What were the Australian Gold Rushes? Australian Gold Rushes Learn all about the Australian Gold Rushes, explore 10 interesting facts about the Australian Gold Rushes, and use our handy, teacher-made resources. What were the Australian Gold Rushes? The Australian Gold Rushes involved large numbers of workers moving from overseas and within Australia towards discoveries of gold from 1851. The Gold Rushes in Australia followed the California Gold Rush which had begun in 1848. It had a huge impact on the economy, society and politics of the Australian colonies. The history of the Australian Gold Rushes Mining has been an important part of Australia’s economy since early exploitation of natural resources helped pay for the growth of the Australian colonies. In 1851, gold was found at Ophir, New South Wales. Soon afterwards, gold was found in the colony of Victoria. A series of Australian Gold Rushes brought an influx of wealth, workers and ideas to the Australian colonies. The 'alluvial' gold that was found in rivers and creeks was grabbed fairly quickly. Mining the gold from the earth was much more dangerous, and a lucky few were able to make money. The growth of workers helped Australia’s population change dramatically. In 1851, the population was less than half a million. Ten years later, it was over 1 million people. As Australia was still a collection of British colonies in the 19th century, much of the wealth from gold mining was extracted to the United Kingdom. But still a significant amount of wealth remained. This was used to fund lots of new developments. Authorities forced diggers to pay for mining licenses yet gave them no say in how they were governed, which created anger amongst miners. A dramatic confrontation at the Eureka goldfield near Ballarat in 1854 was the culmination of that tension. Thousands of miners burned their licenses and built a stockade. They also raised their own flag. They had fights with soldiers and police officers and 22 people died. Ultimately, the miners’ demands were met, eventually including the right to vote. The Gold Rush was transformative for Australia. It led to the development of infrastructure like roads and railways, and also libraries and theatres. At the same time, discrimination against Chinese miners formed the first of the prejudiced ‘White Australia’ policies. When did the gold rush start and end in Australia? Gold was discovered in Australia at a time when Australia wasn't yet considered a nation, but a number of British colonies. Traces of gold were discovered prior to 1851, but were kept quiet by the government for fear of disrupting the local economies in their settlements. In February 1851, Edward Hargreaves found gold near Bathurst, New South Wales. This find was very exciting, and within a week over 400 people were reportedly digging for gold at the same site. In four months, there were 2,000 hopeful diggers! News of the gold in Australia spread across the world. Lots of different people were excited by the prospects in Australia and embarked on difficult journeys to get there. Australia had 28 gold rushes up to the year 1900, at which point the impacts of the gold rush seemed to have softened. How many years did the Australian gold rush last? The Australian gold rush lasted 50 years, and included many smaller gold rushes. Why was gold kept quiet before 1851? Most gold finds in Australia were kept quiet before 1851 because colonial authorities worried that it would upset the local economy if workers, many of whom were former convicts, suddenly left to look for gold. Gold had been rumoured to exist in Australia from the early 1800s. James McBrien, an assistant surveyor, discovered gold in Australia on 15 February 1823 at Fish River in New South Wales. Some of the reasons why gold was kept quiet also included incentives for wealthy landowners. They didn’t want their lowly paid workers to leave their jobs in pursuit of fortune. However, when the gold rush began in 1851 and the consequences on the local economies were being felt, governors changed their mind about gold. Who started the gold rush in Australia? In the spring of 1851, a prospector called Edward Hammon Hargraves claimed to have discovered gold at a site near Orange in the colony of New South Wales, which directly led to the first of the Australian Gold Rushes. Hargreaves had previously worked in the goldfields in California during the California Gold Rush. He felt that the geology of California had similarities with that of New South Wales. In California he used techniques such as panning and cradling. These were useful for finding what’s known as alluvial gold in the rivers and creeks at his site in Australia. He called this site Ophir after a fabled gold-producing place in the Old Testament. Hargreaves was partnered with John Lister and William Tom, a fact he tried to exclude from his autobiography. Within a year of his discovery, over half a million “diggers” rushed to the gold fields of Australia. Who came to Australia for the gold rush? Most of those who made the journey to Australia for the gold rush were British. There were also many prospectors from the United States and continental Europe, such as Germany and Poland, and from Asia. Even more workers travelled within Australia. Many workers arrived at Melbourne or Geelong, and travelled to the goldfields with tents, blankets and provisions loaded on mules and in wheelbarrows. While early arrivals were untrained young men, they were followed by professionals, traders and craftsmen. This changed the nature of immigration to Australia. The “diggers” in Australia sometimes formed strong bonds with each other. Their unity of purpose helped them identify themselves as a group independent of British colonial authority. Most of the prospectors who arrived from Asia were from China. In 1859, around one in five men on Victorian goldfields were from China. Men from China left their families to journey to Australia, often taking loans from local traders to support themselves. These workers faced racism from organised European miners. There were riots, killings and segregation related to the presence of Asian labourers on Australian gold fields. In 1885, Australia passed laws that demanded extra fees from Chinese people entering Victoria. In order to dig at goldfields and live within the colony, a Chinese person was required to pay ten pounds as a tax and a one pound protection fee. This was a tax that was not imposed on anyone else. What was daily life like in the goldfields? Fresh food and water were hard to come by on the goldfields. A staple food for early miners in Australia was mutton stew and damper. Mutton is meat from older sheep and is quite tough. Chinese miners often ate rice, cabbage, chicken noodle soup and bean sprouts, as well as tea. Life in the goldfields was often harsh. The hard journey of many prospectors meant that they often arrived in poor health, unready for the harsh conditions of mining. Most diggers were men. Women were often wives, and took care of families in the settlements. As conditions improved, women and their families sometimes joined men to live on the goldfields. This was nevertheless a harsh life. Daily life in the goldfields in Australia varied. For the most part, diggers experienced a much less lavish lifestyle here than where they may have been previously. The ‘rush’ of gold meant that many had urgently travelled to Australia, leaving behind many amenities. Lots of people slept in tents on a mattress of gum leaves. As goldfields in Australia became more established, daily life also changed. Women joined their husbands and started to lead lives in the areas surrounding these sites of the promised fortune. Economies then started to develop and shops opened, although they were commonly housed within tents. Established diggers were keen to better their circumstances and would sometimes place a stone fireplace at one end of the tent. Bark huts were also relatively common, with diggers combining canvas and bark to make shutters for keeping insects and snakes out. Many diggers were men in their 20s, and sites could become quite unruly. As a result, officials banned the drinking of alcohol to stop it from becoming any more chaotic, although most diggers managed to find illegal supplies. There was a culture of gambling, arguing and fighting, which usually culminated around these illegal alcohol sellers called sly grog shops. How were Indigenous Australians impacted by the Australian gold rushes? Aboriginal Australians became involved in the gold rushes in various ways. They worked as guides for newcomers seeking gold, and they also traded with miners. The great changes brought about by the gold rushes could also be destructive for Indigenous communities. Thousands of armed men entering the countryside, intent on finding and securing gold, made life difficult for Aboriginal Australians. Where goldfields were exploited by miners, the animals, waterways and land that Indigenous people depended upon were spoiled. The Dja Dja Wurrung community continues to refer to the Victorian goldfields as “upside down country”. What was the impact of the Australian gold rush? The Australian Gold Rushes were transformative for Britain’s Australian colonies, and also for Britain itself. Britain used the gold that was exported there in the 1850s to pay off all of its foreign debts. It also helped to lay the foundation of Britain’s commercial expansion in the late 1800s. Provincial towns in Australia like Ballart and Bendigo grew, and developed railways and roads, as well as libraries and art galleries. The colony of Victoria entered a period of great prosperity as a result of the gold rush there. The capital of Victoria, the city of Melbourne, was dubbed “Marvellous Melbourne” due to how much wealth it had accrued. Where before it was a minor port, Melbourne became a major boomtown during the gold rush. The Australian gold rushes were destructive for the natural world. Larger and larger mining operations wreaked a toll on Australia’s natural landscape, and the landscapes that had been inhabited by Indigenous Australians for many thousands of years. Demand for wood strained forests, and the use of sheep damaged soil. The rushes also created lots of confusion for those who did not benefit from them. The Australian Gold Rush also had important political consequences: In Victoria, gold miners helped to usher in greater parliamentary democracy. There were miners’ activist groups like Bendigo’s Anti-Gold License Association and the Ballarat Reform League. The xenophobia directed at Asian miners was part of the foundation of the White Australia policy. These were a set of racial policies that aimed to forbid people of non-European ethnic origin, especially Asians and Pacific Islanders, from living in Australia. They began in 1901, and were mostly dismantled in the late 20th century. 10 interesting facts about the Australian gold rush 1. A 2,400 ounce gold nugget was found in the small town of Moliagul in 1869. It was called the ‘Welcome Stranger’ and was the largest gold nugget in the world, but was broken into pieces in order to fit on the measuring scales! 2. The main recreations for miners at the goldfields were drinking, gambling and dancing. At the richest goldfields, there were hotels and dance halls. Stage shows were popular. The ‘spider dance’ was well liked in the goldfields of 1853. 3. Within 10 years of the first Australian gold rush, the population of the country doubled. 4. The Australian gold rushes were fuelled by exciting stories of people striking huge fortunes during the 1849 California gold rush. 5. The population of Victoria increased seven-fold from 76,000 to 540,000 between 1851 and 1860. 6. There was a growth in disease in Melbourne during the 1850s, which led to many deaths. 7. In 1853, the total population of the goldfields numbered 46,550 men and 10,740 women. Women might work on the goldfields as part of a family, or in occupations like teachers. 8. The Eureka Stockade is famous for its impact on the development of democracy in Australia. It may have simply sped up the process, but the protest by diggers at Ballarat against a government tax is often seen as a turning point towards more inclusive democracy. 9. More gold was found between 1848 and the end of the 1800s than in the previous 3,000 years, according to one historian. 10. Between 1851 and 1896, a total of 61,034,682 ounces of gold was mined in Victoria, according to the Victorian Mines Department. Gold Rush in 1950 A gold rush took place in the Australian town of Wedderburn in 1950. Take a look at this archive newsreel video to see how the community responded to the prospect of gold! Where is the largest gold field in Australia? Today, some of the largest mining pits in the world are in Australia. The biggest gold mine in Australia is the Boddington Gold Mine in Western Australia. Every year, Kalgoorlie’s Super Pit yields 700,000 ounces of gold. More than 60 million ounces of gold have been mined from the area known as the Golden Mile since the first discovery in the 1890s. How to teach your children about the Australian Gold Rushes Teach your children about the Australian Gold Rushes with our excellent teaching materials. We know it can be tricky to engage different children in certain topics in the classroom. That’s why we’ve created a range of activities, worksheets and presentations that are suitable for learners of varying interests, age and ability. Handy resources about the Australian Gold Rushes You can use this brilliant Gold Rush PowerPoint presentation to introduce your children to the history of the Australian Gold Rushes. It’s perfect for your Year 5 and Year 6 History students, providing both informative discussion prompts and questions to deepen their understanding and knowledge. This comprehensive Australian Gold Rush Resource Pack features an assortment of resources designed to aid your teaching of the Australian Gold Rush. It includes a history puzzle, word search, display banner and differentiated worksheets. You can use this Discovery of Gold in Australia Display Timeline as a great visual representation of the major discoveries of gold in Australia during the Gold Rushes. Simply download and print this resource before sticking it to one of your classroom walls. It’s perfect for a topic board, and includes places such as Ophir, Bathurst, Bendigo and more. Help your Year 5 children develop their understanding of the Gold Rushes with these Gold Rush Australia Differentiated Worksheets. They include answers, too, so it’s perfect for self-assessment and easy marking. You can also use our fun The Gold Fields History Mystery Research Game to get your children in the role of detective Hannaford Harper. Ask them to investigate a historical mystery about the Eureka Stockade! More Australian Gold Rush resources Eureka Stockade Discussion PowerPoint The Eureka Stockade Proofreading Activity Eureka Stockade Differentiated Fact File Eureka Stockade True or False Pop Quiz Gold Rush Australia Word Search What Was Life like on the Gold Fields? Worksheet Gold Rush Challenge Cards Discovery of Gold in Australia Mapping Activity Worksheet Gold Rush Display Posters Gold Rush Glossary Activity Gold Rush Colouring Pages Gold Mining Equipment Word Search Gold Mining Shafts Display Poster Learn more about the Australian Gold Rushes by watching this video. Note that Twinkl is not responsible for this video or related videos linked within. Learn how Australia's Gold Rushes influenced the national diet with this Australian Cuisine Wiki.
