Charles Hotham

From eurekapedia
Revision as of 13:03, 9 September 2013 by Cgervaso (talk | contribs)
Jump to: navigation, search
Sir Charles Hotham, Courtesy Ballarat Heritage Services Picture Collection

Background

Following the resignation of Charles La Trobe in April 1853, former Naval Officer Sir Charles Hotham was appointed Lieutenant Governor in December. His eventual arrival in June 1854 was celebrated in Melbourne and gold diggers from across the Victorian goldfields waited anxiously to see what reforms their new governor would support.[1]

Shortly after his arrival, the Lieutenant Governor and Lady Hotham visited the goldfields, where they were generally well received by the diggers, who voiced their concerns with the hope that the new governor would make beneficial changes to the licensing system.[2]

In his despatch on 18 September 1854 to Sir George Grey, the colonial secretary in the English Cabinet, Hotham played down the severity of these grievances, praising the character of the people of the goldfields, and declaring them to be devoted to order and good government. It is clear from this narrative that Hotham’s idea of good governance was markedly different from the one fought for by the men of Eureka.[3]

Goldfields Involvement, 1854

Sir Charles Hotham

In June 1854 Lieutenant Governor Charles La Trobe was replaced by Sir Charles Hotham. [4]

In August 1854, Victorian Governor Sir Charles Hotham toured the goldfields with the encouragement of the pastoralists and the office-class, decided to increase the government's revenue by catching miners who were not paying their fees.

Governor Hotham wrote the following report to the Governor of New South Wales:

"I do myself the honour to inform you that, on the night of the 6th of October last, James Scobie was found murdered on the goldfields of Ballarat. As he had been last seen coming from the Eureka Hotel, suspicion fell upon the landlord, James Bentley, his wife, and John Farrell, all of whom had formerly been convicts in Van Diemen's Land, and they were accordingly taken up, and brought before the bench of magistrates at Ballarat.
The magistrates, after hearing the evidence and examining witnesses, pronounced the prisoners not guilty of the charges preferred against them and they were accordingly released.'
This decision gave great dissatisfaction to the entire digging community of Ballarat; they denounced the presiding magistrate, Mr Dewes, accused him of being connected by interest with Bentley, and broadly asserted that he had been bought over.
Infuriated with rage, a vast assemblage of diggers was soon on the ground; and notwithstanding the exertions of the magistrates, police, and a small party of military, they set fire to the hotel, sacked it, and burnt it to the ground, and with infinite difficulty the prisoners obtained safety in the camp, and escaped the summary capital punishment to which it was intended to subject them.
The knowledge of strength which they now had acquired, and the indecision and oscillation of the authorities in allowing the riot to get head, caused the diggers to hold mass meetings, use the most threatening language to the officers on the gold field, and led them to fear that an attack would be made on the Government buildings, and that they in turn might be destroyed.
On obtaining official information of these proceedings, 1 lost no time in making such dispositions as 1 concluded would enable the authorities to maintain the integrity of the law, and, within four days, 450 military and police were on the ground, commanded by an officer in whom I had confidence, and who was instructed to enforce order and quiet, support the civil authority in the arrest of the ringleaders, and to use force, whenever legally called upon to do so, without regard to the consequences which might ensue.
These dispositions, and the knowledge that the military were instructed to act, checked all further movement on the part of the diggers. Four of the supposed ringleaders were arrested and very heavy bail taken for their appearance to stand their trial. Gradually the irritation subsided, and the diggers returned to their ordinary labour; but the law officers of the Crown being of opinion that sufficient evidence did exist to criminate Bentley, his wife, and Farrell, they were again arrested, and are now in prison, awaiting their trial at the approaching assize.
The movement being now quelled, it behoved me to investigate the charges which poured in from all quarters, of general corruption on the part of the authorities of the Ballarat gold field; and, accordingly, I appointed a Board of Inquiry, composed of officers of standing and ability, and directed them to proceed to Ballarat, and ascertain if there was any foundation for these charges.
The Board report that the stipendiary magistrate, Mr Dewes, had obtained loans of money from various individuals resident at Ballarat .... They also report Sergeant Major Milne, of the police force as guilty of receiving bribes... I have directed that Mr Dewes' name be erased from the Commission of the Peace, and have requested The Attorney General to inform me whether Sergeant Major Milne can be prosecuted for receiving money illegally." [5]

The Attack

Governor Charles Hotham sent two detachments of regiments of the British Army and numerous mounted police to Ballarat, and then retrospectively approved the order to attack civilians early on Sunday 03 December 1854. Hotham had reason to believe he was dealing with more than simple dissatisfaction with the gold license system. He saw signs of a rebellion against the Queen's authority which had democratic and republican aspects. this fear is expressed in his correspondence with his superior Sir George Grey the Secretary for the State for the Colonies in London. [6]


After the Eureka Stockade Hotham still feared revolution and wrote to the Governor of Tasmania requesting Military assistance in case the insurgents "mainly foreigners", might reassemble. He issued proclamations calling on citizens to assist in preserving social order, proclaimed martial order in Ballarat, and posted rewards for the escaped rebel leaders. [7]

Post 1854 Experiences

In the News

Four Jolly Diggers - The Eureka Celebrations.
Four jolly old gentlemen were introduced to the representative of the "Echo" on Friday last by the secretary of the Eureka celebrations committee Mr Troup. They each wore the Eureka badge pinned on the lapel of the coat.
"These gentlemen have come from Morwell," said Mr Troup,"to take part in the celebrations. Allow me to introduce you to Mr Isaac Hayward. Mr David Maine. Mr John Kemp. Mr George Firmin.
Bows all round, and then there was a general conversation with so many "I remembers" in it that it was evident that memories of the past were falling thick and fast upon these four hale old pioneers, the eldest of whom is a ripe age of 80 years, and the youngest a comparative youth of 67 or so. Mr Kemp, the eldest is remarkable for his youthful appearance and cheerful demeanour.
In the roaring days of the goldfield each member of the interesting quartet followed the occupation of a digger, experiencing all the ups and downs which inevitably form part of that alluring calling. None of them made any sensational discovery, but what is more to the point, three were actual witnesses of the burning of Bentley' Hotel and all of them approve of the stand which the diggers in the stockade took against a tyrannical system of administration. There is reason to believe that Mr Kemp's box of matches helped to set Bentley's Hotel in the blaze which consumed it to ashes. There was a great surging crowd around the hotel and one of Mr Kemp's mates came alongside him and said, "Give us your matches, Jack," and not knowing at that time that they were used for the purposes of arson, Mr Kemp handed over his tin box of wax vestas, and saw them no more. Mr Hayward and Mr Maine were present at the conflagration, and the latter caught Bentley's cat as it leaped out of the flames, and, later, took it home with him to his camp as a souvenir of the tremendous occasion.
Mr Hayward had a claim near the Gravel Pits, and he saw the military stoned as they were entering the camp from the Melbourne road, a few days before the encounter. "That was an ill advised action," remarked Mr Kemp, and "It was, indeed," commented his three companions. There was no attempt at justification for that stupid attack on a body of men under strict orders not to act upon the offensive. "But," added Mr Hayward, "the diggers had a right to be excited and ndignant at the way they were treated. We had been worried out of our lives by the troopers compelling us to show our licences, and treating us like a lot of ticket-of-leave men. Beside we had many see the unfairness of paying a licence to dig in a small piece of ground when the squatters hold thousands of acres for a few pounds a year. We are the men who were making the country, and we were treated as if we were undesirable immigrants. No wonder the blood of the wilder spirits boiled under such conditions. Mr Firmin tells a sensational story of the brutality of one of the Commissioners. It appears that while the disturbances were in progress a miner named James Ralph was in trouble with the authorities. His wife went down to the camp one evening to get tidings of her husband, when one of the Commissioners came out of his tent and held a revolver at her head. "You coward." Exclaimed the woman, "that's all you're good for is to frighten women and children; you're afraid to tackle a man like my husband." The Commissioner was in a boiling rage, but he threw away his revolver, and it eventually passed into the possession of Mr Ralph it was found to be loaded in three chambers. Mr Firmin is now endeavouring to trace Ralph, and if possible, the revolver will be obtained for the Ballarat Historical Record society.
Mr Hayward had something very interesting to say about Sir Charles Hotham, and if what he was told was true the Governor's reputation is thereby cleared of the imputation that he was at last antagonistic to the diggers. When at the Custom House some years ago Mr Hayward was assured that a letter from Sir Charles Hotham to the Executive is extant, and which, in effect states that the diggers' complaints were on the whole justified, and that a conference should be held to enquire into the causes of their grievances. Mr Hayward believes that the Governor's good intentions were frustrated by the Attorney-General (Sir William Stawell. Afterwards Chief Justice) who, it appears, had no sympathy with the digging population.
Many exciting scenes were witnessed by the four pioneers we have been referring to, and they will, no doubt, prove to be valuable additions to the collection of Eureka veterans Mr Troup is gathering together for the demonstration.
Mr Maine is one of the survivors of the wreck of the London in the Bay of Biscay on January 11, 1866.[8]

See also

Charles La Trobe

William McCrea

Further Reading

Corfield, J.,Wickham, D., & Gervasoni, C. The Eureka Encyclopaedia, Ballarat Heritage Services, 2004.

References

  1. http://prov.vic.gov.au/whats-on/exhibitions/eureka-on-trial/hothams-narrative, sighted 07 May 2013.
  2. http://prov.vic.gov.au/whats-on/exhibitions/eureka-on-trial/hothams-narrative, sighted 07 May 2013.
  3. http://prov.vic.gov.au/whats-on/exhibitions/eureka-on-trial/hothams-narrative, sighted 07 May 2013.
  4. Supplement to the Ballarat Courier, 27 March 1998, p. 3.
  5. http://pandora.nla.gov.au/pan/53891/20091212-0214/www.eurekacouncil.com.au/Australian-History-Frames-Page.html, accesses 04 August 2013.
  6. Eureka: The First Australian Republic?, Ballarat Fine Art Gallery and Public Record Office Victoria, 1997, p1.
  7. Beggs Sunter, Anne, Eureka the First Republic?, Ballarat Fine Art Gallery, 1997.
  8. The Morwell and Yinnar Gazette, 09 December 1904.

External links

http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/hotham-sir-charles-3803/text6027