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What people ate The only food on the gold fields was meat and damper. People would go to the shops weekly and buy meat, storing it into a cage with a fly screen on it to prevent any pests that might happen to come wondering so it wouldn't rot. There would also be damper which is a form of flour, yeast and salt. You would be pretty lucky to be able to add some sweeteners as this form of bread is plain and tasteless. Often people would surrender to thirst after all their hard work on the fields so people would also buy tea. The water in the creeks were polluted and foul due to all the panning and washing. The chinese would have a small variety more to choose from when it comes to their stomach. Chinese would grow crops which would fill them quite heartily including vegetables like cabbage. They also have pigs because they aren't that fond of mutton. People on the gold fields Women would often stay at home doing all the cooking and eventually when time comes they would go out and join their husbands on the fields, bringing their entire family along. People could easily catch diseases back then but not all doctors were qualified. Doctors were quite seldom found in time to heal the sick. Most of the youths would die quite quick as they could not be left home alone and they can't stand the foul air outside. If a child were lucky enough, their parents would be able to afford sending the child off to school where they would learn mathematics, english, handwriting and religious studies. Children would only study until they are 14 years of age then they would leave school to accompany their fathers in the gold rush. Here are some occupations - Blacksmith, teacher, butcher, tailors and shop owners. Blacksmiths were in heavy demands those days as people would need tools to dig for gold. Multiculturalism The chinese never got along with the english well. The english people always claimed the gold that the chinese had discovered theirs. It all just happened that the chinese were much more patient and working as a team instead of individuals. That way they found more gold easily. When you found the gold they would separate it between the families who had participated and helped in finding that piece of gold.
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