The rebel "army" forms and
heads for Eureka
After Lalor administered the oath at the 30 November "monster" meeting, Lalor called for men to step forward and form into military units. While this seems to have been undertaken reasonably quickly, the numbers involved were only some 1200-1500 men, out of the 20-25,000 miners on the goldfields. And as this was not the United States, most of the men were unarmed. While there was a lot of fighting and occasional killing on the fields, caused by anything from booze to all-in brawls over claim jumping, most of it was done with fists, boots, teeth, and bony foreheads. The American penchant for killing at a distance hasn't taken over here, thank goodness.
The newly formed rebel "army" marched off to the Eureka lead, probably noisily and completely out of step, to an area principally occupied by Irish miners and their families. This becomes important later. In front of them, proudly waving his flag, was the handsome, debonair young Canadian, Henry Ross. Make the most of your moment Henry, you poor bugger.
If we allow the figure of 1500 for the number of men here, it's important to note that the numbers varied up and down quite a lot over the next couple of days. It may have reached 2200 to 2500 at one stage, although even that number was only some 10% of the men on the goldfields. But the important number, of course, is that which comprised the force in possession of the stockade at 3am on the morning of Sunday, 3 December. Don't worry, we'll get there. Sometime.
Again, one wonders if the stockade's location on the Eureka diggings had been chosen as the place for a stockade earlier. While there were quite a few calls for an attack on the government camp, it very much looks as though violent confrontation was not at the top of Lalor's agenda. He simply ignored the calls and headed straight for the Eureka lead (pronounced, "leed" not "led" - it's a mining term).
The newly formed rebel "army" marched off to the Eureka lead, probably noisily and completely out of step, to an area principally occupied by Irish miners and their families. This becomes important later. In front of them, proudly waving his flag, was the handsome, debonair young Canadian, Henry Ross. Make the most of your moment Henry, you poor bugger.
If we allow the figure of 1500 for the number of men here, it's important to note that the numbers varied up and down quite a lot over the next couple of days. It may have reached 2200 to 2500 at one stage, although even that number was only some 10% of the men on the goldfields. But the important number, of course, is that which comprised the force in possession of the stockade at 3am on the morning of Sunday, 3 December. Don't worry, we'll get there. Sometime.
Again, one wonders if the stockade's location on the Eureka diggings had been chosen as the place for a stockade earlier. While there were quite a few calls for an attack on the government camp, it very much looks as though violent confrontation was not at the top of Lalor's agenda. He simply ignored the calls and headed straight for the Eureka lead (pronounced, "leed" not "led" - it's a mining term).