Into Deep Water Discovering History
Event status:
The inherently dangerous goldfields childhood experience, told from the children's perspective
- Date:
- Thursday 05 November 2020 05:30 pm until Thursday 05 November 2020 06:30 pm (Add to calendar)
- Contact:
- Ruth Ford
R.Ford@latrobe.edu.au; www. latrobe.edu.au/ archaeology-and-history/ - Presented by:
- Natasha Joyce
- Type of Event:
- Alumni; Public Lecture; Seminar/Workshop/Training; Public
Into Deep Water:
Goldrush hazards and childhood testimony
By Natasha Joyce
The figure of the boldly spoken Australian colonial child is one largely recorded by adults and interpreted through an adult lens. Stories and opinions of children by children, however, are scarce, especially those in relation to experiences of trauma and death. The thousands of children born on or brought to the frontier goldfields of Bendigo existed within an inherently dangerous landscape, and the risk of accident or death was ever present.
These children sometimes witnessed the tragic deaths of siblings and playmates, and their inquest testimonies provide a rare insight into their experiences. Their voices, however, were heavily moderated by the court system. While the bureaucracy of death administration sanitized the high emotions of traumatic events, glimpses of the child experience can still be found.
Natasha Joyce is a La Trobe University PhD candidate with the Faith on the Goldfields Project, examining faith, death and childhood on Bendigo’s nineteenth century Goldfields.
La Trobe University, Bendigo Regional Archives Centre and Goldfields Library event
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15th Sep 2020 1:00pm - Online event: Using Camtasia to record and edit video
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