|
Flag of Australia's civil war, the miners rebellion at Eureka. Made for outdoors, 3x5 foot, two grommet 150 Denure Polyester Construction. 4 Rows of stitching on the fly side. The Eureka Stockade was a gold miners' revolt in 1854 in Ballarat, Victoria, Australia, against the officials supervising the mining of gold in the region of Ballarat. It was prompted by grievances over heavily priced mining items, the expense of a Miner's Licence, and taxation (licence) without representation and the actions of the government and its agents (police, militia). While the events which sparked the rebellion were specific to the Ballarat goldfields, the underlying grievances had been the subject of public meetings, civil disobedience and deputations across the various Victorian goldfields for almost three years. The miners' demands included the right to vote and purchase land, and the reduction of Licence fees. Agitation for these demands commenced with the Forest Creek Monster Meeting of December 1851 and included the formation of the Anti-Gold Licence Association at Bendigo in 1853. Although swiftly and violently put down, the Eureka rebellion was a watershed event in Australian politics. The preceding three years of agitation for the miners' demands, combined with mass public support in Melbourne for the captured 'rebels' when they were placed on trial, resulted in the introduction of full white-male suffrage for elections for the lower house in the Victorian parliament. The role of the Eureka Stockade in generating public support for these demands beyond the goldfields resulted in Eureka being controversially identified with the birth of democracy in Australia  |
