Matt Ridley, the first couple of generations after a famine suffer the worst heart disease rates. He suggests there is a thrifty and affluent genotype triggered in invitro. According to this theory the second and third generations after emigrants to Australia born during a famine year, might have had higher rates of heart disease, but by the fourth and fifth generation this effect would be gone.
Michael's younger brother Thomas, seems to have been born in the famine year of 1836, it is possible that a consequence of this timing, is that his health might not have been as robust as his brother Michael?
The relationship between genetics and health extends beyond the physical. Mental health of an adult has been demonstrated to be responsive to the environment of the baby invitro. Exposure to some viri during critical tri-mester periods, for the baby's growth, can affect their mental health as adults!
A statistical analysis of the ages achieved by the second and third generation compared to averages for descendants from other "affluent" countries might show this famine generational effect?
Michael, his sister Margaret and her husband Dan Powell and perhaps some friends like the Keatings may possibly have travelled to Australia on the £1 emigration scheme, but we have no definite proof of this and in contradiction of it, the ship they travelled on "Miles Barton" does not appear as a ship which took any British Government assisted passages, but the letter from Thomas O'Neil mentions the one pound emigration scheme and recommends it.
Pictures of the Hanrahan farm and house in Scalpnagown County Clare. The farm comprised 35 acres and grazing rights to the common. The walls of the ancestral home are over 2 feet thick and made of local stone! The big bad wolf could huff and puff and not blow this stone house down! Perhaps this construction for strength dates to a time after the big wind of 1839 that blew down many houses and destroyed almost every thatched roof. The home originally had a thatched roof which was replaced in the 1960s with tiles. Francis Hanrahan was the last occupier and he left the farm to his nephew Michael Hanrahan/Foley.
The house looks to be is recessed a few feet below ground level, but the house was built on level ground and over the years the shed and yard have been built up around the house, almost appearing to reinforce the structure to someone who has not seen the other houses in the same area and heard of the big wind. The accumulation of soil around the house with age is the most likely explination, rather than it being a house design feature to withstand high winds. Anecdotal reports from locals to Australian Hanrahan family members is that it is a windswept place at the best of times although Maurice reported that it was calm when he was there taking these pictures, but the locals said this was exceptional.
The Griffith Valuations of land from 1855 for the area of Scalpnagown record that three of Michael's Hanrahan family "occupied" land. They had probably "leased" the land after Gardiner's Relief Act in 1788. Of these Hanrahan relatives of Michael's, Bridget his mother (died around 1861), John and Patrick Junior were Michael's brothers.
From the figures, you can see that Bridget had a smaller parcel of land and more modest house compared to Patrick jnr who had marginally the most land but, with no house. We suspect that Bridget and her son Patrick occupied the same farm, which had two houses. The second house was no longer standing in by the mid 20th C. The brother John occupied land, but resided in nearby Calluragh. Some portions of Griffith's are available from the County Clare Library online.
Griffith's Online
| Forename | Surname | Town | Parish | Union | £Land | £Build |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Patrick | HanrahanJnr | Scalpnagown | Inchicronan | Tulla | 16 | NIL |
| Bridget | Hanrahan | Scalpnagown | Inchicronan | Tulla | 8 | 5 |
| John | Hanrahan | Scalpnagown | Inchicronan | Tulla | 2 | 3 |
Perhaps Michael saw no future on the land and the depressing hungry times of living through a famine. Maybe it was pressure from feudal landlords, that made Michael travel to Australia to find gold.
We accept in our times and legal precedents that in a will, children must be provided for roughly in equal measure. This is a very modern notion that children are equal, in the more ancient tradition the eldest son almost always inheirited any family wealth. In the 1850's a younger son had no chance to inheirit a farm in Ireland. Older sons had first rights to farms which were not big enough to sustain many people. One Michael was able to secure payment for a farm which was also common in Ireland.
Some of the reports of the gold rush had stirred optimism world wide in the remote land of Australia. A ballad of the time, mentions Australian madness by reports of picking up lumps of gold in the streets.
Michael Hanrahan arrived in Melbourne on "Miles Barton" on 23rd July 1854 out of Liverpool on 4th May 1854.
Liverpool has a long standing public image as an Irish city, so much so that it is often jokingly referred to as the Capital of Ireland, at the time. The majority of emigrants took a steerage passage, and went out at the cheapest rate. Out of the 153,902 who left the port of Liverpool in 1849, the number of first and second class cabin passengers was only 4639.
Unassisted Immigration to Victoria Passenger Lists Search for passengers on the "Miles Barton". Public records online for Victoria
Margaret (Michael's sister) and her husband Daniel Powell were on the same ship, but there is no record of Thomas (he may have followed later). : Details of "Miles Barton" Length 175ft, beam 35ft, depth 22ft. Registered tonnage 963 tons. For comparison the "Polly Woodside" at the maritime museum in South Melbourne (weight 648 tons) is about a third smaller than"Miles Barton". "Miles Barton" was a new ship at the time, built in 1853 by Mr BEAZLEY of Liverpool.
Before 1850, and the advent of fast clipper sailing ships the voyage went from England across the Atlantic to Rio and then south to Capetown, instead of going directly down the African coast. The trip seemed less direct in order to catch the trade winds in the roaring 40s. The earlier ships had to call into port more often. The earlier voyage of Cook.
On her maiden voyage she went out to Melbourne in 82 days. In 1854 the record was 63 days for the trip from Liverpool to Melbourne in the "Lightning". "Miles Barton" followed up this first performance of 82 days with 2 trips of 76 days each. Captain Kelly 4-5-1854 and Master Darlinghurst. It was a medium sized ship of the time and could legally carry 137 statute adults excluding the Master and crew. Many of the early "coffin ships" carried far more passengers than they were allowed to. The provisions of the ship were for a voyage of "40 days" and it would have had to stop in a port somewhere to re-provision on the voyage; probably Capetown, either that, or the passengers almost starved, eating only dried biscuits soaked in water to soften them up, as was reported on many other ships.
The sailing ships built especially for the Liverpool to Melbourne run were far more spacious and well-appointed than the previous generation of ocean-going vessels, and most of the emigrants had uneventful journeys to their new homeland. Some were not so lucky.
The earlier ships before 1850 had even longer voyages and many perished on the voyage, like the loss of the "Guiding Star" with 500 souls onboard. The Argus, an early Melbourne newspaper during 1852 and 1853, reported tragic stories such as; the ship "Theodore" (1,063 tons) from Liverpool, brought 439 immigrants. Twenty-four children died from various diseases. The ship "Persian" 619 immigrants-thirty-four deaths from fever and dysentery- this vessel went into quarantine when it reached Melbourne. The "Anne Mylene" arrived at Portland with 276 immigrants with 20 deaths, chiefly of children. The "Ticonderoga", 90 days out from Liverpool anchored at the Heads, on April 3rd 1853. News of the fearful conditions on the "Ticonderoga" was brought to Williamstown by Captain Wylie who reported that the vessel had left Liverpool with 714 immigrants on board. Typhoid fever and scarlatina, had spread among the passengers and 100 deaths had occurred during the voyage.
From Liverpool alone, during July, 1852, 68 vessels, with 26,000 passengers, were dispatched by the British Government to Australia. "MILES BARTON" (4/5/1854 - 23/7/1854) from Liverpool, took 79 days which is a quick journey, a few days faster than her maiden voyage and faster than most ships, for example the "Glenmanna", which took 110 days from Liverpool.
It is certain that conditions on "Miles Barton" were reasonably crowded, but less so than some earlier voyages of a few years before. "Miles Barton" was registered to carry 137 Passengers, excluding the crew of up to 100. The passenger manifest records only some of the names and the total passengers from each country, including Michael, his sister Margaret and her husband Daniel Powell.
At least they had a fast trip! But, there were about 100 too many people on-board, above the number that "Miles Barton" was designed to carry and it could only carry provisions for four months for a total crew of around 237. They would have to STOP for provisions more frequently with more people onboard, or they starved on the trip? WARNING: The passenger list scan is old, worn, difficult to read and is almost 1MB in size. It was not ever completely filled out. The Hanrahan related passengers were:
"Miles Barton" Passenger List Scan
We believe there were also some friends onboad travelling with Michael, Margaret and Dan, including Conner Loughery.
A daily diary of the Voyage to Australia of Thomas S. Lyle and family 31st December 1852.
Many were Consigned to the deep along the way...
Michael arrived at the Ballarat Goldfields on new years day 1854, after the easy to get alluvial surface gold had been taken over the previous few years. Alluvial gold is easily collected and panned at a stream, but after about 1854 successful mining required sinking shafts to about 90 feet at "Gravel-pits" The deeper gold was also from ancient alluvial deposits mixed with clay and was mainly free of embedded quartz. Stamping batteries to crush quartz containing gold were almost unnecessary at Ballarat, compared to some other deep lead quartz vein mining. Mines at the Gravel-pits were "deep, dark and wet" and had to have the walls covered with planks of wood to prevent cave-ins. The clay between the alluvial wash was so fine that one miner, Paul Brentani, had requested permission from Rede to manufacture bricks from the fine clay at the Gravel-pits.
For a good example of this type of mine, visit Sovereign Hill. Tours of underground mines are available, The Red Hill mine No 14 is similar to mines at the Gravel-pits.
Carboni states that "superb masses" of gold were discovered at 60 ft at Canadian Gully, but that the Gravel-pits was "too deep" for him. That is where he said he found Hanrahan working a few weeks after the stockade at the Gravel Pits, but Carboni was in jail at the time? Carboni states that the Gravel Pits were close to the camp and had licence hunts every alternative day towards the end of October 1854. Generally the Irish were on the Eureka while English, Scotch and Germans worked on the Gravel Pits. The Gravel-pits may also have been a place of refuge. Carboni was not prepared to work there.
It seems that police (traps) did not look so closely for miners in deeper shafts at Gravel Pits. If we accept Carboni's account, Michael may have hidden in the Gravel Pits for months following the Stockade, as we know his tent was destroyed and police would have been looking for him.
Bentley webpage.
Image Credit: Used with permission of the artist Andrew O'Crowley. Andrew's painting shows the Eureka Hotel (Known as Bentley's Hotel) on Eureka Street, Bendigo Street is on the left. To the right of the Hotel is the Bowling Alley, Linquist's Livery Stables, the Bowling Salon, the tents on the Eureka Lead Camp and Mt Warrenheip is in the right background. All rights reserved and © Copyright A.L. O'Crowley 2006. Andrew's painting is faithful to The Bentley's ground plan of 1854.
Two witness statements relating to Scobie's funeral.
"I first ran into Mr Lalor at the funeral of James Scobie and later saw..."
James Scobie¹s brother George was inconsolable at the funeral and kept repeating, "If only I hadn't gone to Geelong, I would have dragged him away. I never liked The Slaughterhouse".
After police rode through the crowd at Bentley's hotel burning, Carboni stated that "Miners who have stood the working of a Canadian or Gravel Pit shicer, scorn danger in any form". I think the shicer was a large form of water wash for the mined gravel.
Interestingly, he states that the Americans fraternised with all the wide-awake ubi caro ibi vultures In a claim jumping war, the "Yankees" carried the day with the Gold Commissioner Rede and there was a down on his name after that day.
The odds would seem stacked against most blokes, finding a wife. There were only about 200 single women in Ballarat in 1854. The odds of finding a bride were very low. Conditions could be depressing, drinking at sly grog tents was a panacea. In earlier Australian history, rum had been the preferred currency. Every sailor in the Royal British navy, was issued with a pint of rum a day, enought to get half a dozen people over .05 blood alcohol content every-day.
Politically and legally, women were treated as second class citizens. By 1854 there were 4,023 women on the Ballarat goldfields, compared to 12,660 men, - 208 women were in paid employment. The majority of these were domestic servants, 8% were storekeepers and others were needlewomen, dressmakers, milliners and shoe-binders. Only 5% of all women were single. Even the BALLARAT REFORM LEAGUE was asking for "manhood" suffrage, not universal suffrage for women as well! Australia was a pioneer in universal suffrage, but half a century later. Women were not considered on the goldfields, they did not even need to buy a miners licence to mine gold. Conditions for women must have been very bad indeed? What was the infant mortality rate, medical records were not kept until 1867!
Quoting Carboni, conditions on the goldfields. "Mud water was one shilling a bucket! Got dysentery very bad. Too many mosquitoes. Went to live with the blacks for a vacation. Picked up pretty soon bits of their yabber-yabber". Hard work by day, blazing fire in the evening, and sound sleep by night at the music of drunken quarrels all around. On the police Carboni states that, "Some of the traps were civil enough; aye, they felt the shame of their duty, but there were among them devils at heart..."
The Irish especially had historical reasons to resent English oppression more than most. From struggles and rebellions in Ireland, many Irish rebels were sent to Australia. The were many rebellions by convicts and decades later, by miners. The seeds of dissent were always there against English rule, even in England itself with the Chartist movement members among the miners, or in France, with the revolution of 1848.
The year before the Eureka Stockade, a large peaceful protest was held in Bendigo, against miner's licence fees and English rule. Even the English and Irish diggers could not agree, hundreds of them had an all in brawl in Ballarat on 9th and 10th December 1853. It took a year for the strong emotions in the peaceful Bendigo protest to turn into angry contempt against brutal police authority, harsh English colonial government taxing, and no political representation.
Deep lead mining was a much more dangerous venture than panning. There were lumps of gold left, but 60 to 90 ft under the ground. Many hard working hungry and sick miners did not find gold. Many died in accidents "fall down shaft", "fall of earth" and "drowned. Conditions politically were worse in Australia than British feudal rule of Ireland! In Victoria, one third of the government was nominated by the English Governor and the other two thirds were elected by wealthy landowners.
A Miner's Licence allowed a miner to work a 12 foot square claim for 30 shillings a month ( a large sum at the time? ).
This discount was available of three months for two pounds.
Travel to buy the claim could involve two days walking.
The police would conduct licence hunts on the goldfields, chasing miners everywhere and jailing them for not having a miner's right and extorting up to five pounds for their release on bail. The gold commission and police authority, were both brutal and corrupt. The harsh Gold Commissioner, Robert Rede later presided over the hanging of Ned Kelly in 1880.
Both the miners on trial for treason and later Ned Kelly, had the same judge Redmond Barry, the miners were acquitted, but a 30 thousand signature petition to request Ned's release had no effect on the hanging judge, Redmond Barry, a philandering and harsh judge by some accounts. As Geoffry Blainey commented, we wouldn't remember Ned Kelly, if he ended up as Beechworth Mayor!
Charles Hotham, the governor of Victoria did not keep his promise to the miners and ordered police to step up the licence hunts to twice a week to recover revenue. After the wrongful arrests and convictions of miners for assault as well as the acquittal of the publican whose hotel police had illegally appripriated, Mr Bentley. If Lalor spirited Scobie out of Ballarat, Bentley is an innocent man framed to get his hotel. An angry mob burnt Bentley's hotel to the ground. In this angry mob were police spies among the miners and the hotel itself was taken over by police who had custody of when it was destroyed. An account of the burning of Bentley's Hotel by William Gay. William Gay's description of Bentley's hotel fire.
A crowd of many thousands of miners at Bakery Hill first flew the Eureka Flag. :Peter Lalor ( a friend of murdered Scobie's) became the leader of the miners and they all burned their Licences (except Carboni) and swore an oath of allegiance to the Flag.
During the day, there were estimated to be about 1,500 miners in the stockade, but on the night of the attack there were under 100. Reinforcements had been called from Melbourne and an attack was expected after they arrived. Instead the 300 or so police and soldiers stationed nearby did not wait for reinforcements, but made a surprise attack. On or about the time between 3.00 am and dawn on Sunday December 3rd 1854, 276 police and soldiers attacked the miners. 27 miners were either killed immediately, or died soon after, and a further 12 were wounded, but survived. Five police were killed and 12 wounded. Many of the surviving stockaders were taken prisoner and many hid in the bush after martial law was declared following the Stockade.
In the aftermath of the battle, the traps started bayonetting anyone in the area. The brutality of police brought the population to support the miners who they previously regarded as rogue elements. Some groups are still demanding an apology from the police for their brutal role in the killing of unarmed miners. Time for an apology. This is not likely given the insanity of today's corrupt Victorian police culture, instead of an apology they deny any wrong doing by police. After the Eureka battle was over, innocent bystanders were killed, see Michael Tuohy's account for example. The police also set fire to the miner's tents and destroyed all they could find. After the battle was over and won, police brutality murdered unarmed men and women. Many elements of society considered the miners to be lawless elements, until the police violence caused the population to turn against them. The miner's were aquitted by a jury as they had the public's support. There were protest meetings to support the miners in Geelong Melbourne and Ballarat. Public support was overwhelming.
Thirteen of the miners (including Carboni)were tried for treason in Melbourne in 1855, all were acquitted to great public acclaim. Pressure for reform forced change. The miners licence was reduced to a small fee, Police numbers were dramatically cut and electoral reforms followed.
"Carboni tried never to prostitute his tongue to colonial phraseology"
"Covies" Miners
"Vagabonds" Miners
"Joe" "Traps" or "Red coats" Police
"Yabber Yabber" unconstructive talk
"Nobbler" A drink
"Toorak spiders" The Governor government
"Jumping" working someone else's claim illegally
"Shepherding" Squatting on a claim but not working it.
"Rowdy mob" A fighting lot
"Vandemonian" Evil Maybe from Tasmania
"New chum" A new inexperienced miner who knows nothing
Michael Hanrahan was involved in the Eureka Stockade as an elected leader of the Pikemen."If they cannot provide themselves with firearms, let each of them procure a piece of steel, five or six inches long attached to a pole that will pierce the tyrant's heart" The use of pikes had a history in Irish Rebellions at the Irish Rebellions at Vinegar Hill. and the Sydney convict rebellions in 1804 when 15 convicts were killed by English troops. The convicts made pikes to arm themselves, which the governor failed to find, even after brutally flogging the flesh from the bones of two convicts with 500 lashes between them to make them talk. The pikes seemed to be important symbols of insurrection, as well as practical weapons, used for at least 50 years against the English! The Irish influence
The pikes were preferred weapons used by the men who could not arm themselves with a rifle. They
consisted of a sharpened steel spike (forged by a blacksmith inside the Stockade) attached to the end of a stout stick. The German blacksmith at the Eureka Stockade swore that his pikes would "fix red-toads and blue pissants especially."
At Vinegar Hill in Sydney, convicts planned to stab the soldiers to death in their beds with the spikes but at Eureka, the men were trained with pikes, by Hanrahan, to be used to bring down the police horses!
What a brutal thing to have to do to survive, there seems to be no record of the horses killed, but without some planning to deal with the cavalry, their odds of victory were almost nil. Even with a plan to deal with the horses, what hope did the Pikemen have with poles, against mounted police with rifles? They drilled and trained to bring the horses down! Casualties were heavily on the Pikemen's side, five Pikemen killed for every "trap" policeman. They knew what they were up against after a long history of many Irish rebellions against the English and the language used to pierce the tyrant's heart, shows the strength of emotion and feeling of the time, not a gentle protest, but a rage against injustice, to fight to the death against the over-whelming odds of English military strength.
"The Eureka Stockade" by Raffaello Carboni.
The red haired Italian and main eye witness at Eureka
The full text of Carboni's account from project Guttenburg
Full text of Carboni's account downloaded from project Guttenburg
Carboni was the leader of the International brigade of men from many different non-English speaking countries. He was well educated and we are lucky and grateful to him to have his account. He was Italian, but also spoke French, Spanish, German, and some Latin; compared to most miners he was an intellectual aristocrat, great with a latin quote, but perhaps not much help in a fight. He described himself as a, (1850) Bloomsbury Square professor and interpreter of the above languages. Carboni seems almost like a by-stander dragged along into recording his view to vindicate his actions rather than being a passionate revolutionary, he was one of the only highly literate eye witnesses who recorded in some volume, his memory of the events.
His account was written a year after the Stockade and he has a particular view and personal motives for writing his account to exhonerate himself morally from any involvement with the miners and to defend himself from aggressive newspaper reports. His personal account is not one from an objective historian. He is writing his own moral defence, after being aquitted of treason and tried by the press.
Rene Carton, a relative who knew Carboni's cellmate Michael Tuohy, said that Michael always spoke well of Carboni and we know that Tuohy was not shy about speaking up against injustice. Michael Tuohy would probably be arrested under 2005 Australian sedition laws. Carboni portrayed a public contempt for old England, but was privately impressed by and tried to impress the educated and cultural elite.
Carboni was attacked by the Argus as a "foreign anarchist" bent on sedition, revolution and rebellion and his book may be seen as an attempt to dispel such notions. He referred to the changes wanted by the Reform league, like representation and manhood suffrage, as "worn out twaddle imported from old England" and "new chum's bosch". When a party of Gravel-pits men attacked a waggon of soldiers and took their ammunition, Carboni described it as a "cowardly act", yet he later says that "Arms and ammunition were our want". His worst opening line might be, "On Friday, December 1st, the sun rose as usual"
By 1800, it was common to use the art of physiogomy-reading a person's character by their physical features. This was expanded on by Franz Gall (1758-1828) to reading 27 personality traits from bumps on the head. This theory was thoroughly discredited by Pierre Flourens (1794-1867) with a series of experiments in the 1820s.
From a modern day psychological personality theory point-of-view, Carboni's description of participant's personalities describes their looks rather than behaviour. He does not mention the theory as it had existed for 30 years when Carboni would have been a student. It was common practice to evaluate personality on looks alone, rather than behaviour. Phrenology was supported as the science of the day. It went much further than judging on looks, stating that various areas of the skull shape determined many aspects of personality and behaviour. Carboni appears to be using phrenology to evaluate others.
In the early 1800s, Phrenology was thought to be the science of Reading personality from bumps on the head. They were correct about one thing, there are discrete areas of the brain optimised for different physical and mental tasks, such as the frontal lobe being more verb orientated and nouns being further back towards the temporal lobe. The real localisation of function is fluid and neurons can change their links. The neural biology underlying the skull though, has no relationship with external skeletal shape. This view survives today in stereotyped beliefs, e.g. that attractive people are often assessed as also being more intelligent. Personality characteristics localised by phrenology have nothing to do with the actual neural speciality for that area.
An amalgam of his description of others includes phrases like, of Father Smyth, "he has a lively and interesting head". Of George Black he states, "The clearness of his eyes, the sharpness of his nose, the liveliness of his forehead, lend to his countenance a decided expression of his belief in the resurrection of life." That would be a handy skill for any priest to have, to spot the true believers from their facial characteristics. Of John Manning he said, "His head was bald, perhaps from thinking three times more than he ought; "His forehead showed intelligence, but care was there in the plough--the plough of dreaming too much of virtue..."
Is Carboni seeing things? If you follow the link to the phrenology site, have a look at the categories that are located. There are about 30 regions identified, none of them in the classical description of phrenology have characteristics of "dreaming" or mention the plough as associated with dreaming. The frontal areas are approximately from the forehead down XIII-benevolence, XXX-comparison, XXIV-space, XIX-individuality, X-self love. Carboni was using the deterministic philosophy to evaluate others, but he did not really know anything about phrenology as it was then expoused to explain human behaviour. Mention of dreams came about 60 years later with Freud and notions of an uncouncious element in behaviour
Of James Grant a solicitor he says, "His forehead announces that all is sound within;..." Richard Davis had "A shrewd forehead, astute nose" or Mr Aspinall had, "A generous frankness in your forehead." Carboni is stereotyping individuals, evaluating character and personalty from physical appearance. That would have been standard practice before the 1820s, but he is inventing his own characteristics, terms such as shrewdness and frankness never appear in the literature.
If he was a "Professor" as he claims, he could easily have discovered Pierre Flouren's experiments, disproving the link between external appearance and personality.
In Victorian times, reading a person's personality by phrenology was thought to be scientific, it is not and never was a just form of personality assessment. It is valid to infer personality from behaviour, but not on looks and skull shape alone. Such a physically based deterministic philosophy of human nature seems at odds with the concept of revolutionary change for the better, where the environment and nurture could change genetic traits or predispositions. According to this view, brutes would always be brutes and never able to change, because of the bumps on their head, they had no free will to act otherwise, just as the aristocracy had no choice but to be gentlemen born to rule.
Carboni seems to have some elitest temperance league leanings himself or at least to be a bit intolerant. Even though we applaud kind statements about Ballarat men. He said, "It struck me very forcibly, however, that out Ballarat men look far more decent, and our storekeepers, or grog-sellers if you like, undoubtedly more respectable." His conversation with Dr Carr where he liked to impress others with his language skills, but betrayed his feelings on a republic of Australia. For the fun I spoke a few words to the practitioner who replied "Nous allons bientot avoir la Republic Australienne," the doctor asked? "Quelle farce repondis je" Carboni replied. He is saying here that the idea of an Australian republic is a joke. He also addressed Commissioner Rede in French when he visited him in jail. Of George Black he said in approval, "He never prostitutes his tongue to colonial phraseology."
His writings on "Vandemonians" drinking at the Prince Albert hotel show that he despises the common drinking men, saying they are "vulgar, foul conceits, naturally cowards (drink gives pluck to cowards), through which Satan has produced so many first-rate bullock drivers." No wonder the men picked him for a fight.
He also states that he has observed the British in London and they have a "Characteristic to make fun of the calamity of fire." He seemed to miss the point that the Bentley Hotel fire was revenge for the murder of a popular miner, James Scobie, how the revenge occurred was probably immaterial to the miners. Would anyone rational, in 2004, state this of the British, that they enjoy the calamity of fire? Maybe! Guy Fawlkes night supports his case, this 5th November, be on the lookout for British arsonists. He spends half a page mesmerised on the "ashes" of Bentley's Hotel, but says almost nothing on the significance of the revenge taken by the miners.
One clue to his reluctance to be physically involved (he was also a smaller man) in a wider struggle for a republic or democracy is that unlike the Irish, Italian workers had previously made very narrow claims (extremely pragmatic) without any general claim for suffrage or democracy. The victorious Italian leader Manin, was so pragmatic, that in unifying Austria, he would accept a king. The previous version of republicanism under Manzonni was less tolerant of the monarchy. Italian republicans were different
Carboni seems to be in the Manin mould, according to which he would limit the scope of the miner's claim, to be pragmatic and try to have everyone on board, royals and all. But he was not even interested in suffrage. He could play both sides of the fence. He also criticizes Father Smyth for the letter of support he wrote to Hotham on the day he addressed the miners, but he did little more himself and when the attack came, he may have stood by clutching his licence when the soldiers attacked. There were reports he wrote himself, that he attended to the wounded, but why did he not burn his licence and fight himself?
In the next quote from Carboni he mentions the involvement of HANRAHAN and the pikemen, but does not record their answer.
"A job of quiet a different kind." A peculiar turn of phrase! His job seems to be, to exonerate himself. He self-published his book, a year after the event. There were commercial publishers who came with the first fleet interested in colonial novels of the time. His writing promotes his innocence through his own bon-ton literary style, he justifys his position, and makes unfounded accusations of others without recording an answer.
To balance this perspective of Carboni, we have the account of his cellmate and a great uncle also tried for treason Michael Tuohy. Noreen (Rene) Carton who remembered Michael Tuohy, said that he always spoke highly of Carboni.
Not that we are unappreciative of his account, but to self publish your own work, makes it harder to achieve factual credibility or commercial success. The biggest problem being, that you don't notice your own mistakes. An astute editor might have said, "Don't say that Raffaello, unless you're leaving the country." He had plenty of time to record Hanrahan's response. He did end up going back to Italy and may have participated in some way with Garibaldi's uprising? He never prostituted his tongue to colonial phraseology or understood the other miners or even gave a fair response to imputations that an explination should be given. The accusation is given in anger with no attempt or concept that an Aussie "fair go" would be, to record a response of the suggestion posed.
Curtain was an older gentleman of about 40. Hanrahan in 1854 would have been only 25 years of age, to be elected Captain over the older Curtain? Hanrahan was a miner, was Curtin a store keeper? Lalor told the men to "fall in" to divisions based on the fire-arms they had, to chose their own captains out of the best men they had among themselves? What special talent did he have that others wanted him elected, what was he "best" at? Fighting is just one likely answer! Was he a good, fighter, miner, articulate, fair and just, or aggressive even. Had he spoken against the traps or been victimised by them? What quality did he have to be so elected at 25 years of age?
(Thomas 1902) might have a hint for us as he, "remembered his grandfather Michael as a short thick-set man with broad shoulders" He was an old man then and still had broad shoulders! He sounds like a strong man, even when old, perhaps good in a fight when he was 25 to be so elected leader of the Pikemen under the circumstances?
How can the latter part of this statement from Carboni about meeting the leaders at Gravel-pits "a few weeks after" possibly be true? Again, if Carboni had a good editor, he would have asked, "Wern't you in jail a few weeks after Eureka Rafaello"? Maybe someone else told him they were there "a few weeks after," but Carboni was imprisoned for four months after the Stockade, he was not at the Gravel-pits a few weeks afterwards, he was in jail. Hanrahan may have still been there four months later after Carboni was released from jail?
While he was involved in peaceful deputations to the Governor and Gold Commissioner with Father Smyth, Carboni was able at his trial to produce his miner's licence which may have upset some miners! Everyone else had burnt their licence at Bakery Hill, Rev Downing addressed the "Monster Meeting" to propose licences not be burnt, but his motion was defeated. Carboni also addressed the miners there to salute the Southern Cross, that the "United people will support anyone without a licence, but burn his own licence, he did not. Carboni said at trial "I hereby assert that I did not burn any paper or anything at all at the monster meeting; and I challenge contradictions from any bona fide miner, who was present at said meeting. I paid two pounds for my licence on 15th October 1854, to Commissioner Amos, and I have it still in my posession" Carboni even made the document available for inspection by the public, at a Collins Street solicitors.
He probably produced his licence to show innocence of the charge of treason, but to the miners it showed the opposite, that he was never really with them in their struggle through action. His claims are very narrow and specific, being critical of incompetence usually, he denies he is involved in a revolution, or a republican movement. He supported the status-quo in keeping his licence.
On his own testimony he did not raise a pike, but to others he claimed he fought off police. It should be remembered that he is generally a little biased against the English (he went for a holiday with the aborigines, so he says) in general and he seemed more a detached observer when it came to violence. Rather than just taking action, he would complain about "blockhead aristocratical incapables"!
Carboni asks the "gallant" leaders of the Pikemen to explain how they were unhurt, but unfortunately Carboni did not record their reply to him!
Carboni's own lack of gallentry is shown by his failure to burn his licence, watching the storming from his chimney without any notion of assisting and falsely claiming to be another man who took part in the fight.
Carboni's asks leaders to account
Hanrahan led a party (the HANRAHAN motto means foremost). We don't know if Michael went home that evening (His tent was in the Stockade!) as many miners did that evening, thinking the danger of an attack had abated for a while, or maybe he was on the way to Geelong Road? He was sent out to try and stop the police re-inforcements getting through, but the police already stationed there made a surprise attack at 3.00am. The police had a spy Henry Goodenough, an informer among the miners who reported the miner's low numbers and vulnerability that night? Carboni had befriended Goodenough (maybe he had a good forehead?) and is angry at being deceived, for much of the book.
Carboni sheltered in his sod chimney only yards from the stockade (licence in hand) and watched the storming of the stockade without any attempt to assist the diggers. He observed from his lookout that Curtain "whilst making coolly for the holes, appeared to me to give directions to shoot at Vern" and has the cheek to question about Curtain's (and Hanrahan's) gallantry and then not even record their answer!
Carboni is bitter that he was like an innocent spectator, with a valid licence being tried when Hanrahan who probably burnt his licence was a leader ready to fight for democratic principles Carboni did not believe in. Hanrahan remained free and uninjured when many were killed, 13 were jailed and tried for treason. Hanrahan was free when others like Lalor had been severely wounded in the arm by a bullet and had to have his arm amputated. If Lalor were not a friend of the murdered Scobie, his role could have been more minor, he was among the more literate miners as probably was Michael Hanrahan.
Carboni also displays envy and resentment that Hanrahan was also boldly displaying himself at Gravel-Pits not far from camp, in broad daylight, within a rifle shot of camp and police. Carboni was expecting that Hanrahan and Curtain as leaders should be in hiding far away. Maybe Hanrahan had a good deep hiding spot on a claim at Gravel-pits? Maybe he was not scared of Gravel-pits like Carboni. More likely Carboni was never even there "a few weeks after" and heard this from another person that Hanrahan was at Gravel-pits a few weeks after.
There is no suggestion that Hanrahan was doing anything but following orders from Lalor which would have seen him be the first killed in action confronting police reinforcements on Geelong Road. He must have went knowing that he was almost certain to be killed by police!
A poem by Victor Daly which mentions the Pikemen.
Hanrahan descendents might be here celebrating, because Michael apparently went out looking to find the police reinforcement coming along Geelong Road, when the fight was behind him. The miners did not expect an attack at 3.00am, tensions had dissipated somewhat, many miners had left the stockade, they expected police reinforcements to be sent from Geelong before they were attacked. The detachment of Pikemen who left the Stockade to attack police on Geelong Road, may very well have been the most heavily armed and their absence left the more lightly armed pikemen more vulnerable to a surprise attack. If police reinforcements had come the way they were expected and the police already stationed there waited for their arrival before attacking, Hanrahan would have been the first to encounter the enemy and most of us might not be here as we are, Hanrahanishly genetically predisposed.
We should all remember the lives of the 27, many of them Irishmen, who were not so lucky and we hope they also have some descendants around in 2004 and remember the cause their fathers died for at the Eureka Stockade and perhaps to fight our own causes with ink and feather of quill and remember Michael, his fight, his luck to survive, to be "foremost" as he was and chosen by his peers to have many sixth and seventh generation descendants toasting him and some principles he stood for, 150 years later still.
One of the miner's licence conditions was Regulation 4. That miners "maintain a due and proper observance of Sundays".
Michael'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 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.
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. Some other religious denominations were more supportive of the Hotham government and regarded the miners as lawless elements.
Rev Theophilus Taylor a Wesleyan minister with very royalist devotion to the English throne reported 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."
Ballarat Parish Priest asks Hotham to suspend licence fees.
Another report of the Ballarat Catholic community presenting their grieveinces, 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. 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.
Ballart Catholics protest about treatment of the local Priest's servant Gregorius.
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?
Some family notes dictated to a thankfully inquisitive Kevin Hanrahan, by his father Thomas Hanrahan (1902), stated that Dan Hanrahan (1869), was at his brother Tom's (1864) place on a Sunday, and he was reading an account of the Stockade and it stated that Michael Hanrahan had been elected leader of the pikemen, "Well that's the first I even heard of it", Dan said.
Apparently, Michael never said a word about Eureka to anyone, we are not sure why?
Eureka has only become fashionable in modern times, the fact was the miners got a beating which was not something to celebrate. Thomas 1864 was not one to converse with his sons. The boys often obtained information from uncle Michael (1872) and Dan. Was Thomas (1829) the same. One example where he seems to have been, was regarding the death of Thomas in 1901 which was not spoken of to later generations, perhaps for religious reasons as well?
All the evidence indicates that Michael was at the Stockade, comments from other participants, Michael's own claim for compensation for his tent being destroyed and comments by others to his son Tom who never heard about it from his father Michael? Why would Michael never mention it? 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 reminiscient 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, Michael never stated so as far as we know. It is recorded that he sought compensation for the destruction of his tent in the stockade by government troops (we are unsure of the result of his application). Carboni also unsuccessfully sought compensation. Apart from his claim for damages Michael seemed to be silent about Eureka.
There was a 50th anniversary reunion of Eureka miners in 1904; we are almost certain that Michael did not attended the 1904 reunion. The Eureka Enclyclopedia states that Michael 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 low resolution pictures of this reunion in 1904 show that almost every gentleman has a grey beard, making them all look similar.
It is almost impossible to be certain if Michael Hanrahan is in these reunion photos? Please contact the authors at
if you can identify anyone else in these pictures.
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.
