Living Conditions in
Richmond in the 1900’s
What was used in early
colonisation?
• In early colonisation, tents were used by settlers as houses. They had no
clue about houses and therefore led to them only having tents to use.
• Tents were not sufficient as they didn’t provide large areas to sleep and
live in. They also didn’t protect people from severe weather conditions as
tents were only made of thin materials.
• Food had to be captured in the form of animals and early settlers had to
learn from Aboriginal people on how to do such things.
• At this stage in time, medical technology was very low and diseases were
hardly treated with the right medication.
Progression to Iron
Houses
• As people had learned more about the way architecture worked they
decided that iron houses would be a more efficient way of living.
• Progression of living in houses started when iron houses hit Australia in
the early 1900’s. Iron houses were a big step forward because compared
to tents, they provided more protection from weather including rain and
sun because of the way they were designed. These iron houses were also
larger than tents and provided more space for leisure.
• As iron houses became more popular, they would become cheaper and
were a more popular way of living.
• People living in these iron houses would normally rent, an average weekly
rent for a three bedroom apartment was $1.30 which is about $65.00
nowadays.
Brick Houses Finally
Arrive
• By the 1950’s people had started to research a better way of living. They
stumbled upon the idea of building brick houses. They realised that brick
house would give people better protection from extreme weather and
intruders.
• Brick houses were also considered bigger and stronger and many families
would share these houses and live together.
• Brick houses became the choice of house in a short few years and people
had managed to start building these houses by themselves to allow them
to save money.
Pollution - Gasworks
• Gasworks was (as the name says) is the place where gas was produced and
supplied to various houses and factories.
• Although the people working for Gasworks had earned enough money for
themselves, they were affecting the people living around the Gasworks
area. People remember walking in the area around Gasworks like it was
“walking through a continuous cloud of smoke”. It had also affected
people because the smell of the gas was affecting peoples health.
• The gas was also producing black droplets which would fill the ground and
children weren’t able to play outside because it was very hard to see.
• The pollution to the air had already affected many people by the time the
factory closed down in 1957.
Medicine
• In the early 1900’s medical technology was not as advanced as it is today.
Surgery had hardly been introduced and medical cures to diseases were
nearly impossible to come by.
• Many people were scared to have babies as infant mortality rates were as
high as 70-80% of babies dying before they reached the age of 1.
• The cure for many diseases such as the common cold, typhoid and even
the flu had not yet been found which was a major contributing factor for
early deaths.
• Streets in Richmond were very crowded and dirty because there sewerage
or rubbish collection systems which allowed diseases a more stable
environment to spread from person to person.
• Medicine had not become very advanced until the 1960’s when surgery
had become more popular and diseases were more curable.
The Role of Entertainment
• Entertainment came in the form of sport and drama, sport played at the
MCG and other local grounds and drama being performed at various
theatres.
• People would watch these different forms of entertainment to allow them
and their families some rare times of enjoyment.
• Entertainment was also helpful to people as it allowed them to take their
minds off the war that was going on at the time.
• Tickets to watch the football were 10 cents and to watch a play or concert
at a theatre it was 70 cents.
Bibliography
• http://www.gasworks.org.au/about-us/history
• http://www.slideshare.net/hsiesje/australia-health-in-the-early-1900s
• http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Previousproducts/1301.0Featu
re%20Article482001?opendocument&tabname=Summary&prodno=1301.
0&issue=2001&num=&view
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