Life On The Gold Fields
Activity 3
Life On The Goldfields
Tools
Tools are very important for mining gold. Some tools that are used are a bucket, pick, cradle, shovel, windlass. The bucket is for to keep any rocks, gravel or water, and then the miners use the windlass to carry the buckets.The miners use the pick, so that they can mine the gold out of the rocks, so its easier to just pick up the gold. A cradle is to separate any water, dirt or gravel from the gold. For the miners it is much easier using a cradle because it is easier to find gold flakes in the dirt. A windlass is to carry the buckets of water or gravel etc. On the windlass their is a rope and a handle, and the miners turn the handle, and it will lift the buckets up. A shovel is used for to dig out any dirt or gravel so its easier to dig out the gold. This type of pan does not have a handle
Different Types Of Mining
Two types of mining are Alluvial and Shaft. Alluvial gold is gold found in tiny pieces near the surface of the earth. For Alluvial gold some tools you will need is a shovel, pick, pan or a cradle. To find alluvial gold you will definitely need a cradle or a pan so you can separate any dirt or gravel. You can find shaft gold under the surface of the earth. So you will need a bucket, windlass, cradle and a pick. mining shaft gold is hard work so you would need to work in groups. Shaft gold is about one to ten metres in the ground so you would need your pick. You would need a windlass, because the men would have to go in the ground and dig the gold out.
Life on the Gold Fields
Life on the Gold Fields was very tough. If you want to mine for gold you would have to buy a permit. To buy a permit, it would be 30 shillings, back then it was a lot of money. A permit will expire in one year (You would definitely need to put your name on it.) The main food that the miners would need is mutton, flour and tea. For 2 pounds of mutton it would last for about eight days. In the gold mines the miners would get very thirsty. The miners did not have any fresh water so they would drink tea. For 2 pounds of tea it would last for two weeks. 5 pounds of flour would be enough damper to last for ten days. Two important supplies that the miners need is a blanket and a tent. They would need a blanket to keep nice and warm. The miners would need a tent to live in. They would need a tent so they can sleep in. If they don't have a tent they would get very cold.
Chinese on the Goldfields
The news about the Gold Rush in Australia spread to China around 1850. The Chinese were treated very badly. They were treated badly because of how they looked and how they were acting to everyone. The Chinese miners would often work in groups of 30-100.
In those groups they would usually have/follow a leader. Another reason why the Europeans hated the Chinese is because they were always wasting their water. In 1880 there were 10,000 Chinese men, and there was only less than 100 Chinese women. Most of the Chinese that came to Australia were Buddhist and Taoist. The Chinese thought that it would be good coming to Australia, because they thought it would be good for the future, for their families. Most of the Chinese were sent to Australia by rich merchants, and those merchants paid for the Chinese's trip to Australia.
Women On The Goldfields
There were hardly any women on the Goldfields. There were about 160,000 women on the gold fields. But there was less women than there was men on the goldfields. Most of the women came 1851 to 1860. Their husbands thought that they would have a better life in Australia, because there is a chance they could become rich. Caroline Chisholm also helped the women on the goldfields.