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The Ballarat Reform League came into being in October 1853[1] and was officially constituted on 11 November 1854 at a mass meeting of miners in Ballarat, Victoria to protest against the Victorian government's mining policy and administration of the goldfields.
As with the Bendigo protests the previous year (the Red Ribbon Rebellion), the primary objective of the League was to oppose the Miner's Licence. The League also strove for justice for James Scobie, a Scottish miner who had recently been murdered outside Bentley's Hotel in Eureka, and for the release of three miners who had been wrongly imprisoned for burning down the hotel.[2][3]
John Basson Humffray was elected secretary of the League. He urged civil disobedience to resist the government. But, when tensions boiled over on 30 November 1854, his pacifist strategy was overturned and the miners opted to use arms to fight the authorities. The miners elected Peter Lalor as their commander, although he had no military experience. Lalor led them to build the Eureka Stockade on 2 December 1854 and to use weapons to defend themselves against the military force sent to quell them on 3 December 1854.[4]
The actions of the League were reported in sensational and inflammatory terms by Henry Seekamp, editor and owner of the local newspaper, the Ballarat Times, Buningyog and Creswick Advertiser.[5] Propaganda such as posters calling meetings was also printed by Seekamp's office.[6]
- ^ Corfield, J, Wickham, D, Gervasoni, C 2004, The Eureka encyclopedia, Ballarat Heritage Services, Ballarat, p. xii.
- ^ "Ballaarat". The Argus. Melbourne: National Library of Australia. 23 October 1854. p. 5. Retrieved 9 May 2017.
- ^ "Sunday Morning, December 3, 1854". The Cairns Post. Queensland: National Library of Australia. 12 January 1929. p. 12. Retrieved 9 February 2012.
- ^ "Brief select chronology ",Historical studies Australia and New Zealand : special Eureka supplement, University of Melbourne, December 1954, pp. 95-96.
- ^ Kirkpatrick, R 2004, "Eureka and the editor: a reappraisal 150 years on", Australian Journalism Review, Vol. 26, No. 2, Dec 2004: pp. 31-42.
- ^ "A meeting on Bakery Hill poster". Culture Victoria. Retrieved 10 May 2017.