Rede Hits Ballarat
An introduction to Rede
The images to the right and below are apparently of the man who became Gold Commissioner of Ballarat in 1854, Robert Rede. We say "apparently" because we haven't been able to confirm the portrait, or identify the original painting or its artist. It was probably a portrait of someone's bottom, with Rede peeking out. We also can't confirm the photograph. It's largely because of Rede there was a "rebellion", and that there was a murderous attack on the Eureka Stockade by soldiers and police on 3 December, 1854. Rede's nefarious work was principally about crushing what he perceived to be democratic fervent, rather than any particular concern about the diggers themselves. This conniving turd only benefited from his behaviour, but hopefully he suffered apoplexy at the gradual democratisation of Victoria throughout his undeservedly long life. When you read the captions of the images, not to mention the previous couple of paragraphs, you may guess we're not particularly enamoured of the "estimable" Commissioner Rede. However, apart from historians who are cynical old lefties, or so right wing historians would have you believe, and everyone influenced by them over the last century or so, there are others who think well of him. Or perhaps the word should be "thought", as most of Rede's fans were nineteenth century nobs. But, honest, we're not biased But, to show we're honest up-front historians, we agree our view of Rede, or at least the one we presented above and in the captions, is simplistically two-dimensional. Don't get us wrong, we still think Rede was a scumbag, but we want to present as clear a picture of events as we can, so you can make up your own minds. You may note, "as clear as we can" gives us a bit of leeway as we are, or rather, one of us is notoriously one-eyed. Both about the St Kilda Australian Rules Football Club, and almost everything else. Isn't that right, Lex? |
Hmmph. But, we'll try our best. Isn't that right Lex? Hmmph. LaTrobe's going - yay, yay So, back to Ballarat. Upon hearing of LaTrobe's forthcoming departure, the miners were ecstatic, thinking any replacement would have to be an improvement. Sadly, this is a perfect example of the occasional truth of the adage, "Be careful what you wish for." In the time leading up to LaTrobe's departure and afterwards, there was very little mention in the largely conservative-oriented and LaTrobe-opposed press of the man who had pretty successfully guided the colony through 13 years of considerable and rapid development. Even at the end, there was no mention whatsoever of LaTrobe's achievements, when even the Argus surely recognised some. However, there is a mention of "gentlemen" who had opposed him as governor farewelling "the man", if not "the governor". It makes one wonder if most of the cheering was for the fact of his leaving, rather than out of respect for him. Poor LaTrobe, no-one understood him, and he had just learned his wife had died in England several months earlier, and his children had been whisked off to her parents in Switzerland. And it would still be months before he could see them. |
Here's one man's views on Robert Rede and his officers. This "one man" was Rafaello Carboni, who fancied himself as a leader of the Eureka rebellion, so he's a "bit" biased:
Rede: "He had not a wicked heart" but was a puppet: "each of his words and movements was the vibration of the telegraphic wires directed from Toorak [being where the Governor lived]".
Rede's officers: "Get a tolerable young pig, make it stand on his hind legs, put on its head a cap trimmed with gold lace, whitewash its snout, and there you have the ass ["donkey", NOT "arse"!] in the form of a pig; I mean to say a 'man'".
A quote from Rede in his obituary in the Argus, speaking about Eureka after the event: |
The evils of democracy
Of course, ratbags, like heroes, are more three dimensional than their appearance in the history books seems to indicate, so all those of you who reckon we're just single-minded oppositional lefties, we would point out it was democracy Rede was ranting about, not communism, or even socialism. Rede, as we can tell with all the benefit of hindsight, probably handled the Eureka "rebellion" very cleverly, indeed quite cunningly, and undoubtedly and self-defeatingly appallingly. Rede wasn't just a bastard So, Rede was not just a bastard, he genuinely believed he had to do what he did to protect the government against destruction by democrats. Of course, it was his bastardry that actually brought the diggers to violent revolt. And it was that bastardry that the nobs congratulated him on that actually led to them giving up much more power than they intended, especially as time moved on. Although, if we take the word of the Argus (on the left), it may not have been Rede who was the bastard. Mind you, Rede certainly seems to have leapt into obeying his orders with a dangerous enthusiasm. |