Abstract
Storytelling was used to create osteobiographies, biographies created from bioarchaeological research process enriched with archival research. This informed the creation of Life and Death on the Tuapeka Goldfields, a permanent museum display at the Tuapeka Goldfields Museum in Lawrence, Otago, New Zealand. It was installed in November 2021 and launched at the Lawrence Heritage Festival. The display explores the lives of two people who lived in Lawrence during the gold rush period (1850-1910) and were buried in unmarked sites in historic cemeteries. Osteobiographies of a woman and of a Chinese journeyman were composed. Created with bioarchaeological research from the Southern Cemeteries Archaeology Project augmented by interviews, and historic archival research. My mixed methods research approach involved collecting archival information and materials from the New Zealand National Library, the Hocken Library and Tuapeka Goldfields Museum collection and conducting face-to-face interviews. Semi-structured interviews were carried out with 17 participants from a range of backgrounds, including scientists, a Māori advisor, historians, and community members; each provided perspectives from their diverse worldviews. Interviewees discussed the recent cemeteries’ excavations in Lawrence, and provided recommendations on constructing a museum display related to those cemetery excavations. Interviews comprised stakeholder consultation and discussed analysis of human remains and displays relating to them. Conducting interviews and archival research was an iterative process, where both informed each other throughout the project and also informed creation of my museum display. My archival research explored information in relation to the history of Lawrence, historical medicine, newspapers, maps, chemists, portraits and artefact curation. The fusion of this multi-disciplinary study resulted in the creation of Life and Death on the Tuapeka Goldfields museum display. This display illustrates research which had been performed within the Lawrence community and so gives back to that community and others interested in it.