Goldfield: Women & Children
By Semir
Introduction
Education
Roles and Responsibilites of women in the goldfields
Womens and Childrens Health
Womens health was very harsh. Usually if a woman gave birth to a baby, she was assisted by other women. The medicine back than were limited. S o some women would die or would be very ill or have illnesses such as diptheria or a whooping cough which caused death. If a women died during birth the assistant would look after the baby as the father was digging or panning. It was very rare for a child to die in the stomach of the mother.
Women would mostly get sick or even die because they had no food or water to eat for weeks sometimes even months. But very few women would have alot of supply of food because most of them were not rich.
On the Goldfields many children died because of the foul muddy water they had to drink.Conditions were poor. Cemetries were set up to burry the dead. One of the cemetries that were set up is called Pennywieght Flats Childrens Cemetry in Castlemaine. When children were born they usually had either died or were very sick with a illness. Since there wasnt any medicine.