Throughout history, gold has been the stuff of legends, fortunes, conflict and change. The discovery of gold in Australia150 years ago precipitated enormous developments in the newly settled land. The population and economy boomed in spontaneous cities. The effects on both the environment and indigenous Aboriginal peoples have been profound and lasting. In this book, a team of prominent historians and curators have collaborated to produce an innovative cultural history of gold and its impact on the development of Australian society.
In gold-rush Australia, social identity was in flux: gold promised access to fashionable new clothes, a grand home, and the goods to furnish it, but could not buy gentility. Needlework and Women's Identity in Colonial Australia explores how the wives, mothers, sisters, and daughters who migrated to the newly formed colony of Victoria used their needle skills as a powerful claim to social standing. Focusing on one of women's most common daily tasks, the book examines how needlework's practice and products were vital in the contest for social position in the turmoil of the first two decades of the Victorian rush from 1851. Placing women firmly at the center of colonial history, it explores how the needle became a tool for stitching together identity. From decorative needlework to household making and mending, women's sewing was a vehicle for establishing, asserting, and maintaining social status. Interdisciplinary in scope, Needlework and Women's Identity in Colonial Australia draws on material culture, written primary sources, and pictorial evidence, to create a rich portrait of the objects and manners that defined genteel goldfields living. Giving voice to women's experiences and positioning them as key players in the fabric of gold-rush society, this volume offers a fresh critical perspective on gender and textile history.
"This is a very readable account of gold mining in California from the earliest days to the present and of its economic, social, cultural, and literary consequences. It should provide many evenings of enjoyable and informative reading."—Paul C. Bateman, U.S. Geological Survey, retired "Mary Hill's first-rate narrative is a remarkable synthesis. She skillfully weaves together the geology, history, and romance of the gold story in a lively and informative style. Anyone interested in California history, especially the Gold Rush, will relish this book."—Martin Ridge, Huntington Library
This manuscript is a collection of short stories that were originally prepared as part of a radio program that began in the early 1980s as a summer informational and educational program for Tahoe area residents and visitors. Between 1982 and 1985, the author presented over a hundred live radio features about Tahoes history and the environment over Tahoe radio station KTHO. Lane returned to the radio airways in 1995, this time with Tahoe radio station KOWL-AM-1490, and has since broadcast over 3000 radio tales: Don Lanes Tales of Tahoe. The book is a distinctive collection of short stories about the colorful people, the characters, the dreamers and schemers that lived and worked in and around Lake Tahoe and the Sierras during the pioneer days of the Gold Rush and during the Comstock Yearspeople like Mark Twain, Joaquin Murrieta, and Lola Montez. It is also a collection of true stories about the unheralded pioneer men and women that were in their own simple way, inspiring. There are also tales about historic events in our regions diverse history and off-beat tales about ghosts, bandits and even about true love. The collection of tales weaves serious history with light-hearted stories without editorializing or fictionalizing by the author, as the emphasis has been on historical integrity and authenticity. The stories have been gathered from historical journals, diaries, museum collections, archives and history records. The stories are both entertaining and educational, and hopefully will provide insight into a time long past, and provide a greater awareness and appreciation for the people that have been forgotten over the years as time has passed by.
The Joan Jensen-Darlis Miller Prize recognizes outstanding scholarship on gender and women's history in the West. The winning essays are collected here for the first time in one volume.
When Katy O'Connell saves Jonah Armstrong from a bar fight, he decides to hire her as a guide on his journey to the Klondike. But Jonah had thought Katy to be a boy, and when he finds out the truth, their relationship takes a new direction.
Wisdom is a woman. That is not just my opinion or some new academic theory. Wisdom is a woman because the Bible tells us so. It tells us that wisdom is more than just a benefit or a characteristic. In the Bible, wisdom is sometimes a person. When so personified, wisdom is always a woman. Sometimes she is Lady Wisdom. Sometimes she is Madame Insight. Most often she goes incognito; yet the shadow she casts is always a female form. Perhaps it is this very tendency to eschew the spotlight that has allowed us to overlook her for so long. It has not helped that pastors, theologians, and Bible scholars have historically been men. And much of Scripture chronicles God's interaction with men, not women. But what if this centuries-long focus of and on men has had a subtle influence on Christian orthodoxy? What if some passages in Scripture remain unexplored, as undisturbed as the thick layer of dust that covers the top of every refrigerator in America? Wisdom Is a Woman examines just such dust-laden biblical passages. This is a journey of discovery that helps us look at things we thought we knew with fresh eyes. Luckily for us, we do not take this journey into dusty cupboards and overgrown gardens alone. Our guide throughout is Lady Wisdom, a formidable dame who knows every stone, tree root, and hidden pitfall along the way. She will take us back to the very beginnings of our world. We will focus for a time on Biblical women, from Eve to Priscilla. We will examine women in a general sense, looking for clues in our study of wisdom. We will visit the Proverbs 31 woman and tour Lady Wisdom's academy. Our journey will compare the lives and work of two wise Biblical men and end with a step-by-step correlation between women and wisdom.
Winner of the Stella Prize, 2014. The Eureka Stockade. It's one of Australia's foundation legends yet the story has always been told as if half the participants weren't there. But what if the hot-tempered, free-spirited gold miners we learned about at school were actually husbands and fathers, brothers and sons? What if there were women and children right there beside them, inside the Stockade, when the bullets started to fly? And how do the answers to these questions change what we thought we knew about the so-called 'birth of Australian democracy'? Who, in fact, were the midwives to that precious delivery? Ten years in the research and writing, irrepressibly bold, entertaining and often irreverent in style, Clare Wright's The Forgotten Rebels of Eureka is a fitting tribute to the unbiddable women of Ballarat - women who made Eureka a story for us all. Clare Wright is an historian who has worked as a political speechwriter, university lecturer, historical consultant and radio and television broadcaster. Her first book, Beyond the Ladies Lounge: Australia’s Female Publicans, garnered both critical and popular acclaim and her second, The Forgotten Rebels of Eureka, won the 2014 Stella Prize. She researched, wrote and presented the ABC TV documentary Utopia Girls and is the co-writer of the four-part series The War That Changed Us which screened on ABC1. 'Lively, incisive and timely, Clare Wright's account of the role of women in the Eureka Stockade is an engrossing read. Assembling a tapestry of voices that vividly illuminate the hardscrabble lives endured on Ballarat's muddy goldfields, this excellent book reveals a concealed facet of one of Australia's most famous incidences of colonial rebellion. For once, Peter Lalor isn't the hero: it's the women who are placed front and centre...The Forgotten Rebels links the actions of its heroines to the later fight for female suffrage, and will be of strong relevance to a contemporary female audience. Comprehensive and full of colour, this book will also be essential reading for devotees of Australian history.' Bookseller and Publisher 'This is a wonderful book. At last an Australian foundation story where women are not only found, but are found to have played a fundamental role.' Chris Masters 'Brilliantly researched and fun to read. An exhilarating new take on a story we thought we knew.' Brenda Niall 'Fascinating revelations. Beautifully told.' Peter FitzSimons ‘The best source on women at Eureka.’ Big Smoke
