Hidden Worlds exhibition opens at Post Office Gallery, Bendigo
13 Feb 2012Bendigo Art Gallery Director Karen Quinlan and archaeologist Adam Ford at the opening of Hidden Worlds.
Hidden Worlds explores some of the most recent excavations undertaken in Bendigo, with particular emphasis on the 2009 dig at 10 – 16 Forest Street. The excavation unearthed a wide array of artefacts which span over 150 years and offer an insight into the domestic lives of the people who inhabited the site.
The finds from the excavation include a wide variety of fragments and whole domestic ware which are featured in the exhibition: crockery, glassware, chamber pots, containers, personal effects and toys. Alongside the glassware of the public rooms of the site’s boarding houses, these artefacts hint at the private face of nineteenth century life in Bendigo, with an emphasis on private rooms – kitchens, bathrooms and parlours.
Heritage Victoria conservator Susie Collis and curatorial officer Anne-Louise Muir painstakingly conserved the artefacts at Heritage Victoria’s conservation lab and prepared them for exhibition.
Through three short films featured on the Post Office Gallery screen, Hidden Worlds also looks at other local excavations from recent years, including the Chinese brick making kiln at Emu Point, and a house and Chinese market garden site at Golden Gully. The Chinese brick kiln film was commissioned by Heritage Victoria and is featured in a story on Culture Victoria.
Hidden Worlds: glimpses from Bendigo's Forest Street excavation runs from 10 February - 24 June 2012, at the Bendigo Post Office Gallery. The gallery is located at 51-67 Pall Mall, Bendigo, and is open from 9am to 5pm, seven days a week.