The Commonwealth Block, Melbourne: A Historical Archaeology(7 Studies in Australasian Historical Archaeology)

For much of the 19th and 20th centuries, Melbourne's Little Lonsdale - locally known as 'Little Lon' - was notorious as a foul slum and brothel district, occupied by the itinerant and the criminal. The stereotype of 'slumdom' defined 'Little Lon' in the minds of Melbournians, and became entrenched in Australian literature and popular culture. The Commonwealth Block, Melbourne tells a different story. This ground-breaking book reports on almost three decades of excavations conducted on the Commonwealth Block - the area of central Melbourne bordered by Little Lonsdale, Lonsdale, Exhibition and Spring streets. Since the 1980s, archaeologists and historians have pieced together the rich and complex history of this area, revealing a working-class and immigrant community that was much more than just a slum. The Commonwealth Block, Melbourne delves into the complex social, cultural and economic history of this forgotten community.

Table of Contents:
List of figures List of plates About the authors 1. Introduction and context Tim Murray 2. Agencies of change: government perspectives on Little Lon Kristal Buckley and Jeremy Smith 3. The first campaign: Little Lon Justin McCarthy 4. Assemblage analysis and outcomes: phase 1 Tim Murray 5. Smaller investigations between phase 1 and phase 2 Tim Murray 6. The second campaign: Casselden Place Richard Mackay 7. Assemblage analysis and outcomes: phase 2 Tim Murray 8. Little Lon and Museum Victoria: a tale of benign neglect, restoration and a bright future Charlotte Smith 9. Diversity and change in Little Lon: ongoing historical and archaeological research Sarah Hayes and Barbara Minchinton 10. An update on the Commonwealth Block project: a second phase of targeted feature cataloguing Bronwyn Woff 11. The 2017 excavations: 271 Spring Street, Melbourne Geoff Hewitt 12. Little Lon and the archaeology of the modern world Tim Murray Plates Index

About the Author :
Tim Murray is the Charles La Trobe Professor of Archaeology at La Trobe University. Kristal Buckley is a lecturer in cultural heritage at Deakin University. Sarah Hayes is a historical archaeologist in the heritage and indigeneity stream of the Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation. Geoff Hewitt is a consulting archaeologist. Justin McCarthy is an archaeologist and the Managing Director of heritage consulting firm Austral Archaeology Pty Ltd. Richard Mackay is the founder and 'Director of Possibilities' at Mackay Strategic, and an adjunct professor of archaeology at La Trobe University. Barbara Minchinton is an independent researcher and volunteer at the Public Record Office Victoria. Charlotte Smith is a curator emeritus at Museums Victoria. Jeremy Smith is Heritage Victoria's Principal Archaeologist, and has been a member of the Archaeology Advisory Committee of the Victorian Heritage Council since 2002. Bronwyn Woff was the Research Assistant for the La Trobe University Commonwealth Block Project between 2015 and 2017.

Review :
“Where the volume excels is in showing the extraordinary growth and development of Australian historical archaeology since the late 1980s … As a summary of site history (in both senses), method, and theory, it has considerable merit”