Chartism in Australia

 

Chartism in Australia sparked and culminated in the Eureka Stockade 1854. Many know about the Eureka Stockade but lack knowledge in their demands and the ideologies fought for under the Southern Cross banner.

 

The instigators of the Eureka Stockade were those at the gold mines of Ballarat. They were provoked into action after poverty and the tyrannical licensing system that governed their lives. Their demands of those feeble and downtrodden men that died under the Eureka flag, behind their stockade were very similar to those universally recognised.

 

Although the authorities curtailed their uprising with ease, their legacy forced upon the government by the general populace, the ideas of Chartism, long before they came to fruition in Britain. The effect the Eureka Stockade and the Ballarat Reform League had on the development of Australian society is not recognised in most education and by scholars. The Chartist members brought upon changes that potentially improved our relative political equality earlier than most European countries, including Britain.