[Editor: This article, regarding the Miner’s Right, was published in The Age (Melbourne, Vic.), 23 May 1855.]
The “Miner’s Right.”
In striking and gratifying contrast to the inconsistent, abortive, but always mischievous imbecilities of the Legislative Council, inflicted upon the people of this colony during the last three years, is the vigorous and practical legislation of the past fortnight. So sudden has been the conversion, so rapid the action of the Council, that its late proceedings afford matter, as much for surprise as for congratulation. The session began by an attempt at a coercion bill, and by a justification of the infamous license tax system — it ends by giving twelve members to the hitherto unrepresented population on the diggings; and, instead of suspiciously and reluctantly holding a license in the one hand, while it thrusts the other forward offensively for the “poll-tax,” the Council now acknowledges and cedes to the miner his right to the occupation and possession of land for the purposes of his calling.
It is impossible to over-estimate the importance of the Act now passing the Council, entitled the “Gold Fields Law Amendment Bill.” It is a wise, bold, and manly confession of faith towards the long-neglected, long-oppressed, and always distrusted mining population of the colony. No class in the country will in future dare to look upon the miner as a vagrant on the soil. His rights are admitted and solemnly conceded to him; his tenure will be as sound and as permanent, and his position as dignified as that of any freeholder in Victoria; and, although his admission to the franchise is still unhappily left encumbered by conditions which will, for some time to come, bar him from his fair share in the representation, he may now look forward with confidence to the future, and, in the meantime, in all matters concerning his immediate interests as a miner, he will have the advantage of local self-government, by being eligible to serve as assessor in the adjudication of disputed concerning claims and encroachments.
We quote at length the third clause of this Act, by which the “Miner’s Right” is established. There is much force and meaning in these two little words; instead of being a digger on suffrance, the miner will henceforth be in possession of a right. Memorable were the words of Mr. O’Shanassy upon this clause, and we commend them to the grateful remembrance of the digging population; he himself suggested the term “Miner’s Right,” in preference to that of “registration fee,” “as it, in fact, acknowledged the right of the public to the public property.”
Clause No. 3. — The “Miner’s Right” shall be in force for the full period of twelve months from the date thereof, and shall during the said period authorise the holder to mine for gold upon any of the waste lands of the Crown, and to occupy for purposes of residence in connection with the object of mining, so much of the said lands as may be prescribed under the rules and regulations hereinafter provided to be made; and every such holder shall, during the continuance of such Miner’s Right,” be deemed in law to be the owner, except as against Her Majesty only, of the claim, (not being at any time more than one) which shall be occupied by virtue of such “Miner’s Right,” and during such continuance as aforesaid all gold then being in and upon the said claim (not being more than one occupied as aforesaid), shall, except as against Her Majesty, be deemed in law to be the absolute personal property of such holder.
This “Miner’s Right” is to be acquired by the payment of a fee of £1 per annum, and in addition, to the privilege of mining and occupation of land, it constitutes the qualification of the miner for voting in the election for members to the Council.
In a future article we propose calling the attention of the digging community to the Act by which the power to elect the new members will be conferred upon the mining districts. In the meantime we, who have, from the period of the first establishment of this journal, unceasingly and boldly advocated the rights of the people, may now sincerely congratulate the vast communities whose labor has been so beneficial to the colony upon the prospects for the future which these measures of the Government have opened to them. But let there be no misunderstanding on one point — for this tardily-conceded measure of justice we owe no gratitude to the present Legislative Council as a body. The voice of the people has at last penetrated through the selfish stolidity of the “mock legislature,” and we have literally wrung these concessions from them; but let it never be forgotten, that there was no fact, and no suggestion in the Report of the Gold Commission which is not to be found in the evidence taken before this same Council in December, 1853. Deplorable events have happened since then, which might have been averted if that Council had then yielded gracefully to its convictions what has now been extorted from its fears. But in heart and in essence it is the same Council still, representing nothing but ignorance and class jealousies; even the squatters themselves, as a body, disown the (so-called) squatting members in the chamber, and well they may, for the opposition to the late liberal policy of the Government evinced an amount of rancour and incapacity in which no class outside of the walls of the House participates. The fact is, that the Council elected in the years 1851 and 1852, is a century behind the spirit of the age, and the sooner its services are dispensed with the better for the country. We have heard a rumour that it will be dissolved before the elections take place for the new members for these districts; but, however that may be, and whenever its dissolution may occur, let it not suppose that we will either forget or forgive, or that the evils it has perpetrated during its long and pernicious existence are to be atoned for by an equivocal death-bed repentance. — Bendigo Advertiser.
Source:
The Age (Melbourne, Vic.), 23 May 1855, p. 6 [the relevant issue of the Bendigo Advertiser was not available on the Trove site at the time this post was created]
Editor’s notes:
This article was originally published in the Bendigo Advertiser; however, copies of that newspaper for May 1855 were not available on the Trove site at the time of publication; therefore, the reproduction of this article in The Age has been used as the source.
Council = the Legislative Council (the upper house of parliament in the various colonies and states of Australia)
poll-tax = a tax of a fixed amount which is levied upon individuals (regardless of their income or financial position), normally only levied upon adults (a poll tax is often, but not always, connected to the right to vote) (also spelt “poll-tax”; also called a “head tax”)
squatter = in the context of Australian history, a squatter was originally someone who kept their livestock (mostly cattle and sheep) upon Crown land without permission to do so (thus illegally occupying land, or “squatting”); however, the practice became so widespread that eventually the authorities decided to formalise it by granting leases or licenses to occupy or use the land; and, with the growth of the Australian economy, many of the squatters became quite rich, and the term “squatter” came to refer to someone with a large amount of farm land (they were often regarded as rich and powerful)
squatting member = a member of parliament who is a squatter [see: squatter]
suffrance = an alternative spelling of “sufferance”
[Editor: Changed “late preceedings” to “late proceedings”.]
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