The archaeology of poverty and human dignity: charity and the work ethic in a 1930s Depression era itinerant's camp on the Toowoomba Range escarpment, Queensland

Abstract

This paper outlines the ethnohistory and archaeology of a Great Depression camp for unemployed men, established at Toowoomba, Queensland, in 1932. The camp was self sufficient and highly ordered. We interpret the material signature of the camp as a symbol of main-stream middle-class Australian values. Thus the camp is also a material symbol of the work ethic central at this time to notions of human dignity, respect and the moral development of individuals. We conclude that the archaeology of the camp demonstrates a strong work ethic among the ‘inmates’ and a degree of visible charity enabled by the historical concept of the ‘deserving poor’.