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Extract

Title
Lynch Law
Description

Early in 1852, a reporter for the Geelong Advertiser commented on talk of ‘lynch law’ to check growing crime on the Victorian diggings:

Date
8 February 1852
Published Source
Quaife, G.R. (ed.), Gold and colonial society, 1851-1870, Cassell Australia, 1975. Details

Versions

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    Type
    Transcript
    Source

    Quaife, G.R. (ed.), Gold and colonial society, 1851-1870, Cassell Australia, 1975. Details

Concepts

Related Published Resources

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  • Quaife, G.R. (ed.), Gold and colonial society, 1851-1870, Cassell Australia, 1975. Details

Transcript

I speak from experience and fearlessly say that retiring to rest the same precautions are necessary, and are had recourse to, as though one were in heart of an enemy's country, and feared a midnight onslaught…such a state of things cannot endure long. If the ordinary routine of justice be unequal to the emergency, resort will be had to that which is commensurate to the occasion - that resort is a terrible one - but it is now cooly asked by many, whether it would not be better to establish a Lynch law than to allow thieves impunity ...

Created: 17 March 2006, Last modified: 24 August 2006