The burning of the Eureka Hotel marked a precipitous
deterioration in the relationship between the Ballarat diggers and the
authorities and the unplanned riot showed diggers just how effective their
numerical superiority could be. Rede ordered the arrest of the men who led the
mob, a difficult task because there was no clear idea how the riot had started
or who instigated it. A few people were arrested and all but three were able to
provide alibis. An American, Albert Hurd, had also been arrested but he was
released despite depositions against him that suggested he played an active role
in the destruction of the hotel. Hotham commented on the list of those arrested
on suspicion of having been involved in the riot: ‘Read. I Regret to find so few
Ringleaders arrested.’ [1] As a result, it was only Andrew McIntyre, Thomas
Fletcher and Henry Westerby who were charged, despite contradictory evidence,
with causing the riot. [2] This incensed Ballarat’s diggers who felt that the
prisoners were being made scapegoats to satisfy the authorities’ desire for
retribution.
At the committal of McIntyre and Fletcher on Saturday 21
October, Assistant-Commissioner Johnston said that bail would not be granted and
the accused were committed for trial in Geelong on 26 October. Westerby was not
committed for trial in Melbourne until a week later. However, the diggers argued
that if Bentley could be bailed on a charge of murder, then they could be on a
lesser charge.[3] The crowd moved to Bakery Hill for an unplanned
meeting where some wanted to destroy the Camp, a situation prevented by the
intervention of Henry Holyoake, formerly a London Chartist. Violence was avoided
when bail of £500 was negotiated with Camp officials and the crowd then
dispersed to the sound of pistol shots that accidentally wounded one man in his
side. However, when the delegates went to the Camp again, they found that bail
had been increased to £2,000; the Argus commented:
Now, supposing that there were good grounds for the
arrangements as they at present exist, why was the promise made at all? The
authorities are reduced to the necessity of acknowledging either that, as usual,
they are premature in their decisions, or that they have adopted the principle
that no faith is to be kept: with the heretics who disbelieve the doctrine of
Government irresponsibility, unlimited official power and administrative
spotlessness.
Hotham thought that the incident was the result of a few
irresponsible troublemakers who temporarily swayed the sensible and law-abiding
majority. He recognised that this dangerous minority must be isolated and dealt
with firmly and informed Rede to take a strong stance against diggers for
riotous behaviour and if they assembled for violent and illegal purposes. Hotham
backed this up by reinforcing the strength of the Camp. Additional police
arrived on 19 October and were followed shortly afterwards by a further 450
troops of the 40th Regiment and on 25 October a detachment of the 12th Regiment
newly arrived from England. [4]
On Sunday 22 October, many of Ballarat’s Catholics met after
Mass to protest at the treatment of Father Smyth’s servant and the arrack on the
Church. [5] Peter Lalor and Thomas Kennedy stirred up the diggers
and it decided that, the following day, Timothy Hayes, their representative
would lead a delegation to Commissioner Rede. The delegation found that
Constable Lord had already been moved from Ballarat to Melbourne although it
wanted the same treatment for Johnston. Led by Hayes and John Manning, many
Catholics met on Wednesday 25 October to learn the outcome of the deputation to
Rede, and resolved to petition Hotham for a retrial of Gregorius and the removal
of Johnston. In Melbourne, however, the whole affair was dismissed by the Chief
Commissioner and the Colonial Secretary. Hotham was impressed by the Catholic
petition and, although he did not think that Johnston was to blame for the
situation, he nonetheless thought that it might be ‘politic’ to move him from
Ballarat. This might have calmed the situation but Johnston was not moved and
Catholics remained alienated by the actions of the Camp. [6]
[1] PROV, 1189/P Unit 153: J54/12469, dated 6 November 1854.
It listed ten men arrested: Manastra Flatow, Samuel Butler, John Balderstone,
George McIntosh, Charles Stewart and John Nanderbyle had charges dismissed on 26
and 27 October; Albert Hurd was also committed for trial at Melbourne on 15
November.
[2] Lazarus was present when Fletcher was arrested and at
his subsequent trial: SLV, MS 13518, Charles Evans, Diary, 25 October
1845, pp. 97-104, 22 November 1854, p. 114.
[3] ‘Ballarat’, Geelong Advertiser and
Intelligencer, 25 October 1854, p. 4.
[4] Ballarat Times, 28 October 1854, commented
acidly on this: ‘This verdant impastation, parcelled up in red padding, is to
vegetate on the hill to the west of the township, commanding a view of the flat,
which last summer was used as a cricket ground’. See also, Geelong
Advertiser and Intelligencer, 21 October 1854, p. 4.
[5] ‘Ballarat’, Geelong Advertiser and
Intelligencer, 25 October 1854, p. 4.
[6] PROV 1189/P Unit 92, J54/12201.
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