Attack on the Gipsies

The attack on the gipsies occurred in Redan in March 1908, when the local larrikins pelted their camp with stones.

The details
From the Melbourne Age: "GIPSY CAMP AT BALLARAT. ATTACKED BY LARRIKINS. BALLARAT, Monday. At a late hour on Sunday night a number of larrikins bombarded with stones the gipsy camp in Pleasant-street, South Redan. The occupants of the camp were at the time engaged in Sunday devotions, and on hearing the fusilade the men of the party pursued the larrikins. It is said that shots were fired by the gipsies, but inquiries by the police have failed to substantiate the statement. The police, however, have obtained the names of several of the ringleaders among the larrikins. The gipsy camp, which includes horses, waggons and other rolling stock, is being daily visited by scores of citizens. The callers at the camp also included children anxious to see the nomads, of whom they had read in their story books."

Another gipsy story
Two days later, another story of the gipsies in Redan was featured in newspapers across the nation: GIPSY GIRL AND FARMER'S SON. ROMANTIC STORY FROM BALLARAT. THE FORTUNE TELLER'S PROPHECY. A deal of commotion prevails in the family of a well-known and well-to-do farmer in the Ballarat (Victoria) district owing to a young man in the household falling in love with a gipsy girl forming one of the party of professional strollers at present camped near the cattle yards in the Redan district.

It is a case of love at first sight (says the Melbourne 'Age'), and the farmer and his wife are apprehensive that the smitten youth will, in order to pursue his wooing, join the gipsy party and accompany them to distant parts. The dusky maiden is described as a beautiful creature, excelling in loveliness Maritana, the gipsy girl of the popular opera. She made the acquaintance of the young agriculturist while travelling with her tribe from the seaboard to Ballarat. With other gipsy women she called at the farm house, plying her vocation as a fortune teller. The young man — fortunately, or, perhaps, unfortunately— answered the knock at the door, and he was at once enraptured by the charms of the swarthy visitor. He permitted the girl to tell his fortune, which was to the effect that he would before long wed a lady of foreign birth, who had no fixed place of abode, but who was nevertheless the descendant of a Spanish grandee and had martial blood in her veins. 'I think that's you,' replied the young man. 'Yes, that's me,' chimed in the gipsy maiden, who received her 1s fee, and went her way. The lovesick youth, it is reported, has since 'struck work' on the farm, and has engaged lodgings in Ballarat, so as to be within easy distance of the gipsy camp.

All efforts to induce the young man to return home have proved unavailing. He declares that he will join the gipsies in their 'trek' towards South Australia, where, after disposing of their caravan, they intend taking ship for their native land. The gipsies state they will remain in their camp at Ballarat for another week or 10 days, and meanwhile it is probable that there will be a kind of reproduction of some of the scenes that, figure in the operatic creation of Vincent Wallace. The gipsy girl, however, unlike Maritana in the opera, does not play a ribbon bedecked tamborine, but she is an excellent performer on the guitar, and can also produce lively dance music with a jew's-harp. A well-known officer of police humorously suggests that the picture could be rendered complete by the introduction to the gipsy camp of Paddy O'Farrell of Bungaree, better known as the 'King of the Wallabies,' who, being a man of dramatic ability of a particular order, would well sustain the character of the royal personage depicted in the tuneful opera.

The farmer states that if his young son persists in following the gipsies in their wanderings he will take legal action to detain him, as he is yet a minor, being under 21 years of age. The sisters of the young man have implored him to abandon his "wild goose chase", and to return to his mother, who is greatly grieved at his sudden departure from home. A firm of solicitors has also communicated with the youth, informing him that if he continues obstinate his father "will not remember him when he is making his will." But the old axiom that "love is blind" has again been illustrated in this case, as the erring son whose affections have been reciprocated by the gipsy maiden, has allowed the threat to pass unheeded.