The 1853 Bendigo Goldfields Petition is 13 metres in length and bound in green silk. Drawn up in mid-1853, the petition was signed by over 5000 diggers on the Victorian goldfields who were angry about the mining licence fees imposed by the government and the system by which they were collected.
Once thought to be lost, the Petition was presented to the State Library of Victoria in 1988 by Melbourne collector, Dr John Chapman. Its discovery is particularly valuable for historians and genealogists investigating the history of social and political events during the gold rushes in Victoria. | 
