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KIANDRA ARCHAEOLOGICAL PROJECT 1997
EXCAVATIONS AT THE DANCE HALL AND THE TEACHER’S RESIDENCE
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INTRODUCTION In February this year the Department of Archaeology and Anthropology conducted the third season of excavations at the abandoned gold mining settlement of Kiandra in the Snowy Mountains region of New South Wales. Excavations were carried out on the site of the Dance Hall and Teacher’s residence in Section 9 of the former township. |
Anne Clarke and students examined the excavation. |
Anne Clarke and field team. |
The Kiandra archaeological project started in 1995 under the direction of Dr Mike Smith. It is run as a field school forming the core of the Australian National University's undergraduate field training program in archaeology. Two field seasons have already been undertaken at Kiandra, the first in 1995 under the direction of Dr Mike Smith, and last year, 1996 under the direction of Dr Ken Heffernan. The third field season was directed by Dr. Annie Clarke with the assistance of two post-graduate students Lindsay Smith and Ben Evans. Marie Colvill and Johann Trueangle also assisted as the camp managers. 15 third year, honours and post-graduate students participated in the two week excavation. |
FIELDWORK AIMS
The aims for the fieldwork in 1997 were to build on the research carried out in 1995 and 1996. The broad aims of the project established by Mike Smith were to use archaeological methods to fill gaps in the knowledge of the location and layout of buildings in the central Kiandra precinct. A secondary aim of the project was to supplement historical records concerning the social and economic history of the township. Smith identified the following major issues as potential areas for archaeological investigation -
Smith further identified The Kiandra and Alpine Hotels, the School of Arts, The Dance Hall and Yan's stores as the major sites for investigation over the duration of the project.
In 1996 the project examined the Chinese stores located in Sections 13 and 14 to examine questions relating to the role of Chinese people in the development of Kinadra. The specific aims were to locate the two Chinese emporia thought to be present in Section 14 before the fire of 1916. Other objectives of the 1996 field season were to establish a sequence for the construction of mining features close to the town and contribute to the recording of Matthew's Cottage.
The aims of the 1997 field school were two-fold - to continue with the broad framework of investigations established by Smith, and to expand the conceptual and theoretical framework of the project to examine the archaeology of public and private space. Excavations in 1995 and 1996 have investigated structures which contribute to an understanding of both transformations in public space and the relationships between private and public space within an ethnically diverse mining community.
The Dance Hall appears on the map reproduced in Hueneke (1987:43) based on the Department of Lands map of 1893. From this it seems likely that the Dance Hall was first constructed sometime in the early 1890s and it is also known that it was later used as a club house for skiing activities in the 1930s. The basic aims of the surface collection and excavation of the Dance Hall will be to establish more firmly the period of initial construction and to examine the structural history of the building.
In relation to the specific aims outlined by Smith excavations of the Dance Hall will contribute to the documentation of physical remains and the construction history of building in the central Kiandra precinct. Excavations at the Dance Hall will also contribute to existing knowledge of the social history of Kiandra in relation to the theme of leisure and self-improvement.
At a broader level the Dance Hall is symbolic of the transformation of the social landscape of Kiandra from mining town to remote, rural town. The Dance Hall was one place where social relations (ethnic and gender relations in particular) in a small rural settlement could be mediated through the fabric of socially defined public space. The archaeological signature of the Dance Hall will be compared to that of the Kiandra Hotel. The Hotel was a predominantly male domain whereas the Dance Hall was a social context where men, women and children of different ethnic backgrounds were socially sanctioned to mix. The material remains associated with the Dance Hall may consist of particular categories of materials which relate to the specific social activities associated with a Dance Hall. In addition their location within the Dance Hall environment may also represent the playing out of private social relations within a public space. For example it can be hypothesized that there will be a contrast between the material remains found within the Dance Hall structure to those found outside. Socially and culturally constructed codes of behaviour may have required a public set gender relations inside the Dance Hall, but outside these codes may have been open to transgression with resulting differences in the range and nature of material remains inside and outside the Hall.
THE 1997 EXCAVATIONS
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Two areas were excavated in 1997. A small 2m2 test-pit was excavated in the area of the Teacher's residence. This excavation cut through a rubbish pit which appears to have been originally created in the late 1890s and which continued to be used at least until the 1940s. The pit contained a wide range of bottle types and other discarded household implements. A small retaining wall was identified towards the base of the rubbish pit and it is thought that this may have been part of an earlier garden feature. |
Recording surface material prior to excavation. |
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The main area of excavation consisted of a 10m x 1m trench across the Dance Hall floor deposits. The floor deposits appeared to contain material relating to the second phase of site use after the Dance Hall was converted from a community recreation facility into a shed for horses and farm equipment in early 1940s. The excavations identified a layer of gravel beneath the Dance Hall footings. This gravel was probably obtained locally from the nearby river banks and was laid down to form a firm, level and dry platform for the construction of the Dance Hall. Inside the Dance Hall there was another dump of gravel on the northern side of the building together with large amounts of charcoal. It is likely that these charcoal deposits relate to the post-demolition clearance of the site. |
Anne Clarke looking at building foundations. |
Analyses of the excavated materials, the surface collections, site sediments and stratigraphy were completed by the students as part of their course assessments. These results will be written up and published as a monograph by the Department of Archaeology and Anthropology. Monographs from the 1995 (Smith and Smith [eds] 1995) and 1996 (Heffernan and [eds] 1996) field seasons have already been published and are available from the Department.
References
Smith, L. M. & Smith M. A. (eds) 1995 Archaeological Investigations at Kiandra, Kosciusko National Park. 1: Excavations at Kiandra Hotel and Mr Marks' race 1995. Canberra: Department of Archaeology and Anthropology, The Faculties, ANU.
Heffernan, K. J. and Smith, L. M. (eds) 1996 Archaeological Investigations at Chinese Emporia, mining races and Matthews' cottage 1996. Canberra: Department of Archaeology and Anthropology, The Faculties, ANU.
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Author: Anne Clarke, Dept. Archaeology and Anthropology
Feedback: anne.clarke@anu.edu.au .
Date Last Modified: 25-August-97
URL: http://artalpha.anu.edu.au/web/arc/aboutus/projects/kiandra1.htm
