Greek Australian archaeologist Parry Kostocoglou believes he could have found Australia’s first currency exchange on the site of the city’s new Myers store.
The Hobart archaeological consultant and his team have found coins and other artefacts more than 200-years-old at a dig on the CBD site, which will be redeveloped after fire destroyed the old store in 2007.
“What’s really cool about the coins is that a lot of them are from overseas, they’re not just English coins,” he told AAP.
“There’s Indian coins, there might be a Mexican silver dollar there and other coins that as yet haven’t been cleaned up, but they don’t look English.”
A dig was ordered before building started because the site has been developed five times since white settlement in 1804.
Convict period stoneware bottles, plates from China and gun flints from America are among the discoveries, but it’s the coins that could be the important find.
“What that means is basically troops and people that came out on the first fleet (to Tasmania) were asked to empty their pockets and they collectivised the money and created a sort of ad hoc currency system because there was no existing system of trade,” Mr Kostoglou said.
“One rupee equalled two Mexican silver dollars which equalled four shillings, so once they had that standard established all these coins were thrown in.”
He says the find could be unique because the only other Australian colony rivalling Hobart in age, Sydney, was more carefully planned.
“This one was hurriedly organised to stop the French getting their hooks into Van Diemen’s Land,” he said.
“So it was rushed and they didn’t bring any money except what they had in their pockets.”
The best items in the discovery will be part of a display in the new store.
Mr Kostoglou says Hobart still has plenty of buried history because its lack of high-rise constructions means buildings are on slabs rather than anchored to the bedrock.
“If it was put there it’ll still be there in some way, shape or form,” he said.
“The irony is that it requires a development for it to be exposed.”