THE REVOLT OF THE DIGGERS 43 



stained track as they staggered along. While the soldiers were 

 forming up with their prisoners, the police set fire to all the tents 

 within the stockade, and afterwards to many others that were far 

 outside the barriers Women and children were ordered out to see 

 their sole shelter and all its contents consumed before their eyes, 

 under the pretence that some of the insurgents might be concealed 

 there. The work of destruction having been completed, and the 

 area of the stockade a waste of smouldering embers and blood- 

 stained corpses, the police followed the military to the Camp, with a 

 few additional prisoners, bearing with them the flag of the insurgents, 

 which had fluttered through such a brief and inglorious existence. 

 The official report to the Government from Captain Thomas 

 says : " The number of insurgents killed is estimated at from thirty- 

 five to forty, and many of those brought in wounded afterwards 

 died ". This appears to be an exaggeration. Sixteen bodies were 

 brought in for interment, and eight others were known to have 

 succumbed to their wounds. Probably some died from their wounds 

 while in hiding, their fate being concealed by their protectors lest 

 it should involve them in trouble. Of the military, Captain Wise 

 and four private soldiers lost their lives, and a dozen were more or 

 less seriously wounded. The police appear to have escaped any 

 serious casualties. Unhappily, among the killed and wounded 

 were several non-combatants. At the inquest held on the body of 

 one of these victims, named Henry Powell, the coroner allowed the 

 jury to add to their verdict the following startling rider : " The jury 

 view with extreme horror the brutal conduct of the police in firing 

 at and cutting down unarmed and innocent persons of both sexes 

 at a distance from the scene of disturbance on 3rd December, 1854 ". 

 It might be assumed that so terrible a charge was the outcome 

 of local irritation or personal animosity. But it was undoubtedly 

 believed in by the press of the colony generally. The Argus more 

 than once speaks of the "reckless brutality" and "callous in- 

 difference" of the troopers. The Gedong Advertiser denounces 

 the " massacres " of which they were guilty. What the Ballaarat 

 Times says about them is almost unquotable, but then its editor, 

 Seekamp, was one of the proscribed. The prevailing opinion 

 certainly received confirmation in the report of the Board sub- 



