Eureka Stockade is a 1949 British film of the story surrounding Irish-Australian rebel and politician Peter Lalor and the gold miners' rebellion of 1854 at the Eureka Stockade in Ballarat, Victoria, in the Australian Western genre.
Starring Chips Rafferty, it was produced by Ealing Studios and directed by Harry Watt, following their success with The Overlanders. The movie was the most expensive film made in Australia at that time, and was a critical and commercial disappointment.Monthly Film Bulletin review; February 1949, page 21Variety film review; 2 February 1949Motion Picture Exhibitor review; 27 September 1950, page 2942 It has been called "a case of a filmmaker coming off a big fat hit and given carte blanche for his next project, then picking a story that gave him full scope to spend a lot of money on production value, but it was beyond his capabilities to dramatise."
Plot An introductory montage establishes Australia of 1851 – a place of both wealth and poverty, transformed by the discovery of gold. This causes a massive drain in manpower which puts a strain on the country. The Governor of Victoria, La Trobe, appoints an army officer, Rede, commissioner of the goldfields and orders him to tax the miners via licences, and to keep law and order.
In 1854 Ballarat, civil engineer Peter Lalor arrives to prospect for gold with his Italian friend Rafaello Carboni. They discover the license fee system is strictly enforced. The miners are upset at the conditions under which they work. Lalor and Carboni befriend a Scottish sailor, Tom. Lalor meets a school teacher, Alicia, and the two begin a romance.
Governor La Trobe resigns and Governor Hotham arrives, ordering Rede to force people off the gold fields in order to encourage them back to other jobs. Things get militant on the goldfields after the murder of miner James Scobie by James Bentley goes unpunished. The miners riot, despite Lalor's efforts and burn down Bentley's hotel. Governor Hotham sends in the military to keep the peace.
The miners form the Ballarat Reform League and Lalor emerges as their leader. They rally under the Eureka Flag.
Lalor and the miners arm themselves and make camp at the Eureka Stockade. The rebellion is overpowered by the British Army. Many of the miners are killed and Lalor is injured, ultimately having to have his arm amputated. However the reforms wanted by the miners are ultimately pushed through and Lalor is elected to Parliament.
At the court case the authorities are over-confident of a guilty verdict against the ring-leaders – which would mean the death penalty. However, the jury find all not guilty. This paves the way to abolition of the digger licences and sale of the land.
The film ends at a public auction of farmland at Ballarat where Lalor makes the winning bid. When asked to give his name the crowd gasp and a trooper rides up to him. But rather than be arrested he is praised.
Cast
Chips Rafferty as Peter Lalor Jane Barrett as Alicia Dunne Jack Lambert as Commissioner Rede Peter Illing as Raffaello Carboni Gordon Jackson as Tom Kennedy Ralph Truman as Governor Charles Hotham Sydney Loder as Frederick Vern John Fernside as sly grog seller Grant Taylor as Sergeant Major Milne Peter Finch as Humffray Alexander Cann as McGill Kevin Brennan as Black John Fegan as Hayes Al Thomas as James Scobie Ronald Whelan as Bentley Dorothy Alison as Mrs Bentley Reg Wykeham as Dr Moore Betty Ross as Mary O'Rourke John Wiltshire as Father Smythe Nigel Lovell as Captain Wise Charles Tasman as Governor Charles La Trobe Mary Ward as Lady Hotham John Cazabon as Henry Seekamp Nick Yardley as schoolboy Paul Delmar as Henry Ross Leigh O'Malley as Nelson Jean Blue as Ma McGinty Marshall Crosby as postmaster Rex Dawe as auctioneer Adrianna Watton as little girl Reg Lye as digger Leonard Teale
Development Rex Rienits According to Rex Rienits, writing in 1948, there had been little interest in Eureka Stockade in the early 20th century. Rienits wrote that "except for spasmodic attempts to keep its memory alive by a few minor enthusiasts, whose crusading zeal outweighed their writing skill, it has been an almost dead chapter in our history for many years."Rienits p 249 This changed during World War II, with six publications in six years on the rebellion: two re-issues of Raffaello Carboni's account of the rebellion, Eureka Stockade (one with a preface by Doc Evatt); a novel by Rienits, Who Would Be Free (1944); a play by Louis Esson about the battle, Southern Cross (1946); a biography of Peter Lalor by Clive Turnbull; and a play by Les Haylen, Blood on the Wattle. Rienits argued "during this time of crisis hundreds of thousands of people began to realise actively something they had never realised before-that they were Australians" which he felt led to them examining their past, and "attention became focussed on the story of Eureka. For there can be little doubt that the crackle of musketry in the early dawn of Sunday, 3 December 1854, was a fanfare that heralded the democratic way of life we know today."Rienits p 250
Rienits said the best sources on Eureka Stockade were Raffaelo's, and History of Ballarat by W.B. Withers (1870), as well as Further Papers Relative to the Discovery of Gold in Australia, 1852-57, and other government papers.Rienits p 251-252
Rienits felt that the story of the Stockade "is a drama of masses, not of individuals. Lalor and Raffaello are no more the heroes than Hotham and Rede are the villains. Its conflict is between the people and authority; between the ideal of democracy and the fact of autocracy."Rienits p 253
Harry Watt Following the success of The Overlanders (1946), Ealing Studios were keen for Harry Watt to make another film in Australia. Rex Rienits claimed he had heard Watt wanted to make a historical picture, and sent the director a manuscript about Eureka Stockade while the latter was in London.
In September 1946 Watt said he had commissioned Jon Cleary to write a melodrama set in Sydney after the war about an RAF veteran who gets into trouble. Other topics he was interested in included Eureka Stockade and other Gold Rushes, Kalgoorlie, bushrangers, explorers like MacDougall Stuart or Burke and Wills, or the story of an outback family.
Watt left for Australia in late October 1946. Before he left, he said the plan was to make one film a year, and that the leading subjects were Eureka Stockade, a bushranger story, or the tale of a young RAF soldier emigrating to Australia. Watt added it was "premature to say that every film made" in Australia "will be a gold mine. I think the best policy from Australia's viewpoint, and also from that of producers, is to go cautiously and produce a small number of high-quality films, instead of rushing out a large number of second-raters, which would do more harm than good. Our own policy will be to make the film I am now planning next year. If that is successful, we will make another one the following year."
By the time Watt arrived in Australia, a few days later, he said his next film would be about Eureka Stockade and would star Chips Rafferty as Peter Lalor, with a script based on the research of Rex Rienits. He added:
I want to make, in The Eureka Stockade, a kind of film that has not been made before—an historical documentary. Documentary is a ghastly word that makes people, think of gasworks in the moonlight. But it means the realist approach to films, and the basis on fact. The incidents of Eureka fall dramatically into place without any distortion of facts. The story is an essential and integral part of Australian history. I don't want to make a political platform of this picture... It represents the turning point, in Australian history, to that democracy for which Australia has been known for so many years to the world. The history of the Eureka Stockade is unknown in England, and every person to whom I showed the historical material is vastly enthusiastic about it. We also want to make entertainment. and the Eureka Stockade is a terrifically dramatic subject—action, action, all the way.
A few days later Les Haylen said he was part of a syndicate that intended to make a rival film about Eurkea Stockade.
It was intended that production of the film would be on a more expensive, organised basis than The Overlanders. Leslie Norman later claimed Watt wanted to make the film because he "was a great socialist".Brian McFarlane, An Autobiography of British Cinema, Metheun 1997 p440
Script The script was derived from a 75,000 word original research document prepared by Australian writer Rex Rienits, who was later given the credit "research". Watt decided to use this as the basis of the film. He decided that every main character would be factual – there would be no fictional characters. Watt said Rienits' research document in itself was too long to make a film script and that Australians were not good film script writers, as they were too influenced by radio. Accordingly, he brought Walter Greenwood, author of Love on the Dole, out to Australia to work on the script. Rienits stayed on the project as researcher. He arrived in Ballarat in December 1946 to do further research. It was only while there did Rienits become aware of the 1906 film made about the Stockade.
The first draft of the script was written by Greenwood, Watt and associate producer Leslie Norman during the voyage from England to Australia in February–March 1947. Greenwood focused on the dialogue while Norman and Watt did the story. "We had no typewriter, so Walter wrote it all in long hand", said Norman. Greenwood said he had done two months reading about Australian history beforehand. The writers tried to make the script as accurate as possible but had to make some changes for the sake of drama. Greenwood was back in London by July 1947.
Production of the movie triggered inevitable historical controversies. Various historical societies claimed ownership of the original Eureka flag. The design of the flag used in the film differs from the original Eureka flag. Peter Lalor's great-grandson complained about Chips Rafferty's casting, claiming he was nothing like Lalor.
Casting Although Chips Rafferty had been in two recent hits, The Overlanders and Bush Christmas, his casting as Lalor was criticised almost immediately.
In March 1947 Ealing announced the actors supporting Rafferty would include John McCallum (an Australian then based in England) as Commissioner Rede, Jack Lambert, and Gordon Jackson. By May Peter Illing was added. Another Australian based in England was mentioned – Lloyd Jackson. In April 1947 John McCallum said reports of him appearing in the movie were premature, and he wound up not appearing in the movie.
When Watt arrived in Australia he said he wanted an Australian to play the female lead. He also said he wanted to cast eleven speaking parts in Australia.
In September 1947 it was announced Peter Finch would be casting director on the film. Finch announced shortly afterwards that he was seeking 16 Chinese to play coolies but "He's convinced now that Australia's Chinese are too well off to want to play a bit part in a film"