Sophia

My life on the gold fields Good day your reading the diary of Nadia smith I used to live in London but now I live on the gold fields in Australia Here my life from the start

By Sophia Visser

th 18

October 1850

I heard news that my father and I must leave and go to the gold fields in Australia but my mother must stay her and look after my grandmother. Oh I will miss her very much I told my best friend the news she said that if I want she will come with me but I could not let her do that because she needs to stay with her family but any way I must go I need to pack.

th 20

October 1850

I have been on the bout for 2 days but I can see land so I run and tell father but when got to him he seemed to be very busy so I go and grab my bags and go to the exit of the bout the suddenly I hear one of the crew members yelling man over board so I drop my bags and run to see what happened it turns out there was a man over board I heard my father say he must have gold fever .That must be a very bad illness.

st 21

October 1850

We have finally arrived in Victoria . oh I am very happy to start school here I can’t wait to make new friends tomorrow my father and I must go and buy some supplies tonight we are sleeping under the stars by that I mean sleeping outside but I have a feeling it will be very cold.

nd 22

October 1850

Today father and I went to by supplies but it was very expensive. First we had to buy a permit and it was about 1 pound and the we had to buy mining supplies. Father was mining in the alluvial mines so we had to buy a pan ,pickaxe ,shovel and a bucket .I hope we find gold father is in a group of people who mine together so now father does not have to pay for food

rd 23

October 1850

Its our first night on the gold fields and it’s very cold luckily now we have a tent and blankets tonight for supper we had mutton and damper father said we should only buy food from the shops back in town because people at the gold fields who sell it charge twelve times the price it really is and he said it’s the only thing we will eat unless we go hunting.