Structuration revisited: a test case for an industrial archaeology methodology for Far North Queensland

Abstract

By applying a modified theory of structuration, industrial archaeological sites can be considered in terms of allocative and authoritative resources as a key to past agency. The combination of these resources identified in the surrounding industrial landscape and the storage capacity of the human mind make up a framework of 'duality of structure', the impetus to so-called 'free will'. It is through structuration that the combination of these identified environmental resources provide an insight into industrial society's past agency. Irvinebank, an historical tin mining town in Far North Queensland, has been used as a case study. After simplifying Giddens' theory of structuration as a means of analysis and incorporating elements of the World Systems the devised methodology helped form the hypothesis that Irvinebank contradicted the Australian prevailing economic climate and was perhaps a paradox of its time.