EUREKA STOCKADE

Disturbances at Ballaarat, and other related papers.

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John Ferres, 1854- Melbourne, 1856. Collection of 6 papers, folio, printed on blue paper, the fifthpaper ("Second Report" of 14 March 1856) a little foxed, especially to first page; very good, neatly bound together in half blue calf. A good collection of Eureka Stockade reports, including printed versions of a number of original letters and despatches from witnesses of the events at Ballarat. The collection includes the first official report on Eureka "Disturbances at Ballaarat" ('The Lieutenant Governor has the painful duty of informing the Legislative Council that serious disturbances have occurred at Ballaarat'), printed on 5 December 1854, that is, only two days after the attack on the Stockade.

Equally interesting are the two supplementary reports on appeals for compensation. Included is the initial petition of 18 December 1855, protesting the 'wanton and uncalled for destruction of the property of those individuals who chanced to live within and near to what was then called the Stockade', with a note that the original included 752 signatures. A signally interesting inclusion is the "Claims for Compensation" of 25 January 1856, which includes many letters of complaint describing the losses and destructions made during the Stockade and its military suppression. The list appended by shopkeeper Patrick Curtain, for example, is substantial, with claims ranging from 18 pairs of 'doeskin cloth trowsers' to two dozen tins of oysters.Kennedy O'Brien submitted an equally thorough list, which included a demand for no less than ?50 'compensation for being illegally detained in custody for five days.'

An attractive inclusion here is the 'Second Report... on the Ballaarat Outbreak Petition' of 14 March 1856, which was chaired by Peter Lalor, who had been elected to the Legislative Council in November 1855. The final two reports are the 'Copies of Correspondence respecting American citizens who were supposed to have participated in the late riots at Ballaarat' (7 March 1855) and the 'Ballaarat Riots. Expenses of troops and police' (17 March 1856).

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• nº de pedido: 010_789

• librero: Hordern House (AUSTRALIA)