Goldrush: Unit of Work

Australia’s Golden History

Michelle BolstadSara MacLeodAyesha Finlay

Overview of session

• Purpose: To share learning ideas that you can use in the classroom on the learning unit of The Australian Gold Rush

• Topics explored in this session:- The Discovery of Gold,- The influence of Gold on Australia’s Identity and Heritage and - Life on the Goldfields

Syllabus OutcomesStage 3• CCS3.1 Explain the significance of particular people, groups, places, actions and

events in the past in developing Australian identities and heritage• CCS3.2 Explains the development of the principles of Australian democracy• CUS3.4 Explains how cultures change through interactions with other cultures and

the environment• ENS3.6 Explains how various beliefs and practices influence the ways in which

people interact with, change and value their environment• ENS 2.5 Describes places in the local area and other parts of Australia and explains

their significance.• ENS 2.6 Describes people interactions with environments and identifies

responsible ways of interacting with environments.• CCS 2.1 Describes events and actions related to the British colonisation of Australia

and assesses changes and consequences.

Perspectives, Attitudes & Values

The perspectives, attitudes and values that are important to this unit are:

• Civics and Citizenship – Democratic processes, Social Justice• Aboriginal Education - Intercultural Understanding, Social Justice• Multicultural Education – Intercultural Understanding, Social Justice• Gender• Environment – Ecological Sustainability

Introducing the Topic

Play a game of bingo after a few games ask how winners felt.

Discuss why people buy tickets in the lottery.

Write a discussion titled “Who Wants to be a Millionaire?” and describe why you think people want to be rich. Share.

Properties of Gold – Information sheetGold is a very rare substance making up only five ten-millionths of the Earth's outer layer. (Imagine 10 million Smarties in one place and only 5 of them were made of gold!). Its rarity and its physical properties have made it one of the most prized of Earth's natural resources. Gold, like iron, copper, lead, tin etc. is a metal. Metals are good conductors of heat and electricity and are almost all solid at room temperature (with the exception of mercury). They are malleable and ductile.

Properties of Gold Chemical Symbol:

Mineral:

Relative Density:

Hardness: Malleability: Ductility: Melting point: Boiling point:

Atomic Mass:

Gold is heavy — it weighs over nineteen times more than water, and is almost twice as heavy as lead. If you had enough Gold to fill a one litre milk carton, it would weigh 19.3 kilograms, the same volume of milk weighs only one kilogram. Gold is quite soft. It is slightly harder than a fingernail but not as hard as a coin or glass. Gold, like most metals, can be hammered into thin sheets (malleable) or drawn out into thin wires (ductile).This has made gold sought after for a wide range of applications, like jewellery and in electronics."Gold leaf" for example, is gold that has been beaten into a sheet less than one tenth of a millimetre thick. It is then used for lettering on honour rolls in schools, or for putting gold onto picture frames and ornaments. NEXT: Gold in Australia, or Do the quiz

Determine Prior Knowledge

QuizGold QuizThis quiz is based on gold facts at http://www.ga.gov.au/education/minerals/, the quiz can be completed online by starting at the first gold factsheet (there's a prize at the end!), or you can print out and copy the full list of questions below. 1)What is the chemical symbol for gold?[] Pb ,[] Ag , [] Au2) All metals are solid at room temperature. [] True [] False 3) According to Moh's scale, gold has a hardness of [] 2-4 [] 2.5-3 [] 3.5 4) Gold is so malleable it can be beaten into a very thin sheet called "gold leaf" which is [] less than one tenth of a millimetre thick. [] one millimetre thick. [] one thousand microns thick. 5) Gold is [] very reactive to most chemicals [] very unstable [] not easily tarnished [] very corrosive 6) Gold melts at a temperature of [] 2660 degrees C [] 1660 degrees C [] 196.97 degrees C [] 1060 degrees C 7) Gold was formed in Western Australia [] thousands of years ago [] thousands of millions of years ago hundreds of years ago 8) 24 carat gold is [] 100% pure gold [] part gold, part silver [] 24% gold [] often called white gold 9) Gold is so heavy that it weighs [] over 19 times more than lead [] the same as 19 milk cartons [] twice as much as water [] over 19 times as much as water 10) Gold is so rare it makes up only [] 5 ten millionths of the Earth's outer layer [] 5 tenths of the Earth's outer layer [] 5 millionths of the Earth's outer layer [] 10 millionths of the Earth's outer layer

http://www.ga.gov.au/education/minerals/goldquiz.html

The Discovery of GoldShips sailed from Europe, England, China, America and many more countries for their chance to strike it rich from this precious metal. Farmers, shop keepers, writers and paints all to give up work to come to Australia. From 1851 to 1861 more than half a million people arrived in Australia. No one knows who first discovered gold but it produced a revolution, it brought problems and unrest but also riches and wealth. James Mc Brien reported in his note book in 1823 his sighting of specs of gold in the sand by the fish river near Bathurst. Edward Hammond Hargraves was determined to change the laws so that those finding gold could own it. In 1851 the Sydney Morning Herald published the news, before the government could do anything their were already hundred of men heading to Bathurst (Goode,1982; Price, 1972; Nicholoson, 1994).

Not everyone who arrived in the goldfields was wanted. Some who broke the laws were sent back, a few “the worst” (Goode, 1982, p.6) became bush rangers, robbing coaches and the diggers returning back to the goldfields. The squatters controlled the colonial government. The diggers felt they had no say in the licensing law, so they fought the police which in turn lead to the Eureka Stockade in (Goode, 1982, p.6)

Introducing the students to books and internet resources will give them a good back ground of all aspects of the Gold Rush in Australian and world wide. Some of the following activities allow for a variety of learning styles and can be altered for different stages.

The Australian Gold RushToday we will cover: 40minutes• The period of Australian History known as the Gold Rush. • Imagine you live in Old Sydney Town and like many others, you and your brother are rather poor and are tempted to head to the Gold fields to make your pile.• There are several Gold Fields to choose from and much organizing to do before you find any gold.

Teaching and Learning ActionsWhich goldfield will you choose and why?• There is more than one goldfield to choose from. Which one will you choose to try your luck at?

Remember, you have little money and no experience. Points to Consider• Which type of gold mining best suits you? , Which gold mining area offers the best chances of "striking it rich"? • What are the costs involved in mining gold? Decisions you will Need to Make• Distance to the Gold Field... how will you get there? ,What equipment will I need? • Will I buy my equipment before or after reaching the Gold Field , What dangers might I face?

Assessment• Your teacher will apply a scale of marking for your decision making and equipment list. • 10 points for each good decision • 2 points for each essential item of equipment. • As about only 1 in 20 used to make a reasonable to good living from the Gold Fields, the top two point scorers could be considered to be the most successful.• Your presentation should be in the form of a report. (About half a page of writing should be sufficient.)

This report should be published on a computer program such as ClarisWorks/AppleWorks/Microsoft Works etc.You should clearly state:

• the decisions you made and why (i.e. which goldfield? why that particular one?) • list the equipment you used. • From this report your teacher will make an assessment using the point score.

Resources• Books - look in the 994 section of your school and/or town library, CD Rom Encyclopaedias, Gold game: www.nma.gov.au/play/learn_and_play/gold_rush/

Lesson PlansToday we will cover: Time

40min• Importance of Gold in Ancient times• Crime in the goldfields• Trade in the goldfields.

Teaching and Learning ActionsDiscussion and questioning: Encourage thinking and demonstrate prior knowledge• What was the importance of gold in ancient civilisations? • Who plundered , pillaged or stole to gain their power? • Who were the convicts? Who bought and traded?• Who was forced into slavery?• Have students develop a creative writing piece on the crime and social politics of the people.

Activity: Collect and research data to make your own story.

Assessment• Evaluate the students knowledge by assessing their understanding and significance of the ancient times on a work sheet with the questions stated above.• Students are assessed on the content and imagination of their creative piece.

Resources: Quest for gold, Gold John Nicholson, Every day life in Australia ,Gold, http://www.sbs.com.au/gold/#

Gold Rush: Australia and around the world

Today we will cover: Time 40min• Locations of the goldfield in Australia and around the world• Colonies developed from 1820 – 1902• Aboriginal groups formed or effected• Life and people in the colonies

Teaching and Learning Actions• Question and discuss where other gold rushes developed ?• What was a significant event s in the colonies and why?• Why were aboriginal people effected?

Mapping Activity• Brainstorm and have students mark on the map where there may of been other gold rushes around the world.• Note significant dates and towns and cities that were established using research from books and internet.• Shade on the map where aboriginal groups were effected. • Students can interactively learn on the smart board. http://www.sbs.com.au/gold/#

Role play• What was life like in these towns and cities at the time of the discoveries? (food, environment, police, crowds)• Think about the convicts, squatters, farmers, the end of transportation. • Introduce groups with a role play with how these people might of felt in the time of the gold rush. • Follow up with a class presentation from each group.

Assessment• Informal and formal assessment• Quiz at end of unti: http://alex.edfac.usyd.edu.au/BLP/websites/gold/index.htm based on supporting information.• Maps: worksheets results , shaded areas.• Research skills applied to gather information, check list• Role play informal assessment on characters developed and understandings of life in the goldfields.

Resources: Map of the world, books, internet, colouring pencils, dress up cloths (optional).

Construct a Time Line

Today we will cover: Time: 40min• Significant events from 1820 – 1902 in Australia

Teaching and Learning Actions• Prompt research in pairs with book and the internet to find knowledge of when significant events happened

give a clear time frame so students can further construct their own time line.• Variation: each pair may have a certain date to research, the time line could all be joined together and

displayed in the classroom.

Activity: Time line• Draw a time line as a whole class or with partners, use books and the internet to research settlement, places

and events. • Showing 60,000 years of indigenous settlement, 1788, and dates of establishment of each settlement then

colony from 1820- 1902 showing people, places and significant events.

Assessment• Arrangement of dates, documentation of what and why events were significant.

Resources: Paper, pens, books, internet

Other ideas: Make your own Licence.

Bush RangersToday we will cover: Time

40min• Bush rangers• What were bushrangers and what did they do?• Which of the bush rangers operated in the goldfields?

Teaching and Learning Actions• Question what were bush rangers?• Why did they become well known?• What did they do and how did they live?

Activity: Bush rangers• Make a list of bush rangers• Research one of the bush rangers in depth?• What was significant about this bush ranger?• Write a journal of the bushrangers times in the goldfields.• What significant events happened? • Make a portrait of your bush ranger?

Assessment:• Assess written report, research skills applied and information collected. Have a class presentation on the different rangers researched to alow a wider

understanding of the Bush Rangers.

Resources: http://www.sbs.com.au/gold/# , The Australian Gold rush, Gold, Quest for gold.

Influences on Australian Identity and Heritage

Influences on Australian Identity and Heritage

Overview:

• In 1852 alone, 370,000 immigrants arrived in Australia and the economy of the nation boomed.

• The 'rush' was well and truly on. Victoria contributed more than one third of the world's gold output in the 1850s and in just two years the State's population had grown from 77,000 to 540,000!

• The number of new arrivals to Australia was greater than the number of convicts who had landed here in the previous seventy years. The total population trebled from 430,000 in 1851 to 1.7 million in 1871.

• The gold bullion that was shipped to London each year brought a huge flow of imports. The goldfield towns also sparked a huge boost in business investment and stimulated the market for local produce. The economy was expanding and thriving.

• Because so many people were travelling to and from the goldfields, the 1850s also saw the construction of the first railway and the operation of the first telegraphs.

Influences on Australian Identity and Heritage

Today we will cover:• The impact the gold rush had on Aboriginal people.

Teaching and Learning Actions• Allowing students to work in large groups• Get students thinking about how Aborigines felt when people were intruding their land• Don’t directly tell them, get them to brain storm with partners and then write them up on the board first

Activity: • Create a scenario with the students where they are the Aboriginal people and all of a sudden their land and food was being taken away

and they were always arguing with the gold miners. • You can decorate the room so it looks like what it would before the Europeans arrived and then get the students to destroy the space by

digging up the dirt. Using mining bomb etc.• Create conflict between the two groups with them both not being able to understand one another as they speak different languages.• Ask the students how they are feeling (both parties to get two perspectives)

Assessment• Through seeing if they understand the pain the Aboriginal people went through.• Seeing how smoothly the play goes and watching to make sure all students understood the different roles played out.

Resources:• Different rocks, leaves, sheets, sticks for scenery, shovel, “mine bombs”, food.

Other ideas:• Create a narrative from the point of view of an Aboriginal person.

Influences on Australian Identity and Heritage

Today we will cover:• The growth of the British Colonies in Australia from 1825 to 1890

Teaching and Learning Actions:• Discuss, graph and map the growth of British Colonies in Australia.

Activity: • Use you atlas to locate the places where the gold rush started in NSW, Victoria,

Western Australia and Queensland and mark them on the map using different symbols for each state. Make a key titled, Gold discoveries, and draw each symbol, the name of the place where gold was discovered and the year of the discovery.

• On the same map, after researching the internet and books, shade in the growth of the British Colonies in Australia.

Assessment:• See if they could locate the places of where gold was discovered• Check where they have shaded.

Resources:• Map of Australia, internet, coloured pencils, books Other ideas:• Make a graph of the growth of the British Colonies.

Influences on Australian Identity and Heritage

Today we will cover:• The events that lead up to the Eureka stockade and their significance in

the development of democracy.

Teaching and Learning Actions• Discussion, research, individual work.

Activity: • Read the letter titled “The Eureka Uprising” from Society and

Environment, RIC publications• Research the Eureka stockade and write your own letter home to either

you wife, family member or a friend.

Assessment• Read letters students wrote “home”• See is information is accurate• Check if different techniques were used.

Resources:• Books, plain A4

Other ideas:• Write a report on the Eureka stockade and present it to the class.

Influences on Australian Identity and Heritage

Today we will cover:• Identify influences of the gold rush era on Australia today, including:

• development of transport (e.g. roads, railways, shipping, suburban) • construction (e.g. use of materials, drainage, sewerage)

Teaching and Learning Actions:• Group work

Activity: • Split the class into four groups • give the students already written up information (10 points) on the development of roads and railways, shipping and suburban, the

development of construction materials and the production of drainage and sewerage.• Each group will make a poster on their given subject.• Each student will be doing a special job inside their group to contribute to the poster.• Including

• Writing up the heading in special writing• Drawing diagrams• Writing up six of the ten given points

• Once completed get the children to present them in front of the class so that the students learn about all of the different influences of the gold rush on Australia.

Assessment:• Through the presentation to the class• Answers to questions from peers

Resources:Posters, glue sticks, scissors, A4 paper, coloured pencils

Life on the Goldfields

Life on the GoldfieldsThis topic explores the following:

• Transport• Food• Health• Education• Clothing• Law and Order• Water• Housing• Women• Family Life

• http://www.australianhistory.org/goldfield-life.php

Today we will cover:Food during the gold rush

Teaching and Learning Actions:Students will research what food supplies were available

during the gold rush, and the cost of food to participate in a group discussion.

Activity: Using only the food which was available during the gold rush, students will develop a menu for one day. They will also need to write a shopping list and determine the cost of their groceries.

Assessment:Students will demonstrate their knowledge by providing a clearly set out menu with relevant meals of that time.

Resources: Books on the gold rush (library resources), Internet for research.

Other ideas: Compare the price of food during the gold rush to today’s prices.

Life on the Goldfields

Today we will cover:Clothing worn by the digger’s

Teaching and Learning Actions:Discussion and comparison of clothes worn during the gold rush by the diggers compared to people of today.

Activity: Now and ThenStudents are to write a list of what they would pack if they were travelling to the goldfields and write a list of what they would pack if they were going away on a holiday. In small groups the students will discuss the difference, and write a report on it.

AssessmentStudents to identify the difference between clothing needs and the difference between then to now in a written report.

Resources: Books and websites to demonstrate clothing worn.

Life on the Goldfields

Today we will cover:Women on the Goldfield and explore family life

Teaching and Learning Actions: Reading, discussions and written response.

Activity: Students to read the article on ‘Women and Family life’ on the Goldfields and participate in a group discussion about how the roles of women and family life have changed. Students to draw a timetable of what they do with their family on a typical weekend and create a timetable of what a family on the goldfields might do on their weekend. In small groups students can compare the two.

Assessment: Students will demonstrate their understanding and be assessed on the timetables they produce

Resources: Reading taken from RIC Publications (2000). Society and Environment. Workbook F. pp77-78.

Other ideas: Students to write about what comforts they would miss if you they were to go back in time to the gold fields.

Life on the Goldfields

Today we will cover: Law and Order

Teaching and Learning Actions:Research in small groups in the library with books or websites.

Activity: Each group are to research one of the following issues and prepare a presentation to share their findings with the rest of the class. - Alcohol- Procedures for staking a claim- White Australian Policy- The License System- Eureka Stockade

Assessment:Students will be assessed on their findings they present to the class.

Other ideas: Role play between the digger’s and the police.

Life on the Goldfields

More Lesson Ideas

• Write a journal entry for one day of a person living during the gold rush era

• Sketch buildings, living quarters and shops to contribute to a wall frieze of a ‘street’.

• http://www.teacherspet.net.au/resources.html great website to show students - How Gold is formed, Gold rush cooking, How to pan for gold, paper models of a Gold rush town

• Discuss the needs of the people on the gold fields. Compile a matrix showing how these needs were met. Compare this with ways our needs are met today.

• Read and analyse poetry written during the Goldrush era, for example, Roaring Days by Henry Lawson. Write your own poem.

References

Australian History Org (2006). Life on the Goldfields. Retrieved 18th http://www.australianhistory.org

BBCAP (2007). Gold, Gold, Gold. Retrieved 12th Oct 2007, http://www.cap.nsw.edu.au/bb_site_intro/stage3_Modules/gold/gold.html

Board of Studies NSW (2007). Human Society and Its Environment. Retrieved 15th October 2007http://k6.boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au

Commonwealth of Australia (2007). Education and special events at Geoscience Australia. Retrieved 10th Oct 07, http://www.ga.gov.au/education/index.jsp

Department of Primary Industries (2007), The virtual exhibition. Retrieved 12th Oct 07, http://www.dpi.vic.gov.au/virtualexhibition//gold/low5.htm

Goode, J. (1982). Every day Life in Australia: The gold rushes, Hodder and Stroughton Pty Limited, Lane Cove, NSW.

Kid Siber (2007). Gold. Retrieved 12th Oct 07, http://www.kidcyber.com.au/topics/gold.htm

National Museum of Australia Canberra (2003-2007). Gold Rush. Retrieved 12th Oct 07, www.nma.gov.au/play/learn_and_play/gold_rush/

Neutral Bay Public School (2005). Gold! Retrieved 15th October 2007. http://www.neutralbay-p.schools.nsw.edu.au/library/gold/infogold.htm

References

Newell, S. and Stubbs, B. (1999). Targeting Society and Environment: Upper Primary. Blake Education. Glebe, NSW.

Nicholson, J.(1994). Gold, Allen and Unwin Pty Ltd, St Leonards, NSW.

Price, B.J. (1972). The Australian Gold Rushes: New Days in History, Reed Education, Terry Hills, Sydney.

Victoria Cultural Collaboration (2007). Gold. Retrieved 10th Oct 07, http://www.sbs.com.au/gold/#

RIC Group (2000). Society and Environment: Workbook F. R.I.C Publications. Greenwood, WA

Shaw, M. (2004). Teacher’s Pet: The Goldrush. Retrieved 17th October 2007. http://www.teacherspet.net.au