Historian unpacks importance of Eureka

THE 170th anniversary of the Eureka Stockade is approaching in early December and author, historian and retired teacher Doug Bradby has released a book about the conflict.

Eureka: Why Ballarat? Why December 1854? unpacks how Ballarat became “the most important spot in Australia”.

“Bakery Hill is sacred,” he said. “It is the equivalent of Runnymede in Britain (the site of the sealing of the Magna Carta).

“We didn’t invent democracy or perfect it, but by crikey we extended it an awful lot.

“By 1850, wealthy men voted and ruled the country and all the rules suited wealthy men, and by the time Eureka’s all over, every British male citizen in this country had the vote.

“So we were only halfway, with women to come, but instead of rules being made by people who had no idea what the miners wanted, needed or listened to, the miners are there with their miner’s right saying what laws they wanted.

“This is a massive contribution to the world and it happened here.”

Bradby said there are two elements of Eureka that have puzzled him since he was a boy, and he explores these in the new 48-pager.

“The licence fee and corrupt official problems were also happening in Castlemaine and Bendigo in 1851, 52, 53, and 54… but there’s something unique about Ballarat that the problems come to their height here,” he said.

“In the end, what was it about Ballarat that made it so different? It wasn’t poverty… The Ballarat administration, to be quite frank, was despicable and dreadful, and they believed people needed to be taught a lesson, so they deliberately provoked the event of December the 3rd, 1854.

“The blood is on their hands, I’ve got no doubt.

“Secondly, and this is a key point, the miners lost the battle at Eureka, but they won the argument that men should have a right to have a say in the rules of which they have to obey, and that was won at Bakery Hill. These incidents came to a head in the Gravel Pits, we now call Bridge Mall or Bridge Street.”

Bradby said the 170th anniversary is a crucial opportunity for people to learn about, or re-engage with, the significance of the Eureka Stockade.

He has also just released the latest book in his Ten Delightful Tales series, ‘What shall I say for this bundle of umbrellas?’ Lost and found in Ballarat, which he said was indeed a delight to escape to after writing the heavy and serious book that is Eureka.

Bradby’s books are available at Ballarat’s Collins bookshops and at Sovereign Hill.