Children of the goldfields
Many children crossed the sea with their parents to reach Australia and then travelled on to Ballarat. Some children were born on the long voyage and others on the goldfields while their parents worked. Because of lack of medical care and sanitation as we know it, and poor housing, many children also died there. They went to school on the diggings.
One small part of the diggings, called Pennyweight Flat, was turned into a children’s cemetery. A pennyweight was a very small measure of something, like an ounce or gram. It is said that less than a pennyweight of gold was found on that land, so it was worthless to the miners. They dug the ground, found it useless and buried their children in it.
Many of the graves in the children’s cemetery have been preserved and are looked after carefully. The wind blows gently through the trees and ripples the grass around the small gravestones. The last resting place of these children feels calm and peaceful.
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