Entertainment
Fairs, family picnics, horseracing, cricket matches, football, hunting and the theatre were traditional forms of early colonial entertainment brought to the colonies from the homeland. In country areas these events and celebrations took place at the homes of the wealthy landowners. Assigned convicts, ticket-of-leave workers and gentry alike enjoyed the occasional holiday or half day off work for a picnic, games and races (often horses, and at times using other animals such as pigs). Lime dust was used to mark out the lanes. Betting took place around the races using the imperial currency of the time: pounds, shillings or florins and pence. Some sports outlawed at the time included cockfights and cock throwing, and prize fights.
Alcoholic apple cider, made for the adults, was made by crushing apples in a hand-operated cider press. Music was played on fiddles, flutes and recorders. Children played games brought from England such as chasey, tag and blind man's bluff. Popular nursery rhymes included 'This Little Piggy Went to Market' and 'Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush'.
The great cricket match between eleven of Victoria and eleven of New South Wales
(State Library of Victoria, IMN16/01/58/34)
