British and World Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

The New Zealand Medal awarded to Private P. Flynn, 12th Foot, who is confirmed on the regimental musters as having been detached for service at Ballarat at the time of the contentious attack on the Eureka Stockade in December 1854

New Zealand 1845-66, reverse undated (3101 Pte. P. Flynn, 12 Foot), officially impressed in small capitals, nearly extremely fine £1200-1500

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, The Collection of Medals formed by The Late John Hillard.

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The 1st Battalion, 12th Foot was embarked for Australia in July 1854, where it saw wide and varied service, not least in furnishing convict guards, one batch of “lifers” placed under its care including ‘a Marquess, two Baronets and three who had been in Holy Orders’.

Bizarre though such encounters must have been, it was actually the Battalion’s early employment in the gold fields of Ballarat that led to the most memorable chapter of its sojourn in Australia, namely the assault on the Eureka Stockade in December 1854, where, at the end of the previous month, some 12,000 rebellious “diggers” had assembled in protest against mining licence fees and raised their own flag, “The Southern Cross”. Moreover, under the leadership of an Irishman, Peter Lalor, hundreds of the “diggers” burned their existing licences and swore an oath for the “Victorian Republic”, actions that led to inevitable military intervention.

Thus it was, in the early morning hours of 3 December 1854, that a force comprising 276 military personnel from the 12th and 40th regiments, and some police and civilians, closed the rebels’ stockade from a north-westerly direction at dawn. Which side actually fired the opening shots remains a matter of conjecture, but the outcome of the action was certain, the rebels having no chance against such well-armed adversaries, and within a quick space of time Lalor and his comrades were overwhelmed, taking casualties of 22 killed or died of wounds and 12 further wounded - reports later surfaced of some of these dead being dreadfully mutilated by shot and sword. The Imperial force, under the command of Captain J. W. Thomas, sustained casualties of four killed and 12 wounded, several of the latter from the 12th Foot.

In the event, when Lalor and fellow rebel ringleaders stood trial before an Irish judge in April 1855, all were acquitted, and the contentious mining licence fees were abolished. Meanwhile, their “Southern Cross” flag, bloodied and trampled, had been saved for posterity, and may be found on display in the Ballerat Fine Art Gallery to this day.

Flynn subsequently served in New Zealand between 1863-1864, but as is the case with other such awards, he received an undated Medal.