Influences of Nineteenth-century Victorian Values on Health Concerns in Parramatta New South Wales (Australia)

Author(s): E. Jeanne Harris

Year: 2018

Summary

This paper presents preliminary findings of doctoral research exploring the influences of Victorian middle-class values on nineteenth-century health concerns. After years of professional research on 19th health-related artefacts within archaeological assemblages, the author noted a reoccurring pattern in the historical literature which promotes the idea of a lack of middle-class values within working-class populations.

This research project contests this notion by exploring how these values influenced public and private health concerns as reflected in the archaeological record of Australia’s second oldest city – Parramatta, NSW.  Eight archaeological collections were analysed to identify health concerns and delineating similarities and differences in the class-related attitudes towards health concerns. The proposed interpretation is that these values were deployed/imposed by the Middle Class as a form of social reform and to improve the quality of life of the working class, and in doing so improving the quality and health of society at large.

Cite this Record

Influences of Nineteenth-century Victorian Values on Health Concerns in Parramatta New South Wales (Australia). E. Jeanne Harris. Presented at Society for Historical Archaeology, New Orleans, Louisiana. 2018 ( tDAR id: 441512)

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Keywords

General
Health middle-class Victorian

Geographic Keywords
AUSTRALIA Oceania

Temporal Keywords
19th Century

Spatial Coverage

min long: 112.952; min lat: -43.648 ; max long: 153.606; max lat: -10.71 ;

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 104