Henry Seekamp

Henry Seekamp
Lola Montez and Henry Seekamp as published in Melbourne Punch,1856
Born 1829
England
Died 19 January 1864 (1864-01-20) (aged 34)
Clermont, Queensland
Occupation Australian journalist
Known for Seditious libel

Henry Erle Seekamp (1829 - 19 January 1864) was a journalist, owner and editor of the Ballarat Times during the 1854 Eureka Rebellion in Victoria, Australia. The newspaper was fiercely pro-digger, and he was responsible for a series of articles and several editorials that supported the Ballarat Reform League while condemning the government and police harassment of miners. After the Rebellion was put down, he was charged, found guilty of seditious libel, and imprisoned.

Life

Seekamp was born in England, in 1829. After achieving a degree in Bachelor of Arts from an unknown university, and arriving in Victoria in 1852, he had reached the Ballarat goldfields by 1853. He tried prospecting for gold, presumably meeting with some success as he was able to afford a printing press and the not inconsiderable cost of its transport to Ballarat in 1854.[1] During December 1853 he began living with another recent arrival, Irish born actress Clara Maria Duvall. She and two of her three children adopted his surname, but there is no record of a marriage [2]. The Ballarat Times was run in their household, on Bakery Hill, close to Gravel Pits. The newspaper was successful, more land was purchased, and the small building they started with grew into a compound consisting of a printing office, stables, kitchen, separate residence, office and coach-house.[3]

He also served as secretary to the committee that planned to build a hospital for the miners of Ballarat[4]

His fellow rebel, Raffaello Carboni described him as " a short, thick, rare sort of man, of quick and precise movements, sardonic countenance" and that he was "Of a temper that must have cost him some pains to keep under control, he hates humbug and all sort of yabber-yabber".[5]

Writings

Shortly after his appointment, new Governor Sir Charles Hotham, pronounced publicly that 'all power proceeds from the people' and at Ballarat, he told the miners: '...I shall not neglect your interests.' But by September 1854 Seekamp was suggesting that despite protestations of giving the diggers a fair go, Hotham had secretly ordered the police to invigorate the search for unlicensed miners. (Ballarat Times, 30 September 1854)

In increasingly strident editorial tone the four-page weekly broadsheet newspaper criticised the Government and supported the diggers movement. On the Ballarat reform movement Seekamp wrote:

"This league is nothing more or less than the germ of Australian independence. The die is cast, and fate has cast upon the movement its indelible signature. No power on earth can now restrain the united might and headlong strides for freedom of the people of this country ... The League has undertaken a mighty task, fit only for a great people – that of changing the dynasty of the country." (Ballarat Times 18 November 1854)[6]

He was responsible for printing the Ballarat Reform Charter and the many flyers advertising speakers at the "monster meetings" prior to the rebellion. [7]

Arrest and trial

On the day after the massacre at the Eureka Stockade, on 4 December 1854, Governor Hotham declared Martial law in Ballarat[8]. Seekamp was arrested in his office, all copies of the newspaper were confiscated[2], and he was charged with sedition for a series of articles published in the Ballarat Times. Many of these articles were written by George Lang, the son of the prominent Republican and Presbyterian Minister of Sydney - the Reverend John Dunmore Lang. The Chief Justice, Sir William à Beckett, effectively told the jury that it must find Seekamp guilty. He was tried and convicted of seditious libel by a Melbourne jury on 23 January 1855[8] and, after a series of appeals, sentenced to six months imprisonment on 23 March 1855. The thirteen men brought to trial after him were found not guilty, or had their charges dropped[9]. He was released from prison on 28 June 1855, three months early, after public outcry and a petition organised by Clara Seekamp. He was the only man to spend time in prison as a result of actions during the rebellion[4].

During his imprisonment, his wife took over the editorial duties on the newspaper and proved similarly outspoken. He returned to Ballarat after he was released and continued to edit the Ballarat Times. Seekamp was present at the 2nd-anniversary celebrations of the Eureka Stockade that were held in 1856.

Later life

In 1856 Seekamp wrote a scathing review in the Ballarat Times of visiting actress Lola Montez and her erotic Spider Dance. After taunting him onstage, Montez accosted him while he was drinking at a local hotel, chasing and beating him with her riding whip; Seekamp responded in kind, and the pair had to be separated by onlookers.[10][11]. Montez sued him for slander, and he sued her for assault. Both of these claims were dismissed, but Mr. Lewis, solicitor to Montez, personally sued for libel and was awarded 100 pounds[12].This widely publicized, embarrassing incident and the consequent loss of popularity combined with Seekamp's failing health, led to the final sale of the Ballarat Times in October of 1856.[1] Henry Seekamp eventually moved to Brisbane, where he advertised as a french language teacher in 1862.[12] Clara and the children remained in Melbourne. He died of 'natural causes accelerated by intemperance' at the Clermont gold diggings in Queensland on 19 January 1864, at the age of 35[2].

Later in life, Clara Seekamp commented on the importance of her partner: "If Peter Lalor was the sword of the movement, my husband was the pen."[13]

He was inducted into the Melbourne Press Club's Hall of Fame in 2012[14]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Kirkpatrick, Rod (Dec 2004). "Eureka and the editor: A reappraisal 150 years on". Australian Journalism Review. 26 (2): 31–42. ISSN 0810-2686.
  2. 1 2 3 Sunter, Anne Beggs. "Biography - Henry Seekamp". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Retrieved 13 March 2018.
  3. ↑ Wright, Clare (2015). "Speech: Eureka Trials 160th Anniversary Twilight Talk" (PDF). Supreme Court of Victoria. Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 May 2017. Retrieved 7 May 2018.
  4. 1 2 Blainey, Geoffrey. "Henry Seekamp". Melbourne Press Club - Hall Of Fame. Retrieved 21 August 2018.
  5. ↑ Carboni, Raffaello (1855). "LXV. Ecce Homo". The Eureka Stockade (PDF). Melbourne. p. 113.
  6. ↑ "Eureka Stockade:Brief for the Prosecution against Henry Seekamp (Seditious libel)". Public Record Office Victoria. Retrieved 13 March 2018.
  7. ↑ "A Meeting on Bakery Hill poster - Eureka Stories". Culture Victoria. 2016. Retrieved 10 May 2018.
  8. 1 2 "Eureka on Trial:Timeline". Eureka on Trial- Public Record Office, Victoria. 11 December 2002. Archived from the original on 21 February 2003. Retrieved 11 May 2018.
  9. ↑ "Summary table of the State Treason Trials". Eureka on Trial - Public Record Office, Victoria. 6 May 2003. Archived from the original on 16 December 2004. Retrieved 11 May 2018.
  10. ↑ "Henry Seekamp". Charles Allen Du Val - His life and works. Retrieved 13 March 2018.
  11. ↑ "Whipping an Editor". The Age (421). 23 February 1856. p. 3. Retrieved 5 May 2018 – via National Library of Australia.
  12. 1 2 Wright, Clare (2014). Forgotten Rebels of Eureka. Melbourne: In Text. p. 400. ISBN 9781922148407.
  13. ↑ Elkner, Cate. "Seekamp, Henry Erle - Biographical Entry". Electronic Encyclopedia of Gold in Australia. Retrieved 13 March 2018.
  14. ↑ "Melbourne Press Club's Hall of Fame honours significant contributions to journalism". Herald Sun. 9 December 2012. Retrieved 22 August 2018.
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