History Essay: The Australian Gold Rush
The Australian Gold Rush was often described as the “making of a country.” The Gold Rush was undeniably one of the most significant events in the history of Australia. In May 1851, the first grain of gold was discovered in Australia (Australian Government, 2015). This discovery led to the boom of Australia's economy. Prior to the discovery, Australia was a lawless unknown prison colony because of committed crimes from England. The Australian Gold Rush also brought in multiculturalism and population, it also created the wealth of Australia’s economy of today. If the Australian Gold Rush did not exist, Australia would have been a whole different nation. The Gold Rush also played a major role, leading to
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The Gold Rush was often described as the making of a country, as it was the leading factor of wealth to Australia’s economy. According to the Australian Government, Victoria contributed to one-third of the world’s gold output, which meant that just the gold industry accumulated to more than 18 million dollars to the Australian economy (Australian Government, 2015). In January 1925, Australia economy was halted by a gold standard known as the Bretton-Woods gold-US dollar exchange system to restrict money supply. Given that many of the world’s countries were operating on a gold standard, the gold in Australia was largely controlled by central banks which limited individuals to buy and sell gold. It was not until 1971, with the collapse of the gold system, which formed a new growth …show more content…
It also brought multiculturalism, racism which all contribute Australia’s identity; the making of a country. It is clear that Australia would not have a high and successful status if the Gold Rush did not occur. To this day, the one imperative discovery of gold by Edward Hargraves was the beginning of this country to shape a new
This was Australia’s first major Gold rush. This event was a first major gathering of all different races in the Australian olden days. On the Ballarat diggings there were corrupt Joes, which kept the law in force, however, these Joes were demanding and rude especially to the
The gold rush of the 1850’s had a major and lasting impact on Australia and changed it forever. Before gold was discovered Australia was a lawless prison colony. Less than fifty years after gold was discovered, Australia had been transformed into an independent country. The gold rush helped increase the population, which helped bring social, cultural development and democratic government.
Australia became a commonwealth of the British Empire in 1901. It was able to take advantage of its natural resources to rapidly develop its agricultural and manufacturing industries and to make a major contribution to the British effort in World Wars I and II. Now, Australia has a prosperous Western-style capitalist economy, with a per capita GDP at the level of the four dominant West European economies. Rich in natural resources, Australia is a major exporter of agricultural products, minerals, metals, and fossil fuels.
It has been argued that after World War 1, Australia gained more than it lost. Even though there were many lives lost during the war, these losses didn’t hold Australia back as a country. Australia was fortunate enough to come out of the war with more than they put into the war. Some of these gains are - There economy boomed, the relationship between Australia and Britain was stronger, the women replaced the men's jobs, many immigrants were encouraged to migrate to Australia. Although Australia gained many things they still lost a lot. These were things such as Australia spent a lot of money, they lost many troops and lost trade with Germany. Although Australia lost some things, they were outweighed by the things they
The patterns of change and continuity in Australia at the time of federation influenced Australia to become its own nation through the creation of the Australian identity. At time of Federation, the majority of people living in the Australian colonies were Australian-born. Colonists were also starting to see themselves as Australian, not as British. This meant people wanted their own identity that didn’t link back to Britain. The way of life in Australia helped build the identity, which was shaped by its differences to the typical Britain life. This was affected by the native flora and fauna, the weather and activities, sports and hobbies. There was also a change in the styles of literature and art, becoming more specifically Australian. This contributed to the growing national identity. For example, the popular oil canvas painting named Near Heidelburg by Arthur Streeton (Source 4.41, page 196, Oxford Big Ideas Australian Curriculum History 9) depicts the grasslands of Australia, and shows how people dressed accordingly to the weather. The change of the crops grown in Australia due to the climate, impacted the lifestyle of the people living in the colonies. This is a different landscape to Britain’s, where most of the population had
The gold rush era was a significant event in Australian history. The Australian gold rush first started during May 1851 in Bathurst after Edward Hargraves found a grain of gold in a waterhole. The gold rush was a period of time for immigration of workers locally and from overseas and marked the start of significant changes in the Australian economy.
In the 1850s, during the gold rush period, Italian communities were established in Victoria and Western Australia. When the gold ran out, many Italians moved to work in other parts of Australia.
Though the goldfields did provide a clean slate and removed much racial tension by giving everyone a command ground to run from, some still held their previous beliefs that they were superior to other cultures. This is evident in Source 2, which said, "…he had mislead me because he thought I was a German." Other sources of racism include the initial attitude of Australia and the "White Australia Policy" and the Mongolian Octopus cartoon, which accompanied many other similar illustrations. Source 1 clearly back the multiculturalism of the goldfields, saying, "Their outward appearance does not signify their previous importance, worth of mental attainments." Multiculturalism, although normally associated with an accepting community, is not necessarily the case, as it is only the act of having many cultures in one jurisdiction. Eventually, the multicultural views did take place in Australia, which was caused by the influx of foreign citizens because of the gold rush, even though it was not initially successful. Source 2 also casts another view on the instability of the racial beliefs and attitudes, "Many a one would not, a short while before, bother to look at a fellow with whom he now works." This shows how many, if not the majority of the diggers put their racial prejudice behind them and found that the others were not, in fact all that different from
First, I would like to consider the economic theory behind the gold rush and explain why on the surface; it is quite simple. Consider a modern theoretical case. Say a family of four is living in Cincinnati, Ohio and the main earner of the family works for a tool manufacturing company in Cincinnati. Suppose that the company decides during their yearly employee reviews that they aren’t going to give this certain individual a pay raise for the next year; also suppose that the employee does not see themselves climbing up the pay scale any further. Now suppose that this person is offered a thirty thousand dollar per year raise if they move out to Los Angeles, California for a new machine related job. Assuming
During the late 1700-1800s australia was made up of separate colonies, a country struggling to stay intact, low food supply and numerous convicts entering Australia. Throughout the 1700-1800s sutian reform changes have allowed the thriving development of Australia to be a completed country, such as the wool industry and gold rush.
Following the creation of a desirable Australia was the writing of a specific historical narrative by
The Idea of republicanism ad revolution was at play before the Eureka Stockade, but the Eureka Stockade became a republican symbol because it contained the stirrings of a new sense of Australian Nationalism. The British government feared attempts to establish a republic in Australia. With the large population of miners, there were many individuals of different backgrounds, views and strengths which impacted the issues of republicanism and revolution. With the event of the Eureka, Stockade Britain sent troops and support to help establish peace again within the communities. They wanted to make sure that the idea of revolution would be put aside. Unfortunately, this was not the case as the members of the societies already had the feeling for
From the underhanded acts of dispossession to the unintentional carriage of diseases, European settlement had an significant impact on the indigenous people of Australia. With neither party backing down and the indigenous people being throughly disadvantaged with their lack of technology, it is easy to say that the European settlement of Australia had a significant impact on them. Along with convicts and new technology, the First Fleet in 1788 also brought many diseases to the shores of the unknown land that is now called Australia. A disease like influenza that is now non-fatal in the modern era was deadly back in the day, even to the Europeans who had the more advanced technology at the time.
Australia was a country that was very British in not only population but also the way of society. Anyone not British was expected to fit in with the British culture. Aboriginal people and migrants were expected, and forced, to give up their own heritage and adopt the culture of the British. Many British people living in Australia were scared of new cultures changing the way of life. They believed that new races would weaken the culture.
There was a huge influence of people to the Victorian goldfields, but businessmen, tradesmen, labourers - the very backbone of Australia, together with many of the state's own administrators abandoned their jobs to go and mine for gold. This caused many people to lose their jobs, and no one could fill them in. After the gold rush there were many moreNew rules, policies and legislation were implemented, giving Australia more of an understanding of how to draft future legislation and, indeed, its own constitution.