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In Clunes, Mr. W Campbell discovered gold in quartz. Originally he told nobody but eventually told others about it.
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In the month of January, Dr. George II began exploring Victoria, starting from Melbourne. He discovered gold quartz 2 miles from Barker's station, and when he arrived at Mr. Cameron's station he was shown gold (the Clunes diggings).
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On the 30th of June, 1851, the Gold Discovery Committee received gold samples from Dr. George II. He received £500.
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On the 1st of July, 1851, James Esmond discovered the first profitable gold field in Clunes
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On 20 July 1851, Thomas Peters discovered gold in what is now called "Specimen Alley". His discoveries were published in the Melbourne Argus on the 8th of September, 1851. This lead to a rush to Mt. Alexander.
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On the 8th of August, 1851, Mr. Thomas Hiscock from Buningyong discovered a deposit of gold in the Buningyong ranges.
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After the gold license fee was introduced, miners begun protesting on the goldfields. These protests became more frequent and violent after changes to the Goldfields Act allowed license searches to occur at any time.
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Gold-rush immigrants came to Victoria in 1852. A city for these immigrants named Canvas Town was created. The area was a slum with thousands of immigrants from all over trying to become rich from gold.
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From January 1852, a fee of 30 shillings per month for a gold license was introduced for all diggers. The penalty for mining without a license was £6 and after, imprisonment of up to 6 months.
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In December 1853 the gold license fee was reduced to £1 per month.
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On the 6th of October, 1854, a gold miner Jamies Scobie was killed at the Eureka Hotel. It was suspected that the owner of the hotel killed him. His death was one of the events that lead to the Eureka Rebellion.
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10 days after James Scobie was murdered, the suspect of his murder, James Bentley, was acquitted of all charges by the magistrate. The magistrate was suspected of being corrupt for James Bentley so housands of miners protested this at the Eureka Hotel, and ended up burning it down. Soldiers were not able to stop the riot and James Bentley along with his family had to run away.
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At an indignation meeting held on the 11th of November, 1854 on Bakery Hill, the Ballarat Reform League was formed. This was made to protest the licenses and regulations on digging for gold. The members included J.B Humffray as the secretary, and Peter Lalor, Frederic Vern, Raffaello (an italian teacher), Timothy Hayes, and George Black as important members. Three members asked Governor Hotham to demand the release of the prisoners, but he declined and sent troops to Ballarat.
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On the 29th of November, three members, George Black, J. B. Humffray, and Kennedy held a meeting at Bakery Hill to discuss what happened on the 11th. They decided to burn the licenses, which they did. The next day the police begun being very violent and more frequent with the license searches. When the police went back to their camp the diggers had a conference with the Ballarat Reform League.
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Lalor was made the leader. The Southern Cross flag, or the Eureka Flag was shown publicly at this meeting. Some members of the Ballarat Reform League went to the military camp demanding that the license search laws be changed, and that the prisoners who were imprisoned because of this law be set free. The commissioner declined. Because of this meeting, another license search took place the next day.
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On the 30th of November, 1854, another burning of licenses by the Ballarat Reform League, led by Peter Lalor happened. After this the diggers went to the Eureka Diggings and built a barricade covering around an acre of the goldfields. This was the Eureka Stockade. Over the next few days the diggers collected firearms and pikes to defend it from the military.
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On December the 3rd, 1854 military forces launched an attack on the Stockade. The diggers were vastly outnumbered and the battle was over quickly. 22 diggers and 5 troops were killed, and many more were injured. The Southern Cross flag was taken from the pole. Peter Lalor survived and managed to escape, but had to have his arm amputated because of the wounds.
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On the 6th of December Martial Law was declared. This was to prevent another rebellion. Soldiers walked through the town of Ballarat constantly. 13 diggers were committed for trial however the charges were dropped when they went to the trial on February 1855. The only person who went to prison because of the Eureka Stockade was Henry Seekamp, an editor for the Ballarat Times. He was imprisoned for seditious libel, which was writing to defame/criticize/embarrass a higher up government authority.
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In March 1855, the Gold Fields Commission handed in a report to the government. The government adopted its recommendations, and the demands of the diggers were met. Peter Lalor became became the first Member of the Legislative Council for the seat of Ballarat. The miners were given eight representatives for the Legislative Council.
