Amateur Archaeology
While kicking about in the dirt the other day, I uncovered a piece of that classic willow-patterned china (Exhibit A). We’ve all done it. But why is there such a prevalence of china chips in the ground? You’d think willow-patterned china was a commodity in the olden days, ceremonially buried for posterity.
Then, a shard of a beer bottle and a bread-tie (Exhibit B) unlocked the mystery of the willow-patterned china. It’s the detritus from picnics! The same patch of grass has probably hosted generations of picnickers, aeons of idle chatter and boundless joie de vivre.
Phone a few friends, tell them to bring a plate, and meet you under the magnolia tree near the Temple of the Winds rotunda at the Fitzroy Gardens, at the beach or on Herring Island.
And, no need to bury the Tupperware.
(Simone)
Posted at
9:16 PM |
3 Comments:
You should try picknicking in Bendigo. With a metal detector. There's a minor gold rush going on, so you might find more than a bread tie. And with exception of the name 'rush', prospecting is the perfect activity for slow pokes. A friend and I went recently, found not a speck, but stopped in at a few wineries and got out of town - bliss.
You'd be surprised what lays buried beneath a relatively young city like Melbourne. They're always finding human remains whenever they dig up the Vic Market car park - it used to be the site of Melbourne cemetery before it moved to Royal Park - before that it was at Flagstaff Gardens but no-one knows where the bodies are.
La Trobe uni dug up some interesting stuff up the top end of Lonsdale Street a few years ago. That end of town was a bit rough back in the late 19th century. A lot of brothels in the area. There are still some cottages left at the top end of Little Lonsdale Street – gives you a bit of an idea what the place was like back then.
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