ARCHEOLOGISTS from the Australian National University are unearthing history from the streets of Triabunna.
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In addition to European farmers, convicts and the island's last remaining full-blood Indigenous people, 19th century Van Diemen's Land was also accommodated by British armies whose job was to police the penal colonies of the day.
For Tasmania's East Coast, that included the convict settlement of Maria Island that was patrolled by armies residing in nearby Triabunna.
Now, after coming under new ownership, British army barracks at Triabunna are being restored as a part of an accommodation venture.
Dr Ash Lenton is one of the archaeologists leading the project and said that in addition to the barracks where the soldiers lived, the land also would have accommodated stables and a pub.
"The aim of a job is to find out how people lived in the past," Dr Lenton said.
"We watch television and read history books and think we know everything when in fact we don't - every single day on an archeological site we find something new and have a new piece of information that changes and improves the way we understand how people lived in the past - that's the most exciting bit."
The excavation will be the first ever performed at the Triabunna site and with an established class system in the British army at the time, the archeologists expected to find a mixture of expensive and cherished household items and some more common items too.
Dr Lenton said that while a lot of archaeology was done behind closed doors, this project would be happening right off the street in full public view, and would operate as "a community engagement project."
"If people want to stop on the street and talk to us about what we're doing that's fine," Dr Lenton said.
"We have been welcomed into this community by the people of Triabunna and a lot of them are involved in this and are helping us."
The excavation is expected to run at the barracks for the next three weeks.