Goldfields: Under the Southern Cross

On December 2, 1854, on the goldfields of Ballarat, British troops mounted an assault on a small group of 120 miners and prospectors ensconced behind a makeshift stockade. The battle was all over in 15 furious minutes, but five British troops (including a captain) and 22 diggers were killed or later died of their wounds. The skirmish, known as the Eureka Stockade, became a pivotal moment in Australian history.

Why did it happen?

The causes of the rebellion were many, but the imposition of unfair and widely despised gold licenses and the perceived corruption of the colonial government and its soldiers sent to the goldfields to enforce the unfair and rather brutal licensing system was the main grievance. The drunken murder of one of the diggers, James Scobie, and the subsequent acquittal of his murderer ignited already frayed tempers and soon a band of supporters, under the leadership of Peter Lalor, took an oath of allegiance to the Southern Cross, and marched off to the Eureka diggings where a rough stockade was built from timber and slabs.

The rest, as they say, is history. The Eureka stockade become the stuff of legends, where, in the words of American writer Mark Twain, who visited Ballarat in the mid 1890s, the tragic battle came to symbolise "a revolution; small in size, but great politically; a strike for liberty, a struggle for principle, a stand against injustice and oppression it is another instance of a victory won by a lost battle."

The Eureka Centre

Located in East Ballarat adjacent the actual site of the stockade, The Eureka Centre commemorates the rebellion and examines ideals behind the uprising with a series of interactive exhibits housed in a four-million dollar centre.

The story of the events leading up to the short-lived battle are masterfully retold each night in the spectacular outdoor sound and light show, Blood on the Southern Cross, at Sovereign Hill, a huge outdoor museum set on the site of the world's richest alluvial gold mine. The show, which begins with a taste of life on the goldfields told through clever lighting and voice-overs projected onto the moonlit diggings, moves to a purpose-built auditorium that opens to the night sky. The action is played out across the 64-acre site and the logistics behind the show are staggering: eight computers control the automated production, seven video projectors deliver images and 110km of electrical control and fibre optic cables are buried across the set, enough to stretch from Ballarat to Melbourne. The production uses 3000 lights, a huge, aquascreen allows larger-than-life images to appear and disappear and buildings seem to explode and burst into flames before your eyes.

By day, the recreated goldfields township depicts Ballarat's first 10 years after the discovery of gold in 1851 with more than 60 buildings and 200 costumed volunteers. Highlights include the Sovereign Quartz Mine (c 1880), craftsmen at work in traditional 1850's trades, the underground Red Hill and Quartz Mines, gold museum with daily demonstrations of $50,000 of liquid gold being poured.

The legacy of the riches that poured into the town during the gold rush is a stunning streetscape of grand Victorian buildings and it is worth spending some time wandering the main streets in the centre of town.The Ballarat Fine Art Gallery established in 1884, is Australia's largest and oldest regional gallery and houses major collections of Australian art. The centrepiece is the rather battered original Eureka Flag.

The countryside around Ballarat is sprinkled with relics of the gold rush, and most of the neighbouring towns began as tent encampments filled with hopeful miners and fossickers hoping to strike it rich. For an authentic look at a gold rush town head north to Clunes, a sleepy little place which was once the fifth largest town in the colony, but has remained pretty much unchanged for the past 100 or so years. The bakery is a good place for coffee and light lunch.

Where to sleep

• Sovereign Hill Lodge: motel-style accommodation within the grounds of Sovereign Hill. Magpie Street, Ballarat. Tel: (03) 5333 3409.

The Ballarat Eureka Pass provides entry to the Eureka Centre, Sovereign Hill and the Ballarat Fine Art Gallery. Passes available from Sovereign Hill, the Gold Museum, The Eureka Centre or the Ballarat Visitor Information Centre.

For more information contact Ballarat Tourism on 1800 44 66 33.

Story by Lee Atkinson, November 2004.

All information was correct at the time of writing but may change without notice.