The Eureka Legacy: Conserving Core Principles

Abstract

Does the Eureka legacy include a set of core principles about good government? What we often call the Eureka rebellion was part of a political struggle between the residents and rulers over defective governments.The Eureka movement did promote a recognisable theory of self-government, with a distinctive theory of constitutional government worth celebrating. This chapter confirms Eureka's role in shaping, or nurturing Australian democracy, nearly half a century before Federation.