29 – Eureka Pt 1: Gold

Gold miners built the Eureka Stockade at the Ballarat goldfields in December 1854, but trouble between the miners and the authorities had started pretty much with the gold rush in 1851.  Before we start looking at the Eureka uprising itself, Ep 29 will begin with some background to the story. 

The discovery of gold and the chance to dig & make ones fortune, transformed the colonies. We’ll look at gold discovery in Australia, the influence of the Californian gold rush, the Government’s response, and how the home-grown rush started in New South Wales, before the lucrative Victorian fields were discovered.                                                       (46 mins)



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Australia: gold rush 1852 (Granger)
Diggers on Road to Bendigo (Gill)
Ararat 1854 (Roper)
Using the ‘Cradle’
Design for Public Library Melbourne 1854 (SLV)
Public Library Melbourne under construction (1860s) (SLV)

Podcast Recommendation: 

Australian True Crime – with Meshel Laurie & Emily Webb  https://australiantruecrimepodcast.com/


References: Episode 29

David Hunt: Australian Gold Rush animation  https://youtu.be/iU9iV56F86s

Pobjie, B. (2016). Error Australia: The reality recap of Australian history. South Melbourne: Affirm Press.

Collins, D., & (Esquire; late judge advocate and secretary of the colony). (1798). An account of the english colony in New South Wales: With remarks on the dispositions, customs, manners, etc. of the native inhabitants of that country (Chapter IV; August).

Clarke, P. ([2012]). Mrs  Macquarie’s earrings

Cahir, F. (2012). Black Gold: Aboriginal People on the Goldfields of Victoria, 1850-1870 Aboriginal history monograph ; 25  Retrieved from https://press-files.anu.edu.au/downloads/press/p198511/pdf/book.pdf

Cavendish, R. (2001). The Australian Gold Rush Begins. History News, 51(2). Retrieved from https://www.historytoday.com/archive/months-past/australian-gold-rush-begins

Geological Survey of New South Wales, & Pittman, E. F. (1901). The mineral resources of New South Wales  Retrieved from https://openlibrary.org/books/OL250887M/The_mineral_resources_of_New_South_Wales.

Colonial Secretary’s Office (Vic). (1851a, Wednesday August 27th, 1851). Licenses to dig and search for gold. Victoria Government Gazette, p. 307.

Colonial Secretary’s Office (Vic). (1851b, Saturday August 16, 1851). Proclamation by his Excellency Charles Joseph La Trobe, Esquire, Lieutenant Governor of the Colony of Victoria. Supplement to the Victoria Government Gazette, p. 1.

Central Deborah Gold Mine. Bendigo’s golden heritage.   Retrieved from http://www.central-deborah.com/about-us/bendigo-s-golden-heritage

Corfield, J. J. (2004). The Eureka encyclopaedia. Ballarat, Vic. Ballarat Heritage Services.

Discovery of an extensive Gold Field. (1851, Thursday May 15th). Sydney Morning Herald p. 3.

Deas Thomson (Colonial Secretary’s Office). (1851). Licenses to dig and search for gold. Sydney: New South Wales Government Gazette (Supplement)

The Gold Discovery. (1851, Friday May 2nd). Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved from https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/12926747

His Excellency Sir Charles Augustus Fitz Roy. (1851). Proclamation (gold belonging to Crown). New South Wales Government Gazette (Sydney, NSW : 1832 – 1900) [Thu 22 May 1851 [Issue No.55 (SUPPLEMENT)] p. 832. Retrieved from https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/page/12597936

A hundred weight of Gold. (1851, Sat 19th July 1851). Bathurst Free Press and Mining Journal, p. 2.

Old story retold: The gold era begins. James Esmond’s “find”. (1928, Sat 14th Jan). The Argus. Retrieved from https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/3903764

State Archives & Records (NSW). (1851). Chief Commissioner of Crown Lands for the Gold Districts.  

State Archives & Records (NSW). (1851-1874). Gold Mining (Archive document).

Turon. Public meeting respecting gold licenses. (1851, Saturday 15 November 1851). Bathurst Free Press and Mining Journal, p. 3. Retrieved from https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/62517845

FitzSimons, P. (2012). Eureka : the unfinished revolution. North Sydney, N.S.W.: North Sydney, N.S.W. : William Heinemann.