The Eureka Rebellion, an 1854 gold miner's revolt in Victoria, Australia, has been the inspiration for numerous novels, poems, films, songs, plays and artworks. Much of Eureka folklore relies heavily on Raffaello Carboni's 1855 book, The Eureka Stockade, which is the first and only comprehensive eyewitness account of the uprising. The poet Henry Lawson wrote about Eureka, as have many novelists.
More recently, there have been four motion pictures based on the Eureka Rebellion. The first was Eureka Stockade, which was a silent film made in 1907, being only the second feature film produced in Australia. There have also been a number of plays and songs about the rebellion. The folk song German Teddy concerns Edward Thonen, one of the rebels who died defending the Eureka Stockade.[1]
Carboni's narrative
Illustration of the Eureka flag from the front cover of Raffaello Carboni's 1855 "The Eureka Stockade" featuring diamond-shaped stars.
Raffaello Carboni's 1855 book The Eureka Stockade is the only comprehensive eyewitness account of the Eureka Rebellion. He was born on 15 December 1817 in Urbino, Italy and educated at the College of Nobles. Carboni then attended the University of Urbino, where he read logic, ethics, metaphysics, algebra, and geometry. He had only partially completed his studies when he went to Rome and spoke out against Pope Gregory XVI. Carboni was briefly imprisoned as suspected of aiding French Republicans. Two years after Pope Pius IX was elected, Europe had a great upheaval amid the revolutions of 1848. The pontiff was unsympathetic towards the young radical. Carboni was commissioned as a colonel in the army of Giuseppe Garibaldi. He was wounded three times, with the injury he sustained to his leg hampering him for the rest of his life. He went into exile in 1849, living in Frankfurt, Berlin and Dresden before relocating to London, a haven for Italian exiles. Carboni was still there when he heard the news of the Victorian gold rush in late 1852, whereupon he set sail to Australia to seek his fortune. He had some success in Ballarat, being able to keep his head above water and make his licence fee renewal. However, like many others, Carboni did grow weary of the enforcement regime. Peter Lalor relied on Carboni, who could speak multiple languages, to help deal with the European rebels who came from outside Britain and Ireland.
Carboni was one of the thirteen rebel prisoners put on trial for high treason, being acquitted by the Victorian Supreme Court on 21 March 1855. He was elected to the local court in Ballarat as one of nine miners that heard mining disputes.[2] After becoming a British subject, Carboni would leave Australia on 18 January 1856, setting sail as the lone passenger aboard the French vessel Impératrice Eugénie. He used some of the gold he found during his time in Ballarat to fund his travels around the world. Carboni later became a military interpreter and also for Francesco Crispi, an Italian statesman who was negotiating with the British in an attempt to secure their support for the reunification of Italy. He published several books as well as plays and an opera. On 24 October 1875, Carboni died at the St James Hospital in Rome at the age of 57.[3]
One notable inconsistency in Carboni's account is that he describes the Eureka Flag as made of silk,[4] and the cover of the first edition has an illustration that features diamond-shaped stars. These incorrect descriptions plagued early Eureka investigators such as Len Fox, with the fragments held by the Art Gallery of Ballarat being of cotton and mohair construction.[5] However, the blue ground is said to have "a high sheen that gives a silk-like appearance."[6]Eureka: From the Official Records has the three-man peace delegation meeting with Rede on 1 December 1854. Author Ian MacFarlane notes that Carboni, who accompanied George Black and Father Smyth on this occasion, "suggested in his The Eureka Stockade that this meeting took place on 30 November."[7]
There are two known drawings of the battle dating from 1854. Charles Doudiet was an associate of Henry Ross and aided the wounded rebel, noting his death at the Free Trade Hotel two days later in his sketchbook. He was present at the burning of Bentley's Hotel, the oath swearing ceremony on Bakery Hill and may have been an eyewitness to the early morning battle. Doudiet depicted these scenes from the Eureka Rebellion, among others from the travels in Australia and time in Ballarat. His sketchbook, now under preservation at the Art Gallery of Ballarat, includes Eureka Slaughter, which has the stockade as a ring of defences.[8]
J.B Henderson's 1854 Eureka Stockade Riot was drawn by an eyewitness to the aftermath. It features the clash between the forlorn hope and the rebel garrison at the perimeter of the stockade.[9]
Also in the collection of the Art Gallery of Ballarat is Eureka Stockade by Samuel Huyghue, completed in 1882. Huyghue was an eyewitness to the Eureka Rebellion and was employed as a government clerk.[10]
Swearing Allegiance to the Southern Cross by Charles Doudiet (1854)
There have been a number of novels published that were inspired by the Eureka Rebellion. The events were referenced in a work of fiction for the first time in Marcus Clarke's His Natural Life, which relies heavily on the history of Carboni and W.B. Withers. It was serialised in the Australian Journal in 1870-1872 and mentioned Bentley's Hotel with Raffaello Carboni and Peter Lalor being given resembling names.[11] The next Eureka novel was to appear in 1901, entitled Roll-Up: A Tale of the Eureka Riots, by James Middleton. Other novels set in the period to follow include: In the Roaring Fifties (1906), The Call of the Cross (1915), Black Swans (1925), In Days of Gold (1926), Red Mask (1927), An Affair at Eureka (1930), The Fortunes of Richard Mahony (1930), Human Drift (1935), Rebels on the Goldfields (1936), The Five Bright Stars (1954), Ballarat (1962), Road to Ballarat (1958), Southern Cross (1965), and Goldfields (2000).[12]
Film and television
Oath swearing scene from the 1949 motion picture Eureka Stockade
To date, there have been four motion pictures made on the subject of the Eureka Rebellion. The first, Eureka Stockade, was a silent 1907 film directed by Arthur and George Cornwell and produced by the Australasian Cinematograph Company. It was the only second feature film made in Australia (the first being the 1906 production, The Story of the Kelly Gang). However, not all the footage has survived, so the duration of the film is unknown. It was described by The Age as "one of the best shown ... highly educational." The film was first screened on 19 October 1907 at the Melbourne Athenaeum. The film impressed critics of the time and was found to be a stirring portrayal of the events surrounding the Eureka Stockade, but it failed to connect with audiences during the two weeks it was screened. The surviving seven-minute fragment (stored at the National Film and Sound Archive) shows street scenes of Ballarat. Other scenes in the lost reels of the film were believed to have included gold seekers leaving London, issuing of licences, licence hunting, diggers chained to logs and rescued by mates, diggers burning Bentley's Hotel, the rebellion, building the stockade, troops storming the stockade and the stockade in ruins.[13]
The Loyal Rebel, also known as Eureka Stockade, is an Australian silent film made in 1915. Directed by Alfred Rolfe, it starred Maisie Carte, Wynn Davies, Reynolds Denniston, Charles Villiers, Percy Walshe, Jena Williams, and Leslie Victor as Peter Lalor. It is a largely fictional account that portrays Peter Lalor as the main character.[14] It is considered a lost film.
A 1949 British film titled Eureka Stockade (released in the United States as Massacre Hill), was shot in Australia. The film starred Chips Rafferty as Peter Lalor and Peter Illing as Raffaello Carboni. It was directed by Harry Watt, produced by Leslie Norman and written by Walter Greenwood, Ralph Smart and Harry Watt.[15] The production was filmed around Singleton, with the Australian army contributing horses and personnel as extras for the combat sequence. The budget was 125,000 pounds, and a set comprising a whole 1850s mining settlement was constructed. In 1950 it was released in the United States under the title Massacre Hill. It is notable for featuring the vintage "star-spangled" Eureka Flag with free-floating stars as per the fly-half of the official Australian national flag and no cross.[16][note 1]
Stockade, a 1971 Australian musical film featuring Rod Mullinar as Peter Lalor, was directed by Hans Pomeranz and Ross McGregor. The film was written by Kenneth Cook, and adapted from his musical play. It was the first Australian film to receive government subsidies and premiered at the Art Gallery of Ballarat.
There has also been a mini-series, Eureka Stockade, written by Richard Butler, which aired on channel seven in 1984. Tony Harrison rated the show by saying, "this can be considered to be Australia's first B-grade mini series."[17]
Riot or Revolution: Eureka Stockade 1854, an Australian documentary from 2006, directed by Don Parham. The film focuses mainly on Governor Hotham (played by Brian Lipson), Raffaello Carboni (Barry Kay), and Douglas Huyghue (Tim Robertson). The accounts of these eyewitnesses are the main source for the monologues directly aimed at the audience, and, as the caption at the start of the film says: "the lines spoken by actors in this film are the documented words of the historical characters." The cast also included Julia Zemiro as Celeste de Chabrillan and Andrew Larkins as Peter Lalor. It was filmed in Ballarat and Toorac House in Melbourne.[18][19]
Stage
Eureka has also been recalled by playwrights, with the first such production Eureka Stockade, by Edward Duggan, staged in 1891 under the name The Democrat. Others to follow include The Eureka Rebellion (1907), Lalor of Eureka (1939), The Southern Cross (1946), Blood on the Wattle (1948), The Palmers: an Australian Saga (1973), Stockade (1975), and Carboni (1980). Eureka Stockade, a three-act opera with music by Roberto Hazon and a libretto by John Picton-Warlow and Carlo Stransky, was completed in 1988.[20]Eureka! The Musical! was staged in November and December 2004 at Ballarat and Melbourne for the Melbourne International Arts Festival. With music by Michael Maurice Harvey and original work and lyrics by Maggie May Gordon, Eureka was nominated for the Helpmann Award for Best Musical in 2005. Like the 1973 play, there was artistic licence aplenty at work in the casting of a fictional Chinese Eureka man.[21] Australian academic and journalist Germaine Greer panned the production in an interview aired on the ABC's Critical Mass, saying: "It's one cliche after another, it's repulsively politically correct ... We doff our caps to everyone we think we should doff our caps to. We even try to get the poor Chinese involved in the Eureka Stockade."[22]
Music
Recording of the 1889 song German Teddy
The Australian folk song German Teddy is about Edward Thonen, one of the miners killed at the Stockade. The song, probably based on Carboni's account, is from a single 1889 manuscript.[23] It formed the basis for the symphony German Teddy by Australian composer George Dreyfus,[24] which premiered in 1986.[25] In 2016, the symphony was performed at the Museum of Australian Democracy at Eureka.[26]
Notes
↑ It appears from all reports that Harry Watt, producer of the 1949 feature film Eureka Stockade, had gone as far as engaging experts to examine the Eureka Flag fragments held by the Ballarat Fine Art Gallery, amid allegations that they were not from the original specimen. It was said that the apparent bullet holes were caused by moths. Others said the ecclesiastical cross was a later adaptation and that the pieces donated by John King's widow were made for a footballer's picnic.
Related Research Articles
The Eureka Rebellion was a series of events involving gold miners who revolted against the British administration of the colony of Victoria, Australia during the Victorian gold rush. It culminated in the Battle of the Eureka Stockade, which took place on 3 December 1854 at Ballarat between the rebels and the colonial forces of Australia. The fighting resulted in an official total of 27 deaths and many injuries, the majority of casualties being rebels. There was a preceding period beginning in 1851 of peaceful demonstrations and civil disobedience on the Victorian goldfields. The miners had various grievances, chiefly the cost of mining permits and the officious way the system was enforced.
The Eureka Flag was flown at the Battle of the Eureka Stockade, which took place on 3 December 1854 at Ballarat in Victoria, Australia. It was the culmination of the 1851–1854 Eureka Rebellion on the Victorian goldfields. Gold miners protested the cost of mining permits, the officious way the colonial authorities enforced the system, and other grievances. An estimated crowd of over 10,000 demonstrators swore allegiance to the flag as a symbol of defiance at Bakery Hill on 29 November 1854. It was then flown over the Eureka Stockade during the battle that resulted in at least 27 deaths. Around 120 miners were arrested, and many others were badly wounded, including five soldiers.
Peter Fintan Lalor was an Irish-Australian rebel and, later, politician who rose to fame for his leading role in the Eureka Rebellion, an event identified with the "birth of democracy" in Australia.
John Basson Humffray was a leading advocate in the movement of miner reform process in the British colony of Victoria, and later a member of parliament.
Henry Erle Seekamp was a journalist, owner and editor of the Ballarat Times during the 1854 Eureka Rebellion in Victoria, Australia. The newspaper was fiercely pro-miner, and he was responsible for a series of articles and several editorials that supported the Ballarat Reform League while condemning the government and police harassment of the diggers. After the Rebellion was put down, he was charged, found guilty of seditious libel, and imprisoned, becoming the only participant to receive gaol time.
Raffaello Carboni was an Italian writer, composer and interpreter who wrote a book on the Eureka Stockade which he witnessed while living in Australia. Although only a spectator at the Eureka Rebellion he was charged with treason in the Supreme Court of Victoria, but found not guilty of the charge and released on 21 March 1855.
The Ballarat Reform League came into being in October 1853 and was officially constituted on 11 November 1854 at a mass meeting of miners in Ballarat, Victoria to protest against the Victorian government's mining policy and administration of the goldfields.
John King (1830-1881) was a police constable at the Battle of the Eureka Stockade who was responsible for seizing the rebel war flag.
The Battle of the Eureka Stockade was fought in Ballarat, Victoria, Australia on 3 December 1854, between gold miners and the colonial forces of Australia. It was the culmination of the 1851–1854 Eureka Rebellion during the Victorian gold rush. The fighting resulted in at least 27 deaths and many injuries, the majority of casualties being rebels. The miners had various grievances, chiefly the cost of mining permits and the officious way the system was enforced.
The Eureka Jack Mystery relates to the creation and flying of a rebel Australian flag known as the Eureka Jack. Its origin is not specifically known.
The following bibliography includes notable sources concerning the Eureka Rebellion. This article is currently being expanded and revised.
Edward Thonen was a German emigrant to Australia, and one of the miners involved in the Eureka Rebellion in Ballarat, Victoria. He was captain of one of the miners' divisions. When soldiers stormed the Stockade on 3 December 1854 in the Battle of the Eureka Stockade, Thonen was one of the first to be killed.
The following is a comprehensive timeline of the Eureka Rebellion.
John Joseph or John Josephs was an gold miner who participated in the battle of the Eureka Stockade in 1854. An African American expatriate, little is known about Joseph's background. He arrived in Ballarat several days before the battle, and was in the front lines as the soldiers stormed the Eureka Stockade. The miners were quickly subdued and over a hundred were arrested. 13 were singled out for trial. Joseph was the first to be tried. As a Black person, the prosecution probably thought he would be easy to convict, but the jury acquitted him after half an hour, as were the other 12.
The Eureka Stockade Memorial Park is believed to encompass the site of the Battle of the Eureka Stockade that was fought in Ballarat, Victoria on 3 December 1854. Records of "Eureka Day" ceremonies at the site of the battle go back to 1855. In addition to the Eureka Stockade Monument, there are other points of interest in the reserve, including the Eureka Stockade Gardens and an interpretative centre. There was formerly a swimming pool and other structures. There has been a nearby caravan park since the 1950s. The present Eureka Stockade Memorial Park Committee has undergone several name changes since 1922.
The 1855 Victorian high treason trials took place between 22 February – 27 March in the aftermath of the Battle of the Eureka Stockade. The Goldfields Commission recommended a general amnesty for all on the runs from the fallen Eureka Stockade. Instead, thirteen of the rebels detained were eventually indicted for high treason. The juries all returned a verdict of not guilty by a jury, and the indictment against Thomas Dignum was withdrawn. On 23 January, the trial of Ballarat Times editor Henry Seekamp resulted in a finding of guilt for seditious libel, and a month later, he was sentenced to a term of imprisonment of six months. The trials have been described as farcical, and the colonial secretary would rebuke Governor Sir Charles Hotham over prosecuting the Eureka rebels for the lofty offence of high treason.
The Eureka Stockade was a crude battlement built in 1854 by rebel gold miners at Ballarat, Australia during the Eureka Rebellion. It stood from 30 November until the Battle of the Eureka Stockade on 3 December. The exact dimensions and location of the stockade are a matter of debate among scholars. There are various contemporary representations of the Eureka Stockade, including the 1855 Victorian high treason trials map and Eureka Slaughter by Charles Doudiet.
The Eureka Stockade is an 1855 novel by Raffaello Carboni, who was present in Ballarat during the Eureka Rebellion. He lived near the Eureka Stockade and witnessed the battle on 3 December 1854 when the government forces defeated the rebel garrison. The Eureka folklore is deeply indebted to Carboni's novel, the first and only comprehensive eyewitness account of the Eureka Rebellion.
During the Battle of the Eureka Stockade, there was a dog that remained at the side of one of the pikemen and even followed his dead body to the cemetery. Christopher Crook, who was a correspondent for the Geelong Advertiser, is quoted in Wiliam Wither's A History of Ballarat as saying:
A little terrier sat on the breast of the man I spoke of, and kept a continuous howl; it was removed, but always returned to the same spot, and when the miner's body was huddled, with the other corpses, into the cart, the little dog jumped in after him, and lying on his dead master's breast, began howling again.
References
↑ A traditional song sent to Alfred Hill by Lieselotte Schreiner, Series 04: Alfred Hill music manuscripts collected, 1880-1953, State Library New South Wales, call numbers MLMSS 6357/Boxes 41-42, MLMSS 6357/Box 62X, record identifier 94Rkr0j1. https://collection.sl.nsw.gov.au/record/94Rkr0j1
↑ Hazon, Roberto; Stransky, Carlo; Picton-Warlow, John (14 August 1988). "Eureka stockade: opera in three acts". Sydney: Pellinor. Retrieved 14 August 2017– via Trove.
↑ James Button, 'The Eureka Myth,' The Age, 23 October 2004, Insight, 3.
↑ A traditional song sent to Alfred Hill by Lieselotte Schreiner, Series 04: Alfred Hill music manuscripts collected, 1880-1953, State Library New South Wales, call numbers MLMSS 6357/Boxes 41-42, MLMSS 6357/Box 62X, record identifier 94Rkr0j1. https://collection.sl.nsw.gov.au/record/94Rkr0j1
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