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A Tale of Two Widows: Marriage, Widowhood, and Faith on Bendigo Goldfield, 1859–1869
Author(s) -
Jones Jennifer
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
journal of religious history
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.117
H-Index - 13
eISSN - 1467-9809
pISSN - 0022-4227
DOI - 10.1111/1467-9809.12583
Subject(s) - relocation , faith , livelihood , context (archaeology) , independence (probability theory) , sociology , gender studies , history , political science , genealogy , law , archaeology , theology , philosophy , statistics , mathematics , computer science , programming language , agriculture
This article examines how, in the context of unstable colonial circumstances and the absence of traditional support mechanisms, the religious beliefs and support of faith communities enabled two migrant women to manage changed marital circumstances and economic disaster on the Victorian goldfields. The concept of Providence provided an important rationale to understand mining failure and the untimely death of sanctioned breadwinners, and supported these women in their management of economic independence. Both women adopted tactics of mobility as a mean to reinvigorate hope, pairing faith and relocation to pursue socially mandated vocations and family livelihoods.