What effects did the gold rush have in australia?
The Gold rushes caused a massive influx of people into the country. Small towns or stopovers in the middle of nowhere suddenly became towns. The wealth that came out of the goldfields included the gold but also the taxes, fines and general living expenses of the miners. Each miner had to pay a fee for a licence to look for gold, a fee on the area if they wanted exclusive rights, and pay for fines if they were caught out going behind the backs of the authorities. In addition to this wealth and increased population, there were social changes as well. The concept of a fair go, begun with the convicts, led to the the Miner’s uprising, otherwise known as the closest thing to Australia’s civil war, the Eureka Stockade.
