Diggers & Mining. Diggers and miners. We could illustrate the migratory nature of the diggings population if we could compile graphs showing the numbers of diggers on each diggings at regular intervals during the gold rush. But this is impossible because of the incompleteness and inconsistencies of the official records. The numbers of licences (September, 1851 - March, 1855) and (there-after) of miner's rights issued are of little use. Why? Markings: 47 994:LIF I. Used as a teaching aid.hanimounteducation, tertiary, goldfields

Diggers & Mining. Diggers and miners. Many diggers not only moved from field to field, but alternated between gold digging and other occupations. Slide; THE STATE OF VICTORIA - - - Gold digging and other sorts of labour have arrived at a sort of equilibrium; and streams of people are now flowing from the one occupation to the others, and visa versa. A few weeks ill luck at Bendigo disgust a man with his auriferous well sinking and he goes into some sort of service. A dispute with his master chiming in with some current takes of mining success sends him back to the diggings again; and so the stream flows backwards and forwards keeping - - - the wages of all kinds of labour at an equilibrium - - - (M.M.H., August 19, 1853) Markings: 46 994:LIF I. Used as a teaching aid.hanimounteducation, tertiary, goldfields

Diggers & Mining. Diggers and miners. At the Caledonian Diggings (near Warrandyte), 1855. Slide; Slab hut with gold cradle amongst the trees. Markings: 45 994:LIF I. Used as a teaching aid.hanimounteducation, tertiary, goldfields

Diggers & Mining. Diggers and miners. S.T.G. On the way to a new rush. - - - or, in the case of the bug rushes, in their hundreds and thousands. Slide depicts miners with their horses and belongings of to the next gold rush. Markings: 39 994:LIF I. Used as a teaching aid.hanimounteducation, tertiary, goldfields

Diggers & Mining. Stores at the diggings. ''Rates of carriage to Mount Alexander had generally ranged between £10 and 20 per ton. As winter drew on, these rates, began alarmingly to advance. The Bendigo goldfields . . . Were at this time the great focus of attention. To this locality, where it was said 40,000 persons were at one time assembled during the month of June, the rates of carriage rose successively to £80, £100, and £120 per ton, and contracts were said to have been freely made at still higher rates, even at £150 per ton. £3 to £4 per week with rations were promptly given to good bullock drivers who were disposed to undertake the protracted and adventurous charge of a provision dray. At the diggings, the course of prices had been for some time on the upward move, in anticipation of the winter's scarcity. A tent full of stores was second only to a tent full of gold itself. Flour which could be purchased in Melbourne at £24 per ton was sold at Bendigo for £20 per bag of 200lbs., or at the rate of £200 for the ton of 2,000lbs., weight'' Markings: 40 994.LIF. 5. Used as a teaching aid.hanimount

The hospital was first mooted in 1853. The first site chosen was "Hospital Hill" between Rowan and Mackenzie Streets and behind the present Lister House School of Nursing. The first building was a primitive affair of slab and weatherboard daubed with clay somewhere near the middle of the present Short St - which at the time extended to the brow of the hill behind the Sacred Heart Cathedral site. The new building was greatly need to serve the hundreds of diggers then active on the field. Messrs Vahland and Gezchmann, Architects, designed a new building of stone and brick, the cenre portion of the hospital to hold 100 beds. This centre portion cost 12,000 pounds and was erected in three months. Patients were transferred from the old site on Hospital Hill to the new building in December 1858.Black and White photo negative of the front of the hospital; Notes on the History of "The Bendigo Gold District Hospital"; letters re classification by the National Trust of Australia (Victoria).history, national trust bendigo collection, bendigo, bendigo base hospital, bnedigo hospital, bnedigo gold district hospital

Diggers & Mining. The gold licence. The Government Camp. Slide: Diggers Licensing at Castlemaine Camp, 1852. Slide shows sketch by STG, has wooden structure for Commissioner, tent in background for miner, and miners. The Commissioner and his men are also in the picture. Markings: 12 994.LIF. 4. Used as a teaching aid.hanimounteducation, tertiary, goldfields

Diggers & Mining. The gold licence. The Government Camp. Slide: and was paid in cash. Shows Commissioner handing out Gold Licences. Markings: 10 994.LIF. 4. Used as a teaching aid.hanimounteducation, tertiary, goldfields

Diggers & Mining. The gold licence. The Government Camp. Slide: Pensioners, Forest Creek. The licence was obtained from the licence office at the Commissioner's headquarters. Slide shows Commissioner and an officer outside the Licence Tent. Markings: 9 994.LIF. 4. Used as a teaching aid.hanimounteducation, tertiary, goldfields

Diggers & Mining. The gold licence. The Government Camp. Slide: This commissioner is settling a dispute between two parties of diggers. Slide also shows another officer and a number of mining sites, along with almost barren hills in the background. Markings: 8 994.LIF. 4. Used as a teaching aid.hanimounteducation, tertiary, goldfields

Diggers & Mining. The gold licence. The Government Camp. Slide: By Tulloch. Commissioner's Tent. Mt. Alexander, 1851. A Union Jack was flown to denote the headquarters of a Commissioner. Slide depicts tents, flag, police, and diggers. Markings: 7 994.LIF. 4. Used as a teaching aid.hanimounteducation, tertiary, goldfields

Diggers & Mining. The gold licence. The Government Camp.. Slide: At first, Goldfields Commissioners and their staffs were quartered in tents. Here the Commissioner in Ballarat in 1851 (Armstrong) is seen at the door of his tent. [Strutt] Commissioner's Tent, Ballarat, 1851. Slide shows Commissioners tent, a horse and staff. Markings: 6 994.LIF:4. Used as a teaching aid.hanimounteducation, tertiary, goldfields

Diggers & Mining. The gold licence. The Government Camp.. Slide reads: The licence was obtained from the headquarters of a Goldfields Commissioner. Goldfields Commissioners were appointed to the principal diggings to uphold law and order on the field, to settle disputes between diggers and to issue licences. Markings:5 994.LIF:4. Used as a teaching aid.hanimounteducation, tertiary, goldfields

Diggers & Mining. The gold licence. The Government Camp.. When the fee was reduced to 1 pound for 1 month, 2 pounds for 3 months, 4 pounds for 6 months, and 8 pounds for 12 months. Slide shows a Gold licence for 3 months. Issued 6 April 1864. Markings:4 994.LIF:4. Used as a teaching aid.hanimounteducation, tertiary, goldfields

Diggers & Mining. The gold licence. The Government Camp.. The licence fee was thirty shillings a month till the end of 1853; Slide shows a copy of a Gold Licence. Markings:3 994.LIF:4. Used as a teaching aid.hanimounteducation, tertiary, goldfields

Diggers & Mining. The gold licence. . The Government Camp.. From September, 1851, till June, 1855, the digger, to ''dig, search for, and remove''' gold on or from Crown lands, had to obtain a licence to the purpose. Markings:2 994.LIF:4. Used as a teaching aid.hanimounteducation, tertiary, goldfields

Diggers & Mining. The gold licence. The Government Camp. Life And Work At The Diggings, Section 3, The Gold Licence . . . The Government Camp Markings:1 994.LIF:4. Used as a teaching aid.hanimounteducation, tertiary, goldfields

Diggers & Mining. The Diggings The Diggers. Slide: This graph shows the approximate average annual earnings of the Victorian diggers during the gold decade. (1851 to 1861). Markings: 82 994.LIF:4. Used as a teaching aid.hanimounteducation, tertiary, goldfields

Diggers & Mining. The Diggings The Diggers. Slide: Sketch of 2 miners one with a gold pan. Gold digging was a gamble. Some diggers did well; a few made their fortunes. Markings: 78 994.LIF:4. Used as a teaching aid.hanimounteducation, tertiary, goldfields

Diggers & Mining. The Diggings The Diggers. Slide: MOUNT ALEXANDER. (From our special correspondent) Forest Creek, August 28, 1852. - . . . The diggers at the Bendigo are getting up a subscription for a testimonial for Mr. Gilbert, the Assistant Commissioner there. The present is to be a gold cup, filled with nuggets of gold. Between 200 pounds and 300 pounds has already been subscribed, and from the respect and esteem in which that gentleman is held, there is every prospect of a large amount being speedily obtained . . . I think this will be a lesson for some of our government officials, to bestir themselves and endeavour to merit the esteem of the public. . . . (Argus, September 9, 1852.) Markings: 77 994.LIF:4. Used as a teaching aid.hanimounteducation, tertiary, goldfields

Diggers & Mining. Getting the Gold. Slide: Map of Victoria. Victoria - Government reservoirs on the goldfields, 1860. Letters on map relate to the position of the reservoirs standpipes. And from these standpipes the diggers took water to their claims, either by carting it or running it through small races. Markings: 72 994.LIF:4. Used as a teaching aid.hanimounteducation, tertiary, goldfields

Diggers & Mining. Getting the Gold. Slide: In 1860, the Victorian Government began the construction of Reservoirs on some important gold fields. In that year, 29 small reservoirs were built (see next map); thereafter, more were constructed (there were 38 of them in 1868). These reservoirs supplied water to small gold fields towns, and to the gold mines in and near them. But pipes were laid to stand-pipes on nearby diggings (remember that by this time the number of independent diggers was declining rapidly) Markings: 71 994.LIF:4. Used as a teaching aid.hanimounteducation, tertiary, goldfields

Diggers & Mining. Getting the Gold. Slide: This sketch (from the diary of Edward Snell, in the Public Library of Victoria) shows such a pile of washdirt at Bendigo in 1852. Markings: 67 994.LIF:4. Used as a teaching aid.hanimounteducation, tertiary, goldfields

Diggers & Mining. Getting the Gold. Slide: others would purchase limited supplies of water from water carriers; Picture from Mitchell Library (by S T G) shows miners of the gold field. Markings: 66 994.LIF:4. Used as a teaching aid.hanimounteducation, tertiary, goldfields

Diggers & Mining. Getting the Gold. Slide: For all these operations, the digger was completely dependent on adequate supply of water; if a creek dried up, some diggers would move to another gully; some would go home for a holiday; Markings: 68 994.LIF:4. Used as a teaching aid.hanimounteducation, tertiary, goldfields

Diggers & Mining. Getting the Gold. Slide: On some fields, but notably at Ballarat and Daylesford, the diggers soon began building water races from streams and springs, and running the race water into small reservoirs near their claims. (Water races, as we have seen, were also constructed all over the Ovens field for sluicing purposes.) Later in the gold decade, the building of water races went on space - chiefly by large co-operative groups of diggers engaged in small scale mining operations. Markings: 69 994.LIF:4. Used as a teaching aid.hanimounteducation, tertiary, goldfields

Diggers & Mining. Getting the Gold. Slide: MEMS FROM THE MOUNT - But in spite of all these wonderful golden discoveries, day after day, the grand desideratum is wanting - water, and with the amazing population rushing into these fields. I am surely afraid of very serious consequences arising . . . . As much as 30s. a barrel is now being paid I some of these gullies for water, and the price is likely to increase. Near to every tent you will see great heaps of washing stuff up, waiting for the first rains; one friend of mine has 400 cartloads this piled up, which he calculates will yield about 3 ounces to the load, and he and his mates still keep adding to their monstrous heap. (M.M.H., June 14, 1853.) . . .while others would spend the dry weeks heaping up ''stuff'' to be treated when the stream flowed again Markings: 68 994.LIF:4. Used as a teaching aid.hanimounteducation, tertiary, goldfields

Diggers & Mining. Getting the Gold. Slide: Hydraulic sluicing was commenced, too, during the middle fifties. Markings: 64 994.LIF:4. Used as a teaching aid.hanimounteducation, tertiary, goldfields

Diggers & Mining. Getting the Gold. Slide: The heavier sands and the gold were left in ''riffles'' in the sluices, whence they were taken and paned off. Large claims were granted to men engaged in sluicing, and the operations were generally conducted by a party of men on a share-and-share-alike basis. Markings: 63 994.LIF:4. Used as a teaching aid.hanimounteducation, tertiary, goldfields

Diggers & Mining. Getting the Gold. Slide: The washdirt was shovelled into the sluices, and the flow of water carried away the clay and lighter sands. Markings: 62 994.LIF:4. Used as a teaching aid.hanimounteducation, tertiary, goldfields