Goldfields: Women & Children
By Patrick
Introduction
Life was on the goldfields was hard foe women to control. Only 95% of the women were married. In 1842 there were 4023 women. Compare to 12660 men on the goldfields.
Educaton
Lots of parents were unable to teach their kids because many of the parents came from non English countries or they were to busy digging for gold. Parents moved around alot for better goldfield. This means children had to move to alot of different schools. Goldfields school started in tents. Some huge tents could even fit a hundred children! To go into the Goldfields school, parents paid a fee for their children to participate in the school.
Roles and responsibilities
Men were digging for gold from the morning to noon. Later then women and their children came to the the goldfields to helpthe men dig. Since there were more men then women, it was a hard life. Women sometimes cooked food for her husband and children. Some people in the goldfields caught whooping cough, measles and much more.
Health
It was a bad quality for women to give birth in the goldfields. When a woman is about to give birth she is assisted by other women. Some women died while giving birth. Like i said, some people can get sicknesses such as measles, whooping cough, and other diseases. There were less docters on the goldfields. Many died on the goldfields because of sicknesses. Most of the children died because of dirty water they had to drink. Many children were burried in the Pennyweight flats children cemetry. More than 200 children died.