My gg grandmother Maria LAMB was photographed outside her miners cottage in the 1880's in Maldon not long after her husband Thomas' death. Could anyone advise what criteria was involved to gain a cottage from like others who lived in tents. It could be simply they had saved money to do so, but I would be most appreciative of anyone's comments. Many thanks Donna W Perth

Hi Donna, My gt gt gfather had a miners cottage well by the 1870s at Guildford (fairly close to Maldon) that I'm told he built himself. The story is that he did quite well finding gold. Sue

I think your understanding of a "miner's cottage" might differ from mine. As I understand it, "miner's cottage" is an architectural style - very simple, very dated, usually very small. One wasn't allocated a cottage: one obtained the land, and built the cottage. In the mining era, a lot of people obtained land by squatting on it. I've heard the expression used differently in outback Queensland: there is means "a dwelling on a miner's lease", which is not quite freehold. I don't know what other significance attaches to it there, but I've never heard of an equivalent in Victoria. Peter THOMAS Darwin, AUSTRALIA <pmthomas@bigpond.com> -----Original Message----- From: Donna [mailto:donnae.w@bigpond.com] Sent: Friday, 23 December 2005 11:38 AM To: AUS-VIC-GOLDFIELDS-L@rootsweb.com Subject: Miners Cottage My gg grandmother Maria LAMB was photographed outside her miners cottage in the 1880's in Maldon not long after her husband Thomas' death. Could anyone advise what criteria was involved to gain a cottage from like others who lived in tents. It could be simply they had saved money to do so, but I would be most appreciative of anyone's comments. Many thanks Donna W Perth ______________________________