Академический Документы
Профессиональный Документы
Культура Документы
By Jay Flynn
Figure 1
When the shots rang out over the Eureka Stockade on the morning of December 3 1854, Raffaello Carboni stepped
out of his tent to a scene of carnage. Men lay dying as Carboni helped a doctor tend to the wounded. The soldiers
used bayonets to slay the outnumbered diggers in what was more of a massacre than a battle. The prominent red
haired Italian watched what he would later call crimes against humanity. Carboni would go on to pen the only
published eyewitness account of the events at the Eureka Stockade, yet he is an often forgotten historical figure. He
is submerged in an event that is significant to the underpinning of social history in Australia.
Raffaello Carboni
Raffaello Carboni, or Carboni Raffaello as he is
often known, was an Italian immigrant, who worked
and mined on and around the Victorian goldfields in
the mid 1850s. He was a part of the Eureka
rebellion and was there when the Eureka Stockade
was attacked by heavily armed soldiers. In the book
he wrote about the event, he describes the wild
scenes of violence as he made great claims that
were previously unheard. He describes what he saw
with great colour yet some historians seem to agree
that he actually saw nothing. Regardless of this, he
has a reliable insight responsible for the only
eyewitness account of the rebellion that exists
today. The evidence shows he was there, but the
fact he is he never fired a shot and that may be a
reason why he is forgotten by many.1
Figure 2
Figure 3
Reproduction of Carbonis gold license
Figure 4
Illustration of Peter Lalor and Raffaello Carboni
By Chris Grosz
Carbonis Book
Carbonis book was simply titled The Eureka
Stockade. It is the only eyewitness account of the
Eureka Stockade that exists today. The book is
vivid in its accounts of all that occurred on
December 3, whilst describing the events which
fuelled the rebellion and what set in motion
everything that happened. The book however, was
not properly published and made widely accessible
until ninety years after the event. He wrote the book
to exonerate the diggers who were both injured and
killed.10
Figure 5
Figure 6
The Stockade
The stockade was attacked before dawn on
December 3 1854. The diggers were greatly
outnumbered and had far fewer weapons. The
diggers were caught unawares and had no chance
against the force of 276 soldiers and police. The
diggers numbered around 120. The number of
diggers who were killed is estimated to be around
thirty. Only five soldiers were reported to have met
the same fate. An unknown number of diggers were
injured. Later, many people would have problems
with Carbonis account and many would disagree
with what he had to say.18
Figure 7
Recreation of scene of Eureka massacre
Conclusion
The Eureka Stockade is not just as account of the
attack by troops on the ill-guarded stockade. It is an
account of life on the goldfields as well as an
account on all the events that lead to the faithful
day. He released information about the oppression
of license hunts, and the control that he describes
often as being heavy handed. While it speaks of the
good and bad in Australian history it remains
crucial in our understanding of what happened. It
matters now as the Eureka Stockade is crucial in the
way we see our history and the way in which we
became Australia.
Notes
Edward Masey, The Eureka Stockade by Carboni Raffaello, The Australian Quarterly, 119/3 (1947) p126.
Raffaello Carboni, The Eureka Stockade, (Carlton Victoria: Melbourne University Press, 2004) p62.
3
Raffaello Carboni, The Eureka Stockade, (Carlton Victoria: Melbourne University Press, 2004) px.
4
Raffaello Carboni, The Eureka Stockade, (Carlton Victoria: Melbourne University Press, 2004) pix.
5
Raffaello Carboni, The Eureka Stockade, (Carlton Victoria: Melbourne University Press, 2004) pxii.
6
Raffaello Carboni, The Eureka Stockade, (Carlton Victoria: Melbourne University Press, 2004) pix.
7
Gitano Rando, Raffaello Carbonis Perception of Australia and Australian Identity, University of Wollongong, (2006) p3.
8
Carboni Raffaello and the Eureka Stockade, The Age, (Saturday 23 October 1948) in Trove [Online database] p7.
9
Eureka Stockade: Italians Story of Famous Raising in Victoria, Worker, (Monday 1 November 1948) in Trove [Online database] p9.
10
Edward Masey, The Eureka Stockade by Carboni Raffaello, The Australian Quarterly, 119/3 (1947) p126.
11
A.T Yarwood, The Eureka Stockade by Raffaello Carboni, Labour History, 18 (1970) p83.
12
A.T Yarwood, The Eureka Stockade by Raffaello Carboni, Labour History, 18 (1970) p83, Raffaello Carboni, The Eureka Stockade,
(Carlton Victoria: Melbourne University Press, 2004).
13
Raffaello Carboni, The Eureka Stockade, (Carlton Victoria: Melbourne University Press, 2004) pviii.
14
Raffaello Carboni, The Eureka Stockade, (Carlton Victoria: Melbourne University Press, 2004) p25.
15
Raffaello Carboni, The Eureka Stockade, (Carlton Victoria: Melbourne University Press, 2004) pviii.
16
Raffaello Carboni, The Eureka Stockade, (Carlton Victoria: Melbourne University Press, 2004) pviii.
17
A.T Yarwood, The Eureka Stockade by Raffaello Carboni, Labour History, 18 (1970) pp83.
18
Carboni Raffaello and the Eureka Stockade, The Age, (Saturday 23 October 1948) in Trove [Online database] p7.
19
Trevor R Reese, The Eureka Stockade by Raffaello Carboni and Geoffrey Serle, The English Historical Review, 80/317 (1965) p867.
20
Trevor R Reese, The Eureka Stockade by Raffaello Carboni and Geoffrey Serle, The English Historical Review, 80/317 (1965) p867.
21
David Miller, The Eureka Tradition, (1994) p1.
22
David Miller, The Eureka Tradition, (1994) p1.
23
Anne Beggs Sunter, Contested Memories of Eureka: Museum Interpretations of the Eureka Stockade, Labour History, 85 (2003)
p29.
2
BIBLIOGRAPHY
PRIMARY SOURCES
Carboni, Raffaello, The Eureka Stockade, (Carlton Victoria: Melbourne University Press, 2004).
Carboni Raffaello and the Eureka Stockade, The Age, (Saturday 23 October 1948) in Trove [Online database]
p7.
Important Reprint, The Canberra Times, (Saturday 8 June 1963) in Trove [Online database] p20.
Eureka Stockade: Italians Story of Famous Raising in Victoria, Worker, (Monday 1 November 1948) in
Trove [Online database] p9.
FIGURE 1: Flying Eureka Flag The ABC
(http://www.abc.net.au/reslib/201312/r1213028_15819772.jpg)
FIGURE 2: Portrait of Raffaello Carboni 1856 Italian Historical Society,
(http://trove.nla.gov.au/version/172107682).
FIGURE 3: Reproduction of Raffaello Carbonis gold licence, Australian Culture
(www.australianculture.org/chapter-85-the-eureka-stockade-raffaello-carboni/).
FIGURE 4: Peter Lalor and Raffaello Carboni, Illustration by Chris Grosz, (http://www.themonthly.com.auissue/2006/September/13161448243).
FIGURE 5: The Eureka Stockade: A red covered paperback Gold Museum Ballarat,
(http://trove.nla.gov.au/version/221961438).
FIGURE 6: Title Page of the Book Eureka Stockade by Raffaello Carboni Italian Historical Society,
(http://trove.nla.au/version/172102205).
FIGURE 7: Ireland, B. Birds eye view of events at Ballarat, 3 December 1854,
(http://www.explore.moodoph.gove.au/people/raffaello-carboni).
SECONDARY SOURCES
Beggs Sunter, Anne, Contested Memories of Eureka: Museum Interpretations of the Eureka Stockade, Labour
History, 85 (2003) pp29-45.
Masey, Edward, The Eureka Stockade by Carboni Raffaello, The Australian Quarterly, 119/3 (1947) pp126127.
Miller, David, The Eureka Tradition, (1994) pp1-9.
Rando, Gitano, Raffaello Carbonis Perception of Australia and Australian Identity, University of Wollongong,
(2006) pp1-20.
Reese, Trevor R, The Eureka Stockade by Raffaello Carboni and Geoffrey Serle, The English Historical
Review, 80/317 (1965) p867.
Yarwood, A.T, The Eureka Stockade by Raffaello Carboni, Labour History, 18 (1970) pp83-84.