(soulful instrumental music) - This is the flag that
inspired a rebellion, that inspired those at Eureka. It was sewn in secret. The people sheltering
in the Eureka Stockade didn't want to change
the system of government, they wanted to be included in it. They weren't insurgents, they
were not revolutionaries, they rebelled against
vicious treatment by police when all peaceful means
of protest had failed. They sewed a flare and built a fence. They fought back, and today all of us are the beneficiaries of their fight. The story of the Eureka Stockade is more than just a famous
battle in our history, it's a fundamental milestone on Australia's road to democracy. In today's episode, we will
travel back to the 1850s and walk with the gold
miners and their families from Bakery Hill to the Eureka Stockade. (inspiring music) This is Peter Lalor. He was elected as a Victorian
member of parliament in 1856, and served as the
Speaker of the House here for seven years from 1880, to 1887. But in 1854, after leading
a rebellion of gold miners at Eureka, 27-year-old Peter Lalor was the most wanted man in Australia, with a reward of over $25,000 for anyone who handed him into the police. How Peter Lalor went
from rebellious fugative to a long-standing member of
Parliament in only two years is just one small part
of the fascinating story of democracy in Australia. The Eureka Stockade is
often referred to as the Eureka Legend or a revolution. The reality is just a sad
story of violent bloodshed. It's the events before and after Eureka that are legendary in their own right, and were the foundation for a freedom we take for granted today. Over 270 soldiers were
instructed to attack the stockade built at the Eureka mining site at 4:00 a.m. on Sunday morning. They silently surrounded
the sleeping miners in the stockade. There was a 15 minute battle. The diggers in the stockade at the time were asleep, outnumbered,
outgunned, and unskilled fighters. The tragedy happened after the battle. It was bayonets, not bullets,
that did the most damage. Crazed soldiers and police thrust their blades
into the dead and dying. Others surrounded tents
and sliced and jabbed at the bullet-riddled canvas. Then the order was given
to burn to the ground all the tents in the
stockade in the vicinity. Tents were set alight with
people still asleep in them, or still containing
bodies of wounded or dead. By the time the sun was
up, it was all over. The troops and police returned
to their camp cheering. Meanwhile, the people of Ballarat woke to the smell of burning canvas and the sounds of weeping. A local man wrote in his diary. - [Man] The grave noble hearts did not turn their swords on armed men, but galloped among the
tents, shooting at women, and cutting down defenceless men. New widows recognising the bloody remains of a slaughtered husband. Children screaming and
crying around a dead father. Cowardly and monstrous cruelties. It is a dark, indelible stain
on a British government. - Just seven days after Victoria declared its independence from New South Wales, gold was found in Central Victoria. When gold was discovered,
it seemed that overnight the workers of Australia had gone AWOL. Farms, building sites,
ships, police barracks, government offices, shearing
sheds, all were deserted. News of Victoria's supposedly
infinite supply of gold was shared in newspapers
and letters in London, Edenborough, Dublin, Paris,
Warsaw, Munich, Washington, Toronto and Shanghai. And the people rushed to Victoria. The early diggers of the 1850s were not the professional
miners of the 1860s, a decade later. They were individual speculators, anxious about their
family's living conditions, eager to make their fortune
with gold and go home. Gold mining was backbreaking hard work, with no guarantee of a find. For every family that did well, two or three lived in complete poverty. In order to dig, each
miner had to purchase a monthly gold licence like this one, which cost the equivalent
of one week's wages. The licence fee was a head
tax, not an income tax, and it was instantly
detested by all the miners. You could sink a shaft
next to your neighbour. You could both wallow in
the dark and wet earth for five, six, nine months, bailing out the constant seeping water, and your neighbour might find
the gold-infused river bed, while your hole leads only to a bend in the underground river,
missing the gold completely. He wins, you lose, but you still have to
pay your licence fee, month in, month out, gold or no gold. Digger hunts were
conducted five days a week. 16 bullies on horseback, their
muskets and swords drawn, would descend on the diggings. Accompanied by 50 soldiers
on foot, armed with clubs, they would demand each digger showed their licence on the spot. Those without a licence, even
if it was left in a tent, would be chained to tree logs
once the tiny lockup was full. Honest, but poor licence
defaulters were chained together with hardened thieves
and assorted ex-convicts from Van Diemen's Land. Women were incarcerated with men. This is Bakery Hill in Ballarat. It's at a junction of several
key roads in the city. Today, it's filled with
shops and restaurants. In 1854, Bakery Hill was much the same. It was the natural hub
of Goldfield's activity because all roads met
in this natural gully. It was here that the hotels, gold buyers, and merchants congregated. On the 11th of November,
1854, a scorching hot Sunday, 10,000 people met here at Bakery Hill to complain about the police
and the licence hunts. The Ballarat community
wanted to express outrage that their licence fees were
used to support a police force that did not prevent crime
and was mostly corrupt. At this meeting, the Ballarat
Reform League was established. They drafted a document, the
Ballarat Reform League Charter. We can easily read this document today at the Old Treasury Building in Melbourne. Anyone can freely visit
the Old Treasury Building here in Melbourne, and
wander into this room. Here, under glass, is the faded blue paper of an original copy of the
Ballarat Reform League Charter. In this quiet room, it
can be easy to forget the angst and frustration that resulted in the drafting of this document. The Bakery Hill meeting, on
the 11th of November, 1854, is now considered the first formal step on the march to Australian democracy. What did the diggers
write in their charter? The charter laid out five basic demands, free and fair representation
for all in parliament, votes for all men, without
any property conditions, ability of any person
to stand for election to the legislative council,
salaries for those elected, and fixed terms for those elected. Sound familiar? Each of these five points,
we take for granted today. Each of them are vital to the operation of Australia's federal elections. The members of the Ballarat Reform League didn't just pull these
requests from thin air. To understand why they
made these requests, we need to look at the background
of the members themselves. This is a map that is part of the Eureka
Memorial in Ballarat. Those who immigrated in the thousands to the Victorian gold fields, aspired to something different
from the old power structures they knew at home. These dates on the memorial are a code for understanding the demands in the Ballarat Reform League Charter. 1776 was the American War of Independence. Many miners in Ballarat
came from California, bringing with them values
of personal freedom and independence. 1789 was the French Revolution,
which shocked Europe when it deposed a monarchy and established a French Republic. 1798 was the Irish War of Independence, and many miners were Irish. 1848 saw the formation
of Italy as a country. In 1854, all of these global forces for change and revolution are
not just all history lessons for the miners, the
diggers here in Ballarat, they are lived experiences, topics for newspaper articles and debate. The very fabric of the
social structure of the world was being tested and changed
through these events. This was the melting pot of Eureka. Every single miner was aware of some kind of cultural struggle or change
in their home countries. On the 29th of November, at another monster meeting on Bakery Hill, of 15,000 people, almost half the total population
of Ballarat at the time, many diggers lined up to throw
their licences on a bonfire. An act of communal protest. A flag was hoisted. Not a national flag,
but a purpose made flag. This is the flag that we
now know as the Eureka Flag. The people of Ballarat called
it the Australian Flag. It was inspired by the one thing that united each and every
resident of Ballarat, the constellation of the Southern Cross. Those five bright stars were the first thing that immigrants saw when they crossed the
invisible line in the ocean into the Southern Hemisphere. The Victorian Governor
had rejected the charter, presented by the Ballarat Reform League. The diggers felt under siege,
ignored by the governor, no elected leader to represent them, and persecuted by the local authorities. They burned their licences in protest under a flag that united
them, and then went home. The next day, the soldiers and police decided to show force by
instigating a massive licence hunt. The mounted police began
to gallop among the tents, firing shots into the crowded tents where women and children were sheltering. The confused crowd tried to scatter. Police were pelted with mud
stones and broken bottles. Soldiers dropped to one knee, and aimed their guns at the people. Miners jumped down
holes, and women and men tried to disappear behind tents. As news of the chaos and
random firing on the crowd, including women and children, spread, other sympathetic diggers put down tools to seek information. From all directions on the diggings, people walked in the
direction of Bakery Hill. The Australian flag was once again flying. Those who came had lost
faith in the government. Through hunger, grief, shame,
disappointment, harassment, indignity, humiliation, and powerlessness, the object was now self-defense. The leaders of Ballarat had shown that they would
fire upon a civilian crowd. This was the way masters
treated servants and dogs. The people looked for a leader, and from the crowd stepped
27-year-old Irishman Peter Lalor. His father was an Irish
MP, and his eldest brother had fought in the Young
Irish Movement in Ireland. Peter Lalor stepped from the crowd, and led the assembled group of 1,000 diggers, wives, and children, on a march from Bakery Hill to Eureka. They took the flag with them. The group, now led by Peter Lalor, decided to throw up a hasty barricade. There needed to be a place of shelter to protect those diggers who
had burned their licences. They grabbed any suitable
material they could find to build a barricade. Overturned carts, empty
barrels, fell trees, thick slabs used to line mine shafts. When it was finished, Peter Lalor led the group back to Bakery Hill, and raised the Australia flag. He then kneeled, removed his hat, and raised his hand towards
the flag, and made this oath. - [Peter] We swear by the
flag of the Southern Cross to stand truly by each other and fight to defend our
rights and liberties. - The group moved back down
the hill to the stockade. It was sunset Thursday evening. There would be a standoff until just before dawn Sunday morning. Twice over the next two days, Peter Lalor sent representatives
to the government camp to try to negotiate a
suspension of the licence hunts until the people had the
opportunity to put their case against the licencing
system to the governor. The representatives were ignored. During the day, there
were at least 1500 people crammed into the stockade. Most slept in their own tents at night as the stockade was to prevent the arrest of unlicensed diggers, and there had never been
a licence hunt at night. The diggers expected that Sunday would be the customary day of rest, and many of them left the
stockade on Saturday evening to do things with their families. The stockade emptied out. Even the local priest encouraged
everyone in the stockade to come to church on Sunday. Many of the soldiers at Ballarat had been on 24 hour sentry duty for days. Without sleep, washing,
or changing clothes, and it had been pouring rain over night. The soldiers and police were badly paid, and living in cramped conditions. Over 540 weary soldiers were kept on constant alert
by the military captain, fed on rumours of an imminent attack. The order was given to march
on the stockade at 2:00 a.m. The soldiers eagerly made
their way here to this ground. Today, Eureka is a lovely park. Tall trees, and a playground that's constructed to look like a stockade with soldiers out the front. In fact, it's so peaceful, we
have to try very, very hard to imagine the chaos,
panic, fear and death, that happened here. Following the battle, many
miners and soldiers lay dead. Later that day, most of the dead miners were carried in rough coffins on drays here to Ballarat Old Cemetery, and buried in a common grave. This monument marks the
location and lists their names. This is it, the flag that
inspired a rebellion, that inspired those who were
downtrodden to take a stand. There are squares missing because the soldiers cut out souvenirs, but it's still beautiful isn't it? It was sewn in secret. Such a massive flag to sew secretly. The people in Ballarat were
not disloyal to the Queen. They didn't want to change
the system of government, they just wanted to be included in it. At no time did they launch
an assault on authorities. They were not insurgents,
they were not revolutionaries, they rebelled against an unpopular and viciously policed tax, when all peaceful means of
protest had been rebuffed. They fought back when
attacked by the military in a preemptive strike intended to restore government authority without
listening to the people. They sewed a flag and built a fence. 13 miners were selected to
face charges of high treason. The trials dissolved in farce, making a laughing stock of the government. No jury would convict the miners, and there was no evidence of treason. A Royal Commission,
investigating the gold fields, recommending that the licencing laws be replaced with a system
where miners paid a tax on gold they found, rather than on the
possibility of finding gold. The mining licence was replaced
by a one pound, yearly, miner's right. Peter Lalor came out
of hiding, and in 1855, he was one of the two diggers' leaders voted into the Legislative
Assembly to represent Ballarat. So, one year after the Eureka violence, the miners had
representation in Parliament. Within three years, the
right to vote was given to all male British
subjects over the age of 21. This is the legendary result of Eureka. But equality wasn't given to all. Australia had to wait another 48 years before the passing of the
Commonwealth Franchise Act in 1902, gave white women full
political equality with men, and made Australia the most
democratic nation in the world. Aboriginal men and women
would not receive these rights until the 1960s. Many of the issues simmering
in Ballarat during 1854, were the result of poor actions
by leaders in government, police and military. Corrupt leaders, selfish
leaders, power-hungry leaders, leaders greedy for money and prestige. Today, we have the right to
choose our political leaders who then regulate the laws that govern our police and military. It's a right we take for granted today, but in 1854, a bonfire
of injustice and violence burned many who had been
suffering in poverty without the right of representation. So, how can we show that we
appreciate the legacy of Eureka? How can we show that we value
the gift of being able to have a say in the selection of our representatives in government? Well, while in prison, the
Apostle Paul wrote many letters. In one letter to Timothy, Paul reminded him about
the power of prayer in supporting leaders. Here's what Paul wrote. "The first thing I want you to do is pray. "Pray every way you know
how, for everyone you know. "Pray especially for rulers
and their governments "to rule well so we can be
quietly about our business "of living simply, in
humble contemplation. "This is the way our Saviour
God wants us to live." So, we're encouraged to pray
for our government leaders, pray that they will govern
justly and honourably, and in the best interest of our society. Pray that they will govern with wisdom, and that the concern will be
for the well-being of all, and pray that God will accomplish
his purpose through them. Let's ensure that we don't take our democracy and freedom for granted. We need to remember that this freedom was paid for in blood at Eureka Stockade. Eureka is a reminder of
the eternal human dream for liberty, equality, and freedom, a dream that belongs to everyone. A dream that will never
perish from the earth. Why? Because God has placed the
desire for freedom in our hearts. We weren't made to be slaves,
we were designed to be free. And we cannot be satisfied or
find peace until we are free. And this is true in a
spiritual sense as well. True freedom, freedom from guilt and sin, can only be found in Jesus. You see, being a slave to
sin is the ultimate bondage. The freedom that Jesus
offers is a spiritual freedom from the guilt and bondage of sin. Listen to what it says in John 8:32-36. "And you shall know the truth, "and the truth shall make you free. "Therefore if the Son makes you free, "you shall be free indeed." Jesus is the truth. Knowing the truth, knowing
Jesus, sets us free from sin, free from guilt, and
free from condemnation. Wouldn't you like to
experience that freedom? True freedom? Well, you can. Why not ask for it right now as we pray? Dear Heavenly Father, today we have been reminded
of the importance of freedom, and just how precious it is. We admire those who have
championed the cause of liberty and democracy. Today, we want to recognise
the greatest of liberators, Jesus Christ. And thank you for the freedom
that he brings to our lives. Thank you for setting us
free from sin and guilt. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. The story of Eureka Stockade and the struggle for democracy and freedom is certainly inspiring, and has influenced the
history of our country. If you've enjoyed this
Eureka Stockade programme, and would like to know more about the freedom from guilt
and sin that Jesus offers, be sure to order the free gift we have for all our viewers today. It's a book entitled
the Secrets of Freedom. It's an insightful guide that will help you overcome
the paralysis we sometimes feel when we are tied down by guilt, anger, failures, and the past. This book is our gift to
you and is absolutely free. There are no cost or obligations. Order your free book now. Here's the information you need. Phone or text us at 0436 333 555 or visit our website www.tij.tv to request today's free offer, and we'll send it to you
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to request today's offer. Write to us at PO Box 5101
Dora Creek New South Wales 2264 Australia, or PO Box 76673 Manukau,
Auckland 2241 New Zealand. Don't delay, call or text us now. If you've enjoyed today's journey, be sure to join us again next week, when we will share another
of life's journeys together, and experience another new and
thought-provoking perspective on the peace, insight,
understanding and hope that only the bible can give us. The Incredible Journey truly is television that changes lives. Until next week, remember, the ultimate destination
of life's journey. Now, I saw a new heaven and new earth, and God will wipe away
every tear from their eyes. There shall be no more
death nor sorrow nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away. (inspiring music)
