Peter Lalor: The miner who became a champion of Australian democracy

Peter Lalor was born in Queens County in Ireland in 1827. His family was heavily involved in the struggle for Irish independence.

His father, Patrick Lalor, was a landowner and was the first Catholic elected to the House of Commons after the Catholic Emancipation Act of 1829.

Also, his brothers Richard and James became involved in the Irish independence movement.

Peter studied at Trinity College. Afterwards, he initially sought to make a living as a civil engineer in Ireland.

However, the Great Famine of 1846-7 had left Ireland economically devastated and he found little opportunity to apply his skills.

In 1852, Peter was one of the many hopeful migrants who sailed to Australia during the height of the Victorian Gold Rush.

Once in Australia, Lalor initially worked as a civil engineer but soon got swept up in the Gold Rush.

He joined the throngs of miners in Ballarat, Victoria, seeking fortune and, unbeknownst to him at the time, setting the stage for his role in the historical uprising known as the Eureka Rebellion.

The Eureka Rebellion, which took place in Ballarat, Victoria, in 1854, was a response to the unfair treatment of miners by the colonial authority, particularly the costly and repressive licensing system.

Peter Lalor, working as a miner at the time, found himself thrust into a leadership role when miners decided to resist the government's oppressive laws.

He was elected as the figurehead of the Ballarat Reform League by disgruntled diggers.

The miners were already frustrated by the high cost of mining licenses, which they were compelled to buy whether or not they found gold, and the aggressive methods used by authorities to check for these licenses.

When a Scottish miner was arrested in late 1854 for allegedly murdering a man during a brawl, the miners' dissatisfaction boiled over into open rebellion.

In response, Lalor and other miners began to organize a resistance. They built a wooden barricade, known as the Eureka Stockade, to protect themselves from the authorities.

On December 3, 1854, government forces launched a surprise attack on the stockade.

Despite their preparations, the miners were vastly outnumbered, and the stockade fell within 15 minutes.

At least 22 miners, including Lalor, were injured - Lalor's injuries were so severe that he was smuggled out of the stockade and had his arm amputated.

Peter managed to hide himself in the house of a priest to avoid arrest.

A reward of £200 was offered for his arrest, so he was kept hidden by a schoolteacher named Alicia Dunn while he recovered from his injuries.

Finally, in 1854, Peter heard that the other miners who had been arrested had been found 'not guilty' and set free.

In response, he also came out of hiding.

Following the Eureka Rebellion, Peter Lalor was thrust into the political spotlight as a champion of the working class, and he leveraged this prominence to continue fighting for miners' rights and democratic representation.

In 1855, Lalor was elected unopposed to the Legislative Council for the seat of Ballarat.

He served as the representative of the miners and working-class individuals who had previously been underrepresented in the government.

He was re-elected several times, serving in the Legislative Assembly until his retirement in 1887.

During his political career, Lalor advocated for land reform and was instrumental in passing the Land Act of 1862, which allowed miners and settlers to purchase land that was previously owned by the Crown.

This was a significant achievement, providing many Australians with the opportunity to own land for the first time.

Despite his critical role in the Eureka Rebellion, Lalor's politics were generally moderate.

He pushed for progressive changes but did so within the established political system.

In his later political career, Lalor focused more on national and international issues rather than local ones, which some critics attributed to his ambition to be seen as a statesman.

Peter Lalor died on February 9, 1889.