A Diggers Life
Living Conditions
Miners would arrive at the goldfields after a long journey by horse and cart or on foot from either Sydney or Melbourne. The goldfields were overcrowded, bustling places. There were often stores, gold buyers huts, post offices, government offices, theatres, and inns. At Bendigo (Victoria) 40,000 miners lived close together in tents or bark huts. There was a lack of water and no proper toilets. Garbage and sewerage flowed around diggings. Food supplies were expensive and miners lived on a diet of tea, bread and mutton. Miners worked dawn ‘til dusk, six days a week and often found little gold. Miners were lucky to survive the harsh winters and scorching summers on the goldfields, with many dying of disease.
Miners would arrive at the goldfields after a long journey by horse and cart or on foot from either Sydney or Melbourne. The goldfields were overcrowded, bustling places. There were often stores, gold buyers huts, post offices, government offices, theatres, and inns. At Bendigo (Victoria) 40,000 miners lived close together in tents or bark huts. There was a lack of water and no proper toilets. Garbage and sewerage flowed around diggings. Food supplies were expensive and miners lived on a diet of tea, bread and mutton. Miners worked dawn ‘til dusk, six days a week and often found little gold. Miners were lucky to survive the harsh winters and scorching summers on the goldfields, with many dying of disease.
Miners Permit
Governor Charles Hotham decided to enforce an unpopular law on all gold miners in order to raise taxes for the government. After Hotham became Governor of Victoria in 1854, all miners were required to hold a permit (license) to dig for gold. The miners permit cost 30 shillings a month – roughly twice as much as an average weekly wage (equivalent to $3 today). A permit had to be purchased even if the miner never found gold. If a miner was caught without a permit, they faced a fine of £10 pounds or being chained to a log until the fine was paid.
Miners Permit
Governor Charles Hotham decided to enforce an unpopular law on all gold miners in order to raise taxes for the government. After Hotham became Governor of Victoria in 1854, all miners were required to hold a permit (license) to dig for gold. The miners permit cost 30 shillings a month – roughly twice as much as an average weekly wage (equivalent to $3 today). A permit had to be purchased even if the miner never found gold. If a miner was caught without a permit, they faced a fine of £10 pounds or being chained to a log until the fine was paid.
Living in a tent!"The house is a beautiful model being higher at one end than another: about two feet from the ground stick up large pieces of bark of trees, from this it rises like the roof of a house, which is made of coarse sacking...(near the door) is an immense fireplace outside the hut, built up with mud and stones, then long bark above all. Round the outside is a deep trench to carry the rain past us. The gable is patched up with large pieces of bark. The door is pieces of bark nailed across, then canvas nailed on it, the hinges made of string.
Table we had none...logs of wood and a cask did for seats, no sofa, no bedsteads...hanging along the roof are loaves of bread, mutton, pannikins, a gun and bundles of clothes, etc. At one side lie all our digging implements and firewood. A bottle does for a candlestick: we have no carpet, no spoons, knives, mirror or other luxuries." - James Arnot |