Catherine Allan
Contents
Background
Catherine (Robertson) married Richard Allan and it is highly probable that the family was in Ballarat at the time of the Eureka Stockade in 1854 and were living on Bakery Hill. The Allan’s produced eleven children: Andre Alexander b. 1856 Ballarat; Alexander Robertson b. 1857 Ballarat (died 1863 Ballarat); Richard b. 1859 Creswick (died 1860); Elizabeth Blaelo b. 1860 Forest Creek; Catherine Drummond b. 1863 Creswick; John b. 1865 Creswick (died 1866); Isabella b. 1866 Creswick (died 1868); Isabella b. 1868 Creswick; David James b. 1869 Creswick (died 1870); Richard Alexander b. 1872 Creswick (married Ann Selina Winkles); James Francis b. 1873 Kingston. </ref> [1]
Goldfields Involvement, 1854
Catherine's husband, Richard Allan, was arrested on 3 December 1854 after the Eureka Battle, but was released without charge. According to family oral tradition, Richard had the presence of mind to dispose of firearms while the Stockade was being attacked. He wrote of his experiences in the newspapers on the 30th anniversary of Eureka using the pseudonym ‘Municipal Freedom’. He felt it was important for the following generation to understand what his generation fought for, that is, a free press, civil rights and liberties. He wrote that Catherine and he lived in a tent near the Stockade and with a friend he had his share of the perils and dangers of the occasion and witnessed part of the massacre. The Allans and the Winkle family of Bakery Hill were practically neighbours on the fledging goldfields of Ballarat. Ann Winkles eventually became Catherine Allan’s daughter-in-law. When Catherine’s husband, Richard Allan, died in 30 November 1905 he was living at Rochester. His obituary noted that he had been “in the thick of the Eureka Stockade in 1854, and took part in the riot”. [2] [3] [4]
Post 1854 Experiences
See also
Further Reading
Corfield, J.,Wickham, D., & Gervasoni, C. The Eureka Encyclopaedia, Ballarat Heritage Services, 2004.
References
External links
