More troops, a dummy corpse,
and Rede performs down to all expectations
Two days later, on 28 November, another detachment of troops arrived, and either stupidly or purposefully they were marched past the Irish settlement. Allegedly, several shots were fired at them. Some sources say a couple of soldiers, transport drivers and a drummer boy were injured, some say the drummer boy was killed. The conservatives of Ballarat even built a grave for the drummer boy.
But whoever is in it, if anyone, it's not the drummer boy. He did die, as do we all. However, even now there are differing stories about what happened to him. First up, in Ballarat, it is most likely he was shot in the leg on the 28th, and spent some 21 days in hospital recovering. Some sources say this wound occurred on 3 December. While many sites still record that he was killed, the most authoritative agree that he wasn't.
Nonetheless, he did die well before his time, according to all but one source, which claims he died of old age in New Zealand. The others say he died in either New South Wales, in 1860, of illness which kept him back from his unit's transfer to take part in the so-called "Maori Wars", or New Zealand, possibly from illness during the 1860s, while taking part in the "Maori Wars".
The "poor little drummer boy" story has been used as a stick by conservatives to beat the diggers and leftists with when they spoke of the atrocities of the police and soldiers before, during, and after the Eureka rebellion. It's outrageous that a lot of sites claiming to tell the Eureka story keep repeating this rubbish without checking on the story's source, or its truth. But, of course, therein lies one of the dangers of depending single internet sources for your information.
The next day, 29 November, the miners held another meeting at Bakery Hill. This time the numbers are back up to around 10,000. The deputation to Hotham reported on their unsuccessful talks, and Hotham's reaction. The Southern Cross flag is flown for the first time, the design having been given to several women to speedily make prior to the meeting by Henry Ross. Whether or not he actually prepared the design is unknown.
Apparently at least some miners burned their licences in a sign of defiance at and contempt for the authorities. Lalor wrote after the event that only a few licences were burned, but Carboni wrote that the ashes filled the sky. Who to believe? Lalor was clearly trying to downplay any major appearance of defiance, while Carboni, as usual, was trying to turn the whole event into a grand Italian opera. Well, you need to read other writings from witnesses, and we encourage you to resort to google to do so, remaining aware of the backgrounds and possible biases of the writers.
But, as we're actually interested in Peter Lalor, and so far we've heard damn all from or about him, this meeting was the first occasion Lalor made a public appearance. He is described as "speaking" as opposed to making a speech, and a number of sources say he proposed a meeting motion that the Ballarat Reform League meet again on Sunday afternoon, 3 December. Well, whoopty doo. In his History of Australia Manning Clark gives a raft of statements he appears to imply Lalor said at the meeting. However, most of them come from Lalor's writings after the event.
Rede's response to Smyth's warning and the 29 November meeting was, of course, to order a licence hunt for 30 November. What else was he ever going to do, considering what he was? The diggers inevitably refused to show their licences, indeed some of them couldn't, both because of unpaid fees and licence burnings, and they pelted the troopers with rocks as they entered the diggings.
Rede read the Riot Act, reported by some sources to have been read in or near the government camp. If that's the case, it's more than a little unclear how the more distant miners were supposed to be aware. As it was Rede was less than impressed with the negative reaction of such miners who did hear his reading, and ordered the troops to fire a volley over the diggers' heads. How very restrained of him. Several diggers, some sources say "approximately six", were arrested and taken to the Government Camp. The diggers' reaction required the full use of all available troopers and military to extract the digger hunters from the goldfield, with their quarry.
If Rede had wanted to fire up what he was supposed to prevent, he couldn't have done a better job of it. And don't worry, plenty of conspiracy theorists have said he achieved what he really wanted, that is, to push at least some of the miners into violent rebellion. But we suspect he was just a stupid fool.
But whoever is in it, if anyone, it's not the drummer boy. He did die, as do we all. However, even now there are differing stories about what happened to him. First up, in Ballarat, it is most likely he was shot in the leg on the 28th, and spent some 21 days in hospital recovering. Some sources say this wound occurred on 3 December. While many sites still record that he was killed, the most authoritative agree that he wasn't.
Nonetheless, he did die well before his time, according to all but one source, which claims he died of old age in New Zealand. The others say he died in either New South Wales, in 1860, of illness which kept him back from his unit's transfer to take part in the so-called "Maori Wars", or New Zealand, possibly from illness during the 1860s, while taking part in the "Maori Wars".
The "poor little drummer boy" story has been used as a stick by conservatives to beat the diggers and leftists with when they spoke of the atrocities of the police and soldiers before, during, and after the Eureka rebellion. It's outrageous that a lot of sites claiming to tell the Eureka story keep repeating this rubbish without checking on the story's source, or its truth. But, of course, therein lies one of the dangers of depending single internet sources for your information.
The next day, 29 November, the miners held another meeting at Bakery Hill. This time the numbers are back up to around 10,000. The deputation to Hotham reported on their unsuccessful talks, and Hotham's reaction. The Southern Cross flag is flown for the first time, the design having been given to several women to speedily make prior to the meeting by Henry Ross. Whether or not he actually prepared the design is unknown.
Apparently at least some miners burned their licences in a sign of defiance at and contempt for the authorities. Lalor wrote after the event that only a few licences were burned, but Carboni wrote that the ashes filled the sky. Who to believe? Lalor was clearly trying to downplay any major appearance of defiance, while Carboni, as usual, was trying to turn the whole event into a grand Italian opera. Well, you need to read other writings from witnesses, and we encourage you to resort to google to do so, remaining aware of the backgrounds and possible biases of the writers.
But, as we're actually interested in Peter Lalor, and so far we've heard damn all from or about him, this meeting was the first occasion Lalor made a public appearance. He is described as "speaking" as opposed to making a speech, and a number of sources say he proposed a meeting motion that the Ballarat Reform League meet again on Sunday afternoon, 3 December. Well, whoopty doo. In his History of Australia Manning Clark gives a raft of statements he appears to imply Lalor said at the meeting. However, most of them come from Lalor's writings after the event.
Rede's response to Smyth's warning and the 29 November meeting was, of course, to order a licence hunt for 30 November. What else was he ever going to do, considering what he was? The diggers inevitably refused to show their licences, indeed some of them couldn't, both because of unpaid fees and licence burnings, and they pelted the troopers with rocks as they entered the diggings.
Rede read the Riot Act, reported by some sources to have been read in or near the government camp. If that's the case, it's more than a little unclear how the more distant miners were supposed to be aware. As it was Rede was less than impressed with the negative reaction of such miners who did hear his reading, and ordered the troops to fire a volley over the diggers' heads. How very restrained of him. Several diggers, some sources say "approximately six", were arrested and taken to the Government Camp. The diggers' reaction required the full use of all available troopers and military to extract the digger hunters from the goldfield, with their quarry.
If Rede had wanted to fire up what he was supposed to prevent, he couldn't have done a better job of it. And don't worry, plenty of conspiracy theorists have said he achieved what he really wanted, that is, to push at least some of the miners into violent rebellion. But we suspect he was just a stupid fool.