VA 466 Governor (including Lieutenant Governor 1851-1855 and Governor's Office)Eureka Stockade:Lieutenant Governor Hotham's report of his visit to the Gold Fields of Victoriaofficial tour

VA 466 Governor (including Lieutenant Governor 1851-1855 and Governor's Office)Eureka Stockade:Lieutenant Governor Hotham's report on the burning of the Eureka Hotel on the Ballarat Gold Fieldriot, james scobie, james bentley, john farrell, charles hotham

VA 466 Governor (including Lieutenant Governor 1851-1855 and Governor's Office)Eureka Stockade:Lieutenant Governor Hotham's report on a serious riot and collision at the Ballarat Gold Fieldriot, sedition, charles hotham, robert nickle

VA 466 Governor (including Lieutenant Governor 1851-1855 and Governor's Office)Eureka Stockade:Charles Hotham reporting the result of the trial of two of the Ballaarat rioters, at the Supreme Courttrial

VA 466 Governor (including Lieutenant Governor 1851-1855 and Governor's Office)Eureka Stockade:Lieutenant Governor Hotham comments on the Report of the Commission appointed to enquire into the management of the Gold Fields of Victoriaofficial tour, gold tax, james scobie, charles hotham

In Victoria’s State archives there is a remarkable cache of letters written by George Bateson, who was arrested and convicted of sodomy in late 1860. There are some 200 letters addressed to notable Victorians including the governor, premier, inspector-general of penal establishments, members of parliament, and lawyers. These rare documents provide powerful evidence of homosexual life and the impacts of mid-nineteenth century laws relating to sodomy. The story begins on an evening in November 1860, when 19-year-old William Gardner went to the police to complain that the previous evening, when he was staying at a city hotel with George Bateson, he had been subjected to Bateson’s sexual advances. The police asked Gardner to meet with Bateson again the following evening and when their sexual connection was sufficiently advanced, Gardner should cough twice. He agreed to the plan, and when Gardner coughed the police emerged from a closet in the hallway, catching the two men in the act. Bateson was convicted of sodomy in 1860, but his death sentence was recorded rather than pronounced. In due course the Governor of Victoria commuted the sentence, as was usual for the crime, and instead sentenced Bateson to 15 years’ hard labour, with the first three years to be spent in chains. In 1871, Bateson was released, having spent four years less in prison than his original sentence. During and after his time in prison, Bateson wrote letters to the authorities to assert that he was innocent, falsely accused and the victim of a conspiracy. He demanded that this terrible miscarriage of justice should be reversed and a pardon granted to him. Bateson was not the first man in Victoria to be convicted and sentenced in this way; nor was he the first to petition for redress. But the extent of his letters and the scope of the issues raised in them offer a remarkable insight into homosexual life in the mid-nineteenth century, such as how men might meet each other, and approaches to police and punish homosexual behaviour. Bateson’s letters provide crucial evidence to expand our understanding of Victoria’s queer past. Quoted from "A History of LGBTIQ+ Victoria in 100 Places and Objects" by Graham Willett, Angela Bailey, Timothy W. Jones and Sarah Rood.