Thesis abstract:

«p»«p»This thesis critiques and expands the current interpretive conventions employed by Australian historical archaeologists in their exploration of past children and childhoods. Children were always physically present in their homes and communities interacting with a range of material culture. Yet, the current convention in Australian historical archaeology is to only include children in site interpretations based on the presence of identifiable children’s materials culture, i.e. child-specific materials. This thesis argues the current interpretive approach to interpreting the child’s presence in Australian historical archaeology undermines children’s valuable, active contribution to culture by overlooking much of their material interaction. Both child-specific and domestic archaeological materials from the Australian historical sites- Sydney’s Hyde Park Barracks, Harris Street, Pyrmont, and Triabunna Barracks, Tasmania, are analysed to address the interpretive inequality. This thesis employs an interdisciplinary approach, including theory borrowed from sociology, developmental psychology, and agency theory, and contextualises the physical evidence through historical sources to broaden the possibilities of what constitutes the materials of a child’s world and the actions these materials could represent. This thesis argues that understanding the totality of children’s material interactions is valuable for archaeologists not only in terms of revealing the totality of the lives of children themselves but also the cultures they shaped. By expanding current methodologies to include children throughout site interpretations the ways Australian children adapted to, appropriated and, subverted the adult-controlled material worlds is revealed.«/p»«/p»