Historical information

A sculpture unveiled on December 3rd 1999, the Anniversary of the Eureka Stockade Rebellion, in Ballarat, Victoria commemorates the Pikeman's Dog . The centerpiece of the sculpture is the bronze Irish Terrier. His stance, is a direct expression of his forlorn anguish, as he sits at the base of a symbolic bronze Pike, his head turned towards the place where once his master stood.
The Pikeman's Dog statue was relocated from inside the Eureka Centre to a more prominent position within the Eureka Stockade Memorial Park. The new memorial was unveiled at a ceremony on December 3, 2014 - the 160th anniversary of the Eureka Stockade. The new memorial consists of 22 large golden stockade posts – representing the number of diggers killed in battle – erected in a triangle behind the statue of Wee Jock, on high ground outside the Museum of Australian Democracy at Eureka.

The triangular shape of the monument is metaphorically symbolic. The V shape can be interpreted as symbolising victory, and the 22 golden posts represent the 22 diggers who were killed.
The Pikeman`s Dog (known as Wee Jock), a little terrier, showed great devotion and bravery at the death of his master at the Eureka Stockade on 3 December 1854. As a result of the attack on the miners by Crown forces, five British soldiers and some thirty miners died. Among the miners lay a Pikeman, mortally wounded with some 15 wounds. Guarding his body throughout the hours it lay unclaimed at the battlefield, and later accompanying it on the death cart as the remaining bodies were transferred to the cemetery, was this small dog. According to reports the dog howled continuously and could not be separated from his master. The dog was awarded the RSPCA`s Purple Cross which Honours exceptional behaviour in serving humans in 1997.

Physical description

Colour photographs of the Pikeman's Dog statue in the Eureka Stockade Memorial Gardens.

Subjects

References