Preserving the Past

For what must be the best cheap bed in Sydney, head to the new Sydney Harbour YHA, located in Sydney's historic Rocks and with views over the Harbour from the roof and some rooms. Non guests aren't allowed up to the roof so I'll have to see if I can get up there when some interstate friends stay there in a month or so. As well as the hostel being located over the dig site, artefacts discovered on the site are contained in cases in the hostel's common areas.

Sydney Harbour YHA and The Big Dig Archaeology Education Centre are located on ‘The Dig Site’ at Cumberland and Gloucester Streets, where structural remains dating from 1795 and more than 750,000 artefacts have been found since excavation began in 1994. To preserve and showcase these archaeological remains, the YHA is raised off the ground on pillars and an on-site archaeology education centre is available to education groups. The project is the largest archaeological urban development ever completed in Australia.

The site was discovered in 1994, attracting enormous media and public attention. Some 400 volunteers and a team of 20 archaeologists were involved in the excavation of the site, which uncovered the foundations of 30 homes and shops (the earliest of which was built prior to 1795) and some 750,000 artefacts. The site’s remains have provided a rare insight into early urban life in Sydney.