THE BOYKETT FAMILY IN AUSTRALIA
descended from THOMAS HEBBERT BOYKETT, born 1806 in London,
died 1857 at Adelaide.

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LOLA MONTEZ

The story of Lola Montez really has nothing to do with the Boyketts, but during her Australian tour in 1855-56, she performed at Ballarat, where William and his descendants lived, and at Bendigo, where your Webmaster is living.

Although condemned during her lifetime as "salacious" and notorious for her affairs, she must have been a remarkable lady.  She was actually Irish, born February 17, 1821 (or in 1818 according to Encyclopedia Britanninca) in Grange, County Sligo, Ireland, but her mother is described as "a Spanish beauty."  In 1843 she "reinvented herself" as Lola Montez, the Spanish dancer.  A short biography is at this site.  There are many others.    Perhaps her most famous affair was as mistress of Ludwig I of Bavaria,which offended the citizens so much that he was forced to abdicate. She was also mistress of Franz Liszt, the composer.

At Bendigo she appeared at the Shamrock Hotel, one of several built on the present site.  It is related that after a performance, the management would sweep up the mud from the miners' boots and pan it.  About £10 worth of gold (worth about $1500 today*) was recovered, and added to the night's takings.  This doesn't quite agree with the biography at zpub, which states:

"When Montez took her famed "spider dance" into the gold fields, it wasn't warmly received. In fact, the miners booed her off the stage. She threatened to horsewhip one newspaper editor who had given her a bad review, and dared another to a duel."

According to another account, she did actually horsewhip an editor down the main street.

She wrote a book of etiquette for ladies, of which I have seen excerpts. She was the source of the phrase "What Lola wants, Lola gets."  It seems appropriate.  But she gave up dancing after a while for her American husband, Patrick Hull - then divorced him because he killed her pet bear because it clawed and bit him.  He had warned her that it would turn vicious as it matured.

She died of pneumonia in New York, on 17 January, 1861, and was buried in Brooklyn.

According to the entry at the Australian Dancing web site, which has a description of her spider dance, a musical comedy based on her time at Ballarat was presented in Melbourne in 1958.

*Source:How Much Is That Worth Today? and converting at the rate of £1 = $2