Hello to everyone, this is Chantelle and Sheona.

We are the year 10 work experience students and we have been working here for the past two days on the archaeological dig. We will be here for the rest of the working week.

Ohh my, and what an awesome two days it’s been so far! We started on Monday the 14^th this week. We did many jobs, and our first was actually being in the dig for about two hours, giving it a good go. It was difficult and so very different, but WOW… it was worth it! We learnt so many new techniques, especially with how to use the Mantic! At first, we were afraid we would endanger the lives of the people around us… we weren’t too handy with it at the beginning, let me tell you that… then eventually we found we could do a decent job; or so they say… [=

We are so lucky to work in a place like this, the people here are so great and supportive, and they would help us out with anything they could. Then just after working in the dig, we were supervising the wonderful school students who just happened to come from our school, Clontarf High and other schools like Humpybong Primary, they had all different grades come and might I say, all the kids were delightful. These wonderful kids really helped brighten up the days, thank you guys!

Most of the things we’ve done we weren’t expecting! There is such a great variety of things to learn here. We learnt anything from childcare, speeches, Archaeology, museum studies, labour work, and a small tour like activity with the students, cleaning up hahaha, and of course, blogging! You have to love blogging!

Not only did we learn all these great things, but also we were in such a great environment to learn in the first place. The experience we’ve gained here in this awesome museum and the experience yet to come is something far more constructive and useful then most other places we could have gone to. For us this is like a big bonus package, getting better and better. We’re very lucky and it’s been such a pleasure to work here.

P.s. The food was great! 

from Chantelle and Sheona, Tuesday, 15-09-09.

Day Six

Hello all, this is Sheona and Chantelle and we are the two year 10 work experience students that have been working here, in the Redcliffe Museum for the past two days.

Today we started out with the introduction that Michelle read us and what our goal for the day was. This was to mainly work in trench 2, hopefully finding something relating to  the kiln before they have to fill it all in at the end of the day.

So the Archaeologists got hard at work with that and the uni students while we were waiting for the first group of primary students to arrive, grade sevens from Humpybong Primary School. There were two lovely groups of students who came in the morning. We helped them and showed them to be Archaeologists in the mini trench (trench 3) that all the students who come to visit get to learn in.

It was hard work and a lot of fun, very worth while and the students were excited and happy to have a mess around in there, some of them made some nice finds, lots of pottery and glass, which was great. Some other finds like an old tap head and a doorstopper was found in there also.

Both groups of grade 7 students from Humpybong were lovely and we enjoyed having them so much.

The dig continued tirelessly during the day, with our great archaeological team and uni students and not to forget the people volunteering. There were tea breaks and of course with bikkies, everyone loves the bikkies. =]

This lead us up to the nice, relaxing lunch break, that was once again catered for; today with some nice, big sandwiches, muffins and fruit, all of it was exceptional! Once again thank you caterers we loved it!

So for the rest of the day, until about 2 pm, the dig went on!

From our past discoveries, we know that the kiln was there… but we didn’t find much more today, but at least we are absolutely sure that it was there, somewhere. Then later that afternoon, the last major event before and while everyone packing up was when the bobcats came in to fill in the trenches. Eventually, at a good pace, the job was done and that was the end of our first settlement archaeological dig. Though we were happy and felt successful, we all knew it was going to be sad when it was all over with, and it was… but in the end we were all glad we had accomplished what we had set out to do! So thank you everyone for all your support; we had a lot of fun, we hope you did to!

Written by Chantelle and Sheona, 15-09-09.

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!

Day Four

After a pretty flat day three that involved a lot of digging and even more sweating, day four started on a very positive note.  Almost immediately the archaeologists unearthed a 32 cm piece of wood in trench 1 exactly where the GPR told us to dig.  The wood was found with a large number of black lumps which turned out to be a combination of wood and rock, fused together by a great heat.  The finds were located deep in the creek bed and were not associated with any other wood or material that might have been associated with a flood instance.  Furthermore the wood had been worked showing a clear right angle.  Cautiously we believe we have found evidence of a brick kiln!

 While we haven’t found the actual kiln we have certainly found evidence that was associated with the activities of a brick kiln.  More investigation over the next few days may tell us more.  It is a good sign that this find was made on the anniversary of first landing in 1824 – 185 years later.

Lots of volunteers and UQ students have worked hard today on what has been a blistering hot day – they are going through the water at a great rate of knots and lots of blisters due to hard work on the shovels and mattocks.

The volunteers have been brilliant and the many visitors to the site have worn us out with all their questions.  However the interest has been wonderful and the more questions the better!

Today is the First Settlement Festival and the waterfront has been packed.  Lots of folk have walked down to the Museum and the dig site and interest in the heritage of Redcliffe is at an all time high.

Many thanks to the members of the Redcliffe Historical Society, the volunteers and staff of the Museum and the many volunteers and students who have participated thus far and helped make every thing so successful..  All the enthusiasm and assistance has been greatly appreciated.

Day Three

Wow, what an extremely hot day it has been today in Corscadden Park!  Today there was an enormous amount of digging in the hot sun.  We had twelve fantastic, enthusiastic volunteers come along today to help out with our QU students. 

Everyone worked really hard to clean up the trenches and explore our newly found creek bank.  There wasn’t much found today, mainly nails, pieces of china, class and a few more coins. 

Three more days to go and who knows what we will find next.  Hopefully it will be what we’re looking for.

Day Two

The reddish-brown fill was going to defeat us so it was time to call in the excavator.  Rick from MBRC was fantastic, a real artist with the excavator.  Finally after removing an enormous amount of fill, complete with huge blocks of concrete, we were able to locate the grey sandy soil of the original Humpybong Creek bank.  There are now two large trenches and the creek bank runs across both in an arc.  the work has clearly revealed the bank and the stratigraphy a number of flood instances over the years. 

A school group from Clontarf Beach High School got the chance to learn some excavation techniques, as did a group of volunteers in the afternoon.  Included in the afternoon group were six members of the Cultural Services department getting some hands on cultural heritage experience.

Finding the creek bank is incredibly important.  Finally we can track the creek prior to the works in the 1960s and 1980s.  Despite this some of the fun finds for the day were a dessert spoon and a 1943 penny – both of which were found in the fill.  However that does help us to identify when the fill was laid.  It is likely that the fill was from the changes made in 1960s.  By the end of the day all were feeling optimistic and looking forward to investigating the anomalies in the creek bank.

Day One

What a fantastic first day on the dig, the team has done a fantastic job to remove all the turf and start our venture to find the brick kiln.

Today we had students from Redcliffe Special School to give us a helping hand and they were all great, hard-working, enthusiastic kids who managed to find a few things during their afternoon. 

Most of what we found today were nails, pottery, glass and concrete… its a great sign that we are finding things so early and hopefully we will soon find what we’re looking for.

Only three more days to go before UQ archaeologists start work on the suspected convict brick kiln site in Corscadden Park.  Thursday will see ground broken and the beginning of a six day excavation that will include University students, primary and secondary students from local schools, volunteers from all over the greater Brisbane area, and Redcliffe Museum staff and volunteers.  All will hope to be lucky enough to be on site when the something exciting is unearthed.  The site will be on public land and visitors can watch the archaeologists at work every day between Thursday 10th of September and Tuesday 15th of September. 

The weekend is going to be huge.  On Saturday 12th of September the park will also host a Family Fun day with heaps of free activities and rides for all the family.  On Sunday the main activities of the First Settlement Festival will be in full swing on the Redcliffe Waterfront and a free shuttle will be available to visitors who are interested in viewing the dig and visiting the museum. 

If a historical walk is more your style head to the First Settlement Wall and check out the times for a guided walk by members of the Redcliffe Historical Society.  They will tell you about the history of the region as you stroll down the waterfront, along Humpybong Creek and under Anzac Avenue to the archaeological dig and the Redcliffe. 

Looking forward to seeing everybody at Corscadden Park during the dig!

An archaeological dig will commence in Corscadden Park at Redcliffe on 10 September 2009. The aim of this dig is to locate remains of the convict kiln.

Redcliffe Library will host an information evening, Thursday 7 May, 6 for 6.30pm, Redcliffe Library, 470-476 Oxley Avenue, Redcliffe.

A mini-documentary covering the highlights of both Stage One and Stage Two of the archaeological investigations will be screened, to be followed by a question and answer session led by Dr Jon Prangnell from the University of Queensland.

All welcome, please rsvp 3283 0249.