Until now.

The annual Eureka lecture, one of the most highly anticipated facets of Ballarat's yearly rebellion anniversary celebrations, was last night given by local historian Dr Dorothy Wickham, whose newly released book Women of the Diggings: Ballarat 1854 uncovers the vital role women

played at Eureka, a role Dr Wickham said had been ignored for far too long.

"Women were very active and as conscious politically as their men folk because they were the ones at home trying to feed their families with very little money," she said.

"From that point of view it was vital to them they had a fair go."

The Eureka Stockade, sparked by grievances over heavily priced mining items and the inflated cost of a Miner's Licence, affected women on the home front just as much as it did their mining husbands, Dr Wickham said.

But her book, which details the daily lives of more than a thousand women whose husbands were involved in the rebellion, was the product of 20 years of research, thanks largely to the difficulty in tracing them.

"It was very difficult to find evidence because a lot of women were recorded as Mrs Smith or Mrs Jones or whatever their name may be, without a first name," she said.

"But there are so many wonderful stories and such a wide variety of strong and interesting women.

It has been a privilege to uncover the story of their daily lives and give them a voice."

Eureka Stockade Memorial chairman Frank Williams said Dr Wickham was chosen to give the annual address earlier this year _ placing her alongside previous speakers such as former University of Ballarat Vice-Chancellor Professor Geoffrey Blainey _ to reveal a different aspect

of the stockade.

"The significant contribution of women to Eureka has been an overlooked aspect and it really is quite amazing the contribution they made," he said.

Dr Wickham will be signing copies of her book at Book City Ballarat on Saturday, December 12, between 11.30am and 2.30pm.