Looking for Trim's Store - Archaeological Remote Sensing at Curtis Park, Armidale

Curtis Park is one of several adjoining public open spaces running along the southern side of Dumaresq Creek within the central Business district area of Armidale. It sits adjacent to Armidale's Visitor Centre and offers a rest area for tourists, has a small but well patronized playground, and is also the venue for the weekly Farmers' Market, the Armidale Autumn Festival, and a host of other civic events and functions. However, most modern park users are unaware that it also is the site of several of early and significant parts of the story of Armidale including of Trim's Store (c.1846 – c.1906) one of the first of Armidale's commercial premises, as well as of the original North Road alignment leading to the site of Trim's Bridge over the original alignment of Dumaresq Creek (1865-1906).

In 2019 the Armidale City Council (ACC) obtained funding that would allow it to develop a in the southwest corner of Curtis Park, an amenity much sought after by the community. However, the chosen development site in the southwest corner of the park, near the juncture of Dumaresq and Faulkner Street, also put it close to the site of Trim's Store which is listed on the Armidale Heritage Study and Local Environmental Plan (LEP) as a significant archaeological site (Lot 16, DP 814532). There was concern by both the ACC and the Armidale Historical Society that the site not be adversely impacted by the playground development, and if possible that the heritage significance of the area also be recognized or represented in some way. In this context the Archaeology Department of the University of New England volunteered to undertake an archaeological remote sensing survey across the site as a student training exercise. This brief article summarizes the history of the area and the results of the archaeological survey, undertaken on 18 October 2019.