In the paper

I did a day's washing & sorting on an archaeological dig in Cumberland Street in The Rocks a couple of weeks back. It was hot grotty work but fun and interesting. It's in the paper today. Here's an excerpt from it:

The site, at the heart of Sydney's original convict settlement in The Rocks, lies between Cumberland and Gloucester streets. It was first excavated in 1994, when more than 750,000 artefacts, including sandstone, brick features and the foundations of about 30 buildings, some dating back to the 1790s, were found. ... "Thanks to its past use as a bus and car park covered in concrete, the site has survived remarkably intact since Sydney's first days as a convict settlement, and offers a rare glimpse at our past," Mr Sartor [Minister for Planning] said.

The article says the dig is happening now but unless its been re-opened it closed on the 3rd of March and is now in the sorting-and-pondering stage in a uni somewhere.

It'll be great to go back for a gander when the site's been turned into a museum. By then they'll have a lot more info on who lived there. Apart from Cribbs the lacenous butcher obviously, They know about him already. I want to see the images they put together of what it would been like in those narrow lanes and tiny terrace houses. The museum will be right across the road from the living museum thingy that is the Susannah Place corner shop.