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This unit was about the gold rush. It was really fun! We went on a camp to a cool place called Sovereign Hill (read more in my Cool Camp Reflection!!!) where we learned a lot about the gold rush era. 

Life in the 1850’s was tough and violent because people were blinded by wealth and gold was, and still is, one of the most valuable resources in the world. To find it you had to dig underground or pan and cradle in rivers and lakes. 

The people who came to Ballarat and surrounding towns had to pay 5 pounds for a gold licence and if you were caught without one you would be tied to a log, tree or post until you could pay the money and if you didn’t you would be put in jail. The 5 pounds was a lot of money in those days, equivalent to a month of paid work.  

The licenses caused a revolution where miners affected by the gold licenses came together on Bakery hill and swore an oath to fight for rights and liberties, or in other words, to oppress the government for being unreasonable. 

Leading up to this, a man called James Bentley, who owned the Eureka Hotel, murdered James Scobie outside his hotel and was let off free of charge. The miners were furious and burned their licenses to ash. Peter Lalor led the angry miners and on the 3rd of December they made a fort called the Eureka Stockade. The battle lasted 15 minutes and was won by the government’s redcoats because they attacked on Sunday morning which was the lord’s day of rest. The miners never saw it coming.

 

As part of this unit, we recreated Sovereign Hill as a diorama. We each chose a building on the Main Street to make out of shoe boxes and craft materials. Mia and I chose the Hope Bakery because we really wanted to make little bread rolls out of clay. Bakeries were important to the community because they made daily food for the town. 

A PLA I demonstrated was collaboration when I worked with Mia to make the Bakery and courage to really immerse myself in 1850’s School life and dressing up in clothing from the era. In the end school was a lot more fun than I thought because we played some fun games.