Regarding fencing wire:

About the most wires can usually tell you is that it is post-1788. And you knew that anyway! The earliest Australian record for wire in rural fences I now know of is 1840. A few years earlier than what I published several years ago. (Yes, even I engage in the "my site is older than yours" race.) Galvanised wire was advertised in mid-1850s. Barbed wire may give a more precise date, depending on the type. In general, barbed wire is post mid-1870s, but specific types were patented later, and may help you put brackets on a date of occupation.

Iron and steel fence posts, and steel droppers may also help because most (but certainly not all) were patented. But you must be aware of later re-use of older scavenged components.

Send me some images of your wire / post / dropper, and I may be able to help you. (This sort of advice and help is really expensive: a coffee when I next see you.)

BTW: all of my fence-related papers including my 2010 PhD are on Dropbox as freebies. Help yourselves:  HERE

Copies of the diagrams, images, etc. are available from me, please don't just screen-dump them.

Fencing wire references:

I guess that most of you are aware of Internet Archive (https://archive.org/details/texts), but if you aren't, then you should be.

Internet Archive is a treasure trove of FREE downloadable scanned books on everything from A to Z and beyond. These include hundreds of early mechanical, technological and agricultural encyclopaedias and books that will certainly help you better understand how things were done in 19th and early 20th centuries. If you want to know about just about any form of technology, this is the place to start. Any historical archaeologist worth her salt should have at least some of the zillion books from Internet Archive in her digital bookshelf. However, be warned: Internet Archive can be seriously addictive!

There are also hundreds of early Australian books, and if you are looking for some historical account that is only held in the Rare Books section of some library, then you should always start with Internet Archive. It is truly surprising what you will find.

Many of the titles were scanned by Google, and some appear to require payment to download them. If it looks like this is going to happen, you can bypass it by clicking on the "All files HTTPS" or similar button. This will get you to a page with options of downloading in a range of formats including PDF.

The search function is a bit clunky, and the way the items are described is painful to say the least. You can't distinguish between the same item from different libraries.

Here is one my favourite sources, Holtzapffel. A series of five volumes from mid-19th C. with extensive discussion of materials, and how things were done. The titles are not truly indicative of the encyclopaedic contents, there is considerably more than you might think from the titles. The URLs are to the PDFs (mostly 40 - 70 MB), there are other formats available. Other historical archaeologists will have their own lists of useful titles.

Holtzapffel, C. (1852). Turning and mechanical manipulation. Volume I. Materials; their differences, choice, and preparation; various modes of working them, generally without cutting tools. London, Holtzapffel & Co.

http://www.archive.org/details/turningmechanica01holtuoft  

Holtzapffel, C. (1856). Turning and mechanical manipulation. Intended as a work of general reference and practical instruction on the lathe, and the various mechanical pursuits followed by amateurs. Volume II: The principles of construction, action, and application, of cutting tools used by hand; and also of machines derived from the hand tools. London, Holtzapffel & Co.

http://www.archive.org/details/turningmechanica02holtuoft         

Holtzapffel, C. (1850). Turning and mechanical manipulation. Intended as a work of general reference and practical instruction on the lathe, and the various mechanical pursuits followed by amateurs. Volume III: Abrasive and miscellaneous processes, which cannot be accomplished with cutting tools. London, Holtzapffel & Co.

http://www.archive.org/details/turningmechanica03holtuoft         

Holtzapffel, C. (1881). Turning and mechanical manipulation. Intended as a work of general reference and practical instruction on the lathe, and the various mechanical pursuits followed by amateurs. Volume IV: The principles and practice of hand or simple turning. London, Holtzapffel & Co.

http://www.archive.org/details/turningmechanica04holtuoft

Holtzapffel, J. J. (1884). Turning and mechanical manipulation. Intended as a work of general reference and practical instruction on the lathe, and the various mechanical pursuits followed by amateurs. Volume V: The principles and practice of ornamental or complex turning. London, Holtzapffel & Co.

https://archive.org/details/HoltzapffelVol5_1884
(Unfortunately this is the only version available and it is a really poor scan, and the PDF is 1.2 GB. Yes, GB, not MB)

Please contact: blog@asha.org.au for John's email address

As part of the ARC Discovery Project  Landscape of Production and Punishment: the Tasman Peninsula 1830-77, we are pleased to offer our second PhD Scholarship Opportunity to work with Prof. Martin Gibbs (UNE), A.Prof David Roberts (UNE) and Prof. Hamish Maxwell-Stewart (UTas), alongside staff of the Port Arthur Historic Site Management Authority (Dr David Roe, Dr Jody Steele, Ms Susan Hood) and project Postdoctoral Fellow Dr Richard Tuffin on the historical archaeology of the Tasman Peninsula and the Port Arthur convict site. Further information about the project is available at: (https://www.une.edu.au/about-une/academic-schools/school-of-humanities/research/current-funded-research/landscapes-of-production-and-punishment) or in our recent paper: Tuffin, R., M. Gibbs, D. Roberts, H. Maxwell-Stewart, D. Roe, J. Steele, S. Hood and B. Godfrey 2018 ‘Landscapes of Production and Punishment: Convict labour in the Australian context’, Journal of Social Archaeology 18(1): 50–76.

We are advertising the scholarship with two project possibilities (applicants should address which one they are interested in):

1. A historical archaeological study of Point Puer: Point Puer was the first purpose-built reforming institution for criminal boys in the British Empire (operating 1834-48). The project will focus on industrial training and outputs, drawing on extensive documentary sources as well as existing archaeological and museum records and material culture resources. Further survey of landscapes and structures may be required, although no further excavation is proposed. This project will closely align and work in conjunction with the main project and the other studies of industrial production at Port Arthur including material analyses.

2. A historical archaeological study of maritime infrastructure and operations at Port Arthur and the Tasman Peninsula: Port Arthur and associated convict sites across the Tasman Peninsula relied heavily upon maritime transport and engaged in a variety of maritime industries and activities during the convict period. This project will explore the nature and role of the various maritime related activities associated with the convict era on the Tasman Peninsula, with a focus on maritime infrastructure and industrial sites including the dockyard and the extensive wharfs, jetties and facilities. The project will require re-evaluation and synthesis of previous studies, extensive additional archival research and analysis, further survey, and potentially analysis of structures and material culture, depending on the final form of the project. No excavation is proposed. This project will work in conjunction with the main project.

Applicants should have Honours or Masters level qualifications in archaeology and be concerned with the anthropological dimensions of the archaeological record. It is essential that applicants have well-developed skills in using historical documents in support of archaeological research as well as skills in artefact or structural analysis as relevant to the project they are applying for. The successful candidate will be expected to work under the direction of and in collaboration with the main project team. There will be a requirement for co-publication of results. The final form of the project will be determined through consideration of the skills of the candidate.

The successful candidate will be resident at UNE Armidale, with fieldwork in Tasmania as required. Funding will be made available for basic travel and accommodation. The Scholarship includes a 3-year full-time UNE funded PhD studentship providing tuition fees and living allowance stipend.Stipend is $26,682 per annum tax free for full-time internal students, paid in fortnightly installments.

To discuss this role please contact Professor Martin Gibbs, phone: (02) 6773 2656 or email: mgibbs3@une.edu.au.

Please check out the full details on the UNE Scholarships website: https://www.une.edu.au/research/hdr/hdr-scholarships/landscape-of-production-and-punishment

An inaugural, joint, free Maritime Contact Rock Art Symposium between the Australasian Society for Historical Archaeology and the Canberra Archaeological Society will be held at the beginning of the 2018 Canberra and Region Heritage Festival at the National Museum of Australia. This event will be help on 14th April 2018, between 9.30am and 12.00pm.

The symposium will comprise a series of illustrated presentations and stories by rock art experts and other archaeologists describing investigations into a range of depictions, found across Australia, of European and other sea craft encountered by Aboriginal Australians. This will be followed by a Q&A panel. (See programme below.)

Bookings can be made at https://maritimecasasha.eventbrite.com.au