EUREKA MEMROIES

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 60, Issue 4235, 24 January 1940, Page 5

EUREKA MEMROIES

HOW PETER LALOR,ESCAPED. (From Melbourne Age.) On December 3rd, 1854—nearly 90 years ago—on the slopes of Eureka, Victoria, a battle was fought—a battle trivial in comparison with the epoch making fights of the Old World, but very far reaching in its results.

It ended for ever the system of squatter rule in Australia, and prepared the way foi the dramatic form of government Australia is so justly of to-day.

The “affair” at Eureka lasted only half an hour. Twenty-five diggers were killed. Many more—the exact number is unknown —were wounded; 145 were taken prisoners. The flag of the Southern Cross, the symbol of resistance to tyranny and oppression, was torn down, and the Eureka battle was over. •

Peter Lalor, the “commander in chief of the diggers, lay hidden beneath a heap of slaps. His left arm was shattered by a musket shot, and he was almosi unconscious. While the troops were scouring the battlefield in search of prisoners, they must have passed that pile of slabs a dozen times, but they did not discover the “arch rebel” concealed beneath them.

When the soldiers had departed with their captives to the police camp the diggers returned to bury their dead. The slabs were pulled aside and Lalor was helped from his hiding place. He was placed on a white horse and, wounded, bleeding and weak, he rode away through the bush to the hut of a friend near Mount Warrenheip, where he was given shelter. During the night he overheard a conversation between the man and his wife which made him suspect that they intended to inform the police and so collect the reward offered for his arrest. He slipped out of the hut into the darkness, with his crushed arm swinging uselessly and covered with blood. He made his way through the bush to the tent of his comrade, Stephen Cummins, at the foot of Pennyweight Flat, only a few hundred yards from the scene of the fight. Cummins washed and bandaged his arm as well as he could, but it was dangerous for Lalor to stay there. The police would soon be searching for the leaders of the rebellion, and Cummins’ tent would be one of the first places to be searched. Before it was daylight Cummins went across to the Catholic presbytery at St. Alipius* Church and roused Father Lynch, who told him to bring

Lalor there, as it was not likely that the presbytery would be searched. ARM AMPUTATED. Two hours later police arrived at Cummins’ tent and searched it. Cummins was not at home. He was over at the presbytery, holding .Peter Lalor down on a bed while Dr Doyle and Dr Stewart amputated the arm at the shoulder. The operation was hastily performed, and Lalor was told that the bullet was still in the stump and that, later on, another operation would be necessary to remove it.

The severed arm was thrown down an abandoned shaft, but Father Lynch ordered that a man go down the mine and bring it up and give it Christian burial.

For three days Peter Lalor remained at the presbytery. But he was in deadly peril. There was a tempting reward of £2OO for his capture, and a number of people now knew where he was. He must be smuggled out of Ballarat. But how ?

Michael Carroll, a carrier of goods between Geelong and Ballarat, offered to take him to Geelong and to deliver him safely into the hands of Alicia Mary Dunn, a young school mistress, beloved by Lalor, and to see whom he had sometimes walked ; to Geelong from Ballarat and hack again—s 4 miles each way.

On a dark night, Peter Lalor was helped into the covered bullock waggon and away they went. After they had been travelling toj- a day Lalor left the waggon during the day and walked, keeping well in the bush, but not far from where Carroll was driving his bullocks along the rough track.

The police had a cordon of men out searching every vehicle leaving Ballarat. Several times Carroll’s waggon was stopped and examined, while Peter Lalor looked on from the shelter of the dense timber. ROMANCE. Very early one morning Miss Dunn was awakened by a gentle tapping at her door. With Carroll’s help Peter Lalor got into the little house, where he stayed till the evening. Then he was taken to the Queen’s Head Hotel at South Geelong, the proprietor of which was a sympathiser with the cause of the diggers. Miss Dunn installed herself as nurse; a doctor was called in. the bullet was removed from the stump, and there Peter Lalor remained until the wound was healed. As their eldest daughter, who afterwards became the wife of Dr Lempriere, a well known Melbourne medical man, was born early in 1856, Peter Lalor must have married Alicia

Mary Dunn shortly after he arrived in Geelong, as a hunted

Ten out of the 145 prisoners captured on the slopes of Eureka were taken to Melbourne and tried on a charge of high treason. B. C. Aspin, all, a leading barrister, defended them. He pleadsd that the diggers had only defended themselves* when they were fired on without cause by the troops.

According to British law, the Riot Act should have been read before any shots were fired. On April 1, 1855, the jury brought in a verdict of not guilty. Melbourne went mad with excitement. Bonfires were lighted on all the hills. The freed prisoners were feted at many banquets. The Government was denounced at a score of crowded and enthusiastic public meetings. Protests were made against the limited franchise. The cries of the Chartists were heard all over Melbourne.

On May 5, 1855, a Government land sale was being held in front of the police camp in Ballarat. Brisk bidding came in for the choice blocks of the newly surveyed township. All at once all eyes were turned towards an approaching man. Over six feet high, but his cheeks were sunken, and his left • sleeve was pinned across his breast. Peter Lalor!

The auctioneer went on with the sale. Peter Lalor bid for the next block, and no one raised his offer. A tense silence held the crowd when the auctioneer asked for his name. The police made no attempt to arrest him. They had received instructions that an amnesty had been granted to all who had taken part in the rebellion.

A few months later the diggers of Ballarat were given the right to send representatives to speak for them in the Reform Parliament of 1856. They unanimously selected Peter Lalor to the position.

From that date until his death in 1886 Peter Lalor was a member of the Legislative Assembly, and from 1880 until 1886 he was Speaker in the House.