Post by HeatherC on May 18, 2009 8:20:06 GMT -5
Hello All 
As promised here is the info from this publication on wages and costs of basic items.
Best regards
HeatherC
Taken from "The Emigrant's Friend or Authentic Guide to South Ausrtralia -Including Sydney, Port Philip or Australia F(?)elix: Western Australia, or Swan River Colony: New South Wales: Van Dieman's Land and New Zealand" (1848)
Mines and Mining -
The great copper mines of Burra Burra and Princess Royal , are admitted to be the richest in the world ; they were discovered or rather, first worked in September, 1845, when the Colony was at the lowest ebb, when the Emigrants were only 830, and when the Colony was so poor, that although millions had been spent there, it was with very great difficulty that £20,000 could be subscribed to form a company to work it : yet, in only twelve months, namely, in March 1847, a dividend of 50 percent, was paid upon the shares, and nearly 100,000 tons of the rich copper ore, worth upon an average £17 per ton : since that time, the miners find the ore, upon penetrating deeper into the ground, to be worth £30 per ton, costing for the working, dressing, shipment, freight, &c. only about £12. The quantity raised up to March 1847, nearly 10,000 tons : the mine continues now in even much greater activity. So lucrative has it been found, that the £5 original shares have risen in the money market to an enormous value of £160. The Burra Burra mines are situated about 95 miles from Adelaide, in a sort of basin surrounded by hills : and hundreds of men are now employed in building stone cottages for the residences of the miners, who, until such are ready, have lived in caverns near at hand. A town, also called Kooringa, is now rapidly rising about half a mile from the mines, and connected with them by a creek, called the Burra Creek. There are already in this town, two large and handsome inns, elegantly furnished and well stored with choice wines and liquors; also many stores or warehouses, where everything wanted may be procured at a moderate price: clothing, hardware, tools, domestic articles, cottons, and indeed everything, from a needle to an anchor. There are several butchers and bakers, two breweries, several beer-shops. a church and a Weselyan chapel; and small farms and gardens are arising in every direction, to supply the district with what they most require - fruits and vegetables.
The ground possessed by the mining company or association is 20,000 acres, but the working part of the Burra Burra mines does not occupy a larger area than 6 acres; in this small space no less than 30 shafts have been dug. The ore is washed above the surface, and carted away, and this is so much an extent, that 100 tons per day may, and have lately been sent to Adelaide for shipment, without any perceptible difference being made in the quantity found. The miners gain, the most inexperienced of them, from £12 to £15 per month as wages, and those who are accustomed to the business, as much as £30 or even £40 per month; this last is procured by a gang of them taking a lode to themselves, and being paid according the quantity and value of the ore produced; thus, this speculation on their parts, is attendant on the chances of finding a rich vein, they gain less than by daily labour. Numerous mines are now ready for working: and lands to contain minerals, are no longer sold by Government, owing to the great difficulty of finding men to work them: and for many years to come there will be in this department room for all the Emigrants that can possibly arrive, while their influx will, of course, produce
a beneficial action upon the other classes who supply them with the neccessaries of life.
From the Government returns December 1847
Blacksmiths 6s 6d
Bricklayers 6s 9d
Bullock Drivers 4s 0d
Carpenters 6s 9d
Cabinet Makers 6s 0d
Coopers 6s 9d
Day Labourers 3s 9d
Masons 7s 0d
Millers 6s 0d
Painters & Glaziers 6s 6d
Plasterers 7s 6d
Saddlers 5s 6d
Shoe Makers 6s 0d
Tailors per hour. 0s
Tanners 5s 6d
Wheelrights 6s 9d
Bakers, per day 5s 0d
Butchers 3s 0d
Shepherds, per week 12s 0d
Shopmen 4s 6d
House-Servants- Male £28
Ditto ditto - Female £18
Farm Servants-Male £10 to 50
Ditto ditto -Female 25 to 30
We will now consider the price of provisions and articles of neccessity, and apply again to the Government returns, made up to the 31st December, 1847 ; and also to September of the same year, that a fair comparison may be made.
1847 Sep..........Dec
Bread per lb 0s 1 1/2d.......... 0s 1 1/2d
Fresh Butter 0s 10 1/2d.......... 1s 4d
Salt Ditto 0s 10d............... 1s 0d
Cheese 0s 9d .............. 0s
Salt 0s 1d .............. 0s 1d
Candles 0s 7d .............. 0s 6d
Soap 0s 4d .............. 0s 3 1/2d
Meat 0s 1 1/2d......... 0s 2 1/2d
Rice 0s 2 3/4d......... 0s 2 1/2d
Sugar 0s 3 1/2d ......... 0s 3 1/2d
Tea 2s 0d .............. 2s 0d
Potatoes 0s 1d ............... 0s 0 3/4d
Blankets, per pair 12s 0d ............... 9s 6d
Boots 13s 6d .............. 13s 6d
Shoe's Women's 6s 0d ................ 5s 6d
Flannel, per yard 1s 6d ................ 1s 6d
Stockings men's 0s 0d ................. 1s 6d
ditto women's 1s 4d ................. 1s 0d
Straw Hat's 2s 6d ................ 2s 6d
Duck Trowsers 5s 0d ................ 3s 6d
Shirts 2s 6d ................ 2s 6d
Moleskin Trowser
& Coats 16s 0d ............... 18s 0d
Handkerchiefs 0s 9d ................. 0s
The cost of erecting a house or cottage, suitable for a agricultural labourer, is about £30, and the rent of a town lodging fit for a mechanic, costs from six to eight shillings per week. Persons unable to work from infirmity or ill health, and have no friends in the Colony able to support them, receive relief from the Government, by an issue of rations or medicines ; they have also, when neccessary, admission into the hospital, with attendance of the Colonial Surgeon.
The length of the voyage, cost of outfit and passage, and Government regulations, as to Free Emmigrants, are the same, or very nearly so, to all our Australian Colonies.
As promised here is the info from this publication on wages and costs of basic items.
Best regards
HeatherC
Taken from "The Emigrant's Friend or Authentic Guide to South Ausrtralia -Including Sydney, Port Philip or Australia F(?)elix: Western Australia, or Swan River Colony: New South Wales: Van Dieman's Land and New Zealand" (1848)
Mines and Mining -
The great copper mines of Burra Burra and Princess Royal , are admitted to be the richest in the world ; they were discovered or rather, first worked in September, 1845, when the Colony was at the lowest ebb, when the Emigrants were only 830, and when the Colony was so poor, that although millions had been spent there, it was with very great difficulty that £20,000 could be subscribed to form a company to work it : yet, in only twelve months, namely, in March 1847, a dividend of 50 percent, was paid upon the shares, and nearly 100,000 tons of the rich copper ore, worth upon an average £17 per ton : since that time, the miners find the ore, upon penetrating deeper into the ground, to be worth £30 per ton, costing for the working, dressing, shipment, freight, &c. only about £12. The quantity raised up to March 1847, nearly 10,000 tons : the mine continues now in even much greater activity. So lucrative has it been found, that the £5 original shares have risen in the money market to an enormous value of £160. The Burra Burra mines are situated about 95 miles from Adelaide, in a sort of basin surrounded by hills : and hundreds of men are now employed in building stone cottages for the residences of the miners, who, until such are ready, have lived in caverns near at hand. A town, also called Kooringa, is now rapidly rising about half a mile from the mines, and connected with them by a creek, called the Burra Creek. There are already in this town, two large and handsome inns, elegantly furnished and well stored with choice wines and liquors; also many stores or warehouses, where everything wanted may be procured at a moderate price: clothing, hardware, tools, domestic articles, cottons, and indeed everything, from a needle to an anchor. There are several butchers and bakers, two breweries, several beer-shops. a church and a Weselyan chapel; and small farms and gardens are arising in every direction, to supply the district with what they most require - fruits and vegetables.
The ground possessed by the mining company or association is 20,000 acres, but the working part of the Burra Burra mines does not occupy a larger area than 6 acres; in this small space no less than 30 shafts have been dug. The ore is washed above the surface, and carted away, and this is so much an extent, that 100 tons per day may, and have lately been sent to Adelaide for shipment, without any perceptible difference being made in the quantity found. The miners gain, the most inexperienced of them, from £12 to £15 per month as wages, and those who are accustomed to the business, as much as £30 or even £40 per month; this last is procured by a gang of them taking a lode to themselves, and being paid according the quantity and value of the ore produced; thus, this speculation on their parts, is attendant on the chances of finding a rich vein, they gain less than by daily labour. Numerous mines are now ready for working: and lands to contain minerals, are no longer sold by Government, owing to the great difficulty of finding men to work them: and for many years to come there will be in this department room for all the Emigrants that can possibly arrive, while their influx will, of course, produce
a beneficial action upon the other classes who supply them with the neccessaries of life.
From the Government returns December 1847
Wages per day, without Food & Lodgings
Blacksmiths 6s 6d
Bricklayers 6s 9d
Bullock Drivers 4s 0d
Carpenters 6s 9d
Cabinet Makers 6s 0d
Coopers 6s 9d
Day Labourers 3s 9d
Masons 7s 0d
Millers 6s 0d
Painters & Glaziers 6s 6d
Plasterers 7s 6d
Saddlers 5s 6d
Shoe Makers 6s 0d
Tailors per hour. 0s
Tanners 5s 6d
Wheelrights 6s 9d
With Food & Lodging
Bakers, per day 5s 0d
Butchers 3s 0d
Shepherds, per week 12s 0d
Shopmen 4s 6d
Per Year, with Food, &c.
House-Servants- Male £28
Ditto ditto - Female £18
Farm Servants-Male £10 to 50
Ditto ditto -Female 25 to 30
We will now consider the price of provisions and articles of neccessity, and apply again to the Government returns, made up to the 31st December, 1847 ; and also to September of the same year, that a fair comparison may be made.
Retail Price of Articles of Consumption, &c. &c.
1847 Sep..........Dec
Bread per lb 0s 1 1/2d.......... 0s 1 1/2d
Fresh Butter 0s 10 1/2d.......... 1s 4d
Salt Ditto 0s 10d............... 1s 0d
Cheese 0s 9d .............. 0s
Salt 0s 1d .............. 0s 1d
Candles 0s 7d .............. 0s 6d
Soap 0s 4d .............. 0s 3 1/2d
Meat 0s 1 1/2d......... 0s 2 1/2d
Rice 0s 2 3/4d......... 0s 2 1/2d
Sugar 0s 3 1/2d ......... 0s 3 1/2d
Tea 2s 0d .............. 2s 0d
Potatoes 0s 1d ............... 0s 0 3/4d
Blankets, per pair 12s 0d ............... 9s 6d
Boots 13s 6d .............. 13s 6d
Shoe's Women's 6s 0d ................ 5s 6d
Flannel, per yard 1s 6d ................ 1s 6d
Stockings men's 0s 0d ................. 1s 6d
ditto women's 1s 4d ................. 1s 0d
Straw Hat's 2s 6d ................ 2s 6d
Duck Trowsers 5s 0d ................ 3s 6d
Shirts 2s 6d ................ 2s 6d
Moleskin Trowser
& Coats 16s 0d ............... 18s 0d
Handkerchiefs 0s 9d ................. 0s
The cost of erecting a house or cottage, suitable for a agricultural labourer, is about £30, and the rent of a town lodging fit for a mechanic, costs from six to eight shillings per week. Persons unable to work from infirmity or ill health, and have no friends in the Colony able to support them, receive relief from the Government, by an issue of rations or medicines ; they have also, when neccessary, admission into the hospital, with attendance of the Colonial Surgeon.
The length of the voyage, cost of outfit and passage, and Government regulations, as to Free Emmigrants, are the same, or very nearly so, to all our Australian Colonies.