Thomas Kennedy

Thomas Kennedy (1817-1859) was a miner, who had a minor role in the events of the Eureka Rebellion of 1854.

Kennedy was born in Ayreshire, Scotland, in approximately 1817 (his exact date of birth is unknown).[1]

Along with many others, who were seeking a fortune in gold, he came to Australia and joined in the gold rush at Ballarat (Victoria).

He was a friend of James Scobie, who was killed on 6 October 1854 by James Bentley, a publican and ex-convict, who owned the Eureka Hotel in Ballarat.[2]

The local authorities (some of whom were Bentley’s friends), following an enquiry (which was considered by some to be a farce), rejected the pressing of any charges against Bentley. It was obvious to the mining populace that there was favouritism involved in the decision.[3]

Angry at this show of blatant corruption on the part of the Ballarat authorities, a public meeting of miners was organised for 17 October 1854, outside of Bentley’s hotel. Several resolutions were put before the gathering of miners for their approval. Kennedy was there, and moved a motion in favour of raising funds in order to offer a reward for the capture and conviction of Scobie’s murderer. According to The Argus, “Mr. Kennedy, in moving this resolution, made an eloquent and powerful speech. The motion was also carried without one dissentient voice.” The wording of the successful motion was:[4]

“That this meeting deems it necessary to collect subscriptions for the purpose of offering a reward for the conviction of the murderer or murderers and defraying all other expenses connected with the prosecution of the case.”

The miners were furious and wanted justice for their fellow-miner. Stirring speeches were made, but many in the crowd felt that speeches weren’t enough, and so some began throwing rocks and smashing the windows of the hotel. The situation escalated, the crowd rioted, and the furniture and fittings of the hotel were smashed up. A fire was started in the hotel’s bowling-alley, which began to blaze, then the hotel’s stables were set alight, and the hotel itself was set on fire. According to a report in The Argus, the miners were very selective about what they destroyed: “The property of the servants was, however, respected and carried to a place of safety. The instruments of the musicians, including a pianoforte, were saved. … A dray and shay-cart were also run into the flames. It being stated that the latter did not belong to Mr. Bentley, it was at some risk rescued; but on further enquiry it was ascertained to be his property, and immediately run into the burning mass and totally consumed.” Bentley tried to divert attention from his hotel, by riding off on his horse, but to no avail; the Eureka Hotel and its associated buildings were burnt down (luckily, no-one was hurt in the fire).[5]

Three men were arrested in connection with the riot at the Eureka Hotel. A three-man committee was set up for their defence, consisting of Frederick Vern, Thomas Kennedy, and J. B. Humffray. It was decided to approach the Governor of Victoria, Charles Hotham, to seek the release of the miners who were arrested after the burning of the Eureka Hotel. A delegation, consisting of J. B. Humffray, George Black, and Thomas Kennedy met with Governor Hotham in Melbourne on 27 November 1854. However, Hotham objected to the wording of the message from the miners, who had issued a “demand” for the miners to be freed, and so he rejected the delegation’s appeal.[6]

Bentley may have escaped the carnage, but he didn’t escape justice. Public attention was focused on the case, and there were those who refused to let the matter drop. As The Ballarat Star was to state, many years later, “Kennedy kept stirring the fire until the authorities ordered a new trial, and Bentley was committed for manslaughter.” Bentley was convicted of the charge of manslaughter, and went to jail (after his release, he committed suicide in Melbourne in 1873).[7]

In addition to the murder of Scobie and the burning of the Eureka Hotel, another significant incident occurred. On 10 October 1854 Constable James Lord, a mounted trooper, demanded to see the mining licence of Johannes Gregorius, the disabled Armenian servant of a Catholic priest stationed at Ballarat; however, in his occupation as a servant of the Church, Gregorius was legally exempt from having a mining licence. The policeman assaulted Gregorius, and then arrested him. No apology or restitution was forthcoming from the local authorities, even though the illegitimate arrest and harassment of the church’s servant was considered to be an insult towards the Catholic community of Ballarat. A public meeting was held on 25 October 1854 to mount a protest about the situation. Kennedy was there, and moved the following motion, which was carried unanimously:[8]

“That it is the opinion of this meeting that the conduct of Mr. Commissioner Johnson towards the Rev. Mr. Smyth has been calculated to awaken the highest feeling of indignation on the part of his devoted flock; and to call upon the government to institute an inquiry into his character, and to desire to have him at once removed from Ballaarat.”

The delegation to the Governor (J. B. Humffray, George Black, and Thomas Kennedy) reported back to a mass meeting at Ballarat on 29 November 1854. There were a dozen principle speakers (including Kennedy) who addressed the meeting.[9]

On the morning of 30 November 1854, at the direction of the Ballarat Reform League, George Black and Thomas Kennedy (who were described in the press as “prominent agitators”) left Ballarat and travelled to Creswick’s Creek (in modern times, known simply as Creswick), to seek support from the miners there. Various other delegates of the League were sent to other areas. At an impromptu meeting of the Creswick diggers, a motion was moved by Black, and seconded by Kennedy, for the miners to destroy their licences (which many did):[10]

“That this meeting expresses its sympathy with the step taken by the inhabitants of Ballaarat to obtain the release of their fellow-diggers, McIntyre, Fletcher, and Westerby, from an unjust imprisonment, as well as with the movement made yesterday against the Gold Commission, by the destruction of the diggers’ licenses; and pledges itself to co-operate with them in their efforts to place the management of the gold fields on a just and firm basis, and to free it from the charge of dishonour and corruption.”

Later on in the day of 30 November 1854, at Ballarat, the police carried out yet another “digger hunt” (it was to be the last one), demanding to see licences and bullying the miners. Clay and rocks were thrown at the police, the army was called in, soldiers fired at civilians, and some diggers were arrested. The diggers from the Eureka area rolled up, included Peter Lalor, the Eureka Flag was raised on Bakery Hill, and a mass meeting was held, at which Lalor was elected commander. A message was sent to the League delegates at Creswick, detailing what had occurred that day. Hundreds of Creswick miners agreed to assist the diggers of Ballarat, and so George Black and Thomas Kennedy began the trek back to Ballarat from Creswick, accompanied by about 300 to 400 of their Creswick allies. Black and Kennedy brought the Creswick contingent to the Ballarat diggings, but a lack of leadership, ability, experience, or resources amongst the leading Ballarat rebels meant that the newly-arrived miners were lacking in lodgings, which no doubt left them feeling dispirited, and they eventually left the field of Eureka.[11]

The Ballarat Star told the story thus:[12]

“When the messenger arrived at Creswick he gave the letter to Mr Black, and he read it to a large meeting he was addressing. It was immediately determined to render the required assistance; and a large body of men, headed by Kennedy, started for Ballarat, taking the direct way through the ranges. Kennedy was armed with a sword, and some of those who accompanied him from Creswick give an extraordinary account of how he flourished the sword about his head and speechified to his followers during a violent thunderstorm that happened that night. The Creswick contingent gradually dwindled away as they had but indifferent accommodation, and the majority of those who still remained left for home on the evening before the capture of the Stockade.”

Despite Kennedy’s prominent involvement in the miners’ cause, Raffaello Carboni (who was a translator for the Eureka diggers, and one of the rebel leaders) did not have a favourable opinion of him. In his book about the Ballarat rebellion, The Eureka Stockade (1855), Carboni wrote:[13]

“Thomas Kennedy, was naturally enough the lion of the day. A thick head, bold, but bald, the consequence perhaps not of his dissipation; but of his worry in by gone days. His merit consists in the possession of the chartist slang; hence his cleverness in spinning, a yarn never to the purpose, but blathered with long phrases and bubbling with cant. He took up the cause of the diggers, not so much for the evaporation of his gaseous heroism, as eternally to hammer on the unfortunate death of his country-man Scobie, for the sake of “auld lang syne.”

When pressed by the example of others to burn his license, at the subsequent monster meeting, he had none to burn, because he had a wife and four children dependent on him for support, and therefore I do not know what to say further.”

Carboni not only had it in for Kennedy, but for others as well. In his book, he expressed approval of the diggers’ organisation, but he made sure to exclude some of the leading figures of the Ballarat rebels (in the following passage, the square brackets are in the original):[14]

“We salute the League [but not the trio, Vern, Kennedy, Humffray], and tender our hopes and prayers for its prosperity [in the shape of a goodly pile of half-crowns].”

According to John Lynch (one of the leaders of the Eureka Rebellion), in his booklet The Story of the Eureka Stockade (1947), even though Thomas Kennedy was prominent in the uproar over the death of Scobie, he was absent from the battle at the Eureka Stockade:[15]

“Out of a goodly number who competed for immortality and believed they would attain it, not more than half a dozen names have survived the wreck of time. The most notorious of these was Thomas Kennedy. In stentorian tones he announced his mission to be nothing less than that of his great exemplar, John Tyler — the political regeneration of mankind. Like another Kubla Khan, who heard from afar ancestral voices declaring war, he heard the ghost of Scobie crying for revenge. His contempt of moral force and preference for strong measures were expressed in these lines, which he loved to recite —

“Moral persuasion is all a humbug;
Nothing convinces like a lick i’ the lug.”

But in spite of this magniloquent rodomontade, when the time came to put his principles into action he was absent from his post; and the story ran that he prudently withdrew from the scene of danger to seek safety in the seclusion of a pipe-clay cross-drive in a blind shaft.”

Due to a lack of accommodation within the Eureka Stockade area, many diggers slept in lodgings outside of the encampment. That may have been why Kennedy was not present during the battle; indeed, it was the reason why hundreds of rebel diggers were not in the stockade at the time of the attack on the morning of 3 December 1854. For example, Raffaello Carboni was not involved in the battle; this was apparently because, when the attack occurred, he was sleeping in his tent, which was located outside of the stockade.[16]

After the fight at the Eureka Stockade, Kennedy fled with George Black (a fellow-miner and Secretary of the Ballarat Reform League), to avoid the wrath of the authorities. They headed off to Geelong, and attempted to disguise themselves, by cutting off their beards. According to one account, Kennedy assured his companion that he knew the best way to go to Geelong, via the Mount Misery ranges, but then became lost. Luckily, that night they came across the encampment of some men from Ballarat, and stayed with them. Afterwards, the two separated; Kennedy ended up going bullock-driving, whilst Black went to hide with some friends in Melbourne.[17]

After the acquittal of all of the arrested miners at the state trials over the Eureka Rebellion, it became safe for all of those involved in the uprising to resume their lives.

In later years, Kennedy had some monetary problems, and he had to seek relief by going to the insolvency court; the causes of his insolvency were reported as “Unsuccessful mining, and pressure of a judgment creditor.” However, he began to make a financial comeback with the sale and distribution of a type of steam thrashing machine, but it was whilst he was travelling to and from some agricultural areas to promote this enterprise that he came a cropper, and had a nasty accident with his horse.[18]

Whilst out riding, in 1859, from Creswick to Kingston, Kennedy fell from his horse, onto his head. He was taken to the Forest Hill Hotel, where he almost immediately died. The doctor who attended to his body said that the cause was a concussion of the brain.[19]

Thomas Kennedy died at the Forest Hill Hotel, Kingston (north of Ballarat, Vic.), on 6 March 1859, at the age of 42.[20]

The Star (Ballarat) said of Kennedy:[21]

“Either by repute or by personal acquaintance, he was known to everybody who knew anything at all about public affairs in this locality, as a miner gifted with much natural powers, and of a warm and energetic temperament” and that he was a man “who, in times of general trouble and disaster, battled hard for the rights of those with whom he lived and labored as one of themselves.”

Thomas Kennedy played a minor role in the Eureka Rebellion, but it was a key role nonetheless. Previously, not much has been written about him; however, along with many other minor players in Australian history, he deserves to have his story told.

Articles about Thomas Kennedy:
Fatal accident [re Thomas Kennedy, 8 March 1859]
An article about the death of Thomas Kennedy, published in the “Local and general news” section of The Star (Ballarat, Vic.), 8 March 1859.

Mining [re Thomas Kennedy, 9 March 1859]
An obituary, regarding Thomas Kennedy, published in the “Mining” section of The Star (Ballarat, Vic.), 9 March 1859.

[The Ballaarat Times announces] [re Thomas Kennedy, 9 March 1859]
An untitled article, regarding the death of Thomas Kennedy, published in the “The news of the day” section in The Age (Melbourne, Vic.), 9 March 1859.

Gold-seekers of the Fifties [1 July 1899]
An article, regarding Peter Lalor, and some other leaders of the Eureka Rebellion, published in The Argus (Melbourne, Vic.), 1 July 1899. It mentions the flight of Thomas Kennedy and George Black after the fight at the Eureka Stockade.

References:
[1] “Thomas Kennedy”, Eurekapedia

[2] “James Scobie”, Eurekapedia

[3] “James Scobie”, Eurekapedia

[4] “Ballaarat”, The Argus (Melbourne, Vic.), 23 October 1854, p. 5
“Eureka Timeline”, Eurekapedia

[5] “Ballaarat”, The Argus (Melbourne, Vic.), 23 October 1854, p. 5
“Eureka Hotel”, Eurekapedia

[6] Raffaello Carboni, The Eureka Stockade, Adelaide: Public Library of South Australia, 1962 [facsimile of the 1855 edition], pp. 27 (chapter 18), 37 (chapter 27)
“The Eureka Stockade”, The Ballarat Star (Ballarat, Vic.), 4 March 1870, p. 3
“Eureka Hotel”, Eurekapedia
“Eureka Timeline”, Eurekapedia

[7] “Renewing their youth”, The Ballarat Star (Ballarat, Vic.), 22 September 1888, p. 1 of the Supplement (5th page of that issue)
“James Bentley”, Eurekapedia

[8] Raffaello Carboni, The Eureka Stockade, Adelaide: Public Library of South Australia, 1962 [facsimile of the 1855 edition], p. 29
“James Lord”, Eurekapedia
“Johannes Gregorius”, Eurekapedia

[9] “Ballarat”, The Geelong Advertiser and Intelligencer (Geelong, Vic.), 1 December 1854, p. 4 [report re the meeting of 29 November 1854]

[10] “Ballaarat”, The Argus (Melbourne, Vic.), 8 December 1854, p. 5 [“prominent agitators”]
“The Ballarat riots”, The Courier (Hobart Town, Tas.), 8 December 1854, pp. 2-3
G. Black, “The Eureka Stockade”, The Age (Melbourne, Vic.), 31 December 1855, p. 7
“The Eureka Stockade”, The Ballarat Star (Ballarat, Vic.), 4 March 1870, p. 3

[11] Raffaello Carboni, The Eureka Stockade, Adelaide: Public Library of South Australia, 1962 [facsimile of the 1855 edition], p. 58 [300-400 Creswick diggers]
“The Eureka Stockade”, The Ballarat Star (Ballarat, Vic.), 4 March 1870, p. 3

[12] “The Eureka Stockade”, The Ballarat Star (Ballarat, Vic.), 4 March 1870, p. 3

[13] Raffaello Carboni, The Eureka Stockade, Adelaide: Public Library of South Australia, 1962 [facsimile of the 1855 edition], p. 20

[14] Raffaello Carboni, The Eureka Stockade, Adelaide: Public Library of South Australia, 1962 [facsimile of the 1855 edition], p. 33

[15] John Lynch, The Story of the Eureka Stockade, Melbourne: Australian Catholic Truth Society, [1947], p. 11

[16] Raffaello Carboni, The Eureka Stockade, Adelaide: Public Library of South Australia, 1962 [facsimile of the 1855 edition], pp. 61 (chapter 48), 71 (chapter 56)

[17] “The Eureka Stockade”, The Ballarat Star (Ballarat, Vic.), 4 March 1870, p. 3 [lost]
“Gold-seekers of the Fifties”, The Argus (Melbourne, Vic.), 1 July 1899, p. 4

[18] “Mining”, The Star (Ballarat, Vic.), 9 March 1859, p. 2
“Insolvent Court”, The Age (Melbourne, Vic.), 23 December 1858, p. 6
“New insolvents”, The Star (Ballarat, Vic.), 24 December 1858, p. 3
“In the Insolvent Estate of Thomas Kennedy, of Ballaarat, in the Colony of Victoria, Miner” (legal advertisement), The Age (Melbourne, Vic.), 15 January 1859, p. 3

[19] “Fatal accident”, The Star (Ballarat, Vic.), 8 March 1859, p. 3
“[The Ballaarat Times announces]” (untitled article), The Age (Melbourne, Vic.), 9 March 1859, p. 5
“Mining”, The Star (Ballarat, Vic.), 9 March 1859, p. 2

[20] “Fatal accident”, The Star (Ballarat, Vic.), 8 March 1859, p. 3
“Mining”, The Star (Ballarat, Vic.), 9 March 1859, p. 2
Note: No listing was found for him in the Victorian Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages as “Thomas Kennedy”, “Thos. Kennedy”, or any similar name (as at 6 March 2023, the online records give only 15 entries for deaths of people with the surname of Kennedy in 1859).
See: “Search your family history”, Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Victoria

[21] “Mining”, The Star (Ballarat, Vic.), 9 March 1859, p. 2