{"product_id":"digging-deep-women-on-new-zealands-goldfields","title":"Digging Deep Women on New Zealands Goldfields","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe goldfields of nineteenth-century Aotearoa New\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eZealand have long been talked and written about\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eas almost exclusively male places. Many historians have either ignored women completely or mentioned them only as wives or as prostitutes. But they could and did make their way to these tough, unforgiving environments, often very early on, and not just as the\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003egivers of sexual favours, either via marriage or for money, but as adventurers, entrepreneurs and, most of all, as survivors.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eUntil now too little has been known about these\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eremarkable women, who journeyed to Golden Bay,\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eOtago, Marlborough, the wild West Coast and the\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThames – or, in the case of Māori, were often already on the fields. But this ground-breaking book changes all that. Based on 30 years of extensive research, Digging Deep tells the stories of the women who set up stores, ran (and often owned) hotels and became wealthy businesswomen, who worked as barmaids\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eand dancers, who raised their children in challenging conditions, sometimes as widows or deserted wives, and who were miners themselves. There were characters aplenty, including Porpoise Maria, Sugar Annie, Dirty Mary and the notorious Mrs Swords, but also many women who were victims of alcoholism and illness or suffered the trauma of rape and the shame of unwanted pregnancy.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eIn Digging Deep Julia Bradshaw has given a voice to the fascinating and forgotten women of the New Zealand goldfields. This lively account, rich in memorable images, fills a long-neglected and significant gap in the social history of our country.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Nationwide Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50531414114527,"sku":"9781988503547","price":60.0,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0685\/2185\/3151\/files\/9781988503547.jpg?v=1783397633","url":"https:\/\/lamplightbooks.co.nz\/products\/digging-deep-women-on-new-zealands-goldfields","provider":"Lamplight Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}