Glenrowan in
north east Victoria will soon become
a hive of activity as archaeologists
investigate the legendary Kelly Gang
siege site.
It's expected
the dig will attract both
Australia-wide and overseas
attention.
The
Wangaratta Rural City Council has
appointed Dig International as the
consultant archaeologists to
investigate the remnants of the
Kelly's Last Stand at the Ann Jones
Inn site.
Director of
Dig International Adam Ford will run
the project in collaboration with
Latrobe University.
"Over a
period of about four weeks
archaeologists will be excavating
the site," Adam says.
"We're hoping
to find physical remains of the
original inn, the Ann Jones Inn and
artefacts of the siege that happened
there in 1880, that resulted in the
death of three members of the Kelly
gang and the capture, of course, of
Ned Kelly."
Adam has been
an archaeologist since 1991 and has
been involved in digs in the Middle
East, the Caribbean and the U.K. For
the past 12 years he's been based in
Australia.
"I've worked
on some brilliant sites," he says.
"Recently I worked on a Chinese
market garden site in the goldfields
and last year I excavated a
shipwreck survivor site on the most
remote part of Australia, off Dirk
Hartog Island in Western Australia.
"They're all
fantastic sites and each has a great
element but I think the siege site
is pretty much the pinnacle at the
moment in terms of historical
importance."
Adam is
excited to be involved in uncovering
evidence of what he considers one of
the most widely known events in
Australia's history, an event known
overseas.
"Ned Kelly is
known throughout the world as a
bushranger and as this larrikin
character. He created some part of
the Australian image overseas, that
legend of larrikinism and the
underdog fighting against authority.
"To have a
chance to look at the physical
remains of that and add information
to the story is very exciting
indeed," he says.
The
excavation will carry its share of
challenges for the team of
archaeologists.
The siege in
1880 ended with the pub being burnt
down. Since then there's been two
other buildings constructed on the
site. One of those also burned down.
Adam says
there's also been a lot of
souveniring by people trying to get
a piece of the Ned Kelly story for
themselves.
"It's not
going to be a pristine site, which
is how we'd describe sites that
haven't been disturbed since an
event," Adam says.
"It's going
to be quite a mix of archaeological
remains. But I'm still confident
we're going to find some really good
stuff."
The trick for
the team will be to work out the
sequence of events to be sure what
they find relates to the time of the
siege.
"On many
sites you get this layering of
occupation over a period of time,"
Adam says.
"In some
parts of the world layers can be up
to 15 metres thick - making them
very complicated sites, this one is
going to be complicated because it's
going to be quite shallow."
Adam says he
expects to find three or four site
occupations layered upon each other,
but also intertwined. It will make
the work slow and delicate.
"The reason
we go slowly is that we're trying to
look at the soils as much as the
physical artefacts and see where
those sequence of soils relate to
each other and that will give us an
indication of the historical
development of the site," he says.
The team
hopes to find artefacts common to a
19th Century business and commercial
site like the inn, such as
glassware, pottery and cups and
saucers. They hope to find evidence
of burning and some remains of the
siege.
Last year
Adam found a rifle bullet casing
near the site, which is believed to
be from the siege.
"We've got to
remember that it was the battle site
so there's a lot of munitions that
were flying around during the early
part of the siege and so hopefully
we'll find some of those.
"Anything to
do with the siege will be a
significant find. If we can
attribute what we find either to the
member of the Kelly gang or to the
battle it will be or great interest
because it puts flesh on the bones
of the historic information we
already know. It gives us real
tangible physical remains of this
site."
The
time-frame for the dig is still
being finalised but Adam believes it
will start in May and last for about
four weeks.
Source: ABC
Online
Thanks to
Sharon Hollingsworth for sending
this in.
