Calvert’s young prospectors
The children on the goldfields has plenty of time to pick amongst the gold tailings, or pan for gold themselves. Others earnt pocket money by retrieving lost horses and guarding tents. George Rowe, an artist and store owner in Bendigo, remarked in letters home:
Children in England think themselves rich with a penny to spend. Here, a child, however young, brings never less than sixpence, and often a shilling. Little fellows of 10 years sport their half-crowns [5 shillings- 60p], [older children] will have their little leather bag as a purse with gold and silver coins and spend liberally on anything that suits their fancy. It is extraordinary to see how money is spent here.
Samuel Calvert, print : coloured wood engraving. Supplement to Illustrated Australian News, Melbourne : David Syme and Co. August 5, 1885
Accession number: IAN05/08/85/supp
From the State Library of Victoria's Pictures Collection.
