Country of Origin
The 1850s Victorian goldfields population was one of the most cosmopolitan places in Australia and comprised of many nationalities. All inhabitants lived under the British legal system, and many being foreigners or reformists were displeased with the unjust and confusing laws governing them. Many had fled troubles in Continental Europe and elsewhere, and had witnessed the results of oppressive tyrants and governments. Many had been Chartists or followed enlightened views in their homelands, and did not want to be repressed once again. [1]
NATIONALITIES AT THE EUREKA STOCKADE
By Anne Beggs Sunter.
(List compiled mainly using the Eureka Research Directory)
IRISH - the majority - Lalor, Quin (killed), Canny, Hanrahan, Lynch, Gleeson, Moore, (killed), Tuohy (tried for treason), Torpy, O’Neil, O’Mahony, O’Brien, Mullins (killed), McGlynn (killed), Manning (tried for treason), Madden, Lee, Lewis, Hynes, Sheehan, Howard, Hayes (tried for treason), Gittins (killed), Gilmore, Gavin, Esmond, Dunlop, Regan, Dynan, Diamond (killed), Dalton, Crowe (killed), Curtain, Callinan, Brady, Donaghey (killed), Brown (died of wounds), Hynes (killed) AUSTRALIAN - Quinlan (born NSW). Miller (born Tasmania), Dignam (NSW) tried for treason, Howes (Tasmania)
ENGLISH - Green (killed), Clifton (killed), Cummins, White, Wiburd (or Wyburd), Wood, Thomas, Smith, Knipe, Coxhead (died of wounds), Cox, Black, Boase, Bell, Beattie (tried for treason), Ashburner
SCOTTISH - Kennedy, Robertson (killed), Watson, Sutherland, McLaren, Crowe
WELSH - Rowlands (killed)
ITALIAN - Carboni (tried for treason). Polinelli, Oravalno, Rappacioli, Capuano , Barberis
CORSIACAN - Romeo
GREEK - D’Angri GERMAN/PRUSSIAN - Thonen (killed), Henfield (killed), Haffle (killed), Vern
RUSSIAN - Emmerman (killed)
DUTCH - Peters, Vennick (tried for treason)
FRENCH – Priaulx, Le Pere Delprat (friend of Carboni)
SWISS - Sublet, Doudiet
SPANISH - Pergo
PORTUGUESE - Nida
SWEDISH - Soranson, Swanson
AMERICAN - McGill, Josephs (tried for treason), Hartley, Ferguson, Carey, Nealson, Burnete, Melody, Shanahan
CANADIAN - Ross (killed), Robinson, Julien (died of wounds)
WEST INDIAN - Campbell (tried for treason)
James Madden wrote in 1904:
- ... One thing that pains me, and to which I must give an emphatic denial, is a statement that the fight was only shared by one section of the population. I say, from an intimate knowledge of events, that Englishmen, Irishmen, Scotchmen,and men from other European countries, fought together and so did men of every religion. My family are Ulster-Protestants, and the latter are not usually weak in their faith, and we had many friends, also strict Irish Protestants, who fought and died side by side-with men of all other creeds; among them Irish Catholics. The struggle was one in wliich all religions united, so great was the oppression; and so strong was the desire to gain for Australia the freedom we have to-day. I cannot under stand how men who claim to he comrades of those who died can so traduce their memory, unless they belonged to the spies on Ballarat at the time. ...[2]