Part 8 (2/2)

New to office, Hotham imposed twice-weekly license checks, fueling deeper resentment among the diggers. In Ballarat, their frustration compounded when Scottish miner James Scobie was brutally kicked to death by James Bentley, owner of the Eureka Hotel. Diggers were outraged when Bentley was acquitted after a cursory investigation by a local magistrate known to be corrupt. An angry mob formed and set fire to the Eureka Hotel on October 17, 1854.

An anxious Agnes saw smoke rising above her town. Ever since her family set up camp, a palpable tension ran through the diggings. Scobie's murder had escalated the strife, and now that Bentley was under protection at the Commissioners Camp, the government's collusion against justice seemed all the more apparent. The vastly outnumbered soldiers desperately reinforced the camp's defenses as angry protesters marched through the streets of Ballarat.

The fire at the Eureka Hotel set in motion a flurry of activity, as cooler heads tried to avoid the rising inevitability of b.l.o.o.d.y confrontation. Within days, miners formed the Diggers Right Society. In November, the hastily formed Ballarat Reform League sent delegates to Melbourne with a new of list of demands for diggers' rights. While the delegates awaited the governor's response, a duplicitous Hotham dispatched an additional 450 troops to Ballarat. On Tuesday, November 28, a long line of crimson-jacketed soldiers marched into town. Panicked miners ran in every direction and loaded their guns. Agnes called for her children and gathered them safely inside.

News of the approaching soldiers, bayonets gleaming in the sun, spread like wildfire. The swelling crowd of shocked townsfolk greeted them with pelting stones and shouts of derision. Attempting to block the column's advance, the gathering mob overturned carts. In the confusion, shots were fired and critically wounded the regiment's drummer boy.31 The soldiers retaliated by drawing their swords. Shots and screams rang out across the hills and gullies surrounding Ballarat, and a bolt of terror tore through a terrified mother of five. The soldiers retaliated by drawing their swords. Shots and screams rang out across the hills and gullies surrounding Ballarat, and a bolt of terror tore through a terrified mother of five.

The next day, Wednesday, ten thousand miners met at Bakery Hill. Defying Britain's rule, they raised a new flag for the first time. Three courageous women st.i.tched the blue-and-white flag that represented the Southern Cross, ornamented with white stars against an off-white background. One was a freed convict from Van Diemen's Land named Anastasia Eustes Withers. A dressmaker from London, she was transported for stealing five shawls. Together with a woman also named Anastasia, Anastasia Hayes, and a very pregnant Anne Duke, she left her mark of protest against the rule of the Crown.32 Peter Lalor, an upper-cla.s.s Irish activist and one of the Ballarat Reform League founders, addressed the large, restless crowd. He was perhaps a natural for the role; his brother, James Fintan Lalor, had been involved in the Young Ireland uprising in 1848, and his father served in the British House of Commons. Six-foot-tall, twenty-five-year-old Peter ended his speech with calls for lighting a huge bonfire. Diggers defiantly tossed their licenses into the flames.

It was the last day of the month, November 30, 1854. Governor appointee Robert Rede, Ballarat's Gold Commissioner, knew what had happened the previous night on Bakery Hill. With the backing of additional troops, Rede was confident a show of force would quash the uprising. Knowing that many miners had burned their licenses the night before, he ordered a license hunt with soldiers in full force, provoking more confrontations between diggers and soldiers.

Rede continued the hunt throughout the morning. By noon, he rode to the gravel pits and demanded that diggers present their licenses. Shots were fired, and miners rushed up the gully shouting their outrage. Rede ordered the troops to turn their guns on the gathering mob. Facing the tight line of muskets, they began to disperse.

Later in the day, a large crowd began to congregate on Bakery Hill. ”At a meeting at 4 pm on November 30th, 1854, Peter Lalor stepped up on a tree stump beneath the billowing Southern Cross flag, and into his place in Australian history. The diggers knelt, as one, on the dusty ground, placed their hands over their hearts and chanted together the diggers oath: 'We swear by the Southern Cross to stand truly by each other and defend our rights and our liberties.'”33 Lalor later recalled that moment: ”I looked around me; I saw brave and honest men, who had come thousands of miles to labor for independence. I knew that hundreds were in great poverty, who would possess wealth and happiness if allowed to cultivate the wilderness which surrounded us. The grievances under which we had long suffered, and the brutal attack of the day, flashed across my mind; and, with the burning feeling of an injured man, I mounted the stump and proclaimed 'Liberty.'”34 They were all caught up in it. As much as Agnes wanted to escape with her family, most women on the goldfields knew one another, so Agnes wanted to help if she could. The worried mother watched the freedom fighters piece together their best defenses. For two days straight, a thousand inspired diggers worked to erect a stockade on the Eureka field. ”The roughly circular encampment was about an acre in area and barricaded on three sides by a rude construction of pit logs thrown together in a higgledy-piggledy manner. . . .”35 By Sat.u.r.day evening, their work was done. By Sat.u.r.day evening, their work was done.

Since the start of the month, there were no new incidents, two days thankfully without bloodshed. Sat.u.r.day evening as campfires blazed, Agnes put her children to bed with a sigh of relief, looking forward to Sunday's peace. It was not to be so.

At dawn's break on Sunday, December 3, 1854, every available soldier fastened his bayonet and marched toward the thinly manned stockade on Bakery Hill. Their attack was a complete surprise. Drowsy rebels awoke to the sentries' shocked cries, barely grabbing their guns before bullets flew over their heads. The battle was short and fierce. Three hundred soldiers had attacked the stockade, killing twenty-two prospectors and taking one hundred prisoners. Six soldiers lost their lives. A few women joined the rebellion and challenged the troops directly. In an act of defiance and protection, Bridget Hynes and several other women ran onto the battlefield, putting their bodies over the wounded and preventing soldiers bent on revenge from bayoneting them to death.

Nineteen-year-old Bridget Callinan, originally from County Clare, Ireland, helped rescue her two wounded brothers, Patrick and Michael. As the troops began to murder the wounded and burn the hospital tents, Bridget confronted the armed soldiers and created a diversion that allowed her two brothers to escape with the help of her cousins. Michael had received two bullets in his thigh, and Patrick suffered two bayonet wounds.36 Just as the tensions came to a head, Agnes's sons William and George Henry were nowhere to be found, out on an errand when the shooting began. Young William later related a ”very vivid recollection of the Eureka Stockade riots, and had the unpleasant experience of seeing a man shot down by his and his brother's side at a time they had been sent on a message.” Needless to say, the young boys ”took to their heels and did not draw breath till they were safely home.”37 Out of her mind with worry when the gunfire ensued, Agnes's frantic screams subsided when she saw her two winded lads running back toward the camp. A battlefield was no place for children. Out of her mind with worry when the gunfire ensued, Agnes's frantic screams subsided when she saw her two winded lads running back toward the camp. A battlefield was no place for children.

On this Sunday, even her church was unsafe. Largely made up of Scots, the Presbyterian ministry was harboring a severely wounded Peter Lalor, and women from her congregation were helping to save his life and amputate his shattered arm. Both political hero and hopeless romantic, the insurgent was known for having walked the hundred-mile roundtrip journey from Ballarat to Geelong to see his beloved fiancee, Alicia Dunne. With a huge price on his head after the Eureka battle, the fiery Irishman was smuggled from the Presbyterian Church back to Alicia's Geelong home. When amnesty was declared and Lalor's wounds healed, grateful diggers elected him to Victoria's first legislative a.s.sembly.

What started as a dispute over licensing fees became a protest for human rights. Within a year, nearly all the miners' demands were met, including suffrage for men, abolition of property requirements for members.h.i.+p in Parliament, equal electoral districts, and the abolition of diggers' licenses. The ”Gold Licence” rules were replaced by ”a Miner's Right for an annual fee of 1, and an export levy on gold. This Right gave the diggers t.i.tle deed to their claims, allowing them to establish permanent dwellings, and a permanent sense of community. Commissioners were replaced with mining wardens and military rule was abolished on the goldfields forever.”38 The Eureka uprising ended with the trial of the century. Charges of treason against the protesters carried a death penalty, but no jury would bring a guilty verdict. Every deliberation brought unexpected acquittals for those taken prisoner. Huge crowds gathered around the courthouse and cheered exultantly. One by one, rebels were acquitted and paraded through the streets, as ten thousand miners carried the exonerated on chairs above their heads. The first of those acquitted was John Joseph, a black American from New York, a man the United States had left to fend for himself after the emba.s.sy helped free the four white Americans arrested at the Eureka Rebellion.

A few years after the trial, Agnes, William, and the children headed north with their gold safely hidden in the wee ones' ”nappies.”39 Invigorated by newly won freedoms, they raised their tent poles and began mining the fields at Campbell's Creek. By this time, most gold deposits accessible to single prospectors had been harvested, so it was much more difficult to make a go of it alone. Larger deep-shaft mines like the ”Hercules,” the ”New Moon,” and the ”Deborah” took over the mining fields. Invigorated by newly won freedoms, they raised their tent poles and began mining the fields at Campbell's Creek. By this time, most gold deposits accessible to single prospectors had been harvested, so it was much more difficult to make a go of it alone. Larger deep-shaft mines like the ”Hercules,” the ”New Moon,” and the ”Deborah” took over the mining fields.40 Mullock (waste) heaps and towering structures with poppet legs now dominated the skyline across Victoria's central plains. Within a short time, the wandering Roberts contingent packed up and went on the move again. This time, they were hunting for ”red gold.” Mullock (waste) heaps and towering structures with poppet legs now dominated the skyline across Victoria's central plains. Within a short time, the wandering Roberts contingent packed up and went on the move again. This time, they were hunting for ”red gold.”

The red cedar forests seemed the ideal place for William to find work, since loggers had founded the community of Lismore. He'd earned the right to buy land, and his family needed a place to call their own. They'd spent too many years living under canvas. It was time for William to put down his pick and sharpen his ax. Huge fortunes were being made from timber stands along the Richmond River, and finding a good tree to fell was certainly easier than searching for a deeply entrenched gold nugget. It would be a long journey up to the Gold Coast, but the children were older now, and the solitude of the rain forest seemed preferable to the strife at the diggings. William purchased a sawmill, and Agnes gave birth to two more children: Caroline in 1858 and Joseph in 1860.

The fervor of gold fever had subsided by Christmas 1869, when Agnes and William sat on the veranda looking out on their grandchildren with pride and delight. Life on the frontier was still rough and the world was changing around them. Agricultural development had taken over the ”Big Scrub.” The forests had been cleared, and the rich stands of red cedar were nearly depleted. Springing up in their place was a new generation of children who knew nothing of their grandparents' past.

Agnes McMillan's journey had taken her from the murky industrial wasteland along the Glasgow wynds to the subtropical Richmond River Valley, dense with palm trees, leafy ferns, waterfall gorges, and wild orchids. Nestled in a remote timber settlement, with more ducks and black swans than people, the wilderness provided her family with everything they needed. Streams plentiful with eel, cod, bream, lobster, and perch fed a growing brood, which now included seven grandchildren. Wild game from the bush-plover, quail, and scrub turkey-also topped their cedar table, readily adorned with bowls of raspberries and wild bananas. The former street urchin could never have dreamed of the holiday feast that now lay before her. Gone were the days of singing for pennies on the Green or making choices between starving and stealing.

Though she'd followed a separate path and settled more than a thousand miles from her beloved Janet, Agnes never lost sight of the unflinching loyalty that had sustained them through their tumultuous coming of age. The two Scottish la.s.ses had been through it all: the drudgery and filth of the wool mills, the degradation inside Newgate, a terrifying and treacherous sea journey, and finally the prison where Janet suffered the loss of little William. They would still endure tragedy from time to time.

In 1853, the year transportation ended in Van Diemen's Land, there was little triumph for Janet. Within ten days in October, she lost two sons, eight-year-old James and three-year-old Arthur, victims of scarlet fever. By Christmas 1869, the now-greying redhead had given birth thirteen times, buried three children, witnessed the marriage of her two oldest sons, and welcomed into the world at least one grandchild. Her son William celebrated his heritage when he and his wife, Dinah, christened eleven of their twelve children with the middle name Freeman. With a touch of humor and perhaps a bit of irreverence toward British rule, they named their ninth child Charles Napoleon (Warrior) Bailey.

Ludlow, too, had relied on an unshakable bond, hers between mother and daughter. It had carried them from a Christmas inside Newgate Prison through their journey to a land ”beyond the seas.” Though she'd been forced to suffer a five-year separation from Arabella in Van Die-men's Land, Ludlow now heard the sound of laughter, from three generations, echo through the ironbark forest in Sandhurst, Victoria. Mother and child had arrived in Van Diemen's Land with nothing, but by 1869, both owned property in a thriving towns.h.i.+p stirring with commerce from banks, hotels, watchmakers, grocers, music halls, and a bowling alley.41 After the miners' rights were won, Arabella's husband, Isaac, continued to work the diggings, while his expanded family settled down in a quiet country cottage just outside Bendigo proper. With Ludlow by her side, Arabella gave birth to five more children: four girls and a boy. After the miners' rights were won, Arabella's husband, Isaac, continued to work the diggings, while his expanded family settled down in a quiet country cottage just outside Bendigo proper. With Ludlow by her side, Arabella gave birth to five more children: four girls and a boy.

At age thirty-seven, Arabella became a widow in 1867, when Isaac pa.s.sed away at age sixty-three. Twelve years later, she wed a widower named John Oliver. Her grandchildren, like many in Sandhurst, still found specks of gold in the dirt after a hard rainfall. Arabella lived to age eighty-eight, enjoying life as the matriarch of four generations and remembered in her 1918 obituary as ”a well known and highly esteemed resident of the Golden Square district.”42 Pursuing ordinary lives twelve thousand miles from their homeland, Arabella, Ludlow, Agnes, and Janet helped shape an emerging culture with traits born of their extraordinary past. With iron wills forged in a crucible of greed, injustice, punishment, and prejudice, these survivors refused to be broken. When transportation ended, convict women and men const.i.tuted about 40 percent of Australia's English-speaking population.

Bold women sent to a wild land against their will-Agnes McMillan, Janet Houston, Ludlow Tedder, and twenty-five thousand others-wove the rich tapestry for a nation's future. Whether Irish, English, or Scottish, it didn't matter where they were from or why they were transported. The winds of change had blown away much of the past. Under the Southern Cross, healing had begun. They were all Australians now.

APPENDIX 1.

Agnes McMillan Description List (Westmoreland, AOT CON 19-1-14 p. 438)

Transcription provided by Female Factory Research Group Conduct Record PoLICE No. 253 .

Millan Mc Agnes Westmoreland 3 December 1836 Ayr Court of Justiciary 3rd May 1836 7 years Transported for theft, habit, repute and previous convictions.

Gaol Report: twice before convicted, bad character, single.

Stated this Offence: robbing a shop; tried with Houstan on board, [previous convictions] once for Housebreaking 18 months, once 60 days for theft; 3 years on the town; single. Surgeon's Report: bad.

22 March 1837 (Donahoo) Absent without leave & insolent - Crime Cla.s.s 3 months & not again a.s.signed in Town (PS*) 3 November 1837 (Parker) Disobedience of orders - 2 months Crime Cla.s.s (HBT) Hobart vide Lieutenant Governor's decision 11 November 1837 8 September 1838 (Sweet) Refusing to return to her service - cell 10 days on bread & water & returned to her service (PS) 28 September 1838 (Harvey) Out after hours - cell on bread & water 6 days & returned to her service (PS) 8 October 1838 (Harvey) Absent without leave & taking 2 young children with her - Crime Cla.s.s 1 month, first 6 days on bread & water (PS) 7 December 1838 (Palmer) Absenting herself without leave - hard labour at the wash tub for 2 months sleeping in a cell at night (PS) 25 February 1839 (Evans) Absenting herself without leave - 7 days cells on bread & water (RCG) 3 April 1839 (Ross) Absent without leave - returned to Government & not to be a.s.signed in any towns.h.i.+p (WHB) 17 June 1839 (Amos) Absent without leave - 2 months in the Crime Cla.s.s, Female House of Correction Hobart & recommended to be a.s.signed in the Interior (BB & JH) 13 October 1840 (Walker) Insolence - 14 days solitary confinement (JW) 30 March 1842 (Nursery Liverpool Street) Absent without leave and representing herself to be free - 4 months hard labour in the House of Correction (WG) 22 February 1843 (McDonald) Absent 2 nights and a day without leave - 3 months at the wash tub (PS) .

Free Certificate No. 388 1843 .

2.4.39 Richmond office 28.7.40 Richmond 4.8.40 Oatlands office 24.4.43 Police Superintendent *These are the initials of the sentencing magistrate, which in this case is the Princ.i.p.al Superintendent. Agnes was imprisoned at Cascades Female Factory on each occasion.

Transcription provided by Female Factory Research Group. Reference: AOT, CON40-1-8 p.9 Description List (William Miles, AOT CON 18-1-21 p. 76)

APPENDIX 2.

Janet Houston Description List (Westmoreland, AOT CON 19/1/14 p. 415)

Conduct Record PoLICE No. 284 .

Houstan Janet [name misspelled in record]

Westmoreland 3 Dec 1836 Ayr Court of Justiciary 3 May 1836 7 years Transported for Theft habit repute and previous conviction. Gaol report, bad character before convicted twice. Single Stated this offence, Theft stealing money at Ayr, 4 times convicted for Theft, 60 days twice, 6 months twice, four years on the Town, single, Surgeon's report, orderly Aug. 12, 1837 Mrs. Ray/disobedience of orders. Cell on bread and water 3 days returned to service / P.S.

July 24, 1838 Ray /Insolence to her Mistress. returned to the factory for country a.s.signment / P.S.

Nov 7, 1838 Rev W. Orton / Absent all night without leave / W.G. (Rev Joseph Orton is Chairman of the district, Inst.i.tute of Wesleyan Ministers) Nov 14, 1838 Orton/ Absent all night without leave and found in a disorderly house Sentence - working cells for one month, first six days on bread and water thru a.s.signment in country/ P.S.

Dec 20, 1838 Ratcliffe / Disorderly conduct March 23, 1840 Misconduct Aug 2nd, 1841 Misconduct living in a state of adultery with a free man / being advanced in pregnancy / 12 Months Labor Female House of Correction March 17, 1842 Misconduct 6 days of solitary May 3, 1843 - Free Certificate #339 .

Reference: AOT, CON 40-1-6 p.9

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