Life on the gold-fields

‘The gold-fields became a way of life … And those who lived it became nostalgic for it ever after.’

From the diary of Eugène von Guérard, cited in Alan McCulloch’s Artists of the Australian Gold Rush, Melbourne, 1977, p. 2.

The lure of wealth drew hundreds of thousands of diggers to the gold-fields of Victoria in the early 1850s.

Many were tempted by stories of riches that could literally be picked up from the ground, or by reports of the ostentatious behaviour of those who had struck it rich. Optimistic diggers abandoned their families, professions and countries for the gold-fields and the prospect of a new life.

Few sectors of the community were immune to the lure of gold. Among those who travelled to the Victorian gold-fields were professionally trained artists such as William Strutt, ST Gill, Eugène von Guérard, Edward Roper, Cuthbert Clarke and George Rowe.

While each of these artists travelled to the fields to dig for gold, many also utilised their artistic skills to record aspects of life on the diggings. The gold-fields and their inhabitants provided a wealth of subject matter for these artists: from the hazardous journey to the fields, to the daily activities of the miner, and the busy social and commercial life of the gold settlements. Few aspects of life went unrecorded.

The works produced during this time provide an invaluable record of Victoria’s gold rush period.