When researching for a project on the subject of responsible government,¹ it occurred to me how much we take for granted our right to vote -- the concept of 'one man, one vote' seems such a basic civil right that it is hard to fathom a time when this wasn't so. But what really struck me too was the importance of land ownership in the past and its place in the evolution of our democratic rights. It is still the great Australian dream to own a house with a bit of dirt around it, but how would we feel today if it was an essential requisite for citizenship? Perhaps, like me, most people today would also be surprised to find that there were property conditions attached to electoral representation until 1950.

To look at the way in which our electoral system evolved we need to go back about 150 years, to 1851 to be exact, when Victoria achieved formal separation from New South Wales. The new colony was first governed by a Legislative Council and at this time ten of the Council's thirty members were nominated by the Lieutenant Governor, Charles La Trobe, and the rest were elected. Gender (no surprise there) and property qualifications imposed restrictions on who could stand as a candidate and who could vote for the Legislative Councillors. Soon, however, a select committee was appointed to draw up a constitution for the new colony. While this was happening Victoria was in the midst of the gold rush and it is fairly safe to say that the majority of the population was more concerned with striking it rich than worrying about constitutional matters.

However, conditions for miners on the Victorian goldfields were far from satisfactory. Services were abysmal in mining areas, yet mining licence fees could be as high as 30 shillings a month. This should be compared with the situation of squatters who could hold around 20 square miles of land for an annual tax of 10 pounds.² The goldfields were administered by government-appointed commissioners who were charged with maintaining order and collecting licence fees. This was often carried out in a brutal and arbitrary manner. Many miners had brought with them the egalitarian ideas of the British Chartist movement, so it is not surprising that they agitated for better treatment. The Ballarat Reform League, organised under the leadership of Peter Lalor, was one such group which was not happy with their lot. The League believed that taxation without representation was tyranny and their aim was for universal manhood suffrage with elections by secret ballot. They also opposed property qualifications for members of parliament and believed that such members should be paid. These ideas were a bit before their time, although fortunately not totally beyond consideration.

Ballarat Reform League Charter, November 1854.
PROV, VPRS 4066/P0 Inward Correspondence, Unit 1, Item no. 69

As we know, things came to a head between miners and administrators at the Ballarat diggings in December 1854, resulting in the famous Eureka rebellion. In the aftermath of this tragedy a Royal Commission examined conditions on the goldfields and several changes were made.³ The most significant change in terms of democracy was the abolition of the miners' licence fee and the introduction of a Miner's Right (renewable annually for 1 pound) which was recognised as a qualification for voting. In addition, twelve new seats were added to the Legislative Council, eight of these being for representatives of the goldfields.

On the face of it this seems to have been an amazing victory for miners, to have achieved the right to vote without owning any land, but in reality miners needed to have been in possession of a licence 'for the space of twelve months or upwards' and to have occupied or mined in a particular area for a least six months prior to electoral registration.⁴ It should also be remembered that registration was not just a matter of going to your local Post Office. Consequently, the limitations placed on the miners' electoral qualification, along with the practice of plural voting for those who owned land in several electorates, effectively diminished the power of the miners and small landowners.