2004 Eureka Stockade PNC - 150th Anniversary $5 Coin

2004 Eureka Stockade PNC - 150th Anniversary $5 Coin

150TH ANNIVERSARY EUREKA STOCKADE

The climax of several years of dissatisfaction on the Victorian goldfields, the Eureka Stockade has become a symbol of democratic protest for the nation. Under the Southern Cross flag, angry diggers swore an oath to stand and fight for their rights and liberties, and proceeded to erect a defensive stockade. At dawn on Sunday 3 December, when most of the diggers were asleep, government troops attacked. About 30 diggers and five soldiers were killed. The subsequent Gold Fields’ Commission of Inquiry effectively exonerated the diggers by enacting sweeping reforms to goldfields administration and granting the goldfields representation in Parliament.

Stamp and cover design: Janet Boschen, Australia Post Design Studio
Stamp images: $2.45 Peter Lalor, La Trobe Collection, State Library of Victoria; Charles Alphonse Doudiet (c.1832–1872), Swearing allegiance to the Southern Cross (1854 detail), Ballarat Fine Art Gallery