Sovereign Hill Highlights - Red Coat Soldiers

Not much has be said or promoted about the soldiers at Sovereign Hill, except for their marching to a drum-beat and firing their guns, or more precisely, their muskets. No bullets, of course ...but the officer did ask me to move away from its line of fire. Man! When those guns goes off, my ears were ringing. Wish they warn us about it. Lots of noise and smoke, but it was an impressive show.

After the show, there were photo opportunities with the soldiers and they were favourites of the children, especially the girls; something about men in uniforms.

The British troops in such uniforms were deployed in aid of the Victorian Government, along with the police, against the gold miners at the Eureka Stockade, on the Ballarat goldfields, on 4 December 1854. The night show, "Blood on the Southern Cross" is the dramatic re-enactment of the story of the 1854 Eureka Uprising.

During the colonial period, the troops other functions include constructing fortifications, attending fires and executions and assisting the police in keeping the peace. They provided guards for wrecks, goldfields, colonial treasuries, quarantine stations, government houses and the opening and closing of legislatures and mounted escorts for gold in transit. Betwen 1854 and 1858, almost 80,000kg of gold was escorted out of Ballarat.

Soldiers Marching

Soldiers Firing Their Guns