Mapping People, Labor, and Movement in the First Decades (1788–1825) of Colonial Parramatta, Australia, with Historical Spatial Data Infrastructure

Abstract In this article, we present a new research project in development that applies historical and archaeological methods to examine labor in colonial Parramatta, Australia. Established in November 1788, Parramatta is the third-oldest British colonial settlement in the former colony of New South Wales, Australia. Over 40 years of heritage research and large-scale archaeological excavations have documented much of Parramatta’s early history. However, due to the usual constraints of developer-funded projects, most of this work has remained focused on individual sites. Here, we examine some approaches for landscape-scale synthesis of evidence relating to colonial Parramatta. The research uses archival holdings to unravel the spatial networks of people and things that crossed lot boundaries, forming economic and relational webs that sustained the settler-colonial township (both convict and free). Informed by the relational approaches of both cultural (new) histories of capitalism and new materialism(s), this project functions at the scale of the town and its surrounding district. We seek to lay the foundations for further work using individuals to connect places within the landscape, to follow the movement of materials, and to trace the products and processes of labor.