Raffaello Carboni

Raffaello Carboni (15 December 1817 – 24 October 1875) was an Italian writer, composer and interpreter who wrote a book on the Eureka Stockade which he witnessed while living in Australia. Although only a spectator at the Eureka Rebellion he was charged with treason in the Supreme Court of Victoria, but found not guilty of the charge and released on 21 March 1855. Carboni left Australia on 18 January 1856 for Europe. After periods of travelling, he returned to Italy, where he died in Rome in 1875. He was, however, arrested and tried for treason, but later acquitted in March, having been taken ill with dysentery in gaol. In July 1855, Carboni was elected to the local court at Ballarat to adjudicate mining disputes. His book, The Eureka Stockade, the only complete first-hand description and analysis of the causes of the attack on the Eureka Stockade, was published a year after the uprising. Carboni became a naturalised British citizen, but left Australia on 18 January 1856, sailing in the Impératrice Eugénie, and using some of the gold found at Ballarat to pay for his travels. After three years’ travel during which he visited Jerusalem and Bethlehem, he returned to Italy and worked f