The events of Eureka reveal the complex political culture of diggings society during the 1850s. It could be argued that the local political culture that emerged in central Victoria during the 1850s continued to define community attitudes until Federation – 50 years after both the monster meeting in December 1851 at Golden Point, near Chewton, and, more notably, the events at Bakery Hill in December 1854. After all, the people of the Mount Alexander region returned a higher vote for Federation (and greater independence) than any area in Australia.
Although they may have been just echoes, half a century later, the political attitudes of the miners formulated in the 1850s are said to have found expression on the Kalgoorlie goldfields in Western Australia, and it could also be argued that it was the ‘yes’ votes of these miners that determined the result of the Federation referendum in Western Australia. Likewise fluctuating, yet ultimately hardening, attitudes towards the Chinese over the same time period culminated in the introduction of the White Australia policy in 1902.
