Lalor the hero
After the trials fiasco, and despite the military disaster at Eureka, Lalor was widely regarded as a hero. The fact he fought on until he was shot, if shouting orders at highly confused men counts as "fighting", and ultimately lost his arm helped his image no end. What, after all, is a hero? Brave? A fool? Someone seeking death? A person wanting some benefit from being a hero? Someone who accidentally falls into the role through no or little effort of their own? A footballer who takes a particularly high mark (that's an Australian Rules footballer)?
Whatever. But which of these was Lalor? Well, from our work and from any research you do online or from those wonderful things students now so rarely use in school libraries, books, you can make up your own mind. But us? We go for the last option. Oh, no, that's not right. We don't believe he ever played Australian Rules football. No, it was the option before that we meant, the accidental hero.
Why? Well, Lalor might or might not not have expected violence. And his leadership might or might not have been planned. And even he agreed he was not militarily competent as the miners’ commander-in-chief. And, as it happens, he took no physical part in the fighting.
So, on the surface it appears he did nothing particularly heroic, and in a way that’s right. He was unable to achieve a peaceful resolution, oversaw the organisational, undisciplined mess that was the miners’ effort to achieve reform, and his attempts to instruct his men in battle had no effect at all.
But, when push came to shove, Lalor quickly and effectively stepped up to adopt the leadership at the 30 November meeting when no-one else would, including Vern, at least not on the spur of the moment. Unless, of course, it was planned. Carboni claimed it was him who encouraged Lalor, but Carboni was a notorious self-aggrandiser, so the truth of the matter is not entirely clear.
Anyway, if it was planned, it seems no-one told Vern, who was also a member of the non-Chartist wing of the Ballarat Reform League, and seems to have been genuinely significantly more than peeved when Lalor was made commander-in-chief. We think the idea of these events being planned is probably stuff and nonsense.
After being voted commander-in-chief by the other leaders in the then nascent stockade, Lalor said he could tell Vern was very highly upset. Vern was not one to hide his feelings. Consequently, Lalor wrote that he made an effort to give up the leadership to Vern. However, he was advised that the men wouldn't follow the self-aggrandising Hanoverian.
Finally, when the battle began Lalor made every effort to take command in a way he thought would benefit his men in their fight. It didn’t, but at least he tried. While Carboni chased soldiers and hid up a chimney, Vern seems to have staggered around with his sword doing nothing but being a nuisance, then ran for the bush, and other would-be leaders allegedly hid behind flour bags, Lalor was at or near the front, in the open with his men, until he was shot. Frankly, we would have been up the chimney long before Carboni even thought of it. Or, probably, more likely keeping in step with McGill.
Thus, we feel Lalor was very much an accidental hero. We don’t believe he did any single greatly heroic deed, but all put together, in the way the affair panned out, he tried to do his best. And in this context, we can see how the miners saw that alone as being heroic. At least he appeared to genuinely try, and to genuinely care. But no more so than the men who fought and died, or were wounded, or faced the very real prospect of being hanged.
Whatever. But which of these was Lalor? Well, from our work and from any research you do online or from those wonderful things students now so rarely use in school libraries, books, you can make up your own mind. But us? We go for the last option. Oh, no, that's not right. We don't believe he ever played Australian Rules football. No, it was the option before that we meant, the accidental hero.
Why? Well, Lalor might or might not not have expected violence. And his leadership might or might not have been planned. And even he agreed he was not militarily competent as the miners’ commander-in-chief. And, as it happens, he took no physical part in the fighting.
So, on the surface it appears he did nothing particularly heroic, and in a way that’s right. He was unable to achieve a peaceful resolution, oversaw the organisational, undisciplined mess that was the miners’ effort to achieve reform, and his attempts to instruct his men in battle had no effect at all.
But, when push came to shove, Lalor quickly and effectively stepped up to adopt the leadership at the 30 November meeting when no-one else would, including Vern, at least not on the spur of the moment. Unless, of course, it was planned. Carboni claimed it was him who encouraged Lalor, but Carboni was a notorious self-aggrandiser, so the truth of the matter is not entirely clear.
Anyway, if it was planned, it seems no-one told Vern, who was also a member of the non-Chartist wing of the Ballarat Reform League, and seems to have been genuinely significantly more than peeved when Lalor was made commander-in-chief. We think the idea of these events being planned is probably stuff and nonsense.
After being voted commander-in-chief by the other leaders in the then nascent stockade, Lalor said he could tell Vern was very highly upset. Vern was not one to hide his feelings. Consequently, Lalor wrote that he made an effort to give up the leadership to Vern. However, he was advised that the men wouldn't follow the self-aggrandising Hanoverian.
Finally, when the battle began Lalor made every effort to take command in a way he thought would benefit his men in their fight. It didn’t, but at least he tried. While Carboni chased soldiers and hid up a chimney, Vern seems to have staggered around with his sword doing nothing but being a nuisance, then ran for the bush, and other would-be leaders allegedly hid behind flour bags, Lalor was at or near the front, in the open with his men, until he was shot. Frankly, we would have been up the chimney long before Carboni even thought of it. Or, probably, more likely keeping in step with McGill.
Thus, we feel Lalor was very much an accidental hero. We don’t believe he did any single greatly heroic deed, but all put together, in the way the affair panned out, he tried to do his best. And in this context, we can see how the miners saw that alone as being heroic. At least he appeared to genuinely try, and to genuinely care. But no more so than the men who fought and died, or were wounded, or faced the very real prospect of being hanged.