One woman’s trash; another woman’s treasure

While archaeological studies have examined the Late Victorian Period in Queensland, almost none have examined gender explicitly as their sole focus. 

Ethan Clarke- Kistowski will present his research and interesting findings about the role material culture played in constructing gender roles in late Victorian South Brisbane. Various artefacts have been found as different areas of Brisbane have been excavated as part of the Cross River Rail Project. Ethan has analysed scientifically a collection of leather shoe fragments and ceramics excavated from the Go Print Site in Woolloongabba in 2019. Ethan referred to various historical material, including the QWHA's Archives, the diary of a 1901 South Brisbane teenage girl and newspaper advertisements to interpret the artefacts uncovered at this site.

About the presenter

Ethan Clark-Kistowski is a Master of Philosophy student at the University of Queensland and a research assistant at Converge Heritage. In 2022 he wrote his honours thesis, 'One Woman’s Trash, Another’s Treasure: Engendering a Late Victorian South Brisbane Archaeological Refuse Assemblage' and presented it at the 2022 National Archaeology Student Conference, where he won the Australasian Society for Historical Archaeology Award for Best Historical Paper. His research interests include examining gender and agency in the Hellenistic and Victorian Periods. He prefers cats to dogs, and when not researching he loves to curl up outside on a sunny day with a good book!

When: Sunday 16 July 1.30 pm for a 2 pm start

Where:  Miegunyah

Cost: $15 for non members; $10 for members

What's included: A delicious afternoon tea