Background to the University of Queensland Archaeological Services Unit's Lang Park Salvage Excavations: History, Significance Assessment and Methods

Brisbane's major football venue, Lang Park, is undergoing a $280 million redevelopment. As part of this project the University of Queensland Archaeological Services Unit (UQASU) developed a cultural heritage management plan for the site. UQASU identified that the Lang Park site once housed a number of historic cemeteries, dating from the 1840s, and an early brick drain. These were assessed to be of high cultural heritage significance, and in 2000 UQASU formulated policies and strategies for their management. In 2001, UQASU began the salvage of those parts of the culturally significant elements that were to be deleteriously affected by earthworks and building activity. To date 397 burials have been exhumed.