The pool of St Branok

"But they wouldn't accept that," said Gervaise. "They had come out for gold and naturally that was what they were going to try for."

"All very well," went on the Captain, "if it is there. But that was what the government was thinking. But if they were finding nothing how could they pay this money to the government? They got together and this Peter Lalor ... he was a sort of leader."

"Like Ben Lansdon," I said.

"Oh, it was before he was around. I'm taking you back ten years or more. All I said was that Ben was another like Lalor. They always come out when the time is ripe. Well, the government sent an order. There was to be an inspection of licenses and all those who hadn't got them would have to leave the goldfields. You can imagine what they said to that!"

"But how could they fight the government?" asked Justin.

"I'll tell you how. Lalor rallied the men. They knew that the officials were coming to inspect licenses, so they built a stockade. You must have heard of the Eureka Stockade. So they were ready and when the government men came for the inspection all those who had licenses for which they had paid much less than was now being asked, threw them out before the stockade and burned them."

"I suppose," said Justin, "the licenses had to be renewed and it was the expensive renewal that they objected to."

"That must have been about it," said the Captain. "Well, you know how these things go. The action of a little group of miners became a great rebellion. The government had to bring in the army. The miners stood firm by the stockade and over it they flew their flag. You'll be seeing that flag a good deal, I should imagine. It's flown on every goldfield in Victoria. It has a blue background showing the stars of the Southern Cross in white. We call it the Eureka Flag."

"Who won?" asked Gervaise.

"The miners were outnumbered, as you can guess ... three to one in fact, so the tale goes. There were seventy men, but they were brave men and they were fighting for what they thought was right. They were quickly subdued but there were losses on both sides."

"So the rising was in vain," said Justin.

"Not really. The government naturally had to show the miners that they couldn't make their own laws, but on the other hand they did not want people rising up like that all over the country. You could say that the men of the Eureka Stockade won in the long run. Before the year was out the law was changed. There was no inspection of licenses. The Victorian government decided that it would dissociate itself from the miners. It was victory really because it was what they had been fighting for. Lalor, the leader of the revolt, went into the Victorian parliament. He is now one of its most respected members. What started all this was your mention of Ben Lansdon. He is just such another Peter Lalor."

"He was a great man," I said.

"He was a leader," went on the Captain. "There are men born to be such."

"And Ben Lansdon is another?"

"I'd say that and no one could say otherwise ... after the way he's taken over Golden Creek."

"Has he found lots of gold?"

"My dear young lady, nobody—not even Ben Lansdon—can find gold where it is not."

Justin put in: "Do you mean to say there is no more gold in Golden Creek?"

"Who can say? When the Rush started men were finding it day after day, but, as I've told you, the supply runs out ... or they are looking in the wrong place. I don't think there have been any big finds in Golden Creek in the last ten years or so."

"And you say it is Ben Lansdon's country," I persisted.

"Well, he's got his men working for him. You see, there are some who would rather work for a weekly wage than have nothing but hope for the odd find. That's men with families mostly. You can't feed a family on hope. So Lansdon ... well, he's not the sort who would want to do hard labor ... and believe me working a mine is just that ... so he gets other people to do it for him."

"But what does he do?"

"He's right at the heart of things. He's at his mine every day. He watches how everything is going. True, there is a yield. But it is just about enough to keep things going. He did have some luck earlier on ... enough to build a house for himself and bring a little of Old Country-type comfort into his life. He's done a lot for the place. He keeps a sort of law and order. Men out there can get a bit rough with each other when day after day they are looking for luck which doesn't come. Somebody said 'Hope deferred makes the heart sick' and that's true enough. Oh yes, Ben's done a lot for Golden Creek. He's the King of the place, that's what. It suits him. He's a born leader, and leaders like to lead ... to rule if you like."

I felt a great longing to see him. Forgotten memories of the times we had spent together came back to me; those occasions which had been overshadowed by the incident of the pool, so that for a long time I had failed to remember all the interesting talks we had had; and how important it had been to me then.