Women & Children on the Goldfields
by Mark Toma 5N
Introduction
Their were about 4000 women on the goldfields compared to 12500 men on the gold fields in Ballarat in 1854. Most women were married and only 5% were single. Every year more and more women came to be with their husbands and help them mine for gold .
Roles and Responsibilities
Women stayed home or went to the gold fields with their husbands and they would dig and dance for the men. At home they cooked, made soup, jams, bread and food and they were shopkeepers selling illegal beer, coffee and sandwiches.
Children had chores they would have to take a bucket and go to the river to fill it with water. This would be used for washing the dishes, weekly laundry. Children would also gatherwood and some would go to school.
Health
Wome and children on the goldfields died from measles. They only had dirty water to survive. The water would have bacteria.
Education
Kids would have to go to school and every time their parents would go to a new gold field to find more gold the kids would have to change school. Most of the time schools were not established.