There was little in the way of medical assistance in cases of illness or to assist the women in childbirth. Usually when a woman gave birth to a baby, she was assisted by other women. Fresh vegetables and fruit were scarce and cost a lot. Often fresh water was carted in to the diggings and sold by the bucketful. Because the alluvial mining muddied the once clear creek water, clean drinkable water was hard to find. They made bread, butter, jams, soap and clothes for the family.The living conditions were cramped, and there were few comforts at the diggings. Women's work consisted of washing, ironing and cooking. Mostly the people who did well were the tradesmen who sold food and equipment, or landowners who sold land to people who wanted to build homes and settle down after the gold rush. At some goldfields there were even theatres where travelling performers entertained the diggers.Ī few people struck good finds of gold and became rich, but many did not. The government camps were made of wood, and included a jail and accommodation for the soldiers. Hotels and boarding houses were established, built of wood and lined with calico. The settlements were all rather makeshift and temporary. Food and other goods had to be brought in by cart and so were very expensive. Gradually there were stores and traders and other amenities, but life remained hard. People lived in tents at first, but later on huts made from canvas, wood and bark were built. Women could dig for gold without having to pay for a licence.Īt the diggings, the gullies were filled with claims, and so the higher ground nearby soon became huge campsites. A few women came with their husbands and worked with them searching for gold, and some single women came to search for gold for themselves. To keep their claim, a person had to work on it every day except Sunday, so if no one was working a claim, someone else would take it. The space where someone was digging was called a 'claim'. Fresh food at the diggings was limited, and the basic diet was mutton, damper (a bread made of flour, water and salt, cooked over an open fire) and tea. There were many epidemics of illness on the ships, and those who survived the journey arrived at the goldfields weak and unfit for the hard life on the diggings. For many, the journey to Australia took seven or eight months, and on the cheapest fares, conditions were tough. People came from all over the world, intending to strike it rich and return home to their own countries. Within a few months, there were about 20,000 people searching for gold in that area. She and a friend washed the gold using a breadmaking pan. The wealthy Bendigo goldfields were found by a woman, Margaret Kennedy, who saw gold in the creek bed in September 1851. By 1852, the news had spread to England, Europe, China and America, and boatloads of people arrived in Melbourne and headed for the goldfields. They travelled by horse or bullock, or by walking with a wheelbarrow loaded with possessions.īy the end of September 1851 there were about 10,000 people digging for gold near Ballarat. People had to carry everything they needed. At the start of the gold rush, there were no roads to the goldfields, and no shops or houses there. Thousands of people left their homes and jobs and set off to the diggings to find their fortune. Other discoveries soon followed in Mount Alexander, now called Castlemaine, in Daylesford, Creswick, Maryborough, Bendigo and McIvor, now called Heathcote. Towards the end of August 1851, James Reagan and John Dunlop discovered the richest goldfield the world has ever seen in a place the Aborigines called Balla arat, which means 'camping place', now the city of Ballarat.