With no positive response to their delegations, pleading & petitions, the Ballarat miners determined they must boycott the corrupt system all together and physically resist when the troopers came to arrest them.
Under the leadership of Peter Lalor, the men swore under their Southern Cross flag, to stand together united in their resistance, and to protect each other from the authorities, with physical force if required.
To that end they began building a defensive Stockade and began to organise and gather weapons for a confrontation with the Government Camp.
The Government saw this as the beginning of revolutionary rebellion, and were determined to crush the uprising. (60 mins)
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Reference List Ep 32
Wright, C. (2013). The forgotten rebels of Eureka. Melbourne: Text Publishing.
Carboni, R. (1993 [1855]). The Eureka Stockade. Carlton: Melbourne University Press.
Hocking, G. (2004). Eureka stockade: a pictorial history. Rowville, Victoria: Five Mile Press.
Hunt, D. (2016). True girt : the unauthorised history of Australia. Volume 2: Carlton, VIC : Black Inc.
Molony, J. N. (2001). Eureka (2nd ed. ed.). Carlton South, Vic.: Melbourne University Press.
Pobjie, B. (2016). Error Australia: The reality recap of Australian history. South Melbourne: Affirm Press.
Turner, I. (1974). Australian Dictionary of Biography: Lalor, Peter (1827–1889). In. Retrieved from http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/lalor-peter-3980 Retrieved from http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/lalor-peter-3980
Blake, G. (2009). To pierce the tyrant’s heart : a military history of the battle for the Eureka Stockade : 3 December 1854. Loftus, N.S.W. : Australian Military History Publications in association with the Australian Army History Unit.
Blake, G. (2012). Eureka Stockade : a ferocious and bloody battle. Newport, N.S.W.: Big Sky.