The Eureka Stockade was a large battle between the gold miners and the troopers/government at Bakery Hill. This rebellion took part on Sunday, December 3rd, 1854.

The battle came about because they hated having to pay a fee for their mining license. Their added opinion was that the police were not being fair and acting corruptly and that they were treating the miners poorly.

The stockade was only a wooden barricade made of wooden posts, barrels and upturned carts. This barricade took up about an acre of the goldfield, at the start holding around 500 miners. The actual battle was a complete surprise for the miners and occurred when only 200 diggers were left inside the stockade. The whole thing lasted only 15 - 20 minutes. Five soldiers and 30 diggers were killed or died of their wounds later on.

The immediate results of this rebellion started with the federal population turning against the government and the act of licence hunting ended.

There were also several long term results including a reformation of laws and the miners were given almost everything they had asked for. The mining licence was stopped and replaced with a miner’s right which cost only one pound per year giving the miners the right to mine gold and vote in elections for parliament.

I think this event was the birthplace of Australian democracy because the miners fought for their rights and had the laws changed so that everyone in Australia got to have their say.