Small gold minehead without shelter and seven miners, Gulgong

1872
Glass photonegative

English novelist Anthony Trollope visited the Gulgong goldfield in October 1871 and described its miners:

Of the men around me some were miners working for wages and some were shareholders, each probably with a large stake in the concern. I could not in the least tell which was which. They were all dressed alike … The yellow, clay-stained fustian trousers which have never made and never will make acquaintance with the wash-tub, invest the lower extremities of every two men out of three …

Miners working for wages were paid from £2 10s to £3 a week.