News

Cross River Rail will not only transform the way we connect with our public transport, it’s already connecting us with our past.

Building Brisbane’s new underground means digging deep into the city at a variety of locations, and fascinating artefacts have already been found as part of Cross River Rail’s Archaeological Management program at our Woolloongabba work site.

These early finds included:

• Perfume bottles and inkwells dating from as far back as 1870;
• A gin bottle originating from Amsterdam;
• Evidence of a cobbler’s workshop, with dozens of leather offcuts unearthed and found to be in remarkably good condition having been entombed for up to 100 years or more;
• Examples of Japanese porcelain
• A ceramic ‘aromatic toothpaste’ container from London that dates back as far as the 1870s.

Many of the artefacts found will be housed in the Cross River Rail Experience Centre and the historical backgrounds to each of these items as well as the locations they are found will become part of the evolving historical collection, on display at the Centre.

Queensland Museum archaeologist Nicholas Hadnutt said the artefacts recovered through the Cross River Rail Project provide an interesting insight into everyday life in Brisbane at the turn of the 19th Century.

“The artefacts recovered to date, particularly highlight Brisbane’s ongoing position within an international trade network,” Mr Hadnutt said.

“They provide insight into the development of Brisbane as a city as well as the domestic and professional lives of the people of Brisbane.”

You can learn more about our finds in the video below, or at the Cross River Rail Experience Centre.