DAVES DIG

A ONCE IN A LIFETIME OPPORTUNITY.

To be honest, when I first heard that there would be an archaeological
dig at the site of the Glenrowan Inn I wondered if I would bother to
get involved. My reasoning being that after the way the Railway
Reserve area was worked over with heavy equipment and not a care in
the world for the archaeological possibilities I figured the same may
occur at the Inn site.

How wrong I was.

This 'dig' is being run with extreme professionalism by Adam Ford and
his Dig International organisation.
A government funding of this project was announced back in late 2006
and now we are almost at the end of this once in a lifetime
experience.

Archaeological work began at the site on May 5 2008. This little block
of land had been witness to one of the most written about and
discussed events in Australia's short history. Melbourne Victoria itself had
only been officially founded in 1835 and here we were in 1880 with the
infamous Kelly gang in a direct fight with the Victorian Police.
Whilst we all know that Ned Kelly was captured not far from the Inn
that day in June of 1880, what must never be forgotten was that his
younger brother Dan Kelly, best mate Joe Byrne, gang member Steve Hart
and publican's son Johnny Jones were killed on the site. This is a
site of great importance. The government thought so too when it was
Heritage listed in 2005.

I have studied the Siege specifically for many years, it is the one
Kelly event that has really captured my imagination and despite the
fact that I am launching a wider reaching website on Ned I still have
a great attraction to the events that took place in Glenrowan.

It was a phone call from Chris Gerrett of Glenrowan's Kate's Cottage
telling me that there was a notice up at the local post office seeking
volunteers that swung me into action. Up until this stage I figured
that since I had heard nothing from the Wangaratta Shire in relation
to the dig that I would just be content to read about it in the
papers. However I decided to phone the number given and next thing I
knew I was listed as a volunteer digger for Thursday 22 May 9am for a
3 hour dig.

My good mate Paddy Maher whom I had previously met at a Glenrowan
Siege dinner also happened to have been digging at the same time as
myself. It was great to have a mate along for the experience.

In order to be at the site at 9am I had to leave Sunbury by about 6am
so that I would have time for a fuel stop. I therefore headed off at
exactly 6am, it was not without an early hitch however as the old
Hilux ute had been sitting out in the cold and did not appreciate
being started so early. It was 3 degrees and each try of the ignition
drew me closer to a flat battery. When it seemed it would never fire
and that the PT Cruiser may be required, it kicked over. I was very
lucky for as I write this it still sits idle with a flat battery.

The drive was cold, the ride rough, the price you pay for driving an
old vehicle but it has the advantage of being good on gas and with
current price hikes is a great money saver. The Melbourne radio
stations faded out and as I passed a sign alerting me to the next
truck stop I noticed it had a local FM radio station advertised so I
switched over for the remainder of the drive.

I only made the one fuel stop, close to Seymour, a place steeped in
memories for me as a young soldier back in the late 1970's but that's
another story. Once fuelled up it was full steam ahead to Glenrowan. I
never tire of the scenery along the Hume, North East Victoria is such
a wonderful place. Before I knew it I was at the turnoff for the
historic town of Glenrowan, so many times I have driven into this
little town. A large sign at the entrance to town alerted me to the
fact that a 'revitalisation' program had been in progress and there
was no doubt that major changes to the streetscape had taken place
here.

It was 8:45am and I spotted Rod Gerrett out the front of Kate's
Cottage setting up so I made a quick stop to say G'day. Now it was on
to the dig site and I can honestly say that like Joe Dipisa I had
butterflies in my stomach and was starting to get excited about the
prospect of what was ahead for the day.

Paddy was already on site having stayed at the local motel overnight,
I recognised Adam Ford from Dig International from his photo in the
papers so after taking a couple of photos of the site introduced myself
and filled out a form as all volunteers were required.

The place was already a hive of activity with Latrobe university
students on the job digging away. One young student showed us a
melted piece of glass (photo above) that was among a bucket full retrieved
at the front of the site near the footpath of Siege St.

Only three volunteers are allowed on site at any one time and Adam found us a
place (see arrow above) to get started. He showed us how to use the trowel
and pointed out the various changes in colour of the soil which had meaning to
someone who understood archaeology. It seemed that we were placed in
an area outside the Inn and possibly outside the later buildings
perimeter. Therefore there was never going to be anything as exciting
as Joe's finds of a cartridge or penny, however that did not deter us
from the task at hand. I had parts of a tree causing me grief when I
tried to dig but kept at it. We managed to find mostly rusted nails or
at least something made of metal, also the odd bit of pottery and
glass and heaps of brick fragments.

Before too long local historian (and friend of mine) (pictured above) Gary Dean arrived
on site for his regular dig. Gary knows a lot more about this sort of caper than I do and was
digging up the ground at three times my pace.
At various times Gary would be off to discuss the location of different rooms of the Inn and
more importantly the possible location of the fireplaces. At the end of the day I believe Gary
did in fact locate both fireplaces, this was of great importance because it made the
working out of the rest of the building much easier.

When the burnt remnants of floor joists and the possible fireplaces were located and uncovered
one archaeologist commented to me that this was the most exciting find he had ever had in his
time as an archaeologist. That is when I realised just how lucky I was to have been there on this
particular day. This was a sight that no person had seen since that fateful day in 1880 and after
the dig is completed perhaps may never be seen again.

The area was covered in little tags with numbers on them, Adam pointed out that these
along with photographs taken would assist to locate finds in the future and if someone
brought a digger in and ruined the site they would still know what was where.

As I took a break from digging I reflected on how events had all come together to make
this possible. According to oral history over the years, the owner of this land bought it to
ensure no development would take place on such an historic site. That is why there was
no house on this land in the way of the current dig. I also had been told some time back
that the local council ordered the destruction of the last building onsite in 1976.
This was the building that housed various businesses including a wine saloon, cafés and
such. It is a shame it had to be torn down, but if it had not been this dig could not have
been possible.

The volunteers are supposed to dig for 3 hours, however today the crew were having an
early finish so there was to be no lunch break. With that in mind we dug until about 1:45
and then headed over to the Tea House for some well earned scones thanks to Linda.

The work on site continued with scraping back any footprints and removing any final soil
left on top. Tools were cleaned and all finds securely stored away.
The archaeology students had put in yet another good day's work and we gained some
insight into just how labour intensive this whole business is.

It was slow going and I wish more funds were available, for this dig has to be completed
by the end of May and then it will be backfilled with a special material placed over to protect
it from the elements.
Future digs will be possible as every location has been recorded, to leave it open would
unfortunately see it destroyed by either the elements or vandals. One possibility would be
to have markers or some kind of signage on top to show visitors what was found where.
There is still much more underground, the skillion is yet to be dug. The whole yard may
yet yield fantastic finds.

After a feed Paddy and I returned to the site to find everyone had gone for the day.
Gary Dean was still about as were many tourists and interested onlookers.
Gary called me aside and showed me what was an amazing lucky find. A Martini Henry
round, or what was left of it had rolled off the pile of soil and onto the side street footpath! It was
handed in and now joins the other relics. Whilst there is debate about the other two cartridges
found, this one was of the soft foil variety I believe and no doubt belonging to the time of the siege.

There is a week to go with the dig, it has been an amazing time with many more finds than
anyone ever envisaged. Who knows what may be uncovered next!

Thank you to the Wangaratta Shire, Federal Government and Dig International for making what
seemed impossible possible. In the past visitors to Glenrowan had no idea where the Inn really had stood all
those years ago, now they can be sure that they are standing looking at the exact place where it all happened
in June 1880.

Dave.