Improvident Diggers

Twenty pounds was a great deal of money in 1852, well over $1000 in modern value. Champagne, as it is today, was a symbol of wealth, even though the champagne which these diggers are drinking is probably of very inferior quality. Gill made other prints showing the opposite situation: 'provident' diggers who saved their money and bought land.

 

S T Gill, etching, 1852.

 

Accession number: H17853

 

From the State Library of Victoria Picture Collection.

 

 

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Disruptive impact & moral panic