Wigton Lane

Sunday, found me embarking upon one of my favourite train journeys to the central Victoria City of Ballarat, pronounced (bella-rat). The journey takes just over an hour from my Home, passing through the outer western suburbs of Melbourne and stopping at picturesque towns such as Melton, Bacchus Marsh, Ballan before reaching Ballarat nestled at 411 metres/1,350 feet in the foothills of the Great Dividing Range. I regularly visit Ballarat (once spelt Ballaarat) as not only do I enjoy the City and its very friendly residents, too its surrounds offer many fascinating and challenging plods. It is also the 'jumping off' point for a number of other hikes throughout forests and mountain ranges nearby that I always derive enormous pleasure. It is in many ways a second Home for me.

Ballarat is located 110 kilometres (68 miles) west of Melbourne (the State Capital of Victoria, Australia). It is Victoria's largest inland City, home to over 80,000 people across an area (including its suburbs and outlying smaller towns) encompassing 740 sq. kilometres (290 sq. miles). Long before European settlement, the present day City and its region was the home for a number of Indigenous custodians collectively identified as the Wathaurong people who continue this unbroken custodianship. The name 'Ballarat' is reputedly a corruption of two indigenous words, 'Balla' meaning elbow or reclining on the elbow and 'Arat' meaning resting or meeting place. Early European spellings used the letter 'a' four times, though it is now shown with 'a' three times. I prefer the four lettered 'a' version but such a spelling is not used these days except by oldish Plods like me showing a propensity to cling 'them olden ways of spelling things'.

During 1838, a Squatter named William Yuille camped on the shores of a large swamp, (the present day Lake Wendouree) a kilometre (0.75 of a mile) or so from the current centre of Ballarat. He was soon followed by a number Settlers and their hordes of sheep and cattle rapacious for land. It was not until 1851 when Gold was discovered at a place called Poverty Point along Canadian Creek (part of Ballarat) that the district experienced a dramatic population explosion. By 1852 there were over 20,000 hopeful Diggers seeking fortune, along with the attendant detritus of infectious greed. The Goldfields of Victoria and certainly around Ballarat rivalled and exceeded those of the Californian rushes of the 1850s.

In the early 1850s the Colonial Government (representative of the British Government) set up a system of Licence Fees (Gold Licences) to allow Miners to search for Gold irrespective of whether the Miner found the precious metal or not. Over time, the Fees were increased and Police were deployed, often ruthlessly and corruptly, to undertake regular inspections enforcing the Licence requirement in lieu of heavy financial penalty including Goal. This led to resentment amongst Miners who felt they were being persecuted in effect by paying a much hated Tax and without any representation through Parliament. In other words, 'taxation without representation'. Intemperate mutterings soon followed that would lead to violent consequences.

Came 1854 and Licence checks were now undertaken twice weekly. Tensions built. Following a number of incidents, including murder, arson and a riot by Miners a 'Reform League' was formed with a view, amongst other demands, of having the Licences abolished. Pent-up frustration led to Miners burning their Licences and forming a Stockade on a small Hill in protest not far from the centre of Ballarat. On 3 December 1854, armed confrontation took place between the Miners and Government Soldiers sent to quell the unrest. A nasty, short and bloody fifteen minute battle ensued causing 36 Miners and 6 Troopers to be killed along with a number wounded, some severely. One hundred and fourteen Miners were arrested and the Goldfields were in a state of uproar.

Many historians of Australia, since the start of European times, regard this rebellion, known as the Eureka Rebellion, as a significant marker in the evolution of Australian Democracy, let alone the ethos of Ballarat. It is often referred to as the only armed uprising on Australian soil, though I'd dispute this, especially when realising that many battles and massacres of indigenous peoples took place, right up until the early decades of the 20th Century.

The famous Eureka Flag was born of this agitation. Fortunately, the original, though rather tattered (due to souvenir hunters snipping bits off) Flag has been preserved and can still be seen. I have my own (unsnipped) copy of the Eureka Flag with its depiction of the Southern Cross, prominent in my Study. For me, it is a symbol of freedom and liberty and of Australia.

Not far from the historic Ballarat Railway Station, (a grand building in its own right) is a small bluestone cobbled laneway called Wigton Lane. It is a narrow, short, thoroughfare off Armstrong Street that was laid down well over 130 years ago and it is a place I feel reflects the history, character and esteem of Ballarat. Hopefully, one day Ballarat too will become my Home, such is the regard I hold of the place.