# data[].attributes.headline
Living and Working Conditions of the Australian Gold Rush 

# data[].attributes.subject
Living and Working Conditions of the Australian Gold Rush 

# data[].attributes.body
By Carissa Hamilton

# data[].attributes.body
Children had the jobs of fetching and carrying water from the river or well. Washing dishes, helping with weekly laundry, gathering wood and the poorest families would have few animals and a poultry farm. Every day the children had to feed the chooks and collect the eggs, milk the cow and bottle feed the lambs. The girls were taught to knit and sew, wash and iron clothes, cook and clean and make the beds. Boys were taught to chop and saw wood, tend the animals and get involved with the construction work.

# data[].attributes.body
In Australia, the children had a harsh life. Everyone had to work hard for the whole family to survive. Wealthy families had servants to do the work both in the house and garden and on the farm.

# data[].attributes.body
A typical day for a woman during the 1850’s would be to rise before dawn and re-stoke the fire. The night before the ladies would’ve left the dough out to rise and that next morning it’d be baked in the oven. Breakfast consisted of porridge.

Depending on the day, the normal routine would be to do the weekly wash, the ironing, grinding of grain, working in the veggie patch and more till it was dark. Preparing the pot for stew, the working would do mending, darning, knitting, sewing, crochet or spin.  This is what would normally happen throughout the day in the Gold Fields for a woman. During the evenings the family could read to others often out of the bible, sing a longs and play musical instruments.

# data[].attributes.body
Throughout time bark huts and stone buildings were built permanently to replace the tents. The government of the state built camps which had timber barracks for the soldiers as well as a jail. But the jail was made from timber. The diggers used any materials that were available. Sometimes these could’ve been cutting trees, using hessian sacking for flooding, odds and ends of canvas pieces, string, rope and any other materials. To give themselves protection against the cold and a rough fireplace of mud and stones that they build near their hut. Often the floor was just dirt, but rough timber flooring was laid in many of the more permanent cottages. Many shops, hotels and schools were also built in this fashion.

# data[].attributes.headline
Living Conditions on Australian Gold Fields

# data[].attributes.subject
Living Conditions on Australian Gold Fields

# data[].attributes.body
When the miners first come to the gold fields they lived in calico tents. The miner’s would sleep on makeshift mattresses which were stuffed with leaves. Outside their tent they would have a fire going for their cooking and a bucket of water. To identify their tent they would have something specific to the miners which helped them identify their tent. This could be a flag or something.