A ‘‘rare example’’ of an 1820s-style cottage occupied by convict workers at Belgenny Farm has been found in the same week many gathered to celebrate the anniversary of Governor Lachlan Macquarie’s visit to the site 200 years earlier.
A team of 15 volunteers and four staff meticulously unearthed the concrete footings in a spot close to Macarthur matriarch Elizabeth’s first residence at Belgenny Farm.
Archaeologist Ted Higginbotham said he expected the cottage to be a typical 1820s-style, two-bedroom convict hut, but soon discovered a third room.
“We’ve got another room tacked on beside the two-room structure so what we then have is two conjoined cottages, which is quite rare,” he said.
"The building would have been occupied by convicts in the 1820s and then later by estate workers and their families."
The team was expected to spend the second week of their two-week dig investigating a site nearby that Dr Higginbotham hoped would be more than just an agricultural building.
He has his fingers crossed that any artefacts discovered would mean the site was once the Macarthur's woolshed.
"It's like a detective story," he said.
"You take all the available evidence and make a decision.
"What we're doing here is research excavation to answer how important this area was to the development of the farm.
"From an archaeologist's point of view, it's very rare to excavate a site that won't be developed."
Author: Iliana Stillitano | Source: Camden Advertiser [November 24, 2010]