Gold fields
Different types of mining
The different types of mining are Alluvial and Shaft mining.Alluvial gold is found in small pieces near the surface of the earth.Shaft mining gold is about one to ten meters to the ground.For shaft mining some tools you will need the are buckets,windlass,cradle,pick,pan and shovel .For Alluvial mining some tools you will need are Cradle,pan,pick and shovel. Some of the tools like a pick and a shovel can be used in both types of gold mining.
Tools used in Gold mining
There are many different types of tools for mining gold here are some of the tools used to mine gold. Pan shake it gently in the river it should separate the the dirt and gravel from the flakes of gold.Cradle the cradle separates dirt,clay and gravel from the pieces of gold that they find.Windlass a windlass is used to lift heavy buckets from the ground.Bucket a bucket is used to keep rocks, gravel,dirt,clay so it is easier for the miners to get the gold. Shovel is used to load all the dirt and rocks into the pan or cradle.Pick the pick is used to break up rocks and dirt from the gold.
Chinese on the goldfields
In 1880’s about 7000 chinese people came to work on the Araluen goldfields in Southern NSW. The lall however took an impact on certain people who did not speak English.The Chinese were very industrious with techniques that were different than how the Europeans. This and how they looked lead to racial comments.The Chinese normally worked in groups of 30 to 100 with 1 leader, with these strategy the Chinese were very successful in finding gold. Then it lead to a conflict between the Chinese and the Europeans the Europeans were upset because the Chinese were finding more gold than them. A serious violent anti-Chinese was demonstrated in the Burragon region in NSW. The Chinese were not treated fairly on the goldfields just because of their physical appearance their success,religion and nationality.
Women on the goldfields
More than 160,00 women came to Victoria between 1851 to 1860. They came to accompany their husbands. The women wanted to come to Australia because they thought Australia offered a better chance for a new life. They were told that the women behaved better than the men. Men would try to take advantage of them because of their gender.Just because they were a different gender women had jobs on the gold field women were successful shopkeepers, entertainers and business women.The imbalance of men and women in the colony lead to Caroline Chisholm to establish and assist for the migration sechum for unmarried women to help the male diggers and miners. Women working on the goldfields might be different but they still had an important part on the work field.The women helped the men in any way they could help they might of not been on the goldfield but they were there.
Life on the goldfields
At first people on the goldfields had to live in tents because of lack of proper shelter. All the shelter they had to be set up far enough from all the rivers and creeks, if not if it rains all the rivers and creeks would flood,all the shelters would be rewend. Eventually when diggers and miners decided to stay and bring their families they started to build huts out of any useful materials they could find. Many of the houses had dirt falls, and a piece of bark for the roof, walls were made out of twigs and sticks. All the houses had to use candles, different lamps and more. Although they did eventually electric light was introduced in 1880s but the light was not a very strong, the light electric light was not available to all until the 20th century. So many people did not have much light. A general store on the street sold things such as picks, shovels, puddling pans butchers by the local landowners. The meat was killed daily, and was hung outside, dishes, spades,mining boots, clothing. Tea, sugar and more items could be paid by gold or cash. Every morning the first man up would stand outside a tent and wake everybody up. Every day for breakfast they would have any left overs from dinner. Life on the goldfield was hard for people who came from different countries because they had to learn the English language so it was hard to communicate with others which lead to fighting. People from all around the world came, the number of people that came to mine for gold was increasing so they soon introduced license in 1835. License cost 30 shillings which was very expensive back in the miners day.Most people on the goldfields thought it was too much money plus license expired every 1 year. Most people on the gold fields lived very tough lives but they did it for family, friends,money just so their family and themselves could live.
URL
2.http://sydney living museums.com.au/events/chinese-goldfields
3..http://ergo.slv.vic.gov.au/explore-history/golden-victoria/life-fields/women-goldfields
4.http://www.goldrushnuggets.com/tyofgomieq.html