Forest Creek Monster Meeting

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This article is part of a series on the
Eureka Rebellion
Eureka Stockade Riot by John Black Henderson, 1854
Timeline Military leaders Siege
Origins Australian gold rushes Chartism Revolutions of 1848 Thomas Hiscock Victorian gold rush
Ideologies Chartism and the Eureka Rebellion Loyalism and the Eureka Rebellion Republicanism and the Eureka Rebellion
The Eureka Rebellion Anti-Gold Licence Association Ballarat Reform League Bendigo Petition Charles Doudiet Charles La Trobe Edward Thonen Eureka Flag Eureka Stockade (fortification) Forest Creek Monster Meeting Fredrick Vern Henry Ross James Scobie John Basson Humffray John King (police officer) John Manning (journalist) Miner's licence Nationalities at the Eureka Stockade Peter Lalor Robert Nickle (British Army officer) Robert William Rede Captain Henry Christopher Wise Sir Charles Hotham Suffolk Regiment William Wright (Australian politician) 40th (the 2nd Somersetshire) Regiment of Foot
High Treason trials Archibald Michie Butler Cole Aspinall Henry Samuel Chapman Henry Seekamp John Joseph (rebel) John Manning (journalist) Raffaello Carboni Sir Redmond Barry William à Beckett William Stawell 1855 Victorian High Treason trials
Legacy Australian nationalism Eureka Jack Mystery Eureka Rebellion in popular culture Eureka Stockade Memorial Park Eureka Stockade Monument Len Fox The Eureka Stockade (1855 novel) William Bramwell Withers
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The Forest Creek Monster Meeting was an organised protest at Forest Creek in Victoria, Australia against the increase in miner's licence fee planned by the colonial government of Victoria. Although it was one of several similar protests held around the colony, it is notable as the largest known mass rally held during the Australian gold rushes.

In December 1851 the government announced that it intended to triple the licence fee from £1 to £3 a month, from 1 January 1852.^[1]

On 15 December 1851, between 14,000 and 20,000 miners gathered for the first mass meeting of diggers, as the miners were known, at Forest Creek. The notices put about the diggings by a person who called himself "A Digger" in advance of the meeting advertised it as a 'Monster Meeting'. The Miners' Flag, also known as the standard of Australian reform, flew at this meeting for the first time. The exact design of this flag is unknown.