Michael Lahy - terrorist, farmer, pioneer

I often sit down near Michael Lahy's graveside and talk to him. Louisa and I feel this heroic man summoned us to come to Uamby to restore it to its former glory. Michael Lahy is watching over us as we follow his wishes.
Michael Lahy is buried at Uamby in a cemetery that one owner of the property tried to bulldoze. The current custodians of Uamby are restoring the graveyard.





Michael Lahy's gravestone has stood the test of time since 1859, showing the stoic endurance that allowed him to prosper as a respected member of Colonial society in the central west of New South Wales, after a poor start as a political prisoner transported from his native Ireland. He had taken part in an attack on a police building which burned to the ground.




Volunteers helped clear the Tree of Heaven and get the headstones up off the ground where the salt erodes them. Daniel Kiely and Olivia Kemp helped move the headstones.


Master stonemason Laurie Thomson is overseeing the restoration, assisted by local identities like Michael Malenot. Laurie worked on Australia's new parliament house.




The headstones needed to be refooted.
Michael Lahy came to Australia as a convict. In 1815, at 24 years of age, he was a ringleader in an uprising against the British landlords in County Tipperary, Ireland. Of his 14 fellow conspirators, one was hanged and the rest transported. Lahy arrived on the Surrey 2 in December, 1816. He became the first squire of Uamby and his story will be told in my next blog.