December 1999 David Rhodes, Taryn Debney and Mark Grist

6.7Summary and Discussion

The sites all comprise surface scatters of stone artefacts, which, with the exception of site 7822/1094, occur on the slopes of the river valley. At five of the sites (7822/1091-7822/1093 and 7822/1095-7822/1096) stone artefacts are likely to have been redeposited in earth fill from the edge of the escarpment, or redeposited during the grading of river terraces. One isolated stone artefact (7822/1119) was located in a later survey of the former Maribyrnong explosives factory conducted in November 1999. This artefact was situated below the crest of an east-west oriented ridge and on a north facing slope, one of the least disturbed portions of the factory. It is possible that other stone artefacts will be found within this area, albeit in a disturbed context. The occurrence of sites between Braybrook and Maribyrnong indicate that this area contains the remains of a highly fragmented Aboriginal pre-contact cultural landscape; that is, the remains of archaeological sites, landforms and landform elements and some native vegetation which reflects what must have been an intensive Aboriginal use of the area prior to and at the time of contact with Europeans. The association of Aboriginal people with this area also continued into the post-contact period.

No other silcrete stone sources or quarried outcrops were documented within the study area, apart from the previously recorded quarry site AAV7822/1037, which has since been destroyed. It is possible that there may have been other silcrete sources exposed along the valley walls, which have since been buried under landfill.

The silcrete in the Maribyrnong River valley is metamorphosed Silurian sediments cemented by silica. It outcrops below the basalt of the newer volcanics and is exposed in the walls and terraces of the valley by stream incision through the Newer Volcanics. Site AAV7822/1037 was located on the eastern edge of a silcrete outcrop, which extends westward as a low ridge into the Commonwealth EFM site. Observations made during a brief site inspection of the EFM Site in 1997 indicate that the silcrete quarry may once have extended further west and that there are disturbed remnants of this quarry in the EFM site. The silcrete observed in this outcrop was a yellow-brown colour, similar to stone found at all of the archaeological sites further to the west. It is possible that some of the stone present at the six sites recorded was derived from this outcrop, although further geological sourcing of the material would be required to ascertain this.

7822/1094 is the only site assessed as likely to be partially intact or contain buried deposits of cultural materials. This site is on an alluvial terrace where there has been some surface disturbance. There does not appear, however, to be any introduced fill on the site, suggesting that some material may remain in situ below the ground surface. Whether this is an intact deposit of material could only be assessed by further evaluation; it could be suggested that if this type of study is ever undertaken, that it occur as a full archaeological excavation rather than sub-surface testing, given that the site is possibly the only remaining stratified deposit of materials in the study area.

Survey Area	Aboriginal site number	Field Designation	Site still present
1	Nil	Nil	Nil
2	AAV7822/524 AAV7822/525 AAV7822/1036 AAV7822/1037 AAV7822/1046 AAV7822/1091 AAV7822/1092 AAV7822/1093 AAV7822/1094 AAV7822/1095 AAV7822/1096 AAV7822/1119	ADI 2 Maribyrnong isolated artefact ADI 3 Maribyrnong isolated artefact CSIRO South I surface artefact scatter CSIRO South II silcrete stone quarry Chicago Street I isolated artefact MRSAS-1 MRSAS-2 MRSAS-3 MSSAS-4 MRSAS-5 MRSAS-6 Explosives Factory 1 isolated artefact	Probably not (not located during ground survey) Probably not (not located during ground survey) No No No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
3	AAV7822/523	ADI 1 Footscray isolated artefact	Probably not (not located during ground survey
4	Nil	Nil	Nil
5	Nil	Nil	Nil
6	Nil	Nil	Nil
7	Nil	Nil	Nil

The number of sites which have survived in Survey Area 2 strongly suggests that a far higher density of sites once existed along this section of the Maribyrnong River valley. Further analysis of the stone artefacts present at the site may provide some insight into the range of activities which took place at these sites, but because almost all of the material is in a highly disturbed context and lacks integrity, it is unlikely that it will be possible to reconstruct a detailed model of Aboriginal land use in the study area from the remnant Aboriginal sites alone.

Seen in a regional context, the general patterning of site locations is similar to that on other areas of the Maribyrnong River valley, with surface scatters of stone artefacts occurring both along the escarpment and on the lower valley slopes and terraces. Many of these sites are likely to have been associated with stone working or manufacture, but there would need to be further analysis of the materials to confirm this. There are unlikely to be ancient Aboriginal archaeological sites within the study area, such as the Keilor Archaeological Area or the Green Gully Burial. The latter are contained in ancient river terraces, which have accumulated in wider sections of the river valley. As the valley form within the study area is narrower in cross-section than that further upstream, the formation of river terraces over a long period of time has been more restricted.

The entire belt of land comprising Survey Area 2, including the less disturbed sections of the Medway Golf Course and land within the Commonwealth EFM site and former explosives factory, is assessed as being potentially sensitive for pre-contact Aboriginal archaeological sites. Of particular concern are areas of remnant river terraces near 7822/1095 and the north facing slope and river terraces at the EFM site and former explosives factory. Areas of potential sensitivity for pre-contact Aboriginal archaeological sites are shown in Figure 3 and Table 6.

Survey Area	Area of potential archaeological sensitivity	Specific places within area
1	Nil	Nil
2	Linear municipal park running adjacent to Maribyrnong River from north end of Burke Street to eastern end of Medway Golf Club. Medway Golf Club The Maribyrnong Explosives Factory	The hill slope above site AAV7822/1091 (MRSAS1) from which artefacts are likely to have eroded down hill The hill slope and alluvial terraces between Butler Street and Cranwell Park Cranwell Park (including hill slope, alluvial terraces and rim of escarpment) Hill slope and alluvial terraces between Lacy and Evans Streets Promontory north of Medway Golf Club Especially areas closer to river where only minor landscaping activities have occurred Area approximately 100 x 120 metres on a north facing slope NE of the stables within the former explosives factory. Area of slope SE of the stables within the EFM factory. Remnant river terraces within the former explosives factory.
3	Nil	Nil
4	Footscray Park and Newell’s Paddock	Nil
5	Nil	Nil
6	Nil	Nil
7	Nil	Nil

Together, the remains of the archaeological sites, areas of potential sensitivity and their landscape context form the remnants of a pre-contact cultural landscape within the Maribyrnong River valley. Although the archaeological sites are not the best examples of Aboriginal site types within the Maribyrnong River valley, they are nevertheless almost the only material evidence of pre-contact Aboriginal land use and occupation within the City of Maribyrnong and are of particular local significance. They are also examples of a archaeological site type and cultural resource which is rapidly disappearing in other parts of the Western Suburbs of Melbourne and their long term conservation should be considered. This is discussed in more detail in Section 10.0 of the report.