Peter Lalor

Peter Lalor (5 February, 1827 - 9 February, 1889) was one of the key leaders of the Eureka Stockade rebellion, one of Australia's few armed uprisings and sometimes characterised as the "birth of democracy" in Australia.

Lalor was born in Tinakill , Queen's County, Ireland, the son of a landowner and supporter of Home Rule who held a seat in the House of Commons for a time. Trained as a civil engineer at Carlton College and Trinity College, Dublin, he emigrated to Australia in 1852, initially working on the construction of the Melbourne - Geelong railway line but before long joined the gold rush and began mining in the Ovens Valley , and then to Ballarat. Lalor led the miners' opposition to the incompetent and often brutal administration of the mine, and was elected to lead the men of the stockade, in which he was wounded and, ultimately, had his arm amputated. A warrant for Lalor's arrest was initially sought, but he was hidden by supporters until juries had found a number of other miners involved in the stockade not guilty.

The enormous political changes after the Stockade saw Lalor appointed to the Victorian parliament in 1855. In 1856, under the new, more democratic constitution (featuring near-universal male suffrage) Lalor was elected to the Legislative Assembly (lower house) seat of South Grant, which he was to hold for the rest of his life. He was postmaster-general and minister for trade and customs in the ministry of Sir Graham Berry from 1877 to 1879, and chairman of committees. His most effective political post, however, was probably that of Speaker, which he held from 1870 until 1877, where an illness forced his retirement from that position; he was awarded a retiring pension of 4000 pounds. Lalor was offered a knighthood, but refused to accept.

Lalor married Alicia Dunn in 1854, who died in 1887. After her death, Lalor took leave from Parliament to travel to San Francisco. He died in 1889, survived by his son Joeseph.

The northern Melbourne suburb of Lalor is named for him, as is a federal electorate, the Division of Lalor .

External links

• Encyclopedia Britannica article, source for birth dates
• [http://gutenberg.net.au/dictbiog/0-dict-biogL.html Dictionary of Australian Biography entry (a Project Gutenberg resource)