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Appendix G ANALVSIS OF GLASS BOTTLES
G.1 Introduction
European bottle glass from the Milparinka Chinese sites was evaluated on
the basis of several criteria. At the most broad level bottles were classifed
by manufacturing technique, with close attention being paid to minor
variations in broad approaches to manufacture. Analysis was then
extended to functional classification, and to a combination of provenance,
function and techinque.
The minimum number of bottles from the two sites under consideration is
35 only, derived from the number of bottle bases identified in the
assemblage. The number of bottle lips identified was 23. Most bases and
lips came from Chinaman's Garden Well, reflecting the greater
concentration of exposed artefacts at that site. With two exceptions, both
of which came from Chinaman's Well, all bottles were made using
technologies stated by others to have fallen into disuse by 1920. The
techniques incorporated a wide range of subsets, comprised of different
applications of basic manufacturing processes. These are demonstrated by
the typologies provided on a following page. Variations were noted in the
treatment of both lips and bases. Some bottles were evaluated as having
been made using techniques which fell into disuse during the 1870s and
early 1880s, but most were made using techinques which spanned the
period from 1880 to 1920. Three bottles were made by the Australian
Glass Manufacturers, a company which commenced business in 1930, and
at least four were dip-moulded, a technique said to have been obsolete by
the 1870s. The dip-moulded bottles came equally from Chinaman's
Garden Well and Chinamans Well. The AGM bottles were from
Chinaman's Well, the site which continues to be used to date. Given that
they are two whisky bottle bases, and the base of a sauce bottle - perhaps
tomato sauce or something similar - they very likely represent the
deposition of more recent material.
A further observation regarding the assemblage from Chinaman's Well is
the presence of two bottles manufactured by AGM using a hinge-bottomed
mould, which technique is said to have been replaced by three-piece and
cup-bottomed moulds by the 1880s (Baugher-Perlin, 1982). These are the
Whisky bottle bases mentioned as being of recent date - from Dewars
Whisky. Two interpretations are possible - firstly that AGM used obsolete
technology, or secondly, that the AGM embossed on the base of the
bottles is not an indication that the manufacturer was Australian Glass
Manufacturers, but a company with the same initials which supplied bottles
to Dewars, perhaps in the United Kingdom. If so, they may not be of recent
date at all.