Architecture is historical evidence and the stout, self-confident Victorian buildings lining Melbourne’s broad avenues confirm this is a metropolis that has been dynamic for a long time.
In 1851, a chap called Edward Hargraves, who had tried unsuccessfully to make his fortune in the Californian Gold Rush, returned from America convinced that there was gold to be found in Australia. He was right, and the subsequent Australian Gold Rush completely transformed Melbourne into the most exciting city in the British Empire, acquiring the moniker Marvellous Melbourne. The population exploded from about 77,000 in 1851 to more than 540,000 by 1861. Irish people escaping the Famine came in huge numbers. By the late 19th century, one in four Melbournians were Irish-born.
One of those immigrants was Peter Lalor, brother of James Fintan Lalor of the 1848 Young Irelander fame, who led a gold miners’ rebellion in Melbourne in 1854. Known as the Eureka Stockade, the rebellion was Australia’s first tax revolt. As thousands of hopeful miners descended on Melbourne, the government introduced a tax in the form of a gold licence – a kind of pay to play, colonial s
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