Cross River Rail digs up the past

As excavation ramps up on Brisbane’s Cross River Rail project, some incredible historic artefacts have been pulled from the ground. Take at look at what’s been found so far.

A PERFUME bottle created in honour of Queen Victoria, a gin bottle from the 1880s and a primitive jar of Vegemite are among the artefacts recovered as excavation begins for Cross River Rail.

And more historic finds are anticipated over the next six months as work ramps up on the $5.4 billion project’s Albert St site – home to the city’s old Chinese quarter.

Archaeologist Dr Kevin Rains holds a bottle of The Crown perfume, above other artefacts found during Cross River Rail excavation. Picture: AAP Image/Richard Gosling

Cross River Rail Minister Kate Jones said work on four new underground stations required the most extensive tunnelling work the city had ever seen on a major infrastructure project, with excavation reaching 40m underground.

Minister for Cross River Rail Kate Jones holds a ceramic box for holding tooth paste. Picture: AAP Image/Richard Gosling

A chutney bottle produced by the Bengal Chutney Company, which was based at Birkdale. Picture: AAP Image/Richard Gosling

Ms Jones revealed some of the discoveries at the Woolloongabba site on Sunday.

“We are unlocking Brisbane’s history through this future project,” she said.

“We have, for example, old castor oil bottles – glad that’s gone out of fashion – and also old toothpaste bottles as well as some of the very first editions of The Crown perfume that was created by Queen Victoria, the Queen who named our state of Queensland.”

Niche Environment and Heritage archaeologist Dr Kevin Rains said most of the artefacts were from overseas but some were local, like 100-year-old shoes and a cobbler’s anvil from a long-ago business.

Some of the other bottles found during excavations. Picture: AAP Image/Richard Gosling

“They tell a slice of history of the local residents of Brisbane from about the 1870s, 1880s through to about 1910 and it shows us what they were consuming, what they were interested in,” Dr Rains said.

“The Albert St site is going to be very interesting because that’s part of the old Chinese quarter from the 1870s through to the early 1900s so we’re hoping to find some of their artefacts relating to the Chinese residents of that period.”

All items will be donated to the Queensland Museum, with some likely to be passed to local historical societies.