ARCH8309a Thesis Review: Ceramic Assemblage from Queensland Goldfield

This report provides a detailed review of a thesis analyzing a ceramic assemblage from a 19th-century goldfield in Northwest Queensland. The thesis examines the ceramic assemblage from the Lower Camp Township on the Woolgar goldfield, utilizing both descriptive and quantitative methods to analyze the data. It explores the historical context of gold mining in Australia, the significance of ceramic analysis in understanding domestic life, and the contributions of the research to historical, heritage, and archaeological studies. The review highlights positive aspects such as the clear research aims, literature review, methodology, data presentation, discussion, and conclusion, while also pointing out negative aspects like the absence of a comprehensive research question and key term definitions. The review assesses the structure, details, and worthiness of the thesis, concluding that it provides valuable insights into the daily life of the population and offers direction for future archaeological research.

Running head: REVIEW OF THE THESIS
Name of the student:
Name of the university:
Author note:

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REVIEW OF THE THESIS
Table of Contents
Summary of the thesis:........................................................................................................2
Positive things in the thesis:................................................................................................2
Negative points of the thesis:...............................................................................................4
Check a number of the pages it is in order and the chapters:..............................................4
Details and issues:................................................................................................................5
The worthiness of reading thesis:........................................................................................5
Is it telling a story?..............................................................................................................6

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REVIEW OF THE THESIS
Summary of the thesis:
The purpose of the thesis was to provide an analysis of one gold mining at a northwest
Queensland goldfield. In the 19th century Australia, Gold mining was a major colonial
industry where the landscape is scattered with the remains of transient mining settlements
which were designed for supporting the miners (Beale 2006). While in majority cases, these
settlements were abandoned quickly after coming into existence, a wide range of material
culture remained in the area for the examination of the archaeologist. The thesis conducted an
analysis of ceramic assemblage from the Lower Camp Township on the Woolgar goldfield.
The researchers conducted both descriptive as well as quantitative in order to simplify the data
into numbers as well as quantity. The common research method used by researchers includes
historical research on the ceramics, the field-based research component and the following
laboratory analysis of collected materials from the field-based research ( Beale 2006). The
researchers provided the rationale behind undertaking such research method for obtaining the
result. The majority of investigation in the mining area generally focused exclusively on
aspects of the industry. The result of the thesis suggested that mining sites of the gold and
ceramics were previously ignored now have subjected to historical, heritage and archaeological
research. While researchers did not focus on the Woolgar goldfield and its townships due to the
position in the remote area, the importance to the gold and ceramic mine was given during gold
rush of the 19th century (Beale 2006). Therefore, the thesis provided a greater focus on the
domestic settlement and economic contribution of Australia by the population of the remote
area.

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REVIEW OF THE THESIS
Positive things in the thesis:
As discussed by Juntunen and Lehenkari (2019), the ingredient of the good thesis
include contribution of knowledge, presence of recommendation for the future research,
appropriate research methodology along with adequate data collection. In order words, high
quality and appropriate research thesis consist introduction, literature review for supporting the
research, appropriate research findings and discussion along with a conclusion ( McKim 2017).
Taking a deep insight into the situation, researcher clearly stated five clear aims of the research
such as defining ceramic assemblage in terms of the fabric and decoration, connection between
characteristics of the ceramics and rest of colonial Australia, use of ceramics to gain an
understanding of the lower townships in terms of domestic life and adopt a feminist approach
to examine the presence of women and children around the ceramic assemblage (Beale 2006).
The first chapters explained readers regarding what to expect in the rest of the thesis.
The second positive point is that a clear outline of the literature was conducted by the
researcher where researcher incorporated the archaeology of gold mining and Contributions of
ceramic analysis to understanding domestic life which will provide an idea of the social norms
of culture, domestic life of the culture and how ceramic characteristics represents each unique
domestic practices (Beale 2006). The third positive point is the methodology of the research
as the research has undertaken both quantitative and qualitative research for simplifying
obtaining the data into the numbers and quantity. It allowed the researcher to make an
appropriate deduction of the assemblage of ceramic (Hathcoat and Meixner 2017). The fourth
positive point is that graphical and tabular presentation of the historical research and field-
based research was provided to allow readers to have a clear idea of the ceramic assemblage
and data was provide in the clear and informative manner, indicating accurate data collection

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as well as accurate data representations (Shannon-Baker 2016). The tabular presentation was
provided when required.
The fifth positive point in the discussion section where researchers discussed
assemblage of Dolly’s Creek, Victoria, Interpreting the Woolgar ceramic assemblage,
Stereotypes of miners and mining, Location of ceramic manufacture, Refining the chronology
for Hut 2 as well as Octagonal sites, Gender (Beale 2006). In each case, the results were
appropriately interpreted in the context of the research aim and questions and comparison has
been drawn with the appropriate argument (Dopp et al. 2019). The sixth positive point is the
conclusion followed by recommendations (Venkatesh, Brown and Sullivan 2016). The
appendix also presents to support the data provided by the researchers.
Negative points of the thesis:
As discussed by Maxwell ( 2016) negative points of the thesis include lack of engagement
with the research, lack of the contribution of knowledge and lack of appropriate engagement
with each section of the thesis. The first negative point is no comprehensive research question
was mentioned in the thesis that can guide the readers to understand the research that has been
undertaken which reduced the credibility of the research. The second negative point is no key
terms clearly explained that also impacted the quality of the research. In the methodology
section, the third negative point is the lack of engagement from the perspective of women and
children (Angouri 2018). The fourth negative point is the lack of adequate engagement with a
critical review of literature as the limitation of each research was not present. The fifth
negative point is a limited discussion regarding the research result and more discussion
regarding the research aim of the research (Angouri 2018). All these negative points impacted
the quality and credibility of the research.

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REVIEW OF THE THESIS
Check a number of the pages it is in order and the chapters:
Considering the thesis, it can be said that chapters and page numbers were
appropriately given. The thesis segmented into 7 chapters where each chapter provided an
outline about the chapter and summary of the whole chapter which will provide adequate
information to the readers before reading each chapters (Chapter 1 Introduction, Chapter 2
Background History, Chapter 3 The Archaeology of Mining and Ceramics, Chapter 4
Methodology, Chapter 5 Results, Chapter 6 Discussion, Chapter 7 Conclusion) ( Beale 2006).
The appendices were present to provide the idea regarding print pattern, databases,
photographic collection and photographic record. Considering the page numbers, each page
number was properly given and content with appropriate page numbers was present in the table
of contents for proper presentation of content (Beale 2006). Overall, the quality of the thesis is
excellent in terms of presenting chapters with page numbers.
Details and issues:
In this context, the limitations the research is lack of accurate idea of Hut site and lack
of archaeological significance at the Octagonal site led to a less statistically viable sample to
compare, indicating lack of adequate data to make interpretations ( Beale 2006). The second
limitation is that while the researcher provided tabular representation and figure of surface
samples, the figures contained less material which impacted the quality of interpretation and
data collection. Likewise, farm animal collectors, collection of nature and merciful wide life
made it difficult to interpret since the majority of the sample was fragmented. These
limitations reduced the validity and reliability of the research (Beale 2006).

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REVIEW OF THE THESIS
The worthiness of reading thesis:
The thesis is worth reading for research purpose as well as for gaining an idea of the
daily life of the population in that area. In terms of appropriate research, the researchers
provided a brief idea of the characteristics of the ceramic assessable at a remote northwest
Queensland goldfield along with the function of the site. Since no archaeological study had
been undertaken on this site, it will allow archaeologist to gather an in-depth understanding of
the archaeological importance of the thesis (Maxwell 2016). It will provide enriched
information regarding historical record, material culture and domestically culture. In terms of
narratives, this thesis provided an in-depth understanding of the remote outback setting, site
functions, gender roles and the ability of the population to run their own business ( Beale 2006).
It also provided a deep insight into the gold diversities in the Australian colonies, industrial
aspect of the gold mines and economic benefits from these gold mines.
Is it telling a story?
The thesis provides a historical story in light of ceramic assemblage. The thesis
provides an idea that the ceramic characterised mostly by the fabric and transfer print patterns
were common for all ceramics. These characteristics further provided an idea of the ethnicity,
cultural practice in the rural area, socioeconomic status and chronology. The thesis provided a
narrative of the import and export industry as the ceramic assemblage was a combination of
locally made porcelain and English creamware (Beale 2006). The characteristics indicated the
dominance of British manufacturer over the Australian ceramic market. The thesis suggested
that while initially, the goldfield was male-dominated, the women and children were also
presented at the field where few of them own the land. The women of these two sites run
their own business to contribute to the Australian economy and they were considered as the

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REVIEW OF THE THESIS
proper example of polite society. The thesis also narrated survival narratives of the goldmines
(Beale 2006). The evidence incorporated in the thesis indicated that Woolgar was considered
as the hungriest place for the where men came with the families to settle down despite the
hardships. The development of school, community and working opportunities were prominent
instances of the survival narratives of the population (Beale 2006). In conclusion, it can be
stated the thesis is worth reading for gaining future direction in the Archaeological research
and idea of the daily life of the populations.

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References:
Angouri, J., 2018. Quantitative, qualitative mixed or holistic research? Combining methods in
linguistic research. Research methods in linguistics, London: Bloomsbury Publishing, pp.35-55.
Beale, A., 2006. Analysis of a Ceramic Assemblage from a 19th Century Goldfield in Northwest
Queensland. Flinders University, Department of Archaeology..
Dopp, A.R., Mundey, P., Beasley, L.O., Silovsky, J.F. and Eisenberg, D., 2019. Mixed-method
approaches to strengthen economic evaluations in implementation research. Implementation
Science, 14(1), p.2.
Hathcoat, J.D. and Meixner, C., 2017. Pragmatism, factor analysis, and the conditional
incompatibility thesis in mixed methods research. Journal of Mixed Methods Research, 11(4),
pp.433-449.
Juntunen, M. and Lehenkari, M., 2019. A narrative literature review process for an academic
business research thesis. Studies in Higher Education, pp.1-13.
Maxwell, J.A., 2016. Expanding the history and range of mixed methods research. Journal of
Mixed Methods Research, 10(1), pp.12-27.
McKim, C.A., 2017. The value of mixed methods research: A mixed methods study. Journal of
Mixed Methods Research, 11(2), pp.202-222.
Shannon-Baker, P., 2016. Making paradigms meaningful in mixed methods research. Journal of
mixed methods research, 10(4), pp.319-334.
Venkatesh, V., Brown, S.A. and Sullivan, Y.W., 2016. Guidelines for conducting mixed-
methods research: An extension and illustration. Journal of the Association for Information
Systems, 17(7), p.2.