On Friday 28th May, Year 5 all travelled to the Bathurst Goldfields to learn about the Australian Gold Rush. We participated in a range of interesting activities, which included mud-brick making, damper baking and panning for gold! We experienced the hardships of panning for gold in the freezing water pools! Embracing the cold and chilly conditions at Bathurst was definitely worth it, as we found many little flecks of gold! It was great fun!!
Our goldfield tour guide, Barry, was a funny man. Barry was very entertaining and told us many amusing stories from when he was a young gold digger. Barry helped us to understand what daily life in colonial Australia was like. From Barry’s interesting stories we were able to reflect on the contribution that early migrants made to Bathurst and other colonial areas in Australia.
Barry also helped us to understand the role of women and children on the goldfields. We learnt how women and children arrived and established their homes on the goldfields. Barry also told us about the chores that children were responsible for on the goldfields-very different times to our lives today!
In the afternoon we all had great fun in the Blacksmith’s Forge, working the bellows. Throughout the day, we also participated in a range of fun games that children used to play during the gold rush. At the end of the day we visited the goldfield museum. It was very interesting to look at the many colonial household objects inside the museum. The bus trip was great fun and we enjoyed being with our friends. We all agree though that the best part of the day was panning for gold! It was a great day of fun and learning.
Penelope & Sanja
---------------------------------
