Raffaello Carboni wrote that, “Foreigners From All Quarters Of The Globe And Of The Diggings, Came To Inquire From Me What Was The Matter Concerning So Much Excitement As Then Prevailed On Ballaarat. I translated for them the news from our ‘Ballaarat Times’, or from the ‘Geelong Advertiser’s’ clever correspondent.” Raffaello was a translator for non-English speaking residents of the gold diggings during the Eureka Affair of 1854. His personal letters after Eureka to William Henry Archer and Father Patrick Smythe in December 1854 (after the battle) are partly in English, partly Italian, with asides in the margins where he uses some French and German language. Raffaello was multilingual, as probably were others too, amongst the European diggers on the goldfields. Australia as early as the momentous gold rushes of the 1850s was a truly multicultural country. Over 30 different nationalities could be found and heard on the Eureka Diggings at the time of the rebellion. This presentation is about people of different nationalities who were on the Victorian goldfields between 1851 and 1871. Although it concentrates on the central goldfields of Victoria, it applies equally to other goldfields and locations where non-English speakers gathered.

Presenter:
Dr Dorothy Wickham

Dorothy Wickham is a director of a boutique publishing house BHS Publishing. She is a professional historian, educator, and author who is passionate about innovation, digitization, exploring new approaches, and making history widely available to a greater audience. Her Fellowship at Griffith University involved researching the Artemisia, and she became interested in learning more about the people on that vessel that landed in Moreton Bay in December 1848. She has recently co-authored Rescue Refuge & Reform: Voices of Suffering and Survival with Frank Golding, a significant publication about the lesser-known institutions in and around the location of Ballarat, Victoria, and the forgotten women and children that used them. Dorothy has written, designed, published, and authored many books and book chapters about a diverse range of themes and topics including women and feminist histories. She has been awarded many accolades for her service to the community and history and through her writing such as The Eureka Encyclopedia, overall winner of the 2005 Victorian Community History Awards, and Women of the Diggings: Ballarat 1854, commended in 2010. She has overseen many diverse projects and collaborative efforts, including consultancies with local councils, historical groups, educational research projects, and universities.

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