Postgraduate Research Guide

Rewriting the history of Western Australia RESEARCHERS AT NOTRE DAME’S FREMANTLE CAMPUS ARE REWRITING THE HISTORY OF THE EARLY SETTLERS IN WESTERN AUSTRALIA. For more than 100 years it has been accepted as fact that some of the State’s first settlers abandoned Peel town because of camp leader Thomas Peel’s inept leadership. But new evidence suggests that the extent of the hardship – extreme conditions that drove the settlers to burn even their own furniture in an effort to stay warm – was the catalyst for the exodus from one of the largest initial settlements in the colony located 10km from Fremantle on the southern banks of the Swan and Canning Rivers. “Imagine, priceless antique furniture – shipped across from Britain by new arrivals as a sign of their wealth and status – was instead thrown into the fireplace to be used as fuel for cooking and heating,” said Archaeology Coordinator, Dr Shane Burke. “In a society where tasteful furnishings ‘made the person’, the destruction of tangible symbols of elite and middle-class British culture would have caused intense stress among the early settlers.” As part of the study, Dr Burke analysed more than 5,500 charcoal fragments from hearths, fireplaces and ash pits associated with five dwellings from the Peel town camp, uncovered as part of archaeological work at the site. Analysis of the charcoal suggests that once colonists exhausted local wood supplies (jarrah, tuart and candle banksia) as fuel for cooking and heating, they were forced to use timber containers, opulent imported British furniture and ship’s timbers. Said Dr Burke: “Until now, it has been suggested that low morale and disquiet towards leader, Thomas Peel, was the cause of the camp’s eventual collapse. But the new evidence clearly suggests that extreme hardship was the major factor in their decision to abandon the area.” Dr Shane Burke RESEARCH MATTERS SCHOOL OF ARTS & SCIENCES 21