George Gaull

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Bendigo Goldfields Petition Cover, August 1853. State Library of Victoria (MS 12440) and Condemned them to hard labor on the Public Roads of the Colony - A proceeding Your Petitioners maintain to be contrary to the spirit of the British Law which does not recognise the principle of the Subject being a Criminal because he is indebted to the State
That the impost of Thirty Shillings a Month is unjust because the successful and unsuccessful Digger are assessed in the same ratio
For these reasons and others which could be enumerated Your Petitioners pray Your Excellency to Grant the following Petition
* First. To direct that the Licence Fee be reduced to Ten Shillings a Month
* Secondly To direct that Monthly or Quarterly Licenses be issued at the option of the Applicants
* Thirdly To direct that new arrivals or invalids be allowed on registering their names at the Commissioners Office fifteen clear days residence on the Gold Fields before the License be enforced
* Fourthly To afford greater facility to Diggers and others resident on the Gold Fields who wish to engage in Agricultural Pursuits for investing their earnings in small allotments of land
* Fifthly To direct that the Penalty of Five Pounds for non-possession of License be reduced to One Pound
* Sixthly To direct that (as the Diggers and other residents on the Gold Fields of the Colony have uniformly developed a love of law and order) the sending of an Armed Force to enforce the License Tax be discontinued.
Your Petitioners would respectfully submit to Your Excellency's consideration in favour of the reduction of the License Fee that many Diggers and other residents on the Gold-fields who are debarred from taking a License under the present System would if the Tax were reduced to Ten Shillings a Month cheerfully comply with the Law so that the License Fund instead of being diminished would be increased
Your Petitioners would also remind your Excellency that a Petition is the only mode by which they can submit their wants to your Excellency's consideration as although they contribute more to the Exchequer that half the Revenue of the Colony they are the largest class of Her Majesty's Subjects in the Colony unrepresented
And your Petitioners as in duty bound will ever pray etc.
Red Ribbon Movement Monument in Rosalind Park, Bendigo [detail], 2013. Ballarat Heritage Services Picture Collection

Background

Goldfields Involvement, 1853-1854

Signed the 1853 Bendigo Goldfields Petition. Agitation of the Victorian goldfields started with the Forest Creek Monster Meeting in 1851, but what became known as the Red Ribbon Movement was centred around the Bendigo goldfields in 1853. The Anti-Gold License Association was formed at Bendigo in June 1853, led by George Thomson, Dr D.G. Jones and 'Captain' Edward Browne. The association focused its attention on the 30 shillings monthly licence fee miners were required to pay to the government. They drew up a petition outlining digger grievances and called for a reduced licence fee, improved law and order, the right to vote and the right to buy land. The petition was signed by diggers at Bendigo, Ballarat, Castlemaine, McIvor (Heathcote), Mount Alexander (Harcourt) and other diggings. The 13 metre long petition was presented to Lieutenant-Governor Charles La Trobe in Melbourne on the 01 August 1853, but their call for a reduction in monthly licence fees and land reform for diggers was rejected. The diggers dissatisfaction erupted into the Red Ribbon Rebellion where agitators wore red ribbons on their hats symbolising their defiance of the law and prohibitive licence fees.

Post 1854 Experiences

Obituary

BIRTH. At Kangaroo, Fryer's Creek, on the 10th instant, Mrs George Gaull of a son.[1]

Notes

Possibly the son of George Gaull

MR. GEORGE GAULL.
It is with regret that we have to record the death of one of the oldest residents of the town, and district in the person of Mr. George Gaull, who passed away in the Jerilderie District Hospital on Tuesday evening last after a lingering illness of some months. Deceased who was ordinarily in robust health first took ill about six months ago, and went to Melbourne for medical advice. He gradually became worse and some weeks ago entered the Jerilderie District Hospital, where he remained as a patient until his death as above stated. The late Mr Gaull was born in Ballarat 77 years ago, and came to this district as a young man in 1876. For some years he was employed as a station hand on Goolgumbla, and subsequently acquired a holding on Booroobanilly. He settled there and worked his farm for over forty years, eventually selling out about 14 years ago. He then retired from active pursuits, and purchased a small property some three mils out of the town where he resided up till his death. There was no more popular personality in the town than the late Mr Gaull. For years he took a keen interest in the various public and sporting organisations, and was a man of most upright intentions, and sterling worth. Whenever an apppointment requiring honesty and integrity was to be made, deceased was always the first one approached, and his services were always cheerfully given to the different bodies that required his assistance. The town and district is the poorer for his passing, and the news was received with widespread expressions of regret. The late Mr. Gaull was twice married, and is survived by his widow, to whom general sympathy is expressed in her sad bereavement. One son pre-deceased him by many years. Deceased's remains will be interred in the Presbyterian portion of the Jerilderie Cemetery to-day (Thursday).[2]

See also

Bendigo Goldfields Petition

Ballarat Reform League Inc. Monuments Project

Further Reading

References

  1. Mount Alexander Mail, 17 October 1856.
  2. Jerilderie Herald, 14 June 1934.

External links

https://blogs.slv.vic.gov.au/family-matters/collections/did-you-ancestor-sign-the-bendigo-goldfields-petition/


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