Democracy on the goldfields 1850's
THE EUREKA STOCKADE
The Gold Rush
The Discovery Of Gold.
The diggers worked in dusty, dirty and hot goldfields and often diggers came home with no gold. The lucky and successful came home with lots of big, shiny and smooth gold and they were happy. But Edward Hargraves and his team of prospectors found gold, but Edward Hargraves couldn’t keep his mouth shut and he told the public about profitable gold in Australia and the gold rush exploded in New South Wales, Victoria and the northern territory.
Shops Explode In Australia
In the goldfields, all the shops were far away where people lived, so they had to walk a long way just for damper, mutton or even meat. The shop owners took advantage of this and doubled the usual price of their products. The diggers have to cook and eat the meat as quick as they can or the meat will quickly change to old, rotten, brown and black meat.
Houses In Australia
Many people in the goldfields had poor shelters such as, tattered, old and torn tents and brown, fragile and old bark huts. Some families were able to afford a more stable house made of concrete, wood or even bricks.
But one day the government in those days made a law saying “all gold diggers must have a licence, the licence costs 20 shillings per month” but the diggers didn’t like that so they went on a riot and built a stockade. One December morning at 1854, the troopers (who we call the police today) raided the stockade and that started the Eureka stockade. Many rebel diggers died and the survivors were jailed. The army and the troopers won. But later, to prevent this from happening again, the government took away the licence and the diggers were happy.
The end of the gold rush
The gold rush was a horrible time; it was difficult for men, women and even kids. A good meal for dinner was expensive for them. It was even hard to buy a good shelter and there was a lot of riots and racism. Many people made their fortune and some people are still rich today because they made a lot of money, but some people came too late and their was no gold left and some people didn't make enough money to become rich, so they went home broke and sad, but atleast they made a little bit of money.