To draw together 15,000 voices when the entire population was barely 30,000, and achieve it by nailing a simple message to trees throughout the goldfield in 1851 was a great achievement. 

It also indicates a fair depth of feeling. 

With today’s regional population, modern transport and instant communication, what would be an equivalent number to the 1851 Monster Meeting? 

Despite these obvious disparities, we have Greg Bickley (Monday) and Doug Grey (Wednesday) linking the carbon price resistance to the protests of the 1850s. 

Perhaps the huge number they’d need to recruit to justify their comparison is somewhat reduced because a large and growing body of people appreciate the reason for the carbon price is to address climate change and leave a reasonable legacy for future generations. 

Perhaps the number is also reduced by the knowledge the carbon price is only paid by the biggest polluters and the small flow-on effects from that are being compensated. 

And perhaps the numbers are further reduced because the hysterical scare-campaign against the carbon price is now widely recognised as just that.

A hundred-dollar roast? Really? The 1850s protesters had a universal grievance and used a bundle of sticks to signify their unity in opposition. From my reading, they weren’t driven to this position by a scaremongering few.

 But we all like to be onto a winner. And we can be – why not come to Castlemaine’s Theatre Royal on December 14, when the Monster Meeting CD and website will be launched? 

John Ellis,

Golden Point