Archaeologists explore an abandoned 1800s cottage in Perth, 15 minutes from Launceston. The site will soon become part of the new SkyeView Estate subdivision. Video by Phillip Biggs
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00:00The estate is called Sky View Estate, which is a linkage we've tried to include, whereby
00:08our family originally came from the Isle of Skye, just off the coast of Scotland.
00:13The cottage behind us is built in around 1870, well that's when the record indicates that
00:18it was built. We think it's earlier than that, some of the archaeology we've found indicates
00:22that it's potentially earlier than that.
00:24We've been finding a lot of buttons from the late 1800s and early 1900s. We've been
00:29finding coins. We've also got a few complete bottles and just lots and lots of artefacts.
00:36Yes, the house is interesting really in that it was the family home of Roy Powell.
00:43Roy and Evelyn Powell and their four children ended up living in this cottage for their
00:48whole life. He was a farm worker on Mountford.
00:50He was a rabbiter on Mountford for many, many years.
00:53We actually found a rabbit trap earlier, so that was really good to find some evidence
00:58of that original occupation.
01:00I remember coming here as a child and they were always welcoming and nice.
01:06We've got a couple of the really nice finds here, a complete bottle. We've got a tooth
01:10case container, it's Gibbs dentifrice, and we've also got a spoon with some hallmarks
01:15on it which will give us some dating.
01:18It's an interesting bit of history that one of his children, their ashes are scattered
01:23within the house here.
01:25We've also got a ring here that we found in the deposit which has got forget me not
01:30written on it. It's possibly something to do with bereavement or maybe something to
01:36do with somebody's romantic attachment, but it was probably quite a sad thing when
01:40this was lost.
01:41The late Mary Powell, her ashes were distributed here and we're hoping that through the nomenclature
01:47board one of the little streets can be named Mary Powell Close.
01:55For more information visit www.fema.gov