John JosephPrint Page

On an historic day in a dusty cemetery in Victoria, Australia, Ambassador Caroline Kennedy and staff members from the U.S. Consulate General in Melbourne helped bend the arc of the moral universe a little closer toward justice by unveiling a memorial to African American John Joseph, bringing widespread public and media attention to this forgotten figure in history who was much wronged in his lifetime, and mostly forgotten in his death, until now. What began as a bureaucratic email to the consulate almost a decade ago ended in Joseph emerging from the shadows with a permanent, heartfelt tribute to his life and times. 

On Feb. 27, 165 years after his death, Kennedy unveiled a plaque and planted an American Oak tree in dedication to Joseph, a critical figure in the Eureka Stockade miners’ rebellion in 1854 (an event in Australian history akin to the Boston Tea Party) who lay in an unmarked grave in White Hills Cemetery in rural Victoria. Consul General Kathleeen Lively, African-Australian documentarian Santilla Chingaipe, and Kennedy spoke of the almost decade-long effort within the consulate to bring this memorial to fruition; about Joseph’s short life and his critical role in the workers’ uprising and events following; and the egregious discrimination he faced as a Black man both in the United States and in Australia before his death and since. This long overdue recognition finally realized the tireless efforts of the descendants of miners who participated in the Eureka Stockade rebellion and historians. 
Excerpt from State Magazine (USA) July 2023. 

John Joseph was an African American man in his late thirties from the East Coast of the United States when he traveled to Australia. While records of why Joseph left the United States are lost, he would certainly have left severe racial segregation and discrimination, disenfranchisement, and economic oppression. Joseph arrived at the goldfields of Ballarat, Victoria state, in 1854 and sold refreshments or “sly-grog” (alcohol) from a tent near the mines. On Nov. 30, 1854, miners disgruntled with the unjust and corrupt way the colonial government had been administering the goldfields swore allegiance to a new Southern Cross flag and built a stockade at the nearby Eureka mines.

On Dec. 3, 1854, almost 300 troopers and police attacked the stockade. The assault was over in 15 minutes, with at least 22 miners (including one woman) and six soldiers losing their lives. When the stockade was attacked, Joseph was said to be on the front line, an impressive figure confronting the advancing troops with a double-barreled shotgun. As the troops entered the stockade, Joseph reportedly discharged one barrel. Captain Henry Christopher Wise, who was leading the troops, was shot in the knee, requiring that his leg be amputated. He would die three weeks later from infection. It is not clear that it was Joseph’s shot that felled him, but several soldiers thought so and set upon him.
Remarks made at the unveiling ceremony by
Kathleen Lively, US Consul General Melbourne

Note: The birthdate on the plaque appears to be incorrect and does not tally with the remarks by the Consul General. Wiki Tree has him born about 1817. 

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