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Australia’s Gold Rushes

Go to the Web page below and use the information at the site to answer the questions about Australia’s Gold Rush
history.

http://www.ballarat.edu.au/sovhill/gold150/sovhill.htm

Before the Rush

Life before gold.

(1) Why were gold discoveries hushed up?

California

(1) How did the rushes in California change the official government attitude towards finding gold in Australia?

Early discovery and cover-ups

(1) Describe the discoveries of gold in

1823

1839

1841

(2) Why was the 1839 find not published until 1845?

(3) What government attitude existed in 1841?

(4) How were Strezlecki's discoveries kept quiet?

(5) Find the picture of the Gold scales and weights. Describe what you see.

Hargraves and Tom Lister

(1) Who was first credited with the discovery of gold in N.S.W.?

(2) Where and when was it found?

(3) Who in 1891 was finally credited with this?

(4) What part did Hargraves actually play?

Gold Fever

N.S.W.

(1) What happened after Hargraves discovered gold in N.S.W.

Victoria

(1) Why did the Victorian government offer rewards to anyone who found gold within 200 miles (320 kms) of Melbourne?

(2) Where and when was the first discovery?

(3) Where were other discoveries made?

Getting there

(1) Give evidence to support the idea that populations in gold towns were "unstable"

(2) Describe how the diggers travelled to the goldfields.

Diggings Life

Work on the Diggings

(1) Was gold easy to find? Explain your answer.

(2) Click on the photos to check the equipment being used. Describe it.

(3) Again using the photos, describe the activity of cradling.

Surviving

(1) Why was life tough on the goldfields?

(2) What can the pictures reveal about life on the goldfields?

Entertainment

(1) What entertainment was there on the goldfields?

(2) Look at the pictures of the goldfields. What can they tell us?

Law and Order

(1) What problems were there with law and order on the gold fields?

Women

(1) What was the role of the women on the goldfields?

Conflict

Disputes on the Gold Fields.

(1) What were the disputes on the goldfields concerned with?

Battle of Eureka

(1) How did the conflict come about?

(2) What did the gold diggers want?

(3) Describe the battle.

(4) Draw the Southern Cross flag

After Eureka

(1) What happened after the Eureka Stockade? i.e. What were the results of the event?

The Chinese and Lambing Flat

(1) Read the articles on the Lambing Flat riots. What can we learn from them about the mixing of the 2 cultures?

Other Gold Rushes

(1) Describe the rushes in

(a) Tasmania (b) Queensland (c) Western Australia (d) Lasseter's Lost Reef

Click on Library

Go to ‘Goldfever: An Essay of Life on the Diggings 1851-55’.

Browse through the essay.

Using the essay and your text books, write a 2 page essay describing what life would be like on the goldfields.

Off to the diggings.