What was the cause of the Eureka Stockade? Why did the confrontation occur in Victoria rather than New South Wales? What were the political consequences of the episode?.
The Eureka Stockade was the result of growing conflict between the authorities and increasing numbers of miners within Victoria. The causes of the Eureka Stockade of 1854 were the conflicts that had arisen from three deeply held grievances on the miners" part. These grievances were the licence system, the lack of land available, and the lack of political rights that the diggers held. The conflicts arose due to the governor's unwillingness to correct the grievances of the diggers. It was due to these issues that the Eureka Stockade took place in the early hours of December 3, 1854. Moreover, when the smoke had cleared from the rebellion the authorities soon saw that they would have to make changes to the systems that were in place. The political consequences of this clash were both immediate and long lasting. The consequences included changes to the licence system and increases in the political rights of the diggers. .
The causes of the stockade lay within differences that arose between the miners and the authorities within Victoria. The miners saw that they had three main grievances. These were the licence system, which they thought was repressive and brutal, the second was the lack of land available for purchase . The third grievance was their of political rights. When Sir Charles Hotham arrived as the new governor of Victoria, it soon became clear that he would stand his ground throughout the conflict, which was clearly to put him in conflict with what the miners of Victoria wanted . .
The first of the diggers afflictions, and the one that most clearly put them at odds with the authorities, was the licence-system. It was considered in Britain that the problem was "not likely to be settled without a fight" . When it came to Hotham addressing the issue of the system of licences it was his opinion that the "petitioners for the abolition of the licence-system were firmly told that "they must pay for liberty and order"; the licence was a "trifling sum"" .
