Omg... I had to do this too!
I'm happy to send the info I have at the moment. =]
Anyways... compiled a bit of info and dragged some from different places. I'll just give you the wiki definition.
The Eureka Stockade was the setting of a gold miners' revolt in 1854 near Ballarat, Victoria, Australia, against the officials supervising the mining of gold in the region. The revolt was prompted by grievances over heavily priced mining items, the expense of a Miner's Licence, taxation (via the license) without representation and the actions of the government and its agents (the police and military).[1][2] While the events which sparked the rebellion were specific to the Ballarat gold fields, the underlying grievances had been the subject of public meetings, civil disobedience and deputations across the various Victorian gold fields for almost three years.[citation needed] The miners' demands included the right to vote and purchase land, and the reduction of License fees. Agitation for these demands commenced with the Forest Creek Monster Meeting of December 1851 and included the formation of the Anti-Gold License Association at nearby Bendigo in 1853.
Although swiftly and violently put down, the Eureka rebellion was a watershed event in Australian politics. The preceding three years of agitation for the miners' demands, combined with mass public support in Melbourne for the captured 'rebels' when they were placed on trial, resulted in the introduction of full white-male suffrage for elections for the lower house in the Victorian parliament.[3] The role of the Eureka Stockade in generating public support for these demands beyond the goldfields resulted in Eureka being controversially identified with the birth of democracy in Australia.[4][5][6]
Protests, Chartism and the Ballarat Reform League
Civil disobedience and protests began to grow as a result of several perceived injustices:
* Tuesday, 17 October 1854: At the Eureka Hotel where Scottish miner James Scobie had been murdered ten days previously, between 5,000 and 10,000 miners gathered to protest that James Bentley, the hotel proprietor and prime murder suspect had not been charged. Bentley and his wife Catherine fled for their lives as the hotel was burnt down;
* Sunday, 22 October 1854: Ballarat Catholics met to protest the treatment of Father Smyth's servant;
* Monday, 23 October 1854: Arrests of miners McIntyre and Fletcher for the Eureka Hotel fire saw a mass meeting which attracted 4,000 miners. The meeting determined to establish a 'Digger's Right Society', to maintain their rights;
* Tuesday, 1 November 1854: 3,000 miners met once again at Bakery Hill. They were addressed by Kennedy, Holyoake, Black and Ross. The diggers were further incensed by the arrest of another seven of their number for the Eureka Hotel fire;
* Saturday, 11 November 1854: A crowd estimated at more than 10,000 miners gathered at Bakery Hill, directly opposite the government encampment. At this meeting, the Ballarat Reform League was created, under the chairmanship of Chartist John Basson Humffray. Several other Reform League leaders, including Thomas Kennedy and Henry Holyoake, had been involved with the Chartist movement in England. Many of the miners had past involvement in the Chartist movement and the social upheavals in England, Ireland, and continental Europe during the 1840s.
In setting its goals, the Ballarat Reform League used the British Chartist movement's principles. The meeting passed a resolution "that it is the inalienable right of every citizen to have a voice in making the laws he is called on to obey, that taxation without representation is tyranny". The meeting also decided to leave open the possibility of secession from the United Kingdom if the situation did not improve.[7]
The demands of the Ballarat Reform League encompassed:[citation needed]
* Manhood suffrage (the right for all men to vote, excluding Aborigines);
* Abolition of the property qualifications for members of parliament;
* Payment of members of parliament;
* Voting by secret ballot;.
* Short term parliaments;
* Equal electoral districts;
* Abolition of diggers' and storekeepers' licenses;
* Reform of administration of the gold fields;
* Revision of laws relating to Crown land.
Throughout the following weeks, the League sought to negotiate with Commissioner Robert Rede and Governor of Victoria, Sir Charles Hotham, both on the specific unsubstantiated matters relating to Bentley and the men being tried for the burning of the Eureka Hotel, and on the broader issues of abolition of the license, suffrage and democratic representation of the gold fields, and disbanding of the Gold Commission. Commissioner Rede's response has been attributed by many historians (most notably Manning Clark) to his belief in his right to exert authority over the "rabble." Rather than hear the grievances, he increased the