The Ballaarat Reform League Charter 1854

The Charter's most ambitious and visionary goals were described as follows:

Political changes contemplated by the Reform League:

  1. A full and fair representation.
  2. Manhood suffrage.
  3. No property qualification of members for the Legislative Council.
  4. Payment of members.
  5. Short duration of Parliament.

For the full transcript of the Ballarat Reform League Charter, with photos of the original hand-written document, see the four-page section devoted to the Ballarat Reform League Charter on the Public Record Office Victoria (PROV) website:


(Click to see larger view
of the original document)

'The Ballarat Reform League Charter was successfully nominated for the Australian Memory of the World Register in 2004. This four-page handwritten manifesto of democratic principles and demands was presented to Governor Hotham in November 1854.

'Penned by members of the Ballarat Reform League, the charter asserted the aspirations and demands of the Ballarat mining community. It is a central feature of the Eureka story, and more broadly a significant part of the campaign for democratic reform in the Colony of Victoria. The Eureka rebellion is one of the most significant and influential events in Australia's political and social history. The charter shows the connection of the events in Ballarat to Chartist and other international democratic movements of the time.' (PROV)

 

 

'The Ballarat Reform League could be counted a very successful political movement - the envy of its Chartist antecedents in Britain .... its basic demands won in 1855.'
Anne Beggs Sunter, The Ballarat Reform League. A History.


The Ballaarat Reform League and the events of Eureka were central to the development of Australia as an independent democratic country.

There is much to honour