Parramatta Sand Body Conservation Area and Military Barracks Site is a heritage-listed archaeological site relating to both Aboriginal and European occupation at George and Harris Streets, Harris Park, City of Parramatta, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 8 July 2011.
History
Parramatta Sand Body The Parramatta Sand Body is a previously unrecognised soil landscape unit that runs along the Parramatta River through the Parramatta CBD. The precise origin of the Parramatta sand body is not known, but it is thought that the fluvial sand was deposited by the Parramatta River during periods of flooding. The main body of the sand forms a levee along the south bank of the river. The well-developed profile of the sand, suggests that the sand is of late Pleistocene age. The deeper layers of sand may have been deposited as much as 120,000 years ago and may relate to a period of a higher sea level.
The original vegetation on the sand body was probably paperbark trees and grassland with well-spaced gum, grey box and rough-barked apple trees on slightly higher ground. Banksia and grass trees were likely to have been present and a sparse scattering of mangroves may have been present along the river. Swamps and waterholes punctuated the sand terrace.
The sand body has been the subject of archaeological investigation, and a substantial archival record of pre-colonial Aboriginal occupation of the Parramatta CBD has been recovered from the fluvial sand terrace. Analysis of this record has the potential to yield new and important information about the diet and lifestyle of Aboriginal people living in Parramatta, in pre-colonial times.
Occupation of Parramatta by the Aboriginal People Aboriginal peoples have occupied the Parramatta region for tens of thousands of years. Evidence of their occupation can be found in the form of rock shelters with deposits, open campsites, middens, axe grinding groove sites, scarred trees, hand stencils and drawings. In pre-colonial times, Parramatta would have been very attractive to Aboriginal people as the landscape would have supported a wide variety of plant and animal life. The City of Parramatta is located on Parramatta River at what is effectively the head of Sydney Harbour. Permanent fresh water was available in the river upstream of the tidal limit and fresh water would also have been available from creeks and surface waterholes, in more clayey parts of the sand terrace. Aboriginal people living in this location would have had access to freshwater and saltwater food resources such as: ducks, eels, shellfish, crayfish, fish and turtles. Terrestrial resources in the Parramatta area included woodland and grassland mammals such as: kangaroos, possums and flying foxes. The grassy woodlands would also have provided access to smaller animals and insects and to native fruits, berries, seeds, yams and roots.
Parramatta CBD, at the time of European settlement, is thought to have been the territorial lands of the Boromedegal (also spelt Burramattgal, Boora me di-gal, Booramedegal and Burramedigal). The Boromedegal appear to have belonged to a larger cultural group that extended across western Sydney, although exact language group affiliations of pre-contact groups in the Parramatta region is open to some debate. Much European knowledge about the traditional life style of Aboriginal people living in the Parramatta CBD area is reliant on archaeological investigation, as the Boromedegal People (as a distinct population group) disappeared very soon after European settlement of the area.
European settlers, attracted to Parramatta for its fertile soils and its suitability for water transport, began arriving in the region in the late 18th century. Parramatta quickly became the focus of residential, commercial and industrial development. The establishment of the town of Parramatta and cultivation of the surrounding land, would have resulted in many Aboriginal sites being disturbed or destroyed without being recorded. To date only a relatively few Aboriginal sites have been recorded in the Parramatta local government area.
Identification of the Parramatta Sand Body The Parramatta sand body was first identified as a soil landscape unit in 2002 as result of archaeological investigation of the Meriton Building site located at 180-180a George Street and 30-32 Charles Street, Parramatta. Archaeological investigation of this site and subsequent archaeological investigations of other sites in the Parramatta CBD, have shown that the fluvial sand body contains significant evidence of pre-colonial Aboriginal occupation along the Parramatta River through the CBD.
The archaeological salvage excavation undertaken by Jo McDonald Cultural Heritage Management Pty Ltd at the Meriton Building site, identified extensive archaeological evidence of Aboriginal occupation stretching over many thousands of years. Several discrete activity sites, including a knapping floor (a site where stone tools were manufactured), were excavated. More than 6,500 lithic (stone) artefacts were recovered from this site. Amongst the artefacts recovered were a number of quite rare items including: hatchets heads (axes), hammerstones, anvils, grindstone fragments, cobble chopping tools and a perforated shark's tooth (probably a hair ornament or pendant).
Multiple phases of prehistoric occupation of the site were indicated by lithic assemblages (stone artefacts) found in two distinct layers within the sand body. The lithic assemblages differ in terms of raw materials and tool types. The upper assemblage (more recent in age) features backed artefacts and the preferred raw material was silicrete, whereas the lower assemblage was dominated by silicified tuff and it included rare dentate tools. Analysis of the artefacts and radiocarbon dating has indicated that the upper assemblage probably dates to the last 2,000 years, while the lower assemblage dates to between 10,000 and 30,000 years BP (before present). The lithic assemblages recovered from this site are of particular scientific significance as stratified cultural deposits, which show change over time, are uncommon in open excavation sites in the Sydney area.
Since 2002, the sand body has been the subject of ongoing development pressure which has resulted further archaeological investigation. An archaeological salvage excavation undertaken at the former RTA Site, located at 109-113 George Street, Parramatta in early 2005, yielded a total of 4,775 lithic artefacts and a large quantity of manuport stone (stone brought to the site from elsewhere). As with the lithic assemblages found on the Meriton Building site, this lithic assemblage is similarly divided into the two identified broad time periods (based on stratigraphic changes, raw material preference and manufacturing techniques) and included: backed artefacts, anvils, ground stone hatchet heads and other ground stone. The stone artefact evidence indicates that a range of activities were being carried out at this site by Aboriginal people over a long time period, possibly from the late Pleistocene period through to the late Holocene times.
In May 2005 an archaeological salvage excavation was undertaken at the nearby site of 95-101 George Street, Parramatta. The salvage excavation recovered 601 lithic artefacts, including a rare edge ground axe fragment. Based on inferred dates from the Meriton Building and RTA sites, dates from between 10,000 and 30,000 years BP are expected to be established for the deepest artefact bearing deposits.
The substantial archaeological record that has been uncovered as a result of archaeological investigation of the sand body, has contributed to our understanding of pre-colonial Aboriginal occupation of the Parramatta area and more broadly, the Cumberland Plain. The antiquity of some of this archaeological record and evidence for change over time is significant to Australian archaeology generally.Parramatta City Council Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Study by Mary Dallas Consulting Archaeologists; Place of Eels by Michael Flynn; Parramatta: A Past Revealed by Terry Kass, Carol Liston, John McClymont; Archaeological Salvage Excavation of CG1 by Jo McDonald Cultural Heritage Management, 2005; Archaeological Salvage Excavation of Site RTA G1 by Jo McDonald Cultural Heritage Management, 2005; Archaeological Salvage Excavation of 95-101 George St, Parramatta by Austral Archaeology Pty Ltd; Sand Body Auger Hole Testing in Parramatta Local Government Area by Dr. P Mitchell (January 2011)
Military Barracks and Soldiers Garden Within days of the First Fleet's arrival in Port Jackson, Governor Phillip had convicts clearing and cultivating land at Farm Cove. It soon became apparent however, that the land around Farm Cove was too poor to grow the quantities of food required for the fledgling colony to survive and more fertile land was needed. In April 1788 an exploration party, led by Phillip, explored along Parramatta River. On the third day of their exploration the party found a natural phenomenon, "...where the hill had been scoured by the river, thus cutting a semi-circular shape into the hill whilst the river formed a billabong below".Kass, Liston, McClymont 1996: p.12 This natural feature was named "The Crescent" by Phillip and from the top of this hill Phillip and his party saw what appeared to be thousands of acres of arable land.
On 2 November, Phillip returned to "The Crescent" (which is now part of Parramatta Park) to determine the best place to establish an agricultural settlement. Two days later a group of ten convicts and a detachment of marines arrived at the site (named Rose Hill by Governor Phillip), to establish a government farm. Farming at Rose Hill proved successful and the agricultural settlement quickly developed into a town, which for a time outgrew Sydney in size and importance.
In July 1790, Governor Phillip decided to replace the growing cluster of temporary buildings and lay out a town plan for Rose Hill, a vigorous building program was begun. The major axis of the town was an east-west track from Government Wharf to the Redoubt (located in Parramatta Park) with High Street, now known as George Street, as the principal avenue through the settlement.Kass, Liston, McClymont 1996: p.22 In August 1790 Governor Phillip commenced arrangements for the establishment of permanent accommodation for town garrison. Ground for a large garden was set aside for use of the New South Wales Corps and by September, a convict with brick making experience, was tasked with burning bricks for the new military barracks. The barracks were to be sited approximately 150 yards from Government Wharf.Casey & Lowe Pty Ltd 2003: p.14 Historical mapping and archaeological evidence indicates that the barracks were situated along George Street in the area bound by Harris Street and 153 George Street, Harris Park.
Judge Advocate, David Collins, records in his account of the early colony that the foundations for the first of the new barrack buildings were laid in November 1790 (although another historical source gives the date as being early December). The barrack building was to be 100 feet long by 24 feet wide to accommodate one company of soldiers with the proper number of officers, as well as a guard room and two small store rooms. The lack limestone meant that the bricks used in the construction of the building were bonded together using a mud mortar and the building could only stand 12 feet high to avoid the mud mortar being washed out in heavy rains.Casey & Lowe Pty Ltd 2003: pp.14-15