The Forgotten Rebels of Eureka by Clare Wright

JUDGES' COMMENTS

This is an elegantly written and carefully researched study of the roles of women on the nineteenth century goldfields, and in the Eureka uprising in particular, which changes and enhances our understanding of the contribution of women to Australian history. In the process, The Forgotten Rebels of Eureka draws an important conclusion: Eureka had a feminist as well as a masculinist context.

Clare Wright recounts the hardships women encountered on their voyages to Australia; explores and explains their political views and activities; and demonstrates that, far from simply acting as proponents of domesticity, women engaged in a wide range of entrepreneurial activities on the goldfields. Most importantly, in showing how they contributed to the Eureka uprising, Wright maps a goldfields culture in which women were agents of social and political change.