This term we had the gold rush as our unit. I have learnt so much from all of things we did this term, including the camps and the diorama. I have really enjoyed the unit.

What I learnt:

Originally, I knew a little bit about the gold rush because my brother did the unit last year and I heard a few things about it from him. But I have discovered so much more this term. I didn’t realise how much there is to learn about the gold rush.

The gold rush:

Life on the gold fields was incredibly tough and hard. 

1. Life on the gold fields was very harsh because living conditions were very difficult and unhygienic.
2. A lot of children died because of diseases.
3. Their was a thing called the gold licence which was a licence that you had to have to mine that cost money. This was one of the things that caused the Eureka Stockade.

The Eureka Stockade:

I learnt that the Eureka Stockade happened because some of the miners thought that some things were unfair, especially the gold licence. Some other things I learnt were:

1. Before the Eureka Stockade the miners burnt down the Eureka Hotel because the owner, James Bentley was said to be innocent after people said he murdered someone.
2. After James Bentley was said to be innocent some of the miners burnt down his hotel.
3. Right before the Eureka Stockade some of the miners had a meeting where they burned there licences.
4. At this meeting Peter Lalor was their leader.
5. They also took an oath at this meeting.
6. The battle lasted for 15-20 minutes.
7. The Stockade was made of lots of different things including carts
8. After the Eureka Stockade the miners were able to get something called a miners right.
9. The miners right cost one pound a year.
10. It allowed the miners the right to mine, a vote and some land.
11. The Eureka Stockade happened on the 3 December 1854.

Sovereign Hill:

The Sovereign Hill camp was an informative, interesting and great experience. I learnt a lot about the types businesses in the 1850s. This camp helped so much with my knowledge of the gold rush and also building our diorama. The school program gave me a child’s perspective in the gold rush too.

Diorama:

For the diorama my partner and I did the Watch and Clock Makers Store. For our other diorama we made a place with a few trees, a bed, a  camp fire and some bits and pieces like rocks and pieces of wood sitting on the ground. I really enjoyed making the diorama because I like doing crafty things. I liked painting it too, because I hadn’t done much of that sort of painting in a while.

We had some challenges with building it as well. Part of it was finishing it in time. To overcome this we ended up doing different tasks instead of both working on the same task. Like for an example I would glue rocks onto our second diorama while my partner was making bushes for it. We also just tried to work more quickly and effectively. Another challenge we had was that we didn’t plan our second diorama.

Emotions and P.L.A.s:

I felt many different emotions used lots of different P.L.A.s during the unit. Near the end of the unit I felt little bit nervous because I was uncertain about whether we would finish the diorama or not and how it would turn out. But after we finished it I felt relieved. The two P.L.A.s I feel I used the most were communication and collaboration. I used these when we were making the dioramas. My partner and I had to communicate so we knew what was happening and where things were going to go. We also had to collaborate and work together and sometimes even hold things up that one of us had just glued while they were drying.

Advice:

For building the dioramas my advice is to plan and mange your time carefully. Also using rocks, wood and other materials like that also make a diorama look fabulous and realistic.

How did you find building the dioramas?