How did people in the Australian gold rush get food and fresh water?

Answer 1

People on the Australian goldfields ate basic and simple foods. They tended to stock up on as much as possible in the cities, because once they were on the goldfields, they were decidedly reluctant to leave their claims in case someone else worked it while they were gone, stealing their gold. Also, the stores in the goldfields towns charged exorbitant prices for their goods, because they had a monopoly on the market.

In the gold rushes, people most commonly ate damper, a simple bread made of flour, salt and water and cooked over an open campfire. They ate mutton with potatoes and onions, perhaps some cabbage and carrots if they were lucky, mutton or rabbit stew, or salted beef jerky. Occasionally they might kill a kangaroo or wallaby, but it was not the favoured food, although "roo tail stew" did become reasonably popular. Other fruits and vegetables were rare on the goldfields. They enjoyed billy tea as well.

Goldfields were always near water, so water was not a problem. It was not always clean water, of course, so drinking water needed to be boiled.