Lost Mines: The Troubled Legacies of Former Mining Landscapes. This project aims to investigate how historical mining activities in Victoria have left a toxic legacy of heavy metals in soil and water. By integrating approaches from historical archaeology, environmental humanities, and the physical sciences the project seeks to generate novel datasets that document the spatial distribution of contaminants and novel ways of understanding mining heritage. Anticipated outcomes include new knowledge ....Lost Mines: The Troubled Legacies of Former Mining Landscapes. This project aims to investigate how historical mining activities in Victoria have left a toxic legacy of heavy metals in soil and water. By integrating approaches from historical archaeology, environmental humanities, and the physical sciences the project seeks to generate novel datasets that document the spatial distribution of contaminants and novel ways of understanding mining heritage. Anticipated outcomes include new knowledge about pre-industrial background levels of heavy metals in the environment, more efficient and targeted remediation of former mine sites, and improved dialogue between heritage and environmental managers. This promises significant benefits for future land and water management and approaches to mining heritage.Read moreRead less
Rivers of Gold: The Legacy of Historical Gold Mining for Victoria's Rivers. By considering rivers as cultural artefacts, this project aims to evaluate how historical gold mining has shaped river systems in Victoria. Victoria’s historic mining industry led to extensive and long-lasting change to waterways across the state. The project plans to integrate approaches from landscape archaeology, physical geography, geomorphology and environmental chemistry to identify and map the extent of changes, i ....Rivers of Gold: The Legacy of Historical Gold Mining for Victoria's Rivers. By considering rivers as cultural artefacts, this project aims to evaluate how historical gold mining has shaped river systems in Victoria. Victoria’s historic mining industry led to extensive and long-lasting change to waterways across the state. The project plans to integrate approaches from landscape archaeology, physical geography, geomorphology and environmental chemistry to identify and map the extent of changes, including increased sedimentation, erosion, and chemical contamination. The project plans to demonstrate how historical mining continues to influence chemical and physical processes in Victorian streams and to develop understanding of the landscapes experienced by Victorians at the height of the mining boom. Project outcomes may provide improved context for catchment and reservoir management and counter prevailing impressions about causes of observed damage to rivers.Read moreRead less