Mapping Commodities at Casselden Place, Melbourne

By the 1870s and 1880s Melbourne had emerged as Australia's primary centre of manufacturing. Factories and workshops produced a wide array of commodities, from drinks and foodstuffs, to furniture, machinery and building materials. Recent archaeological investigations at Casselden Place suggest that Melbourne was also an important destination for the import of commodities from international markets. Glass and stoneware containers from the site indicate the diversity of beverages, medicines, perfumes, condiments and other items routinely acquired by working people of an inner-city neighbourhood in the later-nineteenth century.