'Men of Colour': John Joseph and the Eureka treason trials

Abstract

When the troops of the 40th and 12th Regiments stormed the stockade at Eureka in the early hours of Sunday 3 December 1854, there were, firing back at them, a motley and multicultural collection of Ballarat miners. Most were white European males, but there were among them a few men of African origin. One soldier later said he thought 'There were a good many black men' in the stockade. In the mid-nineteenth century these 'black men' were referred to by many names, but the most common racial epithet was 'men of colour' or, to distinguish them from Asians and other non-White races, 'Black Americans', 'Negroes' or 'niggers'. In Australia at least, such terms described anyone who was 'racially' African, be he from Africa, North America or the Caribbean.