However, women and children were there from the very earliest days and now their remains tell their own story.
University of Otago researcher Annie Sohler-Snoddy will present a talk at Clyde Museum, following the Heritage Central Otago annual meeting, on children’s health and wellbeing on the goldfields on Wednesday evening.
The children’s lives were difficult to reconstruct from the historical record alone.
Many who came to the colony were illiterate and the Victorian tendency to avoid discussion of pregnancy and breastfeeding practices restricted understanding of that period.
Bioarchaeological investigation, however, has the potential to illuminate the life stories of these first-generation Pākehā (European) settlers.
Between 2018-2020 the University of Otago department of anatomy and southern archaeology excavated unmarked graves at the "old" cemetery at Ardrossan St, in Lawrence, and at Drybread Cemetery near Omakau.
The project’s purpose was to recover the unidentified dead from the mid to late 1800s, learn about their lives through scientific analysis of their remains and rebury them with dignity and recognition.
Similar work was done at St John’s cemetery in Milton.
Entry to Dr Sohler-Snoddy’s presentation is by koha to Clyde Museum.
Places are limited.
Bookings can be made via heritagecentralotago.org.nz
