NAW at Regentville NSW in 2003 & 2004

Memories of events from the first two National Archaeology Weeks in NSW, from Helen Nicholson, historical and public archaeologist. 

Getting archaeology out to wide and diverse audiences has underpinned much of what I have done over the last thirty years so was quick to put together hands on workshops, together with Judy Birmingham and Andrew Wilson, for the first National Archaeology Week twenty years ago in 2003.

Download the 2003 flyer here.

The following year we convened a study day entitled ‘Regentville: Anatomy of a Colonial Mansion’ at the University of Sydney for National Archaeology Week with lectures by Associate Professor Judy Birmingham, Dr. James Broadbent, Associate Professor Carol Liston and Andrew Wilson.

Drawing on almost thirty years of excavation and research, undertaken at the University of Sydney, the day dissected the changing life and fortunes of a Sydney colonial mansion. Built as an extravagant would-be gentleman’s residence in the 1820s, Regentville was a model agricultural estate that ended its days as a traveller’s pub. Set in the context of standing heritage buildings and integrated with letters and journals of contemporary visitors it provided a unique insight into a colonial squire’s life.

Andrew Wilson. 1997. Regentville: Axonometric reconstruction of the house complex from the south-west