The protest meeting of the 15th December 1851 was given the name because
of the number of diggers attending, estimated at between 12,000 to
20,000 according to various reports. The diggers were protesting
about the doubling of the cost of the licence to dig from 30 shillings
to 3 pounds per month. The proposed increase was rescinded by the Governor
at about the time of the Monster Meeting taking the heat out of the
situation.
This early protest by the diggers was one of the first signs of the
stirring of democracy, the unity and resistance demonstrated here
predating the more celebrated uprisings in Bendigo (Red Ribbon
Rebellion August 1853) and Ballarat (Eureka Stockade December 1854).
The Monster Meeting was held at the Shepherd's Hut, just east of
the junction of Forest and Wattle Creeks at 4pm. on the 15th of December,
1851. The diggers flew a flag to symbolise their cause, and a David
Tulloch drawing of 1851 captured the scene. The flag appears as an
integral part of the Chewton logo, courtesy of Geoff Hocking who
commissioned the painting of the flag by Rhyll Plant and reproduced
it in his book "The
Red Ribbon Rebellion".
A plaque was unveiled by Mt Alexander Shire to celebrate the 150th
Anniversary of the Monster Meeting. This plaque is on the Pyrenees
Highway at the Tourist Information Board, and is very close to the
site of the original Shepherd's Hut and the meeting itself. The plaque
quotes where, driven by enthusiasm that ... "though a single twig
may be bent or broken, a bundle of them tied together yields not nor
breaks" .... the miners resolved ... "to unite for strength" and
... "to act and not to talk". The dispute over Miners' "rights" became
people's rights and led to achievements of the Rally being recognised
as a key step toward the birth of democracy in the State of Victoria.