Editing Eureka Rebellion (section)

====Bendigo Petition and the Red Ribbon Movement====
{{main|Anti-Gold Licence Association|Bendigo Petition}}
The disquiet on the goldfields continued in 1853, with public meetings held in [[Castlemaine, Victoria|Castlemaine]], [[Heathcote, Victoria|Heathcote]] and Bendigo.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/4795879 |location=Melbourne |newspaper=[[The Argus (Melbourne)|The Argus]] |title= BENDIGO. |date=19 April 1853 |access-date=21 May 2022 |page=4 |via=[[Trove]] }}</ref> On 3 February 1853, a policeman accidentally caused the death of William Guest at Reid's Creek. Assistant Commissioner James Clow had to defuse a difficult situation with a promise to conduct an inquiry into the circumstances. A group of one thousand angry miners overran the government camp and relieved the police of their sidearms and weapons, destroying a cache of weapons.{{sfn|MacFarlane|1995|p=188}} George Black assisted Dr John Owens in chairing a public meeting held at Ovens field on 11 February 1853 that called for the death of Guest to be fully investigated.{{sfn|MacFarlane|1995|p=188}}

The [[Anti-Gold Licence Association]] was formed in June at a meeting in Bendigo, where 23,000 signatures were collected for a mass petition, including 8,000 from the mining settlement at McIvor.{{sfn|Hocking|2004|p=65}}

There was an incident on 2 July 1853 in which police were assaulted in the vicinity of an anti-licence meeting at the [[Sandhurst, Victoria|Sandhurst]] goldfield in Bendigo, with rocks being thrown as they escorted an intoxicated miner to the holding cells.{{sfn|MacFarlane|1995|p=188}} On 16 July 1853, an anti-licence demonstration in Sandhurst attracted 6,000 people, who also raised the issue of lack of electoral rights. The high commissioner of the goldfields, [[William Wright (Australian politician)|William Wright]], advised La Trobe of his support for an export duty on gold found rather than the existing universal tax on all prospectors based on time stayed.{{sfn|MacFarlane|1995|p=189}}

On 3 August, the Bendigo petition was placed before La Trobe, who refused to act on a request to suspend the mining tax again and give the miners the right to vote.{{sfnm|MacFarlane|1995|1p=189|Clark|1987|2p=63}} The next day, there was a meeting held at Protestant Hall in Melbourne where the delegation reported on the exchange with La Trobe. The crowd reacted with "loud disapprobation and showers of hisses" when the lieutenant governor was mentioned. Manning Clark speaks of one of the leaders of the "moral force" faction, George Thompson, who returned to Bendigo, where he attended another meeting on 28 July. Formerly, there was talk of "moral suasion" and "the genius of the English people to compose their differences without resort to violence". Thompson pointed to the [[Union Jack]] and jokingly said that "if the flag went, it would be replaced by a diggers' flag".{{sfn|Clark|1987|p=63}}

The Bendigo "diggers flag" was unfurled at a rally at View Point, Sandhurst, on 12 August 1853 to hear from delegates who had returned from Melbourne with news of the failure of the Bendigo petition. The miners paraded under the flags of several nations, including the [[Flag of Ireland|Irish tricolour]], the saltire of Scotland, the Union Jack, revolutionary French and German flags, and the Stars and Stripes. The ''Geelong Advertiser'' reported that:

{{blockquote|Gully after gully hoisted its own flag, around which the various sections rallied, and as they proceeded towards the starting points, formed quite an animated spectacle … But the flag which attracted the greatest attention was the Diggers' Banner, the work of one of the Committee, Mr Dexter, an artist of considerable talent, and certainly no company ever possessed a more appropriate coat of arms, or a motto more in character with themselves.}}

The design of the Digger's flag was along the same lines as the flag flown at Forrest Creek in 1851. It has four quarters that feature a pick, shovel and cradle, symbolising the mining industry; a bundle of sticks tied together, symbolising unity; the scales of justice, symbolising the remedies the miners sought; and a Kangaroo and Emu, symbolising Australia.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://monstermeeting.net/the-flag | title=The Flag }}</ref>

On 20 August 1853, just as an angry mob of 500–600 miners went to assemble outside the government camp at Waranga, the authorities used a legal technicality to release some mining tax evaders.{{sfn|MacFarlane|1995|p=189}} A meeting in Beechworth called for reducing the licence fee to ten shillings and voting rights for the mining settlements.{{sfn|MacFarlane|1995|p=189}} A larger rally attended by 20,000 people was held at Hospital Hill in Bendigo on 23 August 1853, which resolved to support a mining tariff fixed at 10 shillings a month.<ref>''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.</ref>{{sfn|Hocking|2004|pp=69-71}}

There was a second multinational-style assembly at View Point on 27 August 1853. The next day a procession of miners passed by the government camp with the sounds of bands and shouting and fifty pistol rounds as an assembly of about 2,000 miners took place.{{sfn|MacFarlane|1995|p=189}} On 29 August 1853, assistant commissioner [[Robert William Rede]] at Jones Creek counselled that a peaceful, political solution could still be found. In Ballarat, miners offered to surround the guard tent to protect gold reserves amid rumours of a planned robbery.{{sfn|MacFarlane|1995|p=189}}

A sitting of the goldfields committee of the Legislative Council in Melbourne on 6 September 1853 heard from goldfields activists Dr William Carr, W Fraser and William Jones.{{sfn|MacFarlane|1995|p=190}} ''An Act for the Better Management of the Goldfields'' was passed, which, upon receiving royal assent on 1 December, reduced the licence fee to 40 shillings for every three months. The act featured increasing fines in the order of 5, 10 and 15 pounds for repeat offenders, with goldfields residents required to carry their permits, which had to be available for inspection at all times. This temporarily relieved tensions in the colony. In November, the select committee bill proposed a licence fee of 1 pound for one month, 2 pounds for three months, 3 for six months and 5 pounds for 12 months, along with extending the voting franchise and land rights to the miners. La Trobe amended the scheme by increasing the six-month licence to 4 pounds, with a fee of 8 pounds for 12 months.{{sfn|Corfield|Wickham|Gervasoni|2004|p=x}}

On 3 December 1853, a crowd of 2,000–3,000 attended an anti-licence rally at View Point. Then, on 31 December 1854, about 500 people gathered there to elect a so-called "Diggers Congress".{{sfn|MacFarlane|1995|p=190}}