New study to uncover women’s goldfield stories

A new study will aim to uncover the stories of Irish women on the Ballarat goldfields.

Called ‘Women of Eureka’, the project will discover what it was really like to emigrate from Ireland, for a new life on the diggings.

Historian Dr. Anne Beggs-Sunter, who’ll be carrying out the research, says she’d love to hear from descendants.

“We have been funded by the Victorian Government to collect together the stories of Irish women on the goldfields,” she said.

“That will really open up a perspective on what it was like for the ordinary women living in that goldfields society of the 1850’s,” she said.