Narrator: On Saturday November 14, the Open Day at the Royal Exhibition Building archaeological dig attracted more than 200 curious visitors. Members of the public walked through the site, handled artefacts and chatted with archaeologists and curators about the project.
Visitor: It's amazing to see this in the middle of the city.
Visitor: It is, very much so.
Visitor: I think it's fantastic. I'm just here because I do follow your blog and so because it was an advertised open day I thought I'd come down and have a chat to everybody. It's very cool.
Stella Young: So are you interested in archaeology in general?
Visitor: Yes, yes, and I'm an architecture student so I find the whole thing very fascinating.
Visitor: It would be really interesting to see on the website the plant matter that they get out of this and whether or not it is possible to map out what actually grew here and if they can recreate it. It's just so exciting.
Stella Young: What's your dream find, what are you really hoping that they find?
Visitor: I'm hope they do find evidence of the actual kiosk, so if they do find the post holes and any components maybe that will reveal how it was actually constructed.
Visitor: It's great because you're learning out where the history of Melbourne, you know, how it got to where it's at now, so it's pretty interesting and it would be nice to see what it once was. It should be a lot more beautiful than looking at asphalt.
Stella: What do you think they might find?
Visitor: Who knows. Bodies?
Stella: Bodies!
Stella: Do you think that these kinds of opportunities are important, that people can access urban archaeology?
Visitor: Oh yes, yes. If they've got an interest in the archaeology they should be able to come and have a look, particularly on a site like this that's so close to the museum.
Visitor: You do see a lot of it on TV and you think, well this is in your own backyard now...you get a feel for it rather than just sort of seeing it on the TV.
Visitor: And to realise that it actually can be urban and not boy scout in the middle of another country somewhere. You always think that archaeology being something digging up in Egypt or Syria or something. This is just archaeology is right in your back door.
Visitor: It's a lot cheaper than going to Egypt!
Stella: Can you see all the people digging? (Yes.) What do you think they might find?
Visitor: That they might find the digger.
Visitor: Digger? He's just very excited by the digger.
Stella: What do you find when you dig in your garden?
Visitors: Worms. Roots or stones. Worms.
Stella: You find worms!
Narrator: The archaeologists enjoyed the chance to talk about their work too.
Archaeologist: Just to excavate your home town is just awesome. Usually they're in remote areas and you're bushwhacked for weeks, and yeah, this is fabulous.
Archaeologist: For a lot of us, this is our heritage.
Archaeologist: It's interesting to have people watching and seeing what we're doing and stuff because a lot of stuff we do is in the middle of nowhere and people don't really understand what you're actually doing.
Archaeologist: To be able to sort of, whilst you're working, talk to the kids about how great archaeology is and how good La Trobe is, it's a really nice experience to actually have people that are interested in what you're doing. There might be potential for them to go off and do it as well. It's been great. It's just good to talk to people about it.