Eureka Site

Eureka Site Plan, 1870

The Stockade

There was a good deal of misunderstanding about the nature and object of the Stockade. it was never intended as a means of defense. It was the flimsiest construction ever seen. It was composed of slabs 4 feet 4 inches long, placed at a distance apart in the ground, and leaning together at the top, forming a Ʌ on a sectional view. It offered no resisting power whatever, and when rushed it collapsed like the shutting up of a book. The chief object of the Stockade was to keep undesirable people from interfering with the work of drilling, and to form a rallying place for the men who had taken the oath. there is not doubt the men expected to have to defend themselves here, and were determined to do so if necessary, but there seems have been no definite plan of action beyond that of passive resistance, and waiting fro a movement to be made from the camp. That this movement would be made , and that it would necessitate a fight, was beyond doubt, and was equally doubt that the revolutionary element was determined to bring the conflict about.