The democratic activism of gold diggers and their allies in the 1850s helped create a broadly-based male democracy Victoria, but exactly what kind of democracy was it? Professor David Goodman expounds upon gold rush era democratic aspirations and democracy in practice.
David Goodman is Professor of History at the University of Melbourne, specialising in US and Australian history. His work includes the award-winning first book, Gold Seeking: Victoria and California in the 1850s (1994). His short article Gold and Democracy appeared in the Victorian Historical Journal in 2024.
