Abstract
Thirty years of archaeology at Australia’s best-known penal colony, Port Arthur, has spanned the national (1988) and Tasmanian state (2004) bicentenaries. During that period, many Australian archaeological questions and methodologies have remained consistent, while the character of Australian society and popular understandings and uses of its convict beginnings have altered dramatically. One of the most radical shifts felt at Port Arthur stems from a growing public desire for an imagined experience of belonging and nationhood that has the potential to displace evidence-based considerations in the management of Tasmania’s convict places. Current archaeology at the Port Arthur Historic Site has the potential to shed significant light on aspects of convict experience and the processes of colonization; however, the validity of this research is increasingly being challenged by the politics of heritage and national myth making in constructing imaginary white colonial pasts. The recent emergence of the convict national element in Australian postcolonial identity is discussed along with queries about the future role of archaeological research at Port Arthur within the context of changing popular attitudes to convict heritage.
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Jackman, G. From Stain to Saint: Ancestry, Archaeology, and Agendas in Tasmania’s Convict Heritage—A View from Port Arthur. Hist Arch 43, 101–112 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03376764
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03376764