Kelly O'Dwyer (Higgins, Liberal Party, Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

One hundred and sixty years ago yesterday, the tensions on the goldfields in Ballarat erupted, with miners taking up arms against the colonial authorities in the Eureka rebellion. The rebellion has a special connection with my electorate as at that time Government House was within Higgins. The building still exists and is today the Swedish church. It is here that Victorian Governor Hotham heard word of the uprising and received the charter of mining rights from Mr JB Humffray on behalf of the Ballarat Reform League.

The Swedish Church remains the custodian of this living piece of history and yesterday commemorated these events through a visit from representatives of Eureka's Children and the Ballarat Reform League, including the great-grandson of Mr JB Humffray. The Eureka flag was also flown at half-mast.

The Eureka rebellion is regularly interpreted and reinterpreted. At its core it was the flashpoint in an ongoing struggle throughout the mid and latter part of the 19th century for universal suffrage, and in the case of Eureka, adult male suffrage. The rebellion influenced the colonies to use their existing constitutions to expand voting qualifications of electors.

Later in 1902, the Commonwealth parliament granted voting rights to all adult men and women to both Houses of parliament without property qualification. And for female suffrage, it was only the second nation to do so.

The spirit of Eureka is not owned by any sectional group. In a world where many live without political voice the rebellion reminds us, in our still young nation, of the value and preciousness of our democracy and the need, in the rebels' own words, 'to defend our rights and our freedoms'.