For Charles Evans and many others, the night of 30 November was
spent in sleepless dread of an impending confrontation:
…a fearful thunder storm the most violent I have witnessed
since I have been on the diggings, broke over our heads. The lightning was truly
awful, but scarcely more awful than the objects its light revealed. The diggings
& for a moment the eye would rest on groups of armed men talking in low
earnest tone & then all was darkness. We are now waiting in darkness and
uncertainty for some fearful crisis, every hour is expected to usher in a scene
of blood and calamity. [1]
By Friday 1 December, the Camp was virtually under siege and
the surrounding country in a state of growing tension. Initially, at least,
communications were maintained between the protagonists. Despite their
aggressive mood, Lalor was still prepared to talk with the authorities. Once the
diggers arrived back at Eureka after taking the oath under the Southern Cross,
Lalor met with the elected captains who decided to send one last deputation to
Rede. Although Carboni suggested that this meeting took place on 30 November, it
is now generally agreed that it took place early the following day. [2] Carboni, George Black and Father Smyth met Rede
outside the Camp because Rede was concerned that the meeting might be a ruse to
gain intelligence of the layout of the Camp and its fortifications if the
diggers were planning an attack. Lalor proposed that the diggers would lay down
their arms and return to work if the prisoners were released and no more license
hunts were carried out until the findings of the Royal Commission were released.
Father Smyth believed it was up to Rede to make concessions but Rede was
unbending stating that he would maintain the Queen’s authority and not negotiate
with men who were using the license as ‘a mere cloak to cover a democratic
revolution’. Carboni and George Black and Father Smyth returned to the Stockade
to report the failure of the meeting. Nonetheless, unknown to the leaders at
Eureka, Smyth returned to the Camp a few hours later in a final attempt to reach
some sort of compromise but again Rede refused.
The authorities were being kept informed of the situation on
the diggings by ‘spies’ placed amongst the diggers. Constable Henry Goodenough,
an agent provocateur had urged diggers to attack the Camp and informed Rede
about a proposed 4.00 am attack on 1 December. Only a few diggers assembled at
Bakery Hill, but soon dispersed when they heard that some of the Camp forces had
turned out to confront them. Yet, the suspicious movements of diggers kept the
Camp in a state of constant alert and troops were sent out again at 11.00 am to
clear the streets and hotels at the back of the Camp and two diggers were
arrested, one of whom was armed. Rede believed that the Camp was in danger and
urged Hotham to send more reinforcements, including artillery. As a result,
Major-General Sir Robert Nickle left Melbourne for Ballarat on Friday 1 December
with a force of 800 men and 4 artillery pieces.
When the Council at Eureka, now the governing body for the
rebels, heard that the military had mobilised, an attack on the Stockade was
expected. As a result, further fortifications were constructed and positions
manned but within two hours things had settled down. Carboni made the point that
the diggers’ lack of weapons was clear evidence that no revolution was intended
and that they had ‘taken up arms solely in self-defence’. [3] Although the making of weapons as primitive as pikes
suggests that there was a shortage of arms at Eureka, contrary to Carboni’s
assertions the defenders lacked neither firearms nor ammunition. [4] Ballarat had become a more settled community and this
meant there was less need for diggers to carry weapons but this did not mean
they were without revolvers, rifles and especially shotguns. What the rebels
lacked were weapons for close quarter fighting; few had bayonets and this meant
that once a musket had been fired at advancing troops, unless it could be
quickly reloaded, its use was limited to being a club. The use made of pikes,
far from being a consequence of shortages of other weapons, proved effective
against mounted troops especially when used in a coordinated way and could also
be used against soldiers with bayonets to prevent them closing with the rebels.
The problem with pikes is that, unless supported by rebels with firearms they
could not keep firearm-equipped soldiers at bay for long, as proved the case
during the assault. The contrast generally made between military organisation of
the Camp and with what is seen as the amateurish nature of preparations in the
Stockade needs to be reassessed.
There was a problem with criminality as Carboni highlighted:
…a similar gang, four strong, had entered the store of D.
O’Conner, on the Golden Point...but the vagabonds did not care so much for the
ammunition for their guns, as for the stuff for their guts, what tempted them
most was fine good Yorkshire hams, and coffee to wash it down. In short they
ransacked the whole store…[5]
The diggings were in turmoil as roaming bands of diggers raided
stores commandeering guns, ammunition and food supplies and horses for the use
of the ‘diggers under arms’, shops closed and mining ceased. Evans commented:
Bodies of armed men visited the stores demanding arms -I
was in the Rifle Gallery when two men appointed by the main body came for their
rifles & guns. It was useless to resist so they gave up at once what they
had in the gallery -The rest they had previously sent to the township. Soon
afterwards 7 or 8 others armed with swords guns & revolvers came in &
made a second demand, and would not believe that they had been given up
already -[6]
Lalor made some attempt to combat lawlessness and picquets were
sent out to prevent the seizures being made a cover for robbery.
Early on 1 December, Black and Kennedy rode the nine miles to
Creswick’s Creek to persuade its miners to sever ties with the English but their
endeavours were rejected by the majority as a call to take up arms against the
Victorian Government. The Argus reported that ‘great intimidation’ was
used by those under arms and that ‘every one of them that did not come out and
fight would be marked and would sure to gain nothing in the end.’ [7] Kennedy assured the crowd that Ballarat was ready to
revolt and weapons, food and accommodation were available. The diggers at Eureka
needed to know whether they had support on the other fields but what they did
not need was a contingent of unarmed and exhausted diggers. Although several
hundred miners left Creswick in heavy rain, by 4.30 pm, only 150 men arrived
from Creswick making a colourful spectacle as a band played the ‘Marseillaise’
but feeding, arming and housing them put an enormous strain on the limited
resources of the Stockaders. Most were soon disillusioned by what they saw at
the Stockade and returned home. This was, however, the extent of physical
support from outside Ballarat. The following day, 600 people at Bendigo heard
Henry Holyoake report on the situation in Ballarat but even though the diggers
did not support the Ballarat militants and reaffirmed their policy of peaceful
constitutional change, they agreed not to pay the license fee and to wear red
ribbons as a sign of support. On 2 December, the Ballarat correspondent of the
Argus wrote:
We are standing here on the brink of a great event. What
the next forty eight hours will bring forth, I feel, will form a page in the
future history of Victoria…The tranquillity of this day has been absolutely
agonising. I am now writing amidst the reports and flashes of a thousand stands
of arms. Everyone is excited and confused. I wish the crisis were over; the
suspense is fearful.[8]
[1] SLV, MS 13518, Charles Evans, Diary, 30 November
1854, pp. 125-126.
[2] Ibid, Carboni, Raffaelo, The Eureka Stockade, pp.
73-76.
[3] Ibid, Carboni, Raffaelo, The Eureka
Stockade, p. 80.
[4] Ibid, Blake, Gregory, To Pierce The Tyrant’s Heart: A
Military History of The Battle for The Eureka Stockade 3 December 1854, pp.
26-29, examines the evidence for the miners being better armed than some of the
contemporary statements suggested.
[5] Ibid, Carboni, Raffaelo, The Eureka Stockade, pp.
93-94.
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