~ GOLD ~



Entertainment on the goldfields Sport on the gold fields Theatre Lola Montez Gustavus Brooke The Inimitable Mr Thatcher Melbourne a cultural Mecca Art of the gold fields Edwin Roper Loftus Stocqueler Emil Todt George Lacy Charles Augustus Doudiet S.T. Gill (1818-1880) Indigenous artistic legacy Richard Daintree: Photographer

SBS > Gold > Arts and Entertainment

The Australian gold rushes attracted artists and performers from all over the world. They created a thriving cultural scene and left a legacy of knowledge about the gold rush era.

Entertainment on the goldfields
On the goldfields, diggers worked hard and played hard. Desperate for diversion, they embraced whatever literature, art and music they could find.

Sport on the gold fields
Sport was a rough and ready pastime that rarely involved a break for tea.
Theatre
Theatre offered escapism, but only to the lucky diggers who could afford it.
Lola Montez
Lola Montez was as famous for her lovers as she was for her dancing.
Gustavus Brooke
The well known "Father of the Drama" was immensely popular on the gold fields.
The Inimitable Mr Thatcher
The "Colonial Minstrel" amused diggers with his humorous ditties about life on the gold fields.
Melbourne a cultural Mecca
Legislators in Victoria had a vision of Melbourne as a centre for arts, culture and education.
Art of the gold fields
Artists of the gold fields ranged in ability from professional artists to absolute amateurs.
Edwin Roper Loftus Stocqueler
Much of Edwin Stocqueler's legacy to the Australian gold rush was lost, relegating him to artistic obscurity.
Emil Todt
German sculptor Emil Todt captured the essence of mateship in his famous piece The gold diggers.
George Lacy
George Lacy portrayed life on the gold fields in a comical and humorous manner, often making light of the harsh realities.
Charles Augustus Doudiet
Charles Doudiet's sketchbook provide us with the only visual accounts by an eyewitness of the unfolding drama of the Eureka Stockade.
S.T. Gill (1818-1880)
S.T. Gill was once known as the "artist of the goldfields" for his detailed portrayals of everyday life on the diggings.
Indigenous artistic legacy
Drawings by a young Indigenous boy named Oscar remain as an extremely rare Aboriginal record of Queensland during the gold rush.
Richard Daintree: Photographer
Richard Daintree and French photographer Antoine Fauchery collaborated on Sun Pictures of Victoria a groundbreaking photographic series of Australian scenes.

Australian soldiers were called diggers, as many men who fought for Australia in WWI were diggers from the goldfields.

"Gold is not found in quartz alone; its richest lodes are in the eyes and ears of the public."
Samuel Butler.

It is estimated that at least 20% of all the gold mined since 1500 has been wrung from the earth during only fifty years' worth of gold rushes in the nineteenth century.

A 150th anniversary is a sesquicentenary.

In the first few years of Victoria's life as an independent colony, the Victorian Government sold �4,500,000 worth of Aboriginal land.

The Incas called gold the "sweat of the sun", while the Aztecs and the Mayans called it "the excrement of the sun".

A census of the Kimberly gold fields showed unqualified practitioners such as faith healers, tonic sellers and clairvoyants out-numbered legally qualified doctors three-to-one.

Australia now mines about 300 tonnes of gold annually � worth about $4.5million � making it the third-largest producer in the world, after South Africa and the United States. Gold is Australia�s second largest export after coal.

In 1965 archaeologists discovered the "Ramlah Hoard" � a collection of gold dinars and ingots dating from 761 to 976 � at Ramlah, near Jerusalem.

Gold fingerprinting technology, developed in Australia to help police trace the origin of stolen gold, is now being used to determine the origin of archaeological artefacts.