Year 5 Gold Rush Webquest

Welcome to your internet web quest Year 5! Your task is to study the Australian Gold Rush and fulfil the requirements of the assessment task. 

During this investigation you will examine three different aspects of the Gold Rush:

• School in the 1850's
• Events of the 1850's
• The life of a gold digger  

Task 1: Events of the 1850's

Your first task is to use the internet to research about the time of the gold rush. Here are some ideas to help you get started on what to look for:

• Who was the first person to discover gold in Australia?
• Where was gold discovered first?
• What impact did the gold rush have on Australia?
• Who went to the gold rush?

Once you have done some research about the time of the 1850's, you need to create a timeline. If you are unsure of what a timeline is, click on this link.

Using the information you already know, together with the information on the following websites you will need to create a timeline using the template provided to you in week 2. 

The next step is to create a digital timeline. You can use Create a timeline to create it. The timeline needs to include the places and years that have the Australian Gold Rush history. Use the event boxes to complete the task. When you have finished your timeline you need to copy/ snip the image under heading Task 1:Events of the 1850's- Timeline into your word document- check Process tab for more information. 

Task 2: School in the 1850's

Going to school for children at the time of the Gold Rush was very different as you can imagine! Girls and boys were not treated the same at school. At the start of the Gold Rush around 1851 there were not many children on the goldfields, if there were children they would be working very hard. A couple of years later, more men started to bring their wives and children to the goldfields. Schools started to be set up in tents so that children could learn.

Here are a few links you need to have a look at:

School in the 1850s- http://www.myplace.edu.au/decades_timeline/1850/decade_landing_15_1.html?tabRank=3&subTabRank=2

Sovereign Hill Education 1850s School Life- https://education.sovereignhill.com.au/media/uploads/SovHill-Schoollife-notes-ps1.pdf 

Your task is to demonstrate the differences between school in the 1850's and in the present. You many use dot points or create a table in your main word document. 

Task 3: The life of a gold digger

The life of a person on the goldfield was hard working and often not very rewarding. Many men rushed to Ballarat in the 1850's in hope of finding gold. It was not cheap to work on the goldfields, in fact it was quite expensive. You needed to buy tools, food, shelter and a gold mining license. Some men also brought their families to the goldfields so this would be extra costs for them.

Here is the link to a Gold Rush Game. In this game you find supplies and mine for gold. You can allow yourself 15 minutes to play this game. Sometimes you might run out of money, supplies or even die. You can play as many times as you like in the 15 minutes you've been given in order to mine as much gold as you can.

Now look at the following websites which focus on the conditions people would have lived and worked in on the goldfields. Take notes in your History books from the information you find on the websites below. You will need to have at least three paragraphs of information that you can put into your own words. Remember you are NOT to copy information word for word from the websites. You may also like to find websites of your own about what it was like to be on the goldfields, using Google. Make sure you reference those websites at the end of your word document under the heading References. 

 Life on the goldfields

Daily life on the goldfields- https://cpb-ap-se2.wpmucdn.com/global2.vic.edu.au/dist/e/36807/files/2016/04/Daily_Life-19d9gzu.pdf

The State Library of Victoria has acquired a diary of a digger in Ballarat in 1855. It is incredible. The author is believed to be a Scotsman and records daily life in meticulous detail. Sovereign Hill’s Barry Kay has recorded some excerpts.  Reproduced with kind permission of the State Library of Victoria.

After you have completed your research and taken notes you need to click on the link below which directs you to the Sovereign Hill website, this audio page features all the diary entries being read aloud to you. It is not necessary for you to listen to all the diary entries. Click on the date to play an mp3 file and pick two or three to listen to.

Sovereign Hill website with diaries recorded

Finally to complete task 3, I would like you to put yourself in the shoes of someone who would have been there and write a diary entry using the knowledge you have about the gold rush. You can write this diary entry in the same word document you have created. 

Here are some suggestions if you are a bit stuck....

• A woman who has come from England with her husband and three children
• A poor man who desperately wants to find gold so he can eat
• A person who gets caught because they did not have a gold license
• Someone who strikes rich!

If you are unsure about how to write a diary entry click on this link for an example.

Hello Grade 5, this page is designed for you to keep track of what's expected from you. It has been broken down step by step, explaining exactly what you need to do.

Step 1: Login using your Google account. Open a new document Google Docs. Rename (Your name) Gold Rush Web quest. This can also be the title for your document 

Step 2: Follow the instructions set out in task 1. Copy and paste a copy of your timeline under the subheading Task 1: Events of the 1850's- Timeline

Step 3: Follow the instructions set out in task 2. Copy and paste a copy of your screenshot under the subheading Task 2: School in the 1850's vs school now.

Step 4: Follow the instructions set out in task 3. Write a diary entry under the subheading Task 3: Diary entry.

 Step 5: Copy the task rubric from Evaluation page and paste it at the bottom of your google docs document under the subheading Rubric: Self Assessment. Give yourself grades based on the criteria in the rubric.

Step 6: Under the rubric and the grades create the subheading Comments:. Under this heading write a comment about something new you have learnt about the gold rush or something you enjoyed learning more about. Finally write yourself two medals and a mission.

Step 7: Review your work. Share your finished google docs with your teacher under the History folder in the Classroom google drive folder.

Step 8: Notify your teacher.

Step 9: Congratulate yourself for completing your web quest! Well done!