- Title
- Lalor, Peter (1827–1889)
- Creator
- Beggs-Sunter, Anne
- Date
- 2009
- Type
- Text; Book chapter
- Identifier
- http://researchonline.federation.edu.au/vital/access/HandleResolver/1959.17/35037
- Identifier
- vital:2187
- Identifier
- ISBN:9781405184649
- Abstract
- Peter Lalor achieved fame as the leader of the gold diggers in their revolt against the British government at the Eureka Stockade, Ballarat, Victoria in 1854. Lalor was born in Ireland in 1827, the youngest of 11 sons of Patrick and Ann Lalor of County Laois, Ireland. His father sat in the House of Commons with Daniel O'Connell in the Reform Parliament, and the family became involved with the movement for repeal of the Act of Union and for land reform in Ireland. The eldest son, James Fintan, became a Young Irelander in 1848 and gave his life for the cause.Such were the family influences on the engineer Peter Lalor when he immigrated to Australia in 1852. By October 1854, Lalor was a gold miner in Ballarat and was drawn into the protest movement against the unjust and corrupt administration of the Ballarat goldfields. On November 30, 1854, Lalor drew on his Irish nationalist heritage and stepped forward to lead the radical arm of the movement on Bakery Hill. Lalor mounted a stump under the Southern Cross flag and called on those present to swear an oath that would ring passionately down the generations:We swear by the Southern Cross to stand truly by each other, And fight to defend our rights and liberties.Lalor's oath inspired men with revolutionary fervor. They marched away to form a defensive stockade on the Eureka Lead and commence collecting arms. [EXTRACT]
- Publisher
- Blackwell
- Relation
- The International Encyclopedia of Revolution and Protest: 1500 to the Present Chapter p.
- Rights
- Copyright Blackwell
- Rights
- This metadata is freely available under a CCO license
- Subject
- Imperial; Postcolonial history; Colonial history; Sociology; Government; Politics; Law; Bibliography; Democracy; Protests; Reform movements; Revolution; Rights
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