Where's the evidence? The archaeology of Sydney's Aboriginal history

Abstract Archaeological research into Sydney's Aboriginal past has overwhelmingly focused on the pre-contact period, while historical archaeology focusing on Aboriginal heritage has mostly been undertaken in regional or remote areas. Despite this, a range of approaches and techniques has been developed through these and other studies that can now be applied to the Aboriginal historical archaeology of urban areas. This paper collates and examines the physical evidence of the historical Aboriginal use of Sydney, which reveals a continuous history of Aboriginal associations with the Sydney area. Although scant, the physical evidence can be combined with detailed archival research to create a more rounded picture of how Aboriginal people responded to the growth of urban centres like Sydney. Many documented Aboriginal links to places (including extant buildings) are intangible associations but can be mapped to illustrate the complex and shifting connections which typify urban Aboriginal histories. The range of available methods and sources also provides broader scope for meaningful collaborations with urban Aboriginal communities, which are essential for this research to succeed. Keywords: Archaeology, historical, Aboriginal, Sydney, urban ********** It took a matter of days and a single machine to reduce the last terrace houses of Louis Street Redfern, in the heart of the Aboriginal settlement known as The Block, to rubble in late 2011. Having stood for a century or so, these houses were not constructed for, nor initially lived in by Aboriginal people, but were a key part of the history of post-war Aboriginal urban migration and self-determination (Museum of Sydney 1996). Indeed the development proposal which led to their demolition continues that history (Aboriginal Housing Company n.d.). The heritage assessment undertaken for the development proposal concluded that the Aboriginal significance of the area was more closely bound to social value and memory than the few extant buildings in poor and deteriorating condition (Cracknell and Lonergan 2007). The possible significance and interpretive value of subsurface archaeological remains was not considered and no archaeological excavations were undertaken. Although this outcome is not unusual for the NSW heritage assessment system (which focuses overwhelmingly on pre-contact Aboriginal or post-contact 'European' archaeology), it raises the question of whether the archaeology of Aboriginal settlements like The Block should fall within the scope of the heritage assessment process and archaeological research more generally. In this paper we outline what is currently known about the archaeology of Sydney's Aboriginal history and consider how this could be expanded in scope and methodology to provide a more complete picture of how Aboriginal people have lived in Sydney since 1788. We are primarily concerned with the 'historical archaeology of Sydney's Aboriginal people' (following Rubertone 2000) or 'Aboriginal historical archaeology' (Colley and Bickford 1996:18). This is the physical traces of the lives of Aboriginal people since first contact with Europeans. Whilst not perfect, these terms avoid some of the chronological shortcomings of 'contact archaeology' or the implied but artificial cultural rupture of 'post-contact', to potentially encompass the long-term entanglements of cross-cultural encounters or shared histories from contact to the present (Silliman 2005; Murray 1996). The emphasis on historical archaeology is important, as it is methodologically best equipped to merge archival and archaeological records, though we are mindful of perpetuating the artificial separation in training, practice and legislation between 'Aboriginal' and 'historical' archaeologies (Lightfoot 1995; Bedford 1996; Colley and Bickford 1996; Harrison 2004a:39; McIntyre-Tamwoy 2004:185). Background to the study Our research began with a scoping study of historical Aboriginal places in Sydney (Irish 2011) now refined into Irish's doctoral research, and was supplemented by an archaeological honours project examining Aboriginal glass artefacts in Sydney (Goward 2011). …