Jeremiah Hanley

Post 1854 Experiences

EUREKA VETERAN. - NEVER HARMED ANYBODY. REBEL AT FOURTEEN MELBOURNE, Saturday

When 14 years old Simon Hanley fought at Eureka Stockade. Now he is spending the eve of his life at Diggora near Rochester. He was one of the stout-hearted pioneers who followed the lure of gold in the early 'fifties' at Ballarat. He is the mildest and most genial of men, but, his eyes flash when he refers to the days when, as a lad of about fourteen years of age, he went forth armed with a pike and a revolver. He was one of three brothers who were in the firing line. The oldest of the three — Michael — received two bullet, wounds during the fight, one of which was in directly the cause of his death, about fifteen years later, while handling a restive horse.

The other brother, Jeremiah, like Simon, escaped unharmed, and the most treasured memory of the latter in regard to this historical escapade centres in the fact that he harmed nobody. Born on a farm at Mount Katharane, in County Tipperary, Ireland, in 1849, Hanley sailed for Australia from Birkenhead in the ship Mangerton, in 1852, the vessel was blown' ashore on the coast of Scotland during an adventurous voyage that took six months to complete. Eventually, however, Geelong was reached. Ballarat was the rendezvous decided on by 'the'ship's passengers, and gold was the adventurers lodstone. The Hanley brothers did well on the diggings, but Simon soon followed farming pursuits at Windermere, and afterwards at Bungaree - a decade being spent in each place. About 1873 the Diggora lands were thrown open for selection, and he settled there.

See also

Simon Hanley

Michael Hanley

Further Reading

Corfield, J.,Wickham, D., & Gervasoni, C. The Eureka Encyclopaedia, Ballarat Heritage Services, 2004.

External links

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Caption, Reference.