The Ballarat Reform League was formed on 11 November 1854 at Ballarat as a protest against the regulation of the gold diggings, specifically the League was formed with the view of abolishing the Miner's Licence and having the miners connected with the fire at the Eureka Hotel released.
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John Basson Humffray, was elected secretary until 30 November 1854. The miners then chose to use physical force rather than moral force to push their claims and elected Peter Lalor as "Commander-in-Chief", who led them to build the Eureka Stockade.
The movement was supported by Henry Seekamp, editor of the Ballarat Times.
Leaders of the Ballarat Reform League
George Black, a well-educated Englishman was editor of the "Digger's Advocate." Through his paper he worked to form the diggers into a cohesive group which would resist oppressive laws. A Welshman, John Basson Humffray, took the conservative view and believed the solution should be gained by constitutional means. Frederic Vern, a Hanoverian, was full of fine talk about righting wrongs and because of the noise he made, was wrongly believed by the Government to be directing the forces. But the man who held the loyalty of the diggers was Peter Lalor, an Irish engineer. Because of his courage and integrity he was a man whom other men would follow loyally. The most picturesque personality among the leaders was an Italian, Raffaello Carboni, and it is to his dynamic and emotional narrative that we owe much of the detail of those bitter days. The sixth man, Timothy Hayes, was an Irishman and a rousing speaker.
Timeline
The Ballarat Reform League used the British Chartist movement's 1853 "Karl Marx" manifesto principles to set their goals. The meeting passed a resolution "that it is the inalienable right of every citizen to have a voice in making the laws he is called on to obey, that taxation without representation is tyranny". The meeting also decided to secede from the United Kingdom if the situation did not improve.
Demands
The demands of the Ballarat Reform League encompassed:
Throughout the following weeks, the League sought to negotiate with Commissioner Rede and Governor Hotham, both on the specific matters relating to Bentley and the men being tried for the burning of the Eureka Hotel, and on the broader issues of abolition of the licence, universal suffrage and democratic representation of the gold fields, and disbanding of the Gold Commission.
Commissioner Rede's response to these disputes was perhaps an ill-judged one, but stemmed from his military background and has been attributed by many historians (most notably Manning Clark) to his belief in his right to exert authority over the "rabble." Rather than hear the grievances, Rede increased the police presence in the gold fields and summoned reinforcements from Melbourne.
On Monday 24 November a delegation from the Ballarat Reform League: John Humffray, George Black and Thomas Kennedy; met with Governor Hotham. They attempted to negotiate with Sir Charles Hotham for the release of the miners arrested after the attack on Eureka Hotel, and presented their list of "demands" for universal suffrage as well as abolition of the miners and storekeepers licenses. The only concession Hotham was willing to make was one digger's representative elected to the Legislative Council. The delegation rejected this, and returned to Ballarat empty handed.