J.H. Abbott
That the impost of Thirty Shillings a Month is unjust because the successful and unsuccessful Digger are assessed in the same ratio
For these reasons and others which could be enumerated Your Petitioners pray Your Excellency to Grant the following Petition
* First. To direct that the Licence Fee be reduced to Ten Shillings a Month
* Secondly To direct that Monthly or Quarterly Licenses be issued at the option of the Applicants
* Thirdly To direct that new arrivals or invalids be allowed on registering their names at the Commissioners Office fifteen clear days residence on the Gold Fields before the License be enforced
* Fourthly To afford greater facility to Diggers and others resident on the Gold Fields who wish to engage in Agricultural Pursuits for investing their earnings in small allotments of land
* Fifthly To direct that the Penalty of Five Pounds for non-possession of License be reduced to One Pound
* Sixthly To direct that (as the Diggers and other residents on the Gold Fields of the Colony have uniformly developed a love of law and order) the sending of an Armed Force to enforce the License Tax be discontinued.
Your Petitioners would respectfully submit to Your Excellency's consideration in favour of the reduction of the License Fee that many Diggers and other residents on the Gold-fields who are debarred from taking a License under the present System would if the Tax were reduced to Ten Shillings a Month cheerfully comply with the Law so that the License Fund instead of being diminished would be increased
Your Petitioners would also remind your Excellency that a Petition is the only mode by which they can submit their wants to your Excellency's consideration as although they contribute more to the Exchequer that half the Revenue of the Colony they are the largest class of Her Majesty's Subjects in the Colony unrepresented
And your Petitioners as in duty bound will ever pray etc.
Contents
Background
Joseph Henry Abbott arrived on the goldfields in 1853. He died in 1904 and is buried at White Hills Cemetery.[1]
Joseph Henry Abbott (1830-1904), businessman, civic leader and politician, was born on 1 February 1830 in Birmingham, England, son of Joseph Abbott, millwright, and Mary Ann, née Signet. He was educated at King Edward Free Grammar School in Birmingham, left at 12 and worked for his father until he was 21. Excited by news of the gold rushes in Australia, he sailed in the Earl of Derby and arrived at Cole's wharf, Melbourne, on 17 November 1852. He went directly to Forest Creek where he was moderately successful digging for gold near Wesley Hill and Moonlight Flat.
Early in 1853 Abbott went to Bendigo with two friends and opened a general store, combining business with mining; in 1854 they erected a puddling machine. At this time Abbott first showed an interest in local affairs, and with Ebenezer Syme and George Thomson started a newspaper, the Diggers Advocate, which the Bendigo Advertiser, 9 January 1858, described as 'the champion of the diggers in the opposition to the license fee'. Thomson was editor and Syme a contributor while Abbott acted as agent and reporter at Bendigo. This first goldfields newspaper appeared weekly, sold for 2s. and ran for two years. In order to give everyone an opportunity to see it, Abbott opened a reading room. In 1858 he extended his business and converted a large store in Pall Mall, Bendigo, into a hotel and a theatre which was replaced later by the Lyceum. In that year he was elected to the Sandhurst Borough Council and in 1860 became chairman of the municipality and a justice of the peace. In 1862 he opened a boot factory and store in Pall Mall, which he later coupled with a tannery at Strathfieldsaye.[2]
Goldfields Involvement, 1853-1854
J.H. Abbott signed the 1853 Bendigo Goldfields Petition. Agitation of the Victorian goldfields started with the Forest Creek Monster Meeting in 1851, but what became known as the Red Ribbon Movement was centred around the Bendigo goldfields in 1853. The Anti-Gold License Association was formed at Bendigo in June 1853, led by George Thomson, Dr D.G. Jones and 'Captain' Edward Browne. The association focused its attention on the 30 shillings monthly licence fee miners were required to pay to the government. They drew up a petition outlining digger grievances and called for a reduced licence fee, improved law and order, the right to vote and the right to buy land. The petition was signed by diggers at Bendigo, Ballarat, Castlemaine, McIvor (Heathcote), Mount Alexander (Harcourt) and other diggings. The 13 metre long petition was presented to Lieutenant-Governor Charles La Trobe in Melbourne on the 01 August 1853, but their call for a reduction in monthly licence fees and land reform for diggers was rejected. The diggers dissatisfaction erupted into the Red Ribbon Rebellion where agitators wore red ribbons on their hats symbolising their defiance of the law and prohibitive licence fees.
Post 1854 Experiences
Obituary
- MR. J. H. ABBOTT.
- Mr. Joseph Henry Abbott, M.L.C., a well-known Bendigo pioneer, died at Bendigo on Thursday morning, aged 74. He arrived on the Victorian goldfields in 1853, and entered public life in 1855. In 1876 he obtained a seat in the Victorian Legislative Council. His name will be best remembered for his establishment of the Hospital Sunday movement in Australia.[3]
- Mr J. H. Abbott [Jnr]
- The death has occurred of Mr Joseph Henry Abbott, of Barkly place, Bendigo. Mr Abbott was a leading business and sporting identity of the town. His late father was a member of the Legislative Council and a Mayor of Bendigo. Mr Abbott had an association with the Sandhurst and Northern District Trustees, Executors, and Agency Co. for many years. Over the last 30 years he was chairman of directors.[4]
See also
Ballarat Reform League Inc. Monuments Project
Further Reading
References
- ↑ The Argus, 12 November 1904.
- ↑ Susanne Keating, 'Abbott, Joseph Henry (1830–1904)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/abbott-joseph-henry-2857/text4067, published first in hardcopy 1969, accessed online 7 October 2019.
- ↑ Western Mail. 19 November 1904.
- ↑ The Argus, 10 June 1946.
External links
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