Population Statistics Thread

[Alphaville]

Originally Posted by JayT

I guess that depends on which state you live in.... There have been hundreds of Gold Rushes throughout history, prior to 1900 from Brazil, Argentina, California and of course South Africa, which I believe was the biggest. And yes Victoria had one too

Congratulations, you know how to cut and paste from Wikipedia.


For all your harping and croning about parochialism emanating from Victoria, you don't seem to be able to let anything pass, without some thiny veiled swipe.

Seeing as you're hellbent on undermining the importance of a big part of Australia's history, I'll elaborate for you a well documented fact our national history: the Victorian Gold Rush was the biggest Gold Rush Australia has had, and in terms of the era it occurred in, the most substantial and dramatic economic upheaval in Australia's history. This is considered to be second only to the Californian Gold Rush, that occurred around the same time. All of the wealth coming from the fields caused economic boom in Melbourne (causing it to briefly be one of the wealthiest cities in the world), and the flow on effects for other Australian colonies was substantial. As I mentioned, it could be said that the Victorian Gold Rush is comparable to the current mining booms in Qld and WA as it lifted Australia from the dust of being not much more than a British penal colony. It gave us a grand, much needed boost in self esteem that propelled us toward Federation.

But as you said, the view of this must "depend on which state you live in".

[tic]

I had always understood Victoria's gold rush to be massive and propelled Melbourne as one of the richest cities in the Bristish Empire at the time. Remember that Melbourne was a more well known city than Sydney at Federation and was Australia's capital city until Canberra took over (around 1927(?) if my memory serves correct). As the gold ran out, Melbourne's influence slowly subsided until Sydney took over in the 20th century.

It must have been an insane time to live in Melbourne in the late 1800's. So much activity and grand buildings.

If Victoria had not had the gold, Melbourne today would probably be more like Adelaide (no offence Adelaide - you're nice, but a bit quiet for me).

[paraplethon]

Another substantial effect it had was on Tasmania.

At the time - 1850 - Hobart was competing with Sydney for importance in the Australian colonies, once the rush was on though the effect on Tasmania was detrimental - never again would a Tasmanian city be on an equal footing with the mainland capitals.

Hobart was short on workers, people left the island in droves and if you look at Tasmanian history generally through the latter half of the 19th C., it is one of a very long depression - with the exception of particularly tin mining in the states west late in the century.

[Alphaville]

Originally Posted by tic

I had always understood Victoria's gold rush to be massive and propelled Melbourne as one of the richest cities in the Bristish Empire at the time. Remember that Melbourne was a more well known city than Sydney at Federation and was Australia's capital city until Canberra took over (around 1927(?) if my memory serves correct). As the gold ran out, Melbourne's influence slowly subsided until Sydney took over in the 20th century.

It must have been an insane time to live in Melbourne in the late 1800's. So much activity and grand buildings.

If Victoria had not had the gold, Melbourne today would probably be more like Adelaide (no offence Adelaide - you're nice, but a bit quiet for me).

Pretty well spot on. Melbourne still benefits from the gold rush even today. Even outside the city, in regional Victoria, there are towns with gigantic public buildings well larger than their actual needs. Take a look at South Melbourne Town Hall - it's far more impressive than some State Parliament buildings in Australia (..nsw...)

[finn]

Originally Posted by Alphaville

Pretty well spot on. Melbourne still benefits from the gold rush even today. Even outside the city, in regional Victoria, there are towns with gigantic public buildings well larger than their actual needs. Take a look at South Melbourne Town Hall - it's far more impressive than some State Parliament buildings in Australia (..nsw...)

NSW parliament house was not designed to be a parliament house. It used to be the Rum Hospital and was built using convict labour in 1816 - over 30 years before the Victorian gold rush.

[Mornnb]

Originally Posted by finn

NSW parliament house was not designed to be a parliament house. It used to be the Rum Hospital and was built using convict labour in 1816 - over 30 years before the Victorian gold rush.

Yes, the structure has a lot of history behind it and the story of Sydney. It is a worthy parliament building in this sense.

[Chuckeh]

i love the ongoing banter about the nsw parliament house