Meggan Walker
Current position
Senior Archaeologist, Urbis.
Where did you study?
University of Sydney
How did you become interested in archaeology?
When I was in school I was a total nerd, and the only person in my extension history class. I had an amazing teacher who was super passionate about all things Ancient and it was so exciting to learn from her, and impossible not to adopt her enthusiasm. She had always wanted to be an archaeologist, but fell into teaching as archaeology wasn't a particularly career-smart option at the time for a young mother. Fast forward to university selection and I had no idea what I wanted to do beside go to uni - so, I decided to follow her dream and enrolled in ancient history and archaeology and never looked back.
What archaeological projects are you working on at the moment?
I'm pretty lucky to work on a range of super interesting projects at Urbis, and my current projects are no different! I'm writing a post excavation report for an 1840s Gaol site in Sydney, and also dabbling in and out of managing some Aboriginal archaeological reports for sites across Sydney - the diversity is great!
Tell us about one of your most interesting archaeological discoveries.
I think my favourite thing will always be secret tunnels. Everyone always tells you you're going to find tunnels because of some old story of the site, and I never actually believe them. Except this time - we did!! A gap in a building footing revealed a tunnel below an 1840s Gaol cell, the purpose of which we are still investigating. It was pretty exciting crouching down with a torch looking into a space no one had seen for who knows how long!
Tell us about a funny / disastrous / amazing experience that you have had while doing archaeology.
I once fell into a grave full of water. It had been absolutely heaving with rain for days, and finally we had a break in the weather. We went to bail out the site and were making admirable progress by the end of the day. I stepped back, the wet sand gave way, and I ended up one foot in the grave - literally. With soaking socks and shoes, I turned to my project manager who was in fits of laughter and let her know that it was home time for me. Grave sand and wet socks? not the best.
What’s your favourite part of being an archaeologist?
The rabbit holes! Ok, not the literal ones that try and break your ankles on site surveys, but the figurative rabbit holes are the besttt. I love being able to disappear into the history of a site and try and get to the bottom of what we might find, and then testing my theories through excavation. Nothing more validating than finding a wall where you thought there would be a wall!
Follow up reading.