The Garden at Pingle Farm: An Unsettling Investigation

The Garden at Pingle Farm: An Unsettling Investigation Rebecca Milne , College of Humanities and Social Sciences, Flinders University of South Australia, Bedford Park, SA 5042, Australia E-mail: RESEARCH Archaeologies: Journal of the World Archaeological Congress ( 2024) https://doi.org/10.1007/s11759-024-09516-6 Accepted: 24 September 2024 ABSTRACT ________________________________________________________________ This paper presents a reflection on the process and results of an historical archaeological investigation of a South Australian colonial farm garden. It demonstrates how the researcher allowed the emotions evinced by the site’s history as a frontier site to contribute to the discussion of the research’s relevance for contemporary Australian society, related to themes of national identity and coming to terms with a colonial past. ________________________________________________________________ Résumé: Cet article présente une réflexion sur le processus et les résultats d’une recherche archéologique historique d’un jardin d’une ferme coloniale dans le sud de l’Australie. Il démontre comment le chercheur a permis que les émotions suscitées par l’histoire du lieu en tant que site frontalier contribuent à la discussion sur la pertinence de la recherche pour la société australienne contemporaine, liée aux thèmes de l’identité nationale et à la reconnaissance d’un passé colonial. ________________________________________________________________ Resumen: En este artı́culo se presenta una reflexión sobre el proceso y los resultados de una investigación arqueológica histórica de un jardı́n de una granja colonial del sur de Australia. Demuestra cómo el investigador permitió que las emociones evidenciadas por la historia del sitio como sitio fronterizo contribuyeran al debate sobre la relevancia de la investigación para la sociedad australiana contemporánea, en relación con temas de identidad nacional y la aceptación de un pasado colonial. KEY WORDS Colonial South Australia, Garden archaeology, National identity, Native flora _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________  2024 The Author(s). This article is an open access publication ARCHAEOLOGIES _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ REBECCA MILNE Introduction ‘We are informed by our family recollections that the aboriginal [sic] folk were confused by the white man cutting down trees to grow food. There was ‘plenty good food’ in the trees’ for their way of life’ (Hancock and Martin Family Reunion Committee 1986:167). ‘We know David Teakle’s garden produced pie-melons because a neighbour’s daughter, Clarissa Jared, used to help Mary Ann Teakle in the kitchen and had a reputation with the boys for the delicious melon pies she made for dessert. But getting rid of the seeds was more than a joke in a busy kitchen and Clarissa went on strike … The boys protested without success so they compromised. They didn’t mind a few seeds in a melon pie; in fact, they could have fun and games in battles across the table by ejecting the seeds from between their teeth’ (Teakle 1979:27). These two stories are taken from local family histories found during my historical archaeological investigation of Pingle Farm at Seaford Meadows, on the Fleurieu Peninsula of South Australia (Figures 1, 2, 3). I choose to begin with them as they convey the conflict I experienced as I carried out this project, and wondered how to best tell the story of the site. Take a drive anywhere outside an urban area in South Australia, and you are bound to see at least one lonely, crumbling ruin of a colonial cottage or farmhouse, usually in the middle of a paddock, sometimes framed by old trees in their death throes, or a few hardy species that still flourish against all odds. I have been looking at, and probably romanticising, these ruins since I was a child. To the casual observer, there is often not much left to see around these shells. But they raise many questions: What was it like to live ‘out there’ in one of these homes? How did people survive? And then there are those more prickly questions: How did the inhabitants Figure 1. View of farmhouse at Pingle Farm from the east. Image shows the 1877 extension at the front of the house. (Rebecca Milne). The Garden at Pingle Farm Figure 2. View of the farmhouse from the south side. Image shows the section of the house built in 1862. (Rebecca Milne). treat the Aboriginal people? To what extent did they disparage the Australian landscape and native flora and seek to transform it into ‘home’ (ie. Europe)? It was this last question that I decided to explore in my investigation. I set myself elusive tasks. One, to define a former garden, and two, to find out which attitudes towards the Australian landscape and native flora it might reflect. In order to create a context through which to interpret the garden archaeology and its wider significance, my investigation was coupled with an analysis of British colonial texts for attitudes expressed towards the Australian landscape and flora, and gardening. The investigation was a preliminary study which has created many avenues for future research. I also add that I am not a trained botanist, therefore my findings about the vegetation at the site are not comprehensive observations. An investigation into the past of a site cannot be neutral; ‘… archaeological knowledge, and the discourse that frames this knowledge, can and does have a direct impact on people’s sense of cultural identity, and thus becomes a legitimate target and point of contention for a range of interests’ (Smith 2004:3). I was aware that to a greater or lesser extent I was going to run into problematic evidence. But as a white descendant of British (and German) settlers, it was important to me to explore my own origins, and answer some personal questions, such as why I was never taught anything about native plants, or their value, as a young person. One of my aims was to foster a discussion about gardening traditions that persist in Australia today, which may ‘serve to delay the inevitable adaptation required to develop an ecologically sustainable society’ (Lynch 2014:394). REBECCA MILNE Figure 3. Map showing the location of Pingle Farm in relation to the Onkaparinga River and St. Vincents Gulf. Inset shows location in Southern Australia. (Prepared by Rebecca Milne on ARCGIS). Background research found that on the whole, Australians prefer fashion and nostalgia over environmental concerns (Bird 2011; Shaw et al. 2017). We seem to be historically slow in taking the time to understand our unique flora and how it is perfectly suited to this continent’s environment, how its use for both aesthetics and practicality is a much more sustainable practice than wrestling with the earth (...truncated)