The Eureka Stockade: 1854 by Gregory Blake

Book Description

Secondhand. Very good condition. Minor wear to book corners and edges. Small mark on back cover.

On the chilly dawn morning of 3 December 1854 British soldiers and police of the Victorian colonial government attacked and stormed a crudely-built fortification erected by insurgent gold miners at the Eureka lead on the Ballarat Gold Diggings. The fighting was intense, the carnage appalling and the political consequences of the affair profound.

This book, for the first time, examines in great detail the actual military events that unfolded during the twenty minutes of deadly fighting at Eureka. Many of the old assumptions about what occurred that day are turned on the heads, raising in their places provocative questions.

The author argues convincingly that Eureka was not a wanton massacre of innocents, as it has been portrayed. Rather it was a hard-fought military engagement. Eureka was a decisive moment in Australian history and in this book, it comes alive in a rousing and original manner. (back cover)