<P> By 1746 an integrated brass mill was working at Warmley near Bristol . Raw material went in at one end, was smelted into brass and was turned into pans, pins, wire, and other goods . Housing was provided for workers on site . Josiah Wedgwood and Matthew Boulton (whose Soho Manufactory was completed in 1766) were other prominent early industrialists, who employed the factory system . </P> <P> The Industrial Revolution led to a population increase but the chances of surviving childhood did not improve throughout the Industrial Revolution, although infant mortality rates were reduced markedly . There was still limited opportunity for education and children were expected to work . Employers could pay a child less than an adult even though their productivity was comparable; there was no need for strength to operate an industrial machine, and since the industrial system was completely new, there were no experienced adult labourers . This made child labour the labour of choice for manufacturing in the early phases of the Industrial Revolution between the 18th and 19th centuries . In England and Scotland in 1788, two - thirds of the workers in 143 water - powered cotton mills were described as children . </P> <P> Child labour existed before the Industrial Revolution but with the increase in population and education it became more visible . Many children were forced to work in relatively bad conditions for much lower pay than their elders, 10--20% of an adult male's wage . Children as young as four were employed . Beatings and long hours were common, with some child coal miners and hurriers working from 4 am until 5 pm . Conditions were dangerous, with some children killed when they dozed off and fell into the path of the carts, while others died from gas explosions . Many children developed lung cancer and other diseases and died before the age of 25 . Workhouses would sell orphans and abandoned children as "pauper apprentices", working without wages for board and lodging . Those who ran away would be whipped and returned to their masters, with some masters shackling them to prevent escape . Children employed as mule scavengers by cotton mills would crawl under machinery to pick up cotton, working 14 hours a day, six days a week . Some lost hands or limbs, others were crushed under the machines, and some were decapitated . Young girls worked at match factories, where phosphorus fumes would cause many to develop phossy jaw . Children employed at glassworks were regularly burned and blinded, and those working at potteries were vulnerable to poisonous clay dust . </P> <P> Reports were written detailing some of the abuses, particularly in the coal mines and textile factories, and these helped to popularise the children's plight . The public outcry, especially among the upper and middle classes, helped stir change in the young workers' welfare . </P>

How did britain's industrial revolution influence australia