Goldfields

Gold Discovery

• Rapid population growth (to ~45,000 in Ballarat by 1855).

• At first, shallow alluvial gold was easy to find, but by 1854 it became scarce → frustration.

• Boom created challenges: law/order, cost of police/soldiers, loss of workers from cities, fall in tax revenue.

Gold License System:

• Introduced 1854 by Governor La Trobe → £1 10s per month.

• Must be carried at all times (even if no gold was found).

• Aimed to discourage diggers, raise revenue, pay for police/roads.

• Deeply unpopular → “taxation without representation”.

Government & Police on Goldfields:

• Gold Commissioners issued licenses, guarded money, maintained order.

• Beneath them: police officers, troopers (“Traps”).

• License checks (“digger hunts”) were brutal and humiliating (beatings, tying to trees, fines).

• Troopers often ex-convicts, poorly paid, kept 50% of fines → corruption.

Tensions:

• Alcohol bans (prohibition) unenforceable, sly grog trade thrived.

• Poverty + difficulty paying license fee increased as deep mining replaced surface mining.

• Ballarat miners hardest hit (small claims, high fees).

Charles Hotham

• 1854 = Charles Hotham replace La Trobe

• diggers = enthusiastic + hopeful of change of ldrship

• but Hotham increase license fee + increase checks → to fix financial problems