The Role of Foreigners at Eureka

By Clare Gervasoni

From a talk delivered at the Reclaim the Radical Spirit of the Eureka Rebellion Annual Dinner, 03 December 2011

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There is an interesting preoccupation with foreigners at Eureka. Governor Charles Hotham reports to Sir William Denison on 04 Dececember 1854 states ‘The insurgents are principally foreigners, well drilled, and said to be well commanded’. Were they principally foreigners? If not why did they stand out to the extent the posters and communications suggest?

Looking at the term foreigner in Colonial Victoria we could simply define a foreigner as non British. Many were non-English speakers, but English speakers such as Canadians and Americans also fell inside the 'foreign' description.

Macquarie Dictionary Definitions

#	Foreigner	Alien
	1. Pertaining to, characteristic of, or derived from another country or nation; not native or domestic	1. One born in or belonging to another country who has not acquired citizenship by naturalisation and is not entitled to the privileges of a citizen
	5. Belonging to or coming from another district, province, society, etc	2. A foreigner
	7. Law. Outside the legal jurisdiction of the state; alien	4. One who has been estranged or excluded; an outsider
	12. Strange or unfamiliar	5. Residing under another government or in another country than that of one’s birth

The Macquarie Dictionary includes definitions for the word foreigner in a number of ways. If you consider chart above with the use of the words 'Foreigner' and 'Alien' during the Eureka Stockade it would be easy to deide that every person at the Eureka Stockade was a foreigner. Definition 7 considers the word foreigner from a legal point of view, and uses the term Alien. According to the Macquarie Dictionary an alien is a person from another country, who is not naturalised and is not therefore entitled to the privileges of a citizen, or, as definition 5 suggests, someone living under another government or in another country than that of one’s birth.

During the Eureka Stockade era any non-British subject was considered a foreigner - they were strangers receiving the hospitality and protection of Queen Victoria.

On 04 December 1854 Governor Charles Hotham published in the Government Gazette:

Recent events at the Mines at Ballarat render it necessary for all true subjects of the Queen, and all strangers who have received hospitality and protection under Her flag, to assist in preserving Social Order and maintaining the Supremacy of the Law.

It is interesting to consider Hotham’s use of the phrase ‘true subjects of the Queen’. The Irish were British subjects, but the South Irish in particular may have preferred NOT to be described in that manner. Would J.B. Humffray have described himself as British or Welsh?

The term Stranger is also interesting. In this context it means a foreigner – but is also has the word STRANGE within it. Foreigners were seen as different.

File:M18761bi-wiki.jpg

Comparison of British and Foreign Birthplace of Residents of Victoria from the Cencus of Victoria, published in 1856. Graph compiled by Dorothy Wickham

According to the Victorian Census of 1854 Ballarat had the highest goldfield population with 18,564 people, followed by Sandhurst with 15,953. The Ballarat goldfield had 16,974 British subjects and 1,585 foreigners – or roughly about 1 foreigner for every 8 British subjects. Interestingly Sandhurst had 13,212 British subjects and 2,693 Foreign Subjects or 1 foreigner for every 5 British subjects.

Clearly there are a lot more British than foreigners on the goldfields, and of the foreigners, the largest percentage were on the goldfields compared to other parts of the colony. Out of all British subjects in Victoria 27.45% were located on the goldfields, with 58.74 % of all Foreigners in Victoria were located on the goldfields.

When Governor Charles Hotham stated ‘The insurgents are principally foreigners, well drilled, and said to be well commanded’ why did he emphasis foreigners?? There are a variety of answers including:

• They stood out as different (different language, costume, food, etc);

• They required English language to be translated;

• It is easy to lay blame at non-British (scape goat);

• Foreigners often congregated together, making their differences appear more threatening;

• Numbers of foreigners may have appeared large in comparison to British

• Many foreigners on the goldfield had been involved with radical movements of 1848, such as Italian wars of Independence, and the French Revolution.