First impressions of Australian land
Newcomers who took the time to record environmental observations were delighted
with the natural beauty of Australia and painted the (unmined) countryside in a very
positive light.
"Long sweeps for rich verdure, here and there studded with clumps of trees; flowers
of every hue springing up spontaneously through the velvety grass; birds of the rarest
plumage... there was a luxury of feeling on looking at such a spot... that I could have
taken farewell forever of the world, resigned myself to the groves, and relinquished
the pursuit of gold..."
John Sherer
It was thought that with the introduction of English plants and animals that Australia
could be the ideal rural retreat, just the place to breed cattle, tend exotic gardens and
relax under the warm balmy skies. The land was likened to an expansive garden, and
the settlers were quick to modify it to their liking. William Howitt noted
"...the English stamp and English character on all their settlements. They are English
houses...English farms... English cattle and horses...there are hedges of sweet briar
around their gardens, bushes of holly... England reproduces herself in the new
lands."
However the enduring gold fever proved a disruption to this ideal of rural harmony.
The arrival of thousand of immigrants desperate to find their fortunes caused an
undesirable transformation in the peaceful haven. Henry Brown was shocked when
he arrived at the Bendigo fields to find "the miners' holes were close together; the
whole of the soil had evidently been upturned, the trees were cut down, vegetation
destroyed, and the soil that had been thrown out of the holes, gave to the whole
valley an appearance of little gravelly hillocks... every little valley of gully that ran
down into the broad valley of Bendigo, had evidently been dug over, and presented
the same gravelly appearance"
The transformation from tranquil squatting environment to chaotic ugly gold fields
was swift and harsh.
"The forest, whose echoes but a few months ago were awakened only by the rushing
of a stream, the voice of the bell-bird, or the cry of the jay or laughing jackass, now
reverberates the sounds of human industry, wheeling, washing, rocking and digging
in all directions."
The fields of Ballarat were described as "like a honeycomb, and the men were
clustered together on this spot like bees. It seemed utterly impossible to throw up and
remove the quantity of earth in such a very brief period... there were about 2,000
tents and 10,000 diggers in the immediate vicinity of Golden Point..."
Conditions on the crowded fields were atrocious – lack of clean water meant very
little drinking water, and even less for cleaning or hygiene purposes. Lack of space
and water meant there were few toilet or sewerage facilities. For reasons of
sanitation tents were legally supposed to be pitched at least 20 feet apart, but once
word got around about a popular dig, tents were pitched wherever a square of land
could be found. Store tents and stinking slaughterhouses dotted the fields, the
surrounding earth full of immense holes, some as deep as 30 feet. The fields were
often likened to huge graveyards where men happily went about "digging their own
grave".
Flood and drought plagued the goldfields. During the summer heat dust was kicked
up everywhere until it was choking and invaded every crack and crevice. Clean
water, scarce at the best of times, became almost as valuable as the gold itself.
Festering piles of butchers’ refuse invited blowflies by the thousands. Centipedes,
flies, ants and sandflies also contributed to the miners’ plague of terrors. And in the
winter the choking dust turned to mud, which seeped into the miners’ holes, flooded
their tents and rotted their food.
Life on the gold fields was certainly not for the faint hearted, yet tens of thousands
tolerated the conditions in the all-consuming pursuit of gold. Simultaneously they
obliterated the natural landscape, causing irreversible change, completely oblivious
of the carnage. Willaim Howitt lamented "...every tree is felled, every feature of
nature is annihilated... no scene can be more revolting to the eye that is accustomed
to the beautiful".