Caddies Creek Public School WebQuest Presentations
After spending this term researching and analysing the Australian goldfields of Bathurst, Ballarat, Gympie and Charters Towers, pairs / groups of students presented oral historical recounts of their chosen goldfield to their classmates. The most outstanding presentations from each class will be posted onto this blog so that they can be shared with students from both Caddies Creek and Penrith Public Schools. We hope you will enjoy reading these recounts, which will extend your knowledge and understanding about the Australian Gold Rush period.
Happy blogging!
Mrs Scheffers
Teacher Librarian @ CCPS
17 Responses to “Caddies Creek Public School WebQuest Presentations”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
June 30th, 2008 at 9:15 am
Hi everyone!
Penrith PS students are finalising their newspaper clippings about notorious Australian bushrangers, which you can see under the tab PPS Bushranger bounties. However, you would need to be logged in under a teacher’s password until I can get Edublog’s image uploading facility working properly.
Best wishes,
Mr McLean,
Penrith PS
July 1st, 2008 at 1:41 pm
Off to Bathurst
It’s 1853 and we’re travelling to Bathurst. We’ve heard it’s full of gold and riches and we hope to strike at rich too!
As best friends we decided to go to Bathurst because it’s closer to Sydney and we’re feeling very lucky. We thought Bathurst was a good place to find gold because it’s just 83 miles away from Sydney. It seems far away but at least it’s the nearest goldfield around.
We chose Bathurst for many reasons. Compared to Ballarat, Charters Towers and Gympie it’s really a lot closer. You don’t need to pay lots and lots of money for carriages and horseback to get you there; we would just walk. Sure it would take 4 or 5 weeks, but it will be worth it when we find some sweet, sweet gold!
Many people all over the world came to Australia when they heard the gold rush started. That’s how we heard there was gold in Bathurst. Now there are at least 20,000 miners in the Bathurst mining. Some are shaft mining and some are alluvial mining. We heard they found lots of gold. We’d better be quick; we want some gold too!
The town of Bathurst is growing quickly. Workers are constructing more buildings and there will be lots of provisions on sale for us, but it will be very crowded because the goldfields are very busy.
Even though Bathurst is a great place it has some problems too. We have heard thatpeople get dehydrated from the sun and food gets filled with bugs. We hope that doesn’t happen to us.
We are prepared and we have everything we need. Off to Bathurst we go!
By Junior and Arya, Class 5Q from CCPS.
July 1st, 2008 at 1:45 pm
Bathurst
It’s 1852 and gold fever is spreading quickly across Australia. We are planning to travel by foot to the Bathurst gold fields. It is only 83 miles from Sydney and we are going to see if we can strike it lucky!
We have been travelling by foot for 2 weeks now and we are thinking about buying a horse to travel the rest of the way so we can get there faster before all of the gold is gone.
Also we are hoping there is not much competition when we get there, so we will have more chance of finding gold. After six months of planning and discussing, we chose the Bathurst gold fields. Bathurst is west of the Blue Mountains and is fairly close to Sydney. Diggers returning from the gold fields have reported large amounts of gold are easily found. We hope to find some ourselves.
Although we plan to buy most of our mining gear at Bathurst, such as shovels and pans, we have brought some supplies with us, including a tent, blankets and some food.
We are brave but we know we will face some problems like extreme weather conditions, a highly crowded goldfield, diseases and bushrangers.
We hope all our hard work will pay off!
By Blake and Lucas from CCPS
July 1st, 2008 at 1:47 pm
Gold in Ballarat
It’s October 1851 and we’re off to Ballarat and we’re confident that we will find more than 1,000 pounds of gold! Our names are Thomas Kennedy and Peter Lalor and we’re going to have so much fun!
Thomas and I are going to Ballarat and it is 497 miles ahead. We both had lots of discussion but we thought Ballarat had more gold finds because we saw in the newspaper yesterday that the ‘Welcome Nugget’ was found; it weighed exactly 68.956kg. We also thought we could be nice to many people so we could form many alliances and they might give us some gold. Though we’re still in the stagecoach we’re going to buy some supplies and we’re going to stop here for a break and rest here.
The Next Day…
We have our supplies and we are ready to leave again today. The methods that we’re going to use at the goldfields are cradling, which consists of a cradle, a spade and 2 people. We will also do some panning, which consists of a pan and puddling which consists of a bucket and a spade. We plan to also do some fossicking, which requires a brush and a bucket and sluicing which uses a sluice and needs a dam and rocks. If you’re thinking we can’t go on the goldfields because we don’t have a mining licence, you’re wrong. We were at Bathurst before and now we’ve come to Ballarat so we’ve already bought a mining licence. Ballarat is in Victoria, the disadvantage about Ballarat is there are many bushrangers.
We’re finally at Ballarat but we’re not at the goldfields yet. We’re not seeing many stores; we’re only seeing sheep farms. But what we saw the most of were people on stagecoaches, horseback or walking on foot. One man yelled at us for accidentally breaking his balsa chairs.
If we didn’t discuss the provisions before the trip we wouldn’t have any food during our trip to Ballarat. We thought we could bring tea, flour, clothing, toiletries, blankets, tents and a barrel full of water.
I’ve heard that bushrangers can kill you if you don’t give them any gold and I’ve experienced what troopers can do with you if you’ve done something wrong. Some people can be jealous, racist and violent which could cause many fights in the goldfields.
We will work hard and we hope to be as rich as Edward Hargraves!
By Mohsin and Franz from CCPS 6J
July 1st, 2008 at 1:48 pm
BATHURST HERE WE COME!
It’s 1852 and it has been a year since the gold rush began. We are going to be heading off to Bathurst to look for gold. We are very excited.
Bathurst is located over the Blue Mountains and is 83 miles away from Sydney Town. We are going by camel train as camels can carry heavy loads and it is cheaper to take a camel train.
As we are best buddies we have decided to go to Bathurst as it is closer to Sydney Town and gold has just been discovered there. We hope to strike it rich. Bathurst was discovered by Edward Hargraves. Hargraves had just come back from the Californian gold rush and didn’t find any gold there. He dreamt to start a gold rush in Australia and succeeded.
His partners John Lister and William Tom found 4 ounces of gold and Hargraves broke the news around Sydney Town. After we heard the news we thought we’d go after 12 months as it wouldn’t be as overcrowded.
Bathurst has developed since it was discovered. Many shops have been built there, so we won’t have to bring as much equipment with us from Sydney Town.
We decided to wait 12 months so we could save up our money. Also we thought we could get some tips from our friends who have come back from Bathurst and plan and discuss how we are going to travel there and what supplies we are taking.
Since 1851 Bathurst has developed so it would be easier for us to buy our mining equipment there such as a licence each, pan, pick, shovel, cradle and a bucket. We will be taking one tent, two plates, two cups, knives and forks, two blankets, some clothes, boots and some food for the trip.
We have not heard of any problems at Bathurst but we are concerned of some difficulties that may occur such as racism, bushrangers stealing our gold and harsh weather conditions.
We believe that we will hopefully strike it rich and not face major problems. We wish all of you good luck on your journey to the goldfields!
By Dilroop and Dalbir from CCPS 6J.
July 1st, 2008 at 5:43 pm
Hi Caddies Creek!
These completed WebQuest reports are excellent.
Mmmmm, Ballarat or Bathurst: both towns get so very cold, especially in winter. I wonder which location requires the most blankets to keep the gold seekers warm?
Looking forward to reading the next batch!
Regards,
Mr McLean,
Teacher-Librarian, Penrith PS
July 2nd, 2008 at 10:03 am
BALLARAT HERE WE COME
It’s 1852 and it’s cold and windy on our way to Ballarat. We have been planning our long trip for 4 months. We have now packed all of our supplies.
We have a tent that we are going to share, tea, flour, meat, blankets and a licence each so we can mine. We also have our gold mining tools including pan, shovel, pick and bucket. We have to travel 497 miles so we have borrowed a horse to get there. We are best friends and are both really excited about our trip. But we have worries about what is going to happen like bushrangers and getting in to fights.
After long discussions we chose Ballarat. We have some disadvantages about Ballarat like it’s cold at night and we don’t have many blankets and it’s a long way from Sydney. Another reason is there is limited water to drink but we know we can get through this together.
There are also advantages about Ballarat that we are excited about. For example, a very lucky miner found the Welcome Stranger nugget at Ballarat a few months ago and we are hoping to find an even bigger one. Ballarat is one of the richest goldfields and you can do both types of mining there. But we decided to do alluvial mining because shaft mining is underground and can be very dangerous because of cave-ins.
We are hoping to strike it rich and become the wealthiest people at the Ballarat goldfields!
Presented by Ashlie and Tiana 5Q
July 2nd, 2008 at 1:42 pm
Out In Bathurst
(Read in Aussie voice and slang)
G’day mates. Me name is Jake Gardener and me mate’s name is James Cutter. We’ve just left Sydney town and we’re on our way to Ballarat in a stagecoach, in the year 1851. Me and me mate are in search of gold cos we want to get in the record books, although me and me mate ain’t that interested about making money from gold cos we are already rich families. We would still like to get a bit of money if we find any gold, but we are more interested in an adventure!
As best mates we’re of to Ballarat and our trip is 497 miles long. Today is Tuesday and me drivers acting all crazy like his got an echidna up his pants! It’s a hot scorching summer’s day.
Me and me mate chose Ballarat cos it ain’t as crowded as ‘em other goldfields. Another reason of me and me mate goin’ to Ballarat, cos lot’s of ‘em famous nuggets were found in Ballarat.
Our gold methods in Ballarat are varied. Me and me mate are gonna use the cradle cos it needs two mates to work it. Me and me mate had many choices, including panning for alluvial gold, cradling for alluvial gold, shaft mining and using the pickaxe but we need muscles for that.
Today is Thursday and there are miners everywhere. We have our licences and we are permitted to mine gold. There are many camping and mining equipment stores and we are going to buy some gear. We’ve got 30 pounds with us.
Although me and me mate arrived safely, we are concerned about the problems we might have to face. Some of the problems include overcrowding, diseases spreading or getting shot by troopers or bushrangers.
Although these problems are in our way, we still hope we find the largest nugget ever seen so me and me mate are in the record books!
Presented by Momin and Billy 6S @ CCPS
July 2nd, 2008 at 1:50 pm
TRYING OUR LUCK AT BALLARAT!
It’s September 1855 and were off to Ballarat goldfields in Victoria. From the first time we heard there was gold in Ballarat, we started planning our trip to the goldfields.
We will have to travel 497 miles by horse to get there. We heard that there was plenty of gold for us to find. The Welcome Nugget, which was found in Ballarat, weighed 69 kg. Maybe we will find a nugget the same size or even bigger! Maybe the size of a bullock or even an elephant!
As a team we’ve been organising the things we need to take and discuss the problems we might face. We will need to take a tent to share, 2 blankets, cutlery, plates and not much food because it’s too expensive. We also need water, flour to make bread, matches and a lot of tea. We will also need mining equipment and a gold license so we can dig for gold.
Now the hard part is the problems that we might face, such as getting robbed. We’d like to see the look on the robbers’ faces if they try to rob us! We also have to take care of our food so it doesn’t go off and get maggots in it.
There is also concern about the ongoing problems of the Eureka stockade, which took place on Sunday the third of September, 1854. Many miners revolted against the government and police, over the Overcrowding has resulted in sickness and unhygienic condititions. We will have to keep our self healthy and safe. High prices for suplies may be problem as well.
Bad luck to the other miners digging for gold in Ballarat, because we will find it all!!!
BY John and Bailey Class 6S @CCPS
July 2nd, 2008 at 1:52 pm
OFF TO BATHURST!
It’s 1852, and the news of gold has quickly spread through out Australia, with people from all over the world joining the rush for gold.
As mates, we are going to join up and try our luck on the Bathurst goldfields. Bathurst is in central NSW and is 83 miles away from Sydney town.
We chose Bathurst because it is not far from Sydney and it’s a large place for mining gold. In 1851, Edward Hargraves, John Lister and William Tom made a magnificent partnership, discovering Australia first gold nugget.
Many people found gold with different mining methods, including panning, puddling, cradling and many more. Bathurst has many stores, including meat stores, blacksmiths and a hotel.
We are taking 1 tent, 3 blankets, mining tools and some money with us to the goldfields. We might face thieves stealing our gold and racial fighting. We’ve heard that people have died or have been murdered by bushrangers.
We’re hoping to strike it rich at the Bathurst goldfields and good luck to other Bathurst miners!
BY: NASI, MATAIO AND REAGAN Class 6S CCPS
July 4th, 2008 at 1:08 pm
WE’RE OFF TO BATHURST!
It’s so hot! I’m thirsty, tired and hungry!
I’m Vanii and this is my friend Jaimi and we’re on our way to Bathurst to try our luck at striking it rich. But at this rate I’ll be surprised if we ever get there because we’ve already walked 23 miles and there’s still another sixty miles to go!
Unfortunately we spent most of our money on provisions which were… a cradle, shovel, and tent for each of us, blankets, clothes, mutton, flour, tea, cutlery, bowls and plates so, we didn’t have enough money to buy a horse which is why we are walking.
Oh look! The compass says that we only have another 13 miles to go but can you imagine if we had to walk all the way from Sydney to Charters Towers or Gympie, we’d have to spend a fortune! We think we made the right decision to go to Bathurst. Don’t you?
Do you know what; I heard that in Ballarat they have really bad smells and crowded areas. I wonder if it is like that in Bathurst? I think I remember reading about Bathurst being crowded but the smells aren’t so bad. But we could lose our miner’s licence because it may fall out of our pockets or we could even get robbed by a bushranger or another miner because they can’t find gold or they have run out of money.
There are several reasons for our decision to go to Bathurst. You don’t need to buy as much mining equipment because you only need a cradle and a shovel. Plus we only have to walk a relatively short distance so we don’t actually need a horse, but it would be nice.
So we think with all the preparation and planning we have done, we will be ready to hit the goldfields and maybe even strike it rich, so then we could ride a horse home! (Laugh)
Oh look there’s the gold fields now!
Presented by Jaimi and Vanii 5/6L @ CCPS
July 4th, 2008 at 1:21 pm
OFF TO BALLARAT!
It’s mid 1850 we are off to Ballarat to try our luck on the goldfields. We are about 3 days into our trip and we are soon leaving Bendigo and walking the rest of the way to Ballarat which is at least a week’s walk.
Last month we thought we would research a few goldfields and we eventually decided on Ballarat because it was one of the closest goldfields and it has lots of extra facilities and entertainment like boxing competitions, grog tents, schools, dancers and a circus!
When we back in Sydney we bought all the necessary supplies such as picks, cradles and pans. We then bought tea, lots of flour to make damper, mutton and 20L of water. We bought a tent, blankets, miners license and once we had all the supplies we bought a 2nd tent with the leftover money. Once we had all the supplies, we came across the problem that we wouldn’t be able to carry it all so we teamed up with a friend to buy a horse and a cart that we will sell when we arrive.
We’ve been travelling for a day now from Bendigo and we are discussing the problems that we are going to face. We have discussed that we had to be aware of bushrangers and greedy miners who might steel our or our gold if we find any that is. We also think that we might not have enough food to last us the entire trip, so we may have to take up a few days work on a farm in exchange for some extra food. We know the Ballarat goldfields will be overcrowded and we may have to be aware of ex-convicts.
We can’t wait to get there and we hope we strike it rich so that we can live happily with our families!
Presented by: Adriel and Mia, 5/ 6L @ CCPS
July 24th, 2008 at 1:46 pm
Hi everyone!
Penrith PS students have finished their newspaper clippings about notorious Australian bushrangers, which you can now see under the tab PPS Bushranger bounties.
Best wishes,
Mr McLean,
Penrith PS
July 25th, 2008 at 1:36 pm
Our Journey to Ballarat
It is 1852 and here we are, my best friend and I, on our way to Victoria on our horses to try our luck at Ballarat. We have chosen Ballarat because of Bakery Hill is one of the richest Austrtalian goldfields.
Although it is 497 miles away from Sydney Town, there are still some reasons why we are travelling this far to Ballarat. Firstly we have already talked to miners who have returned from Ballarat. These are the provisions they recommended us to take. A tent which we will share, strong leather boots, utensils, blankets and money. They also advised us to purchase a gold licence each, a pick and shovel, food and a cradle if we have enough money left.
There are many types of mining techniques that Nicky’s uncle told us about like panning, digging, underground mining, washing gravel and cradling but he said that panning and underground mining were the most popular methods in Ballarat.
As we had read in certain daily newspapers, 28 miners had been murdered by police. We were also notified by other miners that there was poor air ventilation, less water for alluvial mining and a large amount of danger.
Although we are afraid of the possible dangers we hope to find gold like John Dunlop and James Regan did last year.
Presented by Nicky and Kudzayi Class 5R CCPS
July 25th, 2008 at 1:42 pm
Off to Bathurst
It’s 1825 and Josh and I have decided to try our luck at the goldfields. After a while of research we decide to go to Bathurst, where James McBrien found gold in 1823.
We are packing for our trip and we are confident that we will strike it lucky ‘cause we’ve heard that many miners have struck gold there. Bathurst is 83 miles from here which means that we will have to pack lots of food, some money, tools for mining and camping gear.
Josh and I have hired a stage coach and are on our way to Bathurst. We are now an hour into our trip and suddenly we jolt to a stop; the horses have seen something. It’s a bushranger!
We calm the horses down in an urgent effort to get away and then get them galloping as fast as they can go.
Nick and I escape the bushranger but I know that there are lots more dangers to come on our trip to Bathurst.
Presented by Nick and Josh Class 5O CCPS
July 25th, 2008 at 1:45 pm
Ballarat…here we come!
It’s February, 1855, two months after the Eureka Stockade and another Gold Rush has just started. We are deciding to go to a gold field and have confidence that we will come home in a healthy shape and will have found some precious gold.
As good friends, we have decided to partner up. After our recent research on different gold fields, we have chosen Ballarat (which is in Victoria) for the reasons we are about to say. We have also decided to stay for four weeks at the gold field. Ballarat is closer to Sydney compared to Charters Towers and Gympie, which are in Queensland.
After talking to other people and seeing articles in the newspaper, we believe that Ballarat is one of the richest gold fields. One of our friends has lent us a coach to go 375 miles on the way there. For the other 120 miles, we will stop in the nearby town and hire two horses.
While we are at the nearby town, we will be buying 1 large tent for us to share, along with some blankets so we will be warm and comfortable. We will also be taking our own provisions like utensils such as 2 mugs, cutlery (knives, forks etc), a plate each and some spare pairs of clothes. Most importantly, we need of bottles water and some examples of food we will bring are mutton, damper and tea.To cure some injuries we might come across we will bring a first aid kit which includes bandages and cream.
The gold methods we will be using are panning and picking. The equipment needed for these activities is a bucket, a light, a gold pan, a pick, two pairs of gloves and a shovel.
We are worried we might face some possible problems such as running out of water. With all the garbage around, it will be impossible to work because o0f the horrible smell. Because toilets are just holes in the ground, we could catch some contagious diseases.
Now I am going to tell you an interesting fact we have found about Ballarat. Did you know that 600oz of gold was found in 6 days? That proves that there is plenty of gold to be found at the gold field.
As we have already mentioned, we hope to come back home in a healthy shape and we are really confident of striking it rich!
Presented by Simran and Renee Class 5R CCPS
July 25th, 2008 at 1:55 pm
OFF TO GYMPIE !!!
As best friends we have decided to try our luck at Gympie – one of Australia’s richest goldfields. We have heard there is still alot more gold to be found. After talking it through we have decided to go together.
We are still in Sydney and will be leaving next month. We are both very excited but should be careful of hurting ourselves. We will be using these mining methods: cradling, panning, and sluicing. As these methods are quite hard we will give it 110%. We will be travelling by coach then horse. It wil take a long time to get to Gympie as it is approximately 935 km from Sydney Town.
We hope we will find the precious yellow metal, and hopefully come back in one piece; we will come back with at least a couple of nuggets and some gold shavings or specks for our family.
At Gympie we hope we will have a great time and try not to get involved in any conflicts.
Presented by Olivia and Amy Class 5O CCPS