Martin Gibbs

University of New England (Australia) | UNE · Department of Archaeology and Palaeoanthropology

uring the mid-nineteenth century, the convict penal settlement of Port Arthur (1830-1877) represented one of the larger and more complex industrial operations in the colony of Van Diemen's Land. Here, multiple industries-ranging from primary resource extraction through to complex manufacturing-were carried out concurrently. The output of the convic...

During the mid-nineteenth century, the convict penal settlement of Port Arthur (1830-1877) represented one of the larger and more complex industrial operations in the colony of Van Diemen's Land. Here, multiple industries-ranging from primary resource extraction through to complex manufacturing-were carried out concurrently. The output of the convi...

Between 1788 and 1868 Britain transported some 171,000 male and female convicted felons to Australia, in the process establishing the foundation European population and instituting a process of invasion and colonization. The convict “system” remains a signature theme in Australian historical and archaeological research, contributing to a multitude...

The Clarence River (New South Wales, Australia) was the main transport corridor for the timber and sugar cane industries operating in the catchment from the 1860s to the 1970s. Using archaeological, documentary, and oral historical resources we explore some of the anthropogenic impacts of these industries upon the fluvial geomorphology of the lower...

This paper will examine the process of urban transformation from convict to free settlement, through an analysis of the early convict landscape at Parramatta (1789–1841), the second British settlement in New South Wales. We draw together archaeological and historical sources to consider the patterns of change which occurred both at individual ‘conv...

The archaeological study of maritime industries can potentially encompass a bewildering array of artefacts, sites, structures, landscapes, vessels, mechanisms, processes, and communities on land, in intertidal zones, on and in the water, and on submerged land surfaces. This chapter presents whaling as a case study, focusing on the late eighteenth a...

In NSW the availability of excavation records, physical remains (primarily artefacts), technical datasets, and reports associated with a historical archaeological project can only be described as varied. These forms of data can be collectively termed an archaeological archive. The storage of archives commonly includes any combination of small-scale...

Prior to the introduction of major road networks across Australia, rivers acted as highways to the interior, linking vast expanses of prime agricultural land, natural resources and industries with local, national and international markets. Regardless of their size, navigable river systems also facilitated social and cultural contact between townshi...

Pitcairn Island, settled in 1790 by nine mutineers of the British naval vessel Bounty and 19 settlers from Tupua‘i, Huahine, Ra‘iātea and Tahiti, has long maintained an ambiguous status in Pacific scholarship. On the one hand, its attachment to a storied moment in British history and its supposedly remote geographic location have granted it outsize...

This handbook is currently in development, with individual articles publishing online in advance of print publication. At this time, we cannot add information about unpublished articles in this handbook, however the table of contents will continue to grow as additional articles pass through the review process and are added to the site. Please note...

The British colonisation of Australia was made possible by its co-option of unfree labour. Unwillingly placed at the leading edge of the colonising wave, the convict provided the labour power and skill through which land was alienated from its original inhabitants, infrastructure created and services rendered. A key feature of this process was the...

In the British colony of Van Diemen’s Land (Tasmania, Australia) the period 1839-53 witnessed an irrevocable change in the way in which prisoners (convicts) were managed. Known as the “probation system”, its introduction saw convicts newly transported from the corners of the Empire sequestered in government-run stations across the colony’s length a...

The Spanish Empire was a complex web of places and peoples. Through an expansive range of essays that look at Africa, the Americas, Asia, the Caribbean, and the Pacific, this volume brings a broad range of regions into conversation. The contributors focus on nuanced, comparative exploration of the processes and practices of creating, maintaining, a...

The use of LiDAR (Light Detection And Ranging) in archaeological prospection is not a new phenomenon; its capacity to enhance fieldwork processes is well proven. Use of the technology makes it possible to identify potential archaeological features and sites across large swathes of the landscape quickly and accurately. In addition, the data captured...

The use of LiDAR (Light Detection And Ranging) in archaeological prospection is not a new phenomenon; its capacity to greatly enhance fieldwork processes is well proven. Use of the technology makes it possible to identify potential archaeological features and sites across large swathes of the landscape quickly and accurately. In addition, the data...

The probation system was a form of convict management unique to the colony of Van Diemen’s Land (Tasmania). In operation between 1839 and 1853, it has been derided by contemporary and modern opinion as an abject failure that nearly drove a colony bankrupt and hastened the end of Britain’s great transportation project. Yet, probation has left an ind...

Shipwrecks have been conventionally examined archaeologically from various aspects (including ship design, cargoes and trade route identification, and have traditionally been regarded as tragic catastrophic events. Victorian shipwrecks occurred within a near-shore arena, often close to the coasts of small isolated maritime communities. These incide...

https://www.convictlandscapes.com.au/portarthur/ This webmap presents some of the results of the 2017-19 ARC-funded project Landscapes of Production and Punishment. Presented in a GIS-lite format, the mapping shows the spatial evolution of the Port Arthur penal station (1830-77) and includes buildings, boundaries, clearance and cultivation areas, y...

For over half-a-century (1803–54), the Australian colony of Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania), played a key part in Britain's globe-spanning unfree diaspora. Today, a rich built and archaeological landscape, augmented by an exhaustive and relatively intact documentary archive, stand as eloquent markers to this convict legacy. As historical archaeologist...

Between 1788 and 1868 some 165,000 men and women were transported from throughout the British Empire to the Australian colonies. For many, this act of enforced removal was to be their only experience of social displacement. For others, often condemned as the recidivist elements of the convict population, a secondary form of transportation occurred,...

Pitcairn Island, South Pacific is a remote 5 km² island known the world over for its famed connection to the Mutiny on the Bounty and its resultant mixed Anglo-Polynesian language and culture. Although captivated observers remain perpetually fascinated by the history and plight of the 50-odd population of Bounty descendants still resident on this f...

Archaeological evidence suggests that dogs were introduced to the islands of Oceania via Island Southeast Asia around 3,300 years ago, and reached the eastern islands of Polynesia by the fourteenth century AD. This dispersal is intimately tied to human expansion, but the involvement of dogs in Pacific migrations is not well understood. Our analyses...

The ‘Landscapes of Production and Punishment’ project aims to examine how convict labour from 1830–1877 affected the built and natural landscapes of the Tasman Peninsula, as well as the lives of the convicts themselves.

This paper presents an interdisciplinary project that uses archaeological and historical sources to explore the formation of a penal landscape in the Australian colonial context. The project focuses on the convict-period legacy of the Tasman Peninsula (Tasmania, Australia), in particular the former penal station of Port Arthur (1830–1877). The rese...

The name ‘Norfolk Island’ has long been synonymous with its use between 1825 and 1855 as a harsh punishment station for recidivist British convicts. Much of its previous archaeological investigation has focused on the conservation and management of standing structures from that period, to the detriment of an overall understanding of the archaeology...

We present the results of instrumental neutron activation analysis of ceramics recovered from the Solomon Islands, associated with Alvaro de Mendaña y Neira’s 16th century colonizing expedition to the region (c.1595–6). Based on the chemical and typological data and previously published petrological and geochronological research, this study assigns...

This paper examines the nineteenth- and twentieth-century non-indigenous presence in the Solomon Islands as an example of a maritime industrial frontier. In particular it employs a combination of frontier and maritime cultural landscape theories to consider the material and cognitive elements that inform us about how a maritime industrial frontier...

In 1568 and 1595 the Spanish colonists in Peru, inspired by the Inca legends of lands of great wealth to the west, sent expeditions to find what they believed might be the conjectured Terra Australis and/or King Solomon’s land of Ophir. Under the command of Adelantado Alvaro de Mendaña, these expeditions explored the islands encountered (now known...

Many studies of maritime site formation processes have concentrated upon the various natural and to a lesser extent cultural processes physically impacting the remnants of the vessel (shipwreck) and closely associated artefacts, while ignoring wider influences that have resulted in the current archaeological records. This chapter explores how cultu...

Christer Westerdahl's conceptual frameworks for identifying and understanding maritime cultural landscapes have spread far beyond their original Euro-pean roots and found a place in the works of many other archaeologists worldwide , including in Australia. This paper looks at the first encounters between European mariners and the Australian landsca...

This study focuses on the archaeology of the c.1835–1877 Prisoner Barracks constructed at Port Arthur, the domestic quarters for civilian, military and incarcerated occupants spanning almost the entire convict period. Faunal and artefact analyses of the assemblage uncovered at this site were used to provide a more complex understanding of instituti...

This report provides the author's research database of biographical information on Western Australian shore whalers c.1836-1880, as well as a brief historic background to the industry.

This book explores the historical and archaeological evidence of the relationships between a coastal community and the shipwrecks that have occurred along the southern Australian shoreline over the last 160 years. It moves beyond a focus on shipwrecks as events and shows the short and long term economic, social and symbolic significance of wrecks a...

This Chapter describes the medium- and long-term responses to the presence of shipwrecks and stranded vessels, tracing the ways in which the economic, social and symbolic roles of shipping mishap sites within the Queenscliffe landscape changed over time. In particular, this chapter examines the formal (systematic or official) and informal (and pote...

This chapter presents the Queenscliffe community’s relationships and reactions to shipping mishaps as being, at least in part, a function of their perception of and adaptation to risk and crisis. It also considers the diversity of responses by different groups in their saviour versus salvor roles, and how changes over time in attitudes towards ship...

Chapter 9 revisits the concept of a maritime cultural landscape associated with shipping mishaps. It examines how the Queenscliffe case study aligns with international examples and considers the potential for comparative archaeological and historical studies of how communities have dealt with shipping mishaps in different times, places and contexts...

Chapter 2 presents the theoretical structure and methods for the investigation of the Queenscliffe community’s responses to shipwreck past and present. The concept of the maritime cultural landscape is explored in detail to establish its potential as a unifying framework in maritime archaeological investigation. While setting out the physical and c...

This chapter provides the historical and environmental background to the establishment of the town of Queenscliffe and summarizes the pattern and nature of the shipping mishaps which occurred in the region. It then examines the long-term mechanisms established to prevent shipping crises or mitigate impact (such as navigation beacons), focusing on t...

This chapter explores the Queenscliffe community’s responses during the pre-impact phase when a shipping disaster seemed imminent, as well as the impact phase when the wreck or stranding was happening. This was a critical period where those aboard and ashore had to make decisions and undertake actions which could significantly influence the course...

This chapter presents the archaeological evidence of the sites and landscape elements associated with shipwreck prevention and mitigation, as a way of alerting archaeologists to how these diverse sites can be identified and considered as part of a shipping risk management system. This includes navigation structures such as lighthouses, beacons, buo...

This chapter examines the archaeological evidence and landscape features associated with rescue, exploitation and commemoration of shipping mishaps. This includes an examination of the evidence for the operation of the lifeboat service, the treatment of shipwreck survivors and fatalities, as well as the archaeological legacy of wreck salvage, looti...

This paper examines evidence for Spanish occupation on Makira (Solomon Islands) and the search for an associated possible shipwreck of Mendanas lost Galleon.

Excavation of three middens on Mwanihuki, located on the north coast of Makira in the southeast Solomon Islands has returned radiocarbon dates that show an initial occupation bracket between 3351 ± 42 BP and 2975 ± 21 BP (uncalibrated). The material culture of this phase consisted of a small amount of subsistence shell and worked chert, and an abse...

The 2014 remote sensing survey of Norfolk Island (NI) focused on detection and investigation of a selection of archaeological sites identified through historical sources to proposed by the local NI community. The NI Museum staff, volunteers and other interested community members worked closely with the University of Sydney project team on the remot...

We present U-Pb ages of zircons extracted from olive jars recovered from two sites associated with Alvaro de Mendaña y Neyra's colonising expedition to the Solomon Islands, c. 1595–1596 A.D. The olive jars were previously associated with Panamanian and Peruvian origins based on petrological and geochemical studies. To further define provenance, 143...

In 2009 we produced a series of edited video clips to demonstrate practical methods to archaeology students at the University of Sydney in Australia. The videos were made publicly accessible via YouTube and incorporated into teaching of an undergraduate archaeological field methods course in 2010 and 2011. Our paper outlines staff experiences of ma...

We present evidence linking vessel forms with ceramic wares resulting from the petrological analysis of 33 sherds from two sixteenth century Spanish colonial sites in the Solomon Islands. Our results expand the range of fabric types previously published, and comparative literature analyses support earlier studies suggesting probable ceramic origins...

In 2003, the authors were shown a chart which contained an obscure reference to ‘hulks’ that were located along the entrance to the Yarra River at Melbourne, Australia. Local researchers had identified that the vessels on the map may have been the remains of former gold-rush era prison hulks which were once located off Williamstown, in Hobsons Bay....

The New South Wales Archaeology Online (NSW AOL) Project aims to enhance the research, professional and educational value of archaeological information by using digital technology. Stages 1 and 2 (2009-13) involve collaboration with the University of Sydney Library eScholarship Repository and archaeologists studying colonial historic places and arc...

The last ten years of archaeological research on convict sites in NSW has seen a wealth of new discoveries thanks to unprecedented access to urban settings as a result of the development boom in the greater Sydney area. Not surprisingly, the direction of research has therefore largely been dictated by the nature of these mitigation projects and con...

This paper presents historical data from 19th century shore whaling stations along the Western Australian coast, complementing data already presented in an earlier 1985 analysis. In particular, catch records of the Castle Rock whaling station, Geographe Bay, Western Australia, for the period 1846-53 together with other contemporary records indicate...

This paper presents alternative readings of the archaeology of a series of nineteenth-century industrial and convict sites in the midwest region of Western Australia. In particular it employs the biography of Joseph Horrocks a former convict turned mine manager, to reinterpret the relationship between these places, considering the agency of the ind...

Every winter between 1836 to 1879 small wooden boats left the bays of southwest Western Australia to hunt for migrating Humpback and Right whales. In the early years of European settlement these small shore whaling parties and the whale oil they produced were an important part of the colonial economy, yet over time their significance diminished unt...

The application of remote sensing techniques to Australian historical archaeological sites is becoming increasingly popular, given the increased need for focused excavation strategies or non-invasive investigations. Despite this, many archaeologists remain unconvinced of the potential of these techniques or misunderstand their capabilities. Three c...

The archaeological study of Aboriginal knapped glass artefacts in Australia has focussed almost entirely on glass tool production, and more particularly, on the technology of glass tool production (as opposed, for example, to the social context of glass tool production). In this paper, we suggest the value of an approach which foregrounds context i...

This paper describes a long-term historical archaeological field training program, formalised during the 1990s as the Midwest Archaeological Survey, which developed in concert with and was largely funded by a local community in Northampton, Western Australia. While a series of crises in Indigenous archaeology in Australia have driven a new found in...

It has not been possible to provide in this chapter either a thorough overview or critical appreciation of maritime archaeology at the land-sea interface. Australian maritime archaeology has always been at the forefront of innovation and has a long history of a “holistic” approach to maritime sites (McCarthy, 2003). The shift towards a broader enga...

Thirty years after Muckelroy's seminal 1976 paper on shipwreck site formation, research on the cultural processes which contribute to the creation and modification of shipwrecks remains limited. It is proposed that by adopting a process-oriented framework, we can integrate and synthesize the documentary, oral and archaeological evidence of human re...

Over the last half a decade or more professional archaeologists have been voicing a deepening sense of dissatisfaction with both undergraduate training and opportunities for graduate skill development. Much of this appears to arise from continuing transformations in industry directions and needs colliding with a period of significant reduction in u...

The mid-nineteenth-century shore-based whaling stations scattered along the western and southern Western Allstralian coasts were often at the extreme edge of the frontier of European settlement. This paper explores the archaeological evidence for food supply at the Cheyne Beach whaling station, northeast of Albany. It establishes that, despite the...

Over the last half a decade or more professional archaeologists have been voicing a deepening sense of dissatisfaction with both undergraduate training and opportunities for graduate skill development. Much of this appears to arise from continuing transformations in industry directions and needs colliding with a period of significant reduction in u...

The Great Barrier Reef earned its name from the maze of barely visible reefs, featureless coral islands and difficult currents that made passage from the Coral' Sea through to the inner coastal lagoon a dangerous and often fatal venture. Simply referred to as 'The Barrier' by early travellers, locating, proving and marking navigable passages throug...