Eureka 10, 1864
- Ten years ago, last Saturday morning, and on a Sunday morning, the collision took place between the Queen’s troops and the diggers in the Eureka Stockade. Last week the leader of that band of diggers was re-elected to an office of honor and emolument under the Crown, in a Parliament which controls our own affairs. The two facts present a contrast of a pleasant kind, for the fact which is now with us as an actual thing, potential for good, marks for us a wide stride in progress. It is not for us to say how much or how little connection exists between the two facts in the order of cause and effect.[1]
THE EUREKA STOCKADE
The first decade since the Eureka Stockade episode in our history is now drawing to a close, for in less than two months ten years will have passed since the lamentable tragedy of the stockade. For the first year or two the friends of the fallen insurgents met at the cemetery on the anniversary of the event, and addresses were delivered, and garlands and crape were hung about the monument which marks the resting place of the men who fell. That custom soon wore out and all that was done at the graves to keep alive the memory of the deceased was an occasional visit by a friend who would plant a flower, pluck up a few too sturdy weeds, or do some other little office of reminiscent friendship. But even these things seemed to be neglected after a while, and, when the present sexton began to improve the cemetery, and walks were laid off and gardens made here and then, one of the main drives cut off a portion of the Eureka monument enclosure and left the votive monument erected by Mr Leggatt standing on one side instead of in the middle of the ground. Thus the place remained for a long time one of the dreariest and most neglected spots in the cemetery, but now it wears a very different look. With unostentatious liberality, a gentleman in Ballaarat has, at his own expense, caused the monument to be removed, cleaned, and re-erected on a basaltic pedestal in the middle of the enclosure. He has also engaged a gardener to procure black soil and plant beds on each side of the monument, while the sexton, taking a pride in making the best of every spot he can improve, has also aided in the ornamentation of the ground. Thus, for the first time for many a day, the place looks as if the poor fellows who gave their lives on that early Sunday morning for what they thought was a good cause, have their memories gratefully respected. The monument and its site are now a credit instead of a disgrace to the place, and for this change the greatest praise is due to Mr Kennedy, of Messrs O'Farrell and Kennedy, at whose expense the improvement has be effected.[2]
