Forest Creek Monster Meeting
The Forest Creek Monster Meeting was an organised protest at Forest Creek in Victoria, Australia against the Miner's Right by the colonial government of Victoria. Although it was one of several similar protests held around the colony, it is notable as the largest known mass rally held during the Australian gold rushes.
In December the government announced that it intended to double the licence fee from £1 to £3 a month, from 1 January 1852.[1]
On 15 December 1851 estimates of between 14,000 and 20,000 miners gathered for the first mass meeting of diggers, as the miners were known, at Forest Creek. The notices put about the diggings by a person who called himself "A Digger" in advance of the meeting advertised it as a 'Monster Meeting'. The Miners' Flag, also known as the standard of Australian reform, flew at this meeting for the first time.[citation needed]
The rally was largely successful as the government hastily withdrew its plans to increase the miner's licence fee.
Site Rediscovery
The meeting took place at the site of a shepherd's hut, an out station of William Campbell's sheep run 'Strathloddon" which was built around 3 miles south of Major Thomas Mitchell's line of road at the junction of Wattle and Forest creeks in the 1840s.
It was claimed at the time that between 12 to 20 thousand people attended the meeting that day, a far greater number than any meeting of gold diggers before or since. The site of the shepherd's hut was rediscovered after extensive research was carried out by Glenn Braybrook a local historian and long time resident of Chewton. Glenn was helped by fellow Chewton resident, John Ellis who knew Glenn was determined to find the Monster meeting site. John supplied Glenn with a map he had been given by Barbra James, another local historian. By using this map and two others and drawings that were done on the day of the meeting in 1851, the site, largely unchanged can be clearly identified.
Legacy
The site is now marked with a cairn placed there in the original spot by members of the Ballarat Reform league. Locals gather annually to commemorate the event.
See also
References
 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (October 2007) |
- ^ pg. 24. Bate, Weston. Lucky City