The convict huts of Parramatta 1788–1841: an archaeological view of the development of an early Australian urban landscape

Abstract

SUMMARY This paper will examine the process of urban transformation from convict to free settlement, through an analysis of the early convict landscape at Parramatta (1789–1841), the second British settlement in New South Wales. We draw together archaeological and historical sources to consider the patterns of change which occurred both at individual ‘convict hut’ sites, as well as within the broader landscape. This paper examines the ways in which landscape, architecture and space were used initially to create and support a society based upon unfree labour, and how the process of emancipation, where convicts transitioned into free settlers, found a material expression at Parramatta.