Insight 13: Remnants of the Past (i)

Australia was colonised as a new country – and that meant things came and went, lived and died, flourished and declined. This has left many old constructions, some listed as historic ruins; others just crumbling shapes on the landscape.

These two pictures are of a historic ruin, the remnant of ‘lime burning kilns’ from over 100 years ago. Lime was a material mined from the beach-side cliff. It had to be roasted at very high temperature, then ground into powder to make an important building material for early Melbourne. However, plaster and concrete soon replaced this, and the industry died.

Ruins like this speak of past time, past existences, and they were not that easy. In the next ‘Cultural Insight’, we will explore the lives of the people who made and operated these kilns, and how they lived and died.