Eureka Stockade miners were provoked: Historian »

In the past Eureka has been looked at as a rebellion of the diggers, but I have now concluded that it was an event deliberately engineered by the Government. In a new twist to Australian history, a leading historian has suggested that the Eureka Stockade was a deliberate police set-up so the government could use force to crush the protesting Ballarat gold miners. Australian National University (ANU) Emeritus Professor John Molony outlined his Rethinking Eureka conclusions at an ANU conference on Wednesday to commemorate the 160th anniversary of the Stockade. "In the past Eureka has been looked at as a rebellion of the diggers, but I have now concluded that it was an event deliberately engineered by the Government," he said. Professor Molony said the theory is supported by an 1854 letter from Gold Commissioner Robert Rede to Governor of Victoria, Sir Charles Hotham, saying it was essential to come upon the diggers "with arms in their hands". That way he could legally "crush them and the digger agitation at one blow". "The Government made up its mind to provoke the diggers into making a stand.