Shenanigans on the Ovens Goldfields: the 1859 Election / Antony O'Brien

"European settlement in what is now the state of Victoria commenced in the 1830s. Less than 20 years later, the discovery of gold transformed Victoria, leading to a huge influx of gold miners, many from overseas. There followed the separation of Victoria from New South Wales, and the establishment of the first Victorian Parliament.

In the 1850s, Victoria boasted the largest goldfields in the world, particularly around Ballarat and Bendigo, and smaller fields scattered around Victoria, including Beechworth, Chiltern and Wangaratta, which collectively comprised the Ovens River field.

It was in this part of north-eastern Victoria that the events described in Shenanigans took place. The area later acquired national significance as a centre of the operations of the gang led by Ned Kelly, Australia's most famous outlaw.

1859 was the year of the second election in Victoria and, in this pioneer community, the election was fought between embryonic conservative and radical groups, with superimposed differences between land-owners and working-class gold-miners, and religious divisions among Anglicans, Catholics, the Masonic Lodge and Protestants.

In a sense, therefore, this book describes the crude processes from which emerged the democratic tradition which has characterised Australian society since then..."

Read the rest of the News Weekly review here.