The Ballad of Eureka (Helen G. Palmer)

The Eureka Stockade is one of the great Australian stories, the legendary battle of the Australian gold miners (mostly Irish) rebelling against the licence fee imposed on them. They were fighting for their rights, though not of course for the rights of the Chinese miners or the aboriginals whose land they were tearing up.

This song is sometimes thought to be a traditional Australian ballad, as is "The Ballad of 1891", but both songs were actually carefully composed modern songs, written in 1951 by Helen Palmer, with Doreen Jacobs, who wrote the music.

You can read a fascinating account of the writing of these songs by Helen Palmer herself.

Here is my performance and the lyrics are here.