The following is a comprehensive timeline of the Eureka Rebellion.
1851
1 July 1851: The colony of Victoria separates from New South Wales, as the Port Phillip District gains autonomy as a British colony.
8 August 1851: The Geelong Advertiser reports that gold deposits had been discovered outside of Buninyong in central Victoria by Mr Thomas Hiscock.
16 August 1851: Lieutenant Governor Charles Joseph Latrobe issues a proclamation providing for a gold mining licence fee of 30 shillings per month, effective 1 September 1851.Supplement to the Victorian Government Gazette, No 6, 13 August 1851, 209.Victorian Government Gazette, No. 8, 27 August 1851, 307.
26 August 1851: In Buninyong, a protest against the new mining tax is attended by 40-50 demonstrators.
19-20 September 1851: Dissent was felt across the mining settlements, including at the Ballarat, upon the arrival of gold commissioner D.C. Doveton, but appeals for civil disobedience go unheeded as most prospectors comply with the new mining regulations.
1 December 1851: It was announced that the licence fee would be raised from one pound to three pounds a month, effective 1 January 1852.Victorian Government Gazette, No 22, 3 December 1851, 825.
8 December 1851: An anti-mining tax banner is put on public display strung across trees at Forrest Creek.
13 December 1851: After remonstrations, particularly in Melbourne and Geelong, the previous mining tax increase was rescinded.Victorian Government Gazette, No 25, 24 December 1851, 871.
15 December 1851: "The Great Meeting of Diggers" takes place in Bendigo as up to 14,000 miners turn out in a massive display of support for repealing the mining tax.
1852
14 August 1852: An affray breaks out among 150 men over land rights in Bendigo. An inquiry recommends increasing police numbers in the colony's mining settlements. Around this time, the first gold deposits at the Eureka lead in Ballarat are found.
2 September 1852: La Trobe receives a petition from the people of Bendigo drawing attention to the need for improvements in the road from Melbourne.
2 October 1852: At Lever Flat near Bendigo, the miners would attempt to respond to rising crime levels by forming a "Mutual Protection Association" with a pledge to withhold the licence fee and build detention centres so that nightly armed patrols could begin, with vigilantes dispensing summary justice to those suspected of a crime.
23 October 1852: La Trobe receives a petition from Lever Flat, Forrest Creek and Mount Alexander on the subject of policing levels as the colony continues to strain under the weight of the Victorian gold rush.
25 November 1852: There was an assault on a police officer by a mob of miners who wrongly believed they were obliged to take out a whole month's subscription for seven days at Oven's field, Bendigo.
1853
3 February 1853: After a policeman accidentally caused the death of Mr William Guest, assistant commissioner James Clow had to diffuse a difficult situation with a promise to conduct an inquiry into the circumstances, as a group of one thousand angry miners at Reid's Creek overruns the government camp and relieved the constabulary of their sidearms and weapons, and they destroy a cache.
11 February 1853: George Black assisted Dr John Owens in chairing a public meeting at Ovens field to protest that the alleged wrongful death of William Guest had not been fully investigated.
2 April 1853: Black and Owens again argue in favour of chartism in the colony at a meeting of 800 convened at Ovens Field.
6 June 1853: The anti-gold licence association was formed in Bendigo, where a mass petition was launched that attracted 23,000 signatures, including 8,000 from the mining settlement at McIvor.
22 June 1853: La Trobe was petitioned for land reform to make it easier to obtain an interest in land adjoining the goldfields in Bendigo.
2 July 1853: Police are assaulted in the vicinity of an anti-licence meeting at the Sandhurst gold field in Bendigo with rocks being thrown as they escort an intoxicated miner to the holding cells. The unlawful but peaceful strategy of the Red Ribbon Movement was for supporters to only hand over the agreed sum of only 10 shillings, with the sheer number of protesters in custody causing an administrative meltdown for the colonial authorities.
16 July 1853: An anti-licence demonstration in Sandhurst attracted 6000 people where the issue of lack of electoral rights was raised. The high commissioner of the goldfields, William Wright, advised La Trobe of his support for an export duty on gold found rather than the current universal tax on all prospectors based on time stayed.
3 August 1853: The Bendigo petition is placed before LaTrobe by delegates Brown, Jones and Thomson.
12 August 1853: The Bendigo digger's flag is unfurled at a rally held at View Point, where it was reported there was a multinational display of ethnic and revolutionary flags paraded as a crowd of between 4,000-12,000 demonstrators hear reports from a delegation sent to meet La Trobe.
18 August 1853: Ballarat resident commissioner James Clow reported that the rabble-rousing of orators from the Sandhurst diggings had fallen flat at the segregated and multinational Canadian Gully and the Eureka lead.
20 August 1853: Just as an angry mob of 500-600 miners went to assemble outside the Government Camp at Waranga, the authorities caved in as a convenient legal technicality was found to release some mining licence evaders. A meeting in Beechworth calls for reducing the licence fee to ten shillings and voting rights for the mining settlements. La Trobe fails to respond to the miner’s July petition by addressing their grievances.
21 August 1853: A 20,000-strong crowd was out in force at Hospital Hill, where it was resolved to support a mining tax fee of 10 shillings per month.Melbourne Morning Herald as cited in Geoffrey Serle, The Golden Age: A History of the Colony of Victoria, 1851 - 1861 (Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, 1963), 109.
22 August 1853: At the red ribbon turnout at Waranga, it was resolved to petition the lieutenant governor for a licence renewal fee set at 10 shillings.
27 August 1853: A second multinational-style gathering is held at View Point, and a mining tax protest in Castlemaine draws 300. The Red Ribbon movement grew as miners started placing them in their hats as a symbol of protest.
28 August 1853: At Sandhurst, a parade of around 2,000 miners passes by the government camp with the sounds of bands and shouting and fifty pistol rounds.
29 August 1853: Assistant commissioner Robert Rede at Jones Creek, which along with Sandhurst were known hotbeds of activity for the Red Ribbon movement, counsels that a peaceful, political solution can still be found. In Ballarat, activists offered to surround the guard tent to protect gold reserves amid rumours of a planned robbery.
30 August 1853: Anti Gold Licence Society meets at Jones Creek.
6 September 1853: The goldfields committee of the legislative council sitting in Melbourne hears from goldfields activists Dr William Carr and messers W Fraser and William Jones.
24 September 1853: An Act for the better management of the Gold Fields in the Colony of Victoria. (17 Vict. No. 4 (Vic.)) is passed, which upon receiving royal assent on 1 December, reduces the licence fee to 40 shillings for three months. There is a scale of fines in the order of 5, 10 and 15 pounds for repeat offenders, with goldfields residents required to carry their permits that are to be open for immediate inspection at all times. The reduction is welcomed by the malcontents, thereby temporarily relieving tensions in the colony. In November, the select committee bill proposes a licence fee of 1 pound for one month, 2 pounds for three months, 3 for six months and 5 pounds for 12 months, extending the franchise and land rights for miners. La Trobe amends the scheme by increasing the six monthly licences to 4 pounds, with a fee of 8 pounds for 12 months.
3 December 1853: A crowd of 2,000-3,000 attended an anti-licence rally at Sandhurst, Bendigo.
9-10 December 1853: Affrays involving several stakeholders in the English and Irish quarters of the Eureka golf reef take place. Several people were wounded by gunfire on 27 December after another sizeable conflagration which was believed to be the result of a drunken brawl.
31 December 1853: At View Point, Sandhurst, about 500 individuals elected a so-called "Diggers Congress."
1854
13 March 1854: There are further tensions after another affray between English and Irish nationals at the Eureka lead almost erupts.
20 March 1854: A knife and gunfight at the Chinese quarter of Eureka takes place leaving many stakeholders wounded.
March 1854: The Bill to Extend the Elective Franchise, which as proposed and passed by the legislature on 19 January, attaches voting rights to 12 month mining licences subject to certain residency requirements, is drawn up by the Legislative Council and sent to London for the assent of the British Parliament.
28 March 1854: The combined forces of Britain and France declare war on Russia as the Crimean conflict begins.
6 May 1854: Colonial Secretary John Forster acts as interim Lieutenant Governor as LaTrobe leaves Victoria for England after announcing his intentions the previous July.
16 May 1854: Robert Rede was recommended by William Wright as the next resident gold commissioner for Ballarat. He replaces James Clow in June.
22 June 1854: Sir Charles Hotham takes up his commission as lieutenant governor of Victoria amid high hopes by the aggrieved miners as the financial situation of the colony continues to worsen.
5 July 1854: Rede describes the Eureka lead as the most densely populated and lawless part of the Ballarat precinct. On 11 July, he asked the government for more hospital funding as local chairman.
22 July 1854: Hotham calls for submissions from resident commissioners about how to arrest the colony's declining fortunes.
16 August 1854: In a scene from the wild west, an American by the name of Clarke accidentally kills the publican of the Albion Hotel in a dispute over a card game.
26 August 1854: Lieutenant Governor and Lady Hotham are well received in Ballarat during a tour of the Victorian-era goldfields, with many still optimistic about the possibility of a political solution. About 1,500 turn out to hear speakers decry the mining tax and gold commissioners.
13 September 1854: Hotham orders a cycle of twice weekly licence hunts as the budget situation becomes critical.
17 September 1854: The American restaurateur Frank Cary is imprisoned for bootlegging amid allegations he was fraudulently incriminated by the disliked police officer sergeant major Robert Milne.
3 October 1854: Rede reports on a visit to Fiery Creek, Beaufort, on vigilante punishment beatings and recommends an increased police presence after a man was given 12 lashes on suspicion of theft.
7 October 1854: Murder of James Scobie outside the Eureka Hotel at around 1 am. A colonial inquiry held later that day finds allegations of murder against the owner James Bently, cannot be supported by reliable identification evidence. Rede reports that the licence inspections at increased intervals would only cause more discontent over the mining tax itself and among all involved.
9 October 1854: Rede orders that a transcript of all future public meetings of subversives will be recorded by a magistrate and up to two reliable agents.
10 October 1854: A disabled servant in the employ of the parish priest Father Smyth is subjected to police brutality for licence evasion.