I got to the cemetery early to get set-up and thankfully a handful of students arrived shortly after I did. Between us, we unloaded my car quickly and pulled the gear together. My husband had picked up a sunshade for us and I’ve never seen one go up so quickly before!
I turned the students loose to explore while we waited for everyone to arrive. I think it was a nice chance for those who had been there before to refamiliarise themselves with the location, while those who had never been could get a good feel for the place.
The students are working in teams and we split the teams up to learn different tasks. Yesterday’s lessons were manifold and people were kept busy! My wonderful TA, Fionn, was teaching them how to use our cameras and what kinds of photos we were looking for. Angela, an archaeologist and former student who has been working in historic cemeteries for over a year now and has volunteered with the Old Cemeteries Society of Victoria taught students how to carefully clean graves (not something we will do a lot of, but from time to time as needed). And Kirsten, an Anthropology/Geography major who worked as a research assistant for me last semester, walked students through the bare bones of mapping with tape measures. I introduced them to our recording sheets, and assigned each group to sections of the cemetery, where they will work to record each monument in as much detail as possible. I feel like it was a very successful start to the project! A lot to take in, but the students really ran with it.
Monument to Private Joseph L. Vince, died 1915. This stone was vandalised in 2011. Photo: M.H.