Hopes For Hotham
The miners were certain La Trobe's replacement, Charles Hotham, would be much more reasonable. And Hotham's words when he first arrived, appeared to promise the reforms the miners wanted. On his first trip around Victoria, in August, he was greeted with great excitement and good will.
But sadly, Hotham was one of those people who talked the talk, but walked a very crooked path. Or, that's how it appeared to the miners, especially after he instructed his officials, in September, that digger hunts were to be carried out at least twice a week.
Victoria was almost stony broke, and Hotham saw this as a way of maximising revenue. And, as usual, it was the the worker and the small business operator who were to cop it in the neck. Not that we're bitter or anything.
Oh, we forgot to mention that there was another matter that really upset the miners. This was what they regarded as the over-policing of sly grog shops, the unlicensed alcohol sellers who sold comparatively cheap booze.
This clampdown on the sly groggers forced the miners to resort to the much more expensive licensed establishments. These could charge more for their booze because the cheap opposition was being wiped out.
And worse, the pub owners were probably rightly suspected of paying the police and magistrates to police the sly groggers with greater assiduity. It's possible this was more important to some of the miners than anything else, or at least than voting and buying land.
But sadly, Hotham was one of those people who talked the talk, but walked a very crooked path. Or, that's how it appeared to the miners, especially after he instructed his officials, in September, that digger hunts were to be carried out at least twice a week.
Victoria was almost stony broke, and Hotham saw this as a way of maximising revenue. And, as usual, it was the the worker and the small business operator who were to cop it in the neck. Not that we're bitter or anything.
Oh, we forgot to mention that there was another matter that really upset the miners. This was what they regarded as the over-policing of sly grog shops, the unlicensed alcohol sellers who sold comparatively cheap booze.
This clampdown on the sly groggers forced the miners to resort to the much more expensive licensed establishments. These could charge more for their booze because the cheap opposition was being wiped out.
And worse, the pub owners were probably rightly suspected of paying the police and magistrates to police the sly groggers with greater assiduity. It's possible this was more important to some of the miners than anything else, or at least than voting and buying land.