How Did His
Actions Help Change
Australia Today?

In 1854 the miners working in the goldfields became very
angry about the cost of a gold mining license. In Ballarat the miners started the Ballarat Reform League and demanded changes to the laws. The government would not accept the demands, and the police increased the violent hunts for miners without licenses. Peter Lalor became leader of the reform League on November 30 1854 and made the miners promise to protect their rights and liberties. He told the miners to get weapons and be ready in case they were attacked. They built a small fort or stockade at Eureka in east Ballarat. This fort, the Eureka Stockade was attacked by 276 government soldiers at dawn on December 3, 1854[1]. Twenty-two miners were killed, and Lalor was badly hurt. Friends hid him from the soldiers and he was able to get away. His left arm had to be cut off.