Eureka’s Fallen

 

Dorothy Wickham

 

Controversy, innuendo, and emotion abound in the vast body of literature about the Eureka Affair. The scholarly literature on the Victorian gold rushes usually mentions the event, with varying degrees of understanding or attention to the facts. So much so, that there is as yet no consensus of opinion as to the numbers of military, civilians, or insurgents killed or wounded, the actual site of the battle, the makers of the Eureka Flag, nor a full account of members of the Ballarat Reform League or who wrote the Reform League Charter. 

Every great fight has its heroes. The historian is sometimes silent as to them, but in long after years, when time has ripened to their opportunity, when the weakened memory of the living and the silence of the dead have made corroboration vague, they come from a modest retirement, and admit their prowess.

Some stories and folklore have been challenged by historians and evidence provided. The death and the later erection of a memorial tombstone to the drummer boy John Egan, reportedly killed in the fracas on 28 November as the 12th Regiment marched through the Eureka Lead into Ballarat, is one such story. You can find an account of Egan, amongst the other articles of Ballarat Heritage Services. 

The shooting and burial of a woman at the time of the Eureka event is also controversial and challenging. Reported by Charles Evans in his diary (also known as the Samuel Lazarus diary) the death of a woman is rebuffed as hearsay by William Bramwell Withers, who interviewed survivors of Eureka. This is unpacked further in the biographical accounts of death at the end of this article.

For some answers I’ve searched the death registrations, inquests and other avenues. The following deaths were registered in the Colony of Victoria.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Henry Powell (death registration 3241) was one inquest that was found. Powell resided at Creswick and was visiting a friend. He was wounded outside the Stockade and died six days later as the result of his injuries. His inquest sheds light on how the soldiers and police acted and the extent of his wounds. It also reflects the sympathies of doctors, and others who tried to assist him and reveals what happened to him during and after the Eureka battle and how he died. His dying declaration, which was disallowed in the trial of Akehurst, the perpetrator of the murder, states: 

“I am very unwell but I think I will recover – at least I hope so – On Saturday I came over to Ballaarat for the purpose of visiting Mr. Cox and remaining until Sunday evening. When I arrived at Ballaarat I saw people going about in armed bodies, I came home and changed my trowsers(sic) and went down and looked into the ring. [ The stockade] I then went to bed in the tent where I now am, the tent is the property of Mr Cox. About 5 o’clock the next morning, Sunday, I heard the report of a pistol, I got up and went towards the place where the firing was. I had gone about forty yards when the police came up to me, the Clerk of the Peace, a young man about twenty years of age was with them, he said, in the Queen’s name you are my prisoner. Henry Powell was unarmed and offered no resistance. Of Powell’s injuries, Dr. William Wills gave this information in his evidence. ” I am a properly qualified medical practitioner. I was called to see the deceased last Sunday morning December 3rd. I found him on the stretcher on which the coffin now is. I examined the body. The first wound I saw was that on the abdomen. The ball entered just near the floating ribs on the right side, it made its exit above and beyond the navel on the left side. The second wound was through the right shoulder from before backwards. A third ball had gone thru the left arm just above the wrist. He had received a severe sabre cut on the left parietal bone indenting the bone. Two other wounds were on his head, one on the frontal bone another on the upper part of the occipital bone, both penetrating to the bone. There was a wound on the left elbow joint penetrating to the humerus and a wound in the finger on the same hand laying open the tendon of the third finger. Deceased made a statement to Captain Evans in my presence. 

Despite all efforts, Henry Powell died and later at the trial for his murder, the evidence of his dying statement was not permitted and so Akehurst not only walked free but went on to a notable career in the public service.

 

Another person who spoke out against the cruelty committed on that bloody Sunday morning and how the bodies were treated was Anne Diamond who had been widowed by the events. She admonished the government, saying what had happened to her and her husband was unjust, and she applied for compensation for their large tent being burnt. She gave evidence on the 24 and 26 December 1854 a mere three weeks after she had lost all her belongings and her young husband. I have left the transcripts as they appeared in the Parliamentary Papers because I believe they give a better understanding of how the interviews were conducted, what tone was used by complainants such as Anne, who had recently experienced traumatic and life changing events, and what the outcomes were likely to be.

I, Anne Diamond, of the Eureka, Ballaarat, in the Colony of Victoria, widow of the late Martin Diamond; storekeeper, deceased, do solemnly and sincerely declare that on Sunday morning, the third day of December instant, my store, with all the goods and property therein, to the value of six hundred pounds, was set fire to and destroyed immediately after the attack of the military and police on the stockade at the Eureka aforesaid, on the said third day of December: And I further solemnly and sincerely declare that my said late husband, the said Martin Diamond, deceased, was shot inside his store at the time of the attack by the said military and police, and that he never took any part in the riot directly or indirectly: And I make this solemn declaration conscientiously believing the same to be true, and by virtue of the provisions of an Act made and passed in the ninth year of the Reign of Her present Majesty, intituled, “An Act for the more effectual abolition of oaths and affirmations taken and made in various departments of the Government of New South Wales, and to substitute declarations in lieu thereof, and for the suppression of voluntary and extra-judicial oaths and affidavits.

(Signed) ANNE DIAMOND. Declared before me, at Ballaarat, this 24th day of December, in the year of Our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four. 

(Signed) JOHN O’SHANASSY, J.P. 

 

On the 26th December 1854 Anne Diamond was interviewed by the officers of the Royal Commission. Her story here is a little more detailed. 

Mrs. Anne Diamond examined.

2152. Will you state what you wish to bring before the Commission was very

26th December 1854

I was very badly treated. There was no person treated worse than I was. I do not know what to say about it.

2153. Were you in the stockade at the time of the attack ?-I just ran away at the

moment when the firing commenced.

2154. Out of the stockade?-Yes. My store was half in and half out of it, and I ran away, and I asked my husband to come, and he was coming after me, and he was shot, and then they set fire to the tent.

2155. Who was it did it ?-It was a trooper that did it; they wear white caps. I was told he was one Clark, and I heard he was boasting after that the fire consumed the whole premises. I was not away above half an hour or three quarters of an hour, and when I returned it was all consumed; and I know that my husband got three hurts from a sword on the back; he fell on his face, and he got three cuts of a sword and a stab of a bayonet.

 2156. After being shot ?-Yes ; they treated the dead bodies very badly: the woman that laid him out could prove that.

 2157. What state did you find your husband in when you went back ?- He was quite dead when I returned.

2158. How long were you away ?-I do not think it was three quarters of an hour; but I heard the people say that he was shot the first volley of shots that was fired.

2159. Was anything done to you yourself?-No; I made away when they commenced firing. I never thought they would come there at that time. He was in bed all night up to that moment. . ..

2160. Did he not think of removing when the stockade was fitted up ?-Yes, but he would not be allowed. He thought if he said anything about it the people would say he was a Government man if he attempted to remove. Of course they came unawares. No doubt they had spies that did it. I saw the man that was coming there with messages to these diggers; they called him one Priestly, I think; and the day I came up here I saw him talking just outside; he goes with despatches backwards and forwards to Melbourne for the Government, and I saw him that night coming there with messages for the diggers.

2161. What was his business with the diggers ?-They were deceived by him.

2162. What was his business ?-Just, as far as I could hear, telling them what to do, and of course it was deceiving them. About ten o’clock at night my husband went to bed, and I would swear he never tasted a drop of any kind of liquor only a glass of ginger-beer, and he slept up to the very moment the first shots were fired.

2163. Was all your tent and property burned ?-All.

2164. Who was it burned by ?-I was told it was burned by this horse soldier, and I was told he did not set fire to it till the Commissioner or the officer told him to set fire to it; this was the first tent set fire to, I heard; it was a very large tent. I heard he got a red stick, and just put it to it and set fire to it; in fact, I did not know what to do; they were just tearing over the people as if they had no feeling at all. God was the best judge. He saw their doings, and I think they will pay for it at the last day.

There were many such stories! All the tents inside the Eureka Stockade were burnt down. Matthew Ryan, later to become mayor of Learmonth, and his brother in law Patrick Quinane applied for compensation along with Anne Diamond and others. 

Captain Ross was another miner who lost his life from injuries sustained during the attack. ‘Mr. Budden, J.P., a Canadian, and a school-fellow of Ross, heard of the approach of the troops and police on the Sunday morning, and hastened from his tent near the Stockade to advise Ross to withdraw from the hopeless struggle. Challenged by the insurgent sentries, Budden succeeded at length in getting within the Stockade and endeavored(sic) to prevail on Ross to leave the place, warning him that the Government force was approaching and that resistance would be useless and fatal. Ross, however, refused to desert his comrades. The firing soon began, Budden escaped by precipitate flight to his tent, and Ross was fatally injured.’ ‘Captain’ Charles Ross, a 27 year old, was taken to the Star Hotel after he had been wounded during the riots. He was also named on a submission from the Ballaarat Reform League when the Riot Enquiry sat on 10 November 1854. With Humffray, Vern and Irwin he had expressed dissatisfaction with the administration at Ballarat. When the licensee of the Star Hotel, William McCrae, sent word to the Government Camp that Ross had died, an Officer remarked he was ‘Damned glad at it.’

Llewellyn Rowlands was an innocent victim who was brutally murdered. He was talking to Benjamin Welch when he saw some troopers and prisoners near the Catholic Chapel. On going to have a closer look, he was ordered to surrender by the trooper. He refused, and ‘the man deliberately got off his horse and shot him through the heart’. This was estimated to be ‘very nearly a quarter of a mile’ away from the Stockade.

At least five soldiers died of wounds inflicted. Private William Webb, aged 19 years, of the 12th Regiment, died on 5th December 1854. He had been in Victoria only one month! Henry Christopher Wise, Captain of the 40th Regiment, and only 26 years of age, died eighteen days after the event and was interred at the Ballaarat Old Cemetery. In eyewitness accounts he is portrayed as gallantly leading his command in the attack on the Stockade and being shot in the leg. He continued his assault and was then fatally wounded. 

Colonel Edward Macarthur, Deputy Adjutant General, issued a General Order on 22 December 1854 – ‘The Major General has deep regret in announcing to the Troops within the Australian Command, the Death, at Ballaarat Camp, yesterday morning, the 21st Instant, of Captain Henry Christopher Wise of the 40th Regiment. He died from the effect of Wounds received on the 3rd Instant, while bravely leading his Company, in storming the “Eureka” Stockade, which a numerous band of Foreign Anarchists and Armed Ruffians had converted into a stronghold.

His name will long be held in Honour by the Troops, whose good fortune it was to bear testimony to his gallantry; and Sir Robert Nickle has heartfelt satisfaction, in recording in General Orders, the Name of an Officer, who has thus worthily distinguished himself. His Remains are to be buried with the Honours due to his rank in the Graveyard at Ballaarat Gold Fields, beside those of the three other meritorious Soldiers which lie there interred.’ 

Privates Joseph Wall, aged 20 years from Somerset, and Michael Roney, aged 21 years, from Ireland, were both in the 40th Regiment. They ‘gallantly fighting were killed on the same day’. The cause of death given on Private Wall’s death certificate was ‘gunshot and spiked’ contrary to the military surgeon’s report which stated ‘Pike wound lower part of abdomen’. Felix Boyle, a private in the 12th Regiment, aged 32 years, from Monagh, Ireland, died of gunshot wounds on 10th January 1855. Private John Hall has a gravestone erected in his memory at the Ballaarat Old Cemetery. It is inscribed with his date of death, 31 December 1854. His death registration has not been found in the Victorian Death Registers, but an entry has been found in the Return of Non-Commissioned Officers, Drummers etc & Privates, 12th Regiment,  stating that he is ‘deceased’ in the last quarter of 1854. His inscription is on the same tombstone as that of Captain G.R. Littlehales and Privates Webb and Boyle.

 

LIST OF THOSE KILLED AS A RESULT OF THE EUREKA RIOTS

AND REGISTERED 20 JUNE 1855

IN THE VICTORIAN DEATH REGISTERS

BY 

WILLIAM THOMAS POOLEY [1823-1872]

REGISTRAR, BALLARAT

The 27 names from registration number 3240 to 3266, were entered consecutively in the Victorian Death Register and occupy almost six pages in the original register held at the Registry of Births Deaths and Marriages at 295 Queen Street, Melbourne. The reason that they were registered on the 20 June 1855, almost seven months after the Eureka Riots, is not known.

Those not found in the Death Registrations but are reported as dead in various other references were: Captain Littlehales (12th Regiment), John Hall, Joseph Little, Alfred Bryant, William Simpson Hardie, Fenton, Samuel Green, John Hafele, Joseph Watts, and Denis O’Brien.

The reasons for the omissions from the death registers are not known. The research is inconclusive in some cases as to whether the person was at Eureka and whether (or not) he has died at the time of Eureka or from wounds associated with the battle. Few inquests of  those that died were conducted or have been found in the official records.   

 

REGISTRATION NUMBER & NAME

3240 WILLIAM EMMARMAN

3241 HENRY POWELL

3242 EDWARD THONEN

3243 THOMAS HENFIELD

3244 CAPTAIN CHARLES ROSS

3245 JOHN HYNES

3246 PATRICK GITTENS

3247 MULLINS

3248 GEORGE DONAGHEY

3249 MARTIN DIAMOND

3250 JAMES BROWN

3251 LLEWELLYN ROWLANDS

3252 EDWARD QUIN

3253 WILLIAM QUINLAN

3254 THADDEUS MOORE

3255 JOHN CROW

3256 THOMAS O’NEIL

3257 JOHN ROBERTSON

3258 EDWARD McGLYNN

3259 THOMAS PARKER

3260 HENRY CHRISTOPHER WISE

3261 MICHAEL RONEY

3262 JOSEPH WALL

3263 WILLIAM WEBB

3264FELIX BOYLE

3265 ROBERT JULIEN

3266 GEORGE CLIFTON

 

 

ALPHABETICAL LIST OF THOSE 

REPORTED AS KILLED OR INJURED  

AS A RESULT OF THE

EUREKA AFFAIR 

 

** Please NOTE: This list may not be complete as more information comes to light. Contact Ballarat Heritage Services if you can supply any extra documented information. Thank you. Last updated 27 November 2019.

 

ADAIR, Robert Samuel, Private 12th Regiment, *Reg. No. 3329

Enlisted 19 December 1853, arriving in Melbourne on the Empress Eugenie.

Sustained a gunshot wound through the hand during the Eureka battle.

Adair was promoted through the ranks to Colour Sergeant 1 November 1863, demoted to Sergeant on 14 July 1864, then promoted back to Colour Sergeant in October 1864. He was one of only 16 Ballarat veterans to serve in both second and third Maori Wars. his discharge in New Zealand on 10 June 1866.

BOYLE, Felix, Private 12th Regiment, carpenter, *Reg. No. 3280

Born in Ballyvollan, Monaghan, Ireland. Boyle’s death was officially registered 20 June 1855 registration number #3264. Felix Boyle was born in Ireland around 1823. He enlisted with the 10th (North Lincolnshire) Regiment and spent 14 years in the British Army in India. He received the Sutlej campaign medal (1845-46) with the bar Sabraon and the Punjab campaign medal (1848-49) with the bars Mooltan and Goojerat. He was discharged from the 10th Regiment with a military pension. After returning to Ireland he enlisted again in Belfast on the 26 August 1853 with the 12th  Sussex Regiment, and sailed to Australia on the Empress Eugenie and disembarked at Melbourne on 6 November 1854.

Felix Boyle, Regimental Number 3280, died a result of a musket ball to his nose and mouth, and a broken jaw, sustained during the Eureka Stockade battle. He died on 10 January 1855, aged 32 years, and was buried in the Soldiers’ Enclosure at the Ballaarat Old Cemetery on 11 January 1855.

BRIEN, Denis, Private 40th Regiment, *Reg. No. 2816 

Born in Bandon, County Cork, Ireland, the son of Denis Brien. 

He enlisted 16 January 1850, regimental number *2816 and was killed in action  3 December 1854 as he took part in storming the Eureka Stockade. The original report sent by Captain Thomas to Nickle, and thus his death, has been overlooked  in most publications. (KIA, 3Dec1854) •

BROWN, James, miner

Born Newry, Ireland c1826. Brown died in February1855 from wounds sustained at the Eureka battle and his death was registered on 20 June 1855 registration number #3250. On his death certificate ‘when and where died’ 3 December is crossed out. In the side margin ‘February 1855’ is written by Pooley the registrar.

He was buried 21 February 1855 at Ballaarat Old Cemetery, aged 29 years

James emigrated in 1851 so had been in Victoria for three years.

Informant: A. Sickler surgeon, Ballarat

BRYANT, Alfred •

Alfred Bryant was born 13 December 1829 at Parkstone, Poole, Dorsetshire, England to Francis Bryant (1776 Somerset -1860 Dorset) and Sarah Bartlett (1795 East Chinnock, Somerset – 1868 Parkstone, Dorset). Three more brothers were born to these parents: Josiah W. E. (1831 Poole – 1857 Dorset; Sidney W (1834 Somerset – 1856 Poole, Dorset); and Francis John (1827 Middlesex – 1907 Devon). Interestingly, the son of Francis John – Reginald A. Bryant born 1864 in Devon married Mary Annie Smith born 1874 South Australia. They had children born 1904 in Penola South Australia and 1912. Reginald A. Bryant died in 1951 in Devon while the child born in 1904 in South Australia died in 1989 in Devon.

Alfred was living at 65 Blake Hill, North West Canford, near Poole, Dorset at the time when there were 5 uninhabited houses there. At number 65 were:

Francis 73 y described as a land proprietor; Sarah 56 years, his wife; Alfred 22 years, his son; Marie Bartlett 38 years, sister-in-law; William Tooth, 33 years, visitor, described as a potter; Elizabeth Tooth, his wife 33 years; Elizabeth Tooth daughter, 13 years; William Tooth, son 4 years and Mary Ann Monk, 14 years, a servant.

Alfred Bryant emigrated as an unassisted passenger on the Ballengiech aged 23 years on 19 December 1852. Reportedly he was at Eureka and could have been one of those men (or women) who were missing after the battle. His family tried to locate him several times. Advertised in the Victorian Government Gazettes, Y.10154, during 1856 and 1857 still no trace of him was found.

Notice in Government Gazette

BRYANT, Alfred: formerly of Parkstone, Poole, Dorsetshire and of Turnham Green, London. Left England August 1852. Last seen P O Castlemaine. Y.10154

When his father Francis died in 1860 in England, notices were posted in Melbourne and Sydney papers. 

Bryant. – Mr Alfred Bryant, son of Francis Bryant, of Blake Hill, Parkstone, near Poole in the county of Dorset, England, Esq., deceased who left England for Australia in August 1852 is requested to communicate his address forthwith either to the Rev Francis John Bryant of North Brentor, Tavistock, Devonshire, England; or to George Ledgard of Poole aforesaid, Esq., executors of the said Francis Bryant, deceased; or to Mr Frederick Mahew of No. 11 Argyll place, Regent street, Middlesex, England, their solicitor. The said Francis Bryant died on the 15th May 1860 and the said Alfred Bryant is entitled to a share of his property.

No death certificate and no burial place have been found for Alfred Bryant as yet. 

BUTWELL, William, Private 12th Regiment, *Reg. No. 3307

Sustained a compound fracture of the arm. Transferred to the 40th Regiment on 1 December 1855.

BYRNE, John, Private 40th Regiment

Severely wounded at Eureka Stockade with a flesh wound in the neck  and leg.

CALLANAN, Patrick

Born County Clare, Ireland c1832. The usual spelling of the surname is Callinan. 

Callinan had a bayonet wound between the two shoulders, and a cut under the left breast, which was received during the Eureka Stockade battle. He was the cousin of John Hanrahan. After ceasing gold mining, Callinan farmed at Bungaree. He married Bridget Coffey at St Alipius, Ballarat, on 21 February 1860. He died of miner’s phthisis at the age of 72 years and was buried at Boroondara Cemetery on 20 November 1902. Bridget Callinan aged 73 years was buried with him on 17 February 1917 while Michael Callinan aged 32 years was buried in the same grave on 31 May 1914. 

CALLANAN, Thomas

Born County Clare, Ireland

Wounded during the Eureka battle and since recovered. The spelling of his surname is often seen as Callinan. Thomas and his brother Patrick were gold mining in May 1859 when they gave evidence about two men who were charged with stealing 9oz. 13cwts. of gold from a Chinese man named Kin Tock. They later farmed at Bungaree, a farming community near Ballarat.

(Lalor’s list only) • 

CLIFTON, George, miner

Born on 25 September 1822 at Saint Mary Cray, Kent, to parents Peter and Sarah Clifton, he was baptised on 3 November 1822. Clifton died on 14 January 1855 from gunshot wounds sustained during the attack on Eureka Stockade, aged 32 years, death registration number #3266. His place of birth was recorded as ‘unknown’ on his death certificate. The Informant on his death certificate (as written) is Privet J Langan, 12 Regtment, Belleret, Camp [sic]. 

Clifton emigrated to Australia on the Scindian aged 32 years, from England in October 1852. Fanny Clifton aged 32 years, Elizabeth Clifton aged 12 years, – Clifton aged 1 year were with him on the voyage. On the 1851 census transcripts for England, Fanny’s age is wrongly transcribed as 80 years. On the original record George Clifton, an agricultural labourer, is described as the head of the household and aged 24 years. He is living at 201 Fulchen Yard, St Mary Cray, Kent, with his wife Fanny, who works in the paper mill, aged 26 years and daughter Elizabeth Shatford aged 11 years. George Clifton, the son of Peter Clifton, a plumber, had married Fanny Shatford, the daughter of Joseph Shatford, a blacksmith, on 13 December 1850 at St Saviour, Southwark, England. He was illiterate, signing with an ‘X’ while Fanny signed her named fluently. Their son George was born in 1851, and a daughter Sarah Amelia was born in 1854 and there appear to be no more children born to Fanny and George Clifton. Fanny died in 1857. 

COLLIS, Henry, Private 40th Regiment

Slightly wounded at Eureka, with a gun shot wound in the side.

COXHEAD, Frederick Robert, lawyer’s clerk, 

Born in England around 1832 to Robert Thomas Coxhead and Louisa Rodwell. Frederick was baptised on the same day as his sister on 16 May 1834 at St James, Westminster, London. He was two years of age when he was baptised. At age nine in 1841 he was at a boarding school on Fore Street, Edmonton Middlesex, England. He died on 5 May1856, at Benevolent Asylum as the result of wounds received at the Eureka battle. ‘Amongst the deaths of recent occurrences at the Benevolent Asylum is that of Frederick Coxhead, native of London, lawyer’s clerk, and 24 years of age. He sided with the insurgents at the memorable battle of the Eureka Stockade at Ballarat, and received a gun-shot wound. Compression of the brain ensued, and an abscess then set in which terminated fatally on Sunday.’

Frederick Coxhead was buried at Melbourne General Cemetery, Carlton.

CROW, John, miner, 

Born around 1824 in Paulstown, County Kilkenny, Ireland. 

He most likely arrived in Australia in 1841 aged 21 years on the vessel Forth.

Crow died on 3 December 1854 from gunshot wounds, death registration number #3255. He was buried on 4 December 1854 at Ballaarat Old Cemetery

Informant – James Stewart M.D

There was also a John Crow who was described as a ‘lunatic’ and was a private in the 40th Regiment. His full name was John Jonah Crow. The following is a series of three letters claiming that Drummer James Bennett and Private John Crow of the 40th Regiment are lunatics.

DIAMOND, Martin, miner/storekeeper, 

Born Castleclare, County Clare, Ireland around 1831.

On Peter Lalor’s list his name is recorded as John Diamond.

Martin married Ann Keane and they had three children. They established a store on the Eureka Diggings. Martin died from wounds sustained at Eureka Stockade battle on 3 December 1854, registration number #3249, aged only 23 years. He was buried 3 December 1854 at Ballaarat and Informant the on his death certificate was Samuel Irwin, Editor of the Times Ballarat.

According to John Moloney in his publication Eureka Diamond was a rebel captain and meetings were held in his shop on Thursday 30 November, the day after the Monster Meeting at Bakery Hill. On December 3rd, 1854 he was shot by troopers inside his store and in front of his wife. Alpheus Boynton wrote in his diary, “The conduct of the soldiers generally through the whole has been anything but that of men, and some have brought upon themselves everlasting disgrace, for what true soldier would discharge his musket at an innocent and helpless female standing in front of her tent? and yet such was the case with some of the brutes clothed in uniform.” Martin’s wife, Anne applied for compensation from the government for property (to the value of £600 ) destroyed by the Military and Police at the time of the attack and stated in her application that her husband had been shot inside his store. 

I, Anne Diamond, of the Eureka, Ballaarat, in the Colony of Victoria, widow of the late Martin Diamond; storekeeper, deceased, do solemnly and sineerely declare that on Sunday morning, the third day of December instant, my store, with all the goods and property therein, to the valuc of six hundred pounds, was set fire to and destroyed immediately after the attack of the military and police on the stockade at the Eureka aforesaid, on the said third day of December: And I further solemnly and sincerely declare that my said late husband, the said Martin Diamond, deceased, was shot inside his store at the time of the attack hy the said military and police, and that he never took any part in the riot directly or indirectly: And I make this solemn declaration conscientiously believing the same to be true, and by virtue of the provisions of an Act made and passed in the ninth year of the Reign of Her present Majesty, intituled, An Act for the more effectuul abolition of oaths and affirmations taken and made (in various departments of the Government of New South Wales, and to substitute …

(Signed) ANNE DIAMOND.

DINAN, Denis, miner

Spelt Denis DYNAN on Lalor’s List. Dinan was newly arrived in the Colony, when he landed in Geelong on 24 October 1854, when he came to Ballarat to his brother and sister-in-law’s tent on the Eureka Diggings. 

He was shot and received wounds caused by a ball in the shoulder and a stroke of a sword on his head. Dinan recovered and gave evidence at the report into the Goldfields held by the Royal Commission. In 1855 Dinan applied for ‘loss and damages’. He was asked, ‘What are you going to state here?’ He replied, ‘My loss and damages, and how I was ill-treated by the troopers on the morning of the 3rd, at my brother’s tent, where I stopped myself’.

DONAGHEY, George, miner

Born Muff, County Donegal, lreland, c 1829.

Donaghey died on 3 December 1854 from a gunshot wound sustained during the Eureka battle. He was buried 3 December 1854 at Ballarat, aged 25 years.

Informant: Samuel Irwin, Editor Times Ballarat.

EGAN, John, drummer, 12th Regiment, *3059 and 3159

Born in Athlone, Ireland 1839 Egan enlisted on 10 February 1852 aged 13 years. Egan sustained an injury on 28 November 1854 at the Eureka Lead. He was shot in the leg when the 1st Battalion of the 12th Regiment entered the Ballarat East diggings and were assailed by the insurgents, after the Battalion had marched from Melbourne. He was promoted to a private after the Eureka Affair, re-appointed drummer in July 1859. He went to Tasmania but by 1860 he was in Sydney with the 12th Regiment. John Egan died from a heart related condition, aged 21 years, under the name John Eagan, on 8 September 1860 at Victoria Barracks, Paddington, Sydney, New South Wales. He was buried in the Roman Catholic section of the burial grounds.

EMMARMANN, William, miner 

Born St Petersburg, Russia c 1834

Emmarmann’s father was a shoemaker from St Petersburg. William Emmarmann had been only one year in Victoria and was 20 years of age when he died. The informant on his death certificate, registration number #3240, was Adolphus Lessman, a miner, from Ballarat. He died on 3 December 1854 from a gunshot wound sustained during the attack on Eureka Stockade early that morning. An unpublished diary makes reference to Emmarman as the pikeman whose terrior would not leave his side after Emmarman’s death, although according to Peter Lalor the pikeman could have been Edward Thonen.

FENTON, Robert

Robert Fenton, wounded and since dead – recorded on the Diggers’ Monument in Ballarat Old Cemetery from Peter Lalor’s statue inscription, dated 1892, which states ‘and others who were killed while fighting at Eureka Stockade’.

(Lalor’s list only) •

FRENCH, William, Private, 12th Regiment, *Reg. No. 3865

French sustained a gunshot wound in the hip during the Eureka Stockade battle.

He recovered and was promoted to Sergeant and served in the third Maori War. French then returned to England with his Regiment on 3 May 1867.

GALVIN, Timothy, Private 12th Regiment, *3028

Born in County Cork, Ireland c1827.

Galvin sustained a gunshot wound in the neck and ear during the Eureka Stockade battle. In February 1856 he went to Fremantle, then was posted to Sydney in March 1863. He died on 13 May 1863 at Victoria Barracks, Parramatta, Sydney.

GITTENS, Patrick, miner

Born c1822 Kilkenny, Ireland to Mary and Lawrence Gittens.

Gittens emigrated on the Mangerton in 1852, being 2 years and 9 months in Victoria in 1854 at the time of Eureka when he died from gunshot wounds. He was buried on 3 December 1854 at Ballarat, aged 32 years. The Informant on his death certificate death registration number #3246, was Samuel Irwin, the Editor of the Times Ballarat. Bolger wrote that he was the person who conveyed the bodies of Gittens and O’Neill to the Ballarat Cemetery.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE ARGUS. – Sir-I think that any person knowing Mr. Oddie would know he would not exaggerate about the Eureka Stockade. I wish to inform Mr. Sadlier I am the person who conveyed the bodies of Gittens and O’Neill to Ballarat Cemetery on that memorable 3rd of December, 1854, and on the body of one of those there were 10 wounds. I will let the public of the present day judge for themselves whether that was butchery or not.

Yours. &c., . M. BOLGER. Yarram, South Gippsland, June 22.

P.S. The last digger hunt on Ballarat was carried out at the point of the bayonet. M. B. 

GREEN, Samuel, England, miner

Cannot be proven conclusively. 

No death certificate found yet and no known burial place.

(Lalor’s list only) •

HAFELE, John, Wurtemberg

Cannot be proven conclusively. 

No death certificate found yet and no known burial place.

(Lalor’s list only) •

HALL, John, Private 12th Regiment, *Reg. No. 3295

Born Kilkeady, Limerick, Ireland, around 1824, he arrived in Australia per the vessel Camperdown. Hall enlisted on 3 October 1853. (AJCP) 

He died on 31 December 1854, *Reg. No. 3295, laborer

HAMMOND, James

Listed as having died on the return journey to Melbourne after the battle at the Eureka Stockade. 

HANAFIN, Patrick

Born in County Kerry, Ireland

Wounded and since recovered.

(Lalor’s list only) •

HANLY, Michael, 

Born Mount Katharane, County Tipperary, Ireland

The name is sometimes spelt Hanley. Michael Hanly received two bullet wounds during the Eureka battle, and died 15 years later. 

(He is recorded on Lalor’s list only) •

EUREKA VETERAN. – 

NEVER HARMED ANYBODY. 

REBEL AT FOURTEEN, MELBOURNE, Saturday

When 14 years old Simon Hanley fought at Eureka Stockade. Now he is spending the eve of his life at Diggora near Rochester. He was one of the stout-hearted pioneers who followed the lure of gold in the early ‘fifties’ at Ballarat. He is the mildest and most genial of men, but, his eyes flash when he refers to the days when, as a lad of about fourteen years of age, he went forth armed with a pike and a revolver. He was one of three brothers who were in the firing line. The oldest of the three — Michael — received two bullet, wounds during the fight, one of which was in directly the cause of his death, about fifteen years later, while handling a restive horse.

The other brother, Jeremiah, like Simon, escaped unharmed, and the most treasured memory of the latter in regard to this historical escapade centres in the fact that he harmed nobody. Born on a farm at Mount Katharane, in County Tipperary, Ireland, in 1849, Hanley sailed for Australia from Birkenhead in the ship Mangerton, in 1852, the vessel was blown’ ashore on the coast of Scotland during an adventurous voyage that took six months to complete. Eventually, however, Geelong was reached. Ballarat was the rendezvous decided on by the ship’s passengers, and gold was the adventurers’ lodestone. The Hanley brothers did well on the diggings, but Simon soon followed farming pursuits at Windermere, and afterwards at Bungaree – a decade being spent in each place. About 1873 the Diggora lands were thrown open for selection, and he settled there.

HARDIE, William Simpson, livestock dealer

William Simpson Hardie was born in Scotland arriving in Australia in 1852, and first dug for gold at Winters Flat. He was residing in Ballarat in the 1880s. He died on 10 January 1855. On the night of 4 December 1854 William Hardie was walking along Main Road, Ballarat, with his mate James Beveridge, towards the Camp. He was visiting Ballarat from Bacchus Marsh where he was a livestock dealer. A fusillade of shots had been fired from the Camp, and a bullet struck the road in front of him and he was hit in his thigh, fracturing the bone. The wound bled profusely so he was taken to the Camp Hospital. There was no room, so Hardie was taken to the tent of his mate James Beveridge. Dr Carr amputated his leg at Beveridge’s store, assisted by doctors Campbell, Mount and Leman. Hardie was later transferred to the Clarendon Hotel. An inquest was held into his death.

11 Jan 1855 – William Simpson Hardie – Death from typhus fever – deceased having been previously debilitated by … the result of a gunshot wound

The deceased died of Typhus Fever, and that the fatal results was accelerated and indirectly caused by the effects of a wound received from a ball fired by the military from the Ballarat Camp on the evening of the 4th Dec 1855.

The jury beg to express their strong disapprobation of the reckless and in discriminate firing of the military on a densely populated neighbourhood on the above evening.

Jury – Andrew Davies; Thomas Drummond Wanliss; Charles Dawkins; George Roberts; James Taylor; John Fox; John Sinclair Robertson; Robert Osborn; George Melville Milne; William Newton; William Nicol; John Peet good and lawful men of Ballarat.

Witness – James Beveridge of Ballarat taken on oath this 11th day of Jan 1855 at Ballarat .

I was with deceased on the night of December 4 when the accident occurred. We were coming over the flat and had just crossed the bridge when the firing commenced. I think the firing came from the direction of the mess room or the Camp. One ball struck the ground near our feet, we then tried to get out into the drain out of the way but a ball struck deceased before he could get under cover, he was struck in the right thigh, and fell down. I went and fetched some assistance and deceased was taken and put under the verandah of the mess room and then taken to the hospital and from there to our tent. Several medical men met there and amputation was performed. Deceased was removed to this house the following day.

We were coming home when the accident occurred – deceased had only arrived the same afternoon from Bacchus Marsh. I had known deceased for twelve months. Neither deceased nor myself were armed. I saw only one person besides ourselves on this side of the bridge. I heard no shots fired from the flat. The firing commenced from the direction of the Resident Commissioner’s house and went towards the Black Hill.

By a juryman. ‘The firing lasted about 10 minutes and was continuous. There were some people one the other side of the bridge. Assistance from the camp was rendered in the few minutes. The night was rather dark.’ James Beveridge.

Witness – Alfred John Carr of Ballarat

I am a qualified medical practitioner. I was on the Gov’t Camp when deceased was brought in on Monday evening December 4th. He had received a gun shot wound thro’ the thigh fracturing the bone and upturning the (profunder arteries?. He was seen by medical men and immediate amputation was considered necessary. This was performed in Mr Beveridge’s tent where he had been removed to. The following morning he was brought to this hotel for greater convenience of attendance. he progressed favourable for nearly 5 weeks, the stump had nearly healed, about Saturday last symptoms of typhus fever set in, he had a slight attack of diarrhea two days previously, nearly all medical men on Ballarat had seen deceased during his illness and after fever set in he was attended by these medical men beside myself, but he sank in spite of our exertions and died yesterday about one o’clock. By the Coroner I attribute death by typhus fever in addition to the weak state he was previously reduced by the loss of his limb.

The deceased had a predisposition to typhus from having suffered it some years ago. It is not customary for typhus fever to arise from an accident but it would be likely to be more fatal from the weakened state in which his accident would have the patient. He had so nearly recovered on Friday that we intended to have removed him out of bed if fever had no have come on.

Alfred Carr

Witness – Alfred Sickler of Ballarat

I am a qualified medical practitioner, I saw deceased previously to being called in specifically. When called in consultation I found deceased suffering from typhus fever for which I prescribed in conjunction with Dr Carr. I attended him until he died, the fever became aggravated until the last. Every means were acted to recover him but were of no avail. The stump of his thigh was very near healed up.

By the coroner

The stump would not have presented that appearance if the patient had not been in a good state of health. I was present when the operation was performed and I always thought he was going on favourably. I attributed death to typhus fever. I do not think that fever was caused by the amputation but that it was more dangerous in consequence of the weak state deceased was left in by the amputation.

Witness – Henry Foster of Ballarat

I am Inspector of Police. On Monday evening Dec 4th somewhere about 8 o’clock. I was in the mess room on the camp. We had just finished dinner when I heard 2 shots fired. I got up directly and went out and went towards my post which is in the ravine between the camp and the company of the 12th [Regiment]. Whilst going there a sharp running fire was going on, by the time I got to my post the firing had ceased. I heard an officer cry out cease firing. I got in my house and visited the vidittes which were 4 or 500 yards among the tents. They pointed out 2 tents in particular from which they had seen shots fired, one under the Black Hill and the other over the bridge 3 or 400 yards down the road. I heard no shots fired after the order to cease firing was given – no shot was fired in the rear of the camp.

A shot was fired from the flat and struck a candle stick in a tent belonging to the 12th Regt. I have seen marks of bullets on different houses on the camp. The first firing emanated from the camp of the 12th Regiment on the other side the ravine and was occasioned by the shot being fired into one of their tents. Some of the sentries told me that bullets had come very near them. I searched the tent from which the firing proceeded. There was no one in it.

HASLEHAM, Frank Arthur

Claimed for compensation for gunshot wound in the right shoulder. Allowed to the amount of £400. ‘He was not having been implicated in the proceedings of the rioters and having been severely wounded nad thereby put to considerable loss and suffering.’

Frank A. Hasleham, the reporter for the Geelong Advertiser and the Melbourne Herald was camping more than three hundred metres from the Eureka Stockade when it was stormed. He was shot through the shoulder by a mounted policeman and was left handcuffed, bleeding on the ground for over two hours. The Geelong paper reported that: Mr F. Halezleham is progressing favourably; the ball has not yet been extracted: on his recovery, he will have to go to the Camp, and prove that he had no connection with the “insurgents;” the fact of his being wounded being presumptive evidence of his criminality’.

Frank Arthur Haselham died in 1862 at Ramsgate, Kent, England.

ONE OF THE OLD EUREKA VICTIMS

We are sorry to record the death of Mr Arthur Hasleham, formerly reporter to the Daily News, and afterwards attached to the staff of the Geelong Advertiser. This melancholy event took place at Ramsgate, Kent, on the 17th day of December last. The deceased will be remembered in connection with the massacre at the Eureka Stockade, he having received some half dozen bullets in the shoulder from some chance shots while engaged in taking notes of the affray for the Melbourne Herald. Mr Hasleham’s claim upon the colony received favourable consideration on two separate occasions, the parliament having voted him no later than last year the sum of L500, and a like amount about 7 years since. The deceased left this colony for England in the Lincolnshire, and had only landed in England about a week before he died – the cause of deaths being the wounds he received in the great Ballarat riots of 1854. Mr Hasleham was one of the best theatrical critics in the colony, and his profound knowledge of Shakespeare was something wonderful. He died at his brother’s residence at Ramsgate, as before stated, aged 34 years. – Chronicle.

HASSELL, Benden Sharwell, storekeeper and hotelier

Storekeeper with Monkton at the London Hotel, Hassell was standing in the doorway of the Hotel when he was shot in the leg on 28 November 1854.  Examined on 5 March 1856 his leg was still suppurating. The bullet had passed through his leg and lodged in his shin bone where it still remained. It was ‘discharging copiously and very painful indeed’. In 1856 Hassell was a single man. He sought compensation from the government and was awarded £1000. More information about Benden Hassell is offered in pages 24-27. 

HENFELD, Thomas, blacksmith

Born Wurtemberg, Germany c1826

Died 3 December 1854 from gunshot wounds, #3243

Buried 5 December 1854 at Ballarat, aged 28 years

Henfeld emigrated around 1852 and was about 2 years in Victoria at the time of Eureka. The Informant on his death certificate is A. Sickler, surgeon. 

HYNES, John, miner, 

Born in County Clare, Ireland c1824, the son of John and Judith Hynes. He arrived in Asutralia with three young children, Michael (11 years), Margaret (8 years), and Honora (4 years). Hynes’ wife had died during the voyage

Hynes died on 3 December 1854, death registration #3245, from gunshot wounds. He was one of those buried on 3 December 1854 in Ballarat. Informant on the death certificate is Samuel Irwin, Editor of Times Ballarat.

Mr Michael Canny, Ascot Street, Ballarat, who was severely wounded in the Eureka Stockade fight, had a clear recollection of what happened. 

My brother Patrick, who is now a farmer at Bungaree, and I were in the stockade fight. I was a young fellow of 18 or 19. When the fight began Teddy Moore, John Hines, my brother and I were standing behind a dray turned up on its heels, with the shafts in the air. It was bright moonlight, and we saw the redcoats blazing away at us. I had my own rifle and fired several shots. I saw Captain Wise fall, and a couple of soldiers take him by the shoulders and drag him behind a mullock heap. Teddy Moore and John Hines fell dead beside us. Then my brother was hit with a bullet, which splintered his shin bone, and he was stretched out. I had my rifle ready for another shot when a bullet pierced my right arm, went in at my side, and out under the breast-bone. It did not hurt, but the blood spurted out, and scared me, I threw the rifle down and went over the stockade fence like a deer, and ran like a racer over the hill towards Pennyweight Flat where our tents were. In the early morning light I could see two troopers coming towards me. There were a cluster of tents near by with a break-wind of brushwood round them. I ran for them and crawled under the brushwood until the troopers passed, and then made for my tent. My sister-in-law was in the neighbouring tent and she brought a cloth and a bucket of water, and I pulled off my shirt, and kept bathing the wound in my side with water to try and stop the bleeding. Someone carried word to Dr Carr that I was wounded, and he came along during the morning and dressed the wound. My brother was taken with the prisoners, and went to the camp hospital, where he remained six or seven weeks. We were in a great state of terror for days after the fight. All sorts of rumours were flying about that we were going to be all shot and the tents burned. On the morning Sir Robert Nickle came on to the field with over 800 men, and the field guns, two or three days after the fight, I was lying in the bunk with only my shirt and trousers on. As I saw the troops filing along the road I thought, like a young fool, that the end was near. Bare-headed and bare-footed as I was, I bolted for the bush, towards Warrenheip. My feet gave me more pain than my side, so I ran breathless into the scrub. I went back in the afternoon to the tent hardly able to walk, my feet were so badly cut. I had a bad time for months with the wound in my side. It was nearly a year before it properly healed, and I was able for work again. We lost our claim, windlass, buckets, ropes, and tools and nearly 2000 slabs which went to build the stockade, when it was burnt by the soldiers. Before I left the stockade I saw Lalor stagger and drop his gun, and stoop quickly to pick it up with the other hand, but I did not know till afterwards that he was then wounded.

JULIEN, Robert, miner, 

Born in Novia Scotia, Canada, c1820

Julien died on 14 January 1855, death registration #3265, from gunshot wounds sustained during the Eureka battle, aged 34years.

JUNIPER, William, Private 40th Regiment

Severely wounded at Eureka, by a compound fracture of the leg caused by a gun shot wound sustained during hte attack on Eureka Stockade.

THE MILITARY POINT OF VIEW

A long letter, dated February 7, 1870, and signed ‘John Neill, late of the 40th Regiment,’ described the attack on the Stockade, and some of the immediately subsequent events gave the point of view of a soldier who took part in them.

‘As a military man’, he wrote, ‘and one who took a most prominent part in all the military movements of that day, I beg leave to offer a remark upon the statement made by the Government officer of the camp. 

The small force consisted of detachments of the 12th and 40th Regiments, and a few troopers and foot police, the whole under the command of Captains Thomas and Wise, and a lieutenant of the 12th — I forget his name. The order to fall in and be silent was given, and when Captain Thomas had spoken a few words we were put in motion, led by Captain Wise. The party had not advanced three hundred yards before we were seen by the rebel sentry, who fired, not at our party, but to warn his party in the Stockade. He was on Black Hill. Captain Thomas turned his head in the direction of the shot and said:—

‘We are seen. Forward, and steady, men! Don’t fire; let the insurgents fire first. You wait for the sound of the bugle.’

‘When within a short distance of the Stockade the insurgents fired. Captain Wise fell, mortally wounded. The same volley wounded the lieutenant of the 12th. already spoken of, and three of his men; two killed, one wounded of the 40th—Privates Michael Rooney, Joseph Wall, killed; William Juniper, badly wounded. 

The camp officer says the police were the first to enter the Stockade. He is wrong. There was not one policeman killed or wounded during the whole affair. When Captain Wise fell the men cheered, and were over in the Stockade in a second, and then bayonet and pike went to work. The diggers fought well and fierce, not a word spoke on either side until all was over. The blacksmith who made the pikes was killed by Lieut. Richards, 40th Regiment. Honor to his name; he fought well and died gloriously. It was rumored that at that time the police were cruel to the wounded and prisoners. No such thing. The police did nothing but their duty, and they did it well for men who were not accustomed to scenes of blood or violence- To my knowledge there was only one wounded man despatched, and he kept swinging his pike about his head as he sat on the ground. His two legs were broken, and he had a musket ball in his bcdy. He could not live, and it was best to despatch him. His name was O’Neill, a native of Kilkenny, Ireland. I heard this statement from a sergeant of police, and I knew it was correct.

LALOR, Peter

Peter Lalor was born on 5 February 1827 at Tenakill, Queen’s County, Ireland.Educated at Carlow College and in Dublin, Lalor became a civil engineer. The Lalor Papers are held at the National Library of Ireland. He sailed to Australia on the Scindian as an unassisted passenger, arriving on 12 December 1852. James Finton Lalor, the brother of Peter Lalor, became a leader of Irish Confederation and the ‘Young Ireland’ Movement of 1848. 

On Lalor’s death: … Dr Lalor, the son of Peter Lalor, observed that he was not an orator, and he believed he had never attempted to make a speech before in his life; but he was the only relative of Peter Lalor there, otherwise he might ask somebody else to make a speech for him. He thought the best thing he could do was to give a few particulars of his father which might be unknown to some present. He was born in Queen’s County on the 5th February, 1827, the youngest and smallest of 18 children – 17 boys and one girl. He came to Australia in 1852 with his brother Richard, who went back about a month afterwards and became M.P. for Queen’s County. Peter Lalor had told the speaker that he was very proud of being called a miner, and said he would rather be called that than K.C.M.G. or any other title. He always said miners were the leaders of civilisation. Dr Lalor agreed with that. Take the Phoenecians, for example. With a population no bigger than that of an English county, they ruled the world at one time simply because they were miners. They went to Cornwall, where the best miners in the world come from, and got tin and lead. The Cornish were crossed with the Phoenicians, and he was sure were proud of it. It was Plutarch, he believed, who said wherever there was gold mines there was civilisation. He thanked the gathering in the name of his deceased father the reception given him. …

Peter Lalor died on 9 February 1889 at Richmond, Victoria. He was buried in the Melbourne General Cemetery.

OBITUARY

A week back when I visited Church-street, Richmond, Mr. Peter Lalor lay sick unto death. He had been long suffering from an incurable disease. He had received the last rites of his church, and was calmly awaiting his end. I consider it one of the greatest compliments paid to me as a journalist in Australia when I was told that the ex-Speaker would be glad to see me, although he or his medical attendants, Doctors Williams and Robertson, forbade any other visitors. Sitting in an arm chair at the study window looking out from the height of Richmond Hill over pleasant South Yarra and Toorak, Mr. Peter Lalor, courtly and gracious in his greeting did not look like one of those who are morituri. Yet science had given the fiat; it was only a question of a few days, it might be of a few hours. After we shook hands Mr. Lalor’s first thought was hospitality, and his attendant, an ex-valet of Sir Henry Loch’s was ordered to ring the bell for refreshments before we com menced our afternoon’s conversation, in which, if I did not obtain the complete “story of his life from year to year,” I was enlightened on many points of which the history of the day has been silent. Of the Eureka Stockade affair my previous authority had been Withers’ admirable “ History of Ballarat,” given to me during my stay in that city six years ago by Mr James Oddie, who also told me much of interest in regard to the early days of the gold diggings, with which Mr. PeterLalor’s name will be ever connected. This interview, which I first sought was by the wish not only of the ex Speaker, but of his devoted son, Dr. Joseph Lalor. Father had done his duty and the church had said “post hominem vermis; post vermem falor et horror sic in non hominem vertitur omnis homo. I, as a journalist, surely may be allowed to testify that “the good may not be interred with his bones.”

Mr. Peter Lalor was 62 years of age, having been born in 1827. He was a student at ‘Trinity College, Dublin, and a civil engineer when he emigrated to Melbourne to try his luck on the gold diggings. His first essay was on the Ovens goldfield, but in February, 1853, he migrated to Ballarat. Here Mr. Peter Lalor and his “mates” took up some valuable claims, from which they hoped to be soon able to realise sufficient to permit them to return with a competence to their native homes. Mr. Duncan Gillies was also working in an adjoining claim. But the oppression of the central authorities, and the petty insolence and tyranny and corruption of the camp officials exasperated the miners until they were driven into open revolt, and the flag of the Southern Cross was raised, Peter Lalor being appointed commander in chief of the insurgent diggers. The verdict of posterity is that the malcontents were justified in their endeavors to obtain redress for their grievance, if not in the manner by which they sought it. I remember when one of her Majesty’s pro-consuls from a neighboring colony was shown the site of the Eureka Stockade he paralysed some of the attendant officials by saying, “That was altogether the most infamous piece of business ever done in the name of the Queen.” Peter Lalor and his followers suffered, but their blood was not shed in vain. Redress for their grievances quickly followed the abortive attempt at insurrection. As the old hero said: “’Tis better as it is now. We not only got all we fought for, but a little more. It is sweet and pleasant to die for one’s country or in defence of one’s liberty, but it is sweeter to live and see the principles for which you have risked your life triumphant. I can look back calmly on those days. We were driven to do what we did by petty malice and spite. But the officials were not all alike. We recognised Mr. Panton as a man.” In his closing days Mr. Peter Lalor saw the reign of a peaceful democracy here in Victoria. With the full knowledge that his end was near, he passed calmly and quietly away, as became a true gentleman, regretting nothing in his career in the country of his adoption. Mr. Peter Lalor had been fortified by the last rites of the Catholic Church, of which he was a member. But, as he told me during his career in this colony he was never identified, like other prominent politicians, as a supporter of the policy of that church, and he will be remembered here after as a thorough democrat and protectionist, and advocate of the rights of the people.

Wounded and since recovered.

(Lalor’s list only) •

LITTLE, Joseph •

(Vic Govt Gaz, Dec1854)

LITTLEHALES, Captain George Richard, 12th Regiment, 

Died 12 February 1855 at Ballarat Camp. Buried Ballarat. (AJCP) •

Born in 1825 to parents Charles Littlehales (baptised 10 February 1784 St Thomas’ Winchester – died 1868) and Anne Carter (1796-1879) George Richards Littlehales was baptised at St Maurice’s Church, Winchester, Hampshire on 23 July 1825. In 1851 according to the English Census he was a Lieutenant in the 12th Regiment and residing at 17 Kingsgate Street, Winchester. His father Charles was a medical doctor MD Oxon 1820, Ext, LRCP London, 1811 according to the London Provincial and Medical Directory.

The two inscriptions on stones at Winchester relate John Littlehales MD and his wife Maria Ann Littlehales, grandparents of G. R. Littlehales. John baptised 12 February 1753 at St Leonard’s, Brignorth, Shropshire, England.

On page one of the Pay and Muster lists for the 12th Suffolk Regiment (which are extremely difficult to read) Captain G. R. Littlehales is listed with Captn H. Queade (1854 – 5). The lists also indicated that Littlehales was from Southby, Pa? 19 May?.

Captain Littlehales, of the 12th Regiment died on 12 February 1855, according to the Muster Lists of that Regiment for the first quarter of 1855. Unfortunately, there is little detail apart from the recording of his death and the information that he had no will. This death cannot be found in the Victorian Death Registrations. According to correspondence from the Trustees of the Ballarat General Cemetery to the Chief Secretary on 11 June 1856 No. 56/947 (corroborated by advertisements in the local journal) a wooden monument was erected first and then a stone put up when the soldiers memorial was erected later in the 1880s.[3] His memory is commemorated on a significant grave in the Ballaarat Old Cemetery, in the enclosure with those of soldiers Webb and Boyle who lost their lives during the Eureka Riots.

A large font was donated to Christ Church Cathedral, Ballarat “by his loving parents “ ….. “ in memory of G.R. Littlehales “. This still stands as you enter the Cathedral today.

In Winchester Cathedral, England, two Littlehales’ family graves lie in the flagstones within the floor, just above the stone of Jane Austen, and one month old S. A. youngest daughter of the late Reverend George Austen. The inscription on Captain Littlehales’ stone reads as follows:

Also of Captain George Richard Littlehales 

of the 12th Regiment of Foot 

Who died in Camp at Ballarat, Victoria, Australia. 

The 12th February 1855 

and was there buried. 

Aged 31 years

Although Littlehales “died at the Camp at Ballarat” it is not certain whether or not he was a participant in the battle of Eureka. The extraordinary painting by Abbott depicts the early grave that was erected to Captain Littlehales. From the inscription inside Winchester Cathedral it is known that he died and was buried in Ballarat. The original tombstones in the Ballaarat Old Cemetery were replaced at a later date with those that stand today.

George Richards Littlehales will was probated 1 October 1879 Registry Office, Canterbury, England by his brother Eldred Harry Littlehales (banker). It probated  for three thousand pounds.

McGLYNN, Edward, miner, cooper

Born in County Tipperary, Ireland c1818.

McGlynn died on 3 December 1854, death registration number, #3258. He was aged 36years. Storekeeper Dennis Keys was the informant on the death certificates of Edward McGlynn and Thomas O’Neill, who were both killed as the result of the Eureka Stockade battle

THE BALLARAT RIOT

(To the Editor of the Advocate) Sir, when reading the account in your paper of the eighteen men who were slain, I might say murdered, at the Eureka Stockade in 1854, for resisting a tyrannical mining law, which administered in an arbitrary manner by the police, I was forcibly reminded of scenes of a similar description which had occurred in Ireland for a number of years, and still occur, with little abatement. But I am wandering from my purpose. One of the men who was shot on the occasion waa Edward M’Glynn, with whom I was perrsonally acquainted. I spent many pleasant evenings in his company, with other young men, in the years 1848-49, when the Irish famine was at its height through the failure of the potato crop. M’Glynn, in the years mentioned, worked at his trade as cooper at his mother’s residence in Henry-street, in the town of Tipperary, and was an only son. I believe he emigrated to Australia early in the fifties, accompanied by two of his cousins, Martin and James Coghlan. I venture to think that the Coghlans, of Ballarat, are members of the same family. I would not take up your valuable time but that Edward McGlynn’s birthplace is not given in your admirable notice.

Yours very, faithfully,

J. P.

Macedon, 21st January, 1901

MOORE Thaddeus, miner, 

Thaddeus Moore was the son of Michael Moore and Mary Considine. He was born in Kilfenora, County Clare, Ireland c1833. His brother Patrick Moore was possibly present at Eureka too. 

Thaddeus Moore was mortally wounded at Eureka and died on 3 December 1854 from gunshot wounds through both thighs, sustained during the battle, death registration number #3254. The Informant on his death certificate was Patrick Smyth, the Catholic priest from Ballarat. He was buried at Geelong Cemetery on 5th or 6th December according to the Catholic Records at Geelong, but on the 4th December according to his death certificate. The bodies of three insurgents were reportedly buried at night upon reaching Geelong, a statement that seems to indicate he was buried on the 4th of December.  

MORRISON, Michael

Born County Galway, Ireland

Wounded and since recovered.

(Lalor’s list only) •

MULLINS, Michael, miner, 

Born c1826 in County Limerick, Ireland

Mullins’ name is incorrectly recorded as Thomas Mullins on the Eureka monument in the Ballaarat Old Cemetery. He was a participant in the Eureka Stockade battle and was killed as the result of gunshot wounds on 3 December 1854 . Mullins was buried on 5 December 1854 in the Ballaarat Old Cemetery when he was 28 years old. The editor of The Times, Samuel Irwin, was the Informant on his death certificate, registration #3247. Mullins was buried 3 December 1854 at Ballarat.

O’DONNELL, Bernard, Private 40th Regiment

Severely wounded at Eureka with a gun shot wound in the neck.

O’NEIL, Michael, miner

Born County Clare, Ireland

Wounded and since recovered.

(Lalor’s list only) •

O’NEIL, Thomas, miner, 

Born Paulstown, County Kilkenny, Ireland c1824

His father was John O’Neil, a farmer from Paulstown. 

O’Neil died of gunshot wounds sustained during the attack on 3 December 1854.

He was buried on the same day, 3 December 1854 at Ballarat

O’Neil had been three years in Victoria. The Informant on his death certificate, registration number #3256, was Dennis Keys, storekeeper, Balaratt [sic]

PARKER, Thomas, blacksmith

Parker died, aged 30 years, on 4 December 1854 from gunshot wounds sustained during the Eureka battle. According to his death certificate, registration number #3259 he was buried on 5 December 1854 at Ballarat. 

His place of birth is not known.

PAUL, Lieutenant William H. 

Sustained a gunshot wound of the hip during the Eureka battle.

Posted to Launceston June 1856. Took leave and returned to England

POWELL, Henry, miner

Powell was born around 1831, but his birthplace is unknown. He is probably the William T. Powell who emigrated as an unassisted passenger on the Eagle. His death was registered, number  #3241, and he has an inquest. Powell died from gunshot & sabre wounds on 9 December 1854 after he was injured during the Eureka battle. He was buried on 11 December 1854,  aged 23 years. The Informant on his death certificate was William Wills, a surgeon. 

Powell, who resided at Creswick was visiting a friend, William Cox. He was wounded outside the Stockade and died six days later as the result of his injuries. His dying declaration, which was disallowed in the trial of Akehurst, the perpetrator of the deed, states: ‘I am very unwell but I think I will recover – at least I hope so – On Saturday I came over to Ballaarat for the purpose of visiting Mr. Cox and remaining until Sunday evening. When I arrived at Ballaarat I saw people going about in armed bodies, I came home and changed my trowsers [sic] and went down and looked into the ring [The stockade]. I then went to bed in the tent where I now am, the tent is the property of Mr Cox. About 5 o’clock the next morning, Sunday, I heard the report of a pistol, I got up and went towards the place where the firing was. I had gone about forty yards when the police came up to me, the Clerk of the Peace, a young man about twenty years of age was with them, he said, ‘In the Queen’s name you are my prisoner’. I said, ‘Very good’, he struck me a blow and the troopers rode over me, the blow was struck with something like a sheath knife about three feet and a half long.’ In his deposition George Pobjoy declared that he ‘saw a trooper fire at a man who was running away. The man fell and four troopers attacked him, thrusting at him with their swords as he lay on the ground’.Henry Powell was unarmed and offered no resistance. Dr. Leman’s cook, Joseph Ash testified that he heard one trooper shout: ‘Ride the b…… down.’ Powell was the only injured miner taken to the Albion Hotel. Of Powell’s injuries, Dr. William Wills gave this information in his evidence. ‘I am a properly qualified medical practitioner. I was called to see the deceased last Sunday morning December 3rd. I found him on the stretcher on which the coffin now is. I examined the body. The first wound I saw was that on the abdomen. The ball entered just near the floating ribs on the right side, it made its exit above and beyond the navel on the left side. The second wound was through the right shoulder from before backwards. A third ball had gone thru the left arm just above the wrist. He had received a severe sabre cut on the left parietal bone indenting the bone. Two other wounds were on his head, one on the frontal bone another on the upper part of the occipital bone, both penetrating to the bone. There was a wound on the left elbow joint penetrating to the humerus and a wound in the finger on the same hand laying open the tendon of the third finger. Deceased made a statement to Captain Evans in my presence. I visited deceased twice a day during the week and dressed his wounds and attended him generally administering all proper medicines.’

Despite all efforts, Henry Powell died and later at the trial for his murder, the evidence of his dying statement was not permitted and so Akehurst not only walked free but went on to a notable career in the public service.

QUINLAN,  William, miner

Born Goulburn, New South Wales according to his death certificate.Quinlan died on 3 December 1854 from gunshot wounds sustained at the Eureka battle. He was buried on 3 December 1854 at Ballarat, the Informant being Patrick Smyth, Priest, Catholic, Ballarat, death registration number # 3253.

QUIN, Edward, miner, 

Born County Cavan, Ireland c 1919

Quin died on 3 December 1854 from gunshot wounds sustained durnig the Eureka skirmish. He was buried on 4 December 1854 at Ballarat.

Informant on his death certificate, registration number #3252 was Patrick Smyth, Priest, Catholic, Ballarat

ROBERTSON, John, miner

Born Perthshire, Scotland c1829, Robertson died on 3 December 1854 from gunshot wounds and was buried on the 4th December 1854 at Ballarat.

The Informant on his death certificate, registration #3257 was Andrew Simpson, 

RONEY, Michael, Private 40th Regiment, *2116

Born in Ireland c 1835

Roney was the first soldier to die at Eureka. Henry Sutherland remembered that ‘Only one soldier was killed outright’. Hotham reported that no shots were fired or any other military casualties inflicted prior to the death of the first soldier. His wound was described in Thomas report to Nickle 3 December 1854. Roney died on 3 December 1854, death registration #3261 from a gunshot wound through the head. 

ROSS, Captain Charles, miner

Born Canada, Charles Ross (or Henry Charles Ross)was born c1827. (His name was recorded as Lieutenant Ross on Lalor’s list) His mother was Elizabeth Wells Ross. He arrived in Australia c1853. He had been only one year in Victoria at the time of the Eureka battle. Ross was a participant as he seconded Mr Murnane’s motion at the Ballarat Reform League Bakery Hill meeting of 29 November 1854. Ross was said to have asked two digger’s wives to make the Southern Cross flag, the flag of the diggers. The Italian Raffaello Carboni called him the standard bearer. After the Bakery Hill meeting Ross hoisted down the Southern Cross and headed the march to the Eureka Stockade carrying the flag. He died from gunshot wounds sustained at the battle. Shot in the groin on 3 December 1854, he escaped and was in hiding, until found, and carried to the Star Hotel on a stretcher. The informant for his death certificate #3262, was Dr Albert Sickler on 5 December 1854. He was buried 7 December 1854 at Ballarat. His body was reinterred in 1857.

THE EUREKA VICTIMS – On Thursday morning, about 7 o’clock, the bodies of Captain Ross, James Brown, Thonen, the lemonade seller, and Tom the blacksmith, who fell at the Eureka Stockade, and had been buried apart from the others, were removed from the grave and placed in the grave containing the bodies of the others who lost their lives on the memorable 3rd of December. The removal took place in the presence of Mr Superintendent Foster, Mr Salmon, trustees of the cemetery, and Mr Lessman. The coffins were in excellent preservation. We understand that no procession will take place on Thursday next, the anniversary of the Eureka affair, but the grave of the fallen will be decorated with chaplets and flowers.

ROWLANDS, Llewellyn, miner

Born Wales c1821 Rowlands had been three years in Victoria at the time of Eureka and was married to Elizabeth. He died on 3 December 1854 from a gunshot wound sustained during the attack. Rowlands was buried 4 December 1854 at Ballarat. The Informant on his death certificate #3251 was Dr A. Sickler, surgeon, Ballarat.

Llewellyn Rowlands was an innocent victim who was brutally murdered by the Police. He was talking to Benjamin Welch when he saw some troopers and prisoners near the St Alipius’ Catholic Chapel. On going to have a closer look, he was ordered to surrender by the trooper. He refused, and ‘the man deliberately got off his horse and shot him through the heart’. This was estimated to be ‘very nearly a quarter of a mile’ away from the Eureka Stockade.

Elizabeth Rowlands his wife, asserted that she ‘attended several meetings’ and was present at the proclamation when soldiers presented their guns ordering the crowd to disperse at Bakery Hill. She wrote a letter to the Ballarat Courier in 1904.

Sir, – May I give a few of my recollections re the Stockade? I arrived in Ballarat in 1852, and stayed on the Brown Hill for six weeks. I spent the Christmas of 1852 there. My husband and I returned to Geelong and stopped for six months, and came back to Ballarat in 1853, pitching our tent near where the old Charlie Napier Theatre was afterwards built. There was then a little store called the “Whaler’s Flag,” kept by a  man named William Foster. After a little while the Eureka opened up, and we shifted to Palmer’s Gully. The next tent to mine was poor Scobie’s and I spent many an hour there with him and his wife. Another neighbour was Gannon, who had cows. We paid him 4s a quart for milk, and glad to get it. The morning before the riot I went to the camp and bought a licence and paid £3 for it, and my husband burnt it in the evening at one of the camp meetings. I attended several meetings. I witnessed Bentley’s burned down and saw a man they said was Bentley making his escape on horseback. I was present when the proclamation was read, and the soldiers dropped on their knees, presenting their guns at the crowd to compel them to disperse. We were on the Gravel Pits at the time of the fight, and were under martial law. No lights were allowed, and all amusements were stopped. My husband was in the Stockade all night, and early on the Sunday morning my tent was crowded to know if it was he that was killed – a man the same name having been shot. For may years I had a pistol brought from the stockade; also a pannikin which my husband gave to a gentleman who was going to England, and wished to have it to show at home. The pannikin was perfectly riddled with shot.  

Yours &c. E. Rowlands  

29 Plank Road, Ballarat East

SHEEHAN, Luke

Born County Galway, Ireland

Wounded and since recovered.

(Lalor’s list only) •

SMITH, John, Private *Reg. No. 3335

Smith sustained a gunshot wound in the thigh during the Eureka battle. He was discharged and transported back to England twelve months later on 3 December 1855 for committing a civil offence in Melbourne.

SULLIVAN, Patrick, Private 40th Regiment

Slightly wounded at Eureka with a gun shot wound in the arm.

SYMMONS, Frank

Born England

Wounded and since recovered.

(Lalor’s list only) •

THONEN, Edward, lemonade seller

Born Elberfeldt, Prussia (Germany) c1820. The 1851 British Census places the 23 year Edward Thonen of Elbertfeld, Prussia, in Britain earning his living as a teacher of languages. Thonen died on 3 December 1854 from gunshot wounds sustained in the battle. He was buried on 5 December 1854 at Ballarat. The Informant on his death certificate #3242 was Dr A. Sickler, surgeon. Arnold Denham wrote that ‘A hand-to-hand conflict now took place at the barriers. Lalor, towering over his companions, stimulated them with his heroism till a shot shattered his arm, and he fell bleeding to the earth. Ross received his death wound in the groin, while a bullet crashing into Thonen’s mouth gave him his quietus.’ Raffaello Carboni wrote: ‘I hastened, and what a horrible sight! Old acquaintances crippled with shots, the gore protruding from the bayonet wounds, their clothes and flesh burning all the while. Poor Thonen had his mouth literally choked with bullets; my neighbour and mate, Teddy More, stretched on the ground, both his thighs shot, asked me for a drop of water. Peter Lalor, who had been concealed under a heap of slabs, was in the agony of death, a stream of blood from under the slabs, heavily forcing its way down hill’.

In 1857 his body was reinterred. THE EUREKA VICTIMS – On Thursday morning, about 7 o’clock, the bodies of Captain Ross, James Brown, Thonen, the lemonade seller, and Tom the blacksmith, who fell at the Eureka Stockade, and had been buried apart from the others, were removed from the grave and placed in the grave containing the bodies of the others who lost their lives on the memorable 3rd of December. The removal took place in the presence of Mr Superintendent Foster, Mr Salmon, trustees of the cemetery, and Mr Lessman. The coffins were in excellent preservation. We understand that no procession will take place on Thursday next, the anniversary of the Eureka affair, but the grave of the fallen will be decorated with chaplets and flowers.

WALL, Joseph, Private 40th Regiment, Regimental number **Reg. No. 3153

Possibly born Somerset, England, c 1834, his father possibly being Joseph. 

Wall was mortally wounded during the Eureka battle by a pike wound in his abdomen. He died on 3 December 1854, registration number #3262. Informant: William Alderton, Camp, Ballarat. His death is corroborated by evidence compiled on 3 December 1854 and signed by the Commander, Captain J. W. Thomas.

WARNER, James

Born County Cork, Ireland

Wounded and since recovered.

(Lalor’s list only) •

WEBB, William, Private 12th Regiment, Regimental number *3301

Born Hartfordshire, England, c1835, he enlisted on 6 October 1853. Webb died on 5 December 1854, death registration number #3263, from gunshot wound in the arm and back, sustained during the Eureka battle. He was 19 years old.

The Informant on his death certificate was Sergeant William Alderton, Camp, Ballarat. Webb was unmarried, and had only been one month in Victoria. His death is corroborated by evidence compiled on 3 December 1854 and signed by the Commander, Captain J. W. Thomas – ‘Private William Webb, mortally wounded, gunshot wound in arm and back’.

WISE, Henry Christopher, Captain 40th Regiment, Gentleman

Born in 1829 in Rome, Italy, he was the eldest son of Henry Christopher Wise (1806-1883) and Harriett Skipwith (1805-1858) of Woodcote, England. He was baptised on on 12 April 1829 at the British Chaplaincy, Roma, Rome, Italy. The family returned to Leek Wootten living there for many years. Henry had five brothers and two sisters.

He joined the military serving in the 40th Regiment being promoted to the rank of Captain. He came to Melbourne, Victoria in 1854 for a tour of duty. The 40th Regiment became involved in the events at Ballarat on 3 December 1854, when with the 12th Regiment and troopers, they were ordered to attack the Eureka Stockade. Captain Wise was in charge of 106 men and led the attacking party, assisted by Lieutenants Bowdler and Richards, ordering his men to dismount and march to the camp at Eureka with fixed bayonets.

In eyewitness accounts he is portrayed as gallantly leading his command in the attack on the Stockade and being shot in the leg. He continued his assault and was then mortally wounded. 

The troops reached the ground just as the morning began to dawn, and when about 300 yards from the Stockade the detachments of the 12th and 40th Regiments extended in skirmishing order. The mounted men moved to the left, and threatened the flank and rear of the insurgents. As the advance in this order was being made, a sentry within the Stockade gave the alarm by firing his piece. Upon hearing the shot Captain Thomas said “We are seen. Forward, and steady, men ! Don’t fire ; let ‘the insurgents fire first. You wait for the sound of the bugle.” Within the Stockade were about 150 men, and when the soldiers had approached to the distance of about 150 yards they fired a volley, which wounded Captain Wise, Lieutenant Paul, and three men of the 12th Regiment, and killed two and wounded one man of the 40th. Then the bugle sounded the order to fire, and a general discharge brought down all the insurgents who were visible above the enclosure; nine were killed by this volley. Then the order, “On, 40th! Forward!” was heard, and the soldiers cheered, and notwithstanding scattered shots fired at them, rushed at the enclosure with fixed bayonets, followed by the foot police. The hastily arranged face of the enclosure did not impede the troops an instant, and, breaking through it, a series of combats ensued between brave diggers armed with pikes for their ammunition was spent and the soldiers, who had loaded muskets and bayonets fixed. Some, as the swarm of police joined the soldiers, took refuge in the shallow holes and smithy, and, as one of the military officers wrote, many were put to death in the first heat of the conflict, either by bullet or bayonet thrusts.” In less than ten minutes the resistance and slaughter were over. Nine soldiers were wounded, one fatally, in the hand-to-hand combats within the Stockade. … The Southern Cross flag had been torn down by one of the police at an early stage of the combat, and was carried off to the camp. The troops set fire to all the tents In the enclosure and the immediate vicinity, and collecting all the prisoners, to the number of 125, marched back to the camp. Captain Henry Wise died of his wounds before the week ended.

Colonel Edward Macarthur, Deputy Adjutant General, issued a General Order on 22 December 1854.

The Major General has deep regret in announcing to the Troops within the Australian Command, the Death, at Ballaarat Camp, yesterday morning, the 21st Instant, of Captain Henry Christopher Wise of the 40th Regiment. He died from the effect of Wounds received on the 3rd Instant, while bravely leading his Company, in storming the “Eureka” Stockade, which a numerous band of Foreign Anarchists and Armed Ruffians had converted into a stronghold. His name will long be held in Honour by the Troops, whose good fortune it was to bear testimony to his gallantry; and Sir Robert Nickle has heartfelt satisfaction, in recording in General Orders, the Name of an Officer, who has thus worthily distinguished himself. His Remains are to be buried with the Honours due to his rank in the Graveyard at Ballaarat Gold Fields, beside those of the three other meritorious Soldiers which lie there interred. 

His death certificate registration number #3260, reveals that Wise received a gunshot wound on the right thigh; and a gunshot wound through the head of the tibia and fibula. The Informant on his death certificate was Arthur Edward Taylor, late Inspector of Police, Camp, Ballarat. It was recorded by the Royal Commission that: 

I am very sorry to have to record the death of Captain Wise, which took place this morning. This event has created a most painful sensation among the deceased’s fellow officers, by whom, as by his men, Captain Wise was held in the highest esteem and affection. The wound from which this young officer has died did not appear a dangerous one, and it was not till within forty-eight hours of his death that unfavorable symptoms appeared. During that period he rapidly sank.

His death is another sad illustration of the evils which result from intestine disturbance. I hope it may be the last fatal result of the sad Sabbath morn, though I fear there are yet some whose injuries received that day threaten an unfavorable issue. Poor Hasleham is in a very precarious state. Captain Wise expressed a wish that Sir Charles Hotham should be consulted as to the place and mode of his interment.

I am informed that Captain Wise’s fellow officers and men are all deeply distressed by his untimely death. Next mail will carry home to England intelligence which will sadden many a circle of the friends of those who have fallen, or been mutilated for life, in this unnatural warfare. One can image the sickening revulsion of feeling with which the people of England will read — perhaps on the same page which records a victory in the Baltic, or in the East — of the encounter at the Eureka stockade, and its sad results, and the blame which they will attach to all who are chargeable with irritating the people to the point of revolt, or stimulating them to its commission.

The death of Wise was corroborated by evidence compiled on 3 December 1854 and signed by the Commander, Captain J.W. Thomas. ‘Captain H.C. Wise, dangerously, flesh wound on the right thigh, gunshot wound through head of tibia and fibula.’

Captain Henry Christopher Wise was buried on 22 December 1854 at Ballarat Cemetery. He also had memorials erected in his honour at Leek Wootten church, in his English home town. ‘In Captain Wise Her Majesty has lost a gallant and valuable officer; wounded in two places at the head of his men, as he lay on his back he cheered them on to the attack’. 

YOUNG, George

An American from Newbury, Massachusetts

George Young, an American waggon driver received several violent blows on the night of 28 November 1854 when the drummer boy John Egan was shot in the leg and Benden Hassell received a bullet to his shin bone. A driver of the Gold Escort carts, Young carried a long whip, long pistols and a long Bowie Knife in his belt. He was carrying supplies from Melbourne for the Military to Ballarat on 28 November 1854 when assailed by angry diggers. Young was injured and his carts overturned. He recovered but his horse was killed. Young was paid £210 for conveyance of soldiers on 28 November 1854 and 18 December 1854 in relation to the military at Eureka in December 1854.

Assistant surgeon of the 12th Regiment, George Arden reported, that “as soon as we got into the diggings a mob of diggers collected and assailed us with cries of Joe! Joe!” “We were pelted with large stones and bottles. … One of the carts was capsized, the driver and two men were severely injured, the men were turned out and ordered to load. We found two men missing and a party went back to find them. They were laying [sic] off the road badly wounded. When the soldiers turned out and loaded the crowd dispersed. … We were shortly after joined by the 40th men from the Camp. During the disturbance several shots were fired by the diggers, but the military never returned the fire. … Our Drummer boy was shot in the leg.”

Lance Corporal George Sharpe, also of the 12th Regiment corroborating the evidence of the assistant surgeon said, “ I was with the third cart from the rear when the mob attacked us, with stones, sticks and bottles. I heard some shots fired by the diggers; some shots were fired at us. I am quite certain that none of the soldiers fired a shot. I never heard any Officer ask the road to the camp. The drivers appeared to know the way.” 

Many have been included on this list, the references being shown in brackets at the end of each entry. It may never be known conclusively the exact number of those who were wounded and killed during the Eureka Affair. 

WOMAN’S DEATH

The death of a woman and child has been highlighted in contemporary accounts particularly in Clare Wright’s remarkable The Forgotten Rebels of Eureka, a book to be commended for its focus on women who were participants in the Affair. Wright’s research states that Charles Evans wrote: 

I have witnessed today, I think, some of the most melancholy spectacles. A number of poor, brave fellows who fell in yesterday’s cowardly massacre were buried … One of the coffins trimmed with white and followed by a respectable and sorrowing group was the body of a woman who was mercilessly butchered by a mounted trooper while she was pleading for the life of her husband. The mind recoils with horror and disgust from the thought that an Englishman can be found capable of an act so monstrous and cruel. 

William Bramwell Withers on the other hand, in his account written in 1870 observed in his History of Ballarat: 

4th December._The funerals of several of those who fell at the Stockade and were removed by their friends, took place today. … 7 p.m. ._ A number of insurgents, favored by a clouded moon, crept up under cover of the nearest tents beyond the palisade, and fired from several points upon the sentinels. This caused a sudden alarm, everyone flew to his post, and a general discharge took place, resulting, as was believed, though erroneously as to the deaths, in the death of a woman and child in one of the tents, and in the wounding of three men on the road adjoining, who unfortunately happened to be passing at the time. One of these was brought in from the road in front of the mess-house (now Mining Board room), and died a few days after.

Withers thought the deaths were reported erroneously. There is no proof that a woman died during the Eureka battle, or even afterwards. It appears that, like the “death” of the drummer boy, that emotive statements, many not based upon facts, were possibly being used to incite the general populaton. 

John Wilson in commenting about the event the day after the Eureka battle in a letter from Mt Egerton in 1856 wrote:

Tom Wilson came very near getting shot on the Monday right after the Stockade affair. The camp took a false alarm and kept up a continued fire all over the flat which is densely peopled. For more than twenty minutes the thickest of the fire fell where Tom was living, riddling the tents all round about. The ground here had been rushed at one time but afterwards left dotting the locality over with holes from three to four feet deep. To these holes the inhabitants crowded for safty [sic] and Tom amongst the rest – unfortunately the one he got into had been used for a certain purpose – but he won’t tell how much soap it cost him to make his clothes nose sweet again though we often ask him.

At the firing John Johnstone and I went down to the main road leading through the flat to try and learn what was up. We found the whole in awful confusion. Men and women rushing about frantic, apprehending a general butchery. One mother was carrying her wounded infant, herself also wounded. Numbers of slightly wounded were seen moving about and great numbers were so frightened that they did not know whether they were dead or alive. This onslaught of the military is considered as having been hushed up by the authorities for it has hardly been whispered by the newspapers and certainly has never been the topic of a leader in any one of them. There were three lives sacrificed on this occasion and a great many wounded.

‘The soldiers were not fired upon, though they might report so to save themselves. The soldiers on guard on Soldiers’ Hill, being either in drink or strongly excited, wantonly and savagely, without orders and without provocation, fired into the Flat. They came rushing out of the large tent like madmen, firing and re-loading, and firing again irregularly at the tents, not even a corporal commanding them. They turned round and fired at me two or three shots though they saw me in a different direction from that whence the insurgents are said to have fired.’  

The number of people killed as the result of the Eureka Stockade is not known exactly. There is the possibility that some wounded diggers escaped to the bush and died alone. Historian W.B. Withers in History of Ballarat states: How many others owned their death to the Stockade attack can hardly be stated. Some lingered long, and died of wounds received there. Henry Foster admitted to burying five unidentified men himself.

 

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Wikipedias

Eurekapedia.org (Gervasoni and Wickham) (Hosted by Ballarat Reform League and Supported by the Vera Moore Foundation)

 

Books

Anderson, Hugh: Eureka, Victorian Parliamentary Papers Votes and Proceedings, 1854-1867, Hill of Content, 1969.

Bate, Weston, Lucky City: The First Generation at Ballarat:1851-1901, Melbourne University Press, 1978.

Sunter, Anne Beggs and Livingston, Kevin (eds) The Legacy of Eureka; Past, Present and Future. Ballarat, Australian Studies Centre, University of Ballarat, 1998.

Sunter, Anne Beggs, ‘Engendering public debate on Federation; the role of the Australian Natives Association’ in Kevin Livingston, Richard Jordan and Gay Sweely (eds), Becoming Australians; The Movement Towards Federation in Ballarat and the Nation, Kent Town, South Australia, Wakefield Press, 2001, pp 42-49.

Sunter, Anne Beggs, Entries on ‘Peter Lalor’ and ‘Eureka Stockade’ in Ness, Immanuel (ed). The International Encyclopedia of Revolution and Protest, London, Blackwell Publishing, 2009.

Sunter, Anne Beggs, ‘Contesting the flag: the mixed messages of the Eureka flag’, Alan Mayne (ed.), Eureka; Reappraising an Australian Legend, Perth, Network Books, 2006, pp. 45-60.

Corfield, Gervasoni & Wickham, The Eureka Encyclopaedia, BHS Publishing, 2004.

Curry, C.H., The Irish at Eureka, Angus and Robertson, 1954.

Gervasoni, Clare, Outbreak at Ballarat, BHS Publishing, 1998.

Gervasoni & Wickham, Among the Diggers, BHS Publishing, 1999.

Gervasoni, Phillipson & Wickham, Eureka Reminiscences, BHS Publishing, 1998.

Gervasoni, Phillipson & Wickham, History of Ballarat & Some Ballarat Reminiscences, BHS Publishing, 1999.

Goodman, David, Gold Seeking: Victoria and California in the 1850’s, Allen & Unwin, 1994.

Keesing, Nancy, History of the Australian Goldrushes, Lloyd O’Neil Pty. Ltd. 1971.

Lynch, John, The Story of Eureka Stockade (facsimile), BHS Publishing, 1998.

MacFarlane, Ian, Eureka from the Official Records, Public Record Office of Victoria, 1995.

Maloney, John, Eureka,  Viking, 1989.

Sidney, Samuel, The Three Colonies of Australia, NSW, Victoria, South Australia, Their Pastures, Copper Mines and Gold Fields,  Ingram. Cooke &Co, London, 1852.

Stacpoole, H.J., Gold at Ballarat: The Ballarat East Goldfield Its Discovery and Development, Lowden Publishing Co., 1971.

Stanley, Peter, The Remote Garrison, The British Army in Australia, Kangaroo Press, 1986

Strange, W, Ballarat, A Brief History, Lowden Publishing Co., 1971.

Withers, William Bramwell, History of Ballarat & Some Ballarat Reminiscences, BHS Publishing, 1999.

Wickham, Dorothy, Deaths at Eureka, self published, 1996.

Wickham, Dorothy, Eureka, BHS Publishing, 2014.

Wickham, Dorothy, Eureka’s Women, BHS Publishing, 2014.

Wickham, Dorothy, Shot in the Dark, BHS Publishing, 1998.

Wickham, Dorothy, St Alipus: Ballarat’s First Church, self-published, 1997. 

Wickham, Dorothy, Women of the Diggings: Ballarat 1854, BHS Publishing, 2009.

Wright, Clare, The Forgotten Rebels of Eureka, Text Publishing, 2013.

 

Manuscripts

Australian Joint Copying Project

Manuscripts from WO12 Returns:

Muster Books and Pay Lists. General.

Piece numbers 2971-2987   AJCP Reel numbers 3714 – 3727

WO12. War Office. RETURNS. Muster Books and Pay Lists. General.

Piece No.         AJCP Reel

2971 1854Apr-1855Mar  12th Regiment Suffolk   3714-3715

2972 1855Apr-1856Mar 12th Regiment Suffolk       3715-3716

2973 1856Apr-1857Mar   12th Regiment Suffolk    3716-3717

2974 1857Apr-1858Mar 12th Regiment Suffolk   3718

2975 1857Apr-1858Mar 12th Regiment Suffolk   3718

2976 1858Apr-1859Mar 12th Regiment Suffolk   3719

2977 1858Apr-1859Mar 12th Regiment Suffolk   3719

2978 1859Apr-1860Mar 12th Regiment Suffolk   3719-3720

2979 1859Apr-1860Mar 12th Regiment Suffolk   3720

2980 1860Apr-1861Mar 12th Regiment Suffolk   3721

2981 1860Apr-1861Mar 12th Regiment Suffolk   3722

2982 1861Apr-1862Mar 12th Regiment Suffolk   3722-3723

2983 1861Apr-1862Mar 12th Regiment Suffolk   3723-3724

2984 1862Apr-1863Mar 12th Regiment Suffolk   3724

2985 1862Apr-1863Mar 12th Regiment Suffolk   3724-3725

2986 1863Apr-1864Mar 12th Regiment Suffolk   3725-3726

5365 1854Apr-1855Mar 40th Regiment:2nd Somersetshire

AJCP Reels, 3776-3777

5366 1854Apr-1855Mar 40th Regiment:2nd Somersetshire

AJCP Reel,    3777

WO90   JUDGE ADVOCATE GENERAL’S OFFICE.

Courts Martial. General Courts Martial, Abroad. 

Piece No. AJCP Reel

3 1851-1865 2724

 

Ballaarat General Cemeteries:

Ballaarat Old Cemetery: Tombstone transcriptions and Minute Books.

Wickham & Wilcox, Ballarat Cemetery Transcriptions 1853 – 1856

 

Boynton, Alpheus:

10 December 1854, Journal    

ML  MSS  1058  CY  1531

Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales.

 

Calwell, Dan & Davis:

25 April 1855, Letter to parents, sisters &c from Ballarat.        

ANL  MS  424, Australian National Library, Canberra.

 

Charles Evans Diary ( formerly known as the Samuel Lazarus Diary), 1853-55, State Library of Victoria, Australian Manuscripts Collection, MS 11484.

 

Pasley, Charles:

1855, Letter to his father.

FM 3/359  B1564  6-46A, Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales.

 

Smyth, Patrick:

13 December 1854, Ballarat.

Letter to William Henry Archer, Melbourne Diocesan Historical Commission

 

Wilson, John:

1856, Letter from Mt. Egerton

ML  DOC  2771  6-660c   

Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales

 

Victorian Births, Deaths and Marriages

Registrations 3240 to 3266

 

Victorian Public Records Office

VPRS 1189 Chief Secretary’s Office,

Inward Registered Correspondence 1851-1863

VPRS 937 Chief Commissioner of Police

Inward Registered Correspondence  1852-1895

VPRS 30 Criminal Trial Briefs

VPRS24 Inquests

 

Printed Material

Government

Goldfields Commission of Enquiry Report: 1854-5

A – No.76

Victorian Government Gazette Extraordinary

No. 111, December 1854

Victorian Government Gazette Extraordinary

No. 113, December 1854