John Basson Humffray (1824-91) migrated to Victoria in 1853, at Ballarat from November. M.L.C. for Ballarat 1855-56; M.L.A. for Ballarat East, 1856-64, 1868-71. Minister for Mines, 1860-61, chairman royal commission on mining, 1862. Bookseller, editor of the short-lived Ballarat Leader, first president Ballarat Mechanics' Institute; passed first-year Law, University of Melbourne, 1860; an Anglican. Ballarat is a city in regional Victoria, Australia, approximately 120 kilometres north-west of Melbourne, with a population of 84,000 people. ... The University of Melbourne, located in Melbourne, in Victoria, is the second oldest university in Australia (the University of Sydney is the oldest). ...
Source: Serle, Geoffrey, The Golden Age: A history of the colony of Victoria 1851-1861, Melbourne, MUP, 1977, p.164.
Professor John Molony, whose work Eureka published in 1984 is considered one of the definitive records of the events leading up to and after the Eureka Stockade, spoke to the gathering and explained why he has been so involved in helping to garner support for the rehabilitation of the grave of JB Humffray.
JohnBassonHumffray was prepared to live by that principle.
JB Humffray's great-grandson, Herbert Humffray discussed the legacy left by his ancestor after the ceremony, standing by the grave which has now been restored thanks to a private fundraising drive by the Eureka Stockade Memorial Association.
Humffray was active in the Reform League upon its foundation, but by late November had sidelined himself amidst distrust from the more aggressive diggers.
Humffray was strongly influenced by Chartist ideas in his youth, but his most obvious characteristic at Eureka was his distaste for physical force, whether used by or against authority.
An African American who hailed from New York, John Joseph was the only US citizen to be tried in the State Treason Trials in February 1855, he was also the first of the thirteen prisoners to be tried for treason and then acquitted over his involvement in the battle at the Eureka Stockade.
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