Sydney Opera House Forecourt Excavation
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Sydney Opera House Forecourt Excavation Historical Archaeological Assessment and Management Plan Report prepared for Sydney Opera House June 2018 Sydney Office Level 6 372 Elizabeth Street Surry Hills NSW Australia 2010 T +61 2 9319 4811 Canberra Office 2A Mugga Way Red Hill ACT Australia 2603 T +61 2 6273 7540 GML Heritage Pty Ltd ABN 60 001 179 362 www.gml.com.au GML Heritage Report Register The following report register documents the development and issue of the report entitled Sydney Opera House Forecourt Excavation—Historical Archaeological Assessment and Management Plan, undertaken by GML Heritage Pty Ltd in accordance with its quality management system. Job No. Issue No. Notes/Description Issue Date 18-0311 1 Draft Report 25 May 2018 18-0311 2 Final Report 22 June 2018 Quality Assurance GML Heritage Pty Ltd operates under a quality management system which has been certified as complying with the Australian/New Zealand Standard for quality management systems AS/NZS ISO 9001:2008. The report has been reviewed and approved for issue in accordance with the GML quality assurance policy and procedures. Project Manager: Dr Tim Owen Project Director & Reviewer: Abi Cryerhall Issue No. 2 Issue No. 2 Signature Signature Position: Senior Associate Position: Senior Associate Date: 22 June 2018 Date: 22 June 2018 Copyright Historical sources and reference material used in the preparation of this report are acknowledged and referenced at the end of each section and/or in figure captions. Reasonable effort has been made to identify, contact, acknowledge and obtain permission to use material from the relevant copyright owners. Unless otherwise specified or agreed, copyright in this report vests in GML Heritage Pty Ltd (‘GML’) and in the owners of any pre-existing historic source or reference material. Moral Rights GML asserts its Moral Rights in this work, unless otherwise acknowledged, in accordance with the (Commonwealth) Copyright (Moral Rights) Amendment Act 2000. GML’s moral rights include the attribution of authorship, the right not to have the work falsely attributed and the right to integrity of authorship. Right to Use GML grants to the client for this project (and the client’s successors in title) an irrevocable royalty-free right to reproduce or use the material from this report, except where such use infringes the copyright and/or Moral Rights of GML or third parties. GML Heritage Contents Page 1.0 Introduction ..................................................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Preamble ....................................................................................................................................................... 1 1.1.1 Understanding the Project ..................................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Heritage Background for the Current Assessment .................................................................................... 1 1.2.1 Sydney Opera House Conservation Management Plan ..................................................................... 2 1.2.2 GML 2010 ............................................................................................................................................... 3 1.2.3 GML 2016 ............................................................................................................................................... 3 1.3 Aboriginal Heritage and Archaeology .......................................................................................................... 4 1.4 Structure of this Report ................................................................................................................................. 4 1.5 Authorship ..................................................................................................................................................... 4 2.0 Historical Background ................................................................................................................................... 6 2.1 Historical Summary....................................................................................................................................... 6 2.1.1 Bennelong Point ..................................................................................................................................... 6 2.2 Site Formation and Disturbance .................................................................................................................. 6 2.2.1 Land Reclamation .................................................................................................................................. 7 2.2.2 Modification to Ground Levels .............................................................................................................. 7 2.2.3 Sydney Opera House Construction ...................................................................................................... 8 2.2.4 VAPS Works .......................................................................................................................................... 9 2.2.5 Geotechnical Analysis ........................................................................................................................... 9 2.3 Summary of Site Formation and Disturbance .......................................................................................... 10 3.0 Archaeological Assessment of Potential and Integrity ......................................................................... 25 3.1 Assessment of Archaeological Potential ................................................................................................... 25 3.2 Summary of Archaeological Potential ....................................................................................................... 27 4.0 Heritage Significance Assessment ........................................................................................................... 29 4.1 Assessment of Historical Archaeological Potential .................................................................................. 29 4.1.1 Assessment of Research Potential—Bickford and Sullivan’s Questions ........................................ 29 4.1.2 Prior Heritage Assessment ................................................................................................................. 30 4.1.3 Current NSW Heritage Assessment ................................................................................................... 31 4.2 Summary of Significance of Site Features ................................................................................................ 33 4.2.1 Statement of Historical Archaeological Significance ......................................................................... 34 5.0 Archaeological Impact Statement ............................................................................................................. 36 5.1 The Proposed Works .................................................................................................................................. 36 5.2 Evaluation of Impacts on the Potential Archaeological Resource ........................................................... 36 5.2.1 Statement of Archaeological Impact ................................................................................................... 36 5.3 Recommended Mitigative Strategy ........................................................................................................... 36 6.0 Archaeological Research Design and Excavation Methodology ........................................................ 39 6.1 Method of Construction .............................................................................................................................. 39 6.2 Historical Themes and Research Questions ............................................................................................ 40 6.2.1 Historical Themes ................................................................................................................................ 40 6.2.2 Site-Specific Research Framework .................................................................................................... 40 Sydney Opera House, Forecourt Excavation—Historical Archaeological Assessment and Management Plan, June 2018 GML Heritage 6.3 Archaeological Investigations .................................................................................................................... 41 6.4 Recording ................................................................................................................................................... 42 6.5 Artefacts and Samples .............................................................................................................................. 42 6.6 Post-Excavation Report ............................................................................................................................. 43 6.7 Archaeological Team ................................................................................................................................. 44 Sydney Opera House, Forecourt Excavation—Historical Archaeological Assessment and Management Plan, June 2018 GML Heritage 1.0 Introduction 1.1 Preamble As part of the Sydney Opera House (SOH) forecourt works, a thrust block needs to be installed within the forecourt area. The project was approved as State Significant Development