One fact is consistently overlooked:
the miners were NOT WORKERS. they were self-employed entrepeneurs (beloved of george bush & john howard). their core grievance was that the crown was charging them too much for the use of crown land. after the rebellion, they were dealt with leniently by a government that was obviously sympathetic to small business.
this event is dear to the hearts of those who define democracy in terms of business opportunity, ie political conservatives, and this is why a growing number of neo-cons are claiming the eureka incident as a cause of their own. o p