Nadia Bajzelj

Current position

Archaeologist, project manager, and historic artefact specialist at Christine Williamson Heritage Consultants

Where did you study?

La Trobe University

How did you become interested in archaeology?

I loved SBS history shows when I was a kid. Once I’d finished high school and was looking for what career I wanted, I wrote down a list of things I wanted from a job which included: history, travel, writing, outdoors and indoors options. The search pretty much just came up with one choice, archaeology. I had never really thought of it as a career before then, I didn’t even realise they taught it in Australia.

What archaeological projects are you working on at the moment?

As many archaeologists do, I am constantly working on multiple projects at once. At the moment I am working on putting together a permanent display of artefacts which will be housed in a new development in Melbourne’s CBD. I am also cataloguing artefacts from a site on Little Lonsdale Street and I have just finished writing an artefact report for another Melbourne CBD site.

Tell us about one of your most interesting archaeological discoveries.

I have found so many exciting artefacts, from intricate jewellery to ivory carvings to coins used as love tokens. But in the field often these meld into one, and on those dreary cold days sometimes it’s the most seemingly innocuous and commonplace finds which really excite you. Which is why I think one of my favourite discoveries is: linoleum. 

We were excavating walls of a nineteenth-century structure, with bluestone walls which were over two metres high, two almost intact fireplaces, and the remains of the wooden door frames. At the base of these walls were stone skirtings, and as we cleared away the dirt, a glimpse of a bright red pattern showed up. Across the hallway we were excavating there were the remains of a patterned nineteenth-century linoleum, underneath which were preserved newspapers, used as insulation.

It was such a muddy, cold day and we weren’t expecting to find much in this area. So, it was really exciting to find, and interesting as I didn’t realise lino was around that long.

Tell us about a funny / disastrous / amazing experience that you have had while doing archaeology.

I think often the funniest moments in archaeology are the positions you find yourself in to get the job done. For me its being suspended headfirst into a cesspit. I was absolutely covered head to toe in black muddy muck. It was still pretty early in my career and I went home to tell my partner about it with absolute joy and he just looked confused and slightly worried about the screws loose in my head.

What’s your favourite part of being an archaeologist?

There are so many things I love about my job. I love it when someone in our office discovers something cool about an artefact and we all crowd around to hear around it. I love that sense of discovery when you’re researching a site or artefact and you find something you weren’t expecting.

Follow up reading.

Nadia’s Linked In page.

Christine Williamson Heritage Consultants website and Facebook page.