The Creswick men march in. Then march right out.
To add their support, some 300 miners marched in from Creswick on Friday night. Unfortunately, the Creswick men were not just footsore after their sixteen or so km hike, they had been thoroughly thunderstormed on, and, not having brought food, although apparently well supplied with booze, were extremely hungry, and hadn't brought much in the way of weaponry. Oh, yes, they had also not brought any tents. Rather surprisingly, they seemed to expect to be fully supplied and armed by the Ballarat crew.
It was soon brought to the Creswick mob's attention that unfortunately the best the Ballarat miners could offer them were some pikes and wooden clubs in the way of weapons. There was no food, and no tents. They had to spend the night in hungry disgust, sleeping on the ground, in the open. So the next morning, the Saturday, they very grumpily marched away again, probably to the bars and brothels of Ballarat. Well, thanks, guys, for bugger all. Mind you, they undoubtedly did the sensible thing. It's true there were a good number of them, but effectively unarmed they would have been nothing but ... well ... not cannon fodder, as, very possibly apart from a tiny field gun, there weren't any cannon ... but, perhaps, musket fodder.
It was soon brought to the Creswick mob's attention that unfortunately the best the Ballarat miners could offer them were some pikes and wooden clubs in the way of weapons. There was no food, and no tents. They had to spend the night in hungry disgust, sleeping on the ground, in the open. So the next morning, the Saturday, they very grumpily marched away again, probably to the bars and brothels of Ballarat. Well, thanks, guys, for bugger all. Mind you, they undoubtedly did the sensible thing. It's true there were a good number of them, but effectively unarmed they would have been nothing but ... well ... not cannon fodder, as, very possibly apart from a tiny field gun, there weren't any cannon ... but, perhaps, musket fodder.