Peter Lalor

Peter Lalor, Picturesque Atlas of Australasia.

Background

Peter Lalor was born on 05 February 1827 at Tenakill, Queen's County, Ireland. Educated at Carlow College and in Dublin, Lalor became a civil engineer.

James Finton Lalor, the brother of Peter Lalor, became a leader of Irish Confederation and the 'Young Ireland' Movement of 1848.

Peter Lalor died on 09 February 1889 at Richmond, Victoria. He is buried in the Melbourne General Cemetery.

... Dr Lalor, the son of Peter Lalor, observed that he was not an orator, and he believed he had never attempted to make a speech before in his life; but he was the only relative of Peter Lalor there, otherwise he might ask somebody else to make a speech for him. He thought the best thing he could do was to give a few particulars of his father which might be unknown to some present. He was born in Queen’s County on the 5th February, 1827, the youngest and smallest of 18 children - 17 boys and one girl. He came to Australia in 1852 with his brother Richard, who went back about a month afterwards and became M.P. for Queen’s County. Peter Lalor had told the speaker that he was very proud of being called a miner, and said he would rather be called that than K.C.M.G. or any other title. He always said miners were the leaders of civilisation. Dr Lalor agreed with that. Take the Phoenecians, for example. With a population no bigger than that of an English county, they ruled the world at one time simply because they were miners. They went to Cornwall, where the best miners in the world come from, and got tin and lead. The Cornish were crossed with the Phoenicians, and he was sure were proud of it. It was Plutarch, he believed, who said wherever there was gold mines there was civilisation. He thanked the gathering in the name of his deceased father the reception given him. ...

Goldfields Involvement, 1854

Peter Lalor Statue, Sturt Street, Ballarat, c1954.

Lalor was a witness examined during the report of the Board appointed to enquire into circumstances connected with the riot at Ballarat, and the burning of James Bentley's Eureka Hotel.

He was the leader of the Eureka Stockade uprising, escaping authorities after the battle. Policeman Michael Lawler is thought to have shot Lalor in the shoulder, which resulted in the amputation of the arm.

Post 1854 Experiences

Peter Lalor became Speaker of the Victorian Legislative Assembly.

Obituary

A week back when I visited Church-street, Richmond, Mr. Peter Lalor lay sick unto death. He had been long suffering from an incurable disease. He had received the last rites of his church, and was calmly awaiting his end. I consider it one of the greatest compliments paid to me as a journalist in Australia when I was told that the ex-Speaker would be glad to see me, although he or his medical attendants, Doctors Williams and Robertson, forbade any other visitors. Sitting in an arm chair at the study window looking out from the height of Richmond Hill over pleasant South Yarra and Toorak, Mr. Peter Lalor, courtly and gracious in his greeting did not look like one of those who are morituri. Yet science had given the fiat; it was only a question of a few days, it might be of a few hours. After we shook hands Mr. Lalor's first thought was hospitality, and his attendant, an ex-valet of Sir Henry Loch's was ordered to ring the bell for refreshments before we com menced our afternoon's conversation, in which, if I did not obtain the complete "story of his life from year to year," I was enlightened on many points of which the history of the day has been silent. Of the Eureka Stockade affair my previous authority had been Withers' admirable " History of Ballarat," given to me during my stay in that city six years ago by Mr James Oddie, who also told me much of interest in regard to the early days of the gold diggings, with which Mr. PeterLalor's name will be ever connected. This interview, which I first sought was by the wish not only of the ex Speaker, but of his devoted son, Dr. Joseph Lalor. Father had done his duty and the church had said "post hominem vermis; post vermem falor et horror sic in non hominem vertitur omnis homo. I, as a journalist, surely may be allowed to testify that "the good may not be interred with his bones."

Mr. Peter Lalor was 62 years of age, having been born in 1827. He was a student at 'Trinity College, Dublin, and a civil engineer when he emigrated to Melbourne to try his luck on the gold diggings. His first essay was on the Ovens goldfield, but in February, 1853, he migrated to Ballarat. Here Mr. Peter Lalor and his "mates" took up some valuable claims, from which they hoped to be soon able to realise sufficient to permit them to return with a competence to their native homes. Mr. Duncan Gillies was also working in an adjoining claim. But the oppression of the central authorities, and the petty insolence and tyranny and corruption of the camp officials exasperated the miners until they were driven into open revolt, and the flag of the Southern Cross was raised, Peter Lalor being appointed commander in chief of the insurgent diggers. The verdict of posterity is that the malcontents were justified in their endeavors to obtain redress for their grievance, if not in the manner by which they sought it. I remember when one of her Majesty's pro-consuls from a neighboring colony was shown the site of the Eureka Stockade he paralysed some of the attendant officials by saying, "That was altogether the most infamous piece of business ever done in the name of the Queen." Peter Lalor and his followers suffered, but their blood was not shed in vain. Redress for their grievances quickly followed the abortive attempt at insurrection. As the old hero said: "'Tis better as it is now. We not only got all we fought for, but a little more. It is sweet and pleasant to die for one's country or in defence of one's liberty, but it is sweeter to live and see the principles for which you have risked your life triumphant. I can look back calmly on those days. We were driven to do what we did by petty malice and spite. But the officials were not all alike. We recognised Mr. Panton as a man." In his closing days Mr. Peter Lalor saw the reign of a peaceful democracy here in Victoria. With the full knowledge that his end was near, he passed calmly and quietly away, as became a true gentleman, regretting nothing in his career in the country of his adoption. Mr. Peter Lalor had been fortified by the last rites of the Catholic Church, of which he was a member. But, as he told me during his career in this colony he was never identified, like other prominent politicians, as a supporter of the policy of that church, and he will be remembered here after as a thorough democrat and protectionist, and advocate of the rights of the people.

See also

http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/lalor-peter-3980/text6289

Further Reading

Corfield, J.,Wickham, D., & Gervasoni, C. The Eureka Encyclopaedia, Ballarat Heritage Services, 2004.

External links

http://www.ballaratgenealogy.org.au/art/lalor/tenakill.htm

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