The development of WA Museum Boola Bardip was the perfect opportunity to not only go up, but to go down and continue digging around the site. Construction of new buildings and the restoration of old ones offered a chance to investigate the past by looking for clues that lay beneath the ground, in and around the heritage buildings.
Between 2014 and 2020, archaeological excavations across the Museum site identified a number of remnant building structures and thousands of artefacts. Among these were sections of yard wall footings, paved and rammed earth floors, and features from outbuildings associated with the Perth Gaol (1856). A rubbish pit filled with 19th century horseshoes and metal-working tools provided a glimpse of the old stables that once stood where the new museum reception area is now.
Two elongated rusty objects were pulled from a small early to mid-20th century rubbish pit. WAM staff X-rayed the mass to identify features hidden beneath the hard brown rust. The X-ray revealed parts of three rifles, two of which were stuck together. With detailed conservation work to remove the concretions the rifles have been identified as WWI vintage German Gewehr models.
Archaeologists from Archae-Aus Pty Ltd excavating brick-lined drains beneath the floorboards of the 1903 Government Geologists Office building.
Wouldn’t it be a great story if the rifles had been planted by Gaol prisoners planning their escape? Sadly not, at least for this story.
It was quickly apparent that these old rifles are incomplete. Elements such as the wooden butts and other pieces are missing from all three, indicating they were dismantled before being dumped in the yard of the old gaol. They are a curious find but are likely related to the George Wieck Gallery (1957 – 1971) which housed the Museum’s military arms. These pieces were likely unwanted, unregistered items, possibly salvaged for parts and then discarded.
Other artefacts recovered from the site include a mix of materials that are of Gaol and Museum periods, often found in rubbish pits or in association with a particular structure. There are personal items like buttons, boots and bone toothbrushes, glass and ceramic tableware, and even fragments of children’s tiny toy tea sets. Plain and ornately decorated clay tobacco pipes - occasionally offered to prisoners as incentives – were also found throughout the site. Discarded mineral specimens, fragments of ceramic crucibles and delicate lab equipment reflect the early work of Museum scientists.
A few coins have been found, including a 1911 minted florin, discovered beneath the floorboards of the Gaol. In that year, a florin could have bought about six loaves of bread.
A last-minute discovery was made under the floorboards within the old Government Geologists Offices building (1902). It was a series of brick-lined drains leading from old Gaol to the geology building and a well. An impressive four metres in diameter, the well was constructed with hand-made convict-era bricks and pre-dates the drains, indicating that it most likely dates to the Gaol period.
The well and the drains have undergone in situ conservation and salvage, with relevant materials coming to the museum. These remnant early structures now form a unique part of the site’s historical interpretation and can be viewed under a glass floor inside WA Museum Boola Bardip, on the ground level, near Ngalang Koort Boodja Wirn gallery.
Museum curators and conservators are working on the large collection of finds recovered from years of excavation. Stay tuned for a display of artefacts associated with the heritage and archaeology of the site.
Published on 12 August 2021
