The Welsh Village, Near Castlemaine, Victoria: a Study of People In
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AUSTRALASIANHISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY. 16. 1998 Thewelsh village, nearcastlemaine, victoria: A ,l studyof peoplein rrt the landscape !r i! ln VALERIEHILL & al r r Thepresence of people within the landscape is a stimulusfor change and the marks le/i by human activity can fr reveal the relationship that existedbetween people and their surroundings. Thispaper examineshistorical and archaeological evidencefrom The WelshWtlage, an abandonedgotd mining settlementin central Wctoria, to goin an understanding of human perceptions of the tandscape and the ways in which the landscape influenced u and restricted its human occupqntsduring the time of the Australian gold rush last century. I The discovery ofgold last century encouraged large numbersof settlementsduring the nineteenthcenhrry is generallya reflection Europeanimmigrants to occupy the Austalian landscape.Many of the relationship that existed between people and their oftheseearly gold seekersbecame part t ofa tansient population sunoundings at this time. The signs ofhuman intervention are ;- that moved on when mineral resources dwindled, but in locations encompassedwithin 'the cultural landscape'. From this where gold deposits offered the potential rt for long-term eviderrce,important inferences can be drawn about the way in exploitation, relatively permanent E settlementswere established whichpeople adaptedto an unfamiliar landscape,tle resources 1978:59-63). .o"i @lainey that they valued and the changes that took place within the landscape The developmentof settlementswas an intrusion that altered during their presence(McCann 1992:l2l). ir the intrinsic appearanceofthe land and, in an erathat encowaged The merit of studying the landscape as an archaeological m exploitative colonisation, the use of natural resourceswas artefactis widely acknowledged.Early archaeologicallandscape condonedwith little regardfor the consequencesofthis usefor studiesin Austalia include Graham Connah,sresearch into the ; the landscape(Sauer 1981:355). Thus the dramaticimpression landscapeof SaumarezStation in the New England Tablelands, U left by the exploitation of mineral resolucesand the associated which recordsthe way in which changesin Australia's early :tr 3t :tr! C. + il tu ne Jot & tu $0( F E Th 5E s E' ts: n{ dri s4 .Lft ffi 3-!, iE *c Fig. l: Location of The Welsh Village (adapted/rom Geological Survey of Victoria Map Castlemaine-Chewton 1994). Lb 3e 60 ein wool industy are reflected in the relocation of activity centres remains are made appeaxsto have come from subterranean within the landscape(Connah 1977). DennisJeans has made a mining, so their constructionwould probably coincide with tlese considerable contribution through publications such as operations. A relative date of 1850 to the mid-1880swas Austral ian Hist oric al Landscapes ( I 984) demonstrating the assiped to the structu.esin a survey conductedon behalf ofthe knowledge gained to be through the study of historical ruins as Deparhent of Conservation and Natural Resources@annear part ofthe landscape.Expansive landscape research includes 1993:34) and this is consistent with the deerrmeltzry 41d DavidCarment's study (1991) of a largearea in Cental Australia physicalevidence. with evidence from both the Aboriginal and the European Mineral extaction was cented on the Nimrod anticline, from presence,as well as Winston-Gregson's study in the Riverina which very rich, shallow alluvial deposits and quartz reefgold area(1984), which interpretsa wider landscapeof settlement were worked from 1854 (Dickinson l94l:225). An 1859 that includedpastoral and mining interests. Deparhent of Mines map showsthat anumber of claimswere The cultural landscaperesulting from mineral extraction last included within twenty acresheld by the Nimrod Reef Mining century has been a significant focus for archaeologicalresearch Company in Golden Gully and the structural remains of the into the conceptof people within the landscape. An example is village are located within this area. a survey of mineral extraction in Tasmania'snortheast, The early claim holdersmade a largeopen cut nearthe crestof undertaken by Denise Gaughwin, in which the generalcharacter Nimrod Hill to work the shallow bodiesof quartz (Dickinson of an extensive region of transformed landscape is analysed 194l:225-227). From I 86l, when thesedeposits were thoughtto dection 11992:59). Work conducted by Kate Holmes at Arltunga havebeen exhausted, a numberof small companiesformed by the d their goldfields in Cenfral Australia reveals the extent to which local claim holdersbegan to work the deeperlodes on the reef but met ion are resoruces,such as stoneand the coolingproperties ofprevailing with only moderatesuccess. As deepershafts were sunk, water m this rvinds,were utilised and demonstates the need for food storage becamea major problem. Falling retums and expenditureon w"y in to facilitate survival in a remote and arid landscape(1989:43- drainagemachinery eventually took their toll andwork on the main Ixrrces -19). SusanLawrence Cheney'sanalysis of the Dolly's Creek shaft becameincreasingly intermittent (BaragwanathI 903: 8-9). rin the community in Victoria's goldfields cental examines evidence kt 1888,the CrownNimrod, which hadoperated as a co-operative for comnunity ties that can be observed in the positioning of companysince 1875,was purchasedby a Melboumesyndicate bcd buildings and the utilisation of features within the landscape (CrownNimrodQuartz Mining CompanyLease23 February1888; dscape ( 1992 : 40), while Neville Ritchie's ( I 9 8 I ) researchat the Cental VictorianGovernment Gazette 24 February1888). Tonentialrains mo the Otagogoldfield details wide a range of data provided by the at the startof 1889added to the sub-surfaceproblems and mining :lands, interpretationof alluvial gold pattems. tailing An extensivestudy virtually ceased(Mining Surveyors'Report 3l December1889). ; early of the Shoalhavenand Mongarlowe Goldfields conducted by Subsequentefforts to operatethe mine were not economicallyviable Barry McGowan (1996) described the exploitationof mineral andby 1896all mining activity at the main shaftwas abandoned resources,with an emphasis on the landscapedegradation (Dickinson 194l:225-227). Spasmodicmining along the reef resulting from these activities. Theseand similar studiesofthe continuedintothe twentieth century andAnnear 1989:13) cultural landscape @annear of mining can provide a diversity of but the boom era of mining at the Nimrod had ended. information that contributes much to our understandingof the relationship between people and the landscapethey inhabit. The Cultural Landscape CASE STTIDY:THE WELSH VILLAGE As a resultof settlementand mining, most ofthe topsoilthat once coveredthe location has given way to a bare, rocky surfacethat The Welsh Village is an abandonedmining settlementlocated supportsan openeucalypt woodland with a sparseundergowth of eastof the city of Castlemaine,about 115kilometes northwest nativegrasses and smallshrubs, such as acacias. A smallwater of Melboume (Fig. l). The location is distinctive becauseof courseknown as Golden Creek winds along the gully floor butthe the high concentrationof evidenceofgoldmining and settlement flow ofwater is negligible. Thevestiges ofthe settlementare mainly from the middle to late nineteenth cenfirry within a relatively locatedon the lower levelsofthe gully, althoughremnants ofmining compactgeographical area. Factorssuch as the secludedlocation activities can be encounteredalong the tracks that descendinto (the majority of the structural remains are on private property), Golden Gully. Remnantsof an earthenroad passingthrough the the geomorphology and the use of stone in its structureshave northernend of the settlementallows accessfrom the eastand ensureda reasonablestate of preservationfor the remains at the west, but the mostcommon means of entty is a small track leading site,thus providing tangible evidenceof the relationshipbetween from the open-cutmining area. people and the landscapeduring the time of the nineteenth- Archaeological c€ntury gold rush in Australia. Evidence of Settlement History of The Welsh Village The archaeologicalremains of the settlementare primarily stone footingsand remnants of walls. The conditionofthe structuresis TheWelsh Village is locatedin GoldenGully, which is one of a deterioratingrapidly and some of the walls are in dangerof seriesof small gullies near Castlemainethat yielded large collapsing,emphasising the urgency for a recordto be madeofthe quantities of gold during the Austalian gold rush. The region settlement.ln 1997,as part of an Honoursproject at La Trobe in which the settlement was establishedwas originally known University, the author conductedan archaeologicalsuwey of the asthe Mount Alexander Goldfields but from 1852it was referred settlementand mining remains.A compass,tape and a handheld to as the ForestCreek Goldfields @aragwanath1903:8). The GPS were usedto producea map showingthe distributionof WelshVillage appearsto be a recenttitle given to the settlement, featuresand the use of spacewithin the sfudy area,as well as although the Welsh nationality of its early inhabitants is individualplans of the structuresit contained.Few topographical zupportedby contemporary documentation(Mount Alexander featureswere availablewith which to determinethe study -ly'ailI October1858). boundaries,so arbitraryboundaries were set to encompassthe The history of the settlement is inextricably linked to the greatestdensity ofphy'sical features (Fig. 2). nearby mining activities