The Eureka Rebellion

The Eureka Stockade affected the way Australia 's western-style democracy formed between c.1870-1914 and showed how people wanted Australia 's government system to be more democratic and fair. It also provided some characteristics for Australia such as mateship. The Eureka Stockade is still seen as an effective symbol for protests group in the modern day. The Eureka Rebellion took place in Ballarat, Victoria in 1854. Many people came from all around the world hoping to get rich by finding gold. Conditions were rough and dangerous. The government put expensive taxes on the gold miners (30 shillings a month or £8 a year), and even if they did not find gold they still had to pay for a licence. The miners thought this was unfair and worked

This wave resulted in changes such as British men gaining more political rights, including the right to vote. Some of the miners in Ballarat witnessed the revolution for example Rafaello Carboni and Frederick Vern. Victoria became a colony on 1st July 1851 and had a population of 77,000. Because of the gold rush, Victoria 's population doubled. The government brought in gold licences and police checks of the licences called "licence hunts". In December1851 governor Charles La Trobe wanted to double the licence fees and tensions started rising on the goldfields because of this. Miners were angry and the 'great meeting ' of more than 10,000 people occurred on Mount Alexander near Castlemaine. La Trobe ended up not increasing the fee. On the 22nd of June 1854, Lieutenant Governor Sir Charles Hotham arrived in Victoria and tried to increase the colony 's revenue by increasing the frequency of licence hunts. This made the miners even more upset and tensions on the goldfields got worse. The miners signed petitions and sent people to talk to Hotham but this did not help. On the 7th of October 1854, James Scobie (a gold miner) was murdered outside the Eureka Hotel. The miners thought that the hotel owner James Bentley was guilty but he was set free because of lack of evidence. A lot of miners believed that the Magistrate was friends with James Bentley. Obviously, this made the miners furious.

This abuse started in the 1950s and it affected many people from the time the abuse occurred until later in their life or even their whole life. For example in 2012, at least 40 people committed suicide in Victoria because of the abuse they had faced. When the children told their parents and the authorities, they brushed it off just like the Victorian authorities did about the gold licence fees. When the discoveries of the abuse were found to be true, many people lost faith in the Catholic Church. This became worse when the church attempted to cover up the abuse stories. The end result of the Eureka Rebellion gives the people that were abused, their friends and families hope for justice. Many people that don’t know the people that were abused also helped and encouraged them to keep going. This is shown in the picture of ribbons tied to the fences in front of Catholic Churches and schools in Ballarat. Like in the Eureka Rebellion, the abuse victims and their families also talked to authorities about their demands. They wanted to be listened to, for the Church to apologise and to be paid