[Editor: This article about John Lynch was published in the “About people” column in The Age, 22 March 1906.]
[Mr. John Lynch]
Mr. John Lynch, one of the early pioneers of Ballarat and the last of the captains who fought under Peter Lalor at the Eureka Stockade, died on Wednesday at his residence at Smythesdale. Deceased, who was a native of County Clare, was 80 years of age. He was a member of one of the oldest and most influential families in the south of Ireland, and arrived in Victoria in 1852.
He worked as a digger at Bendigo for some time, but the prospects of Ballarat proved more alluring, and he finally set out for the Eureka.
In the fight at the Stockade between the British soldiers and diggers he had command of the pikemen, and was among those who were subsequently arrested for resisting the supremacy of the law, but he was not included among the thirteen insurgents who were conveyed to Melbourne to stand their trial for high treason.
On the conclusion of peace, with the termination of the Stale trials, Mr. Lynch, who was a first class mathematician and classical scholar, adopted the profession of a surveyor, and on his settling in the Smythesdale district he engaged largely in the work of surveying the surrounding goldfields. For nearly fifty years he acted as Government surveyor in the district, and was professionally associated with the Grand Trunk, Reform, and other well known mining properties.
The deceased was a fluent speaker, and on the occasion of public gatherings in connection with the Eureka Stockade, his utterances were always heard with great interest. He was very highly esteemed by all classes. He made his last appearance in public on 3rd December, 1904, on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the Stockade. He was then very feeble, and on this account was only an eye witness of the demonstration.
He was a widower, and leaves a family of four sons and one daughter. His sons are Captain Lynch, chairman of the Country Fire Brigades Board; Dr. Peter Lynch, of Carlton; Dr. Maurice Lynch, and Mr. Arthur Lynch, M.A., M.B., who fought with the Boers against the British in the South African campaign, and was subsequently elected to the British House of Commons by an Irish constituency. Deceased some years ago sustained a severe bereavement by the death of seven of his children from diphtheria within a few days.
The funeral will take place on Thursday, and, at the request of the deceased, it will be of a private character.
Source:
The Age (Melbourne, Vic.), 22 March 1906, page 5
Also published in:
The Advertiser (Adelaide, SA), 22 March 1906, page 4
The Register (Adelaide, SA), 24 March 1906, page 7
[Editor: The original text has been separated into paragraphs.]
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