Majestic Square work uncovers glimpses of city's colonial past

Excavation at Wanganui's Majestic Square revealed the charred bracken and native shrubs burned when the land was cleared in the 1800s, archaeologist Michael Taylor says.
In the past he has said that the whole of central Wanganui could be viewed as a large archaeological site, because it contains underground remnants of pre-1900 human activity. Because of this, the square excavations were required to be monitored by archaeologists.
Mr Taylor said the upper layers encountered when digging began at the Victoria Ave end of the square were of compacted sand, probably brought from nearby to even out the slope up to the sandhill now known as Queen's Park.
The sand used as fill contained a lot of china and broken glass, similar to what was found in excavations at Queen's Park itself.
Upper layers also contained old road surfaces of clay and gravel.
"Under the fill was quite a thick layer of charcoal, all bracken fern and small twiggy stuff," Mr Taylor said.
It would have been burnt off, perhaps more than once, when Wanganui was colonised: "one of the very first events that happened when Europeans arrived".
He theorised that Queen's Park may have been covered in bracken at that time, and said it formed distinctive shapes even when burnt. The other species present in the charcoal would be identified from the twigs, he said.
"They could be hebes."
There was unlikely to be any more excavation at the site, but Mr Taylor said if there was, and if more pre-1900 remains were found, the contractors knew to contact Archaeology North.
Excavation for new buildings and wastewater separation had revealed other underground features in a city that was once a mixture of swamp and sandhills.
Under Victoria Ave the water table was only about 2m down. The movement of underground water had caused subsidence that made crater-like holes on the site of the former DIC building.
These were laid bare when foundations were laid for a new building.
Wanganui's swampy lowland had also caused foundation problems for building work at the St John's Hill end of Victoria Ave.
Mr Taylor said the wet patch that ran along the bottom of the hill used to be known as "the bottomless swamp".
A culvert made of 50mm thick native kauri was found during wastewater excavations. It was under the footpath at the corner of Wicksteed and Glasgow streets and appeared to run along the latter.
"It was a swamp drain. There was still water running in it." Another find had been an 1870s brick sewer running along Harrison St.
Part of this was to be preserved, in mitigation for the damage caused to it by wastewater excavations.