Literature Based Unit: Eureka Stockade
When implementing this Literature Based Unit, we suggest reading at least a couple of the books recommended below. Activities are optional, feel free to choose whichever activities best suit your family.
We have endeavoured to select books that are likely to be accessible via your local libraries and don’t forget inter-library loans. We don’t want you to go into debt. We are not recommending you read all of these books.
We estimate it will take 3+ weeks to read through this LBU and enjoy the activities of your choice.
Create your own personalised list by opening your book choice and simply clicking the wishlist button to add to your list.
Wattle Gum Education: Literature Based Units – Eureka Stockade pdf
Themes to Cover
- Life on the Goldfields
- Eureka Stockade
- Eureka Flag
- Law & Order on the Goldfields
- Chinese Miners
- Women on the Goldfields
Teacher’s Notes
Eureka Stockade – Alan Boardman
Eureka!: A Story of the Goldfields – Mark Wilson
My Australian Story: Banner Bold – Nadia Wheatley
The Night They Stormed Eureka – Jackie French
The Night We Made The Flag : A Eureka Story – Carole Wilkinson
We Are the Rebels: The Women and Men Who Made Eureka – Clare Wright
Online Resources
- Digital Classroom
- Eureka Centre Ballarat
- Eureka Stockade facts for kids
- Feature History – Youtube
- Kids Encyclopedia
- Sovereign Hill Education site
Geography Activities
People travelled to the Australian goldfields from many countries.
- Take a world map and colour the countries people emigrated from.
History Research
- How and why did the gold rush start.
- What were some of the reasons emigrants gave for leaving their home countries to travels to the Australian goldfields?
- Life on the goldfields was hard. People lived in tents, had little money for food or the licence fee. Research daily life in the 1840s and 1850s on the goldfields
- Research the various methods of finding gold: panning, cradle etc
- If you were walking to the goldfields from Melbourne to start a new life as a miner, what would you bring with you and why? Remember you would have to carry everything on your list the whole way, think about weight as well as the usefulness of each item.
- What was the struggle between the miners and those in power?
- What effect did the goldrush have on the First Nations Peoples in this area.
- What impact did the discovery of gold have on the natural environment?
- Many Chinese arrived in Australia during the Gold Rush, research Australian Chinese history. Research the treatment of Chinese people in this time, and how that resulted in the Immigration Restriction Act 1901 which was introduced immediately after federation.
- Many women on the goldfields made a living as storekeepers. One of these was Martha Clendinning. Write a few sentences about her.
- What sorts of things were for sale in a general goods store? If you were travelling to the goldfields to establish a store, what goods would you bring with you to sell and why?
- How did the gold rush offer women more freedom than they experienced in their conventional lives?
- There were some women on the Ballarat goldfields in 1854. What roles did they play?
- The diggers had three main political demands they presented to Governor Hotham, these were: abolishing the license fees, access to land, suffrage. Explain in one sentence what each of these meant and how they contributed to the uprising at Ballarat.
- What does the word Eureka mean? Why would a goldfield be named Eureka?
- Research and write about the police; bullying, license hunts, corruption and brutality and how this eventually led to the rebellion.
- Create a Eureka Stockade timeline, including illustrations.
- Research the impact the Eureka Stockade had on Australian history.
- Peter Lalor was a key figure in the rebellion. Write a one page biography of him, include his early life, and what he did after the Eureka Stockade, his role in Australian politics.
The Eureka Flag.
- What is the Eureka flag?
- Why is it called the ‘rebel flag’?
- What is the symbolism of the flag that the rebels flew at the Eureka Stockade?
- Who Made the Eureka Flag?’
On a timeline, place these events in the correct order:
- Mining license abolished
Monster Meeting held on Bakery Hill, where the Southern Cross is flown
Peter Lalor hides wounded in Geelong
James Scobie murdered
The Eureka Stockade attacked
Eureka Hotel (Bentleys) burnt down
Governor Hotham arrives in Victoria
13 stockaders accused of treason found innocent and released
Gold discovered by Europeans in Victoria
The Eureka Stockade built
Discussion Questions
- Discuss how the troopers and the diggers would have had differing views of the Eureka Stockade and the laws on the goldfields.
- What were some factors that led to lawlessness on the goldfields?
- What caused the tension between the troopers and the diggers?
- Some miners have had big strikes and are now rich, most of the diggers are struggling to find enough gold to buy food and to pay for their mining licences. Discus why so many people continued to try to find gold when it was
a dangerous life filled with backbreaking work and their chances of finding enough gold to get rich were so low. - What part did the Eureka Stockade play in helping to shape democracy in Australia?
Language Arts Activities
- Imagine you are a child on the goldfields, write a diary entry to describe your experiences, include descriptions of your everyday life.
- Imagine you are a young Chinese man on the goldfields, pen a letter home to your mother and sister in China.
- You are a new arrival to the Ballarat goldfields in 1854. Write a letter home to your family describing life and work in and your impressions of life on the goldfields. Use the following sentence starters if you wish.
My job is …
My fellow emigrants …
The diggers are …
The traps are … - Many on the goldfields could not read or write. Write a letter home on behalf of a miner describing the events leading up to the rebellion from their point of view.
- Or choose another: a soldier, a police officer, a judge, and write a letter to superior describing the events leading up to the rebellion from their point of view.
- Draw a poster advertising, Bentley’s Hotel or the Eureka Stockade. Write a paragraph explaining the role they played in the Eureka Stockade.
- Find out about the health conditions on the diggings and write a report to illustrate your findings.
- Write a couple of sentences identifying at lest three of these people or events:
Eureka Stockade
Charles LaTrobe
Peter Lalor
Commissioner Robert Rede
Catherine Bentley
Anastasia Hayes
Martha Clendinning - Ellen Young was poet and political activist who lived with her gold-mining husband at Golden Point. Ellen used words to express her anger at conditions on the goldfields. Ellen’s poem ‘Ballarat’(pg 5) was published in the Geelong Advertiser 4 June 1854. Select four lines or phrases from the poem that best describe the living and political conditions at Ballarat. Write a verse about the Eureka Stockade in Ellen’s literary style.
Art/Craft Activities
- Paint a mural telling the story of the Eureka Stockade.
- Create a diorama of an everyday scene of the goldfields. It may depict the miners, shopkeepers, women etc
- Study the work of artist Samuel Gill, with watercolours create your own image of the goldfields.
National Museum of Australia: Samuel Gill
Hands On Activities
- Visit a local creek and try panning for gold. Finding gold is not likely, but see what interesting things you can discover in the bottom of your pan.
- The diggers on the goldfields ate lots of mutton stew and damper. Make a stew or damper, enjoy.