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| ‘There was a large mob assembled just at the corner by the Express
store. I addressed them, and begged them not to go against the law - that
nothing would grieve me more than to have recourse to violence; but as
long as the license fee was the law it was my duty to maintain it, and I
would do so. I then begged of them to go back to their tents and to their
work... There were a great many stones thrown at me, and a good deal of
abusive language. I called on them three times to disperse; they would not
disperse, and I read the Riot Act. I had that with me, written on a large
sheet of paper so that all the world should see, if they could not hear...
When I had read the Riot Act the greater number... went away; a good many
did not... There was one man most abusive and uproarious, and I went up to
him myself and said, "Have you got your license?" He said, "No". "Then," I
said, "I will arrest you"... A large number of people came around me and
rescued him; there were so many I could not hold
him.’ Robert Rede, Minutes of Evidence, Report of the Commission Appointed to Enquire into the Condition of the Gold Fields, p. 309. Victoria. Legislative Council. Votes and Proceedings 1854-5, v.2. |
ImageTitle Robert Rede as a Colonel in the Geelong RiflesArtist Batchelder & O'Neill, photographers |
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