Alcohol Bottles Uncovered at Convict Station in Tasmania

HOBART, TASMANIA—According to an ABC News Australia report, archaeologist Eleanor Casella of the University of Tasmania and a team of researchers have found ceramics, tableware, bottles, bones, and tools at the site of the former Picton Road Station, where 160 convicts lived in solitary cells while building a highway between the towns of Hobart and Launceston between 1838 and 1847. Many of the bottles held alcohol, Casella explained. “It’s supposed to be heavily regulated in these kinds of punishment stations,” she said. “We’ve got gin case bottles that have been imported all the way from the Netherlands, plus beer bottles.” Deborah Baldwin of the Southern Midlands Council added that the number of sheep bones at the site indicates the men also consumed a lot of meat. To read about excavations at Australia's Pentridge Prison, go to "Alone, but Closely Watched."