First draft of my field trip memory
A two-night camp at Charters Towers, a former gold mining town in North Queensland. My recollections of the trip are of learning about the town's 'heyday' when the discovery of gold brought a rush of new settlers into the region. For a short time during the gold rush years, Charters Towers became a bustling city, alleged to be the second largest city in Queensland with a population of 30,000. A stock exchange opened and at its zenith Charters Towers was rumoured to have 65 pubs. When the gold discoveries dried up in the early 1900s there was a mass migration of miners and their families to the Palmer River goldfields. Our class group did a heritage walk through the town, mapping and observing the civic buildings which still evidenced their former glory with their period architecture, wrought ironwork and leadlight glass windows. We spent time sketching some of the buildings. The class visited a gold mine, viewing a mine shaft and historic mining equipment, and were told stories about how the ore was mined back in the 1800s. The students took turns panning for gold in the creek and we visited a museum displaying images and samples of gems discovered in the Charters Towers region. Our teachers read some accounts from miners in Charters Towers about their lives during the gold rush years.
My Fieldwork Narrative.
Analysis thought-starters
(note: this is not an academic analysis, merely a cursory look at the type of inquiry and thinking that could go into an analysis)
I find it interesting that learning about the aboriginal heritage of Charters Towers was absent from our fieldwork itinerary despite it being widely recognised that an aboriginal boy named Jupiter was the first person to discover gold in the region.
Upon reflection, it appears to be an opportunity missed to explore indigenous experiences of the gold rush and the consequences of the town's rapid expansion during the years from 1872 to 1899, the peak of the boom. Questions arise for me about the indigenous culture and history of the Gudjala people in the region before, during and after the gold rush. It certainly wasn't a topic of discussion in 1980 during our field trip. The history conveyed to us was very definitely the white Australian perspective of boom-time in Charters Towers (particularly in terms of the architecture and agriculture).
A quick search on the internet reveals that there were and are indigenous communities in Charters Towers. Scanning the interactive map on the Agreements, Treaties and Negotiated Settlements Project website ([http://www.atns.net.au/locate.asp?ULX=146.124012499998&ULY=-20.0345499999998&LRX=146.409012499998&LRY=-20.1770499999998 ATNS map]) provides details of three joint indigenous land use agreements in the region.
In 1980 we didn't take a critical viewpoint of Charters Towers' gold mining past. It wasn't questioned in any way, it was simply accepted as fact that becoming an instant hub of gold mining and then just as quickly being largely deserted again was Charters Towers' destiny.
Gold mining and its glorious past was portrayed in an almost reverent and certainly romanticised fashion. There was no talk of impacts of this chosen land use on the environment or existing populations. There was some discussion of aspects of new populations in Charters Towers during the gold rush. Most memorable for me were the stories of the Chinese joss-house which opened up alongside a pub, but my recollections are that this was discussed in a manner I would describe as tokenistic and as a curiosity, perhaps for its novelty value.
Opportunities for geographic study could have involved mapping the land use patterns of the region pre, during and post gold rush including residential, mining, commercial and agricultural uses and population changes in the area. Our class received a map of the township and as we walked 'the golden mile' we identified and marked prominent buildings on our maps.
Dr Sally Babidge's books Not Gammin! and Aboriginal Family and the State tell of how pastoralists came in to the region and "fenced off large tracts of land making the local Murri people's tradition of going bush an exercise in "edgework" - that is the only accessible unfenced areas which remained were small recreational areas at river's edges". The books discuss the violence in the Charters Towers region, between pastoralists and aboriginal people (particularly when livestock were speared), between miners for their claims and for scarce food and water supplies.
http://books.google.com.au/books?hl=en&lr=&id=2R0U8DuvbUYC&oi=fnd&pg=PR7&dq=related:RoqyxYzxY78J:scholar.google.com/&ots=MD5KiFeN9P&sig=Vr02HmzqU3IHvX_W70n8C8GUY1E#v=onepage&q&f=false
Further quick searches on the internet indicate that Italian, German and Chinese immigrants arrived on the goldfields in Charters Towers. Sellheim, a town near Charters Towers was named after the German immigrant Phillip Sellheim, a mine inspector. In neighbouring Millchester, Doctor William Lam Pan operated a successful herbalist practice alongside a joss house. We didn't study the immigrant groups that were part of the gold rush I view this as another missed opportunity. Although I recall having separately studied the earlier riots at Lambing Flat as part of our Australian history studies, no connections were made to the experiences of Chinese miners in Charters Towers. I wonder now about the opportunities to link these similar concepts within an interdisciplinary curriculum to make learning more relevant and real for students.
My memory of the field trip was that it was largely focused on imparting historical facts to the students. There wasn't an inquiry orientation. It was more a case of implanting the students into an historic setting, then scheduling an array of excursions and activities in which the students gain some appreciation of the place and time in the goldrush days.
This field trip provided many learning opportunities that connect to the curriculum for society and environment studies. [the next exercise would be to connect aspects of the curriculum to activities ie. mapping; sketching civic buildings; knowledge of Australian historical events.]
The shape of the new Australian curriculum gives pointers to many missed learning opportunities. These included studies of the environmental impacts of gold mining. River water could have been sampled and compared with EPA recommendations. Land rehabilitation projects after mining could have been discovered and their results-to-date observed. The multi-cultural aspects of the goldrush (as discussed previously) could have been examined. Citizenship on the minefields - miners' rights, the rights of immigrants could have provided an interesting study in observing the democratic processes (see the sbs goldrush website).
Connecting to (current) Australian curriculum
A two-night camp at Charters Towers, a former gold mining town in North Queensland. My recollections of the trip are of learning about the town's 'heyday' when the discovery of gold brought a rush of new settlers into the region. For a short time during the gold rush years, Charters Towers became a bustling city, alleged to be the second largest city in Queensland with a population of 30,000. A stock exchange opened and at its zenith Charters Towers was rumoured to have 65 pubs. When the gold discoveries dried up in the early 1900s there was a mass migration of miners and their families to the Palmer River goldfields. Our class group did a heritage walk through the town, mapping and observing the civic buildings which still evidenced their former glory with their period architecture, wrought ironwork and leadlight glass windows. We spent time sketching some of the buildings. The class visited a gold mine, viewing a mine shaft and historic mining equipment, and were told stories about how the ore was mined back in the 1800s. The students took turns panning for gold in the creek and we visited a museum displaying images and samples of gems discovered in the Charters Towers region. Our teachers read some accounts from miners in Charters Towers about their lives during the gold rush years.
My Fieldwork Narrative.
My memories of a grade 5 trip to Charters Towers, North Queensland are tinted in red: the ochre-red dust blowing down the main street as our class dawdled through the heat viewing the early colonial architecture on the “golden mile”; the rust-coloured mound of ore at the historic mine shaft which a bunch of ten year olds dared each other to climb; the scarlet trickle of blood dripping from my foot as a craggy shard of ore was removed; the crimson blush rising on my teacher’s face as she apologised to the mine tour guide for her students’ hands-on approach to mining history.
I was bored standing around trying to sketch old buildings until my teacher suggested finding interesting small details to draw like the wrought iron lacework. This became a game and my friends raced from building to building drawing the best features we could find like the classical columns and ornate fanlights from the town hall and neighbouring pubs.
The reward for completing our workbook was panning for gold in the cool water of Mosman Creek. I remember feeling secretly excited that I might be the one to scoop up a long-lost golden nugget. Unfortunately all I took home was fool’s gold.
I was bored standing around trying to sketch old buildings until my teacher suggested finding interesting small details to draw like the wrought iron lacework. This became a game and my friends raced from building to building drawing the best features we could find like the classical columns and ornate fanlights from the town hall and neighbouring pubs.
The reward for completing our workbook was panning for gold in the cool water of Mosman Creek. I remember feeling secretly excited that I might be the one to scoop up a long-lost golden nugget. Unfortunately all I took home was fool’s gold.
Analysis thought-starters
(note: this is not an academic analysis, merely a cursory look at the type of inquiry and thinking that could go into an analysis)
I find it interesting that learning about the aboriginal heritage of Charters Towers was absent from our fieldwork itinerary despite it being widely recognised that an aboriginal boy named Jupiter was the first person to discover gold in the region.
Upon reflection, it appears to be an opportunity missed to explore indigenous experiences of the gold rush and the consequences of the town's rapid expansion during the years from 1872 to 1899, the peak of the boom. Questions arise for me about the indigenous culture and history of the Gudjala people in the region before, during and after the gold rush. It certainly wasn't a topic of discussion in 1980 during our field trip. The history conveyed to us was very definitely the white Australian perspective of boom-time in Charters Towers (particularly in terms of the architecture and agriculture).
A quick search on the internet reveals that there were and are indigenous communities in Charters Towers. Scanning the interactive map on the Agreements, Treaties and Negotiated Settlements Project website ([http://www.atns.net.au/locate.asp?ULX=146.124012499998&ULY=-20.0345499999998&LRX=146.409012499998&LRY=-20.1770499999998 ATNS map]) provides details of three joint indigenous land use agreements in the region.
Why weren’t stories of aboriginal history on the gold fields presented to us during our field trip? Fear of it being critical? Contentious issue? Not a positive story for young minds?
In 1980 we didn't take a critical viewpoint of Charters Towers' gold mining past. It wasn't questioned in any way, it was simply accepted as fact that becoming an instant hub of gold mining and then just as quickly being largely deserted again was Charters Towers' destiny.
Gold mining and its glorious past was portrayed in an almost reverent and certainly romanticised fashion. There was no talk of impacts of this chosen land use on the environment or existing populations. There was some discussion of aspects of new populations in Charters Towers during the gold rush. Most memorable for me were the stories of the Chinese joss-house which opened up alongside a pub, but my recollections are that this was discussed in a manner I would describe as tokenistic and as a curiosity, perhaps for its novelty value.
Opportunities for geographic study could have involved mapping the land use patterns of the region pre, during and post gold rush including residential, mining, commercial and agricultural uses and population changes in the area. Our class received a map of the township and as we walked 'the golden mile' we identified and marked prominent buildings on our maps.
Dr Sally Babidge's books Not Gammin! and Aboriginal Family and the State tell of how pastoralists came in to the region and "fenced off large tracts of land making the local Murri people's tradition of going bush an exercise in "edgework" - that is the only accessible unfenced areas which remained were small recreational areas at river's edges". The books discuss the violence in the Charters Towers region, between pastoralists and aboriginal people (particularly when livestock were speared), between miners for their claims and for scarce food and water supplies.
http://books.google.com.au/books?hl=en&lr=&id=2R0U8DuvbUYC&oi=fnd&pg=PR7&dq=related:RoqyxYzxY78J:scholar.google.com/&ots=MD5KiFeN9P&sig=Vr02HmzqU3IHvX_W70n8C8GUY1E#v=onepage&q&f=false
Further quick searches on the internet indicate that Italian, German and Chinese immigrants arrived on the goldfields in Charters Towers. Sellheim, a town near Charters Towers was named after the German immigrant Phillip Sellheim, a mine inspector. In neighbouring Millchester, Doctor William Lam Pan operated a successful herbalist practice alongside a joss house. We didn't study the immigrant groups that were part of the gold rush I view this as another missed opportunity. Although I recall having separately studied the earlier riots at Lambing Flat as part of our Australian history studies, no connections were made to the experiences of Chinese miners in Charters Towers. I wonder now about the opportunities to link these similar concepts within an interdisciplinary curriculum to make learning more relevant and real for students.
My memory of the field trip was that it was largely focused on imparting historical facts to the students. There wasn't an inquiry orientation. It was more a case of implanting the students into an historic setting, then scheduling an array of excursions and activities in which the students gain some appreciation of the place and time in the goldrush days.
This field trip provided many learning opportunities that connect to the curriculum for society and environment studies. [the next exercise would be to connect aspects of the curriculum to activities ie. mapping; sketching civic buildings; knowledge of Australian historical events.]
The shape of the new Australian curriculum gives pointers to many missed learning opportunities. These included studies of the environmental impacts of gold mining. River water could have been sampled and compared with EPA recommendations. Land rehabilitation projects after mining could have been discovered and their results-to-date observed. The multi-cultural aspects of the goldrush (as discussed previously) could have been examined. Citizenship on the minefields - miners' rights, the rights of immigrants could have provided an interesting study in observing the democratic processes (see the sbs goldrush website).
Connecting to (current) Australian curriculum
ACHHK095 Year 5 Historical knowledge and understanding of the Australian Colonies gives an indicatation of the types of content and elaborations relevant at this stage. Gold rushes is one of the themes with elaborations including investigating such an event and explaining its economic, social and political impact on a colony.
(ACARA Australian Curriculum - History)
By the end of Year 5, students place some of the key people and events they have studied in chronological sequence and they create timelines with annotations referring to time and place. When researching, students develop questions about the past to inform an historical inquiry. They identify relevant sources and locate information and evidence related to their inquiry. Students compare and record relevant information from a range of sources. They examine sources to identify the views expressed and the attitudes represented. Students identify the causes and effects of an event or development and the feelings and motivations of individuals and groups at the time. They explain the significance of people and events in bringing about change. Students compose historical texts, particularly narratives and descriptions.
From acara website.
(ACARA Australian Curriculum - History)
By the end of Year 5, students place some of the key people and events they have studied in chronological sequence and they create timelines with annotations referring to time and place. When researching, students develop questions about the past to inform an historical inquiry. They identify relevant sources and locate information and evidence related to their inquiry. Students compare and record relevant information from a range of sources. They examine sources to identify the views expressed and the attitudes represented. Students identify the causes and effects of an event or development and the feelings and motivations of individuals and groups at the time. They explain the significance of people and events in bringing about change. Students compose historical texts, particularly narratives and descriptions.
From acara website.
Connect to Tasmanian Curriculum [or Qld] - what were some curriculum connections made? identify some missed opportunities.
Ch 14 - Place and Space
At the end, question 3 points us to ask "Consider the questions in the geographic inquiry model in terms of the values cluster of social justice, democratic process and ecological sustainability."
I can see that these aspects are my hot topics in reflecting on and analysing my Charters Towers field trip.
One other area I had been planning to explore was the formation of a society on the gold fields. It's quite fascinating to think of the dynamics at play in determining the backgrounds, judgements and jostling that went into determining a "new world order" on the dry (oh so dry) and dusty plains of Charters Towers. My thinking on this trawled up an old song we sang at school:
When first I left old xxxx town, the yarns that we were told. Of how the folks in far Australia could pick up lumps of gold. How gold dust lay in all the streets, and miners' rights was free. Hurrah I told my loving friends, that's just the place for me.
With a swag all on my shoulder, black billy in my hand. I'll travel the bushes of Australia like a true-born Irish man.
I wonder if our learning of this song was tied into our field trip to Charters Towers? We learned many old folk songs - The road to Gundagai; The Thargomindah track; Click go the shears. All tell of aspects of early life.
But this song about the swag on my shoulder, leads me to think about the formation of miners' rights. What type of political processes did the new settlement go through to develop these. Was it democratic? Was it fair and just? Did it represent the values of all groups including all 'classes' of immigrants, indigenous people? Did it favour British settlers in any way? How was gender addressed within it? Were women allowed to stake a claim?
Ch 14 - Place and Space
At the end, question 3 points us to ask "Consider the questions in the geographic inquiry model in terms of the values cluster of social justice, democratic process and ecological sustainability."
I can see that these aspects are my hot topics in reflecting on and analysing my Charters Towers field trip.
One other area I had been planning to explore was the formation of a society on the gold fields. It's quite fascinating to think of the dynamics at play in determining the backgrounds, judgements and jostling that went into determining a "new world order" on the dry (oh so dry) and dusty plains of Charters Towers. My thinking on this trawled up an old song we sang at school:
When first I left old xxxx town, the yarns that we were told. Of how the folks in far Australia could pick up lumps of gold. How gold dust lay in all the streets, and miners' rights was free. Hurrah I told my loving friends, that's just the place for me.
With a swag all on my shoulder, black billy in my hand. I'll travel the bushes of Australia like a true-born Irish man.
I wonder if our learning of this song was tied into our field trip to Charters Towers? We learned many old folk songs - The road to Gundagai; The Thargomindah track; Click go the shears. All tell of aspects of early life.
But this song about the swag on my shoulder, leads me to think about the formation of miners' rights. What type of political processes did the new settlement go through to develop these. Was it democratic? Was it fair and just? Did it represent the values of all groups including all 'classes' of immigrants, indigenous people? Did it favour British settlers in any way? How was gender addressed within it? Were women allowed to stake a claim?
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