Dig with Us

November - December 2025
Harrietville Chinese Mining Village
Season 6

Join us to discover more about the Chinese miners who once lived and worked in the 19th century Harrietville Chinese Mining Village. For around fifty years from the early 1860s Harrietville was home to many of the thousands of Victoria’s Chinese gold miners. This will be the sixth season of archaeological excavation at the Chinese Mining Village, following on from the previous four seasons in October 2017, October 2019, October 2022, January-February 2024 and November-December 2024. The largely undisturbed site includes mine workings, water races, building foundations, and gardens: a rare survivor of the heyday of Chinese gold mining in Victoria. The foundations of at least 19 buildings were discovered during a survey undertaken during Season One fieldwork in 2017. Huge quantities of food, liquor, medicines, utensils, ceramics and even coins were imported from China for the Chinese mining communities. Many fragments of these were discovered during the earlier excavation seasons, along with fragments of European tableware ceramics and glass bottles. Season Six research objectives will be to undertake more intensive excavations on hut sites WC1 and SF1, in order to determine its size, footprint and how it was constructed; to gain a greater understanding of the lifestyle of the Chinese miners; and to understand the wider mining landscape in which they lived.

Location

In the Alpine National Park, in the Upper Ovens Valley, in northeast Victoria, Australia, near the town of Harrietville.

Dates

Season 6 will take place over four weeks from Tuesday 18 November to Friday 12 December 2025.

Each week will be a 5-day program:
• Week 1 - Tuesday 18 November to Saturday 22 November 2025
• Week 2 - Monday 24 November to Friday 28 November 2025
• Week 3 - Monday 1 December to Friday 5 November 2025
• Week 4 - Monday 8 December to Friday 12 December 2025

You can take part for one, two, three, or all four of these weeks.
You can start in Weeks 1, 2, 3 or 4 - there will be introductory training on the first day each week for new participants.

Bookings

To register to participate in this dig, complete the Race Roster registration form
• A deposit of $360 is required to secure your place.
• Balance is to be paid by 19 September 2025.
• All fees are GST-exempt.

Cost

Full rate
• $2085 for 1 week
• $1985 for each subsequent week
Student rate
• $1290 for 1 week
• $1190 for each subsequent week
Residents of Alpine Shire
• $1290 for 1 week
• $1190 for each subsequent week

• Prices include program activities and training, heritage tours, lunches and morning/afternoon teas, and a shared BBQ dinner on the last evening of each week.
• We will provide all equipment you will need to participate in the dig.
• Not included: accommodation, breakfast (or dinner - except for evening BBQ at end of each week).
• All rates are in Australian dollars.

Students

• All students enrolled in tertiary and secondary education institutions are eligible for the ‘Student Rate’
• You do not need to be an archaeology student to qualify for the student discount. 
• All participants under the age of 18 need to be accompanied by another participant who is aged 18 or more.
• All students will need to provide proof of their enrolment.
• Archaeology students may also be entitled to course credits for participation in this dig, depending on their institution's fieldwork accreditation requirements. Please enquire for more details.

Highlights

• Learn excavation techniques
• Work alongside some of the most experienced archaeologists and historians of Chinese heritage, and mining heritage, in Australia.
• Learn how to identify Chinese and European artefacts such as ceramics, coins, bottles, foodstuffs and beverages, medicines and opium- and tobacco- smoking paraphernalia.
• Be a part of archaeological discovery in one of the key heritage areas of 19th century Chinese mining history.

Program

The program includes:
• intensive training, and participation in, field work (site excavation, site surveying, site recording, landscape archaeology), and artefact processing (cleaning, recording, identifying and cataloguing)
• a maximum of 4 participants for every supervising archaeologist in our team
• guided history and heritage tours of Harrietville and surrounding areas - focusing on mining history and the Chinese pioneers of the Valley.
• workshops and lectures, on topics such as:

Principles of archaeology
Surveying techniques, mapping and GIS
Conservation techniques for materials
Chinese ceramics
Chinese coins
Alluvial mining techniques
Chinese pioneers of the Ovens Valley
Chinese mining history in Australia
Understanding Chinese joss houses and temples
Goldrush-era Chinese cooking and food preservation

Who For?

Any one interested in learning more about archaeology and history is welcome to take part. No previous experience in archaeology is required. A minimum age of 18 years old is required for individual participants. People aged 12-17 can also take part if accompanied by a responsible adult.

Activity Level

Archaeological fieldwork requires a general level of fitness and involves physical exertion. Processing artefacts by contrast is mainly a seated activity. Fieldwork involves walking a short distance to reach the site, lifting buckets of dirt, kneeling on the ground for extended periods. You will work at your own pace, but the experience will be more enjoyable if you are in good physical condition. If you do not exercise regularly, you might improve your conditioning by taking consecutively longer walks at home before the program begins.

If you prefer to be mainly seated, then the activity schedule can be tailored individually for you, to allow you to focus on processing artefacts. If you have any questions or concerns about your ability to participate in this program, please contact us to discuss this further.

Accommodation options

We have booked some low-cost share-house accommodation in Harrietville. The costs for this are: 
• $90 per person per night for a Queen Bed or Double Bed in a room to yourself
• $60 per person per night for a Double Bunk Bed in a room sharing with others
• $40 per person per night for a Single Bunk Bed in a room sharing with others.

You can register your interest in this when you pay your deposit.

If you would prefer instead to book your own accommodation, the dig site is close to a wide range of accommodation options in Harrietville and also nearby Bright (15 min drive from Harrietville): camping grounds, caravan parks, B&Bs, motels, hotels and chalets. The Ovens Valley is a popular spring tourism destination, so it is advisable to book your accommodation early.

Weather Conditions

Harrietville in November-early December is in late spring. Temperatures are usually in mid-20s with occasional maximum of 30°C, and overnight lows down to 12°C. There can be occasional days of rain.

Other activities available in the Ovens Valley

The Ovens Valley is situated in the foothills of the Australian Alps, with a wide variety of recreational activities which participants can enjoy before or after the dig period, or at the end of each week. Walking, hiking, rail-trail, mountain biking, kayaking and canoeing, wineries, heritage towns and museums are just some of these - see www.visitbright.com.au for more information.

Getting There

Car: Harrietville is 4 hours drive from Melbourne, or 7 hours from Sydney.
Public transport: VLine operates a train and bus service from Melbourne to Bright via Wangaratta - see www.ptv.vic.gov.au/timetables and search for 'Vline Train' to 'Bright'
Bicycle: The Murray to Mountains Rail Trail runs from Wangaratta to Bright.
Bright to Harrietville:  is a 15 minute drive. For those arriving without cars we will arrange shuttle transport to Harrietville if required. Please enquire for details.
The dig site: is a 15 minute walk from Harrietville. A daily car shuttle from Harrietville can also be arranged if some participants require it.

Bookings and Enquiries

Enquiries

Contact:  Paul Macgregor, phone: 0418 571 572 (International +61 418 571 572) 
Email: uncoveredpastinstitute@gmail.com

Bookings

To register to participate in this dig, complete the Race Roster registration form
• A deposit of $360 is required to secure your place.
• After you have registered and paid your deposit, we will then calculate what your full cost will be, including accommodation (if you book that through us) and any discounts you are eligible for. 
• We will send you an invoice by email itemising your total charges and discounts, and stating how much the balance will be, to complete your payment. Payment for the balance due will be via EFT to our bank account.
• Balance is to be paid by 19 September 2025.
• All fees are GST-exempt.

Cancellation policy

• Deposit is not refundable if you cancel your booking.
• Half of full fee is forfeited if you cancel your booking between 19 September 2025 and 31 October 2025 inclusive.
• Full fee is forfeited if you cancel your booking after 31 October 2025.
• In the unlikely event that the dig is cancelled by us (e.g. extreme weather forecast, Covid lockdown), you will receive a full refund of any monies paid, or you will be given the option to transfer your payment towards participation in another week of this dig, or you can book into a future dig, or a future artefact analysis workshop, run byThe Uncovered Past Institute.