This term the year 5’s had camp at Sovereign Hill and in this blog post, I am going to tell you what I did and tell you some interesting facts.
Life in the 1800’s
Life in the 1800’s was really hard for some people because there was a gold rush and everyone was digging for gold and had really bad housing. Because of the gold rush, everyone from all countries came to Australia, Ballarat to dig for gold. Some people had really bad food and water. There are also little children at the gold rush and 1/4 of children below 5 years old died because of the diseases in the food at the gold rush.
1800’s businesses
But, not everyone at the gold rush were miners, there are also shops for the miners. One of the main shops was the Blacksmith. That is where you bought your tools to dig for gold. The Apothecary was also really important because that’s where you sold medicines to cure diseases. The doctors were there too but back then, the doctors were pretty useless.
Eureka Stokade
At December 3rd 1854 the Eureka Stockade happened. The gold miners and the policeman had a fight about the gold license that the miners needed to pay to gold mine. Each license costed 30 shillings which was a lot of money back then. They wanted their rights, liberty and freedom so they wanted a war. The miners built a wooden wall to protect themselves from the police man. The fight lasted no longer than 20 minutes and 25 mens died in the war.
Famous Important Figures
In the 1850’s there were several important figures. One that stands out is called Peter Lalor who changed life for all the miners. He gave the right to let the miners vote. On December the 3rd, Peter Lalor gathered all the miners and burnt their gold mining license. They raised the flag of the Southern Cross and Peter Lalor said, “ We swear by the Southern Cross to fight for our rights and liberty.” He was also the one who started the Eureka Stockade .
PLA’s
Some plan I showed while making the diorama is IMAGINATION,COMMUNICATION, COLLABORATION, RESILIENCE. I show imagination by imagining how the diorama looks and design with my hardworking partner, Sylvie. I showed communication by talking to Sylvie and discussing about the diorama. I also used collaboration because when Sylvie and I were building the diorama, we needed to collaborate. I showed resilience in the diorama project because at the start, Sylvie and I were a bit behind. Sylvie and I tried and tried and the diorama came out amazing and better looking than most ones.
Challenges Faced
Some challenges Sylvie and I faced was when we were a bit behind in the diorama. We were too busy making it perfect so we wasted lots of time. When we just finished our structure, most people finished their diorama already. One day, we decided to concentrate and catch up. The next two days, I wasn’t at school because I was very, very sick. But luckily, the wonderful Sylvie took the diorama home and worked on it. When I came back on Monday, the diorama was looking fantastic!
Overall Reflection
I had lots of fun this term with the gold rush unit building the diorama with Sylvie and going to Sovereign Hill. It was a great experience and I learnt the life in the 1800s and how some people suffered on the the goldfields. The diorama project was also a really fun challenge that made me improve lots of PLAs including COLLABORATION and COMMUNICATION. Overall, this term was a really fun and adventurous term.
