Life on the Goldfields
by Cedric Siu
1. Sickness
1.1. Tumors
1.2. Cancer
1.3. Ringworm
1.4. Sore eyes
1.5. Ulcers
1.6. Dysentery
1.7. Typhoid
2. Interesting Facts
2.1. Worked from dawn to dusk.
2.2. There were women digging in the early stages
2.3. Gold rush began in 1851
2.4. There was plentiful gold in the beginning
2.5. Later, they had to use shaft mining to find gold
2.6. It changed Australia to a democratic country
2.7. Grog shops were illegal
3. Entertainment
3.1. Sport
3.2. Telling stories
3.3. Dancing
3.4. Smoking pipe
3.5. Drinking grog
3.6. Opium smoking (Chinese only)
3.7. Boxing saloon
3.8. Opossum hunting
3.9. Kangaroo hunting
4. Schooling
4.1. First began in tents
4.2. Could fit 100 children
4.3. Sat on wooden benches
4.4. Bad standard
4.5. Bad teachers
4.6. Arithmetic, handwriting, geography etc. as subjects
5. Food
5.1. Damper
5.1.1. Popular on a stick
5.2. Tea
5.2.1. Water in goldfields not clean
5.3. Mutton
5.3.1. Sometimes has maggots in it
5.4. Jerky
5.5. Kangaroo or wallaby
5.5.1. Only occasional
5.6. Billy Tea
6. Licences to dig for gold
6.1. Had to be bought before digging in goldfields
6.2. 30 shillings per month
6.3. Licences had to be with them when digging
6.4. Heavy fines if found not with them when digging
6.5. Possibility of jail
7. Thoughts of Diggers
7.1. Hated police
7.2. Police nickname "Traps"
7.3. Police- brutal, dishonest, unfair, inefficient
7.4. Hated Chinese when they arrived
8. Life of Children
8.1. Helped parents dig
8.2. Carried wood
8.3. Looked after tent or hut
8.4. Cared for the horses
8.5. Fossicked around the leftover gravel and sand
8.6. Older children expected to work as hard as adults
8.7. Only some could afford to go to school
8.8. Help their mother cook
8.9. Did most of the shopping with their mother
9. Ways of Digging
9.1. Panning
9.1.1. Need a pan
9.2. Sluicing
9.3. Shaft
9.3.1. Underground
9.3.2. Extremely dangerous
9.4. Alluvial
9.4.1. At the beginning of the gold rush
9.5. Puddling
9.6. Cradling
9.6.1. Tiring work as you have to push back and forth
10. Houses
10.1. Tents
10.1.1. Dirty
10.1.2. Canvas
10.2. Wooden houses
10.3. Brick cottages
10.3.1. Most are brick
10.4. Slab hut
10.4.1. Uncomfortable
11. Clothing
11.1. Mens
11.1.1. Straw hats
11.1.2. Loose shirts
11.1.3. Loose trousers
11.1.4. Rubber boots
11.2. Womens
11.2.1. Corsets
11.2.2. Lace up boots
11.2.3. Long dresses
12. Shopping
12.1. Tools for mining
12.1.1. Pan
12.1.2. Pick
12.1.3. Bucket
12.1.4. Windlass
12.1.5. Shovel
12.2. Food
12.3. Licences
12.3.1. To dig for gold
12.4. Drinks
12.4.1. Grog