Australia’s ABC reports on clues to a hidden past being found under the floor of a former immigration depot and women’s asylum, shedding new light on the lives of not-terribly-visible 19th-century women:
Now a richer history of Sydney’s Hyde Park Barracks has lifted the lid on what everyday life for women was like at the former female immigration depot and asylum during the 19th century.
Beneath the floorboards of the site was a treasure trove of archaeological evidence, said Kimberley Connor, a postdoctoral scholar at the Stanford Archaeology Center.
Through recent analysis, Dr Connor believes the 19th century plant, fruit and nut remains found at the barracks can in part be seen as a symbol of how food was a form of resistance for the women.
“What we know is that in institutions, uniformity is really pushed — everybody wears the same thing, everybody eats the same thing,” she said.
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During the years of the depot and asylum, the female inhabitants foraged for food on their own terms. Their movements outside the institution were restricted but not prohibited.
Dr Connor said the women likely did this to diversify their diet, as the meals provided at the barracks were “quite generous in terms of quantity” but not so much freshness.
They sourced fruits, vegetables and nuts on trips to church or periods of leave from the barracks. This included native Australian plants such as macadamia nuts and quandongs, and also South-East Asian lychees and American corn cobs.
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She said this new plant matter evidence is in stark comparison to colonial British records, which detailed the inmates’ highly regimented and often bland foods.
“The daily ration consisted of one pound of bread, one pound of meat, one pound of vegetables or potatoes, one-quarter ounce of tea, one and one-quarter ounces of sugar and one-half ounce of salt,” Dr Connor noted in her research paper.
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Rather, it’s likely in some instances that the inmates intentionally placed them under the floor to conceal their snacks from barracks’ authorities.