Emancipated wenches in gaudy jewellery: the liberating bling of the goldfields
- Written by Clare Wright, Associate Professor in History, La Trobe University

Her name was Lola. She was a showgirl.
But that’s not all she was. Not by a long stretch.

Lola Montez was born in Limerick, Ireland in 1818, and christened Maria Eliza Delores Rosanna Gilbert. She changed her name to Lola when, at 18, she fled an...