Victorian gold rush

Victoria is a state of Australia, in the south-east of the country. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South... Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania on Boundary Islet to the north, west and south respectively. Victoria is Australia's most densely populated state, and has a highly centralised population, with almost 75% of Victorians living in Melbourne, the state capital and largest city. Victoria, like Queensland, was named after Queen Victoria, the monarch at the time. After the founding of the colony of New South Wales in 1788, Australia was divided into an eastern half named New South Wales and a western half named New Holland, under the administration of the colonial government in Sydney. The first European settlement in the area later known as Victoria was established in October 1803 under Lieutenant-Governor David Collins at Sullivan Bay, Victoria on Port Phillip. It consisted of 402 people .
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The first gold rush in Australia started in 1851 when prospector Edward Hargraves claimed the discovery of payable gold near Bathurst, New South... Wales, at a site Edward Hargraves called Ophir. Eight months later, gold was found in Ballarat and Bendigo in Victoria causing large influxes of prospectors. In the late 1880s through to the mid 1890s, there were discoveries of rich goldfields in Western Australia which caused more gold rushes. Australia's population grew from 400,000 to over 1,000,000 during 1845 to 1896 as a consequence of gold discoveries.
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The Eureka Stockade of 1854 was an organised rebellion by gold miners which occurred at Eureka Lead in Ballarat, Victoria, Australia. The Battle of... Eureka Stockade was fought on 3 December 1854 and named for the stockade structure erected by miners during the conflict. Resulting in the deaths of 22 miners, it was the most significant conflict in the colonial history of Victoria. The event was the culmination of civil disobedience in the Ballarat region during the Victorian gold rush with miners objecting to the expense of a Miner's Licence, taxation without representation and the actions of the government and its agents The local rebellion in Ballarat grew from a Ballarat Reform League movement and culminated in organised battle at the stockades against colonial forces. Mass public support for the captured 'rebels' in the colony's capital of Melbourne when they were placed on trial resulted in the introduction of full white male suffrage for elections for the lower house in the Victorian parliament.
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