Family life when the discovery of gold in Australia (1850)
In 1823 James McBrien found traces of gold near
Bathurst, NSW. However, early discoveries of gold in Australia were hushed up
by the authorities for fear that all the convicts, soldiers and public servants
would stop work to hunt for their fortune. It wasn't until ten years later, in 1851, that
Edward Hargraves, (who had just returned from the gold fields in California)
and his colleagues found gold near Bathurst. This time the find was publicized
and within a month a thousand men were looking for gold. The area was called
Ophir, after the biblical story about King Solomon's gold city.
To make easy when I analysis
this era : when golf was found in australia, I will give some definition of
family institution and concepts to simplify what happens when gold began to be
found in Australia.
A. Definition family institution
based on Introductory Sociology by Horton
- Family institution is a system of interrelated norms and values that fulfill a set of purposes which developed from th need for stable and defined relationship for raising and assigning the work necessary for their survival.
- A kinship group which provides for raising of children and for certain other needs.
The function of family
institutions :
- Reproduction
- Regulation of sexual activity
- Socialization
- Status ascripstion
- Protection
- Economic
B. Family
institution based on 2011 SparkNotes
LLC, All Rights Reserved :
· A
socially defined set of relationships between at least two people related by
birth, marriage, adoption, or, in some definitions, long-standing ties of
intimacy.
- Marx:
The family upholds the capitalist economic order by ensuring the
reproduction of the working class and by maintaining housewives as a reserve
labor force.
- Functionalist theory: Functions of the family include socializing children, regulating sexual behavior and reproduction, distributing resources, providing social support.
C. Analysis between the
concepts and the condition of family life when gold was found in Australia
After that, I will relate the concepts with the era : when gold was found in Australia between 1950s. First I will relate with the function of family institution. In this era, when gold appear I found several function of family institution that matches with this era.
After that, I will relate the concepts with the era : when gold was found in Australia between 1950s. First I will relate with the function of family institution. In this era, when gold appear I found several function of family institution that matches with this era.
The function of family
institution are :
1, Reproduction
Reproduction is the first
and most obvious function of the family institution.
In 1950, when everyone knows
that there is gold in Australia then the people come with their families either
from British, Chinese and others. They lived in mining. They were from various
parts of the world blend into one and it caused mixed marriages that occur
between the Aboriginal people and who come from other countries. In this case, some Aboriginals married British or Chinese people which meant that there would be less
pure blood Aboriginals in the next generation.
2, Socialization
After that the function of family institution is socialization.
In my opinion, when gold was found in Australia
• Aboriginal people teaching
their local language to many colonists. This situation makes many families from different countries to know each other.
• Indigenous shelter
constructions became the models for the early miners and there are many stories
of the assistence they gave to miners who had became lost or had run out of
food and water.
3. Protection
Function fills the need for
physical,social, and psychological insulation from the threats to survival. In this
case when the era that gold find in Australia.
The husband began to hunt
for gold and took his wife and his children. This is done by the husband to
maintain the wife and children. In this era, all the wives also to go to work
in gold mining. This some evidence to
make sure.
It
was not long, however, before women travelled to the goldfields, and as early
as 1851 there were women digging for gold alongside their husbands. An 1854 census of the Ballarat
goldfields found there were 4023 women compared to 12,660 men living on the
diggings and only 5 percent of these women were single.
one of the picture where the motherworked in the mines while keeping her child.
“ .. hundreds
on hundreds of tents were clapped down in the most dusty and miserable of
places; and all the ground was perforated with holes, round or square, some
deeper, some shallower, some dry, some full of water...All between the holes
the hard, sand-coloured clay lay in ridges, and you had to thread your way
carefully amongst them if you did not mean to fall in. Still horrider stenches
from butchers’ shops and garbage pits : the scene thickened, and tents after
tents, stores and bark-huts crowded upon you like a great fair."
Meanwhile,
the
Aboriginals in the goldfields slept in tents like the Chinese people did but in
a different area because then the Chinese would get mixed up and so would the
Aboriginals because they are sleeping in the same area.
4. Economic
4. Economic
The economic function provides for the assigning of
work,the holding of possessions, and the distribution of goods necessary for
survival of the family.
Before the gold appear in Australia, aboriginals still bartering, hunting and gathering food to survive. In this era when gold appears many families used fire to help them with hunting and to promote growth of valued edible and medical plants. Indigenous australians were participating in the economy like selling food and clothing to the miners and providing information about tracks and water source.
Aboriginal people mostly continued to have access to foodstuffs through hunting and gathering in the traditional manner. For many families in Australia, the gold rushes were an opportunity to gain employment on pastoral runs and gain skills in station work. Here the men try to find gold to support family. For the many families in Australia, farming families near Mount Franklin the goldfields offered them an avenue to sell their farm produce.
Meanwhile, woman or the mother in gold minings, women’s work consisted of washing, ironing and cooking. They made bread, butter, jams, soap and clothes for the family.The living conditions were cramped, and there were few comforts at the diggings. Because the alluvial mining muddied the once clear creek water, clean drinkable water was hard to find. Often fresh water was carted in to the diggings and sold by the bucketful. Fresh vegetables and fruit were scarce and cost a lot.
Before the gold appear in Australia, aboriginals still bartering, hunting and gathering food to survive. In this era when gold appears many families used fire to help them with hunting and to promote growth of valued edible and medical plants. Indigenous australians were participating in the economy like selling food and clothing to the miners and providing information about tracks and water source.
Aboriginal people mostly continued to have access to foodstuffs through hunting and gathering in the traditional manner. For many families in Australia, the gold rushes were an opportunity to gain employment on pastoral runs and gain skills in station work. Here the men try to find gold to support family. For the many families in Australia, farming families near Mount Franklin the goldfields offered them an avenue to sell their farm produce.
Meanwhile, woman or the mother in gold minings, women’s work consisted of washing, ironing and cooking. They made bread, butter, jams, soap and clothes for the family.The living conditions were cramped, and there were few comforts at the diggings. Because the alluvial mining muddied the once clear creek water, clean drinkable water was hard to find. Often fresh water was carted in to the diggings and sold by the bucketful. Fresh vegetables and fruit were scarce and cost a lot.
Most women stayed
home with their families however, usually with very little money to live o,
while their husbands travelled to live and work on the goldfields. A few years
later, many women took their children and joined their husbands when conditions
improved, although there were always more men than women at the goldfields, and
life was hard for all.
In addition, the woman also work in gold mining while keeping the baby. They are a family working together. Women and children joined the men on the fields; in January 1853 there were 5,000 women and children and by June there were approximately 10,000.This is for example :
Some children attended school, however the
standard of education was not very high. Teachers had almost no equipment and
if the pupils moved, the teacher too had to pack up and move to a new place. But
in this era, older
children were expected to work as hard as the adults on the diggings, they also try to help the economic their
parents. In Australia the children
like their parents either had a harsh existence, where everyone had to work
hard for the family to survive, or they had a privileged existence of the
wealthy. Children today have expectations of a life more similar to that of the
wealthy in the past. Wealthy families had servants to do the work both in the
house and gardens and on the farms.
It was terrible for the children on the goldfields. Most families could not afford to by shoes for there kids only the rich families. Many children on the goldfields caught sicknesses because they didn’t wear proper clothes.
It was terrible for the children on the goldfields. Most families could not afford to by shoes for there kids only the rich families. Many children on the goldfields caught sicknesses because they didn’t wear proper clothes.
families living in
extreme poverty in mother England would send their children into the workforce
where they worked inhuman hours. Children worked in mills, factories and mines
as scavengers or beasts of burden. Those that stayed home especially in rural areas
also worked hard, either on the farms or in the house.
A picture that shows how the children work at gold mining
if they are not school, they will help their parents such as minding the younger
children, shopping, fetching water up from the creek, gathering firewood,
washing clothes, cooking, or taking care of horses. Often they would also be
expected to help look for gold at the diggings.
In my opinion, all above that doing for survival of the
family. Father, mother and children help each other and work hard to make their
families still alive.
Conclusion
Based on the concepts of the
family institution and the materials I used , I found that live in the gold
mining is not easy. Every family must live in the area of gold mining that is
many people lived in there, which is there was a contagious disease. The housing on the
goldfields usually was tents or huts covered by bark roofs. In the goldfields also there
are many people who come from other people and it caused mixed marriages taht
occur between the Aboriginal people and who come from other countries. In this
case, some Aboriginals married British or Chinese people which meant that there would be less
pure blood Aboriginals in the next generation.
At the time of gold mining
is also a woman initially only accompanied her husband and children, women made up only a small part of the population of
the goldfields. It is variously estimated that during the gold rush
women comprised less than 20% of the population. They generally stayed at home
with the children. But over time woman began working in gold mining. When gold appeared,
hunting and gathering food is still the choice of every family to survive.
References
Introduction Sociology.PaulB.Horton.Homewood,Illinois
60430
Social institution on 2011 SparkNotes LLC, All Rights Reserved
http://www.goldrushcolony.com.au/australian-gold-history-culture-info/living-conditions-australian-gold-fields
https://the-great-australian-gold-rush.wikispaces.com/Life+on+the+Gold+Fields+in+Australia
