The stupid passphrase
pisses off the English
Then, after making a mistake in ordering up pikes rather than caltraps, or perhaps more usefully a mixture of both, Lalor made another very basic, but very bad mistake. As his troops were coming and going all over the place, he wanted to minimise the risk of their ranks being infiltrated by government spies, so he decided to require incomers to use a passphrase.
But after the battle he claimed to have been aware his ranks were probably already infiltrated by spies and men who would be only too happy to sell all they knew for the price of a bottle of whisky. Indeed, Rede would have known the passphrase shortly after Lalor set it. Although, interestingly, Rede and co. didn't know Lalor was the commander. They thought it was Vere, and continued to do so for a while after the battle.
However, it's not the making of a passphrase that was the mistake, although it does seem to have been rather a pointless exercise, it was the passphrase itself: "Remember Vinegar Hill". It seems unlikely this was a reference to the Irish convicts' minor rebellion in 1804 at Castle Hill near Sydney, New South Wales, later referred to as the second battle of Vinegar Hill. It's much more likely it refers to the awful defeat of the United Irish rebels in 1798 at a place actually called Vinegar Hill.
The total Irish dead seems to be in dispute, and the English dead is also not known for sure. But one English soldier at the battle said the Irish lost some 1200 men. In the nearby Irish camp, at least several women were raped, and it's highly probable other atrocities occurred, especially as the rebels had slaughtered quite a few protestants around the place, despite protestants being in their ranks. This was a cause of angry and bitter English revenge, with most, if not all, the soldiers being themselves protestants. As if they really needed a reason to be brutal bastards. Anyway, revenge they got, in the form of killings, rape, and wholesale theft. Ah, what a civilised bunch the British were.
While this was not the end of the rebellion, as a large part of the Irish army managed to escape because of the late arrival of one of the English generals and his men, it was very much the beginning of the end. The Irish on both sides lost some 10-25,000 people throughout the United Irish rebellion, and the English lost around 600. The whole affair was horrific, especially for the Irish, because in addition to all these dead were the wounded, the raped, and the traumatised, all of which included children.
English miners at Eureka, largely protestant, saw Lalor's passphrase as a sign they were being conned into fighting on behalf of Irish separatism. The location of the stockade within the Irish-settled area helped confirm them in their belief, along with the obvious fact that Lalor was Irish. The rate of desertion increased dramatically.
When Lalor and the other leaders became aware of what was happening, they apparently raised a British flag to fly below the Southern Cross, to try and make clear they had no problem with the British government, nor did they seek Australian independence, although some of them had spoken of it. It should be noted there is disagreement about the raising of the British flag, some saw it, and some didn't.
The leaders apparently tried to impress their followers with the idea that, like the miners themselves, all they sought were a few very basic reforms, based on those of the English Chartists. It's true the Ballarat Reform League announced a couple of days before the battle that if the British refused to implement the reforms the League demanded, then they would call for independence from Britain. But this was a statement of frustration, not a statement of policy. And it's very unlikely many of the miners, particularly the English, and perhaps the Scots and Welsh, and maybe the protestant Irish, would agree to such a policy if attempts were made to enact it.
But, whatever Lalor and his team attempted in terms of clarifying the fact Irish separatism had nothing to do with their rebellion, they appear not to have been overly successful in terms of stemming the growing flood of desertions.
But after the battle he claimed to have been aware his ranks were probably already infiltrated by spies and men who would be only too happy to sell all they knew for the price of a bottle of whisky. Indeed, Rede would have known the passphrase shortly after Lalor set it. Although, interestingly, Rede and co. didn't know Lalor was the commander. They thought it was Vere, and continued to do so for a while after the battle.
However, it's not the making of a passphrase that was the mistake, although it does seem to have been rather a pointless exercise, it was the passphrase itself: "Remember Vinegar Hill". It seems unlikely this was a reference to the Irish convicts' minor rebellion in 1804 at Castle Hill near Sydney, New South Wales, later referred to as the second battle of Vinegar Hill. It's much more likely it refers to the awful defeat of the United Irish rebels in 1798 at a place actually called Vinegar Hill.
The total Irish dead seems to be in dispute, and the English dead is also not known for sure. But one English soldier at the battle said the Irish lost some 1200 men. In the nearby Irish camp, at least several women were raped, and it's highly probable other atrocities occurred, especially as the rebels had slaughtered quite a few protestants around the place, despite protestants being in their ranks. This was a cause of angry and bitter English revenge, with most, if not all, the soldiers being themselves protestants. As if they really needed a reason to be brutal bastards. Anyway, revenge they got, in the form of killings, rape, and wholesale theft. Ah, what a civilised bunch the British were.
While this was not the end of the rebellion, as a large part of the Irish army managed to escape because of the late arrival of one of the English generals and his men, it was very much the beginning of the end. The Irish on both sides lost some 10-25,000 people throughout the United Irish rebellion, and the English lost around 600. The whole affair was horrific, especially for the Irish, because in addition to all these dead were the wounded, the raped, and the traumatised, all of which included children.
English miners at Eureka, largely protestant, saw Lalor's passphrase as a sign they were being conned into fighting on behalf of Irish separatism. The location of the stockade within the Irish-settled area helped confirm them in their belief, along with the obvious fact that Lalor was Irish. The rate of desertion increased dramatically.
When Lalor and the other leaders became aware of what was happening, they apparently raised a British flag to fly below the Southern Cross, to try and make clear they had no problem with the British government, nor did they seek Australian independence, although some of them had spoken of it. It should be noted there is disagreement about the raising of the British flag, some saw it, and some didn't.
The leaders apparently tried to impress their followers with the idea that, like the miners themselves, all they sought were a few very basic reforms, based on those of the English Chartists. It's true the Ballarat Reform League announced a couple of days before the battle that if the British refused to implement the reforms the League demanded, then they would call for independence from Britain. But this was a statement of frustration, not a statement of policy. And it's very unlikely many of the miners, particularly the English, and perhaps the Scots and Welsh, and maybe the protestant Irish, would agree to such a policy if attempts were made to enact it.
But, whatever Lalor and his team attempted in terms of clarifying the fact Irish separatism had nothing to do with their rebellion, they appear not to have been overly successful in terms of stemming the growing flood of desertions.