Based on the uprising of gold miners at Ballarat, Victoria, in 1854.
The first major film treatment of the Eureka Rebellion since the 1949 film version, this mini-series drew some of the same criticism as its predecessor. For example, Albert Moran, in his Guide to Australian TV Series, notes that 'Bryan Brown in the central role of Lalor was no more comfortable with his life and appearance than Chips Rafferty had been in the original. Bill Hunter, on the other hand, was much more comfortable in his role as Hayes'.
Employing the same producer, writer, director, and star as the highly successful mini-series A Town Like Alice, Eureka Stockade cost $2.5 million to produce, but managed to secure only reasonable ratings in Sydney and Melbourne, especially compared to the success of A Town Like Alice. It did sell well overseas, including in the United States: Moran notes that the series 'aimed to tap residual memories [including of the 1949 film] in older segments of its audience both in Australia and in Britain where the series was shown on BBC television. For North American audiences, there were Canadian and American characters as well as hints of the connections between Californian and Victorian goldfields'.
