The 1859 Election on the Ovens’

Deakin University Access to Thesis. Antony O’Brien is the author of the thesis entitled: ‘The 1859 Election on the Ovens’. This thesis may be made available for consultation, loan and limited copying for the purpose of study and/or research in accordance with the Copyright Act 1968 [Australia]. This thesis was submitted for the degree of Master of Arts and is the result of the authors own research, except where otherwise acknowledged, and that the thesis in whole or part has not been submitted for an award including a higher degree to any other university or institution. This document has been processed by an optical character recognition program, thus there is a possibility of transcription errors. The 1859 Election on the Ovens. by Antony O’Brien, Bachelor of Arts (Honours) Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Deakin University 30 July 2004 Abstract The Victorian general election of 1859 occurred during a time of social transition and electoral reformation, which extended the vote to previously unrepresented adult males. Gold discoveries, including those on the Ovens, triggered the miners’ insistent demands for access to land and participation in the political process. The thesis identifies issues, which emerged during the election campaign on the Ovens goldfields, surrounding Beechworth. The struggle centred on the two Legislative Assembly seats for the Ovens and the one Legislative Council seat for the Murray District. Though the declared election issue was land reform, it concealed a range of underlying tensions, which divided the electorate along lines of nationality and religion. Complicating these tensions within the European community was the Chinese presence throughout the Ovens. The thesis suggests the historical memory of the French Revolution, the European Revolutions of 1848 and the Catholic versus Protestant revivals divided the Ovens goldfield community. The competing groups formed alliances; a Beechworth-centred grouping of traders, merchants and the Constitution’s editor, ensured the existing conservative agenda triumphed over those perceived radicals who sought reform. In the process the land hungry miners did not gain any political representation in the Legislative Assembly, while a prominent Catholic squatter who advocated limited land reform was defeated for the Legislative Council seat. Two daily Beechworth papers, Ovens and Murray Advertiser and its fierce competitor, the Constitution and Ovens Mining Intelligencer are the major primary sources for the thesis. The 1859 Election on the Ovens. i Table of Contents Index Page No. Table of contents i Abbreviations ii Acknowledgements iii Dramatis Personae iv - xii Maps Maps 1 – 4 xiii - xvii The Thesis Introduction 1 – 17 Chapter 1. Beechworth 1859: Time and Place 18 – 37 Chapter 2. Victoria 1859: Time and Place 38 – 68 Chapter 3. The Chinese emeute 69 – 94 Chapter 4. The Ovens election of 1859 95 – 152 Chapter 5. The vanquished candidates 153 – 164 Epilogue 165 – 166 Conclusion 167 – 170 Bibliography 171 – 178 Appendix A. Glossary of Terms 179 – 182 Appendix B. List of Images and Cartoons 183 – 184 Appendix C. List of Tables 185 – 185 Appendix D. Photographs 186 – 186 Appendix E. Stephens New Map of Victoria 1865. 187 – 187 ii Abbreviations ADB Australian Dictionary of Biography Constitution Constitution and Ovens Mining Intelligencer J.P. Justice of the Peace O&MA Ovens and Murray Advertiser Punch Melbourne Punch Star Ballarat Star Standard Chiltern Standard and Murray Valley Mining Reporter VPP Victorian Parliamentary Papers VPL Victorian Parliamentary Library iii Acknowledgements Many people assisted during the research and production of this thesis. To my supervisor, A/Professor Don Gibb of Deakin University, I extend a warm thank you and acknowledge his untiring support, sharp insights and patience. To Dr. Graeme Cope, my second supervisor, thank you for clear comments and suggestions on the project. Thank you to the following: Duncan S. Watson, for a copy of his (1956) thesis, ‘The 1861 Election in Victoria’ , which proved impossible to locate anywhere else. Dr. Peter Wilkinson, for access to his Doctoral thesis, ‘A Mission to the Burmese’, his insights into the missionary revival in the 1800s and Latin translations. Anna Robbins, Chris Dormer, Jennifer Williams and the staff at the Robert O’Hara Burke Memorial Museum, Beechworth for access to original newspapers. Jenelle Cleary of the Victorian Parliamentary Library for supplying electronic images of George Kerferd, John Dennistoun Wood, John O’Shanassy and David Reid. To those several critical readers who in the last weeks, checked for syntax, commas, full stops, footnotes and the tables. Explanation I made a conscious decision not to approach any local identities, groups or old families living in Beechworth or nearby localities. Alfred Arthur O’Connor who features throughout this study remains a mystery. To divert energies to find answers on O’Connor was outside the scope of the thesis. iv Dramatis Personae Duffy Charles Gavan (1816-1903); Irish born patriot, Catholic intellectual, author, founder of the Nation, leader of Young Ireland and Irish Confederation. Prominent during Irish Insurrection of 1848, jailed and tried for treason, member of House of Commons, emigrated to Victoria 1856, elected to the Victorian Parliament and in 1859 was second to 0’Shanassy in that Ministry.1 He was connected to Arthur O’Connor, the United Irishman, sourcing arms for Ireland during 1848. Henderson George William (1825-1861); changed his name from Hodgskin. His father was a political activist and journalist in England. George was sub-editor of The Economist in England, arrived in colony in 1856, initially worked as editor for O&MA.2 Editor of Constitution newspaper in 1859; member of Lodge of St. John, he was its Master by late 1859. Active in Beechworth politics, belonged to the elite grouping termed ‘the clique’ and ‘sparrow- tailed gentry’. He was the voice of the squatters and the elite’s agenda. Keefer Alexander (1824-1863); Canadian lawyer, living and practising in Beechworth, had close ties to the Beechworth power grouping and the Constitution’s editor. He was a member of Lodge of St. John. Stood as the candidate for the Ovens in 1859. 1 Kathleen Thomson and Geoffrey Serle, A Biographical Register of the Victorian Parliament 1859-1900, Australian National University Press, Canberra, 1972, p. 57. 2 M. Roslyn Shennan, A Biographical Dictionary of The Pioneers of the Ovens and Townsmen of Beechworth, M. Roslyn Shennan, Noble Park, 2004, entry 116, pp. 30-31. (First published 1990). v Kerferd George Briscoe. (1836-1889) Liverpool born; Justice of the Peace; Presbyterian; Returning Officer for the Legislative Assembly election of 1859 and member of the Lodge of St. John. Later became Premier of Victoria. Photo. 1. George B. Kerferd.3 3 Victorian Parliamentary Library, Item No. 5/69. vi O’Connor Arthur Alfred (1763-1852); Irish Protestant lawyer and member of English Parliament, leader in the United Irishmen rebellion during the 1798 ‘Year of Liberty’; arrested and charged with treason for his involvement in the abortive French invasion of Ireland. Following a bungled trial and acquittal, he became a general of Napoleon’s Grande Armie. He wrote The State of Ireland (1798),4 modelled on Thomas Paine’s Rights of Man, and Sieyes’s, Qu’ est-ce que le tiers etat?5 Arthur was ‘the most important conduit between French republicanism and Irish political radicalism in the late 1790s.’6 A book on his life exists titled, Arthur O’Connor, United Irishman.7 Photo. 2. Sketch of Arthur Alfred O’Connor the United Irishman.8 4 James Livesey (ed.), Arthur O’Connor, The State of Ireland, Lilliput Press, Dublin, 1998. 5 Ibid., p. 12. 6 Ibid., p. 2. 7 Jane Hatter Hames, Arthur O‘Connor, United Irishman, The Collins Press, Cork, 2001. 8 Toby Buchan, (ed), Thomas Pakenham, The Year of Liberty: The Great Irish Rebellion of 1798, (Illustrated and Abridged Bi-centenary Edition) Weidenfeld & Nicholson, London, 1997, p. 23. vii O’Connor Alfred Arthur (b? - d?); Irish, claimed to be a Catholic and the son of Irish banister, William Conner (sic) of Inch. Arrived in Victoria about 1853, a miner at old Ballarat; was that district’s delegate to Land Convention in Melbourne 1857, member of first Ballarat Mining Board in 1858, then appeared in Chiltern 1859. Stood as an independent mining candidate for Ovens Assembly seat and lost. Later elected to district Mining Board; returned to Ballarat, elected to parliament in 1862 in Peter Lalor’s vacated seat. On entering parliament, he took oath as an Anabaptist.9 Melbourne Punch jested that he wrote a book, Some Thoughts on Ryots (sic).10 O’Connor Feargus (1794-1855); Irish born nephew of General Arthur A. O’Connor. A radical Chartist member of the House of Commons during the disturbances of 1848. Feargus was a major participant in the massed rally at Kennington Common. 9 Thomson and Serle, A Biographical Register, p. 153. 10 Punch, 2 Apr 1863, p. 281. viii 0’ Shanassy John (1818-1883); Irish born, Premier of Victoria (1857-1859), a prominent Catholic associated with the political arm of Catholic action, the St. Patrick’s Society. Received Papal knighthood during the election of 1859, but news of the award did not arrive until after the election. O’Shanassy departed Ireland before the Insurrection of 1848. Photo. 3. John O’Shanassy.11 11 VPL, Item 9/6C. ix Reid David (1830-1906); English born, Presbyterian, travelled into Victoria as an ‘overlander’ from New South Wales. He was a squatter living on the ‘Barnawatha Run’, near Chiltern in 1859. Gold destroyed his pastoral activities,12 on ‘Curraramunjie’ Run, at the Woolshed, Reid’s Creek, and Tarrawingee; and ‘Yackandandah No. 2’ Run comprising 13,240 acres.13 He stood as candidate for the Upper House in 1859. Photo. 4. David Reid in later life.14 12 R.

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