LIFE IN THE COLONIES

ASSISTED MIGRATION

• Not everyone could afford the four and a half month journey out here.
• Lucky for them, the British Government was willing to help pay for some people to come out.
• Who do you think they might have paid for? Why?

WOMEN IN AUSTRALIA

• Many women came out under what were called 'Bounty Schemes'
• The Government knew that to make a successful colony there would need to be as many women as men.

WHAT WAS LIFE LIKE?

• Many of the women that came out to Australia were from the poor of England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales.
• Their lives in Australia were often very harsh, not much better than their lives back home.

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• However, there were many opportunities for women in the Colonies.
• People like Caroline Chisholm helped women gain skills that could get them jobs.

JOBS IN THE COLONIES

• Servants
• Most moderately wealthy houses kept at least one servant to help cook, clean and look after the family.
• This required some basic skills, and could either be a good job, or a bad one, depending on the people you worked for.

A GOLD MINER'S LIFE

• Life on the Gold fields was very different to anywhere else in the colonies.
• Australia places a great deal of value on the 'Diggers' and their supposed ideals.

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• It was actually very different.
• Mostly a life of squalor, greed, crime, self-interest and racism
• However, no two experiences where the same.

FARM LIFE

• Many people in Australia found work on farms.
• There were largely sheep or grain farms.
• Life was much like farming anywhere else, work was hard and physical - from morning to night with a break over the hottest part of the day.
• If the weather is good - life can be good.

EDUCATION

• Many children did not go to school - those that did might have only gone for a few years.
• They mostly learnt to read, write, spelling and grammar, history geography and maths.
• More boys went to school than girls, and more wealthy people than poor.

GOVERNMENT

• Government was very different. There was no Country of 'Australia' only a collection of colonies. They all answered to the British Parliament (the Imperial Government).
• Each colony had a Governor or Lieutenant-Governor, who represented the Crown.

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• Most of the Colonies had a legislative assembly that could make some laws that affected local issues.
• Matters of trade, defence and international relations where all managed by London.

RELIGION IN THE COLONIES

• Religion was extremely important to people back in the 1800s.
• It was also much more political than it is today. There were big differences between the different types of Christianity, and non-Christian religions.
• The churches played an important part in health care and education.

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• Most people were Anglican or Catholic.
• During the Gold Rush many people of different religions came to Australia. Most of them were still Christian.
• The different churches kept very much to themselves. They did not live together or inter marry.

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• Catholics were not trusted by the Government, as they were thought to be sympathetic to the Irish.

OCCUPATION OF IRELAND

• Ireland was ruled by Britain - most Irish people were not happy about this.
• Most Irish people were very poor, there were many laws that stopped Irish people from attaining good jobs, education or from practicing their religion.

THE GREAT POTATO FAMINE

• In the 1800s much of Ireland lived on nothing but potatoes, because they were easy to grow and cheap.
• A disease called Blight swept into Ireland and killed most of the potatoes.
• This caused widespread starvation. More than a million people are thought to have starved to death. Another million left Ireland.