Editing History of Australia (section)

==== The Eureka stockade ====
{{main|Eureka Rebellion}}
[[File:Eureka stockade battle.jpg|thumb|upright=1.4|[[Eureka Stockade]] Riot. J. B. Henderson (1854) watercolour]]

Faced with increasing competition, Victorian miners increasingly complained about the licence fee, corrupt and heavy-handed officials, and the lack of voting rights for itinerant miners. Protests intensified in October 1854 when three miners were arrested following a riot at Ballarat. Protesters formed the [[Ballarat Reform League]] to support the arrested men and demanded manhood suffrage, reform of the mining licence and administration, and land reform to promote small farms. Further protests followed and protesters built a [[Eureka Rebellion|stockade on the Eureka Field]] at Ballarat. On 3 December troops overran the stockade, killing about 20 protesters. Five troops were killed and 12 seriously wounded.<ref>Goodman, David (2013). "The gold rushes of the 1850s". ''The Cambridge History of Australia, Volume I''. pp.&nbsp;177–78</ref>

Following a Royal Commission, the monthly licence was replaced with a cheaper annual miner's right which gave holders the right to vote and build a dwelling on the goldfields. The administration of the Victorian goldfields was also reformed. The Eureka rebellion soon became a part of Australian nationalist mythology.<ref>Macintyre, Stuart (2020), p. 97</ref>{{sfnp |Shaw |1983 |pp=126–27 }}