The staple food of the early goldfields was
mutton stew and damper
. Mutton is the meat of older sheep, somewhat tougher than the meat that we enjoy today.
What did Chinese miners eat during the gold rush in Australia?
Food on the goldfields was largely
mutton and damper
, but Chinese cookshops also played a role.
What kind of food did they eat during the Gold Rush?
During the California gold rush, miners ate a lot of
beans, supplemented by dried pork, boiled potatoes, dried apples, bread or biscuits, and sugar or molasses
. They drank water, coffee, tea and sometimes brandy.
What did miners eat in the mine?
A miner’s diet usually consisted of
bread and dripping (mucky fat) or bread and jam
. Other types of food were either too expensive or went off quickly in the hot conditions underground. Coal dust made the miners fingers dirty so dirty bread crusts were discarded.
What did miners eat lunch?
In some coal patch towns, it was tradition for miners to save
a small piece of bread or cake
from his lunch for his children. The lingering taste of the mines on the bread or cake would make for an interesting treat!
Why do you think tool was called a cradle?
placer mining
pan was the rocker, or cradle, named
for its resemblance to a child’s cradle
. As it was rocked, it sifted large quantities of ore. Gravel was shoveled onto a perforated iron plate, and water was poured over it, causing finer material to drop through the perforations and onto an apron…
What did prospectors drink?
Sly Grog
.
Alcohol
was a fundamental part of life on the Victorian goldfields. Part of the reason many miners turned to alcohol as their drink of choice was because the available water quickly became so foul and polluted that drinking it could prove lethal.
Why did the European miners dislike the Chinese miners?
Their different dress, manners and attitudes clashed severely with European ideas of what was `normal’. Another reason for Europeans’ dislike of the Chinese was
their wastage of water
. Water was in short supply and Chinese mining methods involved heavy use of water.
Why did Chinese miners come to Australia?
Chinese immigration to NSW & reaction (1840-60)
By the 1840s Chinese men were trying to come to Australia
because war, political instability and environmental conditions were making life hard in southern China
.
What did the Chinese call Australia in the 1850s?
The Chinese immigrants referred to the Australian gold fields as
‘Xin Jin Shan’, or New Gold Mountain
. The Californian gold rush was in decline by the 1850s and had become known as ‘Jiu Jin Shan’, Old Gold Mountain.
Why is lunch called snap?
Miners used to take a tin box down into the mines with their food in it.
The sound of the tin snapping open and shut led to the meal
itself being referred to as snap.
Why do Northerners call food snap?
A
colloquialism for ‘lunch’ in
the East Midlands and parts of Yorkshire is ‘snap’. Possibly a reference to the specially-shaped, waterproof ‘snap tins’ that miners used to take their food underground. (Miners in the North East refer to their lunch as ‘bait’).
What did gold miners eat in the 1800s?
Flour, a common and often costly staple, was stretched by combining it with sour milk and cornmeal to be eaten as mush. San Francisco’s famous
sourdough bread
became a staple food item during the Gold Rush. Miners would often buy a loaf in the morning that would be eaten slowly throughout the day.
Did miners live with their families?
The gold seekers who came to Colorado during the Gold Rush were mostly young, single men. Some were married men, but most of them left their wives
and families at home
. They came hoping to strike it rich and then return home.
What did the Chinese miners eat on the goldfields?
Australia first became multi-cultural during the gold rush period because of the immigration to Australia. What did the chinese eat and wear? The chinese people ate alot of
rice cabbages,chicken noodle soup,bean sprouts
and they also drank alot of tea.
How was life in the mining camps?
Life in the gold fields
exposed the miner to loneliness and homesickness, isolation and physical danger, bad food and illness, and even death
. More than anything, mining was hard work. Fortune might be right around the corner, but so too was failure.
