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Gold Rush

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The Australian gold rush. JCF Johnson, A Game of Euchre, col. wood engraving, Australasian Sketcher Supplement [Melbourne], 25 December, 1876.

The Australian gold rush

Image courtesy of the : nla.pic-an8927787. The gold rushes of the nineteenth century and the lives of those who worked the goldfields - known as '' - are etched into our national . There is no doubt that the gold rushes had a huge effect on the Australian economy and our development as a nation. It is also true to say that those heady times had a profound impact on the national psyche. The camaraderie and '' that developed between diggers on the goldfields is still integral to how we - and others - perceive ourselves as Australians.

Indeed, mateship and defiance of authority have been central to the way our history has been told. Even today, nothing evokes more widespread national pride than groups of irreverent Aussie 'blokes' beating the English at cricket, or any other sport for that matter! The discovery that changed a nation Gold frenzy A nation transformed Racism. Gold! Gold Rush in Australia Gold is found in rocks and in the ground.

Gold!

People came to look for gold in Australia. It was called the Gold Rush. It was a hard life digging for gold. Some people became rich but lots did not. Gold is a soft, yellow precious metal. Gold in California and Australia In 1851, during the time that there was a gold rush in California USA, a gold rush began in Australia. However, in Australia, it was not unusual for gold nuggets, some very large, to be found. The California Goldfields.

The Largest Australian Nuggets In October 1872 Holtermann's Nugget was found. The Australian gold rush begins Small amounts of gold were found in New South Wales in the early days of the colony, but the authorities hushed it up. Within a week there were over 400 people digging there for gold, and by June there were 2000. Between 1851 and 1861, Australia produced one third of the world's gold. By the end of September 1851, there were about 10,000 people digging for gold near Ballarat. Gold rush. Sailing to California at the beginning of the Gold Rush A gold rush is a period of feverish migration of workers to an area that has had a dramatic discovery of gold deposits.

Gold rush

Major gold rushes took place in the 19th century in Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, Canada, South Africa, and the United States, while smaller gold rushes took place elsewhere. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, there were several major gold rushes. The permanent wealth that resulted was distributed widely because of reduced migration costs and low barriers to entry. While gold mining itself was unprofitable for most diggers and mine owners, some people made large fortunes, and the merchants and transportation facilities made large profits. Gold rushes were typically marked by a general buoyant feeling of a "free for all" in income mobility, in which any single individual might become abundantly wealthy almost instantly, as expressed in the California Dream. Life cycle of a gold rush[edit] Australia[edit]

GoldRush.