This thesis examines the contention that Australian democracy was born at the Eureka Stockade. In this investigation, issues of identity, nationalism and memory have been central to an exploratory study of the contested memories of Eureka. The records of the Victorian goldfields in 1854 were examined to discover to what extent contemporaries thought they were establishing a new social order. The immediate political gains won by the Stockade had ramifications for the whole of Australia. Later interpretations of 1854 are also examined, to understand how later generations, in different times and places, interpreted the actions of the Stockaders of 1854. These interpretations are epitomized in literature, music, art, museums, public celebrations and commemorations, in Ballarat and elsewhere. Central to this thesis has been the role of the Eureka flag as a symbol of identity and a symbol of protest. The contests surrounding its creation, ownership, authenticity, and exhibition are examined. In spite of these concerns, the flag became a powerful symbol, flexible enough to be used by extreme Right and Left wing political movements. Using the Nietzschean analysis of the uses and abuses of history, the thesis examines the role of public history through the memorialisation and commemoration of an historic event, and examines the process of constructing a Eureka interpretation centre in Ballarat.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/245117 |
| Date | January 2002 |
| Creators | Beggs Sunter, Anne |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
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