Day Five
Today we have had a busy morning showing people our fantastic find. The Mayor of Moreton Bay Region, Cr Allan Sutherland, along with other Councillors, Rae Frawley and James Houghton, visited the site and were excited about the finds and interested to learn more about the site. Another visitor was Dr John Steele, the man who did the original research that created the conjectural map. His map led us to the site and then the GPR confirmed an anomaly. A lot of hard digging did the rest!
Another group of Clontarf Beach High School students got the chance to work in trench three in the morning and Scarborough Primary school did the same in the afternoon. Another volunteer working in the dig today was Brenda Corscadden – the park we are digging in was named after her family. The Corscadden’s have been on the Peninsula since the later 1880s.
At this point we are tracking the creek bank through the three trenches. Dr Prangnell is working hard to document the site before we close down tomorrow. The wood is currently in a ziplock bag in the fridge but photographs have been sent to an expert conservator for consideration. Next step is to work on a conservation plan for the artifact.
It is finally sinking in that we have found the first tangible archaeological evidence of the first British settlement in Queensland! Of course first up is to write any number of site reports!
Congratulations on what appears to be a very exciting find!
I only wish I could be there to watch and help.
On behalf of the Scarborough State School students and parents and myself, I would like to thank all concerned for the marvellous experience we had of being involved with this venture.
We all enjoyed it tremendously and are proud to have been involved with ‘digging’ up our community and state history