Patrolling the Goldfields (1849-1853)

The official start of the gold rush in Victoria is usually given as the first discovery of payable gold at Clunes in June 1851. Prior to this, the Native Police were present at a number of locations where gold had been found. The earliest of these assignments was a stint in early 1849 guarding the gold discoveries at Daisy Hill, an outstation located 10 miles west of Deep Creek (one of the branches of the Loddon River).

When the major gold finds at Buninyong, Ballarat, Mt Alexander and Bendigo became public knowledge in 1851, the Native Police were the only effective policing unit Lieutenant-Governor Charles La Trobe had at his disposal to maintain order and represent the government on the goldfields.

The Native Police were assigned to Commissioners of Crown Lands to patrol the goldfields. Their duties included the unpopular tasks of collecting licence fees and checking issued licences. They were also called upon to provide the first armed escorts for the safe transportation of gold from the goldfields to Melbourne. This gold belonged to both private individuals and government officials, as the latter received gold from diggers paying the licence fee.

In 1851 the Port Phillip District separated from the Colony of New South Wales and was renamed the Colony of Victoria. The gold rushes led to the rapid political, social and economic development of the new colony, and the Native Police Corps was drawn into this upheaval. The role of the troopers was transformed and their duties were changed. From being largely responsible for securing the interests of the squatters on the frontiers of the colony, they were now assigned duties to establish law and order on the goldfields. It was also in this period that they gained a more prominent role in public celebrations such as those for the opening of the new Princes Bridge and the separation of the colony from New South Wales.

The colonial artist William Strutt, whose artworks feature in this online exhibition, created his drawings of the Native Police Corps during this period. His visual record of the Native Police captures them in a range of activities that show these new duties, on the goldfields and at civic functions.

Through their duties on the goldfields the Native Police found themselves in one of the central stories of Victoria's development. At the same time, the revolution unleashed by the gold rushes was also a major factor leading to the disbanding of the Native Police by 1853. During the early 1850s, their commander Henry EP Dana struggled to reform the Corps. But ultimately he was unable to overcome the resignations and desertions of his men, prompted by the lure of gold and their dissatisfaction with their new duties. In any case, the reformed Native Police Corps that Dana wanted to create would have given greater emphasis to the recruitment of European troopers and the employment of Aboriginal men only in the capacity of trackers. It was Dana's view in 1852 that there was less need now for Aboriginal men as troopers because the colony had become relatively free from 'outrages' against settlers.

On the pages that follow you will be able to find further information on:

• some of the first duties of the Native Police on the goldfields
• the Native Police participation in collecting licence fees
• the attempts to reform the Native Police prior to their disbanding.