An Archaeology of Institutional Confinement: The Hyde Park Barracks, 1848-1886

Description

The archaeological assemblage from the Hyde Park Barracks is one of the largest, most comprehensive and best preserved collections of artefacts from any 19th-century institution in the world. Concealed for up to 160 years in the cavities between floorboards and ceilings, the assemblage is a unique archaeological record of institutional confinement, especially of women. The underfloor assemblage dates to the period 1848 to 1886, during which a female Immigration Depot and a Government Asylum for Infirm and Destitute Women occupied the second and third floors of the Barracks. Over the years the women discarded and swept beneath the floor thousands of clothing and textile fragments, tobacco pipes, religious items, sewing equipment, paper scraps and numerous other objects, many of which rarely occur in typical archaeological deposits. These items are presented in detail in this book, and provide unique insight into the private lives of young female migrants and elderly destitute women, most of whom will never be known from historical records.

Peter Davies is a research assistant in the Department of Archaeology, Environment and Community Planning at La Trobe University. Penny Crook is a research fellow in the Department of Archaeology, Environment and Community Planning at La Trobe University. Tim Murray is Charles La Trobe Professor of Archaeology and Executive Dean of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at La Trobe University.

'This book carries with it the evocation of "Atmospheric Poison", disregard for human dignity and insensitive treatment. But it also uses the rich archaeological record, and historical account, to see into a world of both licit and illicit private lives, of individuality, where inmates demonstrated compassion and organisational structure fostered it, where an authority figure resisted managerialism, where age diminished the governed and the governor. This represents a significant maturing of the intellectual framework deployed for understanding a site of buildings that served many functions, constantly shifting and adapting, but always filled to the brim with people.' -- Deborah Oxley * Australian Historical Studies * ' ... the value of this monograph as a unique opportunity to discuss an institutional artefact assemblage closely linked to a group of defined people. It fulfils this role very well and provides an insight into the private world of an asylum.' -- Susan Piddock * Australian Archaeology * 'Drawing on an exceptional collection of archaeological materials recovered from the interior of the standing Barracks building, Davies et al. trace a narrative that details the operation of the asylum and extends into the intersecting lives of migrants and their keepers alike. The identities and experiences of this diverse population materialise in a collection of well-preserved artefacts - from fragments of large-print texts, carved bone sewing tools and children's toys, to individually labelled dispensary bottles that corroborate the documentary record.' -- Linnea Kuglitsch * Post-Medieval Archaeology *