Women & Children on the Goldfields
By Jessica
introuduction
In the early 50's there were few women on the goldfields, but a few years later more women came to Austraila with their husbands to the goldfields. Some men didn't want there wife to come with them to the goldfields. The women stayed home instead of going with their husbands to the goldfields. They took care of there children and cooked,cleaned and sold things that men needed to stay healthy on the goldfields. But they didn't sell drugs because they weren't allowed. If they did sell drugs they would be in big trouble with the troopers.
ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
Some women on the goldfields entertained the men by dancing. When the men liked there dancing they usually threw small gold nuggets on the stage. A lady named Martha Glendinning went to Ballarat to open a shop with her sister.They didnt sell alcohol, they only sold good things like food and healthy drinks so the miners would buy them because the miners didnt bring alot of food with them.
It was hard for children on the goldfields because their mother and father moved alot to different places on the goldfields because their parents wanted to find richer goldfields. If the children would go to school they would have to move to another school closer to where they lived.