The Ausralian Goldrush
Melissa
Searching for gold
Gold can be found in rocks and in the ground .Gold is very valuable so people came from many different countries to find gold in Australia.
This is called the Australian Gold Rush.Some people became rich, wealthy and found a hand full of gold but others were not so lucky.
Small nuggets of gold was found in the early days in NSW but the authorities kept it quiet . Until February 1851 a man named Edward Hargraves found gold in Ballarat and he spread to news to everyone. And soon the gold rush began. From all over the world people were coming to find the amazing gold. When the gold rush began there were 400 people digging there way threw hard ground to find gold. But in June there were 2000 hard workers hoping to become rich some day.
The Chinese on the Australian Goldfields
When the news about the Australian gold rush spread to China in 1853 china had just been in a war and they were struggling with money. So some of them had decided to travel by a cramped boat all the way to Australia to find gold and bring wealth to there family. Once they had earned some money working they sent that money back to there family's.
But when the Chinese had arrived they were not treated fairly, the other diggers had kept away from them and the Chinese always stayed in separate places. The diggers did not like the Chinese they thought that they were very strange and unusual of there way of mining. The way they dressed and the way they had there hair and going everywhere barefoot made them the them the target of racism.
The Eureka Stockade
In Eureka, miners had built a stockade to keep the soldiers away from all of the diggers because of the licenses. The licenses were 30 shillings 1 month. Diggers were fed up with the soldiers coming in to the gold fields all the time checking if they had payed the money for the licences. So the miners had built a stockade to keep the soldiers away.
The Eureka Stockade Attack
In the early morning on Sunday 3rd of December hundreds of police and soldiers attacked the stockade. The soldiers and police had attacked on strong and very large fighting horses. Most of the diggers hid in the holes they had dug for finding gold to be protected.
In the end there was only 200 miners left inside because the miners had been out numbered and the soldiers and police were better equipped. The battle only lasted about 20 minutes. But 22 diggers and 5 soldiers died.
Women on the Gold Fields
Most of the diggers were men but later on women joined in. But mainly women were shopkeepers at the goldfields or they danced and sung for the diggers. Usually women would stay back at the house. Usually cooking and doing chores waiting for there husband to come home to a lovely meal.
A few years later many more women and there children joined there husbands when the condition improved in the gold fields.
There was little medicine and ingredients at the diggings to help the women with any illness or sickness. Such as whooping cough, Child birth, diptheria, Measles and many more horrible illness.
Life on the Australian Goldfields
Many people from around the world came to find gold in Australia so the gold fields became really crowded and it was very uncomfortable.
At the start of the Gold Rush there were no roads and no houses and no shops at all. People had to carry all there supplies to live in the Gold fields. Or everyone could travel by bullock, horse or walk with a wheelbarrow.
There was not many supplies at all not much medicine or food and no comfort at all.