What did the Eureka miners demand?

The Eureka miners demanded a set of democratic reforms, captured in the Ballarat Reform League Charter adopted on 11 November 1854. The five principal demands were the abolition of the mining licence, full and fair representation in the Legislative Council, manhood suffrage, the abolition of the property qualifications for Members of Parliament, and shorter parliamentary terms.

The mining licence was the most immediate grievance. Every miner had to pay 30 shillings per month (about 60 dollars in today's money) for the right to dig, regardless of whether they found gold. The licence system was enforced by frequent licence hunts in which armed police roamed the diggings demanding to see licences and arresting anyone without one. Miners considered the system both expensive and humiliating, and the Reform League demanded its complete abolition.

The political demands were more far-reaching. Full and fair representation in the Legislative Council (Victoria's upper house) would have given the goldfields, with their fast-growing population, appropriate representation. Manhood suffrage (the right to vote for all adult male British subjects, without property requirements) was a radical demand at a time when most British and colonial electoral systems limited voting to propertied men. The abolition of property qualifications for members of Parliament would allow ordinary miners and workers to stand for office. Shorter parliamentary terms would increase accountability to voters.

Most of the demands were met within months of the rebellion. The licence system was abolished in early 1855 and replaced with a Miner's Right that included the vote. The Victoria Constitution Act 1855 introduced responsible government with a Legislative Assembly elected on manhood suffrage and secret ballot (the latter going beyond the explicit Eureka demands and making Victoria one of the first jurisdictions in the world to introduce it). Peter Lalor (the wounded Eureka leader) was elected to the Legislative Assembly in 1856 and later served as Speaker. The Eureka Charter and the speed with which most of its demands were met made it one of the most consequential documents of nineteenth-century Australian politics, with continuing influence on the trade union and labour movements that took shape in subsequent decades.