| Battle off Lakes Entrance | |||||||
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| Part of Early Skirmishes & Uprisings against the British Empire | |||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||
 Victorian naval rebel cell
|  United British Colonial Navy
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| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
 Eliza Moore
|  Edward Hargrave
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| Units involved | |||||||
| Free Victorian Fleet
| 2nd Bass Strait Naval Squadron
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| Strength | |||||||
| 6 ships:
Wailing Madan (Flagship) | 11 ships:
HMS Pemberton (Flagship) |
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| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| 146 killed and wounded 1 screw corvette sunk 2 steamships damaged | 195 killed and wounded 3 screw corvette damaged 2 armoured frigates sunk 2 steamships defected |
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The Battle of Lakes Entrance took place on 3 January 1855 in the Bass Strait near Rigby's island, Victoria. Fought between the newly-formed Free Victorian Fleet, a rebel maritime force under Captain Eliza Moore, and the United British Colonial Navy’s 2nd Bass Strait Squadron. Occurring just one month after the Eureka Stockade uprising, it was the first large-scale sea battle of the rebellion.
It was the first sea battle between Colonial and rebels forces. The rebels fired roughly 250 shots during the engagement and sunk two ships and damaged several others but failed to cripple the 2nd Squadron, while the British failed to neutralize the free fleet and lost two steamships to defection. It was a Pyrrhic rebel victory, demonstrating the vulnerability of British authority on Australia’s coasts and proving that a colonial navy, however improvised, could challenge imperial sea power.
This was the first battle lead by Eliza Moore and would lead many more for the rebels and later the new Australian republic. Though not strategically decisive, the engagement inspired the formal creation of the Eurekan Reform Navy in February 1855, legitimizing naval resistance and transforming scattered rebel crews into an organized fighting force.
Background[]
The rebellion in Victoria erupted following the Eureka Stockade victory in December 1854, when gold miners and radical reformers defeated British troops outside Ballarat. That victory electrified dissident movements across the colonies, particularly in the maritime sphere. Many merchant sailors, whalers, and steamship crews—already disaffected by oppressive British trade regulations—defected to the rebel cause.
The coastal town of Lakes Entrance, controlling access to inland rivers and the lucrative fishing trade of Bass Strait, became strategically important in late 1854. Both rebels and loyalists recognized its value as a resupply point for ships and a chokepoint for movement between Sydney, Hobart, and Melbourne.
British authorities, determined to stamp out rebellion at sea before it spread, dispatched the 2nd Bass Strait Squadron, based around the screw corvette HMS Pemberton. Meanwhile, rebel naval defectors under Eliza Moore organised into the Free Victorian Fleet, cobbling together a fighting force from captured or converted whaling vessels and lightly armed steamers.
Prelude[]
In early January 1855, intelligence reached Eliza Moore that the British squadron intended to blockade Bass Strait and prevent rebel shipping from reinforcing uprisings in Victoria. Moore, whose flagship Wailing Madan had already harassed loyalist patrols, decided to intercept the British before they could establish a permanent presence off Lakes Entrance.
The rebels’ plan was risky. Outnumbered nearly two-to-one, the Free Victorian Fleet hoped to use surprise, coastal shallows, and local knowledge to offset British numerical superiority. Moore intended to lure the British into the narrow approaches of Rigby’s Island, where their heavier frigates would struggle to maneuver.
British commanders, by contrast, underestimated the rebels’ determination. They expected the Free Victorian Fleet to scatter at the sight of disciplined firepower. Instead, the rebels advanced boldly, setting the stage for a pitched naval battle.
Rebel and British Plans[]
Rebel Strategy:[]
- Moore sought to cripple the British through shock and attrition.
- Rebel ships concentrated on harassing the enemy’s flanks, targeting vulnerable frigates and attempting to disable command vessels.
- Boarding parties were prepared in case smaller rebel ships could close on isolated British corvettes.
- Moore also gambled on colonial loyalty: rebel agitators aboard British steamships had been encouraging crews to defect if battle broke out.
British Strategy:[]
- The British relied on their superior numbers and heavier ships.
- The plan was to form a battle line, use concentrated broadsides to sink or scatter the rebels, and cut off their escape into the shallow inlets.
- By destroying the rebel fleet in one stroke, the British aimed to secure Bass Strait and crush any maritime component of the rebellion before it spread beyond Victoria.
Both sides misjudged each other—the British overconfident, the rebels overambitious—creating conditions for a bloody, indecisive contest.
Opposing Forces[]
Free Victorian Fleet (Rebels):[]
- Wailing Madan (flagship, converted whaling vessel)
- 1 screw corvette (later sunk during the battle)
- 3 steamships (lightly armed, some crewed by defectors)
- 1 modified leda-class, whaling-ship retrofitted with cannons Commander: Eliza Moore
[]
- HMS Pemberton (flagship screw corvette)
- 4 screw corvettes
- 3 armoured frigates (backbone of the squadron)
- 4 steamships (two later defected mid-battle) Commander: Captain of HMS Pemberton (name disputed in rebel records)
The Engagement[]
The battle began on the morning of 3 January 1855 as the rebel fleet emerged from the shoals off Rigby’s Island, surprising the British squadron patrolling nearby. Moore ordered her ships into a loose crescent formation, forcing the British to spread their line.
For two hours, heavy cannon fire thundered across Bass Strait. Rebel gunners, though poorly trained, used coastal markers for ranging shots. The rebels concentrated fire on the slower British frigates, scoring critical hits. By midday, two armored frigates were ablaze and later sank, their crews rescued by British steamships.
The turning point came when two colonial steamships in the British squadron defected mid-battle, lowering the Union Jack and raising improvised rebel banners. Their defection caused confusion, widening a gap in the British line and enabling Moore’s Wailing Madan to pound HMS Pemberton at close range.
Despite rebel successes, the cost was high. One rebel corvette sank after a devastating broadside, and two steamships were left crippled. By afternoon, both fleets were battered and low on powder. Moore withdrew her remaining ships into the shallow inlets, daring the damaged British vessels to follow. The British declined, fearing further losses.
Aftermath[]
The Battle off Lakes Entrance ended without a decisive victor. The rebels claimed triumph for sinking two frigates and drawing defections, while the British emphasised the destruction of a rebel corvette and the rebels’ withdrawal. In reality, both sides were bloodied and neither controlled the strait by day’s end.
Nevertheless, the psychological impact was profound. For the first time, rebels had stood against the Royal Navy and survived. News of the battle spread rapidly across Victoria and New South Wales, encouraging uprisings in Melbourne and Bendigo. Moore emerged as a celebrated hero, praised in ballads and broadsheets as the “Sea Matron of the South.”
Strategically, the battle delayed British consolidation of Bass Strait, buying the rebels time to organize. On 16 February 1855, inspired by the Lakes Entrance stand, the Provisional Eurekan Parliament authorized the creation of the Eurekan Reform Navy, formalizing the rebel maritime forces.
For the British, the battle was a sobering reminder that colonial unrest could not be contained by sheer weight of arms. Naval supremacy, once unquestioned, was now challenged—an omen of the long, bloody conflict that would consume Australia over the next four years.