Last month Heritage Tasmania welcomed me into their office to undertake my placement by contributing to the revaluation of heritage listed sites. Here, I learnt about the inside workings of heritage divisions and what Heritage Tasmania does for the community through the protection of Tasmanian and Australian heritage.
I began placement not fully understanding what the workings of a Heritage division did and I am leaving with a wealth of knowledge on the division’s inner workings and the type of people that contribute their knowledge to the development and protection of local heritage. My host Sherrie-Lee Evans had been amazing during the placement, teaching me about the intricacies of archaeology in heritage and the amount of research, resources, and time that is needed for updating heritage lists within the office.
Of the many things that I learnt one thing that stood out was that Tasmania used both the assignment system and probation system for their convicts, something not explained during my education at University. Therefore, I think that this placement has opened my eyes to the convict history of Australia.
Overall, I believe that this practicum has been one of the most valuable aspects of my archaeology degree and without it I’m sure that I would be worse off. Heritage Tasmania does amazing work for the community and the people within it are inspiring to work with.
The Red Bridge built by convicts.
We visited the bridge to determine if previously recorded boundaries for the protection of the site were accurate.
Photo by John Stephenson.
