Importance of the Ballarat Goldfields Diary

The significance of the Ballarat Goldfields Diary is outlined below by Geoffrey Blainey, Robyn Annear and Anne-Marie Schwirtlich.

Professor Geoffrey Blainey AC

Historian

'It is most unusual to find a miner keeping a diary – especially of this length – about everyday life, and about the little things, on an early Australian goldfield. The detail in this unique document is fascinating.'

Robyn Annear

Author of Bearbrass: imagining early Melbourne and Nothing but gold: the diggers of 1852

'The goldminer’s diary captures the rhythm of a life in which each day was measured in gold, and half the population’s name was Jack. The effect of its immediacy and cumulative detail is to make the strangeness of another time seem familiar – the kind of history you can walk around in.'

Anne-Marie Schwirtlich

CEO and State Librarian, State Library of Victoria

'This is a remarkable testament of the day-to-day life of an ordinary digger. Rich in detail and finely observed, it brings to life in an intimate way how the rush for gold did so much to establish Victoria.

The acquisition of this diary will greatly enhance the State Library of Victoria's collection of unique historical documents about the Victorian goldfields, such as the Samuel Lazarus diary and the Daintree-Fauchery collection of photographs, and will greatly contribute to our knowledge and understanding of this remarkable period of Victorian history.'