Day 2 in the wilderness, neath the southern cross awash with a grey smothering distant blue, leaving holiday adventures wet and dreary. However, “there gold in them thar hills” and the shiny yellow gems glistened like a blazing aztec sun even if the sun was hidden by the looming wet. Ballarat was the destination in today’s whirlwind tour of Victoria and I brushed up on some Australian history with a fresher course of the gold rush era.

To be entirely honest I wasn’t particularly interested in history whether it was Australian or otherwise, at school. Perhaps that is not entirely truthful, I did have some interest although it never endeared me with passion. Anyway, history lessons in high school are all but forgotten and a vague residue remains but today’s visit to the historic town of Ballarat certainly ignited a flame of inquisitiveness about the value of history and especially the history of this land where I came into being.
I have another culture, a Nordic culture which I am even more ignorant of than the one live in and which I ought to acquaint myself with more intimately, however this land is where I rest my head upon in the solitude of night and it is my home. It is the only place I really know, even if my knowledge is ashamedly limited.

The most ironic thing I learnt today was that the mania of the gold rush brought all and sundry to Ballarat and was one of the first tastes of muticulturalism that Australia is perhaps reknowned for. The irony of this, is that I’ve often seen the Eureka Stockade flag of the Southern Cross espoused with nationalism and what is “Australian”. The Southern Cross perhaps used as a prop to endorse a semi white supremist mentality against some persecived threat or to fuel racial intolerance against arabs and muslims. I won’t exactly say it is a bad thing nor will I pretend it is a good thing in regards to the racial tensions in post Cronulla riots but the symbol of the Eureka Stockade was a bond of unity of all nations fighting for freedom and civil liberties under one flag, The Southern Cross. Perhaps more Australians should have refresher courses in its iconic symbols.

The gold rush is a significant era and it brought Australia into global consciousness but it is also marred by what is a global curse, where ever there is prosperity and resources to exploit, it is always the indigenous communities that suffer the ultimate loss. Where the Eureka Stockade brought about reform in social policy and rights for the diggers an opposing system brought with it an oppresssion for the Aborigines. They lost their land while we gained the lands gold and wealth. At the very least the Wathaurong tribe who occupied the region called Ballarat were given a voice in The Eureka Centre, a small token in comparison but unfortunate as it is, the land has well and truly been colonised and taken into the arms of more powerful forces. It is unlikely that the Aborigines are ever going to reclaim what once was there hunting and gathering fields. The almighty dollar has already usurped it as its own.