Eureka Rebellion

Eureka Stockade Riot. J. B. Henderson (1854) watercolour

Date	3 December 1854
Location	Eureka, Ballarat, Victoria, Australia
Result	Miners' rebellion defeated by the Victorian authorities

Belligerents

Colony of Victoria

Stockade rebels

Commanders and leaders

J. W. Thomas

Charles Pasley

Peter Lalor (WIA)

Henry Ross (WIA) (POW)

Strength

276

190

Casualties and losses

6 killed

22–60 killed (estimated)
12+ wounded
120+ captured

Colony of Victoria

The Eureka Rebellion was a rebellion in 1854, instigated by gold miners in Ballarat, Victoria, Australia, who revolted against the colonial authority of the United Kingdom. The Battle of the Eureka Stockade, by which the rebellion is popularly known, was fought between miners and the colonial forces of Australia on 3 December 1854 at Eureka Lead and named for the structure erected by miners during the conflict. The rebellion resulted in the deaths of at least 27 people, the majority of whom were rebels.

The rebellion was the culmination of a period of civil disobedience in the Ballarat region during the Victorian gold rush with miners objecting to the expense of a miner's licence, taxation via the licence without representation and the actions of the government, the police and military. The local rebellion grew from a Ballarat Reform League movement and culminated in the erection by the rebels of a crude battlement and a swift and deadly siege by colonial forces.

Mass public support for the captured rebels in the colony's capital of Melbourne when they were placed on trial resulted in the introduction of the Electoral Act 1856, which mandated full white male suffrage for elections for the lower house in the Victorian parliament, the second instituted act of political democracy in Australia. As such, the Eureka Rebellion is controversially identified with the birth of democracy in Australia and interpreted by some as a political revolt.

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