Ballarat: In 1954, the location of monster meetings of miners and the Eureka Stockade.

On December 3 2025, on a roundabout on Bakery Hill in Ballarat, now surrounded by new developments and multinational fast food chains, we hear some of the Eureka Australia Medal Award Speeches, as part of the 171st Anniversary of the Rebellion. 

These are lifetime awards presented by Reclaim the Radical Spirit & Ballarat Regional Trades & Labour Council (BTRLC), and stories from the medalwinners.

Introductory words from:

• Dr Joe Toscano, MC and with Reclaim the Radical Spirit
• Angela McCarthy, Secretary of BRTLC

Medalwinners:

• Dick Ryan, Seamens' Union of Australia - later the MUA;
     'Don't ask what Unions can do you you, but what you can do for the Union'
• Eve Scarfe member of international peace brigades in Central America,
     Medal was awarded in absentia - listen to her life story here
• Vasalia Govender, former HSR with Injured Workers Support Team, 
     On IWST, currently supporting 572 injured workers across Australia,
• Nancy Atkin, lifelong activist
     With peoples' history: Vietnam War, 3CR Community Radio, Trade Union organising,
• Rev. Dr. Robert Stringer, retired Uniting Church Minister
     Activist histories, his own journey into radical politics in the Pacific and campaigns.

Head to www.3cr.org.au/eureka171 for more recordings from this day and to hear from other speakers, including Dr Anne Beggs-Sunter (Historian at Federation University Ballarat), Doug Stewart (longtime unionist BLF/CFMEU, liver transplant survivor) and medalwinner Ian Fullerton (CFMEU member, dedicated local community member & volunteer with the Soup Bus, Ballarat Trades Hall, and more).