WHat was the role of women on the goldfields?
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In the early years of the Australian goldfields, there weren't many women present on the goldfields. Most women stayed home to support their families and look after the children, and some worked at small shops at the digging site. They lives with very little earnings, so their husbands went to live and work at the diggings. Women's work included cooking, washing, ironing and looking after the children. They made staple food items like bread, butter and jam, as well as clothing for the other people in their homes. A typical day for a woman living in Australia in the 1850's would start with an early rise at dawn to re-stoke the fire, make a simple breakfast and milk the cows, separate the cream and churn the butter. They also worked in the veggie patches, knitting and sewing items for the house and washing all the clothes. They were the main support system for the family and their husbands who worked six days every week on the goldfields, often not finding much gold at all.
WOMENS RIGHTS ON THE GOLDFIELDS
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More than 160,000 women were among the 600,000 who arrived in Victoria between 1851 and 1860. They felt Australia offered a chance for a better life. Women weren't as well represented as men were and were expected to behave better because they were warned that other men would take advantage of them. Women living in Australia lived a more active life than they would have in England. There was a major imbalance of genders on the goldfields, starting with only around ten women as apposed to six hundred men. As years went on, there became more of a balance and women were treated better. They were known as a 'rare sight' because gold digging was basically exclusively only for men. Because of that, it wasn't clear that women really needed a mining licence since they didn't do any mining.
HOW THEY CONTRIBUTED TO DEMOCRACY
The men on the goldfields were the majority because they outnumbered the women and they did most of the work considering mining and finding any gold. Men didn't believe women were capable of mining so they didn't contribute to that. A woman by the name of Caroline Chisholm helped the international women on the goldfields find work and get their lives together whilst their husbands worked hard in the goldfields. Without her, most of the young women would only have prostitution and crime to get by day by day. Significant figures like Caroline and Anastasia Withers made women an important part of democracy.
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anastasia withers
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Anastasia Withers was a seamstress who arrived in Victoria from Bristol due to her experience as a convict. Anastasia and her husband wanted to put that criminal life behind them and start a new beginning in Australia. Her convict record included theft of a property. She was one of the most significant figures in Australia during this time because she wasn't just the first woman on the goldfields, but she also sewed the Eureka Flag, which flew over the Eureka Stockade throughout the famous battle. After the miners were defeated, authorities were looking for her as one of the makers of the 'rebel' flag. Her family fled to Ararat and opened a fruit shop. This flag she and others sewed was one of the most important symbols related to democracy at the time of Eureka because it is used as a sign of rebellion against authority by people at different ends of the political line in Australia. It has been used in other countries to drape over deceased communists and marched with the Neo Nazis.
By Emily Coghlan