What was life like on the goldfields?

Answer 1

Life on the Australian goldfields were harsh. The fields were crowded: miners had between 1 and 3 square metres of 'claim' to live and work. Many diggers lived in tents, or even rough, open bark shelters. Those who stayed longer sometimes built larger slab hut dwellings, but these were still very basic. People would live in small humpies made out of wood, scraps and things found around the area. Also many people would live in a canvas tent because they were cheap and portable. Later in the gold rush, when people were more certain about whether they were staying or not, people might decide to live in small cottages. These cottages often incorporated solid brick and stone fireplaces, instead of the diggers having to do all their cooking outside.

Troopers dealt harshly with minor offences. The main source of discontent was the miner's licence, which cost a monthly fee of 30 shillings and permitted the holder to work a 3.6 metre square "claim". Licences had to be paid regardless of whether a digger's claim resulted in the finding of any gold. Frequent licence hunts were conducted, during which the miners were ordered to produce proof of their licences, and this added to the increasing unrest.

Another problem was the exorbitant price of goods on the goldfields. Businesses knew they had a monopoly on the market, and therefore the power to drive their prices up as high as they wished. Many diggers did not wish to spare the time and potential loss of earnings (or even their claim) if they made the extensive journey to the nearest large city, such as Melbourne.

Gold rushes attracted a wide variety of people from all races and parts of society, including China. This created some distrust among the Australians, for the Chinese were a hard-working, reclusive group who did not (and indeed often could not) communicate with the Australians, and tended to find more gold.

The goldfields tended to be out in rocky country (though not always), and often in hilly countryside. They were characterised by many mullock heaps, or mounds of dirt which were the result of diggings. These mullock heaps varied from a few feet to many metres in height and width. The more popular goldfields were crowded and unsanitary, with open latrines running nearby. Scavenging dogs could be seen roaming around, and children wandered unsupervised through the diggings. As a result, disease was rife. These diseases included whooping cough, scarlet fever, measles, cholera, dysentery and typhoid.

Answer 2

The children on the goldfeilds generaly didn't have that much time because they worked pretty hard. There were a few popular games and toys for lucky children growing up at that time

Marbles:

This was probably the most popular game at the time. It became very competative because the marbles that were won were usually kept by the winner. There were a variety of games using marbles

Jacks:

Jacks was a popular gam played with real knucklebones. Often children would go to the butcher and ask for the knuckle bones of a sheep or cow. The mothers then boiled the knuckle bones until they were clean.

Skipping:

The skipping ropes that the children used were just long peices of rope. Generely they were quite heavy and were resedue from the ropes used to go down mines. Children played the skipping games as are played today.

Other outdoor games included Cricket Soccer (then called Football) hopscotch, tug of war and tunnel ball. Most children did not have a ball so many played with a bundle of newspaper tied with string.

Board games:

Only rich children on the gold feilds got Board Games. These were usually quite accademic to incourage the child to grow up into an intelligant person. Board games at the time included The history of England game, the race to the gold diggings of Australia game and the gold feilds of Australia game.

Other things children did were play with dolls (made of wax) and toy horses