# It's a bit Pompeii-like: The unexpected buried blocks of Melbourne



## Timeshifter (Apr 26, 2021)

Apologies if this has already been posted, I did search but found zero.

Anyway, this came on my newsfeed just now .

*'It's a bit Pompeii-like': The unexpected 'buried blocks' of Melbourne'*
'Melbourne clay their shovels found a picket fence, its planks still hard and neatly rowed. At its base emerged a wooden track and, nearby, the stump of a long-ago chimney'

Long story short, whilst excavating, they discover a whole block under a city which is suposedly only 70 odd years old.

'There was no ready explanation for the workers, digging foundations for what would be Swanston Street’s famed Capitol Theatre, as the building they had just demolished had stood since 1865.
Melbourne as a European settlement had existed only 30 years before that.

What do they do?  They 'discover' that due to the swamp like nature of the land the houses were buildton, residents where forced to bury their homes... yep, you read that right.

This next part reminded me of this Seattle

'The Alliance Archaeology study, _Heritage in Ruins: An investigation into Melbourne’s ‘Buried Blocks’ _reveals details of a *forgotten* campaign throughout the 1850 and 1860s by Melbourne’s then-council to raise the levels of swampy Melbourne’s putrid streets.

Hills were flattened and low-lying areas filled, the reason for today's milder up-and-down cross-town walks'

'However, the bombshell in the study was its discovery of a law passed in 1853 requiring those in low-lying areas to bury their homes. If a landowner refused or was too slow, the council was empowered to raise the level of the land itself and charge the costs'

The researchers pored through old council records, newspaper articles and existing archaeological reports to find references to at least 30 sites (although there are likely dozens more), many of which would still be frozen in time under Melbourne’s CBD"

There is even a list of events, just so you understand what happened you see...

Well, there we are, what mudflood? there was none, people simply burried their houses as told! This must have been what happened world wide? 

Source

Love to hear the forums thoughts?





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## KD Archive (Apr 26, 2021)

> Note: This post was recovered from the Sh.org archive.Username: KorbenDallasDate: 2019-10-09 19:18:16Reaction Score: 1




Timeshifter said:


> 'However, the bombshell in the study was its discovery of a law passed in 1853 requiring those in low-lying areas to bury their homes. If a landowner refused or was too slow, the council was empowered to raise the level of the land itself and charge the costs'


Do we have the originals or contemporary copies of this law?


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## Timeshifter (Apr 26, 2021)

> Note: This post was recovered from the Sh.org archive.Username: TimeshifterDate: 2019-10-09 19:19:27Reaction Score: 2




KorbenDallas said:


> Do we have the originals or contemporary copies of this law?


Not in the article, just digital type  will see what I can track down when I get time.


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## Cemen (Apr 26, 2021)

> Note: This post was recovered from the Sh.org archive.Username: CemenDate: 2019-10-09 19:44:09Reaction Score: 2


Residents bombarded Prague to avoid flooding.
In Russia, Count Zavadovsky buried the first floor of his estate, because it was higher than the Gatchina Palace of Emperor Paul the First. And buried in one night, before the arrival of the inspection.

Everything is the same.


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## SuperTrouper (Apr 26, 2021)

> Note: This post was recovered from the Sh.org archive.Username: SuperTrouperDate: 2019-10-10 00:55:36Reaction Score: 2




Timeshifter said:


> Not in the article, just digital type  will see what I can track down when I get time.


Let me know if I can be of help. I'm not in Melbourne (or Victoria) but have pretty good libraries around me.


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## Timeshifter (Apr 26, 2021)

> Note: This post was recovered from the Sh.org archive.Username: TimeshifterDate: 2019-10-10 07:09:26Reaction Score: 7




SuperTrouper said:


> Let me know if I can be of help. I'm not in Melbourne (or Victoria) but have pretty good libraries around me.


Thanks, some local knowledge may be the only way to uncover any truths here.

I have discovered the report compiled in relation to this by Lane and Gilchrist, you can find it and the pdfs here. report

However, doing a skim read, I see nothing in their pertaining to original evidence of any filling orders. Lots of discussion about them, their outcomes, the depth of back fill, mostly evidence is post 1850s.

An interesting passage in PDF 2, 7.1



Interesting point: 

Minutes     of     the     Public     Works     Committee     VPRS     4037/P0 – these     meeting     minutes     contain     mentions    of    filling    orders.    Such    orders    were    often    also    reported    in    newspapers    of    the    day    when     they    reported    on    City    Council    meetings.    It    *must    be    kept    in    mind, *   however    that    these    records    *only     record  *  those    instances    of    filling    that    required    Council    attention    – i.e.    it    became    necessary    for    the     Council     to     order     a     landowner     to     fill     their     property.   

In other words, besides a few, everyone filled in their homes without question.

This evidence would be thrown out in any court of law, IMO. This research it seems, is relying on Newspaper evidence, not actual proof of council/ government orders.

Also interesting, in the Bibliography, imo they pretty much admit some of what they have discovered as original documents are not entirely legible. However there may be something in the references that leads us to further info, no time at the moment.


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## Archive (Apr 26, 2021)

> Note: This post was recovered from the Sh.org archive.Username: StarmonkeyDate: 2019-10-11 14:58:58Reaction Score: 3


Looking at the devastation and desertification, THAT looks like a continent a tsunami could wash right over.
Had a weird thought going to bed about CROCODILES and why they're only in certain places... Not sure what insight that provides. I'll have to chew it over some more.
Also, why Australia and upper NW America weren't on that old map YET...


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## BStankman (Apr 26, 2021)

> Note: This post was recovered from the Sh.org archive.Username: BStankmanDate: 2019-10-13 11:08:20Reaction Score: 1


Makes sense because swamps are highly desirable building locations.

Swanston Street from Prince's Bridge, 1861


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## Archive (Apr 26, 2021)

> Note: This post was recovered from the Sh.org archive.Username: BrokenAgateDate: 2019-10-25 19:22:09Reaction Score: 1




Timeshifter said:


> 'However, the bombshell in the study was its discovery of a law passed in 1853 requiring those in low-lying areas to bury their homes. If a landowner refused or was too slow, the council was empowered to raise the level of the land itself and charge the costs'


What the hell?? This is awful! If it's true, of course. It could be simply a thing put in writing so that people in the future would have a reason behind all the buried houses. But even if true, it doesn't explain where these humble farmers and townsfolk would have got all the dirt! I guess they got it by that now-famous "somehow" method.


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