Eureka: A Multicultural Event

Dorothy Wickham and Clare Gervasoni

The Victorian goldfields boasted a community comprising a large number of different nationalities, as well as people holding multifarious political and religious views. It is therefore not surprising to discover the large number of cultures involved at the Eureka uprising.

The following list was initially compiled by Clare Gervasoni and Dorothy Wickham from their publication Eureka Research Directory (1999), and updated during research for The Eureka Encyclopaedia (Corfield/Wickham/Gervasoni) and Women of the Diggings: Ballarat 1854 (Dorothy Wickham) in 2004. The work was used by Children of Eureka around 2004 to determine the number of nationalities associated with the Eureka Stockade and associated goldfields agitation.

AUSTRALIA Francis Henry Bentley (born 1853 Victoria), John Black (born c1845 Victoria), James Carroll (b1844 Victoria), Mark Carroll (b1846 Victoria), Thomas Carroll (b1851 Victoria), Thomas Dignam (born NSW) tried for treason, James Hall (b1843 Barrabool Hills ), Charlotte Hodges (b1854 Victoria), Charles Howes (born c1836 Tasmania), Thomas Barker Hunt (b1828 Parramatta, NSW), John Kinnane (b1854 Eureka Diggings, Ballarat East), Montague David Miller (b1839 Tasmania), John O'Neil (b1849 Victoria), John Carroll O'Neil (b1853 Victoria), Mary O'Neil (b1850 Victoria), Richard O'Neil (b1847 Victoria), William Quinlan (born NSW), Thomas Wright (b1822 Hobartown, Tasmania).

CANADA Robert Julien (died of wounds), Charles Ross (killed), Charles Doudiet, John Robinson, Thomas Budden, Edward Henry Majenty Mount, Edward Macarthur (served in Canada), Charles MacMahon (served in Canada), Robert Nickle (served in Canada), Charles Pasley (served in Canada), Henry Chapman (had lived in Canada, Samuel Huyghue, Scott

CHINESE Howqua

Charles A. Doudiet, Chow Chow (Chinamen on Ballarat), c1854, watercolour, pen and ink on paper.
Courtesy Art Gallery of Ballarat, purchased by the Ballarat Fine Art Gallery with the assistance of many donors, 1996.

CORNWALL Peter Ellis, John Penneluna, Joseph Penrose, James Wearne, Patience Wearne

CORSICA Francis John Romeo (Le Fronzis De Romeu)

DENMARK Erick Rasmussen

ENGLAND James Ashburner, Alfred Black (Ballarat Reform League), George Black (Ballarat Reform League), William Harvey Boase, William Walton (Baron) Bell, James Beattie (tried for treason), George Clifton (killed), Thomas Cox, Frederick London Coxhead (died of wounds), Samuel Green (killed), John Hanlon Knipe, James Montague Smith, John Wellesley Thomas, James Wiburd (or Wyburd), William Wood.

FINLAND Isaac Mattson

FRANCE Delprat, Antoine Fauchery, Le Pere Duprat, Gillot, Peter Priaulx, Thomas Decueur, James Harrison (son born Calais, France)

GERMANY/PRUSSIA Edward Thonen (killed), Henry Brandt, Johann Brandt, William Augustus Heise, Thomas Henfield (killed), John Hafele (killed), Adolphus Lessman, John Herman Frederich Spanake, Herman Steinman, Frederick William Tauschke, Frederick Vern, Warnecke, Conrad Zilles

GREECE Natale D'Angri (born to Italian parents)

GUERNSEY Jean (John) Le Maitre

HOLLAND Cornelius Peters, Jan Vennik (tried for treason)

ITALY Joseph Barberis, Antonio Capuano, Raffaello Carboni (tried for treason), Oravalno, Antonio Polinelli, Francesco Rappacioli.

IRELAND Hugh Brady (Ballarat Reform League), James Brown (died of wounds), Michael Canny, John Crowe (killed), Patrick Malone Curtain, Michael Callinan, John Dunlop, John Dynan, Martin Diamond (killed), John Thomas Dalton, George Donaghey (killed), Henry Gittins (killed), John Esmond, Timothy Hayes (tried for treason), Patrick Howard, John Hynes (killed), Peter Lalor, Morgan Lee, Edward Quinn (killed), Michael Hanrahan, John Lynch, Michael Gleeson, Thaddeus Moore, (killed), Michael Tuohy (tried for treason), John Torpy, Michael O'Neil, E. O'Mahony, Michael O'Brien, Michael Mullins (killed), Edward McGlynn (killed), John Manning (tried for treason), William Madden, Abbott Lewis, Patrick Sheedy, Luke Sheehan, George Gilmore, Matthew Gavin

JEWISH This excerpt is taken from the Australian Jewish Genealogical Society (Vic) newsletter prepared by Lionel Sharpe, March 2002.

Eureka Stockade of 1854

In 1854 Peter Lalor and Irish born engineer, led the Reform League to protest against corruption surrounding the monthly license fees. The surface gold was being worked out and tensions rose. At the end of 1854, 1000 men assembled at the Eureka Stockade to defend 'their rights and liberties'. Troops were called in and 22 defenders were killed, including Edward 'Teddy' Thonen, a 24 year old German speaking Jew.

Manasha (Yorky) Flatau, a Jew, born in Poland in 1818 and arriving in Ballarat in 1853 was arrested on 26 October 1854 on suspicion of being connected with he Bentley Eureka Hotel riots and fire. He was later freed.

Other Jews have played a part in the story of the Eureka Stockade, which has become a formative event in national mythology. On December 6, a meeting of miners passed motions advocating a policy of land reform and more say in administration. Three Jewish citizens, W. Levy, Henry Harris, and Charles Dyte helped draft the resolutions at Eureka.

MAURITIUS (REPUBLIC OF) James Johnston

NORWAY John Forssman

NOVA SCOTIA John Robinson, Robert Julien

POLAND Manestra Flatow

PORTUGAL Antonio Francesco Nida

RUSSIA William Emmerman (killed)

SCOTLAND Alfred William Crowe, Thomas Kennedy, Hugh Meikle, John Robertson (killed), Henry Sutherland, Alexander McLaren, Robert Watson.

SPAIN Joseph Pergo

SWEDEN Jacob Soranson, Andrew Swanson, Maurice Linquist

SWITZERLAND Charles Sublet, Henry De Brot.

UNITED STATES Burnete, Francis Carey, John Clarke, Charles Ferguson, George Hartley, Albert Hurd, John Joseph (tried for treason), Charles Kenworthy, Meredith Kerr, James McGill, Isaac Mattson, William Melody, Nealson (Nelson), Smith, James Tarleton, George Train, George Young

WALES J.B. Humffray (Ballarat Reform League), Llewellyn Rowlands (killed)

WEST INDIA John Campbell (tried for treason)

Also See

Country of Origin

---