Kerry Lodge Archaeology Project 2015-2018

This project will examine the archaeology of incarceration and unfree labour within the mid-19th century British penal colony of Tasmania, Australia.

Over March/April 2015, an initial excavation was held at the Kerry Lodge site. Directed as a research partnership between the Queen Victoria Museum & Art Gallery and the University of Manchester (UK), this first season focused on remains of a collapsed stone structure associated with the convict probation station. Research questions examined the nature of this 19th century feature -- What was its purpose? Was it built as a convict barracks? Or did it function as the station storehouse? Perhaps it was an equipment shed, and primarily used during quarrying of local field stone for construction of the Kerry Lodge bridge?

Activities on site included the scaled drawing and photography of wall foundations associated with the original building, and excavation of a 1 by 4 metre test trench along the northeastern side of the ruin. All recovered artefacts will ultimately be on public display at the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery.