Summary

The Eureka Stockade: It’s one of Australia’s foundation legends – yet the story has always been told as if half the participants weren’t there. But what if the hot tempered, free spirited gold miners we learned about at school were actually husbands and fathers, brothers and sons? What if there were women and children right there beside them, inside the Stockade, when the bullets started to fly? And how do the answers to these questions change what we thought we knew about the so-called ‘birth of Australian democracy’?

Ten years in the research and writing,m inimitably bold, entertaining and irreverent in style, Clare Wright’s The forgotten Rebels of Eureka is a fitting tribute to the unbiddable women of Ballarat – women who made Eureka a story for us all. – blurb

My Thoughts

This book was right up my alley. I heard the author speak about this book at the Bendigo Writers Festival in 2017, and purchased it immediately. Unfortunately, it has sat on my bookshelf unread until recently. As a lover of history, and in particular Australian and Goldfields history, I devoured every word. Clare Wright has written about the women of the goldfieds in such as a way, that allows their personalities and characters to shine through. I felt as though I had met and spent time with these women, as I read their story.

I found some of the descriptions of the Eureka uprising to be brutal in their honesty and at times difficult to read. This is a true and accurate account of the women and children of the goldfields, who rarely rate a mention. The Forgotten Rebels of Eureka addresses that imbalance and tells the real story without sugar coating.

Recommendations

2014 Winner of The Stella Prize

‘A rare and irresistible combination of impeccable scholarship with a lively, warm, engaging narrative voice’. – Stella Prize Committee

‘Beautifully written, her book takes readers on a vivid journey of what life was like for the families of the miners, merchants, prostitutes, and police. It’s a great story’ – Courier-Mail

‘Evokes the goldfield era vividly….brings to life the experiences of so many young immigrants to Australia in the 1850s….Women in particular will enjoy this refreshing new look at Eureka‘ – The Age

Star Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

About the Author

Clare Wright is an historian who has worked as a political speechwriter, university lecturer, historical consultant and radio and television broadcaster. Her first book, ‘Beyond the Ladies Lounge: Australia’s Female Publicans’, garnered both critical and popular acclaim and her second, ‘The Forgotten Rebels of Eureka’, won the 2014 Stella Prize.

She researched, wrote and presented the ABC TV documentary Utopia Girls and is the co-writer of the four-part series The War That Changed Us which screened on ABC1.

Published 2013, by Text Publishing Australia.
Softcover, 539 pages, including notes, bibliography and index.

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