OUR RESEARCH

A lot of years many minors from all over the world came to Australia to try to seek their fortune, not many found gold but a few people stroked at rich. If some of the people found gold they would have traded it in for money. The people had to make a claim and then have a gold license to be able to search for gold.

PANNING FOR GOLD
Panning for gold is a very common way to search for gold, what people would find in the creek would be alluvial gold, the alluvial gold weighed 6 times more than sand so it sank right to the bottom of the creek. The pans were made out of iron and was a shaped like a food bowl.
SHARFT MINNING
Shaft mining is another method of getting gold, underground the men dug big holes and they were called shafts to stop the shafts from collapsing the men stuck timber up to the walls. One man would work down in the shaft shovelling dirt into a bucket, there was another man who was lifting up the bucket to the others. The man would wrap a rope around a log to get the bucket up, after that one of the other men would turn a handle to get the bucket up.

CRADLING
The minors were sick of panning for gold so they thought of a faster and different way to find gold so they thought of cradle. The name and look came from a babies rocking cradle, it would be 6 to 8 feet long and it would have 4 cleated nails underneath. If you wanted to use this way of finding gold you would need 4 people one to dig the gold mixed with sand and dirt, one to carry it to the cradle and empty the dirt and gold, one to keep shacking and rocking the cradle and the last person carried the water from the stream and emptied the water onto the cradle.

Only some people stroked at rich and others went back to their families empty handed but some others went home a millionaire either way they all tried even though men worked in groups there was still swearing and fighting.

INTERESTING FACTS
· THE MEN SWORE AND CURSED ON THE GOLDFIELDS
· THERE WAS A LOT OF VIOLENT ACTION
· SOMETIMES THE YOUNG MEN HELPED THEIR FATHERS

BIBLIOGRAPHY
· SBS GOLD
· THE AUSTRALIAN GOLDRUSH
· WWW.GOLDCRADLE.COM
· KIDS CYBER
· THEME BOOK
· Gold down under

LAWS

The government had said to the miners they had to work their claims everyday except Sunday, where the miners weren’t allowed to swear, drink or mine for gold. But the police had a more difficult job!!

The troopers just walked around every day checking licenses and only getting paid 1 ½ shillings a day. After the Victorian ruses the government had massive problems keeping law and order. So all the troopers had to be armed, because of fights between troopers and gold miners. Most troopers each carried the following, a pistol, a rifle and other weapons in case of fights. Some troopers made up there own rules.


By the late 1852 each major goldfield was run by:

*A Commissioner, paid 500 shillings a year.

* An Assistant Commissioner

* A Clerk.

*An inspector of troopers.

*A detachment of troopers paid 1 ½ shillings a day.

*Taps (foot police) paid 2/9 shillings a day.

*Native police (aboriginal) paid 1 ½ shillings a day.