Women of Eureka

Charles A. Doudiet, , 1850s, pencil on paper.
Courtesy Art Gallery of Ballarat, purchased Purchased with funds from the Colin Hicks Caldwell Bequest, 2004.

Australian women have been systematically excluded from many narratives of nation building and they have almost disappeared from some historical accounts. The historical record has been mostly silent on the presence of women at Eureka, preferring to focus on the event and deeds of notable men, and this has often been taken to indicate that women were absent. Thus the idea of women's invisibility at Eureka has been propagated.

It was not until Laurel Johnson wrote about the Women of Eureka that they began to stir in our national memory. But they were still not deemed as an important facet in the image of nation building nor did they dovetail with the masculinist image of the rough and tumble goldfields. Corfield, Wickham and Gervasoni included them and many of their interesting life stories in The Eureka Encyclopaedia in 2004.

Given the historical context and record, it is plausible and highly likely that women were active in the protests surrounding Eureka. Women traditionally were participants in similar social protests in Britain. West and Blumberg have demonstrated clearly that women have traditionally been present in such social protests throughout history. Reports claimed that around 10,000 people were present at each Monster Meeting of the Ballarat Reform League on 11 and 29 November 1854, these being 'quiet and orderly' occasions with flags and music 'adding to the effect of the affair'. As Ballarat women comprised around 25 per cent of the local population in 1854 it is highly likely that they were among the crowd. Mrs Margaret Shann or Shand a striking looking woman said she was at the rallies as did Mrs Rowlands,

While many women were undoubtedly aggrieved that neither they nor their husbands had a vote or representation in parliament, a more central grievance and a more immediate source of distress for families at Eureka was the high licence fee imposed by an authoritative officialdom and the ruthless manner in which it was collected. A high licence fee meant that women, children and men were suffering. It meant that money was spent and a tax levied from the family income before any money was earned. Stephen Cummings, a gold miner and witness at the 1855 Commission of Enquiry said that the present system was 'bad' where 'a man could be taken away from his family if he could not produce his licence'. On 28 October 1854 one gold digger whose licence had only just expired, and who had no money, 'had to borrow half a bag of sugar ... for [his] wife and children'.

Oral and written testament places women and children not only at the scene of the fracas on 3 December 1854 at the Eureka Stockade on the Eureka Lead but also inside the Eureka Stockade. Agnes Greig said she saw women and children evacuating Eureka and heading off towards Black Hill in the immediate moments before the battle.

Also See

Elizabeth Abbott; Sarah Hanmer;